Paul: 0:29

Good afternoon, welcome back to MarketPulse Pros and Pioneers, where this week I'm joined by the fantastic John Vlach. Right, so for the audiences out there, there John is widely known as, and I like this,"John the video guy". It's like Ronseal does what it says on the tin, I like it. So John's a freelance video editor, content creator, and educator with a mission to inspire the next generation of creators. After nearly nine years at Rock the House, where he led creative services and built dynamic media campaigns, John launched his own brand to teach video production through YouTube and live events. With accolades such as Rockstar of the Month and Employee of the Year, John blends technical expertise with a passion for mentorship Showing aspiring video creators how to turn their passions into sustainable careers. That's a really interesting take on video because most people I know are only ever interested in either creating, editing, or helping people get it out there and you kind of play across all three but with a view to helping the next generation as well, right?

John: 1:31

Yeah, I think for me the reason I'm really big into education is I didn't go to college Actually, I went to trade school and a lot of when I first started, I, went online looked up tutorials, it was a lot of like diving into the software and trying to figure it out. I always like, when I find something, share it with people, if it can help me, it can probably help other people. So that's my mission.

Paul: 1:53

I like that, I like that. So talk us through those early days then, John, if you would. Why did you decide that trade school was the route for you?

John: 2:00

Yeah, I think for me, I really wanted to see if I liked it first and if it could be a sustainable career. For me where I grew up, I, in high school, the last two years of my schooling and junior and senior year of high school, before I graduated, they offered like this vocational school where you could go essentially to high school half the day, but then you can go to this other school and learn the technical about the trades. And there's a lot of different trades to learn from. I had to actually fill out a list like engineering, because I was thinking about going into like CAD and like architecture. Becoming an architect, but then media was at the top of the list because I was like, that'd be interesting cause, I had a passion for it. I love, playing with videos, graphics on my home computer. And I wanted to see if that was a possible career. So I decided to go that way. In those two years, I really experimented, learned a lot. And one of the big things in that was that there were guest speakers that would come back and share their experiences. And like throughout high school, I was like wondering do I need to go to college? Because a lot of it you can learn online. Some companies really hold that degree to a high standard. Some people just care about the portfolio and it is very much like. What is more important, getting the college experience or getting the, real world experience. So that's why I didn't go to college. And I was fortunate to intern at the place that you mentioned, Rock the House, where they offered me an internship in my final, like few months of high school. And upon graduating, they offered me a part time job. And I just took it and ran with it from there.

Paul: 3:29

Well I guess there's a lot of people out there and I think the same challenge is true here in the UK. There's a lot of focus put on academia and university placements here and degrees and things like that. And whilst I'm a big believer that those things have their place in the world, it showcases a different skill set to what most people assume, right? So like for me, a degree is a case of I can go away and research things myself and answer things in a complex and organised manner, and I'm keen to learn and I can do X, Y and Z. However I've said to my son, I don't care whether you've got a university or not. As long as you're doing something you're passionate about, you could actually probably save yourself a hefty amount of lawn that you'd have to pay back, earn money in the meantime, and be three or four years ahead of your peers in real world experience by the time you're finished doing, to the same time as they've finished university, right?

John: 4:25

Yeah, exactly. And I saw it firsthand too, because I didn't go to college. Four years later, all the people that went to college are now entering in the workforce where I already had a lot of that experience. Especially at Rock the House, I became a manager. So I was seeing college students come into the workplace and start interning and working there. And there's that difference that kind of I don't know how to describe it. It's more. I feel like for me, I have more of a grit, I wasn't afraid to dive into the software, take some risks, break something before, get my hands dirty with video and creating stuff, where I think college, it's great, I think, to get the degree for structured learning, but to really You know, dive deep in creativity. I think it lacks a lot in that area,

Paul: 5:10

How have How have you seen Video change since, obviously, you started working with it, like, you know, early days at home and messed about with video at home. Like, what would you say have been the big developments in video between then and now? So, it's been a lot, right? Let's be fair, I mean, it's essentially the same medium, but it's changed dramatically. So, what's your view on that?

