The American Marketers Association Event at Studio North
On September 26th, the Visual Captive team stepped out of their comfort zone and tried something new—public speaking! Visual Captive hosted September’s American Marketer’s Association event at Studio North in Northeast Minneapolis.
Partnering with The American Marketers Association gave us a great opportunity to network, meet new people, and brush up on our public speaking skills.
“The American Marketing Association strives to be the most relevant force and voice shaping marketing around the world, an essential community for marketers.”
During this talk, we each had the opportunity to share our personal journeys of transitioning from a corporate life to a creative field. Our stories paralleled in many ways:
The dissatisfaction with our corporate careers
The desire for change without knowing where to begin
The fear of taking that leap, and the realization of just how challenging the transition would be
Yet, even in the uncertainty—without a stable income or a clear plan for the future—there was a sense of relief.
For both of us, the unpredictability of a creative career, with all its unknowns, was far more fulfilling than the safety of a predictable job where we weren't learning or growing.
You Have to Be Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
One of the key points I want to emphasize in this blog is that making the leap from something stable to something unknown requires getting comfortable with discomfort. Easier said than done, of course. It's a frightening experience to go from a steady income and a clear career path to having no fixed income and no real roadmap for your future.
For Phil, his journey to becoming a business owner started during the pandemic. As he was creating and growing his video production company, Visual Captive, he was doing this during one of the most unpredictable times in the world.
In our talk, we each emphasized that even though we were scared, we did it anyways because we knew that we had to in order to feel satisfied with ourselves. Following what you want to do is tough, but reaping the benefits of that hard work in the beginning makes it all feel worth it.
What We’ve Learned
Both of us felt like we learned a lot from the experience of hosting a talk. It's been a while since either of us has spoken in front of an audience, but sharing our stories made it easier. This reminded us how important it is to keep pushing ourselves to try new things, even though we've already established careers in this industry.
As a growing video production company, we never want to reach a point where we've stopped learning. Doing this talk brought that discomfort of public speaking, but the pride and relief afterward made it worthwhile. Challenging ourselves in areas where we're less comfortable only strengthens our ability to handle uncertainty with our future projects.