How to Find a Way Forward When Trapped by Success w/ Tim Chow, Videographer & Photographer

The sun rises. 

We wake, shower, dress. And then it's off to work. The daily commute. Traffic, or waiting for the train. We arrive at our office. We sit.

The day goes by. Meetings, calls, and deliverables. A break for lunch, then back we go. Eight hours pass and we pack our things and leave for home—maybe stop for happy hour on the way. We rest, we eat. The sun sets and we go to bed.

Tomorrow, it will rise again.

Days become weeks, then months, then years. And those years become careers. A life measured in promotions and projects, job titles, and three-year stints. 

For most of us, this is the way things are. The only way we were ever told that they could be.

And so we wake up, day after day, week after week, and continue to walk the path that we're on.

But not all of us.

Some of us wake one morning with an itch. We step out of the current and ask ourselves: is this it? Will my life be measured in quarterly figures? Is the sum of my life's contribution going to be totaled in lines of code? 

Or is there something more?

Three and a half years ago, Tim Chow asked himself that very question. It wasn't that he was unhappy, unfulfilled, or unrewarded—six years in, he had just received a lucrative offer to continue his sales career as part of his employer's acquisition by a larger company. The pay and benefits were good, and Tim enjoyed what he did. 

But something was bothering him:

"It really scared me to think that I'd spent five, six, seven years in this world without much critical thought—without thinking about whether this was what I really wanted to do. I don't have that many five-year stints."

On today's episode, Tim describes how he worked through this period of doubt, emerging on the other side as a professional photographer and videographer. 

From his humble beginnings as a wedding and family photographer, to his recent work as co-founder of Wilco Productions, Tim illustrates how success can sometimes be the thing that traps us, how entrepreneurs can combine what we know with what we love, and how the hardest part of anything is getting started. 

We also cover

How Tim got started as a photographer and videographer.The difference between running a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) company.How Tim taught himself photography and videography.How leveraging your existing skills can change the kind of business you run.The pros and cons of having a business partner.

You can find out more about Tim and catch his killer reel on his company's website and follow him on Instagram here.