John: 5:33

Yeah. It's interesting because I got asked this question a few times before, and it is such a big difference because when I first learned video, we weren't, we didn't have access to a lot of the AI tools, a lot of the, Shortcuts and different extensions that make editing videos or creating videos a lot easy. You almost had to figure it out as you went, a lot of my first projects when I was, at home was like, try to make something explode or how to do an effect or something and trying to figure that out. You really had to experiment a lot. And I think the way video has evolved is a lot of things are already given to you. If you want like an explosion or an effect or to auto edit something for you, you can just click a button and it automatically does that. So I think the difference when it comes to video production, there's a lot of time saving tools today which is great. But the drawback of that is we forget how to create something from scratch or maybe. If a problem arises, how to troubleshoot and know how to work the software really through and through to get like a specific result. It's almost like the car industry, it's like being a mechanic where you know, like all the ins and outs of the car, but then you have a computer that can diagnose and just, spit out okay, it's, this is the problem. You know what I mean? It's

Paul: 6:51

if one day your laptop's not working, right? You still need to be able to diagnose the car.

John: 6:55

Yep, exactly. It's what if the AI feature doesn't work and it doesn't auto edit your video for you, what are you going to do?

Paul: 7:02

it happens, I can tell you, it happens. So why then leave that career that you had at Rock the House and set out on your own? What was the turning point for you that made you just kind of realise that now's the time?

John: 7:16

Yeah, I think for me what I came to realize, especially during the pandemic is, you could be the best of the best in your career in a position as an employee, but at the end of the day, I saw a lot of my friends, a lot of coworkers get laid off. And the reason I wanted to go out on my own eventually, Whether it's through YouTube content creation or starting my own freelance video production company was to try to build something for myself where, I have something that I own that isn't reliant, that I don't have to worry about getting laid off or. Something happening in the market that I can build and have. And that's why I really leaned into that, especially coming out of the pandemic, I was like, okay, let's start a YouTube channel. Let's try to create some passive income just as a safety net, I'm in. And eventually it grew and I got to a place where I felt comfortable enough to leave. And when I look back at my time at Rock the House, I think I pretty much done everything. I started as an intern, grew to a full time employee. I've been there for nine years, became a manager, started to lead different teams in marketing and creative services. Other video editors are coming in. And I felt like I maxed out that position there just as an employee. And I feel like becoming an entrepreneur, that was like the natural next step and to evolving my career. So that's why I took that leap.

Paul: 8:33

You needed to stretch into the next learnings, right? Like, and I resonate with that, I resonate. You've got to keep, if you're not learning, you're downhill. Because you need to be growing, you need to be figuring out whatever's next, whatever that might take. I think it takes a brave person to start their own business. I've been, I wouldn't say I was brave, maybe stupid at the time. But I look at other people and I just think, do you know what? Like, hats off. Genuine credit. You've left a stable career that you've probably enjoyed, to be fair. You know, you don't stay somewhere nine years if you don't have, you know, moments of enjoyment there. But then to go off and do your own thing and then make a success of it is, you know, that's, that's an achievement. It's incredible. What made you Focus so much on the teaching side of things, cause nearly all of your content out there on YouTube is a, is a how to guide. And what I like about it is it's, it's usually more detailed and more specific than a lot of the guides that I see out there. Here's how you create a video with Adobe Premiere and it's just like a really sped up version that doesn't really teach you anything. And yours tends to be all, here's how you use this bit to do this thing here. And I like that because it's really, or I can take that lesson and apply it over here or over there. And I, you know, I can refer back to it when I need to. What, what led you down that teaching path?

John: 9:52

Yeah. I think honestly, it stems back from my early, upbringing of learning video, finding, trying to figure things out on my own. I feel like there is so much content out there. Like you said, that's just here's how to do this. But. A lot of my content, especially my earlier content, is like, how to do something very specific in the software. And I think there is a big gap where, there's not a lot of tutorials going over specific things like that. And for me, I always like just sharing other people and not only to share for other people, but sometimes it's for myself, to be honest, because like I'll make a video three years ago and I haven't touched that effect in a while and I'll be like, how do I do that? And I go and rewatch my own video to see how to do something. Because that happens from time to time, you might do something in video editing that you might not do, once in a while you have to come back and learn it again. But. It's like a scientific journal, essentially, that's how I see it where I can use it. Other people can use it. If you find value in it, it's out there, it's public information that people can use to, using their own projects.

