We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josh McCausland. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josh below.
Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
It has and continues to be a grind day in and day out. Thankfully I am in a very comfortable place creatively these days.
To where I was before to where I am now, things are night and day. I remember working a Photo Booth job in Nashville that paid 7.50 an hour after college. I remember driving an hour to pick up the booth, then driving to the event to set up the booth and post up during events. Doing that every day for about 6 months really burnt me out. I remember taking another job after that which paid 10 dollars an hour photographing estate sales. I would work anywhere from 7 to 12 hour shifts in empty homes photographing peoples belongings for online estate sales. I think during that time I was the most existential about where I was in the world and how I could be doing so much more.
The biggest change for me was taking a higher paying corporate creative job to help support me and my side work.
I had believed prior to that it was “selling out”, but it has really enabled me to be the most creative I have ever been and with assets. I’ve been able to explore more of myself due to financial stability in a way that’s really nice and not absolutely terrifying every first of the month.
Josh, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
So, I am a pretty eclectic bag of tricks. I am a filmmaker full time working in the brand team for an international tech company called, Relativity. I am really lucky to have a space there and be able to grow myself and their style sort of one and the same.
Outside of my day job my time is split in half between composing and filmmaking. I have always been a musician but as I’ve gotten older I have pursued it more seriously and I find it really rewarding.
So these days, you can find me doing anything from film, to music to photography depending on the day.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Seeing how my work moves others and inspires conversation. Everything I do creatively is really centered around emotions and starting conversations. It’s been really rewarding to have deep conversations at screenings and speak deeply to things that all connect us as humans.
There’s also the element of just being true to myself. It’s pretty incredible to have a sense of confidence in myself, that I never really had until I fully grasped my identity as an artist.
As Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I would remiss if I didn’t mention my love of Tolkien. His work has always been such a core inspiration for me. I had read The Lord of the Rings books and the Hobbit growing up, but it wasn’t until I was a bit older that I dove into his lore. The Silmarrilion, and his Encyclopedia’s of Middle-Earth along with the side legendariums are really inspiring. His world building has always been something I have really sunk my teeth into and something I find really inspirational. I am a full on nerd and pretty proud of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joshmccausland.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshatiqflicks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshmccauslandmusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshmccausland/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshmccausland
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/joshmccauslandmusic