Cinematographer and Owner of Capion Studio - Kevin Luiz

Dave & I met Kevin when we were diving into producing videos - and had a lot of questions, specifically about a new camera we bought.  I had read an article about this specific camera - and then reached out to the author - who invited us to chat via Skype….  We hit it off right away - and I could tell kevin had such a kind and giving heart -- spending time with two novices - sharing his advice and encouragement!

 We’d love to introduce you today - to Kevin Luiz - a cinematographer and owner of Capion Studio based in MA. His authentic approach to creative media and working with clients is inspiring -- here’s our interview. 

Capion Studio is a commercial film studio focused around a singular concept; creativity.

Connect with Kevin Luiz!
https://www.capionstudio.com/
info@capionstudio.com


Connect with Dave & Jessica!
To be inspired by more stories, to book us on your next podcast or to inquire about being a guest, find us at SquareOneShow.com - thanks for listening!
jessica@squareoneshow.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

At the end of the day, the products, the services that we provide, none of that matters. It really doesn't.

Speaker 2: 0:06

What we're here on this planet to do is to have experiences with one another. And if you walk through life with blinders on, you're not going to have fidelity. Like

Speaker 3: 0:21

this is the square one show.

Speaker 4: 0:31

[inaudible]

Speaker 3: 0:32

so Dave and I met Kevin when we were diving into producing videos and we have lots of questions specifically about this new camera that we bought. So I had read an article about this specific camera and then reached out to the author who then invited us to chat via Skype. So we hit it off right away. And I could tell Kevin had such a kind and giving heart, spending time with two novices, sharing his advice and encouragement. So we'd love to introduce to you today, Kevin Lewis, a cinematographer and owner of Cappy and studio based in Massachusetts. His authentic approach to creative media and working with clients is inspiring. We hope you enjoy a story.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Hey Jeff, what's going on? How are you, Kevin?

Speaker 1: 1:18

All right. Just enjoying this. A cloudy, rainy day here in Massachusetts.

Speaker 2: 1:23

Oh man, I do that usually cloudy here in Northwest Pennsylvania, but, cool. So what's, uh, what's new? What's going on? Oh, well Dave's here with us too. How's it going, Kevin? Hey. Hey Dave. Good. Yeah, you've been pretty good hanging in there. So your company, it's[inaudible] on, is that how you pronounce it? Um, Campion I guess there's no little, there's no little snaps right above the,

Speaker 1: 1:50

no. And actually, you know what's funny is I was thinking about that. I was like, I knew you were going to ask that

Speaker 2: 1:55

Catherine. Okay. And studio.

Speaker 1: 1:57

I'm trying to go and I was trying to go back and think about where that name was originally derived from. Kind of a word metal when I was thinking about it. I was like back then when I was shooting for fun, when I formed my company back in 2012 um, I was shooting a lot of 35 millimeter on my Pentax and I believe, I think I was, if I, my memory serves me correct, I was doing kind of like a word puzzle and it was capture image on negative

Speaker 2: 2:26

and that's where that was derived from. Okay. Yep. Negative, negative being negative to them and that

Speaker 1: 2:32

kind of where I would wear that was originated from and I was like people after that all the time. And yeah, that's, that's where that comes from. Also, I think I was like reading space books at the time, which I was looking at ions and that I was, I'm pretty sure I was playing like CAPP, calm video games,

Speaker 2: 2:52

which is also another thing. I'm like, you know, all of these things combined. It was kind of a neat little word. Now, and it's where that this week is like your anniversary isn't, it wasn't like the beginning of October I saw on your website. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Thank you. Yeah. It's um, it's been long in coming. I think that's really kind of what I'd like to focus talking about is so difficult to be obviously to be an entrepreneur, but to Dan on your own two feet and be able to support yourself with a business. Because I feel like everybody wants to be in this business of creating content, shooting and filming. Cause there's some, some something like a, like a attracting, there's something really appealing about being able to, to shoot video content and there's video content created or diamond doesn't. So to be able to be successful and be in business for this long and it's kind of a Testament. So I forget sometimes and I stand back and I say, wow. Like, and actually able to put food on the table and I just purchased my first house.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Wow. Congratulations. That's fantastic. Thank you. Yeah,

Speaker 1: 4:01

me, Christine[inaudible] is my girlfriend. We brought our first house and it's called the Highlands. It's like it's in fall river, which I'm sure ours needs terrible news locally right now. Our mayor is, yeah. On like extortion charters or something. Crazy thoughts. So not the best.

