Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jorchual Gregory Vargas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jorchual, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
4 years ago I was working as a production designer in the film industry in Los Angeles. After working in several studios that were only providing an empty space for filmmakers to come and create their projects, I saw an opportunity to open a studio that would be a one stop shop for creatives. The business flourished and was well received. At the beginning of my second year in business I was challenged by the pandemic limiting me for months to not host productions any longer, this pushed me into finding new ways for my business to grow. Enter the content creation side of my now creative agency.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started out in my home town Valencia, Venezuela. Learning the craft of acting and filmmaking. After the country unfortunate but predicted downfall, I had to look for newer horizons. I found my self in Los Angeles the city of stars where I began as a student in NYFA (New York Film Academy) but only for 2 semesters. I quit school as by that period I was already working on sets learning more while being paid instead paying to learn. I worked in the industry for 4 years as a production designer and actor creating movies, commercials and music videos along renowned names and brands like Channing Tatum, 21 Savage, Nintendo among others.
Once I started my journey of entrepreneurship at 24 with my very own film and photography studio, I slowly stop involving my self as a production designer for films while continuing my acting journey.
Once my studio rental business had been stablished and almost demolish by the pandemic. The idea of expending our services to content creation began. I started out by simply offering our services for video and photography through social media and yelp. We started to get traction helping individuals and businesses alike to create their desired visuals. Eventually the need for content became increasingly large for everyone through the pandemic. Understanding the power of social media I decided that it was time to fully evolved into an agency capable of not just creating the content that our clients wanted but the content they needed to succeed in a digital world. I began a new learning journey to master the usage of social media, taught by a successful agency in Seattle. From there I felt as I was ready to help others grow their business online organically by planning content strategies that would distinguish a style suited to capture eyes on the new social media world, helping this way my clients obtain leads by eye capturing converting content. Our process involves a study of the brand, competition and market to craft concepts that will succeed over competition. Once a plan is in place my team will get to shoot, edit, post and evaluate the content and it’s results to continuously improved. Thus taking the hard pressure off the shoulders from my clients from needing to find their ways through social media and in the process leveraging its power to grow their online presence and using this new social media hectic world tool as an asset for lead generation..
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Back when I was 23 and I had decided that I wanted my own business there was no other option for me. Starting a business in the US can be incredibly hard, specially as a foreigner with a short credit history. I didn’t want to wait for “the right moment” to open my business, in simple words I didn’t have the capital to start. I tried over and over to get investors and had people saying yes just to the last minute they would change their minds when I was ready to sign an agreement for a location… this went on and on for months 8 months approximately, then finally I decided that I would do it without partners so I tried applying for loans but despite having an 800 credit score at the time my credit life was quite short (3 years more or less) so it was difficult to get approved to any unsecured or secured loans for the amounts I needed. I took a chance on my self and decided to apply for credit cards plus a little bit of money I had saved, I was able to sign a location and get started with my business with less than 10K in the bank with more than half of it being credit cards.
4 years later I still own a thriving studio that’s has evolved into a full on agency helping hundreds of people achieve their visuals and giving work opportunities to creatives.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
When COVID started it was just the beginning of my second year in business. As many small business owners may know the first year of every business it’s just surviving. I had finally started to collect the fruits of my first hard worked year in business, I saw a bright future for my studio rental business unraveling in-front of me, then bang!! COVID happens, City demands non essential businesses to stop operating. All my clients and future contracts start canceling left and right. My business was not capable of operating remotely as the main service of my business was for creatives to come and shoot at my studio. The situation quickly drained the savings of the studio to stay afloat for about 4 months not operating when I had to bend a little and find safe ways for creatives to come back to the studio. I was fortunate to get a team to shoot a small reality show while myself had started to dip into photography to keep the space active. As I started to create photography works for individuals and business, the word spread out and more request came my way. I began offering video services as my film production background has taught me the ways to craft quality video pieces. Soon enough I was not only able to bring back creatives to safely film at my location but now I was producing content for independent clients opening paths to my creative agency services to surge
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jgvstudios.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jgvstudios – www.instagram.com/jorchual
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JGVStudios?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorchual-gregory-vargas-225945116 – https://www.linkedin.com/company/jgv-studios/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jgvstudios
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/9pkXX9zVExb
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jgvstudios?_t=8aIo7fV7sKY&_r=1 https://www.tiktok.com/@jorchual?_t=8aIoI10v0u6&_r=1
Image Credits
Oksana Derina Jorchual Gregory Vargas JGV Studios