Paul: 10:51

You've touched on something there with regards to YouTube that I think a lot of business owners on LinkedIn really struggle to understand. And that's the difference between creating video content and releasing it on your social profiles, LinkedIn especially. And creating content and releasing it on YouTube, is that YouTube is permanent, like, it's a search engine with content behind it, and once I've released something on there, you know, I've released content for clients, and two years on they're still getting 30 hits a day on a particular video, they've never had to update it or change anything, it's just, it's timeless. So if you want to create content that your clients will find over and over, or your potential clients or, you know, people who work with you can consume over and over again, it needs to go on YouTube because it's social media, it's gone in what, 48, 72 hours, maybe a week if you're lucky.

John: 11:42

Yeah, exactly. YouTube's evergreen, especially if it's searchable, you can type in something and it just pops up. There's different techniques, obviously, you can learn to try to, get better in ranking when it comes to search related content. But yeah, at the end of the day, it's always going to be up there with LinkedIn and a lot of the other social media platforms. It's just, it might be up there for a week or so, and then it disappears in the feed.

Paul: 12:05

So your mission is to inspire others through video and design. So do you want to kind of talk us through how that mission drives your business decisions and maybe client relationships?

John: 12:16

Sure, so I think for me my mission really comes down to just finding people I really like to work with. And I'm very fortunate that. A lot of people that I work with are referrals. They're people that I met, several years ago throughout my career journey. And they realize, oh, you're, freelance now. And they reach out because, I just enjoy working with them. And it's really nice to make a business centered around relationships and just enjoying the work, enjoying the people that you work with. I think that's probably the most important aspect, is just really enjoying the work and the people that you're working with. And that's really my business goal is just to find other people I like working with people that have strong stories, missions and just seeing how I can help them advance their mission when it comes to video content.

Paul: 12:59

I love talking to people who have a vision for their business other than, I need to find more clients. And I think that, you know, it kind of leads into my next question, which is around kind of saturated markets. So there's a lot of freelance creators out there probably now more than ever. So, as someone who, is in that situation, who is a freelance, who, you know, you market your own expertise as a way of demonstrating your capabilities and authority in the area. What advice would you have for other creators who are trying to differentiate themselves in, in a very saturated market?

John: 13:34

Yeah, I think it is very tough and it's gonna sound cliche, but my best advice is probably to just be yourself and try to find what makes you. Unique. For example, like me as a creator on YouTube, there's a lot of people that watch my content just because they just like how I explain things, when you compare like my channel or my content to a lot of other Premiere Pro channels, there's some, reasons people like my content when they, subscribe and watch my videos, but I think, that's something you can't just create right away. It just happens over time, and I think you just have to be yourself, create content that's most comfortable for you. And that viewership and audience will grow. The worst thing you could do as a content creator is try to be someone you're not, and trying to mimic and, copycat other people. I guess you can start that way, but I think eventually you have to find your own voice, and find, your own position in the market. Really lean into your specialties, as a video editor, I have my specialties I edit differently than other people if there's a specialty, if you're a freelance video editor, or maybe creator, if there's a certain market or specialty, lean into that, and you'll probably find success between that and then also being yourself, I would say.

Paul: 14:46

The biggest danger I see is if you're creating content that mimics others or perhaps it's what you think people want to see as opposed to what you want to create. You'll burn out quite quickly and stop wanting to do it and that's why I see that quite a lot with people is, you know what, I've done this for four months I need to take a break, I need to take time off. Why? I can create content 11 months of the year personally, I can, you know, sometimes I have to stop myself creating content because there's just so much that's in there that I just need to get it out and it's, it's really, it's quite cathartic to create the content but other people, I see them and they're like, So what is it that you're creating content about? Well, I think the audience want to hear about this, so I'm making that like, no, no. If you're not passionate about it, you're not gonna, you're not gonna take that to the next level. What do you think the biggest challenges you've faced when creating your personal brand were, and how do you think that compares with the challenges that people have today? Yeah

