We recently connected with Jake Johnston and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jake, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I find that in video production, a lot tend to get stuck in the rat race of being the next “big” director. I’ve seen client communication fail, low retention rates, a lack of cashflow, and unregulated processes. My biggest goal is to have quick communication, and a failsafe process in place for our crew and clients. On top of that, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t fall into the “starving artist” category when I started making music videos. This drove me to create a plan to have video production fund my life long term. Once I started getting enough work to take care of myself, I decided to take all of the profits and start to invest those into out of state rental properties. This gave me the financial freedom to make the art that I wanted to make on my own time, as well as feel that the videos I make, are going to a larger financial picture, versus living paycheck to paycheck.

On top of that, I’ve always strived to serve the artist. I come from a touring background, and understand how stressful it can be to front the money for video projects. I always make an effort to be understanding of budgets, and have the resources to be able to serve all sorts of budgets for the artists that we work with!

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

So I got into music video production when I was about 16, I was playing guitar touring in a band – and started shooting videos on the road when I had time. This snowballed pretty quickly, and I moved from Minneapolis to LA when I was 19.

I started WAGD with my business partner as a way to tap into the alternative music scene with a name, as that was the genre we were mostly working in. We take pride in the music videos that we make, through and through.

I’ve been super fortunate with the people and artists that I’ve got the opportunity to work with. Like I said previously, coming from a touring background – I always wanted to serve the artist to the best of my ability. This creates stickiness and a great feeling of community between client and contractor. I’ve always been infatuated with hyper modern imagery, and implementing that into my work. The biggest thing is that we care. I don’t want to treat this like a quick cash grab, but there’s also a fine line between giving yourself up for a project, and being passionate about a project.

I’m super proud of the client roster that we’ve built, as well as the memories and pieces of art that we’ve been able to build along the way. I never thought that my name and the companies name would reach the amount of people that it has, and be recognized for the work that we do.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot I had to make was about 2 years ago, and realize that being a creative service provider was not sustainable – physically, and mentally. That started my journey of using the profit from creating videos (which I love) – into funneling that money into real estate.

Throughout that process, it taught me about the fact the you fall to the levels of your systems. I write this quote down EVERY single day. Systems and communication are the most important things that you can have as a business owner. Followers don’t matter, the expensive camera you have doesn’t matter, the amount of views you have don’t matter. It’s ALL about your systems.

Once I had this mindset. The company had the most amount of work, more than we could handle. I can’t recommend this mindset enough.

Another massive point is having good physical health. I went through phases where I was out of shape, had bad sleep, and was smoking a ton. Once I got this in check, and honored my routine every day, my productivity skyrocketed.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Hands down my biggest accomplishment has been the company having a wonderful reputation within the scene. We make an effort to keep an extremely fun environment, a casual approach to how I interact with those around me, and getting everyone excited about the art that we make.

It keeps people coming back, it keeps the labels happy, and it makes sure that the clients have a great experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wereallgonnadie.rip/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wereallgonnadie.rip/