We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matt Desmond a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Matt, appreciate you joining us today. How has Covid changed your business model?
Covid made me realize my that dreams to become a freelance video producer were a real possibility. After spending eight years working in the sports industry for a team or league in a creative capacity, I knew I always wanted to start my own venture at some point, but I never knew what that looked like. The pandemic presented an opportunity to reset my career. To that point in my life, there was a centralized focus to have employees be in the office five days a week. If you work in sports, sometimes you are easily working six to seven days a week. As life started to unfold with Covid in the focus, many companies started to strategize how to make remote work effective. This really opened my eyes and I was now able to understand that my vision for working for multiple companies in an industry I loved was a reality. After eight years of working for a team or company in a full time capacity, I wanted to bet on myself and put my skillsets to the test of being a small business owner. Covid streamlined the importance of that you can be effective working remotely and you do not have to be in the office. Working remote coupled by technology that allows you to work with internal teams made it an effective workflow to work with multiple companies worldwide throughout a calendar year. If Covid did not happen I honestly do not know if I would have went out on my own. It was always a thought, but Covid re-solidified that my dream was a reality.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I grew up a sports fan and was always gravitated by the possibility of working in sports one day. I played sports as a kid, but I knew my skill sets were best utilized telling the stories of athletes. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA I went to Point Park University to pursue my degree in Broadcast Journalism. I went into college thinking I wanted to be the next SportsCenter anchor, but in my sophomore year I fell in love with the post-production side of sports. I not only found my passion for my career in college, but also found my passion for networking with others in this industry. After college I entered the work force starting out in the live production realms of sports. It was a grind and was very stressful. It was a great experience, but I knew I needed to step back and refocus on another area of the industry and get back to my core of storytelling. I made the switch to focus on content production and did that over the next 7 years of my career. It was the best decision of my life. I was able to tell the stories of athletes through my lens and craft their story in a compelling way to engage with audiences worldwide. The day-to-day job was awesome, but what I really enjoyed was also connecting with creatives across the globe. In 2018, I realized there really wasn’t an effective way to network with like-minded individuals in this space. That prompted me to create the “Sports Creative Community” Slack channel which now has over 8,000 members worldwide in a virtual application to network and advance their careers. After the growth of the community, it only made sense to create a non-profit business model to further connect individuals to advance their careers.
So you may reading this and seeing that I wear a couple hats in my career. I am a freelance video producer and also a founder of a non-profit. I love what I do in two senses. My passion is to tell the stories of athletes through compelling content produced by myself and creatives I work with to push the envelope of creating content in an innovative way. With the non profit I am able to work with an amazing group of people who want to give back and pave the way for current and future professionals in the creative sports industry. My production business offers companies services ranging from creating short to long form content such but not limited to features, hype videos, and documentary style videos. What sets me apart from other professionals is my wide range of sports I’ve been immersed with throughout my career and my ability to assemble a team of creatives to execute the vision from beginning to end for clients. What I am most proud of is seeing the success stories come from the Sports Creative Community. The non-profit has connected so many individuals and it inspires me to put my best foot forward to continue uplifting and creating opportunities for creatives across the globe.
My motto is that creatives help creatives. This is a niche community and working in sports in the creative sector is very small. Maintain and build those relationships. You never know when you could help someone or vice versa. Be the best version of you and surround yourself with people who will challenge you to continue doing that.
If an individual wants to join the non-profit you can find us on slack at sportscreativeslack.com
My portfolio for my company can be seen at matthewjdesmond.com
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Honestly a big source of getting new clients and maintaining business with clients all goes back to networking. I made networking my priority when I entered the industry. I worked on my craft diligently and pushed myself to challenge myself daily to sharpen my skillsets to compliment my networking skills. Networking can seem like a very easy thing, but in reality it is not. It’s a job that lasts a lifetime. Your personal brand also bleeds into your networking abilities. If you are not engaged and giving your best effort it will show. Come into networking calls with a positive energy, be understanding, and get to know the other person. I can’t tell you how many times I will network with someone and they will immediately ask for a job. Jobs are not handed out after one call. You have to learn and develop relationships with people in your network. Take the time to listen and do your research and you will see results. One thing I always do after the end of a project is ask the hiring manager I worked with if they have anyone in my network I should connect with who may need my skill sets one day. You would be surprised on how many opportunities arise from that question. Nobody knows if you’re looking work if you do not say it. Be intentional about networking, do it a respectful and patient manner.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Building your audience on social media should be a reflection of your personal brand. It should be a taste of your authentic, true self. I built up my social media audience by being myself. I work in the sports industry, some days I will talk about my favorite sports teams, but the majority of my social media narrative is directed to spotlighting and uplifting creatives. One of my biggest passions is helping out others. I do my best to elevate creatives from various backgrounds to educate my followers of the different opportunities and paths people took to get to the spots they are in today.
Being kind, authentic, and being a resource for others is how I represent my voice for social media and personal brand.
Advice for others looking to build their social media presence is to find your niche that you want to focus on and build community. Community is so important. If you can be a resource for others, people will appreciate that. Be kind and understanding and you will find like-minded individuals on social media that will want to grow with you.
Contact Info:
- Website: matthewjdesmond.com & sportscreativeslack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdesmo10/ & https://www.instagram.com/sportscreativecommunity/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-desmond-a2680a26/ & https://www.linkedin.com/company/sports-creative-community
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdesmo & https://twitter.com/SCCUnited