Winter is HERE

OK so I am a little bit late to the party.

Winter has arrived in New Zealand with temperatures plummeting and the sun refusing to come out!

I recently went on an insta-meet where we travelled to Methven and headed up to Mt Hutt for a morning sunrise mission.

It was ABSOLUTELY freezing at Mt Hutt in the morning and I stupidly forgot to bring gloves. Luckily for me the staff at Mt Hutt hooked it up so I was able to operate my camera without a few fingers falling off.

When we got to the top of the ski lift there was a pinkish glow as the sun was battling to pop out. The snow was half way up your shin in some patches and getting to the prime spot was tough.

Everyone rushed to their positions and whipped out their cameras or all shapes and sizes.

My camera (Gh5) was getting frost and snow all over it! Some of the other cameras were seizing up and not working but luckily for me my camera kept working (the lens starting fogging up - it was stressful haha)

We were planning to have a spa at the top of the Mountain but the winds were so cold that the staff suggested we shouldn't attempt it. I certainly was not keen to whip the speedos out in a hurry.

We grabbed some delicious breakfast from a local spot (info in the video) then headed to the insta meet 'Talk'.

Polkadot Passort aka Nicola shared some of her secrets about content creation, working with brands and how to stand out from the crowd. She was so lovely!

I then jumped back into the car and started the trip home. The two creators that I was travelling with (Jillian and Ryan) wanted to stop off and grab some snaps somewhere along the way so we found a nice row of trees to get some 'bangers' for instagram.

A massive thanks to ChristchurchNZ and Mt Hutt for hosting us on the trip.

IT WAS AMAZING!

I love connecting with like minded people and getting the creative juices flowing.

The next blog post (coming in the next 2 weeks) is going to be about 'Things to do on a Rainy day!" I think Cantabrians will need that one after the weather we have been having lately .

THE VLOG of the trip! -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsBtTUCcGi0&t=3s

Polkadot Passport getting the shot

Take care, Dave

LINKS

ChristchurchNZ have created a bunch of articles and links to some activities going on in the city if that is your cup of tea.

https://www.christchurchnz.com/winter-in-christchurch-and-canterbury/christchurch-city-winter-must-do-guide/

Polkadot Passport Website

https://www.polkadotpassport.com/

Ryan and Jillian

https://www.wilkes.media/

https://www.instagram.com/jillmillerphoto/

My Winter essentials

A good beanie

A warm rain proof jacket

Lemsip (For when the man flu hits)

Weather sealed camera gear!

Chapstick

Waterproof boots/shoes

Warm socks

Earpods (to go under the beanie!)

We have a podcast!

OK so this has been a long time coming..

I have been a huge fan of podcasts since my uni days in 2009 listening to Hamish and Andy.

Podcasts to me were great because I could consume content passively.

I could be walking the dog, taking a shower, lying in bed and listening to something hilarious or informative.

Why create a podcast?

For me I want the Quality Antics Podcast to be informative, fun and a cool way to collaborate with other people.

I had tried to create a podcast a few times before with my close friends.. There was the "Starting small" podcast about starting a small business with my friend Jock. We created 6 episodes then fizzled out because I wanted better quality audio and Jock wouldn't buy a mic!

Then there was 'Banter with Beans' a fun weekly show where my friend Beans and I discuss the big topics (politics, religion, education for starters...)

SAME ISSUE... Beans wouldn't commit to buying his own mic..

SO... I finally decided if I wanted this podcast to happen I was going to have to run the whole ship myself.

So this week I picked up another mic (Im using the Rode NT-USB mics) and started planning how the show would work.

Episode 1 with Mack

I lined up my first guests and went for it!

My first un offical episode was recorded with Mack Dewar and we talked for 50 minutes!

The audio was not that flash (I hadn't picked up my second mic at that stage) so we ended up having to re record episode one... MY BAD SORRY MACK..

I released three episodes to the world to kick start the podcast and ended up using the website SIMPLECAST to host my podcast.

A few days after signing up, my episodes were on Itunes and we were away!

Im working on Spotify at the moment (fingers crossed within the next few weeks we are up and running on there too.)

The whole experience so far has been a BLAST!

I love talking to people about their journey and finding out a bit more about them through some of the 'Questions from the hat'

Questions from the Hat

I decided to throw some questions, discussion topics and ideas into a hat and have brought that along to all of my podcasts so far.

The aim with it is to mix it up and have our listeners submit questions for us to answer during the show. (submit questions or topics at qualityanticspodcast@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram @qualityantics)

Better yet.. If YOU want to be on the podcast. hit me up with the links above :)

If you want to watch the video versions check out the podcast youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0kKAd74_G_--8NhZ8WIcEA

Ok I better get back to work.

Talk to you soon,

Dave

Being your own Boss

I am now a few months in to this whole Freelancer/Entrepreneur thing and thought I would reflect on how it has been.

Firstly.. If I was not passionate about my chosen profession I would be stuffed!

Getting up when you want, booking meetings and working with clients all can be done whenever you want. This can be dangerous if you are lazy or unmotivated as the days can just fly by as you sleep in till midday and play xbox until 2 in the morning.

PAYING YOURSELF

I have been earning some dough and the business gets "paid". I have not mastered yet how much of that pay comes across to my own account to pay for food, petrol, bills.

At the moment its like this...

OHHHH I need money to pay for groceries...

'Jumps on Westpac to pay myself'

I don't really know how I should do things but really don't want to take too much out of the business and then be left with nothing!

DO GOOD WORK

At the moment I am juggling the Vlog life with the commercial projects. I spend very little time and effort on my personal content (colour correction, grading, music selection etc)

and on the flip side I want to create something AWESOME for my commercial clients. This balance is refreshing because I am a firm believer that 'Done is better than Perfect.' You can spend 1000 hours on something for the smallest minor tweak and sure sometimes that needs to be done but I believe in this industry things are moving QUICKLY... So getting things done, learning from the customer and audience response and improving for next time is the way to go.

This video from Peter Mckinnon was pretty refreshing and inspiring. An awesome message!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarKjguI94w

GET UNCOMFORTABLE

I don't mean sit on a cactus... I really mean that putting yourself into situations that are uncomfortable can help you grow your business. Talking to that stranger, sending that email, holding your camera out in public.

I will give you an example... A few months back I was asked by the Ministry of Awesome to speak at one of their Coffee and Jam events. I immediately was apprehensive (What would I say, how would they respond?!) But I said YES and booked in my slot for a practice session where the team at the Ministry of Awesome meet me and discuss my 'pitch'. One week later I was presenting to a group of 50 people and it was pretty nerve racking but afterwards I felt amazing!

Hope all is well in your world!

Feedback on what you would like me to talk about would be appreciated :)

Dave