Amber [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to The Amber Stitt Show. I am your host, Amber Stitt, and today we welcome the Emmy award winning talented Mark Stepp. Thank you for being on the show today.
Mark Stepp [00:00:11]:
Yeah, thanks for having me, Amber. I'm looking forward to this conversation.
Amber [00:00:15]:
Mark, please tell the audience how you became a director in the television industry.
Mark Stepp [00:00:21]:
I'm very fortunate and very lucky to have had the opportunities that I have. And a lot of that stems from people that took me in when I was a pup to learn the business. Also, at the end of the day, it's a job I'm hired to do a job, whether it's an A-lister, a D-lister, or somebody's passion project or whatever, and I enjoy doing it.
Amber [00:00:42]:
That's where I know that you were somewhat introduced to the Pathways of Peak Performance. There's five steps we talk about. But as I was looking at preparing for today, I want to almost take a different angle with you when it comes to you've been doing this over 20 years, right?
Mark Stepp [00:00:57]:
Yeah. Approaching 30.
Amber [00:00:59]:
And with you talking about not being so specific about who the potential person is or the project is or the celebrity is, everybody is worthy of maybe the story.
Mark Stepp [00:01:12]:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Amber [00:01:13]:
So that's where I almost wanted to have you tell my audience that doesn't know you quite yet, and they might not know that they know you, actually. So can we tell the audience a little bit about your day in the life? And then it sounds like you have your main thing, but it might not always be the main thing. There might be other things. And I want to take this opportunity to share with people that if they're inspired by something and they might be doing something at this period of time, it doesn't mean there might be some other purpose down the line. And sometimes we have to be just patient with it if we don't understand the why, but we're just trying to pay our bills. That something's calling to you. Sometimes it's that experience. And you talk about being a pup, so there's a lot to unpack there.
Amber [00:01:56]:
So let's just kind of start with who is Mark Stepp?
Mark Stepp [00:01:59]:
Who is Mark Stepp today? Today? Well, today I'm editing. I'm kind of a triple threat. I produce, direct, and edit. And sometimes it's a combo, sometimes it's individual. Today I'm editing on a project that's been going on for about two weeks, and then we finish in a week. In between, I have to go to New York to do another show. And a lot of us in this business now are taking multiple jobs, as in any other business, because coming out of pandemic, you kind of have to, and everybody's used to it. But I am editing two two and a half minute packages that are for icon awards for Winona Judd and Toby Keith on this show, I'm currently waiting on notes.
Mark Stepp [00:02:44]:
So while we're doing this podcast, hopefully my producers are getting their notes together, and then I'll execute those later today, and then two zoom calls later for jobs coming up. And then hopefully it's sort of a normal day in our business. Normal days don't really exist, nor do weekends.
Amber [00:03:03]:
Exactly. And so not everyone in the audience is an entrepreneur. I talk about that. My actual clients, Mark, are physicians and business owners.
Mark Stepp [00:03:12]:
Got it.
Amber [00:03:12]:
But then the podcast itself is just really for anybody to really, we say, take action today, really taking some authority in looking into our own lives of what can we do also within where we're talented. So really paying attention to what do we like to do and going back to jobs. We don't always love the job, but sometimes there's a teachable moment for us that we might not see yet, and it's a part of our path. And then that's where Pathways to Peak Performance, where our mutual friend Jay helped me with that title. And the podcast kind of came out of the pandemic, as many projects do, but really trying to start with step one and looking at where you're talented. So I'm going to throw you a curveball here, and I want to go back in time to when you were studying music.
Mark Stepp [00:03:56]:
Okay, sure.
Amber [00:03:57]:
So I grew up with a father who wasn't classically trained. I think you were. And that means in school. That's what you're saying.
Mark Stepp [00:04:06]:
Yes.
Amber [00:04:06]:
That is elementary into high school.
Mark Stepp [00:04:08]:
Elementary, high school, and college.
Amber [00:04:10]:
Yeah. So my father was the guy poking around with music, turning up music way too loud, and the music that we didn't want to hear growing up. So I grew up listening to Tower of Power, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and then just all these songs and oh, "Your mom and I met at this one time", and when you're young and you're like, "Oh, gross, I don't want to hear about when you guys were in love."
Mark Stepp [00:04:32]:
We don't like that about our parents at all.
Amber [00:04:33]:
No, but older now. I see the beauty in it, and I can't say that I have the ear specifically for the musicality behind things, but the reason I bring this up is that I feel that from listening to other podcasts where you've been featured, you've talked about this a little bit. Music is pretty important to you. It's interesting that you're not in it technically, but there's still an element that you're participating in it years later, but you might not actually be the one sitting down. Drumming, correct? Right.
Mark Stepp [00:05:02]:
Yes, absolutely. A little bit opposite of you in that. My father was not musical, but my mother is, and my brother was a player, too, so I kind of grew up in a musical family, and my father financed it. But the one thing my dad was into popular music and turned me on to a lot of understanding. The Beatles, Eric Clapton, the Creams of the world. And so I think the combination of both pushed me toward studying music originally and then also going into more of a pop music field. I tried I starved and lived in a van and did that whole thing and all of a sudden right?