Speaker 2: 4:18

What's he test area?

Speaker 1: 4:22

It's kinda like if chip and Joanna Gaines saw this out there, they'd still fall in love immediately. It's like a colonial house, three bedroom. It's on a, you know, a nice quiet street.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Great. And this is the dream up there. This is Massachusetts is, it's close to Boston or what's like, where are you at in Massachusetts?

Speaker 1: 4:40

Yeah, so I live in Southeastern Massachusetts. So like if you, I always just got, if you imagine like the arm of Massachusetts work in the armpit.

Speaker 2: 4:48

Okay. It's a great way to describe the town. Yeah. Yeah. The moment. Just put some deodorant on and you'll be good.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Yeah, no, no, it's so like, it's so beautiful. It really is. If you ever have the opportunity to come up to Massachusetts cause it's all coastal, we get killer sunsets, the beaches maybe like,

Speaker 2: 5:09

and let us grow on us. Oh, nice. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like a good spot, but you're in a an area that there is a lot more competition too, I would imagine. So the fact that you're successful,

Speaker 1: 5:21

that's a really good question. Dave is yes and no. Okay. So actually I was just having a debate or not as if they, I guess like a conversation with somebody online on a recent red shark article. I don't know if you took the opportunity to read that is, did you happen to see the comments down below?

Speaker 2: 5:37

No, I'm going to bring that up right now.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Okay, sure. So there was a gentleman, I think he ended up revealing that he was from Brooklyn, New York and he was kind of going into this whole automation giant is killing our industry and there's not enough work. And I know all of these digital agencies that basically have closed shop in the past, you know, two to three years. And I'm just having this conversation with him about what are you doing for service, number one. Number two, how are you separating yourself from the competition and how are you maintaining your clients and validating your service? And a lot of those things I don't necessarily think he could answer. He was kind of just pointing back towards like Matt Justo in 90 seconds, which are these basically these a website that take your video content and through artificial intelligence, all of your material as be, there's like unlimited edits and basically they slapped together a cookie cutter job talk for you. And then I think that they actually do the campaign distribution and they put it out to market. So we were having this conversation and this is um, this article is not just corrections. Conversation was on how to optimize your website. And so he started to reveal to me basically that he was in Brooklyn, New York. And at that point I said, you need to get out of outside of your comfort zone for one and two. You need to get outside of your geographical location. Because if you are relying on Regene through your geographical location, you're never going to get work. You're never going to survive. So that brings me back to your question, Dave, is that like what is going on in my market? Honestly, we formed Campion. It was myself and my good friend Gary Madeiras and my father Joe was actually part of the operations for Ariel. We formed Campion because we identified that media is very weak actually in Southeastern Massachusetts it is, I don't want to say it's nonexistent. Some companies are starting to come on board with it, but it's just not a strong suit. It's very under developed, so really I've never, in the seven years I've been in business, I've never lost a job to a competitor. I've never been like had the rug pulled out from underneath me and I think I've lost, you know how I always, I always have like one off clients, but the clients that I've maintained over the years have always been there and they keep coming back to the table because it, and this isn't, this is the mantra or the idea that they're not clients at a certain point. Their partners and really about providing them tools that not only that they can use, teaching them ways that they can use it in different ways and helping them leverage that content in ways that they might've not thought to use before. It's a whole package that we kind of put together and sell them on now. But yeah, to to your direct question is no, I don't, the competition isn't really tight here if you go up towards Boston, absolutely. If you go to Providence, so a little bit, but where I'm right now, I think that there's maybe like three or four competitors and they're not really, they're not really doing what we're doing in a way.

