We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Max Grebenshchikov . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Max below.

Hi Max, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My biggest risk in life was moving to the USA in 2021. I’m originally from Russia and had always dreamed of relocating to Los Angeles. It was a challenging endeavor for a guy working a regular job in a small town with a population of 600,000. However, I decided to give it a try.

I saved up the required amount of money and embarked on my first journey outside my country. I only brought my backpack with a camera, drone, laptop, and a few small items. I started my journey in the USA with only $50 in my pocket.

Quickly, I managed to find friends, to whom I am immensely grateful for everything they’ve done for me. Let me list their names: Frank, Arina, Sasha, Narzi, Dmitriy, Alexey, and Maria. These are the people who believed and continue to believe in me, and I am very thankful for their help at the beginning of my new life in a new country.

Therefore, I can confidently say that this was the biggest risk in my life – to just leave everything behind and move to another country without knowing the English language. I completely rebooted my life, started from scratch, made close friends, and continue to pursue my passion!

Max, 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?

It all started when I got a phone with a camera. Being someone who always enjoyed tinkering with computers – you could call me a bit of a geek or nerd :) – this description fits me perfectly. I quickly installed Sony Vegas, a video editing program, on my pc and started creating. It was a hobby for many years.

In 2015, while searching for a new job, my friend Igor invited me to the place where he worked. They were looking for a video operator to film city events at the ‘Youth Policy Department of the Orenburg City Administration.’ After a brief interview, I got the job;) it turned out my skills were already sufficient 😁. That’s where I first picked up a real video camera – big and heavy. I realized this was my calling, and my career as a videographer began.

I practiced a lot, filmed various videos, learned more each day, made new friends who helped me, and eagerly absorbed knowledge about video production. In 2017, I filmed my first wedding, and two years later, I won the international wedding videography award WEVA for ‘Best Cameraman.’

I then quit my job to become a wedding videographer. Why did I choose this direction? I love shooting documentary-style videos, capturing genuine emotions – laughter, tears. It turns out I’m quite a sentimental person 😄. Wedding videography became my main source of income not just for the money, but because it brings me joy. I love giving people the gift of emotions when they watch their wedding film or any other event.

But that’s not all. After moving to Los Angeles, I started filming music videos, created a short film, and engaged in various creative projects. Currently, I continue shooting weddings and collaborate on music videos with my friends :)

How’d you meet your business partner?

Certainly! It all happened when I joined my first music video shoot, invited by my friend Frank (Kerrigan Production). There, I met Narzi and Alex, and we quickly struck up a conversation, discovering shared interests. Soon, we became friends and eventually founded our own music video production company, Smile WRLD Production. Now, we create our own music videos :) We have room to grow, and we hope to collaborate with major artists in the future.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Perhaps the best promotion in my business has been and continues to be word of mouth. People share my videos with their friends, and that’s how I get clients who trust me from the start, knowing they will receive a quality product.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mg.flm/