IFH 286: How People Around You Can Hurt Your Filmmaking Dreams

Alex Ferrari 2:15
Now today's episode is a really quick one, I wanted to kind of put together this small episode, I thought it was something that needed to be said. And I know a lot of the tribe listening I haven't thought about this because of many reasons. So I heard a quote the other day that made so so so much sense that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And I wanted to tell you stories about what happened with me and and the people I used to hang out with back in the day. A lot of times when filmmakers are hanging out or have a group of people around them, a lot of times you are the the most advanced, the most driven the most the biggest hustler out of your group. And that's me is the worst place to be. Because you don't grow, you don't become better at what you do. You need to find people who are better than you who will challenge you who will make you take your game up to another level. And that's the that's the positive way of looking at this, I'm not going to talk about the negative way as well. Now, if you're hanging around five losers, and five guys or girls who are bringing you down, who are negative towards everything you do, you're never getting get out of the out of the box, man, you're never going to get out and never get you're never going to start the race, hell, you're not even going to get to the track. You need to find people around you who are not only going to inspire you to be better, or who are going to support you and push you to grow as a artist as a filmmaker as an entrepreneur, which is all what you have to be in in order to make it in the business today those three things very, very, very much so. And when I was coming up, I you know, when I was in high school, I hung around with you know, good people, good friends, but they really weren't helping me move forward. A lot of times, some friends were some friends weren't. And same thing happened when I was in college. And when I got out of college, I didn't have anybody around me that was really, you know, in a different place. It was that at a higher level, let's say in in the business somewhere, someone who would push me to be a better than who I was I was always pushing myself I was also always hustling myself. And I'll tell you what, when I was in, in Florida, you know a lot of ways and not always trying to be cocky or anything like that, but a lot of ways. I was the big fish in a small pond, you know in the in a group of friends that were around me, you know, we're excellent. And some of them really did push me, but others didn't. And it wasn't their fault. It wasn't my fault. It was just the nature of where we were, we were in a smaller town, in the film business was just not as, you know, prolific. And then occasionally I would meet people like Egon Stefan Jr, who definitely pushed me to go a little bit farther than I was, where, where he'd been in the business for so long. And he's taught me a lot about, about cameras, about lenses, and so on. But when I got to Los Angeles, that's when things changed for me. Because in LA, you know, you have to take your game up a notch, in order to survive, you know, you have to be, you're being pushed left and right, when you're meaning when working with people. A lot of these people have been in the business a lot longer than you have a lot of people have been, have much more experienced than you did, then you had. So when I got here, every single job I did, in a lot of ways, these clients were pushing me, these filmmakers were pushing me harder and harder. And that was, I mean, I grew within the first two years here, more than probably in the 10 years that I was in Florida, purely because of the nature of Los Angeles. Now, you could do that maybe in Atlanta, you could do that in, in New York, you could do that in many other big cities, and a lot of other areas around the world. They have a big film communities. But for me, it was LA. And I just, I just wanted to kind of put that message out there, maybe during the holiday season, and also for the new year. Because I think you guys need to reevaluate people who around you and don't tell me about your I live with my mom, that doesn't count, I'm talking about friends, you know, I'm talking about people who are, you know, are in your business who are trying to help you now, again, family, friends, if they're not helping you, if they're bringing you down, that might be something you need to reevaluate in your own life. I've had to do that many times with family. And it's not always very pleasant. But I know for me, it works. And it helped me move to where I need to go, especially early on in my career. So look around you and see who is around you, who are you spending the most time with? Who what is the average of the five people you spend the most time with? are you hanging out playing Halo all the time, or drinking all the time or going down, and not really getting, you know, not writing not doing what you need to do to get to that next level to get to that next place in your career, in your life, in your dream on your journey, you know, you've got to kind of grow. And when you're growing, you need those people around you. That's why I love masterminds. masterminds are when you get a group of people, you know, hopefully people who are farther along than you are so they can guide you push you keep you accountable. That's