Two Years. A Trailer, a Thousand Front Doors, and a Dream.

Two years ago, my family and I moved from Louisiana to Central Florida so I could start a media company. I showed up with a camera, a handful of lights, and a dream to build something that could provide for my family and free me up to be present as a dad and a pastor.

I've been making videos for about 10 years, so the camera was never the hard part. The business side was all new. Nobody here knew me. This is the story of what happened next.

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A Camera and a Dream

When we moved, I already knew I was going to start this media business. I had a camera and a few lights, nothing like the capability, equipment, and skills I've accumulated since. But I had a dream: to own a business that could give my family stability and the freedom to do the things I feel God has called me to.

He's called me to be active with my family. He's called me to pastor and minister to His church. I needed to do those things, and I saw this business as the means of enabling that, and of helping people along the way.

For the first several months I lived in a trailer at a friend's house. I worked out of coffee shops. I walked into businesses to meet owners and did anything I could to get someone to take a chance on me.

My First Client (an Amazing Story)

I'm sitting in Starbucks with my cinema camera rigged out on the table and my computer open, sending emails and editing videos. I'm doing lots of free work for businesses just to prove myself. The person right next to me says out loud, "Man, doing all this social media stuff takes so much time. I wish I could just hire someone to do it."

I'm not kidding you. He said that. We got to talking, and an hour later we'd gone over all the details and he signed a five-figure contract, $24,000 over the course of a year, to have me handle and post their media and help make their business successful.

That handyman service, House Doctors, was my first client. That's when I knew: maybe I'm not going to starve. Maybe I don't have to take a normal nine-to-five. Maybe I can make this work. So I pushed harder.

Year One, By the Numbers

My first full calendar year, January to December, was a grind. The numbers tell it better than I can. I shot a mountain of free videos to prove myself, sent out contract after contract, and slowly turned cold walk-ins into real, paying relationships.

It was one of the hardest and most rewarding years of my life. I learned that showing up in person, again and again, is still the most honest way to earn someone's trust.

Learning the Business Side

There are logistical things you simply have to get set up and running. I spent a good chunk of that first year on the admin side: my website, and search engine optimization, learning how to do SEO from scratch. It's now a service I can offer businesses, including optimizing them for AI search.

That work paid off in a way I didn't expect. I now get two to three leads a month from people who found me through ChatGPT and are looking to hire a videographer. That's been amazing.

Year Two: Leveling Up

If year one was about survival, year two was about getting better at the craft and the business behind it. I sharpened my lighting, took on bigger productions, and started working with clients I could only have dreamed about at the start.

A few moments stand out. I got to film at an apologetics conference put on by Ratio Christi, where I met one of my heroes, the author and broadcaster Justin Brierley, and shot a video for him. I signed a professional disc golfer, one of the fastest-rising names in the sport. And I went deep on AI, building custom tools that replaced about three thousand dollars a year of subscription software with something built exactly for how I work.

I also started breaking into premium videography: real commercials for high-end businesses. I'll be in a restaurant, see a commercial on the TV, and think, I can make that so much better, and I know what the big media companies charge for cookie-cutter work.

The Invisible Mission Field

The work I'm most proud of is documentary filmmaking. I partnered with the nonprofit One Family Florida to make them a feature-length documentary called The Invisible Mission Field. It's an hour long, with acting sequences, interviews, and B-roll, building to an incredible moment around the way they've expanded and helped with foster care here in Florida.

It was hard. It was difficult. And I loved it. I'm looking for more documentary opportunities, especially with Christian ministries and missions. If that's you, or you know someone who could use powerful storytelling on film, I'd love to talk about what it could look like.

Family, Disc Golf, and 9 Million Views

Some of my favorite work this year was the most personal. I filmed a ton of content for my son, Marky LaValley, an eight-year-old disc golfer, and helped grow and monetize his social media. Several of his videos went viral, and his top one has racked up nearly 9 million views.

Through disc golf, Marky has gotten to play alongside professionals, and I've been there filming it, including aerial work that turns a walk in the Florida woods into something cinematic.

What's Next

Going forward, I'm chasing three things: premium commercials, more documentaries, and continuing to serve the local businesses who've trusted me to show them at their best online. Year two proved what's possible. Year three is about doing more of it, and doing it better.

Thank You

If you've followed along, hired me, or given me an opportunity, thank you. You're enabling me to do something I feel God has truly called me to. You're allowing me to spend an hour every morning teaching my kids, to be active in their lives, and to be bivocational and pastor every week.

The church I pastor is Alive Christian Church in Daytona Beach. We'd love to see you if you're ever looking for a church.

Here's to year three.