I did an interview with Kinetic Bear.

Sometimes you get the opportunity to meet interesting people in your physical life space, and Sometimes you get to meet people in digital space.
Sometimes they ask you some questions.
Sometimes you give some answers.

Almost always are you influenced by the interaction.

Check out my interview with Kinetic Bear.

My interview with Michael Kiser of Good Beer Hunting

One of the absolute best things about what I get to do at Rhino Media is that I get to meet and learn from a tremendously diverse population of people.

Some are inventors.
Some are entrepreneurs.
Some are spiritual leaders.
Some are brewers.
Some are designers.

Most of them understand and embody the spirit of "Crash On" and often help me see entrepreneurship in new and exciting ways.

In short, I'm blessed to know the people I do, and I want to share some of these with my "Crash On: The Creative Entrepreneur" audience.
I've been very excited about this series of video interviews, but I'm still dialing in some of the branding of my blog... so very likely, these videos may change a little over the next few months. But I don't want that to slow down these conversations, because there is some really fantastic insights to be had here.

So I'm excited to share my first interview with Michael Kiser, Writer/Photographer and Owner of Good Beer Hunting (Chicago, IL).  This was shot in the Good Beer Hunting studio while I was in town for the Chicago premiere of The Michigan Beer Film (At the GBH studio)

Michael has a tremendous amount of insight that I tapped into for the Michigan Beer Film. Our conversations would often weave in and out of topics such as craft beer cultural shifts, work/life balance, corporate design, the changing American palate and much more.

This conversation focused mostly on his journey, lessons he's learned and being intentional on managing work/life balance.

I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Crash on.

If you hate networking events as much as I do...

I generally don't enjoy networking events.
Partly because it feels like I'm supposed to act a certain way and shake hands a certain way and follow certain rules about such events.
It all has a tendency to feel a bit slimey-ish.

That being said, they don't have to be so bad. Here are a few ways I've learned how to make the best out of networking events:

1. Don't be a respecter of persons. This concept implies favoritism and partiality. Do you believe that everyone has value? I do. Make sure that if you believe that, you act like it.

2. Shut your mouth and open your ears. Take the opportunity to learn about others rather than going on and on about yourself. Remember the ratio: 2 ears, 1 mouth.

3. Stay positive. One of the quickest ways to become irrelevant is to complain to complete strangers. I know I have a hard time trusting someone who is a chronic complainer. 

4. Think "make friends", not "network". People are more than what they do. Be flexible in conversation, you don't always have to talk about business/job/career topics. In fact, I mostly avoid these topics at networking events specifically because it's what is expected of me.

5. Be your true self. No further explanation needed.

Bonus Round:

6. Be present. Keep the iPhone in your pocket.
7. Don't go it Alone. Who doesn't need a wingman? Am I right?

Crash on.

Every job I've ever had. A lesson in humility.

Ever wonder what qualifications I have to run a company? I think about that sometimes...
The LinkedIn robots keep asking me to add previous jobs to my account, and the problem is, there are simply too many, so I decided to jot down a quick list in mostly chronological order of the jobs I've worked in my life.
This was a fantastic way to remind myself how extremely blessed I am to do what I do now and that I don't deserve it.
Enjoy!

Threw Hay (Every summer from 12-20 yrs old)
Painted Pumpkins (after school job in the fall of freshman year)
Dishwasher at Panel Room Restaurant (3-4 weeks high school)

Circa High School. I'm wearing a tractor shirt. 

Mcdonalds (6 months during high school, until myself and 2 friends quit in epic fashion during lunch rush)

Server, Chinese Restaurant (1 month)
Tree Nursery Tree Waterer (1 day)

USPS shipping Department (3 months)

Family and Children Services (2 years)

Inventory Clerk Welch's (3 straight summers)

Cutco Knife Sales (a weekend)

Framing Houses with JA George Construction (3-4 months)

Painting Christmas Cards (sold 3 yard cards at 60/piece)
Western Herald Sports Cartoonist (1/week @ $12/Cartoon)
Sams Club Cashier (5 months of retail holiday hell)
Painting Houses (a few jobs here and there)
Outbound Sales National City Bank (9 Months Post College)

Poured Concrete (2 Months)
Landscape installation at Terra Compositions (2 Summers)
US Census Canvassing (about 9 days)
FledonFoot Design Owner (freelance photo/design)
Guitarist/Bassist/Promoter After.Adam Band (1 year)
Chikaming Country Club Server (3 Summers straight summers)
Michigan National Guard (Basic Training)
Substitute Teacher (Off and on for 3 years)
Lifetouch Photographer  (3 months)

Owner/Lead Rhino of Rhino Media Productions (4 Years)
Film maker - The Michigan Beer Film
Co-Owner of The Michigan Bottle Opener (1 year)

Don't wait to be picked. Pick yourself.

