Interview with Director Alfredo Battle

0:00 Welcome to the Create Podcast. You all know who I am, but who you don't know is for some inviting into this interview. Today we're separating from our normal just speech on particular product things, like brand and things like marketing. But today we're going to talk a little bit about what it's like to be a freelancer, and what it's like to begin to create something from nothing.

1:05 DR for eight years, it was almost like they couldn't remember how, so they always would just say Alfredo, and I just kind of stayed with it. And when I came back to the states, I just kind of stayed with Alfredo. Alfredo was just like my actual director's name, but Al, Alfredo, either or is good. The director, Alfredo.

2:11 overall fun and recovery of the surgeries. And so not for the same part, apparently. I mean, it was fun for me, you know. It was very intriguing, because I remember when I was in school and they kept trying to push us towards the news. And then when I remember having my, I won't say the, you know, the news channel, but when I had my interview at the college, I just said, "This ain't, this ain't me." Like, I can't see myself wearing suits every single day, khaki pants.

3:12 somebody, I knew somebody, just kind of worked out, and I haven't looked back since. But after the cosmetic surgeries, the pandemic hit, and I still do surgeries from time to time, but it's not as heavy. So then when I came back to the states, I started getting a little bit more serious with government contracts, and state and city contracts. So once I saw those payouts, it was just like, "Oh shoot, no need to go back to, you know, to the surgery."

4:15 you might be doing really good, another season you might be doing okay. One season you might, "You know what, I don't need to spend as much." Once, you know, one season you might splurge. You know, you might say, "Hey, lunch on me, on everybody, you know what I'm saying, I'm paying for everybody." But with all the things that's changing, it's a lot of us entrepreneurs who work in the government. It's kind of like, "Okay, we gotta, we gotta go back to the drawing board."

5:18 with that. We have a project coming up, and it may or may not have to do with the mayor, not to tell you which time, but it does have to do with, not name dropping, I swear.

6:19 college in 2009, I did do, you know, a little bit of, you know, jobs here, you know, teaching. I was in the Columbia...

7:21 was telling me stories how they worked 20 plus years at this place. I won't say what the name of it. 20 years at this place, almost about to retire, all for the company to sell it and they had to start all over. So once I heard those stories, it made me thought, like, the system is not designed for us to really succeed and have financial freedom. So I just said, if I work for myself for 20 plus years, I can't lose. There's no way I could lose. So I kind of went in with that mindset and I haven't looked back.

8:24 requirement of actually doing lots of work. And you may not know this, but many people who work a nine-to-five will not actually just work a nine-to-five. They work about 12 plus hours a day, whether they know it or not, whether their brain's processing information, they're answering emails and text messages. So all that time that's dedicated for someone else, you chose to dedicate it to building yourself, and to be able to have more freedom and control in day-to-day and in your finances.

9:24 of prison for murder. This person did assault, assault, robberies. So I'm not working there. Well, it's shut down now. But I remember going into the manager's office. He always had, now mind you, when you're on the floor, you have all this gear on, it's probably like 160 degrees, right, with all the gear you got on. And mind you, I'm fresh out of college, but this was the only job that you was able to get starting off at, like, 25, 22, because it's hard labor. But the, okay, you know I'm saying? So it was like looking at the money aspect. But the manager will always be in the office with the AC up, with his boots off, watching, watching sports. So it just hit me.

10:30 I was just like, "Hey, I'm just trying to get, just trying to stay cool." Like, "Hey, yeah, make yourself comfortable. Now, anybody else, get back out there and get to work." But when it always came to me, he said, "Hey, I'll make yourself comfortable, relax." And then it'd be like 10 minutes, you know, "All right, man, you gotta go back out there now." I will say that, but in that time I got to see how comfortable and how relaxed he was, and he was sitting back being a boss while everybody else was doing our work. So for me, it taught, I had a vision to say, "Hey, I don't want to live like this." Like, some of these guys have no choices because of the choices they made in their past.

