New Beginnings: Embracing Change and Opportunity in Cincinnati

Transitioning to a new city unveils layers of opportunities you never knew existed. The episode reflects my personal experience of moving to Cincinnati and how engaging with the community through networking events sparked collaborations and growth. 
• Emphasis on the importance of community engagement 
• Insights from attending Black Tech Week 
• Networking with local entrepreneurs and creators 
• Building partnerships and collaborative ideas 
• Discovering resources like ProCam for business enhancement 
• Encouragement to embrace new connections and opportunities 
• Highlighting the power of collaboration over competition

FilmStory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/filmstory/id1641955836

What do we do: https://myfilmstory.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@myfilmstory

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Hey guys , damian Gray here , welcome back to the Story First podcast , where we talk about the business of storytelling , tangible strategies and the collaborative mindset . I'm Damian Gray man . Welcome back guys . Thank you so much for hopping in . I'm really enjoying the time to kind of walk through these things with you , going through the episodes . Again , I really hope these stories and these tips and just things that I've . Again , I really hope these stories and these tips and just things that I've gone through I really hope it helps you . Like I I this is for you Like I , I'm not man I really , really want to hear from you . I want to hear from the people that are listening to this podcast . If you go through this episode and you really enjoy it , shoot me a message on Instagram , shoot a review on the podcast . Like , let me know what you think , let me know what your questions are , let me know maybe some stories that you've gone through . Like I really want to hear you . I will set up , I will set up a zoom meeting with you and you can share with me your entire story , most of your story , maybe you know , maybe maybe like a quick 10 minute story kind of thing , and hear from you . But I'm I'm so excited .

Speaker 1 1:08

Um , this is a new segment that I'm calling NSNO . It stands for new state , new opportunities , right ? Um ? Um , to catch you up to speed , uh , for me , um , we spent the last two years living in Charlottesville , virginia , um , where my , my wife , we spent the last two years living in Charlottesville , virginia , where my wife pursued her MBA and her MED MBA and master's in education in Virginia , coming from Georgia , and we did that for two years and then she received an amazing job opportunity to work in Cincinnati . And so here we are in Cincinnati , new state .

Speaker 1 1:44

Never lived in the Midwest , don't know anything about the Midwest . We've been East Coast babies our whole lives . For me , from New York to Georgia . For my wife , georgia family is on the East Coast New York , florida , georgia , ohio , virginia , buffalo , new York , jersey , philadelphia , like all East Coast , right . And so coming here to a new state I mean new state , midwest , never you know . But what I recognized even before I came here was even amidst a new state .

Speaker 1 2:30

I've been in this for a little over a decade now . This is our 11th year , if I'm counting that right , I think 10 , 11 years , and people still need serving right . So Social media has improved , increased , you know , but people still need help , right . So we're not completely starting off new , we just have to figure out how things tick here in the area . And so this , this series , is just to , as we go throughout the year , I'm going to give you updates on the moves that we've made and how it's affected me in growing and scaling my business throughout the year . So hopefully I'll try to do this , you know , maybe once a quarter talk about these things and kind of help develop a little bit of some opportunities there , right . And so for me to moving to Cincinnati .

Speaker 1 3:27

One of the first things I looked into was the Chamber of Commerce . Is here , right , one there's a few of them , that's new the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce , african-american Chamber of Commerce . There's another chamber of commerce for a specific area in Cincinnati , those kind of things . And going through the Chamber of Commerce led me to connect , uh , connect with some people , of course , hear some stories , um , but it's also my wife that brought me , uh , an event that was happening here locally and we moved in a summer and this was happening kind of right towards the end of the summer um called black tech week . A really cool opportunity , uh , cool opportunity locally huge event . Bishop TD Jakes was there , issa Rae was there last year , so really cool opportunities , really great speakers , lots of different things and , of course , a lot of it deals with helping people of color finding like tech jobs or leads for tech jobs . But it's also great for people like me that are founders of businesses that are wanting to hear about and connect with the community and to connect with others that are pursuing possibly similar things like you , and we're wanting to find the help to help us scale our business right and to be able to find those connections and then make the right moves as scale our business right and to be able to to find those connections and then make the right moves as the business grows Right . And so in that event , uh , I found some really cool connections .

Speaker 1 4:56

Man , one guy , uh , this guy's name was Daniel Daniel . Uh , he turned out to do video production as well . I met him there , had the opportunity to connect , hear about things that he was pursuing as a business . He had an intern . I think he had an intern there that was helping out as well . Going to the event helps him with different things , and I got to hear a little bit about what he was pursuing and I got to share with him a little bit of where I come from and what I've been doing . And you know I shared with him . You know I had an intern or two or three back , you know , in Georgia , so I shared with him some of the things that we did to kind of keep things going , you know , getting really clear on job responsibilities , and we had a great conversation , right . So that was one person I met .

Speaker 1 5:42

Another guy I met , his name was Carlos . He has another video production company in um in uh , another area near Cincinnati I'm trying to remember I think it was Dayton or anyway , I'm still getting used to the cities . So um , but he did a lot of . He's in a lot of like education . He taught , teaches at universities , but he also has the video production business . So he has that heart for students and being able to really hear them out . So we had a great zoom meeting . We got calibrated on what each other was doing . He shared a lot of things that he was doing in education .

