We recently connected with Will Landreth and have shared our conversation below.
Will, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Since elementary school, I’ve always gravitated towards art and creative courses. Growing up in a small town (Jenison, MI) gave me an opportunity to pursue these creative outlets. Eventually, I found my way to my mother’s handicam and started making short goofy videos with my friends. This eventually turned into a more serious passion as I learned to edit, film, storyboard, and come up with creative videos. I then pursued this passion further by attending Michigan State University, where I received my BOA in Media Information. Since then I’ve been professionally shooting video and photos, the passion has never left.
Will, 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?
After graduating from Michigan State University in 2015, I stumbled around looking for a job as most fresh out of college students do. Luckily, I dual majored in Spanish and found an opportunity to work for Quicken Loans (Now Rocket Mortgage) as an intern in their bi-lingual training department. Getting the opportunity to work and live in the Detroit area was very eye-opening at the time. Coming from a small town and heading to the D was an awesome experience and I learned a lot about myself as well as met some great people along the way. My boss at the time was a hard-nosed driven professional that really taught me the basics of how to navigate the corporate landscape as well as seperate yourself from the pack by actually getting shit done. As opposed to wading through red tape and climbing the corporate ladder. After about a year in Detroit, I decided to move back to the Grand Rapids area and see what opportunities I could find there. I moved back into my parent’s basement and searched for jobs for months until I finally decided to start my own freelance business. I started my LLC, Will Landreth Productions back in 2016 and have been operational since then. From there I’ve taken jobs at a local boat dealership, agency work, and most recently a corporate marketing position. Slowly building a portfolio (over 10 years) that highlights different skills and services that I can provide to my clients. Currently, I’m full-time freelancing and have been building a clientele of local brands and companies that I would like to partner with.
What sets me apart is that I offer high-quality video & photo content for companies and brands to use to optimize their reach and potential. My goal is to be the customer or client’s “guy.” Whether they need photos, video for in- training, content for social media, or their website, I’m the person they can contact to get the job done. I provide, videography, photography, 2D animation, and drone photo/video as well. I’m also currently learning 3d animation as another service to provide to my clients. Most small – mid size businesses cannot afford a marketing team or a full-time staff member to create content for their business. This is where I can help. My experience in agency, small marketing teams, and large corporate teams allows me to integrate seemlessly into a client’s workflow and provide them with the high-quality content they desire.
The main message that I would like to put out to any potential clients or partners is that while I am a solo freelancer, it takes teamwork and collaboration to get the highest-quality product made. Whether it’s teaming up together on a photoshoot or idea generation for a social media post, I’m only as successful as the brands and clients I partner with. I would consider my style to have an old school/timeless aesthetic, while utilizing the most modern methods available in the creative space.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
A great book that I’ve recently read is The Creative Act by Rick Ruben. For all creatives or those working in an artistic space, I think this should be a mandatory read. Ruben breaks down not only the creative process, but also the why and how for creatives to make art. It’s personally helped me with getting over imposter syndrome and remembering the why of becoming a creative in the first place. This in turn has helped me refocus when times are slow or if I’m in a creative rut.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
To be honest, I’m still continuing to grow my audience on social media. My goal is to post at least three times a week to create a consistency and anticipation with my audience. While consistency is important, I think the most important thing is quality. Everytime I post I try to think to myself, “Am I providing value for someone that is viewing or watching this? Does it fall into the category of entertainment, inspiration, or education?” For those getting started I would say that the beginning is the hardest part. Figuring out what to post is difficult so just start posting what you want! As you continue to post you can look back on insights or analytics to see what performs well and you can then pivot to make more content that your audience is engaging with. However, you’ll never receive this information unless you start posting. Social media is a skill or a muscle that needs to be trained, so the more you create /practice, the better you will get at creating it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.willlandreth.com
- Instagram: @willtofilm
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/will-landreth-aa160ba2
- Youtube: Will Landreth
- Other: TikTok @willtofilm
Image Credits
Will Landreth