It was an exhilarating couple of nights @ CreativeCubes.Co Richmond + Hawthorn.

20 startups (thanks to MYOB) now have 12 months rent FREE to develop, pivot & grow their ideas in market.

One of the winners was James Shadrach from Video Why.

On this vlog, James sat down with Claire Goldsworthy from the Fashion Advocate to talk about his purpose, mission & vision for Video Why.

James will be @CreativeCubes.Co – Hawthorn for the next 12 months hustling to grow his business thanks to the support and backing of MYOB.

For James it’s time to jump off the cliff (metaphorically) learn how to build the rocket on the way down and then fly.

Enjoy the vlog

🙂

Transcript

Claire: Hey, I’m here today with James Shadrach from Video Why. How are you?

James Shadrach: Great. Thank you.

Claire: Good. Great. I met James recently at the Creative Cube’s pitch night in collaboration with MYOB and Startup Victoria. It was a super fun night for creativity, innovation, startups, big businesses. It was a really cool group of people coming together to pitch for 12 months worth of free rent which this guy won. Congratulations James.

James Shadrach: Thank you. Thank you.

Claire: It’s super exciting. What’s your business? How did you win it?

James Shadrach: Yeah. Sure. It’s called Video Why. We are videographers and we make videos about purpose. How we won is we got up and pitched.

Claire: Were you nervous?

James Shadrach: Yes. I was very nervous.

Claire: You did well. I saw it. It was really good. You nailed that pitch.

James Shadrach: Thank you. I was really nervous. I don’t think I showed it too much, but very nervous. But really got up and just shared my story, it was really trying to be authentic and just tell it how it is and the judges really liked it and that’s how it happened.

Claire: It was really good. I think that’s really important that authenticity. I loved your pitch and you had everyone in the room listening and I think that’s obviously because you were sharing such a personal story and your why. Is that the basis of your business name, the why?

James Shadrach: Yeah. Really what we try to do is create videos about your why or your purpose and that comes out of a conversation about why you really care, why you’re actually starting this. Business is such a challenging thing that you’re undertaking and the question is, well why? What is it that drives you to do this really challenging thing?

Claire: Why? Why do you do what you do?

James Shadrach: It’s a good question. As I said in my pitch I grew up rough, I grew up in public housing and I didn’t really have a lot of mentors of role models around me, but I always wanted something better. And what really helped was video content, it was people I watched online who talked about their purpose, they talked with passion and authenticity, and these people really coached, mentored and inspired me into who I am today.

Claire: That’s awesome. I think some of the best businesses, and after knowing you for the past week and a half I can see it’s in your business as well, the best businesses are built on personal experience. And when you’re trying to create something better out of something that you’ve experienced. It’s definitely obvious through your work. It’s really good. Okay. So you’re in the startup phase, what’s the best thing about being a startup?

James Shadrach: The best thing about being a startup? I think there are a couple of things. I think freedom is huge, that you have the freedom to do things on your own terms. And I think you feel that you’re really doing something meaningful at the end of the day. I was talking to one of the people who won the pitch night the last round last year, and he was saying there’s such a difference between working in corporate versus working in startup. You leave the day feeling like, “Wow. I’ve made so much progress on this thing I care so much about.” Whereas, with corporate maybe it’s a different vibe for people and they’re maybe working super hard but it’s like, “Am I really-

Claire: For someone else.

James Shadrach: Yeah. Correct. Yeah. I think those are the best things, the freedom and really feeling like you’re creating something bigger than yourself.

Claire: What’s the most challenging thing then?

James Shadrach: The most challenging thing would be the buck stops with me.

Claire: Yep. You’re responsible, if you don’t work things don’t get done.

James Shadrach: Totally.

Claire: Yep.

James Shadrach: I think definitely at the start a big challenge was there’s nobody telling me what to do. I could really just start my day whenever I wanted. The agenda was set by me and that was really challenging.

Claire: Okay. If you’re in a startup then, it’s really about being on top of your schedule and making sure that you are really proactive with planning things.

James Shadrach: Totally.

Claire: Yep. As a creative it’s hard. I Know it’s really difficult. I write my schedule out all the time and it definitely helps, but if I don’t have that you get a bit creative and go off into creative land quite often. Okay. So startup, it’s a great time to be in business, you’ve got your ups, your downs. Obviously you’re working towards making a difference for other people and building a business but what does success mean to you? How do you define success?

James Shadrach: Really good question. I think you can define success a bunch of different ways so I think you really have to define it for yourself. I’m going to try and recall, I’ve got this written, but I think the way I wrote it was I want to grow Video Why to the point where it gives me the freedom to live my life in a way I want while pushing me to grow and develop as person, and also contributing to the community. So if I can check all those, and I have definitions of what I mean for each, but if I can achieve that, that for me is success.

Claire: That’s amazing. That’s an amazing definition of success. And community is a really good point as well. Obviously … You go.

James Shadrach: One of the things that really drives me is if I continue to grow this business I can employ people, that’s the coolest thing ever. That’s a whole world for somebody else and that’s what I really want to do.

Claire: I want you to do that. I’m going to support you. I want you to keep doing what you’re doing because what you’re doing is amazing.

James Shadrach: Thank you.

Claire: So the community then, growing a team, growing a community, being part of this community. Obviously we’re here today at Creative Cubes, the community is amazing here. Why is that important to you, being in a copworking space, how has that helped your business?

James Shadrach: Sure. A bunch of different ways. I think for a start I’ve found business from the people who work here. We’ve created videos for a bunch of different people in the community and that’s great for business. But more so, you have a really strong network of people helping you.

Sometimes it’s just me, sometimes it’s just me and Mason, but with the whole community I feel like it’s me plus everybody here, the happiness team, all the different businesses and it makes you feel really powerful, you’ve got this huge community backing you.

Claire: Strength in numbers.

James Shadrach: Totally. Totally.

Claire: I can vouch for that actually, the community and the happiness team especially at Creative Cubes it’s awesome. They’re always so happy when you come in and you start your day with the girls at the front and it’s absolutely incredible. Okay. You’ve landed at Creative Cubes, I know it’s super fresh, week and a half, but what’s the coolest thing you’ve done here in the last week?

James Shadrach: Coolest thing I’ve done here in the last week?

Claire: Besides this, today.

James Shadrach: I’ve really enjoyed filming with the lighting around here. I don’t know if they do this on purpose but everything is just beautifully lit. There are these really nice rooms with different coloured backgrounds, you’ve got a nice blue and there’s a pink, there’s black on this wall. It’s beautiful the texture and the lighting, so I’ve had a lot of fun filming with that.

Claire: Yeah. It’s an awesome space for creative work. I’ve taken heaps of my social media shots in here because of the pink room, the red room, that’s awesome. I love that room. So, if you are a business looking for incredible video content you need to get in touch with James from Video Why, he is insane at what he does, absolutely incredible, really, really talented. I’ve seen what you do.

We’re working on some content behind the scenes with the Fashion Advocate as well because his stuff is that good. I think it’s also the personal touch of that why, you get what it’s about, you spend time learning about businesses and that’s so important for small businesses.

Claire: So get in touch, head to videowhy.com. And, if you want to learn more about Creative Cubes or if you’re interested in moving on up into a co-working space this place is awesome, creativecubes.co, we’re in Hawthorn, there’s a location in Richmond, it’s a great community, you meet great people. Tune in next time to see more stories about good people doing good things. Bye.