Speaker 5: 9:01

Right. I'm just looking at your website now. So you're doing consulting and preproduction, the actual video production and then all the post-production, and it sounds like you're really focused on storytelling to, can you go into that a little bit and tell us why you feel like the importance of storytelling needs to be there?

Speaker 1: 9:18

Yeah. Storytelling's huge. I did a seminar with my local chamber of commerce and I said to them in that class, and they were, they were just kind of throwing everything at the wall. I said to them, you're not a brick and mortar store or you're not a brick and mortar company. You're a company of people and your people make you an actual entity and what, why people want to continue to do business with you. The storytelling is a huge element of that is not being afraid to put your, your representatives on camera to get that authentic story, that authentic vibe, the culture behind who you are. And that's done through very pointed questions is a little bit of discovery period when consultation. And usually what I'll do is I'll spend some time with the company and I'll learn about them, what they do or the facility tore the, the actual offices, talk to people, learn who they are. Then we do the interview process, but storytelling element is essentially bringing all of these cast of characters together who are the employees of these institutions or these organizations and then handshaking down the line. So every story is different. You know, one time I could be doing a piece on a kid, a student who's gone off to college and coming back and reminiscing about his, his high school or the next day I could be filming with a nonprofit about their impact on the community and how they're making a difference as well as bolstering who they are as a corporation or a nonprofit and using that storytelling element to increase recruitment. So Dory is, story's a huge thing. I mean that has a lot to do with like the discovery period though is like a lot of[inaudible] pointed questions just in initial consultation about who they are and what they do and who they serve this. And then from there what we'll do is we'll create series of questions. We'll kind of all of that back and forth between my team and their own and then we'll do the interview process. But I think a lot of our work, if you look at it, a lot of our work is authentic interviewing as opposed to like doing like casting and getting paid after. Is there anything like that? I've done a couple of that stuff. But the type of work that we do is actual like employees.

Speaker 5: 11:47

Yeah, I would imagine it's a little bit tougher. We've done some video stuff too and in certain areas they're not

Speaker 6: 11:54

actors. It's pretty tough to get them to act authentically or come across. I was gonna ask like how you actually tell those stories. Well when you're not dealing with professional actors or people that maybe can't even take direction very well. So you kind of said they use more interview process.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Yes, that's a good question is well first off like I feel positivity has to come. You have to be a positive person if you're going to be directing. I've been in rooms where there's directors who are just kinda like negative and they don't have a glove to them. Like you have to be like an upbeat positive person down to earth. And I think that that in myself like comes forward is like I disarm people and if they get nervous about a camera I'll just stop it or I'll pretend to stop and I'll just stay it on. Listen, this is just, this is just a piece of plastic with like some glass and some electronics. This, it's me and you don't even pay attention to that. Ignore it. It's just, it's just plastic. We're just having a conversation and nine out of 10 times that usually works and what I'll do is I won't even stop recording and they'll think that like, they're like, Oh, like we're just, I'll, I'll say I'll stop. And then that's when I get the gold is usually when somebody is like disarmed like that. And that's really it. It's like just like that interpersonal skill to be able to like just get on somebody's level and understand that they might have some difficulty with this and that it's okay. Like it's okay to be nervous and just take a moment to reflect and just have a casual conversation. Kind of like what we're doing right now. Right. Like, you know, think about this, I was thinking about this being a podcast and probably be like super nervous, but I know you guys, like I've talked to you in the past, there's a conversation. That's all it is.

Speaker 6: 13:41

It's okay. We're not intimidating. Nobody's listening anyway. That's okay. No, we have amazing listeners. We do hear from them, but I think that is huge. And I know there's a lot of people that have great technical skills and they understand how the stuff works, but the final product doesn't always reflect that because like you're saying, they don't have that personal connection with people that allows those people to feel, uh, have a level of comfortability, which lowers their guard and allows them to trust you. So I think that's huge. Is that something you just, Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say,[inaudible] my question. We can, you can go back to Dave here in a second. My question is, how do you, how did you learn that? Does it come naturally to some people or is it something you can learn?