As we say at Rhino Media, Crash on.

How I raised $34,676 on Kickstarter for a film about beer. (Part 1)

Desperate artist-types think of Kickstarter as the answer to all their hopes, dreams and pagan-type prayers. Many walk away from the experience sadly disappointed, blaming their problems on the rest of the world rather than analyzing what may have went wrong.

And while it is an absolute game-changer when it comes to raising funds for creative projects, it's just like anything else in this life... it requires a lot of hard work to be successful.

How Kickstarter works is you use their platform to launch a "crowd sourcing" campaign (asking a lot of people for a little bit of money rather than asking a few people for a lot of money).
You launch a project with for either 30 or 60 days with a goal to raise a pre-determined amount of money (which you set).

The "catch" with Kickstarter is that it's all or nothing.. if you don't hit your goal, you don't get a dime.
So it can be a little scary going into it, but I think we played it smart and here are 6 things that myself and my company did to to raise over $34K for my first documentary film, The Michigan Beer Film.


1. Engage an already engaged audience.
Hard to overstate the importance of this. There is a lot of noise on kickstarter and a lot of goofy projects that frankly don't stand out and won't get noticed. It helps tremendously to have a following already established on other platforms (FB, Twitter, Tumblr, etc) and spread communication that way.

2. Don't romanticize your project. Ask sober friends their opinion BEFORE launching. 
How can I say this... you may not be completely objective about your work.

3. Keep communication up.
Don't leave your backers in the dark. The more consistent and relevant with your information, the more trust you will instill.

4. Expect to spend a couple hours a day working on it.
This is NOT Ron Popeil's chicken rotisserie... there's no "setting it and forgetting it"

We even threw a party at our studio to let people know about the project and encourage people to give.

Plan to make this a part time job for the next 30 days, creating the project page, developing your rewards, asking your friends via facebook, etc.
Which leads me to my next thought...

5. Don't be too proud. 
You can't be too proud to ask for money. If you believe in the quality of your work, you won't be embarrassed to ask people to back your project. For inspiration, check out this Ted talk from Amanda Palmer, who raised an insane amount of money via Kickstarter.

5. Be patient. 
When you first launch your project, if all goes well, you'll have a nice spike right away - as people will be excited to back a project as fricking awesome as yours. After a few days though, it will likely plateau quite a bit. Don't panic, keep at it. We were sitting around 55% funded with only a few days left on our project before we had a crazy spike to push us over our goal.

Bonus:
We delivered on what we promised. If you ever to hope to retain the trust of the people who backed your project, you must finish what you start.
That's for free.

If you've found this helpful, good. Now go do something worth doing.
Follow me @thekevinromeo

Oh yeah.. here's the link to my Kickstarter page!

This is me speaking on a panel discussion about crowd-funding... see? I'm an expert.

Rhino Media's Core Values

I'm into core values. As long as they are true and living and breathing and evident in everyday functions of a company, I love them.

But if they just live in the organizational documents or on a plaque somewhere collecting dust, then they, of course, lose relevance.

My company, Rhino Media, has developed a set of core values that I feel rock. Let me know what you think.  I'm actually still in the process of tweaking this list, bare with me.

Humility - We do not portray ourselves as cocky or arrogant in house or to our clients.

Hard Work - We don't sit around and talk, we do. 

Competency - We are learners. We expect all Rhino's to know their craft well. BUT - not be afraid to admit they don't know something. 

Personal Accountability - We don't blame others for our mistakes. 

Purpose - We live our lives personally and professionally with a sense of purpose. We are SUPPOSED to be doing this.

Intentionality - A lot like purpose.  Setting my direction every day. 

Respect - We respect each other, respect our clients and their timelines and their communication styles, respect other producers work and creativity.

Honesty - There is absolutely no room for lying of any kind at Rhino Media. 

Greatness - We are not satisfied with mediocracy. We are always striving to become great, as our friend Greg Jennings would say - Every day is a great day to be great. 

That's my working list. 

Let me know yours!

-KR

This is me, the bear.