11:32 no time for your family, no time to do anything, but they want you to put all these hours in. So I just figured, like, why not put all my hours into myself? Bet on myself, and I can go on vacation anytime I want. So I can wake up and say, "You know what, I'm gonna go to Toronto today," and then wake up from there, and "You know what, I'm gonna go to Chicago." So I love that freedom. And just, "Oh, I gotta call the boss and the manager and say, 'Hey, can I take two weeks off?'" And they say no. I can't live like that.

12:34 down, planning, figuring out what I was gonna do. And it was good because it was almost like I needed to leave my environment and go into an unknown environment.

13:39 Hey, don't ask where it comes from. I don't ask no question. Now, how I got motion out of that was Panera Bread always had those, you know, those thumbtacks with all the businesses on it. I'll take them all, and I would make phone calls. "Hey, I've seen your business, I looked at your website, I noticed you don't have no videos." And some would say yes, they were, some would say no. So I had to get maybe a year of reps in, and once I got those years of reps in, just doing so many different small businesses, street marketing.

14:40 make, and just do guerrilla calls. "Hey, I looked at your website." First I would study their website, and if it looked kind of old, or if it looked like they had nothing, then I'll introduce myself. And like I said, sometimes they would say no, sometimes they would say yes. And the ones that say yes, it was just like, "All right, this is like working out, New Year's workout, you know, saying, just getting those reps in, you know, learning a lot, because sometimes what I did for this person, they might not like that."

15:44 community board, you pulled all the businesses on there, because if they're posting on a community board, they're obviously a little bit more integrated community. They're not just a fly in the wall, they don't feel high and mighty. They're looking for either to grow their business or vice versa. And then you did research. Like, that in itself proves that you were trying to, because you're trying to offer a solution to them, but you can't offer a solution if you don't know the problem. And so you'd pull up their website, you'd see if it's good, and you'd see if it's bad, and you know, you did market research before you made that cold call, which is going to be the difference between someone picking up your phone call or not. And not to mention, you have a little bit of a natural charisma and can start spark conversation randomly. Some other of us need, need Jesus in that area.

16:48 have no pitch lines. I didn't know, you know, the very first, I had no script. I remember the very first time I had the initial thought, I called a company. I was like, click. I was like, "Oh shoot, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to say."

17:52 I came across to saying that line right there, let them know, like, "Oh okay, this is someone who's credible, who went to a college, and he's not just known Joe Schmo." So I came up with that line by saying, "Hey, I'm a recent film graduate, and I came across your business at Panera Bread, and I noticed on your website," so therefore it's showing that, "Oh, this guy studied us." "I noticed on your website you didn't have any videos showcasing the products or services that you offer, you know." And then I said some other stuff, and then it was like, "Well, hold on," and then, you know, had a meeting. Sometimes they invite me to their office and we'll chop it up, and then sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say no. Those work ethic muscles kind of develop, develop, develop, and yeah, it just took off from there.

18:56 identified the problem and provided the solution, and that's what kicked these sales off. You talk about work ethic, so I imagine it was a lot of grinding. How many phone calls did you have to make to get a few leads, and how many leads were you churning?

19:59 going to be a filmmaker. I always wanted to be an architect. So my freshman year in college, I was in, I was an architect, and then I realized that this wasn't, this ain't it. So they're not more detailed and then complicated.

21:02 Wonderful or someone, and they asked him, "Should I start a business?" And he responded with no, because it takes all this time of investment and this grind. That you just, if you're an entrepreneur, you ain't get no holidays. Trust me, I was working on Christmas. I mean, work for myself, yes, but it's hard work, it's dedication, and the sales is, and I've noticed this because I've hired some sales people, and some of them do good, some of them don't do good. But one of the hardest things for them is the list of calls that they make and trying to reach out to these business and things. And if they get so many, it gets so discouraging when they see all of this negative, you know, response, or "Hey," people hang up or say don't call me again. But if you keep pushing, if you keep knocking on that door, faith without action is dead. You moved by faith, you went to freelancing, you moved my faith, even though you had a little bit of fear there. But you're picking phone call and like, "I'm gonna hang up right now." But you kept knocking on that door, and kept knocking on that door, and it's consistency

22:06 and persistence that builds a business. And that persistency and consistency has brought you from, you know, starting with a Nikon to now you have the entire Sony lineup and all these great lenses, and you have people like me saying, "Hey, can you jump in on a complicated studio shoot?" "Yeah, no problem." And you walk in, you make 1,500 plus a day, and all these things. And you just, you're able to grind out from the actions of faith, taking a step of faith, leaving a job that was probably very difficult, but at least it was a solid job, leaving that and starting with cold calls.

