I've been a professional creative for 17 years now. [Music] >> I started in high school filming training videos for bodybuilders. >> Since then, I've held at least 16 different creative positions.
>> Everything from being a text editor to building an 18 person media team. >> Here's the thing. I think you can do a lot more in your career in less time than it took me and it starts with your personal brand at the company you work for.
McKenzie found that employees with a good reputation got promoted 70% faster even when skill was exactly the same. When I joined one of Gary Vaynerchuk's portfolio companies, I had one goal in mind. I wanted to build the brand of Caleb can do it.
And I didn't build that by making content. I built it by doing the work, by saying yes to every project that came my way and then overd delivering on that project. And over time, that started to build a reputation.
The CEO of the company started to associate me with being dependable and hardworking, someone that he could pass a project off to and know that it would get done. And because of that, I got bigger and bigger opportunities, ultimately landing me my dream job working for Gary Vaynerchuk as his personal videographer in Tik Tok. See, your personal brand isn't just your Instagram and LinkedIn posts.
It's the reputation that you're building inside of the company that you're currently working for. [Music] Developing your personal brand doesn't have to wait until you start your own business. In fact, you can start building it within the company you're working for right now.
[Music] You don't stall in your career because of your weaknesses. You stall in your career because you see your weaknesses as a disadvantage. And I'm here to tell you that you need to flip that around.
I remember as a kid coming home every quarter with a report card full of D's and Fs. Sorry, Mom. When I entered the workforce, I quickly realized that my weakness was that I wasn't as smart as everyone else, or at least I I didn't think I was.
But instead of focusing on that as a disadvantage, I decided to lean in and get really good at asking questions. So good that Gary Vee actually told me that I was the best at asking questions out of any of the videographers that he's filmed with. I applied this exact same thinking to making content.
I tend to be a naturally insecure person. And because of that, I had a huge list of reasons why I shouldn't be making content. Instead of allowing that insecurity and disadvantage to dictate what I do, instead I'm going to make the content and just call out my insecurities when I'm feeling it.
So, I'd encourage you to look at what you view currently as your weakness or your disadvantage and instead of shying away from it, think about how you can lean in and make it your greatest advantage. [Music] Often times, focus is the very thing that unlocks the biggest opportunities. In 2017, when I was working at that company owned by Gary Vaynerchuk, there was another person in the same company who was hired in a very similar role, but we both had the same goal in mind to be on Gary Vaynerchuk's team.
Thank you. Thank you. Perfect.
The difference was is that I decided to focus all of my time and attention on the role that I was hired for while the other person was spending as much time as they could with Gary's team rather than focusing on the opportunity in front of them. I'm sure you can imagine the result. Focus, especially for creatives, is a wildly underrated skill.
[Music] Where you are matters. I started my career in Bellingham, Washington. Now, I absolutely love that town, but the problem with small towns is there's not a lot of opportunity or examples of people doing things on a big scale.
The two biggest jumps in my career happened when I decided to move across the entire country to pursue my craft. The first one was Bellingham, Washington to Brooklyn, New York. And 9 months after making the move, I was working for Gary Vaynerchuk.
The second move was Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada. And just 3 months after making that move, I was actually hired to help scale the personal brands of two different founders. [Music] We grew their following from 1.
2 million people to 11 1/2 million people. We also scaled the in-house media team from 0 to 18 full-time members in just 2 and 1/2 years. Neither of these career-changing opportunities would have come to me if I had stayed in Bellingham, Washington.
I know this can sound a bit cliche, but I would really suggest that you consider maybe living in a major metropolitan city for at least 6 to 12 months. I think you'll be blown away by how many opportunities are available every single day. [Music] If you're 9 to5 isn't it, build it in your 5 to9.
Focus is important. But more important, I would argue, is working on something that you're really proud of. In 2021, I hit this point.
I was no longer feeling good about my role, and I wasn't proud of the work that I was producing. So, I started a side project with my best friend, Jordan, making modern Harley-Davidson content for a younger generation. And I mean, we were having an absolute blast.
So much fun that I wanted to take it a step further. And so I actually moved from Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada. 2 months into this move.
Thank you. The biggest moment in my entire career will pop up. A lot of factors played into me getting that role.
But the one thing that I want to give massive credit to is that I just took ownership. Instead of complaining, I built something that I love, which gave me momentum. And that momentum provided me the confidence when the big opportunity came around.
Doing creates momentum and momentum creates opportunity. So if you want to build on that momentum, click here to watch the next video.
