Derek is an Emmy Award-winning multidisciplinary creative director, art director, and motion designer with over 15 years of experience in various roles such as video producer, director, copywriter, and editor. At each stage of the production process, Derek channels their creative drive into crafting narratives through visual media. Demonstrating a track record of successful collaboration with clients, Derek specializes in developing memorable advertising content that adheres to deadlines and budgets.

Thriving within an atmosphere of openness and innovation, Derek exhibits equal proficiency in both self-directed work and team-based projects. Their strengths encompass creative leadership, adept problem-solving, and an innovative approach. Derek’s history illustrates a blend of exceptional skill in their field along with a versatile and can-do attitude. As a result, Derek consistently surpasses the expectations of management, clients, and colleagues.

Key Moments

[00:03:29] The author worked as a promotions producer at WTOL Eleven in Toledo, Ohio and won a regional Emmy for a successful morning news campaign in a competitive market.

[00:08:48] Importance of self-identity and its impact on networking.

Find Derek Online

https://derekagnew.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-agnew/

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Transcript (Provided by CastMagic.io)

Seth [00:00:00]:

Entrepreneurs Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, for the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs. How we learn from adversity. Every week, I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started. U. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneurs Enigma podcast. I am, as always, Seth, I think you know that by now. I am here with a friend of mine, Derek Agnew. He is an Emmy Award winning multidisciplinary creative director, art director, motion designer, and he has more than 15 years experience as a video producer, director, copywriter, and editor. I got it all in. But he is now on his own doing the entrepreneurial journey. And I wanted to bring him on because we have people that have been entrepreneur for years. We have ones that are side hustling it, and we have ones that are just starting out, and Derek’s just starting out. I want to do this. Let’s rock and roll. He got his site up, he got his reels up there and all that. So you have to check it out. Derek Agnew.com, which will be in the show notes. Don’t worry about that. So anyhow. Hey, Derek. What’s up, buddy?

Derek [00:01:25]:

Hey, how’s it going? Seth? Nice to be here.

Seth [00:01:27]:

Yeah, and we’re actually in the same time zone. We’re actually about an hour north of you. You’re in Philly. You’re man young, right?

Derek [00:01:33]:

Yes. Philadelphia.

Seth [00:01:35]:

It’s a lovely city, depending on the day.

Derek [00:01:39]:

Well, I mean, it’s summer.

Seth [00:01:41]:

Every city smells, and it’s disgusting in the summer. But in the Mayon area, right, because you’re more in the if people don’t know the geography of Philadelphia. It’s a city of neighborhoods. And there’s City, which is like the big city area. And then there’s a Man Young, which is like an old mining town. Not mining town, manufacturing town. It’s a cute little row houses and stuff. And then there’s Northern Liberties, which is all hip and gentrify. Man Young is a lot more work. It’s a really cute city. It’s a fun city to kind of be creative in. I feel like it kind of gets the creative juices going. Derek, how are you doing, buddy? I’m doing well. I’m enjoying 91 today.

Derek [00:02:21]:

Yes, it is.

Seth [00:02:23]:

I don’t like the heat that much. It’s a little hot.

Derek [00:02:30]:

I’m trying to figure out whether I like the heat more than I like winter. You don’t get too much winter here, which.

Seth [00:02:38]:

We use, though. But where are you from originally?

Derek [00:02:42]:

Well, I’m originally from Michigan.

Seth [00:02:45]:

You get winters, so you know, winters.

Derek [00:02:47]:

And then I spent twelve years in Toronto, Canada, which they really know.

Seth [00:02:52]:

Winners.

Derek [00:02:53]:

Yes. And I admit I reached a point where I was just tired of winter.

Seth [00:03:02]:

Winters. Philadelphia, we have bad summers and bad winters. We have good in between seasons. Spring and fall are perfect. But last year we didn’t get any winter, which was weird. I was fine with maybe you brought that with you. Maybe. Possibly what it is. Who knows, right? Yeah, who knows? So, Derek, you’re an Emmy award winning motion designer and director and all that stuff. So tell us a little story about that. How did you get your Emmy?

Derek [00:03:29]:

Well, at the time I was working for WTOL Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, and was I the senior promotions producer out there, and I made a lovely campaign. I think it was promoting their morning news. It was a very competitive market and made a great morning news campaign. And I won a regional Emmy for it.

Seth [00:03:56]:

That’s wild. So you got the statue that you can beat intruders up with?

Derek [00:03:59]:

Well, unfortunately, it’s in my storage at the moment.

