Wills McGuigan

Full transcript: Wills McGuigan on London Real

0:00 I am here with Wills McGuigan, graduate of the Business Accelerator. Wills, tell me about you. Where are you from, what do you do? Okay, it’s been… here, Brian. I’m from the south coast of England, from Brighton. Born in London, but grew up down in Brighton, and I came back to London to university, a degree in drama with mathematics, which is a strange combination, but there was kind of method to that, ultimately, because a while and off as a video editor, so it’s a kind of creative and sort of technical job, so I can use both sides of my brain.

0:44 So yeah, and travelled the world for a few years. I worked in social care for about seven years in Brighton and London as well, but when the crash happened, it started to get difficult. We were getting pay cuts at work, we all were; the sector was really suffering, making it hard for me to keep hold of my flat. And at the time, actually, I’d become a fan of London Real and Tim Ferriss and the whole idea of choosing yourself, James Altucher, and realised that I had to kind of act, make something happen.

1:19 So music and film had always been my passion, so I went out, bought some basic equipment, editing software, learned how to use it, and just kind of put the word out amongst friends that I’d film stuff, film anything. And yeah, there’s a demand, isn’t there, for online video, so I just kind of followed that. I was doing it alongside a day job, you know, weekends and evenings and things like that.

1:53 And yeah, in summer 2015 I decided to take the leap and just go for it full-time. So I left the job on a sabbatical basis, actually, so I had that safety net in case I needed to get back to it, but yeah, I never went back.

2:10 I find that most people that join the course kind of had a transformation happening inside of them. Was there something like that going on with you at the same time? Were you trying to decide where you wanted to take the business, or something going on in your life? Yeah, absolutely. When I started hitting the video work full-time, I was painfully aware that there were gaps in my knowledge. Social media was always something that I’d used at kind of arm’s length. I didn’t really have any sense of how to harness social media, the internet, really.

2:46 I was spending so much time trying to skill myself up, filming and editing, that I was aware that there were these sort of gaps in my knowledge, which is why the Business Accelerator seemed like a good fit, because it promised to fill those gaps, and it did.

3:08 And why London Real? You said you kind of saw… Tim Ferriss and things like that, but why London Real? Well, London Real, I was a huge podcast addict, consuming hours of it. I moved up to London, and London Real, that looks cool. And actually it was Bruce Parry, the first one I saw, and I’m a huge Bruce Parry fan anyway, and I just thought that was such a cool conversation, because he’s an interesting guy anyway.

3:32 But you guys had your own perspective as well, because you were bringing to the table your experiences of psychedelics and stuff, that he’s done some of live on camera, and I just thought that was an interesting conversation I’m not going to find in mainstream media. Like a real long form, get down to the nuts and bolts of it. And yeah, from then I started digging into your archive and following the rest, and then Tim Ferriss was a huge one, and James Altucher.

4:03 Yeah, there’s been many. I could say it’s not something that you find on mainstream media. The long form, it’s in-depth, it gets down to the nuts and bolts of these thought leaders. This amazing thing about the internet is the unprecedented access we have to these people at the top of their game and their kind of routines, thought processes, and you’d be a fool not to take notice of them. Yeah, and London Real is a gateway for you to do that.

4:41 Now, why do the Business Accelerator? Because it’s an investment in time as well as money. You had to really think about it before you pulled the trigger, but what made you decide to actually go ahead with it? Well, because I had those skills gaps that I needed to fill one way or the other, and by then, I guess, because London Real had become a trusted brand to me. I’d fully invested in all the free content that you’re putting out, the kind of ethos behind London Real, everything it stood for. It seemed to make sense, you know.

5:19 Where I needed to plug these skills gaps, why wouldn’t I go with a brand offering that kind of product, that I’d been following for years before and was kind of fully involved with? Yeah. Tell me about those first three weeks in the course.

5:41 Well, yeah, it hit like a train. It’s just relentless. I knew it’d be tough, I knew it’d be tough, but man, week after week after week the modules hit, and trying to keep up with that was just bonkers, because I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and the idea of just getting something done for the sake of getting it done, without worrying about that it’s not perfect, was a hard thing for me to get around at first.

