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

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’m the biggest proponent of hands on learning. I think OVER researching can be the enemy of progress. You definitely need to initially educate yourself on what you need to get started, but you shouldn’t try to understand EVERYTHING before you begin. I find that it’s easy to overwhelm yourself into not even beginning. For me, I just googled “good video cameras”, watched a couple YouTube videos about the cameras, and then bought the camera. I learned 90% of everything I know by doing it on the job, and I honestly think it’s the most effective method. An obstacle for me was wanting to stay within my comfort zone in regards to the types of videos I’d make. It wasn’t until I was pushed into very different types of video projects that I began to really learn & grow. Knowing what I know now, I would highly suggest leaning into more challenging projects. It’s honestly the recipe to success.

John, 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?

My whole life I’ve been obsessed with movies, and more importantly how they were made. It was something I loved learning about. I worked full time as a district sales manager, and did videography as a hobby. I never thought I would make any money on videography because it seemed the only option to get paid for video work was by filming weddings, which I wasn’t very interested in doing. Then something magical happened around 5 years ago. There became a NEED for video content on social media. It became clear that video marketing for businesses on social media was very lucrative. Lucky me, I was smack dab in the right place right time. I had a large knowledge of videography, and a large knowledge of how business marketing works. I began working with small businesses right away creating 30 sec videos for their social media pages. Since I was one of the very few people doing that specific type of work, I received a lot of referrals in a short amount of time. I feel extremely lucky to be in the position that I am in, and funny enough I have still yet to film a wedding.

I have built my entire business model on symbiotic relationships vs a parasitic one. If I bleed you dry, you can no longer book me. If I focus on making videos that actually increase your business, you can’t wait to book me again.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I honestly believe as long as there is a market for the service you provide. Work ethic can guarantee your success. In the beginning I would often do video work for free. The reason for that being I knew that working with clients was more valuable than money. Nobody is going to know about you if they don’t see your work. So in the beginning I said yes to every project regardless of how early, how far, and how much money. And while that was exhausting to be working so hard for so little. It was also exciting. Because when you work that much you’re gaining a TON of knowledge and getting better and better. In addition to actually getting better at my craft, the plan worked. People started recognizing me, my videos were starting to get around Detroit. Now I have a body of work, and over 10 years of experience. None of that would’ve been possible without pushing myself for the first few years.

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

Social Media is my secret weapon. I don’t have business cards, I don’t have a website. I utilize Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. First, that’s who my client is, a Social Media user, so there’s no better platform to communicate with potential clients. Second, if I just give somebody my contact information, I’m unable to communicate with them unless they reach out. So when I’m in the field or at networking event, and someone approaches me for information. I ask them to follow me on Social Media (right then and there) and I follow them back. That way I’m now in their day to day environment. They see the videos I’m posting, what I’m up to in my stories. I can comment on their posts, they can comment on mine. This creates a stronger rapport than just cold calling business cards. And ultimately when the client feels comfortable enough with me or me with them. I reach out about business or vice versa.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: trippaudiovisual
• Facebook: Tripp Audio&Visual
• Linkedin: John Tripp
• Twitter: Tripp_AV
• Youtube: Tripp Audio&Visual