Speaker 1: 14:30

Hmm, that's a really good question. So I'm, this is gonna sound funny, but I'm actually the son of a therapist.

Speaker 6: 14:36

Hmm. Oh, how do you feel about that?

Speaker 1: 14:41

I've been, my whole life, I've been pretty much in therapy, right? So no, I mean it's just being like a good listener and being empathic and um, you know, I'm as streamline, extremely perceptive person. Guy can read body language, I can read eye movement, I can read, I can read it all and I can read subtexts of language when people are talking and nothing really slips by me. So I think that that also has to do with it. But turning that filter off sometimes is really difficult for me is I think being able to know that somebody is nervous or like even if they're candidates, their voice, how fast they're talking, how they slow eye exam, anxiety high. And then maybe sometimes they'll just stop right there. Like if they, their word vomiting these things to get it out there, I might just pause them, say, Hey, let's get some water. And then what I'll do is maybe I'll pull them aside and be like, would you do this weekend? Not even off camera, like just casual chat and get them to be cool and then go back on camera. And now they feel like that much more connected with me. It's like get us to talk about the kids or something. Like usually that will let them down. But you know, Dave, what I was going to go back to you is I also chop the hell out of my video. So like for like rye interviews, I construct sentences that weren't even there.

Speaker 2: 16:06

Sometimes they call take stuff. Yeah, it's, yeah. I mean like, so

Speaker 1: 16:16

it's not 100% out of context,

Speaker 2: 16:18

just like basically digging like exactly now. So it's like, Oh, I breath you ums and AHS obviously as right. Yup. Yeah.

Speaker 6: 16:30

So yeah, it sounds like what you're talking about though is emotional intelligence that you're, you have a lot of, and that's obviously not just important in making videos. And that's true in any line of work. And there's actually studies to statistics that show that people with high EQ and emotional intelligence are far more successful than those that don't have it. And from what I've understood there, some people are born more innately with it. But I do think there probably is ways to develop that more too. And I don't know. And I think maybe even just the fact that you're aware of it, I don't know if you push into that more or if you, are there any ways that you have tried to develop that even more or is it just kinda natural?

Speaker 1: 17:11

No, I think it's natural. I think I've also, I am like mentors and some mentors that like don't even know they're my mentors is like I just, I take little things and little bits and pieces of people and I piece them together until like my own thing I guess, if that makes sense. For like just general business interactions. And I think that that's really important is I think us as entrepreneurs, we forget to like say, Hey, we don't know at all. We need to seek guidance from other people if they know it or not. And just try to observe as much as you can from like other people's interactions. What works, what doesn't. I can energy. So for instance, perfect example, and my mother's going to kill me about that. So my mother is doing this really cool startup business where it's such a huge need in our community. She's created an agency where she is working with first responders, basically any first responder that's had some sort of traumatic experience or these incidents sort of guidance or is in a dark place or needs family services. He is going to be facilitating that and she's very good at what she does and this, this startup is going to explode. Like she's already got all these connections. He's identified a major need in our community. And so anyway, what's really funny is that I just went with a meeting with her to go meet with the local fire department and the chief chief of fire and we'd go through our meeting and you know the, the subject matter of what she's doing is dark. It's status depressing, right? She's explaining herself and she's just going down, down, down, down, down and I'm feeling the energies just getting sucked out of the room as she's describing what she's doing. And then I come back in and I'm like, this is what we're doing for video. And it's like, I'm exciting and I'm watching their levels go up, up, up, up, up. And they're getting like more excited than like more energetic again. So I sat with her in the car and I said, you know, would you like some advice? And she's like, sure. You have to find a balance between what you do and the nature of it and finding a way to not suck the energy out of the room because you can see that they were just getting really like, Oh, like, and then as soon as I brought back the other element in and then they were and they go up. So it's that being able to read your audience too is like when you're sitting with these executives and what matters to them, how can I find a way to excite them about this and what is their return based off of the services that you're providing and do packaging all of that together in a way that is digestible, is exciting and we've been feeling good about when you're walking out the door that they're, they're making a right decision about whatever your service may be.