John: 16:18

that's a good question. I think when building a personal brand, I think it, it almost comes back to trying to find your own voice because I remember it's interesting when you're a content creator and you go back and you watch your earlier videos, it's wow, like what was I doing back then? I was so awkward and I was trying to be someone else or I saw another creator and I was like, just like the mannerisms and like the way you approach the content, it just, You can see it, and I think over time just trying to be yourself, like I said earlier, but, I think that's probably the biggest struggle is trying to be comfortable on camera, being yourself, delivering content that you're passionate about, like you said, because, you have to pick a topic and something that, you're passionate about, otherwise, you go in it for a few years, you're gonna eventually burn out because you're not into it, you don't feel like making videos and content. So that's a very important aspect there but yeah, I would say, find something you're passionate about. For me, it was video editing teaching other people it's not only good for other people, but it's good for me as well because I can look back on that content but yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing.

Paul: 17:20

And then you mentioned that a lot of your work comes from referrals and word of mouth. Is there anything that you can recommend to other people out there? Cause I mean, that's, I think, near bound as a lot of people are calling it these days. It's the in phrase for it, right? Like it's good old networking, as far as I'm concerned. It's probably more important in 2025 than it ever has been and I think the world's only getting smaller thanks to COVID partly, you know, I'm not saying that everything that came out of COVID was a bad thing, but what are the, what are some of the tactics and strategies that you use to kind of help get that extra 10 percent out of, you know, the word of mouth and referrals? How do you make it easy for people to work, to refer people in to you?

John: 18:00

Yeah I can definitely speak to this, especially being a content creator. I think it's, it can really be great for your business because you position yourself as a industry expert. You know what I mean? So when people watch my content, they're like, oh, this guy video edits, they see all my videos. It's proof of work. It's not like I'm just this random video editor trying to get a gig or a job. It's, I have, they can see the experience, they can see the videos and it makes those leads very warm, because by the time they reach out to me, they've already watched a few of my videos, they've gotten to know me, they've gotten to probably like me, they probably wouldn't reach out if they didn't like me at that point, but it makes those leads very warm, where they're already in a position to be like, yeah I saw your videos, you're an expert, I have this issue, or I have this video I want to make, how can you help, and all you have to do on your end is be like, how can I help you today? It's very easy sales trans transition to, to close that possible possible client. So I think making content is gold for businesses because you, it makes lead generation very easy when it comes to referrals, essentially content creation is like a referral machine because people get, you, they see the content that you're creating and they get to know, like you trust you. And then they reach out, if they need a video. So it's definitely very beneficial for referrals. And when it comes to outside of content creation, we talked about it a little bit before, over the nine years working at a business, you may, I made so many connections, just keeping in contact with a lot of those people is very beneficial because you never know someone, might get married, they might reach out and, want a wedding videographer, or, someone might have a client looking for a video. So it's very beneficial just keeping in contact. And communication with all those people. And LinkedIn is a great way to do that. I got a lot of referrals on LinkedIn this past year.

Paul: 19:47

So. It sounds, and I know the truth of this, like a lot of what you've said there links to having a strong strategy behind your content in the first place and not just kind of creating things because you can create them but creating them to a specific end goal. What's your advice to people on the balance between having that strategy and actually getting things out there? Because I know a lot of people that will procrastinate until the end of time because they need a strategy. I mean, I never actually release anything, and likewise I know people that release things but have no strategy whatsoever.

John: 20:20

I think it's it's not yeah. I think it's important to have the strategy, but I think the good, a good rule of thumb is to have the strategy first. To know who your target audience is, or your buyer whoever you're trying to reach to, and just come up with a list of questions, problems that they might have. And then you can just make videos based on that, to be honest. Small nuggets, small videos that slowly solve people's problems can be a great way to, focus on your target audience. It makes content creation a lot easier when your possible client that might have problems that you can solve for them. So for me, since I'm a video editor, I know other video editors struggle with different things in the software, so I'll make videos about, how to solve that. So it makes content creation easy, and also the experience factor of I'm, day after day I'm in the editing software, so if I run across something that pops up, I'm like, oh, that would make a good video. So I think, if you're in a position like that, where you live and breathe the content, it makes it easier to make content, essentially.