Amber [00:05:44]:
Yeah.
Mark Stepp [00:05:45]:
And all of a sudden I realized I was getting older and everybody around me was getting younger. So, luckily, I was able to come to Nashville where I am right now, currently working and met some people, in a roundabout way, stumbled into the TV industry. But it was all music based. And so I felt I was still attached to music, like you said earlier. Not sitting down and playing a kit, but I was helping the guys who were sitting down playing kits look and sound better. It appealed to the left brain, right brain of me where it was technical but also still creative.
Amber [00:06:20]:
So you feel like people can have both and kind of work within.
Mark Stepp [00:06:23]:
Absolutely. And in my world, it's required. I'm sure Jay can tell you that, too. You're kind of an island to figure out technical stuff as well as then on top of that, make it creative. And I think the fact that I was classically trained there's a lot of math to that. There's a lot of technique to that. Technical issues that translated over and then also that I was a musician, especially a drummer. There's a rhythm to life.
Mark Stepp [00:06:46]:
There's a rhythm to edit. And that's kind of just built into how I finish an edit style or even direct a certain style. So I think it all played in. And every day that I get to work on music, I consider it a great thing in my business because sometimes I'm not. And there are other things that I do like to work on other than just music. But that kind of takes me back to my roots.
Amber [00:07:08]:
Well, I was one of those kids that played piano and hated it but now wish I'd never stopped practicing.
Mark Stepp [00:07:13]:
Well, that's my mother's instrument. And she tried to give me lessons. And I think it was just the mother son thing. And I say I wish I had stuck with it.
Amber [00:07:21]:
My grandmother is 92. We talk about her a lot on the podcast because she's just still going and still using her mind. And when we go see her back in Nebraska, we always have her play. We always try to record that. And the kids get on the they pound on the keys. "Don't do that to Grandma's piano!"
Mark Stepp [00:07:36]:
Sure.
Amber [00:07:36]:
I think there's something special there. So I know about reading notes, having that rhythm. But I know, like, with jazz, because you're relating it to work. So jazz is almost kind of like off the cuff. No prep. It's almost like if you were doing a podcast, we're just having conversation is that the jazz versus the keynote is more of the structured song?
Mark Stepp [00:07:55]:
Yeah. And it's different depending on what's happening. But whenever I'm specifically editing or directing I really like the process to be spontaneous. So it's more like jazz where it's emotional, kind of emotional free form. Like if you were doing something really structured you might not go to camera five there. But wait a minute, camera five's got something that's kind of interesting. Let's go there. And you can look at that from an editorial standpoint or when you're in the middle of taping something live there's.
Amber [00:08:24]:
Something unique and special that's outside the typical and that's kind of like ideas in starting business too.
Mark Stepp [00:08:29]:
Absolutely.
Amber [00:08:30]:
Someone might not see it and believe you that it's good.
Mark Stepp [00:08:33]:
I don't think today's world you really can't be expected to be successful if you're doing exactly what the people before you did in the same business. And I was never trained in school for television. I didn't go to film school, I didn't go to a communications college. And the guy that trained me to edit, he always commented that you're kind of really listening to the music or the audio first, which is exactly how I edit. So if I hear something, I want to see it. He was blown away with that approach because he wasn't a musician and I was just doing it naturally. So sometimes it's an awareness. Yeah, and then other times it's scripted out and they want it ABCD and E and you deliver it and then it's all good.
Amber [00:09:15]:
That's cool. So behind me I have this Samsung TV and I was thinking you were still in California so I thought I threw the beach up there. I'm envisioning this guy, young guy, in music. Was it in California? I know that's how you met some of your network.
Mark Stepp [00:09:28]:
I started music in Kentucky and where I grew up in Lexington and went to school, went to UK and all that stuff and then I moved to Athens, Georgia to do the alt rock music scene and was down there for a while and then that led me to stumble to Nashville both to mix records and play some gigs and all that. And then I met people pretty much in Nashville that brought me into the television industry. Then Napster came around dating myself for a little there.
Amber [00:09:58]:
I was like this is the coolest thing.
Mark Stepp [00:10:00]:
Oh my gosh, we don't have to ruined it. It really put the kibosh on music programming music videos in Nashville for a while because it was always a budget driven business. So I branched out a little bit and started meeting some people that I knew in Nashville were doing work in LA. And it's not a huge business, so it's amazing how you run into the same people a lot. And I just tipped my toes in the water of LA and started having some success with a few shows and then that took me out there. So now I bounce between LA, Nashville, and New York.
Amber [00:10:34]:
That's great though. So you can get a little bit, maybe a little more relaxed when you're back in Nashville. But I know people are just moving there in droves.
Mark Stepp [00:10:41]:
Yeah, it's a different city than when I lived here, that's for sure.
Amber [00:10:45]:
So there was something about growing up and my dad would do these gigs on the side, playing for a church group or like there's a neighborhood festival and he's playing jazz and trying to even now he does a talk radio in Nebraska in his morning.