why mentors are so important. Finding a mentor that can push you that can keep you accountable, and get you to that next place. It's kind of like having a personal trainer, you know, when you have a personal trainer, they're going to push you farther than you think you can go. And that's the kind of people you need around you. You know, I'm blessed because I get to talk to these people all the time, I get to have them on on my show, I get to talk to them. And they're not pushing me, but they are they are pushing me whether they know it or not just by me talking to them. I see where they are, I see the path they've walked in their journey. And it inspires me to move forward and inspires me to become better at what I'm doing. You know, and I you know, who are you listening to on your on your way home or on your commute every day? Obviously, hopefully me. But if you know what, what podcasts you listen to what audio books are you listening to, you know, what are you doing to take your self to the next place to take you that next step further on that journey. And I think it all starts with the people you spend the most time with. And really you need to evaluate that in in 2019. And I hope this message gets out to you guys. And I mean it from a good place I don't want you guys to I don't want you to break up with your girlfriend or your boyfriend. I don't want you to leave your parents Because I said so I want you just to be really truthful and honest with yourself and find out Hey, what what are these people doing for my life? are they helping me? Or are they hurting me? Or are they just even worse, not doing a thing they're negating they're just like, they just they just laugh, and they're not doing anything for me you if you want to make it to the next level if you want to take your filmmaking journey. farther down that path, get those skills up to push you farther than you were before, then you've got to surround yourself with people who are better than you. In those specific areas of life, whether it's entrepreneurship, business, filmmaking, losing weight, getting healthy, meditation, spirituality, whatever it is, find those people. Ask the universe for those people to come into your life. And I promise you, they will. And slowly, but surely, you start just just releasing and letting go of the negative energy, letting go of those negative people letting go of those people who are not helping you, people who just want to stay at home, and do nothing, when you really want to get something done. And I know that is really helpful in smaller towns around the country and around the world, places where the film business is not spewing out of every corner, like it is here in LA. But you really need to do this guys. And I, again, hope that this message reaches you guys at a good time in your life. And also, I don't care how old you are, you could be 20, you could be 60. And if you're still surrounded by the wrong people, they're not going to move you forward to where you want to be in your life. Alright, guys, so that's my Christmas wish for you guys my holiday wish for you guys to to better your situation better your chances on this turbulent filmmaker filmmaking path that you've decided to walk down in whatever Avenue you decide to walk down in this business, I really do hope nothing but the best for you guys. and wish you nothing but the best. So thank you again for listening. And also guys, I have a lot of big news coming up, I can't wait to tell you this. It's like so so exciting. Next week, in the week, after I'm going to be launching some very big news. And I can't wait. Some of you guys saw on my Facebook. And my social media feeds a mysterious image. Well, that mysterious image has something to do with one of the big announcements I have coming up. And it's going to be coming up in 20 or very early 2019. But I have another big announcement that I probably will announce next week or, or shortly thereafter. And it's going to be very, very big for you guys. Specifically, I think you guys are going to get a lot out of that. So and also, of course IFH TV we got we're going to be releasing new content weekly, starting in 2019. So it's not going to be one big dump at the beginning of the month. We're going to split it up over the course of every week. So every Friday, you will get emails, you will get announcements about what has been released that week. But I will still be doing a once a month release or update on the podcast telling you what everything that's going to come out in the month, that month. But we will be releasing it every week. So you have fresh new stuff every week. You guys are killing it on IFH.TV, you guys are watching so much stuff. I mean getting so much feedback. Thank you again. So, so much. I want to build that platform into something that is monstrous, and that can help so so many people around the world. So please spread the word. share the information, share the trailers that I'm putting out every day. Let people know about it. I really wanted to make it work and I need your help to make it happen. So please do everything in anything you can to get the word out on Indie Film Hustle TV, and of course on everything else that we do at indie film hustle. Thanks again guys. Merry Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I will talk to you very soon. And as always, keep that hustle going. Keep that dream alive. And I'll talk to you soon.