31 Dec Thank you 2014. It has been great.

Thank you 2014….

The last few weeks before the new year is always a much needed time of reflection for me. In the world of entertainment and entrepreneurship, you experience two types of projects, the ones that come and go in a whirlwind or the ones you are stuck on for so long that you cannot see an end in sight. It is difficult in both cases to find time for reflection because while you are in the moment, all you can do is hold on and hope you come out alive emotionally and physically.

Running Moth to Flame is always a learning experience for me. It is crazy to think that this company once started with just me and now has a team of 10 people on any given day. I have had to learn many valuable lessons and continue to on this journey.

Here are some of the lessons I have learned in 2015:

1. In order to grow, you can’t do everything.

Honestly, I feel like I have to relearn this every year in some form or fashion. When you love something to the core of it, it is very easy not to trust people to care about it as much as you do, hence the difficultly of letting go.

Editing my debut feature film, Funemployment, pretty much took my mental space full time. I had to quickly start prioritizing and handing off work to other folks on the team. The great thing about doing this is now I truly know who I can depend on and who I cannot. I know who I work well with and have learned even more in depth about my team’s different personalities, working styles, and capabilities. It has been a mini puzzle, trying to find the best mix and match to achieve the most balance.

2. There will always be people you agree to disagree with.

Not everyone is going to get your vision. In fact, there are probably more people that disagree with you than actually agree. So it is okay to not see eye to eye and it is okay to have to part ways with those that no longer understand or believe in your methodology. Such is the nature of growing a business.

Believing in a united vision is important. It is something that is as intangible as passion but can drive a team faster than monetary gain. A team driven by a belief will work together even when the times are rough. And believe me, there will always be rough patches, again the nature of starting up.

Everyone on a team is important. One bad cookie and everything is thrown off balance. People are dynamic and evolving so it is inevitable that people will come and go and tastes, visions, beliefs will evolve as well. We all change and grow at different paces.

3. Following your passion can still feel like a job. That’s Okay.

I wish doing what you love is always smooth sailing, but you know how they say, “nothing worth having comes easy.” I work very hard. My team works even harder. Everyone in the industry works even harder. The only way to get anywhere is to work your ass off.

You have to be willing to sacrifice almost everything to follow a passion. I think the biggest thing you have to sacrifice at least for the first few years is the sense of stability. Things come in cycles and it is all about seizing the opportunity. After you have done this for a few years, you learn to prepare for the bad times. You save more, you take on a few projects that you do to survive economically, and you continue to innovate at the same time. It is a constant trial and error and it is very taxing.

This year especially was very tough, but in a good way. We had so many great projects come in and on top of that a full length feature and short film to complete. We worked hard. We survived… tired, yet victorious and excited to see what the new year will bring.