We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josh Almeida a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Josh, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Just the act of starting your own business is risky enough! I’m convinced that there is little differences between playing black jack in Vegas and running a biz. You never get all the answers, you’re making the best call you can in the moment and hoping for the best. The name the game is lower the risk as much as possible while not holding yourself back.

I just went through this taking on a massive project for something I’ve never done before. I had done smaller versions but nothing to the scale that was being offered to me. I knew if we failed, we would most likely be sued and could have to close our company because of the massive money in play but if we could pull this off… it would be HUGH for us! So I decided it was worth taking the shot and holy hell… it was a wild ride!!! We brought in experts to train our team, invested in new software and tools to make it all happen. It was touch and go for a few weeks but we did it!! We not only pulled off the project but did so well the client is already talking to us about doing it again next year, 10X as big too. These are company making projects that will take us to the next level. All because we trusted in ourselves and took the leap.

Be smart, if the risk is worth it… jump! Life is filled with the moments where you’re presented with huge, life shifting opportunities. The trick is learning how to spot them and to know when to go for it or pass. Risk thoughtful my friends.

Josh, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Growing up in Orlando, FL my dream was to be a Disney Imagineer. I went to Full Sail, an Orlando school focused on live entertainment for my “Live Production” degree. I learned how to design large-scale concerts and music tours. The school was a blast but I quickly learned that life on tour sounds so much cooler than it actually is.

After school, I was a Theater Director for a ClubMed theater for a few years, then learned to be a project manager as an audio/video government contractor. It was rough traveling 80% of the year but I got to see behind the curtain of the military, and it was super wild!! When the travel started to wear on me, I got a job as a team director for a themed audio/video company in Orlando. Through that company, I had the Hard Rock Cafe International account and it was my job that all of the Hard Rock Cafes world-wide stayed rock’n. No one likes a hamburger in a quiet dinner room!

Then it happened!! When I was 26, I got the job offer to be a Disney Imagineer and I was so excited! I was ready to move to Burbank, CA to start designing for the mouse!! Only to find out the pay wouldn’t work out, and would also mean I would have to live with roommates, that’s a no! My Disney dreams we’re broken like all the toys in Sid’s room.

Once my dream offer didn’t work out, I decided that I would start my own design company with the same intention as the theme parks; Create stunning environments that people love. My team. A mixture of artists and engineers centered around utilizing technology to design our client’s spaces. Ascend was born and I’m proud to say we have been kick’n it for 12 years now !

Over the years we have worked with some of the coolest teams. We’ve designed apps, theme park resort experiences, museum exhibits, concert venue systems, VR immersive rooms, 360 video wall rooms and we’re in the process of building our (Ascend’s) first Art Park in Orlando, FL, Art2 (pronounced Art squared).

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My massive life pivot came from Burning Man in 2017. I mean, if you’re going to try to figure out life, there is no better place than the playa. While running around all the art, removed from my normal world, meeting some larger-than-life people, I started to see that I had created a few different versions of myself out in “The Real World”.

There was the personal side and the work side of me. Depending on which side you were in my life, you knew two different people. To some, I was a super ridiculous, Charlie Day kinda person, and to others, I was doing my best to channel my inner Logan Roy. I could feel the strain of playing these parts weighed on me and realized that I was actually somewhere in the middle.

I thought the world of business wanted a Logan. Logan’s are who they make movies about and who WSJ won’t stop writing about. I was super fearful of dropping the suit and buzz words but I knew I couldn’t play the part anymore. What if they don’t like me? Even worse, what if my business fails because I “went soft”?

I came back from that burn, and completely overhauled the company culture, language and how we interacted with our clients. We went from talking like a bank teller to our team members treating our clients like actual people. We completely redesigned our website, proposals, and messaging to be super down-to-earth and real. We also made a conscious decision to no longer work with teams (clients) who are horrible people. No amount of money is worth supporting crappy people or projects (a scary thing for a business owner to say at the time).

I was really worried all of this would push away our large corporate clients but as it turns out, the opposite happened. They loved it!! People want to work with people and not contracts. Since that pivot, Ascend has taken off and we’ve been honored to work with some really cool people. It’s also been such a weight off my shoulders not trying to play a part anymore, but just myself. A blend of Charlie Day & Logan Roy (now that’s a show idea!)

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I believe each of us is given a talent or skill. This life is challenging you to find that talent and then use it in a way that supports the rest of us. We are all members of a worldwide community and I’ve learned that the community loves seeing someone shine within their brilliance.

My mission with Ascend is to create more beauty in the world. For me, beauty is something that we not only love to look at but should inspire or teach us something as well. It’s easy for us to forget how absolutely insane this whole life thing is, and sometimes people need to experience something larger than life to regain true awareness again. I strive to help create these types of, stand-out experiences for people and it’s what Ascend is all about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AscendStudios.com
• Instagram: @ascend_studios
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AscendStudios
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-almeida-37279112/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ascendstudios