23:08 exciting, you know. And, but guess what though, during that season of cold calls, because remember I said it took a while before I got a yes, but in between the cold calls I was doing, still was doing weddings, but then also I would go to events, and therefore I would meet people at these events, and then people, you know, when you're talking, "Well, what do you do?" "Oh, I'm a filmmaker." "Really? Do you have a card?" At that time I did, I didn't have a card. So I would, I didn't have a card, so I would just give out phone numbers. But some of those media, I mean, some of those events I would go to, I would get gigs there. And, or a friend would say, "Hey, I know somebody who's, you know, who does videos," so you know, and then they would call me, "Hey, it's as I said that you do videos, we have this event coming up." So therefore I was getting my reps in with those, waiting for the small business cold calls. So my actual first cold call gig I got probably took about maybe seven months.

24:18 Seven months?

25:20 just kind of, just kind of started building and building.

26:25 faith. And there is sometimes a lot of fear when you're making cold calls or when you're going to these events. But this grassroot building, I believe, is so much more rewarding than trying to build a business plan and spending, you know, all this time building and going to a banker, going to a venture capitalist and trying to get money. Like, you started with a thousand dollars, and you got that camera, and you got that MacBook. No Windows, you got that MacBook, and you were able to build and start. You know, you had weddings to fall back to, you went to events, like, you got yourself out there, you did the work. And that in itself is the, anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur, you just can't hate the four letter word, work. You can't hate it, it's a part of where you are. You want freedom, freedom comes from working, because you have to grind through the whole Babylon system. You have to grind through this debt, you have to grind through this perception that you have to work for someone else, so that you can spend more time with your family, so that you can go to vacations and stuff. And it's not like

27:26 you're throwing money, you know, you just, you get a million dollars, you're throwing it away. It's like you worked your hard earned work, produced the fruit, and you're enjoying the food of your labor.

28:32 the clients feel special, and he knew how to talk to the clients' families. And so really I thought to myself, not only that, you got to be a good filmmaker, you got to be a good people person. I mean, people ain't gonna just hire you because you're good, but if you got the, if you got the charisma, if you know how to. And he was real big on dressing, like we had to, like, wear suits, you know. As a young guy, I'm not wearing those suits. Now that I'm older, I see, when he always talk about the power of presentation.

29:32 you know, you're talking your wife voice or something. You were not saying that, we're saying that it's the presentation is how you carry yourself, and how you can walk into a room, and somewhat your communication's a two-way street. So if I do a speech, or if I go somewhere from, you know, talking to a meeting, I have to know my audience, and you have to know if your audience is going to respond well to appearance A or appearance B, and you have to make that shift for your audience. And I know that you've always been a great communicator. You've always been great to communicate with clients, never had to hide talent from you. Like, you've known how to do this because you were brought up learning how to communicate, and it's one of the toughest things to learn. But being personable and owning up to your mistakes and just talking and just, you know, pretty much just chilling and creating a rapport with your clients, with your customers, with whomever, even your employees, that in itself speaks volumes, because usually people like to separate themselves and just be professional, and there is a point where that's required, but it's that relationship so they can trust

30:35 you and have a relationship, a friend. That's how you breed loyalty. Loyalty is not bred by a friendship that's just text and emails, it's bred by in-person contacts, having laughing, going through the good times, going through the bad times. And you know, we've had some...