Speaker 5: 20:05

Yeah, I like that. When your article, you talked about having the confidence, I think, let me just go to reference your article. It talks about knowing your competitive advantages, instilling confidence in your sales pitch, and at the very least, learning the language so you can communicate effectively with interdisciplinary figureheads. I love that. That puts everything in a nice, neat little package. But of course going in, everybody's different and knowing how to read a room is really important and a lot of people might not know how to do that, but it's something you can at least be aware of and know that you need to be aware of and work on. Not just quit and say, well, I'm terrible at that. I'll just quit. You know? Keep leaning in and keep reading. People. Keep watching the interactions.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Yeah. You know what's so funny too is I'll go into, obviously like I know more or less the figureheads when I walk into like a board room, right? Like I'll know the CEO, I know the CEO, I knew the CFO lot. They're always, not always, but there's sometimes that person who just isn't buying what you're selling. Right. And you've got to find a way to include them into the conversation to get them to[inaudible] cause they're going to be the one, once you walk away, there are going to be the one that's going to be putting it down and saying to the person who's the decision maker getting in there. I don't know if this person should be doing this. I don't know if this is the right direction. So you have to be very inclusive with everybody. So like if I were to go in and I know the CEO is down, maybe HR is down, but the marketing director is just like not believing in video, right. I'll find ways to bring them into the conversation and that that has to do with that perception. What are they doing with their body? Are they making eye contact with you? Are they asking questions? Positive questions. I didn't ask negative questions. What are their gestures? What are they? Are they leaning back in the chair? Are their arms folded? Are they looking at some of your material? Are they young? Are cell phones? Who is that person in that room? And you got to like get them to that. They might not even be a decision maker, but at the end of the day you want everybody on board and you have to be able to read that room. And I think that's so important. Yeah. So Kevin, what? And then that also, what's that? Go ahead. And just that also in terms of being able to speak that language, I've taken a pivot, like a paradigm shift on how I'm selling my services is that I'm now trying to get into the analytics of everything and trying to get into campaign distribution. And I'm by no means an expert at this at all. Yeah. But I'm a fast forward or I'm a voracious reader, so I've been spending a lot of time on this to be able to learn that language. And now I find when I'm, if I'm talking to a marketing head or if I'm talking to a social media manager needs Lang, this language that I've learned that I'm starting to pick up regarding campaign distribution, ad buys, SEO, meta tagging, all that stuff, data time and purchasing, purchase, all that stuff. I'm starting to integrate that into my conversations and I'm seeing those people who might be naysayers actually perk up because I'm speaking their language and now they're like, Oh you know what, like maybe video is something because what I do is I Neri, it's a marriage between, you know, the storytelling, the imagery, the quality, the call to action, the annotations, all of that on top of the campaign distribution, what channels we're going to put it out to, what our measurements are going to be, what are, what are, what are reasonable conversions, what is our return on investment. You know, all of those things combined is the full package and I think I missing that for a long time and now that I'm starting to kind of integrate that into conversations, I'm starting to see for one a better value of people. People value the product a little bit more. I'm not just handing off a product and being like, here you go, how that I'm now I'm able to stand back and offer a service that that might be a value to them that they might not know how to use that you to its full potential. And I think that has a lot of worth in conversation, especially in your initial pitch.

Speaker 6: 24:12

Right. It probably just connects with them on their level too. Right. You said you're speaking their language, so they're already connected with you in that way too. So that's cool. How and why did you get into video in the first place? What's the backstory?

