Part 1: Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur: 8 Years of Discovering My Purpose
11 years, 11 years in a job I hated. The first 6 months were miserable, I was hazed, bullied, and lacking confidence. At my exact 6 month mark something switched, I realized I was good at it. The following 6 months had me learn every task in the department and become a real asset.
But for the next 10 years, nothing changed. I was promised the moon, came in 2nd out of 11 for a promotion and had numerous opportunities pulled from me last minute. 2 years into that job in 2006 I decided it was time to chase one of my dreams, get into movies, or sports. I went to a local Technical University for Professional Video Editing. It was easy, I actually enjoyed it, compared to high school where I did the minimal work to pass with a C+ average. This was almost effortless and I was passing with “distinction.”
I didn’t really know where it would take me and had no idea how the movie or sports industry really worked but I went after it. Driving an hour to school twice a week after work and sometimes the weekend as well. It wasn’t soon after that where I got a job with a local hockey team doing replays and working my way into a camera operator position. I was working 2 jobs while balancing school, I was tired but thriving.
I graduated from school and took my chance at movies by responding to an ad on Craigslist for Production Assistants (PA). It started unpaid on a music video for a local rap duo, it had the Ferrari, the beach, and the bikini-clad models. As a newly found Christian, I wasn’t exactly wanting to stare at these models so most of my time was spent holding a reflector to bounce the light and staring at the ground. No one complained, so I guess I was pointing in the right direction.
But this opened doors, through a connection on that shoot I got in with a movie studio to work on a movie. ‘Messages Deleted’ with Matthew Lillard, 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. I told them I had worked on plenty of sets before so I didn’t have to stand in the parking lot holding a sign for the whole 16 hour day. They should’ve realized I was lying when I didn’t know how to work the walkie talkie.
Instead, I was allowed to guard the front door of the restaurant we were using where a woman who was higher than a kite stood in my face screaming that the owner of the restaurant owed her $2 with a clenched fist, ready to hit me. Welcome to Hollywood, kiddo. It brought me the wrong attention from the locals but earned me respect immediately from the crew. What came next, helped teach me a valuable lesson about myself.
It was their busiest shoot day and I was put in charge of the extras. Making sure they ate, everything was clean, they knew where everything was and called them when it was time for their scene. I loved it! The fast-paced, high-stress environment had me thriving. It was an adrenaline rush. But my second day on the job was brutal, we swept a barn, cleaned up hay and moved boxes from the barn across a tiny bridge to a house for 12 hours.
The pay was great! $197! I didn’t make that at my normal job in a day at that point, getting there at 8 am and knowing the day rate was $197, was brilliant. However, when 16 hours rolls around on day 1, that is peanuts. It came out to $12.31/hr with no OT pay. I quickly realized the hours, the lifestyle of being on call 365 days a year, and rampant drug use was not something I could see myself doing.
It was a year later that hockey was losing its luster for me as well. Working for a junior team meant the pay wasn’t going to increase and there wasn’t very much opportunity to grow into a full-time position anywhere. I decided to leave that dream as well, the two things I wanted to do since I was a kid were done. However, a new dream was emerging. Being a business owner.
I started filming weddings with my boss at the hockey team before deciding to try it on my own. It branched into corporate videos but my equipment was subpar and I did not have enough knowledge as a whole to keep it going. I could film, I could edit, I could mic people for sound but sound and camera work was limited in knowledge. I needed to spend a few years and at least $10,000 to upgrade. My heart wasn’t in it enough.
- 11 years in a manufacturing job
- A few days on a movie/music video set
- 3 years in hockey
- 4 years running a videography business
On paper, it led me to nothing. But in reality, I had gained all of the experience and knowledge I needed to go after the next thing that came up.
My Takeaways Over 11 Years
In part 2 next Wednesday I am going to summarize all of this to show you the path it took me on. Yes my dreams of working in sports and movies were over, but it brought me to a much better place that fit me, that fit my core values, and I absolutely love…most days.
Every Wednesday I will talk about my journey as a business owner, Christian, husband, and father. Every Sunday I will dive a little deeper into what that season looked like from a faith perspective. I would love to not only have you follow along but engage. I want to help wherever I can to help you get to where God is calling you. It is not easy, it will be hard, but it is worth it.
Follow me on social media as well: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok & YouTube @DerekBurbidge