Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Roman Gonzales. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Roman, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

When I first decided to get into shooting & directing music videos my gut told me that in order to get good at it I had to get as much work under my belt as possible. I took to social media and searched through every music related hashtag I could think of. Once I came across an artists page I would message and comment on their content asking to collaborate. this resulted in over 500 music videos shot, directed and edited my first 2 years filming from the end of 2017 through 2019. All those original visuals are still on my youtube.

Roman, 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?

I first got into video editing back in the 6th or 7th grade when my mom did a video project for her first grade elementary class that she was teaching. the video was basically footage and time lapses of the life cycle of a butterfly. I edited that on windows movie maker on my moms work laptop. Once I learned how to use movie maker I started getting into making highlight reels for my teammates in high school. eventually going on to produce videos for my high school as well as some local club teams. After high school I set the camera down for a while and started multiple different small businesses as an entrepreneur. Then in 2017 I started a small social media marketing agency and when it came time to produce content I picked the camera back up. one thing led to another and I found my passion for shooting music videos and never looked back.

Have you ever had to pivot?

It feels like things move so fast in this industry as well as many others to the point where I feel I have to pivot or come with something new. I love Gary Vaynerchuck’s famous quote “You have to work every day to put yourself out of business. Think like the competition. What moves could potentially put you out of business? Seek that out and do that. I try to do that every year if not multiple times a year if im seeing success I try to use that to foster a new source of income within my niche.

How did you build your audience on social media?

reach out reach out reach out. keep throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks. do more of what works and less of what doesnt. continue to try new things.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/directedbyroman
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@livefromthegutter

Image Credits
mine