Mark Stepp [00:11:00]:
Cool.
Amber [00:11:00]:
He starts with Chicago and different music elements that I'm like, "Dad, I don't know that everyone loves that," but he focuses the people that do the intros and work at the studio 4:00 or 05:00 a.m. in the morning. He's like, "You got to have this tower power song or this Chicago." So he just wants everyone to know whether or not they really want to.
Mark Stepp [00:11:20]:
Well, that's important. I'm glad he's doing that. The history of it all and seeing what got you from here to there is very important, especially in music.
Amber [00:11:27]:
But it does bring this but I just don't know third party how that feels. But being older, I have appreciation for it now. It's like the cool sound. It's something that is very unique. But I bring up when he would have his band, like his extra for fun band. I want to talk about working with teams because there's so many players on a project. So he would say sometimes people wouldn't show up. And this is something that people have committed to.
Amber [00:11:53]:
So I know you have that former life and then moving forward with the Pathways. It's really like we have these five steps. The first is focusing on talents and find a way to be within that always. So you love what you do. Then once you really understand that awareness, it moves into step two and three. Two would be focusing on money. Three would be focusing on risk. So you're really just being prepared for life because life's going to throw you curveball.
Amber [00:12:15]:
So let's have some resilience. The fourth would be keeping up with marketing and technology. And fifth would be community. So we've already talked about community quite a bit. We'll keep going with that. But for you, how do you balance the left right brain and other people that don't always show up with the same? And we have to be careful here, just people in general projects, you have a lot of moving parts.
Mark Stepp [00:12:34]:
I'm a villager. I'm one of many, many people involved in any project. And you're exactly right, it's a lot of people skills, people management to get through. And I think more so even now coming out of pandemic, the landscape changed about 180 degrees in my world.
Amber [00:12:52]:
And it's not the first time you've had a change. We're talking about Napster. Back then you've seen these waves of like pivot, pivot, pivot. Good thing I have a couple different variations.
Mark Stepp [00:13:00]:
Yeah, pivot. Great word choice. I was talking about somebody about pivoting the other night, and I think when you're either self employed or you're a small business like I have, pivot is a daily check for what's going on.
Amber [00:13:14]:
What do you need today?
Mark Stepp [00:13:16]:
Yeah, exactly. And when it comes to people, there's a lot of pivoting involved as well. So many age groups approach work differently now. And when I first got into the business, it can be really aggro to where there was people yelling and people losing jobs over mistakes and things like that, and it's just not like that anymore.
Amber [00:13:37]:
Is there good and bad in that?
Mark Stepp [00:13:38]:
Yes, definitely. There's good and bad in that. The bad part is that I was trained in the business to be that way, so I have to constantly check myself to not blow a gasket so often.
Amber [00:13:50]:
And then details matter.
Mark Stepp [00:13:51]:
Pay attention.
Amber [00:13:52]:
Did you read my email? I go through that a lot.
Mark Stepp [00:13:55]:
Oh, yeah. And people don't read more than three lines of your email, and the important stuff was your second half of the email. But it's back to people skills, and you have to be more aware of how people are dealing with the job as well as how they feel emotionally, which I was in a world where emotions didn't play into work at all, right? Never.
Amber [00:14:15]:
There's definitely a shift, and it's just like how we learn. Okay, how about the people that don't love to read a book they want to see or hear? We're finally there. We're like, hey, "Let's get people, meet them where they're at with how their brain can learn." So it's not just about IQ and testing. So we're there.
Mark Stepp [00:14:33]:
Yeah, and it's the short term attention span because everybody's used to their phone and apps and they can get information quick. And although my business works a lot quicker than it used to, it's still not that fast. And so you can see new people coming in, being frustrated with the pace where they're used to, just getting instant gratification on the internet and moving on. So what I've found for me personally dealing with especially millennials, I don't want to offend an age group or a social group, but I hire them specifically on contract labor. That way I can one sheet out exactly what the job is, what the expectations are, and if they're not immediately meeting those, it's a talking point to be able to say, "Hey, you were supposed to get this done today."
Amber [00:15:18]:
I think that works with a lot of the remote work.
Mark Stepp [00:15:21]:
Yes, I think it does.
Amber [00:15:24]:
So we can't time their production on the hourly project basis either.
Mark Stepp [00:15:28]:
The flip side of that, with the challenge of owning a business, and you get approached by certain people, they're wanting the moon just to turn on their phone and talk to you, and it's like, I don't have that kind of money. I'm not a big corporation that can hide all that in a budget code or something like that. So about five years before the Pandemic, the industry started changing a little bit from a budget standpoint. They were really trimming budgets, especially in broadcast television. So that brought in a slew of new people that weren't necessarily qualified for a job yet, and then they weren't ever trained properly. You had those people below you, beside you and above you. So that changed management because you really can't tell off somebody above you that they don't really know what they're doing and they should do this. So you have to come up with creative ways to get the job done.
Mark Stepp [00:16:21]:
And it's a lot of managing upward where "Yeah, you can take full credit for that idea. You have nothing to do with it, but go ahead."
