Apr
16

F… The Money, We’re in it for the Love

By Peter Normandia // General, Real Talk, Success // 1 Comment

The purpose of this blog is for the members of Pixel Mobb to speak our mind, and that is exactly what I am about to do. The truth is, I have a confession to make, and it may sound a little crazy.

I am in this business b/c I love video production. Nothing else matters, not even money.

I have been doing video production since I was about 19 or so. Even before that, I was addicted to movies. And I mean addicted. I have watched more movies from different time periods, genres, and countries then most. I am a walking encyclopedia on film directors (though my memory is hazy now and again), and I have always wanted to make movies.

Sounds great, right? Well, believe it or not, it took me a long time to actually come to terms with this. The reason is, since I was young, every educator, friend, family member, and society in general, put an incredible value on money. That is not to say anyone was particularly greedy, just that money was an important factor in decision making. What restaurants you ate in, what clothes you wore, what sports equipment you had, what car you drove, etc. Money seemed to give all of the people who had it very nice things.

It was easy to derive from a child’s perspective that money = happiness. However, the road of life would teach me a much different story.

Hacking my Own Path in Life

Film makers, for the most part, do not make any money. They have to survive, struggle, and put it all on the line just to get a chance at making a living doing what they love. So when it came time in my junior year of high school to apply for college, I decided I would try to get into a great business school. My logic was that I can always use business skills, and if I had money I could make a movie. Even though my Father suggested going to film school, I laughed it off. ‘There is no money in film, and I can always do that later.’

Two years passed by and I got extremely sick with Crohn’s disease. This was back in 1998, so it was a rather unknown disease to the masses. I lost over 60 pounds in a few months, and had to drop out of college. In early 1999, I had surgery to remove one foot of my intestines, sew up my bladder, and remove a fistula. After this close encounter with a life changing illness, my mindset completely changed.

I realized I should not waste time doing what I thought I should do, and stick to doing what I wanted to. Life can disappear at any time, so I might as well make the most of it. I transferred from the University of Maryland business program to the School of Visual Arts in NYC to major in film, and headed down the road toward my dream.

Four great years later, I graduated with a bachelors, a thesis film, and a dream of being the next Steven Spielberg. However, I also was engaged to be married, and needed a place to live in with my wife to be.

Since I was not the next Spielberg yet (except to my family of course), no one was paying me for my talents. I did not want to do weddings, batmitsphas, etc. I wanted to create movies, but I needed money. I could not see how to make money yet with film, since I wanted to write a script first. So instead, I got a job from a friend at Jiu Jitsu doing mortgages. The market was hot, there was a lot of money to be made, and I was good at it. I figured I could get rich doing this, pay for my life, and then make a movie later on.

A few years later, the market crashed, and so did the mortgage industry. Suddenly, after chasing the money, I was back where I started, with bigger bills, trying to figure how to make money with my video skills. Luckily, right before the company collapsed, I got together with my partner Chris, and he showed me the emerging relationship between the web and video. He asked me what the hell I was doing at a mortgage company when I had this video talent, and that lead to a partnership and the creation of Pixel Mobb.

Truth was, I could not see the money with the video. All I saw was the unknown that lay down that road. How could I pay my bills? How could I make enough money?

Two years into the business, trying to make as much money as we can, and my partner and I are once again involved in the same discussion….

How can we make more money doing what we love?

We seem to have to choose between No clients and small clients, neither which alllow us to reach our full potential. What happened to the childhood equation of money = happiness. All chasing money has gotten me is more in debt, and wasted time.

Then, like lightening from the heavens above, it came down and struck me. My partner had mentioned it on many occasions, but each time we ran into a tight month, we ignored everything we said in order to make that money. However, once this thought hit me, I felt a relief like no other. It was exhilarating, like a warm truth protruding from deep in your soul to give you that incredible feeling of freedom. Sometimes, it just takes a certain way of looking at something for you to move past it and let out a giant exhilarating yell…..

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What hit me was a simple, yet fantastic thought.

‘Fuck the money, I’m in it for the love.’

It may be a bit crude, but it is so true. When I thought of my journey, I realized I had got into this to do what I love for a living. I made a decision after a life threatening illness, and somehow, years later, got lost chasing money again. Sure there were going to be tight months, rough times, and a giant struggle bigger than any I had ever taken on. The bottom line that I realized is, there were going to be all these things ANYWAY. At least I would enjoy what I was doing.

Truth is, money does not = happiness. Society teaches us, both in words, and in example, that money = security. Security = happiness. Therefore, we can ASSume that money = happiness. This though, is the wrong order to look at things. Instead, try looking at it like this.

Happiness = Doing what you love. Doing what you love = a great job. A great job = money. Money = security. In another words, worry about your happiness first, and the rest will follow. If you worry about money (the last step), then you will never get there cause you will skip the necessary beginning steps.

A Freedom Like No Other

Since this hit me, I felt a freedom like never before. Just because someone had some work that I ‘could do’ no longer meant I ‘had to’ do it. If I didn’t enjoy doing it, I skipped it. Instead, I spent my time widdling down our services, our target market, and our focus to what we truly excelled at and enjoyed.

Now, our company’s reputation has grown because the work we have put out since is filled with love. It permeates from the production pieces we create because the joy put into the projects is recognizable by anyone. Simply put, we are having fun doing what we do and it is starting to pay off.

No more wasting valuable time chasing money that never accumulates. No more time taking whatever comes my way out of fear nothing else will. No more do whatever I can to make money, instead it’s doing whatever I can to do what I love.

Many people will tell you this is all a fairy tale. That at the end of the month, when the bills come due, doing what you love won’t matter. I can only strongly suggest, just for a little while, you put that advice to the side, and chase your dreams. Understand, you may not look like a genius for doing so for some time. You may not feel like you are taking the right path every step of the way. However, after it is all said and done, and you can finally taste the joy of doing what you love every day of your life, you will wonder why everyone else isn’t doing the same thing.

At least I did. As a matter of fact, it feels really good to say it. Fuck the money. Fuck your bills. Fuck being a slave to your debt. Simply live below your means, do what you love, and watch everything you ever imagined and more start to come your way. It’s amazing how one little change of perspective can ignite an entirely new outlook on life.

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