Speaker 1 6:16

I shared a lot of things that I've done in education as well . I've never taught , you know , like taught in front of like a classroom and say , hey guys , here's the thing . But I've definitely , um , you know , tried to help some people , mentor some people , get some cool opportunities and things like that , and it's just my heart and his heart . This was this . For me , this was kind of a first time where I met someone where I was like man . I can literally see how we are , uh , similar in in regards to our desire to help the person next to us . So that was really cool .

Speaker 1 6:49

And then I also met China Morgan . China Morgan is an owner of her business called Vid Vid Vid , vid , vid , vid , vid , vid , vid , vid Vid . Sorry , sorry , sorry , china vidlo . There we go . Her company's called vidlo and it allows people to uh instantly film reviews and responses about businesses after they've used their services . So you go to a whatever ice cream shop , whatever you think , and then they say , hey , love to get your review . Like , comes with your phone , here's a link , press it , you can record it and it sends it instantly . And now they have a link that they could post on social media . So it's a whole business for it .

Speaker 1 7:41

Um , she's been able to take that business and use it for concerts , like things , with , um , missy elliott . She had a really big thing that was really cool . So getting to hear from her and connecting with her on some things , social media wise that we're going to be coming out soon as well . So I'm like , man , this is great , like this is really cool . From one event , we have like three solid connections that I made and I'm excited , like I was like , okay now , okay , now we're starting to cook , cincy , let's go Right .

Speaker 1 8:13

And so , lastly , I found out about a store called pro cam . That is a local store that offers , of course , purchasing camera gear , but also renting camera gear . Now , for me , this is a big like , thank you , because I have never been able to be in a city where they have something like this locally and I can just go to rent and be done and then come back to our profits , et cetera . So this was the first time . An Instagram . Like man , I have so many ideas , like I have workshops that I think is coming up that I would love to be able to , you know , have them , sponsor some things there , to bring some equipment on site , to kind of use it so people can see it and possibly , you know , get some some purchases there for people wanting it , offering discounts , um , and a really cool opportunity . So I've really and I heard about this at the black tech week , um , as well as shortly after they had an event so , man , I I was excited . This was like , okay , this is cool . So , man , I was excited , this is OK , this is cool . So so here's what happened from these connections Right , I shared what happened with Carlos and having the meeting with him , and we have ideas for connecting for some workshops , workshops later on , china , morgan man , we're going to be doing some social media things and being able to develop some content where we kind of feed off of each other .

Speaker 1 9:31

So excited for that . I think collaborative mindset building in different audiences does nothing but become fruitful and multiply . Right , daniel , with Redeemed Visuals man , he gave me a call I don't know , maybe a month or two later and was looking for some video help for a conference that he was filming in Cincinnati , for a conference that he was filming in Cincinnati , and he reached out to me and I had the opportunity to help him with that , to come on site , film some work , get some really cool footage recorded , hear an amazing keynote , this very inspiring and encouraging man . It was so cool and I was so happy , like , so excited I'm honestly in Cincinnati . I'm like man , I don't know .

Speaker 1 10:17

This place feels kind of big , like you need to be able to kind of get some things going , and there it was Opportunities coming in . So we have social media opportunities . We had local of local getting hired to do some services here locally , some video work . We had connecting the dots with a local video production company that has a similar heart to what we're trying to produce and we have an event store that could possibly be an amazing ally for future work , all of this really stemming almost from one event , one , one , one one . So I'm so excited for the opportunities and if there's anything that I want this to encourage anyone in and it's not to boast at all , but it's to say guys , like there has , there has to be .

Speaker 1 11:03

We have to recognize as videographers that we do not have all I do not have all of the power in myself to try to do everything and like , connect with everything , everyone and on social media and try to comment on as many posts as possible and try to create as many reels as possible to try to bring in people , like we have to meet people , we have to make connections , we have to grow arms that reach out to the person next to us and say you know what ? How can I help you , right ? How can I help you Right ? How can I help you ? Most of the times , these connections that I made started with what are the things that you guys produce ? How can we help you with those things ? Right ? That's that's where these connections started and that has to be the heart and mindset for you as we're growing into this video production business , right ? So that's my encouragement . That's what we've done so far .

Speaker 1 12:03

Things are still in the work for things coming up . Like I said , we have workshops . I have social media plans with Chyna Morgan project . That was with Daniel . For Dean Vigils . We're in talks with ProCam now and potentially getting some collaborative efforts there . So I'm just excited , man . This is like new state , new opportunities . This is just starting out . We have great things prepared , great things planned for next year . Just got to stay consistent and keep moving forward in the things that we are pursuing , all right . So this is a shorter one , man . I hope you guys have a great one , as always . If you guys have questions , if you guys have insight , if you guys have something that came to mind through this episode . Please leave a . Leave a comment . Send me a DM on Instagram . Uh , post a comment on the podcast link like do something right , send me a carrier pigeon . Do something , send me something right , right ? I'd love to hear from you guys . All right , thank you so much for listening . As always , you have a great day and , uh , we'll talk soon . Thanks , bye .