Amber [00:16:27]:
There's a lot of talk with AI changing the dynamics of things just in business. And so when you dealt with the Napster thing, there was a change and then you have a variation, multiple variations. Like you said, it's just not the same business anymore. There's different ways of doing things. What I want the audience to be encouraged about, really mindful of back to network communication skills, even if we didn't go to school for that, that is the one thing we have to always harness and evolve. We have to respect all generations, where they've come from, what they've brought to the table, even if we're not always loving it. And we joke with a lot of the grandparents with the gen z's, "Gosh get them off the phone." But we created the technology that they were born with and we handed these things to them.
Amber [00:17:12]:
So it's like, let's meet them where they're at, and incentivize that way. So I think you have a perfect point, especially for those of us that are employees. If you still show up and do your best, there is potential opportunity that you might not see yet. There could be business entrepreneurship later on too.
Mark Stepp [00:17:29]:
Absolutely, yeah.
Amber [00:17:30]:
But there's so many ways to do business now. Like you said, it might not be that if you want to work from home, there's probably more independent contracting. And then in my world, I'm like, "Hey, those are write offs." There's ways you can do a lot of business write offs. That's cool. Even though you're not getting benefits, there's still some advantages. Multiple ways to do business and make money.
Mark Stepp [00:17:48]:
I teach some youth groups every once in a while. I was at a school one time and the seniors in the school wrote sayings on the board on their way out, like their last statement to the school or whatever. And I was sitting there waiting to talk to these kids and I was reading it and two words came out that I spoke to them and used. And I use it all the time now. I use it when I hire somebody. And all it was was, "Actually try." That was the statement, "Actually try." And I find we have a young gentleman that's working with us here now, and he's starting to come around and get it because he's applied himself and we didn't expect much because of present situations and all that.
Mark Stepp [00:18:27]:
And he's already come up with some things by accident or that he thought it was a way to go that's changing the way that we're doing some work, that we're approaching. It's minutiae, but it's money at the end of the day. And that's kind of made me back off of my prejudices toward certain groups, or whatever and say, and like you just said, we have to accept it. But there's also ways that it can help. And I think it's full circle. I think now it's like with pandemic, just put everybody put the brakes on and I think everybody had to take a beat, and maybe people like you and I took our beat and came about it a different way, and even younger people took a beat, and now they're coming about a different way. And it certainly made me gain a new respect for all people because it could happen again.
Amber [00:19:13]:
And that's really where we came up with the five steps. It was, "Pandemic proof your business" is where it started in a workshop, and then that was where we flipped it and said, let's remove Pandemic. I don't want to be fear based. Let's just say life's going to happen. Not the first time and it's not going to be the last. So how do we literally look and have some self reflection? Like, I think you and I were both like, "Okay, this is happening." How do we make sure we always have work? And that's where I got really involved with. And I think a lot of people started a podcast back in 2020, but sure, I will always want to have work wherever I'm at so that there's no excuses.
Amber [00:19:48]:
And so that's what I guess back to the point of the Gen Z's is they are creating, whether they're watching a YouTube video or something, they're creating, not waiting for classroom. And that's what I think is really going to be interesting about this generation, to turn things around and maybe build out a lot of different ways to have business.
Mark Stepp [00:20:05]:
Well, and also, I mean, you mentioned AI in that, which is I'm starting to delve into it. But that's the bridge. The AI is the bridge between starting a business that's based on younger generation and achieving it because we all need help. And they're used to that format. They're used to getting a bunch of information on a phone and getting it on the Internet and getting it and activating it quickly. I've pushed back on AI for a while, but I've started using it recently.
Amber [00:20:34]:
Is it more like having to learn an app and you don't want to be... I think maybe you mentioned social media. You're not doing selfies every day, right. And posting?
Mark Stepp [00:20:45]:
No, I run away from the social media.
Amber [00:20:47]:
Yeah, that's what I thought. So when you hear AI, you're like, okay, were you kind of hiding from it in the sense of almost on the side where people get scared of it? Well, tell me a little bit more.
Mark Stepp [00:20:56]:
A lot of it's a visual and audio technology, and it started a while ago. In my industry, people get scared that it's going to replace them, and that constantly happens in a technically driven business. A robot is going to replace you, quicker machinery is going to replace you. In this case, AI was really like.
Amber [00:21:15]:
Digitizing things to the point where just.
Mark Stepp [00:21:19]:
Like, graphically, there's programs out there now. And it's amazing to me that Adobe Photoshop promotes one that you can type in a bunch of words: bus, red, sky, dogs, and it will call thousands of photos and create an AI generated photo. And they're generally beautiful. And so from a graphics artist standpoint, they're the first ones to go, "Okay, wait a minute, I'm not going to be in this." The thing we have discovered is, okay, that's great. Now somebody wants to change that image. It can't handle it. It's kind of an all or nothing kind of deal.
Mark Stepp [00:21:55]:
Now that technology is changing a lot too. But I think what is coming around now is that it still takes a creative person in my world behind that to be able to execute what somebody else's vision is or what their own vision is, to make something work. I'm using it in audio on a small level, and I'm impressed with it. I'm like, "Wow."