Speaker 1: 24:27

I'm a super nerd and I used to, I don't play video games anymore, but I used to play video games a lot and I fell in love and it's so crazy that has come, it's a remake is coming up, but I fell in love with this game called final fantasy seven and I'm not sure if you're familiar with that disc. Yeah, so I fell in love with that game when I was a little kid and I was like, wow. Like this is amazing storytelling. And like I just never let my imagination run wild. There's always something with people who get into film and video that there was something that sparked their imagination. And oddly enough it wasn't actual video. It was video game. Right? So it just happened in my imagination. And then I started to, when I was, I want to say I was eight or nine, I started getting involved in chat room roleplaying and all that stuff, which is really super nerdy. And then I walked away with a really bad, really nerdy and then I walked away with a really cool story and I said to myself, I want to set out to make this story and I still do to this day and I don't know what form that's going to be in, if that's going to be in a book or if that's going to be in an actual movie or some sort of combination of the two, which is kind of an interesting concept or divulge too much into that. But I have like a really cool idea too. That's what that element came from combined with, you know, I w I grew up watching movies, I loved them and I said to myself, well I knew love to storytell, I love imagery. And then I started to learn how to do video and I went off to college for direction and minor did writing and then worked in Hollywood for a little while and then came back home. And then from there I ended up working in corporate and burnt myself out on that and said to myself, you know, I can do this myself. I know how to do this. I don't need the bureaucracy of, of corporate holding me back. So yeah, that's how I kind of got into into video and visual storytelling. I think also one other thing to add is I remember in high school having to do a video project and it was sociology and I think that that was like the movie I ever made and I made it on like this like chunky little cannon flip cam or something like that. And I remember the process being amazing and it was like, wow, like I could do this for like the rest of my life and I should maybe get paid for it or something like that. And I think that that was the culmination of all those things. Yeah. Does that kind of answered that?

Speaker 6: 26:59

Oh yeah. That's crazy. That's, that's huge. And it's the passion to make video and to be a storyteller is a little bit different than starting your own business too. Like being an entrepreneur. Sometimes those things don't always go hand in hand. So the fact that you've been able to build a business around your passion is pretty amazing too. And that's been successful, I think is really cool because it's not always easy to do that. It's not locked. Like you said, a lot people will go work in Hollywood for somebody else or they work for corporation or something. But to actually be able to do the things that you're doing on your own is huge because there's a lot of moving parts that have nothing to do with storytelling or, yeah, make it

Speaker 1: 27:41

sweet dude. I can tell you man, like my, the time I spend more administrative time than I do of actual video shooting and editing, I really do. And it's like, Oh man, it, I want to get to a point where I can scale this and actually have, you know, I have Gary's when I need him and I have my father Joe for the aerial services, but I don't want to say I'm a one man band because I do bring in, you know, day players as needed. But for all the administrative work, I'm a one man band and probably gen one man band, um, the website that took me months to build. So you're right, marrying the creative with the interpersonal with the administrative is like, I can see how people would not be able to do it and be able to survive and stand on their own two feet because it just gets to an overwhelming point, especially with, you know, rejection, right? Is like, it's just too much at sometimes. So I've been extremely thankful and it's not all roses. You know, I've had tough years last year, super successful year. This year is actually been a really difficult year and that's because of elements out of my own control, like leadership changes within companies that I was working for with working with. So they have scaled back, stuff like that. So it's not all roses and I think that you have to have that perseverance and that positive outlook to say this is what I love knows ISL is a huge thing. It's like I've worked for companies and I know that I can't go back and work in a, in a desk job than to video. Like I'm just not being utilized. I mean I guess if I were to go work for like a big digital agency that's like traveling around the world every week and I'm shooting and I'm out in the field, like probably love that. But at the same time I'm probably not going to have a lot of creative output to be able to do some of the things that I'm doing right now. So.

Speaker 6: 29:39

Well speaking of traveling, you have done some traveling. When you're and the video work, have you not like overseas or different countries and stuff? Is that, yeah. How's that like?