Paul: 21:20

You almost find an inspiration from the everyday things that you do that most people would probably just brush over, right? Like, right, so I've fixed that problem, now I'm going to move on. And your thought process jumps to, whoa, hang on, I just fixed a problem. Fine, but actually, if I've come across that problem, how many other people are dealing with that? And actually nobody's making any content about that to help fix the problem. And I think that, that branches out no matter what business you're in. I think that is true. I think that's incredibly true and I think that's really, really important for people to get their head around. Aside from the fact that every video that people watch, it's kind of like having a person sat behind someone going, this guy's an expert. And, like, that's what it does. People don't think about that at the time. They just watch your video and, right, great. I know my son's got expert Minecraft creators that he watches on YouTube, right? It's the same thing, if I ask him, he knows who he would go to to help him with a Minecraft build, right? And all he does is sit and watch them building videos. What's next for you this year then? What's your big focus in 2025?

John: 22:24

Yeah, I think the big focus for me is to continue making content that I enjoy making, helping people, but also really lean into people's stories. I think, this past year I a little fatigued with tutorial content. So what I did is I relaunched my podcast. It's called the post show podcast where I interview other video editors and I just love talking to people listen to other people's stories and really go off of that. I think, there's a need, especially in today's, economy, in today's world, just real conversations with people, people listening to the stories and the, the struggles, the triumphs, of a creator's journey. And that's what I really want to do is focus on the conversation. So I restart my podcast, making more real content, I would say, focus more on my personality, more. Story, like I said, but that, and from a content creation perspective, that's my goal this year. And then from a business standpoint, I would say, continue working with people I enjoy, I think at the end of the day, when I think of scaling a business, I'm not really in it to, make like millions and millions of dollars. I just want to live a simple, happy life, make videos, work with people I enjoy. And really that's my goal at the end of the day.

Paul: 23:36

Life's too short to have bad clients. I agree.

John: 23:40

Yes.

Paul: 23:40

And I think we're aligned on so many things and that's why I refocused season 2 of this podcast on marketers and business owners stories because in season one we focused a lot on marketing tips and and ideas and things that people were doing wrong things that people were doing right that's all fine and great and there's the place for that but what underpins it all is people care far more about the story of the person who we're talking to why they do what they do and the irony is that people don't realize how intrinsic that is to the marketing it's like your story you Leads to your why. Why you do what you do. And it's not for money, it's not for status, it's not power, it's none of those things. It's the little things that get you up at 5 in the morning, crazy excited to do something for work. That's, that's what the why is all about. But that why is what powers your marketing and your sales. So if you don't understand that why, you, you will struggle for sales and revenue because you can't articulate what it is that's unique about you in comparison to your nearest competitor. So I love that, that kind of final point from you around, you know, that, that story telling. It's the thing that unites us as humans. We've been doing it for thousands and thousands of years. Why have we lost the ability to tell stories all of a sudden? John, if people want to reach out, they want to know more about you how can they, how can they listen to your podcast? How can they find you? What's the best way to contact you?

John: 25:08

Sure, absolutely. So you can visit me at johnthevideoguy. com on my website. You can go, there's a few different tabs. There's the learn tab. If you want to watch my tutorial content, there's Premiere Pro After Effects tutorials. And there's also the podcast tab. If you want to take a listen to some of the guests I've had on recently, I just launched season two. New episodes come out every other week. Yeah, I've been really enjoying it. It's really, like you said, it reignited my spark and like creativity and got me back into, content creation.

Paul: 25:36

Nice. And when I post this on LinkedIn, everybody take note, John does not need help repurposing his videos or editing them. All the people that jump on my short notes and tell me how bad my SEO is and how they make my shorts really interesting and viral, we don't care. Thank you very much, but no thanks. John, it's been a genuine pleasure. Thanks very much for coming along today. And I look forward to seeing the episode drop.

John: 26:00

Thank you for having me, Paul.