31:45 and she came in, you know, looking amazing as always. And just because in my mind, "Oh, I'm just the shooter, I could just come at the round table with a polo shirt, crispy sneakers, and jeans with the knees cut out, that's cool in America." But you see everybody in suits, it just didn't hit me, because I'm thinking like, "Oh, I'm just sitting down taking notes," but then, you know, getting the camera, getting a little meat, a little shot. So I mentioned to them, just kind of after the meetings, though, we have a little small talk, and I'll be like, "Man, man, America, you know, business a little slow, this and that." Third, now at this time I had long locks.

32:46 groomed, but they said that if you really want your business to advance, you may have to change your image. I'm like, "What?" I'm like... So it took me three years to say, "You know what, let me give it a try." Three years, three years. And that third year I cut my hair off, I started wearing more collar shirts, I started wearing more khaki pants, casual shoes.

33:51 smelling cologne, and people come to me.

34:54 but now here it is, a whole different look. Now I'm going to, now at this time that I changed my image, I'm already got a lot of reps in, I got a lot of, you know, a lot of experience. Now it's time to elevate. Now it's time to go after corporations. Now it's time to go after, you know, business level, the next level. So now new look, new image. So now in order to get those six...

36:00 this collection of high-end luxury scents, but to attract high level people. So I remember the first time I smelled Bond No. 9. I was in Chicago, and this corporate guy, this long trench coat, kind of looked like Brad Pitt or something, and he walked past, and I'm a cologne fanatic, and I ain't never smelled nothing like this. I had this, I went back, I said, "Sir, no funny stuff, but what kind of cologne is that?" And he said, he said it was Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace. I said, "Bond No. 9?" I said, he never heard it, I looked it up. I'm like, "Five hundred and sixty dollars?"

37:03 That sample I sprayed on, I went through the mall, and then people were like, they were stopping me. "Hey, oh my gosh, what's that you got on? That smells so good." I went back and bought it. Now all award, when I go to events, networking events, and the first event I went to when I wore that, closed three deals, all because they said, "Excuse me, sir, you walk past it, we just had to ask what is that you have on?" "Oh, it's called Bond No. 9."

38:07 Scent of Peace, you know, Wall Street, Governor's Island.

39:11 You're triggering that sense, and so you're monopolizing on a whole new type of market.

40:12 I'll be the only Black guy at these events. So it's just like, "Oh." So it probably adds to when they smell it and they look at you and they're like, what, question mark, and they come to you like that.

41:19 or, let's just say, the people who say, "All right, based off what you're telling me, it would be this price." These individuals that say, "Oh, can you do it for this price? Oh, our budget, our budget is only this." Sometimes you would try to be a good Samaritan and you're like, "You know what, I will help you out, or I will bless you, or that for that amount," even though it's way beneath the services that you're about to provide. Yeah, I've noticed those individuals have the most revision requests.

42:25 going to know your value, you should probably either let them go or take stock of it and know that 50 clients are not seeing your value, you may want to readjust your business strategy. But yeah.

43:30 even presented to me at the beginning, because I'm the type of person, because I've been doing this for so long, I know how people operate, so I asked the hard questions up front. "What is, you know, your business colors, or what is this brand kit, whatever?" And they say, "Oh, you're the expert, we just trust you." And I'm like, "Nah."

44:33 with, you know, all these things. I mean, this is why I have limited revisions in my contracts, but you do these things and then you're going to be up a creek without a paddle.

45:39 then how are you going to know their project's worth or their corporate values?

46:41 and they just want to get the word out, whether if it's a PSA of a commercial, they just want to get a word out. So based off of the notes I took, you know, I took it, and as soon as we go out and shoot it and we present it to them, "Oh, thank you, here's a check." Bam, simple as that. Those are the best clients to have. I love all of my clients and they all fall in that category. And just, there's been, there's been time there was a company I had to do a video project that was 32K. They gave it to me all up front.

