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This week we are inspired by a creator who is showing up every single day for himself, his business and his family.
We met this awesome human in Cape Breton a couple of months ago and fell in love with his creativity, photography and drive to start a business.
Jeff Shanks is the founder of Tilt Media, a video production and strategy company based out of Halifax. He helps individuals and businesses tell their story through video. He says he always had a creative side, and have been intrigued by technology and gadgets for as long as he can remember. The moment he picked up a camera he felt like he had found a part of himself that had been missing.
Jeff's favourite part of doing what he does with video production and creativity is getting up everyday and creating the life he wants to have. He loves working with new people, hearing unique stories and working with people from all walks of life.
We asked Jeff about overcoming challenges and he told us that becoming a dad at such a young age was a hard adjustment but thanks to having family and friends support, he has been able to juggle work, school, parenthood and a social life.
He recently registered and launched his business and he said that being able to quit his day job and going at things on his own was one of the proudest and most terrifying moments of his life.
If you're not inspired yet, keep reading.
Jeff inspires us so we wanted to know what inspires and motivates him. He explained that he loves helping people grow in their business, making them laugh or teaching them something new.
He said, "There's no better feeling than someone trusting you for advice or guidance."
We asked him what he's learned since starting his creative biz and he explained that he's better equipped to handle failure and rejection than he thought he was. He said, "Prior to stepping out on my own I was terrified of hearing "No", or making a mistake. I've been rejected a million times and had some major fails since beginning this journey, but I've learned the most from those experiences."
If you follow Cierra and Mike on Instagram you know we are huge fans of routine so we had to ask what Jeff's routine is. He mentioned that he wakes up early, makes his bed, takes a shower (30-60 seconds cold), 20 minutes of meditation with Headspace. At night, he puts his phone away at 8:00pm, brushes teeth/washes face etc @ 9:30, Journal @ 10:00pm - write about the day, a schedule for next day, 5 things I'm grateful for, 10:30 read/sleep.
For self care, his go to activities for self care are mediation and journalling. For fitness and fun he loves to play soccer and do hot yoga. Oh and he's obsessed with Harry Potter.
Lastly, we asked him what advice he would share with anyone looking to live their life on their own terms, here is his response:
"JUST START. I feel like creative minds have the tendency to be perfectionists. I struggled (and still do) with this myself, often waiting for the perfect time and scenario to start a project because I had to think every aspect through; it had to be perfect or I wouldn't begin. I've learned that it's better to just get started and figure things out as I go."
Peace, love and carrots,
Cierra and Mike