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

Timothy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

When I was a kid I was so attracted to being in a rock band. I spent my early years falling in love with learning how to play the guitar, writing music, and touring the country in different bands. As I got older, I learned that it was the freedom that all of these rock bands seemed to have that attracted me. They were living life on their terms. I craved that. I dreamed of having a life where I could dictate my path and decide my destiny, and spent my entire life up to this point trying to figure that out. This has taken the form of writing and self-publishing two books titled “Earth to Abram” and “Earth To Abram: West Fire Star Kid”, starting a band under the same name “Earth to Abram”, hosting a weekly podcast, and ultimately videography where I find myself today.

Capturing moments on video has always been a part of my life. I was obsessed with home movies as a kid, and my parents thankfully captured most of my life on tape. I would spend hours going back through the footage fully reliving all of the memories. Once I got old enough to learn how to operate a camera, I immediately started making videos of my own. Finally, another tool I could use to express myself! The guitar being my first love and my first tool, to now the video camera. It wasn’t until much later in my mid-twenties that I found myself realizing that dream I had way back when I was a kid. A lightbulb went off in my head back in 2019. I could marry all of my loves into one cohesive creative venture. Thus, Timothy Lebo Films was born.

Timothy Lebo Films serves as a way for me to write and record music that lays as the backdrop to my movies. It serves as a way to nurture the story teller in me. It serves as a way for me to constantly push my creative limits and ideas. It allows me to collaborate and share other peoples stories. In 2019, after years and years of struggling to find footing with my creative voice, i finally had felt like something truly “clicked”.

I’ve always been a dreamer, but I learned at an early age that there is never the perfect time to start something. I’d find myself getting so frustrated that I didn’t seem to be getting the connections, breaks, or opportunities other people seemed to be getting. I remember vividly listening to a Jimmy Eat World song called “23” one day, and there was a lyric that says “You’ll sit alone forever if you want for the right time, what are you hoping for?” And it totally rocked me. There is no right time to start something, you just have to do it. I learned that by just putting one foot in front of the other that my body would follow, and then my mind would catch up. I’d figure it out as I went. I’d hone in the vision as I went. After learning this at such a young age, it really served me with starting this latest venture with Timothy Lebo Films. I didn’t spend months working out a business strategy, coming up with the perfect branding, setting a launch date and building hype around something that had zero substance yet. I knew I needed to just put my feet on the ground and move. I’d spend a free hour of my day wandering the woods and filming nature when I had no connections in the industry. I’d edit together the footage i had collected and would post it online, sharing it with people I had found in the area just so I’d have some example of what I could do. I have always focused on building relationships over “building my business” and I truly think the best way to do that is to show up, to care, and to not let “perfection” get in the way of something that could be really great and beautiful.

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

I’m so thankful for Timothy Lebo Films and what it has brought into my life. I always dreamed of a life where I could use my creativity to express myself and be of service to others. As an artist who enjoys using multiple mediums, it’s so exciting to me that I not only get to put together a film that tells a story, but I also get to write/record the soundtrack for it. i think that’s a really unique and interesting aspect that sets me a part from your “everyday videographer”. As most of us know, the music and score to a movie completely changes and sets the tone. Being able to film an event and feel the vibe of the day, the vibe of the business/brand/couple, and write something totally unique for them that captures that essence is a really gratifying feeling.

I spent my early years touring the country, and videography gets to take me to all new places and meet all new people much like those days. I love the fact that people trust me enough with their story, their brand, their vision, and want me to help bring it to life for them through the art of visual/audio story telling.

I care so deeply about story telling…for people to be seen and heard. I know how exciting it can be to have an idea built up in your head so big that it feels like you could just burst, and how liberating it is to express it to the world, even if only for yourself to see. My goal with this venture is to continually pursue the idea of truth. Telling your truth, or exploring what your inner truth even is. “What is the real reason you’re getting into this business? What’s the reason you two fell in love? Why do you think this service you are offering is needed and could change the world someday?”

These are the stories I want to tell.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Truly caring about people. People come first, no matter what. This needs to be a genuine and authentic feeling for you! We’ve all seen the movies and heard the stories of the corrupt CEO’s and bosses who treat their employees like numbers. We know how it feels to be in a conversation with someone, or in a working relationship with someone, where they are just not emotionally or mentally invested. It’s a terrible feeling. Ever since I was young I knew the importance of feeling seen by someone else. The human connection is the strongest thing we have, and I truly value being there for someone when I can be.

I grew up playing guitar in bands, and the single best way to grow your fanbase was to go out and network. It was so easy to spot the bands that were putting on an act versus the ones that genuinely were out there to have a good time. It’s all very subtle, but a thing I always looked for were the people who seemed to only ask you questions so then they could get a chance to talk about themselves, or maybe the ones who never asked you anything at all. I always found learning about someone else to be far more interesting than talking about what I had going on, so this has been relatively easy for me. Always, always anticipate that any person you are talking to at any given time has something important to say you could learn from.

Learning this during my touring days has translated exactly into growing my film business. I spent the first year in business working for free. I craved connection and friendships. Actual real friendships. I would offer my services for free and join in on shoots, I’d invite vendors to coffee and just chat about life. I genuinely wanted to see if there were people in my local “pool” that I could vibe with. Was there a network of people around me that I could see myself growing with and do business with? I feel so thankful that within that first year things really took off for me not only with my business but with my friendship circle.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

As business owners or creatives, we tend to live with our heads in the clouds. It’s a blessing and a curse to be able to dream up ideas, because those ideas can create business or those ideas can cause panic attacks with constant anxiety. We wear our hearts on our sleeves constantly and are putting our creations out there in the world. It’s very easy to get bogged down and experience burn out. I find myself a lot of the day living in my head, and I’m thankful that I found a book called “The Power Of Now” by Eckhart Tolle that completely changed my life. The title gives you a pretty great synopsis of what it’s about, but the book truly helps me in realizing that all I need to do as a human and business owner is focus on right now. If i’m living my truth, and doing what I can in this current moment, then all is well. I’m inevitably setting myself up for success for whatever the future may bring by simply being present in what I currently have.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.timothylebofilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timothylebofilms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timothylebofilms