47:46 big networking events. So they never said anything about cologne, because I noticed, like, when you go into, like, the DoD and the DLA, all of that, it's a little bit more serious, but they ain't, nobody complimenting nobody, everybody's pretty laser focused and just straight, get to the point, what's your business, you know. So I will say no one said anything about my scent at those events, but there was a government agency there that always saw me at these events, and of course once again, the only young Black guy there. And so I introduced myself, and one thing led to another, we had to talk, and she's like, "You know what?" Because every time I meet somebody and we talk, we talk, I said, "Well, have you ever thought about doing videos for that?" Or, you know, she's like, "Oh my gosh, that's a good idea, I didn't even think about that. Hey, I'm gonna give you a call and let's discuss more about this." So as soon as you give me a call, she called back and I'm breaking it down for her, "Okay, you can have people do this and say this and this." "Oh my gosh, it's a good idea. Now how much is that going to cost?"

48:48 I'm like, you know, I don't know. The price I gave her was extremely low.

49:53 that's a good project. Remember, clients, good clients aren't going to care about the price. Something, and they're going to care, they're going to care about the value, what problem you're solving, what solution you're providing, and if they can trust you. If they, if you have credibility, if you're authentic, and if they can trust you, and if you can do those things, then you can. Well, there's some reasonable pricing structure somewhere, but generally speaking, it's less about the money, it's more about, you established your brand, you established your money, you're solving my problem, how much is it? And that's how you proceed.

50:56 increase. But guess what, less to learn next time.

51:57 don't have a business card, the cheat code is, before you start the interview, "Okay, can you look into the camera, say your first and last name, spell it slow, and then what is your title?" Because some people don't have business cards, they're like, "Oh, I don't have a business card." "Okay, well, can you look into the camera, say your first and last name, spell it slow, and then what's your title?" Boom, you got it right.

53:01 had eight videos. But, you know, some people, like the one company was a one of the top construction companies in the world, and they build all the embassies across the world. So they was preparing for taking their whole construction crew to China, so they couldn't meet the first month. I had to meet with them like month three, because they was going back and forth to China, you know. And so interviewing them was pretty cool. And guess what, out of those eight videos I did, three of them actually hired me for their own personal use.

54:04 all of this up by yourself. I mean, can we hire you for our own personal use?" Sure, no problem.

55:08 There's nothing like being in that by yourself. So I would say the number one thing for me, if you have a service, is always, always, always get those reps. Meaning every single day you should be doing something, whether if it's studying, if it's looking at tutorials, if it's asking someone who's on a higher level than you questions. To this day, every single day, every single day, I'm studying a classic film. Sometimes I'll look up the director or the cinematographer, I'll look up his movies, go watch those movies. So even though I'm not actually, you know, filming at, you know, particular days, but at least I'm always getting those reps in, rather if it's physically or just getting the knowledge.

56:10 the movie 12 Years, 12 Years a Slave. There was a scene that changed my life as a filmmaker, where the main character did something, and they had him hanging on a rope, and the camera stood there for like three minutes, and that's a long time with no cuts. That's a very long time in film and attention. So the main character who's hanging from a rope, he's tied up, he was on off center right of the lower third, and then you still see normal, a normal day in slavery, because people behind it, it was kind of like out of focus, but you could see him getting buckets and, you know, picking cotton, whatever at that time period. This was a normal occurrence. So he's a normal film showing you that they thought this was normal.

57:15 I remember being in the movie theater and seeing it just sitting there for about three minutes, and there was an impact right here in your heart.

58:16 out, I usually ask, I usually pray, so I'm gonna ask you if you wouldn't mind praying for our audience, and God, give them wisdom and creative ability to pursue, and that, you know, the faith, the courage, the boldness to step out and pursue what God's put on their heart.

59:19 products and service to the next level. We ask that everyone watch this video will be blessed. We ask that everyone watch this video, we just pray for prosperity, and not only that, Father God, we just pray for good health, by the God that people take pride in their health, take pride in their temple. And we just thank you in your mighty Son's name, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.

1:00:19 But hey, if you want to follow me or ask me any questions or any advice, feel free to follow me on Instagram, and you'll find that right there in the description, right in this video.

1:01:20 cards anymore. Now they got the digital.

1:02:41 you