Speaker 1: 29:49

I love it. Like that's where my, I don't feel like I could do it all the time. I would say that that is where my heart is. I do love to travel, but, so I worked for a travel, an international travel company for about a year. They did like guided travel and that was the company that kind of like broke the camel's back for me. It was caught in a way, it was a dream job because what you do is it was guided travel and I would go and experience the tour with the individuals and document it and it was really cool. It was just the, the bureaucracy of it. Like I would honestly say that when I wasn't traveling and I was in the office, which was the majority of the time, we'd probably only go a couple couple of trips then that you assign. So Hmm. I would say that like when I was in the office, I was probably working solid one to two days a week. The rest of the time I'd just be kind of shuffling papers around and put on my[inaudible].

Speaker 6: 30:47

You're right. I love King.

Speaker 1: 30:50

Yeah. Yeah. No, and I mean that's not how I, yeah, it's not, it's not how I wanna be, you know what I mean? Like I feel like it's just, it's just not valuing myself at that point. It's like, you know, things, corporate, corporate is a funny, a human construct, right? It's like, it was created mainly in the 60s, you know, and really strong in the 80s is corporate structure and this nine to five job and it just doesn't, it's not efficient in the modern culture and it's just super ocracy of it. Like things get hung up because of one thing connects to the other. Like I would honestly be waiting to create a video that I could probably create in two days and I'd be waiting on a graphic designer to provide the elements and he's backed up to kingdom come for the next, you know, two weeks. And I can't move forward on my project because I'm hung up by him and I'm like, I could honestly, I've got graphic chops. I could probably do what needs to be done and get this job to job complete, but I can't because I'd be stepping on his toes and then that makes him look bad and you know what I mean? Like there's just a lot of elements to corporate that just doesn't make sense and that's why I just love what I'm doing now is because I'm interfacing on an outside perspective with a fresh pair of eyes and I can come in, I can complete the job and I can walk away until the next project comes up and focus my attention elsewhere on the other party. But travel so much fun date. It's like I went to, I traveled to Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, France, and then also I did a job in Mexico city for another company too.

Speaker 6: 32:35

That sounds awesome. We had one of our other guests, he has a in Spain,

Speaker 5: 32:40

Barcelona, Spain, and he was talking about the importance of traveling and getting out in the world and seeing other cultures. Do you feel like you have benefited from that, from being able to travel and then bring those experiences back into your work?

Speaker 1: 32:52

Yeah, the world is so much bigger than the four corners of where we live. Right. I feel like just my college experience alone of going and living in Chicago for four years was an eye opening experience and there's so many people that are different in the Midwest as opposed to Southeastern Massachusetts. Right? So when I go abroad, when I, when I go abroad and I go overseas, it's just like this wealth of knowledge and culture and how things are being done in everyday life. Overseas is just really eye opening and it kinda keeps you in focus about how we live our own lives and then incorporating that what you learn and bring it back over here. I find like when I went to Portugal, it was really neat when people would just say like a, a much more leisure weighed back approach as opposed to like, you know, go into Boston and Austin and people like

Speaker 6: 33:46

right,

Speaker 1: 33:49

run into to go do whatever they need to slow it down. You know, like people need to just chill out and enjoy each other. And I think that we lose a little bit of that. And when you go abroad and you see how other people interact with one another, it just kind of reinforces that notion that we are all experience that at the end of the day, the products, the services that we provide, none of that matters. It really doesn't. What we're here on this planet to do is to have experiences with one another. And if you walk through life with blinders on, you're not going to have a fulfilling life. So when you go into another culture and you, you're traveling abroad, like take notice of like what's going on around you and how other people are interacting with you because you might find it completely different than how you do in your own four corners of where you live.

