We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Bernadez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

As an artist and business owner, one of my biggest challenges has been scaling. In the beginning of establishing your business, you have to focus on yourself. It may seem selfish, but this is your life. How you think, feel, and express yourself will impact your business. So, you need to be the best version of yourself. Not only for your clients, but also for you. Consequently, this can easily lead you on a path of doing everything on your own. You’re the one with the vision, so how could someone else do the work that needs to be done? This mindset is helpful, but only for a time. I did everything myself when I began filming projects. I learned how to edit, composite, animate, and film on YouTube. From writing scripts to editing videos, I did it all. I wore dozens of hats in hopes of creating something great with what I had. I didn’t know anyone that could do what I was looking for, nor did I have the funds to pay anyone to do so.
This was a great start, but it could only take me so far. In order for my business to grow, I had to expand beyond myself and build a team. It was critical for me to find people who are trustworthy, hungry, and coachable. Otherwise, you’ll spend precious time micromanaging others or dealing with people who are unsure of themselves. This needlessly slows down production. You want people who are familiar with your brand, invested in their development, and hungry to succeed. Someone who is hungry and has skin in the game is one who is willing to grow with you. This is a trait that trumps skill or years of experience because they can go much further with their drive. Finding people who can accept feedback is also extremely important. They are able to digest and understand what’s helpful to listen to and act on. In my experience, I’ve worked with new and seasoned professionals in the industry. Those that were coachable and hungry made it very quickly. You can do a lot being a lone wolf, but building a team is what will take your brand to the next level.

In business, communication is key. There are many moving parts. Depending on the scale of a project, I have multiple meetings with each head of department to ensure our scopes are aligned. This ensures transparency about potential concerns and what needs to happen, builds trust between everyone involved, and avoids the need to constantly look over someone’s shoulder. Everyone is on the same page, and it allows a project to run smoothly.

Another aspect of communication consists of standardized systems that automate wash, rinse, and repeat tasks. Every day, there are a lot of things we do as business owners that we don’t need to be doing. You must find ways to automate various tasks in order to streamline how you operate your business. A mentor once told me that each day, you only have a certain amount of energy allotted toward your will. The less energy you spend on smaller tasks, the more you’ll have stored up for the things that actually require it. Since then, I’ve been constantly analyzing every aspect of the production of my business. I search for better ways to do something, while maintaining the same quality or better. The speed at which things get done will have a massive impact, so clear communication and automated processes will boost productivity.

A part of that is also having different standardized systems for record-keeping. You can do everything on calls and word-of-mouth, but things will get lost in time and translation. Having some sort of digital platform where you can connect with your team, view and edit documents, and keep track of timelines will keep everything organized. For example, I’ve been using a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) to give me an in-depth pipeline of my entire production process with each client and project. Being able to add team members and collaborate makes everything work easier. It’s well worth the ease it provides me.
As my business continues to grow, I continuously seek to perfect what has already been established with a team that is ready and able to move forward.

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

Everything began when I got a Nintendo 3DS from my parents to play my favorite games. I would mess around and take photos with it every once in a while. I eventually stumbled upon the stop motion feature. I thought, “Wow, I can make cool stuff with this.” My Legos became little movie stars overnight. I spent countless hours pushing them around, taking pictures, and acting out scenes. At the end, the stop-motion feature would play it back as a video. Just like that, I was hooked.
Soon after, I came across a Lego stop motion series on YouTube that had integrated pre-keyed flashes and explosions in their videos. I was amazed. That was the first time I saw someone connect photo and video with digital elements in such an entertaining way. I had to know how they did it, so I started downloading every pre-keyed element I could find. My friends were the perfect test subjects and enjoyed it as much as I did. They acted out scenes on video and then I added the effects later. Through learning and discovery, I continuously grew my talent by creating fantasy worlds where my Legos could blow each other up and my Nerf guns could shoot fireballs.

At this point, I went from downloading assets, to creating them myself. I was all in, getting lost in the post-production world, trying to master the intricacies that make an edit a story. If someone had a visual need, I was there. I created custom intros, banners, animations, motion design, graphics, and edited promotional videos for gaming channels. Even if I wasn’t entirely sure I could do it, I tried it anyway.

