We were lucky to catch up with James Hayden recently and have shared our conversation below.
James, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think that in order to be successful (with anything) you have to befriend failure. You have to go into it knowing that you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to fail, and that’s ok! You almost have to love failing! As crazy as it sounds, I like finding what doesn’t work, so that I can make adjustments for improvement. My failures help build my list of what not to do. You just have to remind yourself that the more you fail, the closer you’re getting to perfecting your craft! You also have to have passion, motivation, and ambition. That’s the fuel that keeps you from giving up when things get difficult. I’ve never really had that, for most of my life actually. I was an alcoholic for years. A “functioning alcoholic”, I still held a 9-5, paid my bills, took care of my kids, but I drank every day! I never knew what I wanted to do with my life, just existed through each day.. Once I quit drinking, I feel like that’s when the doors started opening up in my life. That’s when I really started living! I finally took a risk and tried something that always intimidated me. The fear of failure always held me back, but now I chase those fears! Success is only found when you get out of your comfort zone. You have to constantly do things that scare you and make you uncomfortable in order to make any progress! Think about it; you’re only comfortable when you’re sitting still.
James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’ve always been interested in photography, drones, video (everything media/creative) but I was intimidated! It’s a LOT to learn and everything is so expensive! Not to mention, I never had any sort of drive, motivation, or ambition. Alcohol will do that to you! As I mentioned before, I was a “functioning alcoholic” for many years. I’ve been sober for almost 2 years now and it’s like that dark cloud that was floating around in my head, has cleared up! I learned how to face my fears and go after things that I want in life.
Working in a warehouse, we had a driver that came to pick up every day and we would talk for a bit, he would show me this drone he had and tell me all about it. I was leaning closer and closer to buying one. The account I worked for was like a rental company and when things got returned, we had to inspect it, make sure it’s functioning properly, and clean it so that it could be rented again. Well, they happened to have a few drones! Nobody there knew anything about them and didn’t want to risk messing one up, so that was my opportunity to dive in there and get my hands on one! I watched a couple YouTube videos and we had liftoff, right there in the middle of the warehouse! As soon as I lifted off the ground and learned how easy it was to fly, I was sold! I went right out and bought one! That was all I needed! I saw that drones had so much opportunity to do all sorts of jobs. Then I quickly learned that in order to do anything with a drone for work, you have to get certified by the FAA. That was a real bummer! I mean, that’s how pilots get certified to fly airplanes! It sounded impossible for someone like me. My dreams took a major hit, but this is where that drive and ambition come into play. I had already invested that much money and started to chase a dream so I started doing some homework and I found an online study course. It took me a few months of studying almost every day before I was ready for the test. I passed and NOW I was ready to start getting jobs! Well.. it’s harder than I thought finding people that only want some drone work done but that was my foot in the door to photography/video! So now I’m really invested at this point, I need a handheld camera so that I can offer the whole package. I started doing more homework.. Found the camera that was right for what I needed and went straight to the camera store. Holy cow! NOTHING is cheap when it comes to photo/video! Non stop studying for months and months about photography principals, editing software, video editing. Seems like that’s all I’ve been doing is studying and practicing and posting my work on social media.
Well it seemed like I was going nowhere, I started to get really discouraged and wondering if dumping all of my savings into this was the wrong move. Right in that moment, an amazing videographer by the name of Sam Foree (CK Entertainment) reached out to me and told me he wanted to mentor me and make sure I got off on the right foot!! That was EXACTLY what I needed at that time. It was like throwing gas on my fire! I started pushing harder than ever. People started reaching out to me for jobs! Sam and I became really good friends! This guy would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it! That opportunity was all that I needed though, when I was feeling alone and lost in this adventure, someone had my back! I’m forever indebted, I owe it all to Sam for picking me up when I was down. It’s like a rocket ship took off now, the momentum is growing rapidly and I couldn’t be any more grateful!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I’ve always been really careful with money, I like to have an emergency cushion in the savings account for when life throws you a curveball. I also don’t like debt, I don’t buy anything on credit. If I can’t afford it, I don’t buy it! Well, once I fully invested myself on this journey, I used that emergency savings to buy the equipment I needed to be versatile and well rounded. It’s really scary spending the majority of my life savings, but I’m investing in myself and it’s definitely going to pay off! In order to make any progress, I’ve had to stop being scared and take the risks! Just dive in head first and give it 200%
How did you build your audience on social media?
My social media isn’t big by any means, but it has been steadily growing every day and the momentum keeps building! I did some more homework, followed some social media coaches and used some of their tips: post quality content consistently, use relative hashtags, use trending audio, tag other large, relevant accounts, pay attention to what posts get the most engagement, keep your content focused on your product/service/niche.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hoveringhayden.godaddysites.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hovering_hayden/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088002747803&mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@hoveringhayden4035
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hoveringhayden
- Email: HoveringHayden@gmail.com
- Digital business card: https://poplme.co/MvZj9rVr/dash