Speaker 6: 34:48

Yeah, for sure. That's huge. And that's what he was saying. He, the guy that's has an office in Spain, just, he actually, his experiences in Spain and their culture and how connected they are, it's more about relationships than getting the job done all the time. And he, he came back here and totally changed the model of this company to base it more on those connections and those experiences with others. So,

Speaker 5: 35:12

and that's so good, Kevin, to talk to you about do you're just reinforcing that story. It's kind of something, I think that we all feel, it's like reading the room, right? You go in and you go this corporate thing or the way we do things here, just, it doesn't feel right. Something's amiss.

Speaker 6: 35:25

Right. But that's how we've been doing it for the last however many years now. And so it's, we're stuck in a mold that I think it's going to take more people like you and people thinking outside the box to create a new reality,

Speaker 2: 35:38

a different reality that's not so focused on, yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:42

The reality date that we have is the reality that we make. Like I saw something that like, Oh well it was like an article about we all perceive reality differently and this is getting really kind of like philosophical, but I think that you put out a positive energy, hopefully you'd receive one in return. So this whole thing of like walking in and, and pitching on a service and just like trying to get paid, it's not a reality. You need to have that interpersonal relationship with the people that you're talking to and treat them like humans and not just source of income. And I think that, you know, let, let me, let me back up for a second. I'm going to give you an example. We just recently purchased our own house. Okay. I think I said, and through the process I have like amazing real estate agent. She was great. She was a friend of mine. She walked in the door. I knew her for awhile. I immediately said done like she was brand new agent. She was great. And she works for obviously a real estate agent, not for nothing, like they're a good agency, but I'm going into ordering how to sell real estate. So I'm actually going through my real estate license. I went into a class and the gentleman who taught the class is actually the owner of the brokerage. And I've met, maybe met him like three times before I even sat down in this class. And each time I've met him, he never remembers me. And, and I say to them, I say, Oh, I'm, you know, I'm Kevin Louise. We actually bought our house through you. And it's honestly, it's a blank stare on his face, blank stare on his face, not look up. Oh really? Wait, where'd you get it? Or like, cool, thank you so much for your business. None of that. Just a

Speaker 2: 37:26

blank days. What do you want from me

Speaker 1: 37:28

and I, and I'm thinking to myself, is this how you conduct business? You're so allowed to touch. I just handed you what maybe like 20$30,000 in commission and your going to not even acknowledge that. And that's the problem with our culture is that we automatically think that we provide a service, therefore we put our hands out and we walk away. And that's not how business should be conducted. You need to humble yourself and you need to say thank you, thank you for choosing me because there's so many options out there that people, and if you go, you walk through life with that attitude of artist chip on the shoulder of like you all me or are or the world owes me, therefore I'm not going to be appreciative of a fact is a really sad day for our culture. I really do think that that, and people aren't going to choose to do business with you and if they do, they only do it because it's by default, you know? So that's my, my whole spiel with that. I don't know entirely where I was going, but I think that you just need to, again, it's, it's

Speaker 2: 38:33

reinforcing that notion of connecting with people

Speaker 1: 38:36

and that's really the name of the game of being successful. It's an ethic.

Speaker 3: 38:39

Yeah. Awesome. Kevin, thank you so much for your time. I just, I love your work is fantastic. You're extremely talented and we're thankful that you were on the show with us today, so how can people get ahold of you?

Speaker 1: 38:52

Sure. They can go to our website, which is Campion studio a.com which is C, a, T I O N studio.com or they can reach out to me personally, which is info at Campion studio dot.

Speaker 3: 39:04

Awesome. Thanks Kevin. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 39:07

Thank you guys. Hey, have a good day. All right. Yeah, you too.

Speaker 3: 39:12

Explore dream, discover. That's what we're all about here. Sharing people's stories and engaging with each other. While we hope you found this conversation helpful and encouraging, we'd love to keep in touch. We just started a Facebook group where you can connect on a more personal level. It's called the square one lounge. You can find it by going to our website, square one show.com and at the top, just click on lounge. Thanks to our editor, Paul McCaw SCO. And until next time, this is David and Jessica Lewis. Enjoy your work.

Speaker 4: 39:54

[inaudible][inaudible].