I found myself pondering at the end of high school, “What am I going to do for a living?” Up until that point, I hadn’t seriously considered visual production as an actual career option.

One “random” ad later, I learned about Full Sail University and decided to enroll in their film program. It was everything I thought it would be. I was finally in an environment where I could refine my skills and tap into a professional network that would help accelerate my career. After graduation, I came back to South Florida to complete an internship for a video production company and joined the team as an Editor/VFX artist.

My love for the creative industry only grew as I worked on numerous music videos and commercials. I also learned how the production company handled everything from development to marketing. Over time, I started to get tired of being on the back end of the production chain. I realized that I could have a bigger impact from the start of a project. It was time to attain more creative freedom in telling these stories. I started freelancing and gained more confidence in my ability to create entire productions by myself.

The possibilities seemed limitless. I fell in love with the idea that one day I could have my own studio, clients, and oversee my own productions. I became a digital storyteller looking to transform ideas into reality. In 2020, I took a leap of faith as the pandemic worsened and trusted that God would provide. I rebranded, changing the name of my business from Daniel Bernadez Entertainment to Animate Reality. This marked a shift in my focus. It was no longer about me, but something much bigger than myself. Animate Reality could live on to be a brand with no shelf life, continuing to tell the stories that need to be told.

As a multimedia creative house, we’re focused on creating content to help businesses and artists connect, engage, and inspire. Our services range from film and photo to digital design. We oversee promotional and entertainment projects in the form of commercials, music videos, and social media content.
Every business has a different purpose. We pride ourselves on helping our clients fulfill theirs. Instead of offering generic bundles, we pinpoint their niche and curate a campaign exactly for them. Rather than solving one specific problem, we’re focused on asking the right questions and digging deep to find the “why” in every project. We look to solve the heart of a brand’s specific problem. From there, we custom tailor a specific campaign that fits their brand like a missing piece of a puzzle.

The other thing that sets us apart is our ability to take a concept and transform it into something tangible. This is one of our biggest things that makes us unique here at Animate Reality. In the blink of an eye, we’re having a meeting, diving into a brand and picking their brain about what they imagined in terms of colors, composition, and lighting. A week from then, our client then sees what we spoke about right in front of them with beautiful soundscapes and incredible visuals. That right there, is what it’s all about.

I’m most proud of how much value we’ve been able to add to everyone we work with. When I started Animate Reality, I wanted to be more than just a cameraman or a videographer who clicks a few buttons and calls it a day after a shoot. We take time to learn about our clients, what they need, and how we can provide that at the highest quality possible. That’s something we always seek to ensure.

We’re not just content creators. In this saturated market, anyone can pick up a camera, create content, and post it online. But it doesn’t provide any value because it fails to inspire, engage, or connect. This is really where we want to make a difference.

People understand our business is not a digital content input output machine. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into every aspect of the production process. Our ambition is to propel brands and artists by optimizing their potential and unlocking the next level.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

You can’t do everything alone!
To build something on a large scale, you need a team.

Becoming an artist is a very self-focused field to pursue because you are doing everything. Starting off, you make things you like and adapt them into something beautiful that your clients will like.

This can cause tension between your left and right brain because you’re navigating through what you love to do with how to make money. At the end of the day, every business needs to make money in order to stay in business and serve their clientele.

Growing up, I never really asked anyone for help, and I subconsciously developed a habit of wearing many different hats to fulfill different roles in order to grow my business. It’s what I’ve been used to doing my whole life. But you get to a point where it becomes too much, and you literally can’t handle it anymore.

This leaves you with two options. You keep doing everything by yourself, eventually burning out and you’re forced to stop. Or you can swallow your pride and delegate because you understand that you are not the only person in the world who can do what needs to be done. Even more so, you admit that you’re probably not even the best at the things you’re doing. To be where I am today, I had to choose the latter.