Amber [00:22:17]:
Because in insurance, I'm working with Next Generation and some task force, and then some of the people that I'm involved with are really... especially one female that is close to me. She's really into blockchain technology. And we know that life insurance is moving that way, and it's going to be more efficient. So, "Oh my gosh, are all these planners going to be out of work?" But you can't have this so creative for you. More of the custom package for the family, the family dynamics of one family over here, married into the other with these ten kids and whatever the story is. And this person wants to do this for the rest of their life. Even with open AI tracking data, it's the conversation. So if I have a project that I want you to help me with, we have to talk about it.
Amber [00:23:02]:
And I think that's where we have to innovate and keep ourselves relevant. And I encourage a lot of my friends I mean, I'm 43 today, but friends in my industry that say, no, I'm not going to do X, Y and Z. But there are some really easy things that you can try that can just help cut some of the basic admin out of things. Like, I just had Chat GPT structure an outline for a panel that I'm moderating. And I just needed the math, like, okay, 70 minutes, give me a breakdown just to build the outline. That saved me time. I'm still going to put in what needs to be there.
Mark Stepp [00:23:36]:
Your motivation for using the chat GPT was to save time. The important thing that you touched on right before that is communication. And I work in the communication business and people do not communicate well in this business.
Amber [00:23:51]:
You don't think people communicate well?
Mark Stepp [00:23:53]:
Oh gosh, they do not. And I'm talking about you and I talking to each other face to face and solving issues.
Amber [00:24:00]:
Yes.
Mark Stepp [00:24:01]:
People would rather do it through an email, right? Because they send an email and think, "OK, I'm done."
Amber [00:24:06]:
But remember, those emails are not getting read.
Mark Stepp [00:24:08]:
Emails not getting read. I went to a Ted Talk once and this guy who is one of the early pioneers in the internet, early, early pioneer in the internet started off, he said, "Everybody get out your phone." People got out their phone and he said, "This device is not a device for communication. It is merely a device for sharing." Now, I don't know how Amber is interpreting my email or my text. I could have pissed you off, but I didn't mean to. But if you and I talked verbally like we are right now, then we can cut to the chase quicker. No one's going away from that conversation, not understanding what we're going to do.
Mark Stepp [00:24:46]:
I've sat in rooms where it's me and one other person, we're 10 feet away from each other and that person would rather email me in the room.
Amber [00:24:53]:
Well, and that is going to be the younger generation. So they also have to come meet. Yes, meet in the middle too. It can't just be one sided.
Mark Stepp [00:25:02]:
Yeah. And obviously with all these major corporations trying to get people to even come back to an office, I mean, that's a huge challenge right now. And I don't envy that at all because luckily for me, it's such a visual and audio driven business. People have to come in, they have to be there still. That's fortunate. Now we can do a lot over internet now that we couldn't do four years ago. But at the end of the day when you're finishing something or you're creating something, best to have everybody in the same room.
Amber [00:25:29]:
And what's the way global competition can be out there? And this is where I really think, and I say this, I'm starting to say this, it's almost like to me, communication skills are going to be the currency of life. Because as we innovate, we have these things that are helping us with these basic tasks. The people that stand out, the people that are remarkable to us, like the person, the Ted Talk person, you're going to go see them speak. What's happening is that there's something about the emotional side of witnessing whatever the ideas are, what they're speaking about. There's something that's happening in real time, face to face. So appreciate transferring information through the communication devices. But if you can literally communicate with people, that's where you're going to shine, that's where you're going to meet more people.
Amber [00:26:12]:
That's just the way to create business for yourself. So there was once a guy at an insurance conference, he said, "If your calendar is empty, get out there. Even if it's the coffee shop, go start talking to people." So if that's not your style, there's still no excuses. Because online you can join anything or you can communicating, but you have to be reciprocating. And I think that's where if the relationship is not working, it's usually one sided, something's not being reciprocated. So there has to be, even if you want, like for example, people and the followers of social media, if you're not responding back to them, don't expect them to follow you. There's still protocol of pass the ball, have some respect for others.
Amber [00:26:53]:
And so I really like to give people takeaways. And I really am challenging people to say even if you're behind the scenes, there's people on different projects. But if you're kind of in your own island, you talked about that, but then you have the collective team, whatever the structure is, you got to work on working with people even if you're not seeing them every day.
Mark Stepp [00:27:12]:
I've met a lot of interesting people on airplanes, just talking to them and...
Amber [00:27:15]:
Everyone can relate to that for some reason. The elevator is still weird, but airplanes, I don't know. You're like, "I know I'm here for 2 hours, make the time pass." Well, people help you do that. Isn't that interesting?
Mark Stepp [00:27:27]:
It is fascinating. And I can jump way back in my story a little bit and almost relate to that. When I first learned this business, I was in what they called post production editing. That's after the shoot, okay? And then when the shoot is happening, it's production. And there's a wall between those two entities that was huge and I never realized it in some sense, it's still there today. But I started going to productions that I was going to end up doing post production on. And it opened up a whole new world of people to meet and understanding what they're going through. So that when I do get to the edit, I understand it.
