Thankful

There’s a lot to be thankful for this year. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to provide both a work update and a personal reflection on what I’m most grateful for in 2022.

Personal Update on My Life

First off, I want to share about what my life has looked like personally because, aside from the work accomplishments, I have so much love to give to my community. I really leaned into being an uncle this year to my adorable niece and nephew and it’s been one of the greatest joys of the year. I was really tight with my three older sisters growing up so being able to love on their kids has been a huge highlight. It’s really important to me to stay connected with my family so I try to take a couple weeks a year where I take a trip to go visit them in Washington or Spain or France.

I’ll typically still be working or editing while I’m there but there’s plenty of time when the kiddos are napping to squeeze stuff in. I just want to make sure my priorities are in the right place and putting my work behind family isn’t always easy but it’s led to a really impactful year with them.

Creating a Community in Boulder

Even though my family is wildly important to me, they don’t live by me and creating a community in Boulder has also been a priority for me over the past two years. When I moved there in October 2020 it honestly was a little hard to make friends. Vaccines weren’t out yet and there weren’t many group gatherings to meet friends. Plus, being self-employed made for it a little more difficult to have daily interactions with work friends. Now I feel like there’s so many lovely people in Boulder that consistently show up to be my friend. Strangers from the climbing gym are now regular pals I have over for movie nights or game nights.

Receiving Love So I’m Able to Give It Elsewhere

40+ year old parents I met at church are now weekly trail running buddies and their kids are members of the Sunday school “class” I get to teach. Boulder is a small town and nearly every time I visit a coffeeshop downtown I run into somebody I know. It’s been so wonderful and I can’t wait to continue growing that loving community since I feel like I’m receiving so much love from them which enables me to spread it elsewhere on my travels. Now, on that topic, let’s talk about my work travels and projects for the year.

The Year Began With Many Unknowns

The year began with a lot of uncertainty. I felt pretty proud of where my business was at the end of 2021 but it wasn’t quite where I wanted. I had to spend a lot of time hustling to get new clients and although I was still making more than enough financially I wasn’t thrilled about every video I was making.

Then, everything changed in March 2022…

My passion project Goat Surf Club was picked up by Outside Magazine and I think it gave me the legitimacy and confidence to talk to bigger clients and give bigger numbers in the budget conversation. My next few months got booked up pretty quickly after that. I flew to Montreal for a weekend to begin production on my documentary about musician / triathlete Ryan Kinder (coming January 2023) I went to Mexico for a week to make “THE MEXICO STORY” with longtime friend and now rock climbing influencer Noah Kane.

Then, I completed “IGNITE YOUR SPIRIT” a short film about adaptive skier Kevin Wilson which eventually led to many film festival screenings and a collaboration with Patagonia - fulfilling a career dream of mine to work with them.

In March I created “SLEEPING ON A DESERT TOWER”, on a weekend trip to Utah (again with Noah Kane) then got a root canal a few days later - which kicked off season 2 of the Goat Surf Club with our IRELAND SERIES.

Back to Back to Back Traveling Video Shoots

A couple days after returning from Ireland I hopped on a plane and headed to Nashville to continue shooting with musician / triathlete Ryan Kinder. In June I edited a lot of those videos and enjoyed a month in Boulder performing music at coffeeshops, river surfing, rock climbing and camping with friends. In July I created a 7 episode series with professional mountain biker Ryan Petry (coming January 2023) and spent a lot of time PADDLING ON ALPINE LAKES. September kicked off another wild month of traveling and shooting photos and videos.

I visited California, Washington, France and finished up shooting the Ryan Kinder documentary at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii at the beginning of October. Also in October I ran my first ultramarathon (53 kilometers and 4,000ft of elevation) and launched the first episode of our SKI TOURING SERIES with La Sportiva. I also created a film about my friend Bobby “everesting” Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder which premiered at the NOBULL FILM FESTIVAL in Boston.

I Needed to Take a Break

In November, I took a break. I finished editing the Ryan Kinder documentary but mostly just reflected on the year. I thought through my favorite projects and memories and what I want to create going forward. I checked off a client list that I’ve always dreamed - The North Face, Patagonia, Outside Magazine, Microsoft, Garmin, La Sportiva, Ironman, Canyon, Pearl Izumi, XtraTuf, Altra and Eldora Ski Resort… that all happened this year! It’s been nuts and while that growth has been really amazing it’s definitely left me feeling burnt out at times and questioning what I’m willing to do for “success.”

What am I Willing to Do for Career Sucess?

I’m taking the rest of the year to slow the pace down a bit and continue to reflect on what’s important and what I want to do with my career. I feel like I’m getting a lot more recognition these days and getting asked to participate in bigger scale video projects so I just want to make sure I’m keeping my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health as the guiding principles in my career as future conversations and collaborations come forward.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, like I said at the beginning, there’s lots to be grateful for… Great friends, amazing family, impactful traveling and a healthy, growing business. While I’m not sure exactly what’s going to come in 2023 I know one thing is for sure - I’m going to continue sharing uplifting stories about hope, joy and adventure.