Seth [00:04:03]:

Oh, why?

Derek [00:04:05]:

I don’t know. Having to make the big move from Toronto all the way down here during the middle of a pandemic.

Seth [00:04:11]:

Oh, really? Go get it. I can give you five minutes. Go get it now. I’m joking.

Derek [00:04:16]:

Oh, well, it’s always just a matter of figuring out where everything is.

Seth [00:04:22]:

What box. Right?

Derek [00:04:23]:

Yes. I should have kept that separate. I kept some things separate, and I brought it with me. But no, that one, I guess you.

Seth [00:04:31]:

Got to go get that sucker, buddy, and put it right in your mantle or something that’s big. That’s an accomplishment.

Derek [00:04:37]:

Yeah.

Seth [00:04:38]:

Hold it up and thank people. Thank the academy or wherever the heck it is.

Derek [00:04:43]:

Yeah, I believe there was a ceremony, and I had a chance to do that, and it was great.

Seth [00:04:47]:

Water out like a penguin in your tuxedo and all that stuff.

Derek [00:04:51]:

I don’t think I was wearing a tuxedo, but I probably wore a suit at the time.

Seth [00:04:56]:

There you go. That’s very cool. So you’ve done the news business and the motion capture stuff. You’ve also done the agency work, too, right?

Derek [00:05:04]:

Well, yes, I worked for Bell Media in Toronto, Canada, for a number of years. They had a Bell up there.

Seth [00:05:13]:

Wow. Is that different? It’s not a nine mobile.

Derek [00:05:17]:

No. That’s even a funny story, because obviously the Bell down here was broken up.

Seth [00:05:24]:

Yeah. Is this the same company?

Derek [00:05:26]:

Well, I think and I’m going off a memory here, I want to say that probably over a century ago, bell System here and Bell in Canada were truly the same company.

Seth [00:05:39]:

So it’s not a guy named Bell. It’s a company. It’s a big company.

Derek [00:05:42]:

But regulatory issues and whatnot I think it’s probably been 100 years that they were probably required to separate. Don’t quote me on the timeline.

Seth [00:05:50]:

I will not quote on the timeline. It’s only me and you right now. Right.

Derek [00:05:54]:

But as time went on and they broke up, the Bell System down know, it’s obviously the very competitive system that we sort of take for granted. That’s not how Canada operates.

Seth [00:06:06]:

No. There’s Rogers and Bell, and that’s about it.

Derek [00:06:10]:

Rogers and Bell and Telus. And I find that, again, there tends to be a lot of close coordination between their two, three companies and the.

Seth [00:06:20]:

Government, kind of the way it is around down here. Let’s be honest. It’s kind of the same way with Comcast and Verizon. Oh, they’re evil. No, they’re not.

Derek [00:06:27]:

They’re all the media concentrations happening. I think it’s been going on for a long time up there. But it’s definitely coming here too.

Seth [00:06:36]:

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

Derek [00:06:38]:

Basically, we broke up our Bell system, and they never did.

Seth [00:06:41]:

They never did, exactly. So now you’ve ventured out on your own into the wild of entrepreneurship. You can go to Derek Agnew.com and see his awesome reels. What’s it called? Sizzler. Your Sizzle. Not Sizzler. Sizzler is a really bad restaurant from the 90s, but Sizzle Real is really cool. It’s very glitchy and not bad glitchy, but during technical terms, I’m not sure.

Derek [00:07:11]:

I got your opinion on it before now.

Seth [00:07:14]:

I really like it. It’s very Mr. roboty a little bit, and hackery and fun and shows all your stuff. I really like it. It’s clever and it shows. That the motion graphics I’m looking at that I’m like, I have no idea how this guy did this. Well, that’s a good thing. We’re going to take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show.

Derek [00:07:36]:

Yeah, I think a little bit of mystery is good sometimes.

Seth [00:07:39]:

It is. So now that you’re on your own, you’ve worked for corporate conglomerates of all sizes, all types and stuff like that, what’s the best thing about being your own man? Not being beholden to the higher ups kind of thing.

Derek [00:07:57]:

There’s something to be said for the fact that you can set your own schedule, more or less. And you can set your own location.

Seth [00:08:04]:

Too, more or less.

Derek [00:08:07]:

Yeah, there’s definitely more freedom in that regard. I would say that is I think that’s probably what draws most people into working for themselves, is the freedom.