Mark Stepp [00:28:04]:
And now I'm hired to do that, people understand the value in that and it opened up a whole new world of business opportunity to me because I spend half of my time in production now and half of my time in post, actually more in production, I should say. But that was all based on meeting people, talking to them, understanding what they do and them understanding what I do. And there's people now that I have...
Amber [00:28:28]:
Going the extra mile, you're doing something other people will not. And that's just even if you're employed somewhere and there's a huge company, the ones that are doing a little bit more than the other, they're going to stand out one day. Something's going to connect.
Mark Stepp [00:28:41]:
Yeah, 10% more equals 100% to me. Honestly, it really does.
Amber [00:28:45]:
So this is something I bring up sometimes to people because they can relate to this. And you work among celebrities, but that's not the point of bringing this up. And even athletes, if people notice and this is where I was thinking about you yesterday in the musical music. When people go out and they're, let's say college to then professional sports, they do the game, but they're also potentially wearing apparel, they're speaking. I think people forget that this athlete is not just showing up for the game, they're on a team, but they're leveraging ten different ways of being in business. Eventually, when the body needs to stop doing the athletic part, they can be then the person that's on TV or there's so many jobs potentially out there. And so when you talked about The Wall, if you can cross over and live in the pre and post production of any situation, that's going to give you some edge, because you can then understand if someone's frustrating you and they need something for the project and you're like, "I don't know why they would need it to be such a way." It's probably because you don't understand it's just not having the information.
Mark Stepp [00:29:45]:
And now with the, quote, transparency of the internet, social media, that is even more apparent, especially with athletes. They wake up and they start working on their brand, on their image, and then they go to the gym and then they play a game. And then after the game they're updating their social media because everybody wants access, but it's also easy access. And you can see people creating business models out of it as well as taking advantage of it.
Amber [00:30:17]:
And that's where the personal brand again, this is not like the vanity metrics, instagram influencer that I'm talking about. Your personal brand that goes back to the community skills. And that's where I've been speaking a lot to even insurance groups about how do you do something to set yourself apart online. Even if you're an employee, there's still a way to do it in such a way that's tied to you. And then people get access to you. There's some loyalty, people feel like they know you and there's some consistency that's needed there. I think even if people are not a business owner, that is still important. I always want to give people motivation on the show.
Amber [00:30:50]:
And so let's go back a little bit just to kind of wrap up paying attention to the mentorship. Mentorship. And so sometimes you don't realize someone is a mentor in your life, somebody that could be very hard on you. I had an attorney I worked for. I was paralegal before being in the insurance business, that was such a stickler down to even passing him papers. The paper clips had to be lined up a certain way and gosh, I thought the is so critical of everything. And there was a point in time he wouldn't move me up.
Amber [00:31:19]:
And I'm like, come on, I want to do more. And I want to have access to be able to help him edit some of these documents. Hindsight now he was teaching me it's not time for you yet and sure as heck you're not going to put your younger spin on something when you're not ready because this is a very legal writing documents. This is wasteful of his time, his billable time. So now I know and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I think I'm a lot like him. I didn't realize how much of a stickler I was." So you could see where you're talking about the details of the younger generation being a little more impatient. It might just be that you have to say this is going to take X amount of time.
Amber [00:31:55]:
This is typical. This might be for you, it might not be for you. But let's give it a try. But yeah, let's talk about who really mentored you way back. Like you said when I was a pup somebody helped me. Who was that person for you?
Mark Stepp [00:32:08]:
There's been several in my life but honestly I'm going to start with my father and this is a big one where I didn't realize till I was in my 40s that he went to college, worked for the same company his entire life. Great job, retired with that company. They brought him out of retirement but all along the way he was very, I don't want to say frugal, but the term I learned once I got into business was you should always act below your wage. And I didn't realize that until later in life. Yeah and he definitely did that and I think in a lot of ways when I did start my own business and started understanding the value of money and if I was going to be self employed or run my own business I was responsible 1000% for it. I believe I started just intrinsically acting that way and that stuck with me and still does to this day. I run a very nice business. People like to work with me.
Mark Stepp [00:33:08]:
They like to work here. I create a good environment but I'm not going to bring in a pastry chef that's going to cost $600 an hour. I'm fine going to Krispy Kreme and getting people those donuts I don't know if that's...
Amber [00:33:22]:
A good.
Mark Stepp [00:33:25]:
You're going to have the
Amber [00:33:26]:
coffee on tap here. I'm not bringing in Starbucks every day.
Mark Stepp [00:33:30]:
Exactly.
Amber [00:33:31]:
Or buy the Nespresso for a dollar a puck. My office manager, my husband. "How many of these are you going to drink a week?" I'm like, "Am I getting things done? Pay the dollar per puck."
Mark Stepp [00:33:40]:
Yeah. My business partner here is on me. About the same thing because I do consume the coffee. I think music teachers, it's a different relationship with a musician kid versus your math teacher.
