We recently connected with Rafal Cwiok and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rafal thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

I do take vacations, but not without a small helping of guilt. And that’s only because it’s easy to feel like you’re losing out on income and job opportunities when you take time away from work.

But I know it’s very important to take time to yourself and spend it with loved ones when you can. If you spend too much time and energy focusing on the business, it can impact the rest of your life in a negative way. You’ll reach burnout, and the passion for what you do will be diluted, or you’ll start neglecting other relationships in your life.

So I see vacations and reset buttons for my work. When I return to it, I feel much better about it since I was able to take that time to myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Rafal Cwiok and I’m a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. I originally moved to LA from Chicago to pursue a career in acting. I studied acting in college and, for a few years, it was my biggest passion. But I also had a fascination with cameras and film sets.

During my time in college, I wanted to act in student films moreso than on a stage because I loved being around the equipment. I had my own camera and loved making short films with my friends. When I moved to LA, it took me two years before I made the career switch and focused fully on filmmaking.

Since making the switch, I’ve focused on building relationships and a portfolio that showcases my interest in creating images through lighting. That’s where my fascination is most prominent in filmmaking; lighting.

I love shaping light to bring up a room and make it look much more compelling. And I love lighting subjects during talking head segments and interviews to make them look as professional and clean as possible.

My current clientele mainly looks for those kinds of results; cleanly lit sets and high quality audio. And that’s where I pride myself in.

Although lately, I’ve been growing an interest in larger film sets. Most of my career has been working with smaller crews (either just myself or perhaps 2 additional people) and I’d like to start moving towards larger projects with several hands working towards the same goal.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’m glad to say that I was able to turn filmmaking from a side hustle to a fulltime career. And all it took was a world wide pandemic!

In seriousness, I was working a day job for 5 years while making content for clients on the side. Because I was making consistent income from the day job, I never felt the push I needed to make the move to fulltime as a filmmaker. That was until the pandemic came and had me furloughed from my job.

I was in a new position; one that forced me to think in new ways on how to generate income and create connections in the creative space. I was connected with a lighting company through a friend that allowed me to collaborate with them and create videos that explained how to stay creative during a pandemic. Videos like “Making You Living Space Cinematic” and “Advanced Toy Photography.”

Because these were for trade, I created the videos and was supplied with lighting equipment from them, which let me start compiling equipment. Shortly after, I was blessed with a connection to a company that was looking to create consistent content for their youtube and social media channels, and I landed a year-long retainer with them. Because I had the equipment from my earlier collaboration, I was able to produce high quality images and work through the lock down.

The one thing I’d want anyone reading to take away from this is that the connections you have can be crucial to your business. All it takes is one recommendation from someone and it immensely increase your business.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’m a podcast and audiobook guy. So I’m always listening to something while driving or exercising. Throughout the years I’ve listened to dozens of different sources, mainly about maintaining drive in the creative space.

For books or audiobooks, I’d recommend one that gets tossed around left and right, and that’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” It’s revolves around two different viewpoints on how to handle money and adopting an investor’s mindset.

Another book I’d reommend is “Who Ate My Cheese.” This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, especially at work.

For podcasts, I love listening to “The Futur with Chris Do.” He has tons of insight on growing businesses in a creative space. But what caught my attention with him at first was his negotiation tactics and how to respond when clients say you’re too expensive.

Then also some other creative podcasts like “The Creative Gap,” “The Ground Up Show,” and “The Indy Mogul Podcast”

Contact Info:

• Website: rafalcwiok.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rafalcwiok/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rafalcwiok
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafalcwiok/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/rafalcwiok