Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Uriarte.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Chris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started my business back in September 2016. Before doing video work, I had grown up thinking and wanting to become an animator. I was the kid that got in trouble in class for not paying attention and doodling on his notebook. Eventually, I graduated high school and enrolled in Southwestern Community College; I went into the art program, still pursuing animation as a career. I learned a lot, but the school program was steering me into a classic art program (painting, drawing, put it on a museum). During the course, we had to choose an elective, art history or video production. How is that even a choice? I took video production and immediately got hooked.
Next semester, I took the next video production class that followed and the next one and the next one. Video production was so fun! One day I went to my school counselor and asked about their Telemedia program. I had already spent years in the art program and was going to finish it, but I really wanted to pursue media as a job. It turns out that I had taken so many video production classes on my own that I basically just need two more classes. So in 2014, I graduated with an associate’s degree in art and a certificate in Telemedia technology, fancy words for I’m an artist that does video.
Fast forward to 2016. I had done a couple of video jobs on my own and worked for a bit as an editor for a YouTube channel. But during that summer, I ended up being out of a job. The YouTube channel no longer needed my services and no one wanted to hire me. During that year, I proposed to my now wife. I was engaged, and now jobless. So I decided to hire my self. My best friend’s sister was getting married. I had done a wedding video a couple of years before (that video turned out awful) I have grown and developed my skills enough to the point I can pull this off, not just well; excellent. So I asked if I could do their wedding video for $100 dollars, I was three months unemployed. I NEEDED this job. They accepted and I made the best video I could have done. They were blown away. That was the job that let people know I did video work and that I did it well. From that point on, I got more weddings. Then I got small businesses asking for online commercials, live events, and music videos.
We have been going strong for the last four years, but we are nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m grateful for what we have accomplished so far, Chris Uriarte video is a video business that gets results, delivers on expectations and makes good on our mission statement: “Everyone has a story, we help you tell it.”
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Didn’t know this was going to be next, hahaha. The road has not been easy. This business came out of a huge necessity to provide not only for my self but for my future family. I got engaged during May of 2016. I was working as an editor for a YouTube channel and working part-time at the YMCA. So at the time, I was doing well financially. But then the school year ended and I quit the YMCA to focus completely on editing since it paid more. As an independent contractor, they just stopped calling me for video needs. So I was out of a job, engaged, planning a wedding and my savings that I had for wedding and after wedding uses, started to fade.
Once the ball was rolling, I was chasing each and every opportunity, doing work for very cheap just so that I could get the client. Video work that I KNEW the price was at least twice as much as I was charging, I would still do because I had many bills to pay. One big challenge is the gear. Video gear is not cheap. So getting the gear necessary was tough, especially when that very expensive gear breaks. I started with a Canon 7D DSLR, a dinky stabilizer my parents bought me and a 50mm lens.
The biggest challenge I’ve had is breaking out of a typecast or a niche. When I started with wedding videos, I was known as the guy that does wedding videos. So breaking into new ground or rather areas of video that I wanted to pursue, was hard to do because weddings pay well, and I needed that paper. But slowly, we were able to break out into different areas.
Alright – so let’s talk business. What else should we know about your work?
Chris Uriarte Video is a business made to share stories. We specialize in cinematic videos that tell your audience the story that you just can’t put into words. We do commercial work, helping brands tell their customers how their product can make their life better. We do live events so that you can relive the experience you had, and even if you were not at the event, you feel as if you were. Music videos that share the meaning behind your words and everything in between.
We pride our selves in making a connection with the client. How are we going to be able to tell their story if we ourselves don’t know what the story is about? We dive into what makes the client who they are so that we can then project that out into the world. We are known for being professional, easygoing, honest and worthy of the most important thing in a relationship; trust.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Many people deserve credit. Many people chipped into me in one way or another. My wife is my biggest cheerleader. She has been a big part of why I started my business and an even bigger reason as to why I want my business to grow. She put all of her trust in me, so you better believe I’m going to do my absolute best every day.
My parents played a big role, as well. Having my dad have his own electrical company showed me that I could also be my own boss. So having the support from my parents both financially and emotionally, really gave me the confidence that I could do it. Just the Christmas of 2015, my parents gave me the first stabilizer I used to do my first couple of video gigs. I still have it at my office. When it comes to my actual business growth, I owe a lot of how I work and how I structured my business to Parker Walbeck. He mentored me in more ways than one. I saw him work, I saw how he did things, I asked him questions, he answered them. Really shortened the amount of headaches and pitfalls that I could have fallen into.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (619)7489860
- Email: uriartevideo@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curiarte_video/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisUVideo/
Image Credit:
Chris Uriarte Video
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