Amber [00:33:54]:
Sure.
Mark Stepp [00:33:55]:
And I think some of those teachers along the way had great influence on me and probably music all the way, because I think in music the teacher is learning just as much as the student is all along the way, because it grows.
Amber [00:34:07]:
Is there something where they reinforce confidence? They know that it can be like if there's a mistake, there's more like of a positive push in music.
Mark Stepp [00:34:16]:
Absolutely. I've been in both those environments. I was in competitive music, drumming, and it was basically, for lack of a better term, it was a demerit system. You got criticized for screwing up. And then I've been in situations where, "Oh yeah, you're going that way with this, that's kind of cool, explore that more." And I think that's why you have the musicians that we have today. I was watching an event with the Smashing Pumpkins last night.
Amber [00:34:42]:
That was my first concert, by the way.
Mark Stepp [00:34:44]:
Oh, they did a stream of 30 years anniversary of Siamese Dream, and they did it from the same Tower Records where they did that a long time ago. And I watched it going, "Wow." Billy Corgan, the singer writer, he talked about his influences at the time, Boston and a few other bands, and I never thought about but but you could tell once the started talking about his influences at the time, that he took that and went his own way with it, that nobody else could have gone where he went with it or that band. It's a very unique band and that's why we have them all now, because everybody said, "Oh well, somebody taught them to play something" and they said, "Oh well, I could do this and make it my own, very simplified version of it." But I think that's why you have that, and I think that's why now I might offend some people here, but music of today is a little harder to do that because most of it's machine generated. There's not a lot of uniqueness to it other than the vocals.
Amber [00:35:42]:
Interesting.
Mark Stepp [00:35:43]:
Yeah.
Amber [00:35:43]:
A cool story. Yeah.
Mark Stepp [00:35:45]:
Then when I got into this business, people that were nice enough to pull me side and say, you need to do this like this. That doesn't feel
Amber [00:35:53]:
good at the moment. Right. Sometimes.
Mark Stepp [00:35:55]:
And also criticism. I don't want to make a big thing out of working with celebrities because to me they put their pants on the same way anybody else does. But when you first get around that environment, you are naturally nervous because they're the talent and you may have respect for them. But I did have to learn for some people to watch my approach, but don't be nervous around them. You have to work closely with these people, so make sure that you're on it and you know your stuff and everything will be cool. And I find the higher the A-lister, the easier they are to deal with. They're normal. They don't have anything to prove to anybody.
Amber [00:36:30]:
Sure.
Mark Stepp [00:36:31]:
Yeah. Different world, though. It's definitely different world.
Amber [00:36:34]:
There might be chefs bringing them not donuts, but organic berries.
Mark Stepp [00:36:40]:
Yeah. They're very special plant based donut with hot honey.
Amber [00:36:44]:
Really good water. You can only have water today. No.
Mark Stepp [00:36:48]:
Yeah. And there's branding. Back to your branding thing. There's artists that are branding water.
Amber [00:36:53]:
Yeah. And that's the thing. I think when we're seeing the package, that's the finished post production, like you call it. So let's wrap up today thinking about the post production. What are you doing as a person to really work on step one, focusing on yourself and what you bring to the table. Because, like you talked with with music class or some other things along the way that we talked about today is paying attention to the feedback. It's data.
Amber [00:37:18]:
It could be constructive criticism. But just taking a moment might not always feel good. But this is helping you. It's not like you're a bad person because you're receiving the information. This is all part of the formula to create something new and big. And so even like we talked about with Smashing Pumpkins and Billy. Correct. Billy.
Mark Stepp [00:37:35]:
Yeah, Billy Corgan.
Amber [00:37:36]:
Yeah, he had an idea. Any idea might sound crazy to somebody, but I always love those crazy big ideas that no one understands. It feels pretty lonely, but I know that you see that, too, with what you put together. Like, hey, let's try that fifth camera. There's something there. Do that and push that and be inquisitive. And back to my law office days, I had somebody get upset with how inquisitive I was, and now I know that was like that is what makes me pretty great, especially in my planning business where I'm really customizing for people.
Mark Stepp [00:38:06]:
So I strive very hard to be technically proficient in what I do, whether it's directing, editing, producing. But if I have the technical side down, a lot of things on the creative side become a little bit easier to achieve. But also it gives me more time to play and get there creatively.
Amber [00:38:29]:
Because you have efficiency from the process of the technical lingo. Then you have some time to be creative in between.
Mark Stepp [00:38:34]:
Yeah, and I spend a lot of time interpreting what somebody wants to see visually or audibly. But a lot of times it's still a little bit confusing. But if I have time to show them some options or watch them react to something to where they're excited, then I can run with that even further.
Amber [00:38:55]:
For a takeaway today, I challenge the audience to work on maybe the technical side. Like, what can you be really proficient in that allows you some space to be creative? Because if you know where your talents lie, and if there is this crazy idea or something that somebody might not understand, kind of keep running with that crazy big idea, but still work on the technical side. Because I think that's what's going to get you in the room sometimes. But then you can bring that extra value. So we all have something different. Like we talked about with the music, there's a little I don't want to call it copycatting, but there's a little foundation there. But that's been like the story since the beginning of time, right? There's always been covers of, or variations.
