Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Agiriga.
Jesse, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
At an early age, my mother instilled the idea that I can do anything I put my mind to. And I always had a list of things that I wanted to try my hand at: 日本語を勉強 (study the Japanese language,) learn how to play instruments, and shoot a short film. I never closed myself off to trying new things. And I could never stay committed to just one thing. With people, I’m loyal almost to a fault. With activities, I’m a habitual cheater in need of patience and rehab. That lead to me being a middle school and high school student who could use Adobe Photoshop for editing pictures, Audition for recording and mixing audio. Premiere and Sony Vegas for editing videos, FL Studio for producing music, and more.
Fast-forward to when I was finishing my major in Digital Media at the University of Houston, I came up with an idea of creating a small multimedia company. It would work directly with small business to update, create/recreate, and help propagate their online brand. Through finishing my thesis – which utilized multiple forms of multimedia – I realized I could make that dream a reality. My first foray into it was ‘SignedJesse.”
After doing a few projects, from web design to grad pictures to concerts, a friend gave me a wedding photographer’s business card. Nervousness set in as I emailed the photographer, but I knew this was a no-brainer step towards getting a first-hand experience at learning how to run a small business. So through the email and a call, I went in for an interview. That interview leads to me meeting a wedding videographer that shared the office for his company. From there, I worked for both companies concurrently, learning the business aspects of both, as well as off-camera lighting, wedding procedures, dealing with clients, client retention, online marketing, etc. In less than a year, I went from an intern to Head of Videography while balancing my own personal projects and collaborations.
Between the end of 2015 to the end of 2017, shooting 80-100 weddings in one year (majority solo,) countless hours of editing, managing other office-related tasks, and balancing my own personal projects and collaborations, I ended up at a point where I felt it was past time to step out on my own, so I did.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In a sense, yes, and no.
Yes, because by working under two established and separate brands, you’re able to gain credence by proximity, be warned about what pitfalls to avoid, and gain a large amount of work from marketing effort exerted with and without you.
And, no, for two major reasons:
The first isn’t directly related to business. From ages 5 to 20, I grew up with conflicting parenting styles that affected my self-esteem and self-worth. As I mentioned. I did have a mother who constantly told me that I could do anything I put my mind to. But my parents were divorced. My mother was granted full custody with visitation, but my parents did not parent the same way or see eye to eye. I’ll leave out details to keep it short, but, throughout my teenage years, my father became noticeably verbally and mentally abusive to me, my half-siblings, and my siblings’ mother. I went through phases of trying to talk about it to my parents, trying to live up to inconsistent standards, making excuses for words and actions, blaming myself, and eventually giving up on trying to change the situation altogether.
The reason I mentioned all of the above is because the 2nd biggest obstacle has been realizing that I had, in a sense, put myself in that cycle with where I worked. And I had to stop making excuses for people, make the decision to let them go instead of searching for acceptance from them, and accept that I had to lean on myself for support going forward. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to work scenarios like a coworker telling you the gossip they heard about you, being lied to in order to be kept around, or having your skills and work ethic downplayed. But it hits a little different when this, and more, came from the people that you looked up to, and who wrote your paycheck. Somewhere along the way, the support and belief turned into, “Have you given up on photography yet?” But I had to accept responsibility for not listening to myself when I originally felt like I should have quit.
All in all, those experiences, as well as family and personal situations, led to me taking a break from videography for the first half of 2019.
To get back into it, one of the key things I did was sit down and be objectively honest with quality of my work, quantify my experiences with clients/projects from 2016 and 2019, studied other videographers, and remembered how much I enjoyed the process of filming. It’s natural to be hard on yourself when you don’t know what it’s like to support yourself. But, being able to look at a piece of paper, and see how many client interactions ended positively, referred and rebooked, helps. Seeing how you rank your past work and knowing where you can improve, helps.
So, now, I can comfortably say that I’m back to doing what I love to do.
Please tell us about Enbolden Video Firm.
Currently, I’m known for videography under the brands:
”SignedJesse’ – for my personal creative projects, short films and short series
‘Enbolden Video Firm’ – a cinema firm specializing in visual-based strategies that quickly captures attention in the social media era.
And, coming soon, ‘Our Wedding Hour’ – a wedding videography company with an emphasis on storytelling.
When it comes to ‘Enbolden’, many people may not know that it is also a social experiment to help the current freelance videography customer and servicer determine how much they should pay/charge based on the quality of their work.
As a videographer, I’m proud to say that, big or small, I have played a part in showing a large number of people, entities, and businesses a side of themselves that they may not had seen otherwise. There’s something deeply special and indescribable about being able to bring out someone’s vision, your own vision, or know that you’ve given family an heirloom that they’ll replay for generations to come. Those emotions have made this industry fulfilling for me.
I know it’s a cliche, but, if I’m going off of what clients, work mentors, and friends that have seen me work, what sets me apart is, honestly, just caring about the work and effort I put in. I treat every shoot like it’s my last. And I have been told, by friends who will see me on someone else’s Facebook or Instagram, that I tend to put more effort in other people’s shoots (i.e., as an assistant videographer.) That just comes from the mentality that you have to care about what you do. Because, if you don’t, that lack of concern will show up eventually. Whether someone says something or not, people will notice if your motivation is your passion or your bank account. And I care about the work I put in and the people I get to work with.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Oh, VoyageHouston threw a curveball!
I can’t settle on just one. Running around the house and playing with my siblings or watching wrestling with my aunt would have to be one. You truly don’t realize how fleeting those moments are. Time passes, we age, and the spontaneous moments that came from boredom and nonchalance become harder to recreate.
The other would be the Christmas that my mother bought me Sword of Mana. Not because of the game itself. But the fact that it was my mother that bought it period. She hated video games and TV for kids, and, like every other mother in the 2000’s, thought it wasted brain cells that would be better for school and learning. If I told my mom that there would be kids my age making millions off of video games, she would have laughed in my face, then made me find extra credit homework to do. At the time, I never would have thought she would do something like that. And, as I got old and looked back, it became more memorable because I realized we didn’t really have much. So, I don’t know how she did it, but that would be another.
Pricing:
- Promo Videos | Starting at $200-600
- Fashion FIlms | Starting at $300
- Music Video | Starting at $500-750
- Wedding Films | Starting at $1500-2000
- Photography | Starting at $250
Contact Info:
- Website: enbolden.video
- Email: contact@enbolden.video
- Instagram: instagram.com/enboldenhtx
- Facebook: facebook.com/enboldenhtx
Image Credit:
SignedJesse, Enbolden Video Firm, YourVideographerHTX
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