We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ethan Elalouf. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ethan below.

Ethan, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Wow, where do I even start. Throughout my entire life, I was always considered the risk taker of the family. With countless broken bones and dozens of stitches to prove it. However to me, I have only taken one risk in my entire life. Post college, I was living in Denver working a 9-5, living the so called “dream”. Every day was worse than the last and I was beginning to lose the joy that used to come so easy to me. One day, at one of the lowest points of my life, I called up my Mom and essentially told her that I hate everything that I’m doing. I told her that I want to quit my job, move across the country and pursue a career in photography and film. I had no connections, no experience and no plan. I remember after i told her, there was a brief silence. I was waiting to hear her argument as to why I should stay and why it was a bad idea, but it never came. Instead I heard 4 words that changed my entire life, “Then go do it”. I took those words and ran with it. Within a week I packed up my apartment and drove to Fort Lauderdale. From there I ended up finding a small productions company and began to learn and absorb everything I could. I would take job after job, gig after gig. By the end of the year, I had the opportunity of working on not only one, but two Super Bowl commercials. Personally, i believe the risk is what fueled my drive. It wasn’t just, “I wonder if It’ll work” it was always “This is going to be my career”. Today I work entirely for myself and I couldn’t be happier. Don’t be afraid to take the risk, you can always go back to where you were, but you can’t move forward if you never try.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Ethan Elalouf. I am a creative director based out of South Florida. Contrary to the fact that i had a job since I was 14, I was never a fan of the whole “normal job” lifestyle. It just never made sense to me. I lasted about 2 years behind a computer screen before I knew I couldn’t do this forever. I was living in Denver at the time and began researching production jobs in Miami. Through the magic of Facebook I found an old friend that just so happen to be shooting a Joe DiMaggio commercial in a few days. I took the job with no hesitation and booked a flight to Florida. I crashed on a friends couch the entire week of production. It was brutal, i’m not going to lie to you. I busted my a** on that set to show that I truly wanted to do this. I asked as many questions as possible, absorbed everything I was able to see and remembered patterns of how the crew worked so that the next day I could have it done before they asked. From there, I was given one day on an HBO show with a much larger production and from that day, the ball began to roll. I took job after job, networked every chance I had and always went to set with the idea that this day is an interview for my next job. Before I knew it, I was on set filming a Super Bowl commercial with Canelo, Tony Romo and Serena Williams. Truly a dream come true. Fast forward to now and I have created my own company, EDE Films, and am beginning to pursue my creative passions. Production is incredible, but nothing feels better than bringing one of your own thoughts or ideas to life for others to enjoy.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There is actually one specific book that fueled my drive to pursue this career. It’s a very short book called “The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success”. This book gave me steps on how to understand and process everything that happens throughout my life. It’s given me the resources to better myself and apply myself in a much more impactful way.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn is, “It’s not that easy”. Everyone always tells you this. It’s not that easy to get where they are. It’s not that easy to do that. Bla bla bla. The truth is, it is that easy. Success comes from consistency, that’s it, it’s that easy. You can never fail if you never give up. You will have to adapt and overcome obstacles along the way but if you stay consistent, you can never fail. It’s really that easy.

Contact Info:

• Website: EDEFilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edefilms/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-elalouf-202/

Image Credit:
Main Picture – Peyton Lantz