Mark Stepp [00:39:33]:
There was only one Beethoven and everybody stole everything from him along the way. This might be a little bit basic, but the software I use to edit is very complex and it's computer based and it's daunting when you first sit down to it, like a lot of things are. But what I did was I paced myself to learn it slowly and just add one little bit in at a time. And I was in real action at the time. I was thrown right in. It wasn't like I was sitting there at night watching TV and playing with it on the side. I had a deadline and then I also set aside time and it was usually on a weekend to just play with it.
Amber [00:40:16]:
Just play, not stress, not under a deadline.
Mark Stepp [00:40:19]:
Just not try to quote, "learn anything," but just play. And what I found with this software, it became like a musical instrument where there were five different ways to do any one task. And I started adapting to what would work for me best in that task. And that goes to anything that I do now if I'm directing, there's a technical side of it that I want to understand a lot of it's communication, how to talk to certain camera operators, how to talk to audio people. And again, create an environment where we can just play. And then the same way I do with running a business, the first thing I do from a technical standpoint is obviously analyze the risk. But at the same time I'm factoring in, okay, this is a great plan, this is going to work. But what if it does fail? Be prepared for it could fail.
Mark Stepp [00:41:07]:
There could be unforeseen things and just know that I got to have a plan B, at least somewhere not perfectly executed, but at least know that I'm not going to lose my house if something does happen. And that's given me some freedom to branch out.
Amber [00:41:21]:
But there is some personal investment and it might be dollars, or time. But if it makes sense and we know we can execute at some point sometimes that's where the risk, that risk analysis you have.
Mark Stepp [00:41:31]:
Yeah. And also I will tell you that I'm the worst employee ever, so I run my own business. I'm also probably the most immature person that I know. Really professional today. Well, and I work on that daily to a lot of counting to ten before I speak and a lot of still learning patience. And I think the longer I've gone in my career, that's become easier because I have built a foundation of other areas that help support me being a learning person in that regard.
Amber [00:42:02]:
I love that you say that, because I am great, because I'm impatient. So my work is great for my clients because I'm impatient with, say, the underwriters. I want to get things done for my clients.
Mark Stepp [00:42:13]:
Yes.
Amber [00:42:13]:
But then there's that blind spot or that little devil over here sometimes. So it's not like we're trying to fix that. So I love that you said that, because any one of us doing whatever it is that's important to us or that pays the bills, take it into bite sized chunks, talk to the people around you, learn their lingo, their language for their role, and then you can balance it out. Because not everyone's going to be the same, nor do we want anyone to be the same. But give yourself some grace. It's really what you're saying. You have the deadline and then you have the playtime. You need essentially both to keep yourself still dialed in.
Mark Stepp [00:42:43]:
Yeah. And I love what you said earlier about working in a situation where you wanted more opportunity and at times you were impatient to get there. But I think if people are listening and paying attention to someone like you in that situation, they're going to appreciate the fact that, "Oh, this person is more motivated. They want to advance."
Amber [00:43:03]:
Not going to waste your time, take some action. But I do have to tell myself, like you say, count to ten, listen or draft the email, walk away, and then I'll just get my coffee in the morning and then finish that up. Because there's been some time.
Mark Stepp [00:43:19]:
I'm the worst with reactionary emails and primarily because it ends up being a typo nightmare. Because I'm like... I have a friend that I work with and what he does really good is he fashions his reply email in a whole separate email that doesn't have a receiver on it yet, somebody that you're sending it to. And he fashions it up and then he thinks about it and he rewrites what he's going to do. Then he copies that into the response.
Amber [00:43:49]:
And I think that's where people don't realize a lot of us are writing, thinking we might have this authorship going on, but sometimes you need to cover your little patience, like your little self check, and all of us have our variations of that. So I love that and I like how it's just honesty. Don't try to fix what you're not. Just be real with yourself. Take some accountability and just work it into the system. So wrapping up today, can people find you still at Uppercut Media?
Mark Stepp [00:44:15]:
Yeah, the best way to find me is either through www.UpperCutMedia.com, there's an info button in there, but I primarily like people to come right to me, which is stepp.uppercut@gmail.com. That's stepp.uppercut@gmail.com.
Amber [00:44:33]:
We'll link that up in the description box, too.
Mark Stepp [00:44:34]:
No worries.
Amber [00:44:35]:
So happy that I had you on today. So thanks for making time in between your projects, and hopefully you'll get what you need today when you're ready.
Mark Stepp [00:44:44]:
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you having me on. It's been very informative for me, as well.
Amber [00:44:48]:
I hope to see you soon. Thanks so much.
Mark Stepp [00:44:50]:
Thank you.
Amber [00:44:51]:
Okay, thanks. Have a good day. Thanks to the listeners too. We'll see you soon. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of The Amber Stitt Show. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, and more, please visit me at: www.AmberStitt.com. Until next week, enjoy your journey at home, and at work. Thank you for listening!