I had to focus on what I’m good at in my business and hire team members who are better than me at handling their respective roles. Once I started doing that, I began to see some major changes within my business. I realized I didn’t have to make every post or edit every video. If everything begins to fall apart because you are not doing something yourself, then your one man show of a business will only take you so far. Don’t believe you are the only one who can do a particular task, there is someone else who also can. By taking an honest look at your business operations and yourself, you can create space to delegate responsibilities, accordingly, focus on your primary function, and scale your business!

Every day, I’m still learning to delegate accordingly in order to reach maximum efficiency in how I operate my business.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I began my business long before I truly knew I even had one. Once I finally ventured into the world of visual effects and compositing, I found a love for designing logos and creating intro animations for small YouTube gaming channels. For $50, I’d create 10-15-second-long intros using the music they chose and the graphics I designed. I wasn’t doing anything under an official business, and I didn’t even realize these were technically my first sales. I did this for 2 years, progressively growing bored with the same process and the same requests. I wanted to create something bigger, but I didn’t know what. I joined a film class and film club in high school, which is where I was first introduced to narrative and branded work. That’s when I started taking everything seriously. I would stay up all night animating and rendering graphics for my school’s morning announcements to reflect something you’d actually see on tv to the best of my ability. It was in high school where I really started to be comfortable with the relationship between what my camera was seeing and how it would affect the story. Nearing the end of high school, I hadn’t thought too much about college or what I was going to do. I remembered hearing about this film school in an ad when a friend asked what I’d be doing, and I just threw that out as an idea. He agreed and said he’d go too, which really motivated me to go. It was an incredible place to help develop my love and skill with film, while networking and building relationships with people in the industry.
In one of my last classes at Full Sail University, we had a guest professor come in the middle of a lecture. He was unlike any other I’ve ever had. You could tell that he was a star by his presence alone. My professor told us we’d have a guest speaker that day and he introduced himself as Carl “Video” Verna. He told us about all these amazing music videos he had directed. The demo reel he showed us of all the projects he had worked on blew me away. I saw incredible work featuring some of my favorite artists, this guy was doing everything I’d dreamed of doing. That’s when I developed a game plan. At the end of class, when people line up to talk to him, I’m going to be last in line so I could get the chance to speak with him the most. Looking back now, that was a dumb idea because he could have left after only speaking to a few students. When the teacher dismissed our class, I was shocked. Everyone packed up and left.
I could not believe it, it seemed fake. It was like the clouds opened up and had shined right on him, showing me the perfect opportunity to introduce myself. I thought that if I could shadow him, it would be my foot in the door. I was very honest with him about how I felt about the presentation, how cool it was, what type of work I do, and the impact I wanted to make. He was very eager to talk, and, on the spot, asked to see my portfolio. That’s when I learned an unforgettable lesson. You have to be ready in the moment because you never know what might pass you by. They say that “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Luckily, I had just made one and he was visibly impressed. He gave me his email address and said that he would forward my portfolio to his team. Then, I waited. I had followed up with him a month later, but I didn’t hear back from him. After 2 months, while I was on a family vacation in Mexico, I got a text from him saying how much the team loved it and when I’d be ready to join their team! That shattered me. I was on family vacation, and I had the best news to tell them.
That is how I started working my first film job. It was an incredible journey getting to work there with hands-on experience in industry-standard work. I got to learn and see all of the different phases in the production chain, from storyboarding and script writing to marketing. I got to see some of the good and bad sides of the industry.
I soon grew tired of just being an editor, only able to work on what was given to me. I wanted to play a bigger role in telling these stories. I began to take on more freelance work to separate myself and my portfolio. I’d call and meet with businesses and artists to see what I’d be able to provide. I remember doing multiple projects for free just to get my foot in the door. Now, as I look back years later, I’m incredibly grateful for my ability to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.animatereality.space/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielbernadez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008834528958
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-bernadez-661772133/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJLbMde97qkzo3zWiwZkwjw

Image Credits
Photo of Daniel taken by @content_by_chris All other taken by Daniel Bernadez and belong to Animate Reality, LLC. @animate.reality