Seth [00:08:21]:

Yeah, absolutely. And what keeps you up at night? I mean, being a fresh entrepreneur, fresh meat in the entrepreneur space, being able.

Derek [00:08:29]:

To find the right clients, being able to keep the client flow going, especially early on, you probably get a touch of Impostor syndrome as well.

Seth [00:08:38]:

Yeah. Even with an Emmy. Let’s highlight that. With an Emmy, you can still get imposter syndrome.

Derek [00:08:46]:

Yeah, I’d say so.

Seth [00:08:48]:

It happens to everyone. It happens to the best. 15 years into the business, and I’m still like, who am I? I was at a networking event last night, and the guy’s like, I know you from LinkedIn. I’m like what? Whoa, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that before. I mean, I have a lot of followers on there, but no one’s ever said that they know me from there, that he follows me on LinkedIn. I’m like that’s. Cool. That’s pretty wild. And so being that this is not your me, because you don’t carry with you all the time because it’s in the storage unit, but I know I’m never going to let you live that down, budy. You can’t show it. But being that you’ve hopped around the globe, at least the Western Hemisphere, here and around North America, what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Derek [00:09:34]:

I have to go for something that’s somewhat obvious. The laptop. I didn’t have one for many years, but I got one. How many years has it been now? I’d say six now.

Seth [00:09:48]:

We were all desktop. Wow.

Derek [00:09:50]:

Yeah. The laptop brings in quite a bit of flexibility and when you travel somewhere, go away, it’s nice just having it.

Seth [00:09:58]:

You bring your office with you? Unfortunately, sometimes, too.

Derek [00:10:01]:

Yeah, I try not to do that, but you segregate the stuff over.

Seth [00:10:06]:

Don’t look at that folder right now, that kind of thing. How’s that work for you when you take your laptop, your work with you, do you try not to bring the work with you when you travel on personal time? Or do you check in every once in a while? It’s hard sometimes.

Derek [00:10:21]:

I got a phone, too, obviously.

Seth [00:10:22]:

You can’t help but look at that, you can’t escape.

Derek [00:10:25]:

Can’t help but look at the emails and whatnot, and if it’s something that I can check out and research and do in a few minutes, I might as well get it off my itinerary.

Seth [00:10:35]:

Yeah, that’s the problem with being an entrepreneur. You’re always on, even when you’re not supposed to be on. It’s like, oh, I got the documents signed that I wanted signed, or XYZ, and then you’re down a rabbit hole for a day personal experience so people can find you over at Derek agnew. Agnew.com Derek. And actually, Derek spelled multiple different ways, too, so it’s Derek Agnew. I’ve seen Derek spell all weird ways.

Derek [00:11:07]:

Yeah, no, it’s true. Who knows where all these come from?

Seth [00:11:11]:

Exactly. And then where’s your watering hole online? Where do you like to hang out the most online?

Derek [00:11:18]:

LinkedIn is great. That’s a bit of a cliche, I suppose.

Seth [00:11:24]:

Everyone says, actually, you’d be surprised. Some people have said instagram. And I’m like, I’m shocked. I’m like, oh, my God. Not LinkedIn. Right now we’re on LinkedIn, but it’s the requisite. And then they love Instagram for XYZ.

Derek [00:11:38]:

And I’m like, okay, yeah, I got a business Instagram account that I started up recently. These are all linked on my web page.

Seth [00:11:46]:

Yes, you’re on vimeo. Which kind of makes logical sense. Keep your stuff up on YouTube because then it’ll get stolen.

Derek [00:11:54]:

At least with my portfolio, I got a lot of it, like, self hosted, because I feel like there’s a benefit to ownership. Even if you’ve got it on venue, there’s still that chance that disappears. They pull the plug or something.

Seth [00:12:05]:

Exactly. Self hosted as well. So, Derek, this has been so much fun. I’m glad I got you on. I’m glad I got the perspective of someone who’s just starting out in their entrepreneurial journey, who’s been around the block quite a few times. Heck, he has an Emmy in storage, but he does have an Emmy. So it’s not like this is your first rodeo, but it’s your first rodeo as an entrepreneur, and that’s fun. And you’re enjoying it.

Derek [00:12:30]:

Absolutely. So far, so good.

Seth [00:12:32]:

Yeah. Awesome, buddy. And guess what? We’ll see everyone next week. That was a great show. If you’re enjoying entrepreneurs Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the Marketing Podcast Network at Marketing Podcast Network. Hopes you have enjoyed this episode. This podcast is one of the many great shows on the MPN Marketing Podcast Network.