6:16 I really needed you as a team leader and other people to go, “Yeah, I mean, you can’t create anything perfect here, you just do it, because you’re learning the various processes, and move on to the next thing.”

6:32 What were the other members of the class like? What did you think when you saw them posting the videos on Facebook and commenting and all that? They’re an incredibly supportive group of people. Yeah, I mean, people were bringing to the table all kinds of skill sets, so we were learning not just from you guys from London Real and the tutors but from each other. People were finding solutions to things; it was really helpful. And then we had the kind of smaller group as well in there, kind of a group within a group. Yeah, they were great, and people I’m going to be staying in touch with.

7:24 What was a big win for you, or a good week for you, a good module where you were like, “I got this one down”? How were your vlogs? That’s what I want to know. Yeah, well, the vlogs were another example of me really wanting to nail it, and because I’m a video guy I took a long time over wanting them to look good. I’m a video guy, they need to be better than your average kind of shaky phone vlog, you know what I mean? So I was adding a few kind of credits and things and making it look a bit nice, but that was a time suck.

7:54 So I didn’t hit my ten vlogs in ten days, but I did kind of realise the power of the vlog, and had loads of ideas, actually, about the kind of things I want to vlog about in future, and I’ve got a huge list accumulating of things I could do vlogs about, vlogs I can make. That first vlog that we had to do, we were going to do a bit about a hero’s journey, but the London Ski Show happened to be on during that week, and so I just got myself up to the ski show, did a vlog, wrote a blog about it.

8:38 And yeah, I’ve managed to hook up with some other businesses as a result of that, so I saw immediately the power of it, and I’m still chomping at the bit, actually, with vlogs. Biggest challenge on the course for you, what was it? Biggest challenge was the week when you told us we had to make a free product in time for next week. I was like, what, are you serious? I can’t make a whole product in… I didn’t even have a week, because I was catching up from the last module, so that ate up a few days as well, and I was like, how am I ever going to do this?

9:17 So I just kind of dived into it. I must have missed the bit where you or the team leaders or whoever advised on the recommended length of the video, which was two or three minutes. So whereas everyone else had made three two- or three-minute videos, I’d made three, like, 12 to 15 minute videos, and my team leader was like, “Well, Jesus, like, this is not free content, you know, this is the kind of stuff you could get paid for. This is like a video course.”

9:50 So while I completely failed on the actual task at hand, I inadvertently created a product. So getting that feedback from Alex was great. It’s just kind of to refine that a little bit, and I’ve got a product there. I’ve got a digital product. So yeah, that turned out okay in the end.

10:13 And what do you think is the big takeaway from the course that you’re going to be using for the next year or two or three years, the things that will stick with you? So many. Yeah, I mean, all those tools. Like I said, I didn’t have a very good grip on how to promote myself, how to use social media, and my awareness of the world I’m operating in has just, every week, expanded outwards like that. And so yeah, I guess that’s the main thing: my awareness of the business world, the online business world that I’m operating in, and the tools I can use.

11:01 Like, this course has given me so many different directions to go in now. I could say I’m chomping at the bit. I want to try them all out and see what kind of fits my actual business model, and then streamline. But at the moment I’ve kind of almost got too much to do, generally, but that’s a good problem to have. Going to try and exhaust these avenues and see which ones get the most traction.

11:30 What if you bumped into Wills on the street that didn’t take the course? How would he be acting different or doing things different than you are now? He would be pissing in the dark, so to speak. Yeah, just walking around with a good video production and good video editing skill set, but with no way of telling people about it, you know, no way of really kind of connecting with customers and potential partners. A little bit lost at sea, without all these kind of tools.

12:19 Did you need to be in London for this course, or could you have been anywhere in the world? No. Yeah, people were from all over the world on the course. Yeah, I mean, it’s set up in a way that you can be literally anywhere with an internet connection. You could be anywhere.

12:33 And what about time? Some people said there was never enough time, and some people said they had time. Is not enough time a good reason not to take this course? People said there was enough… No, a lot of people said there wasn’t enough time. Yeah, right. Anyone that said the opposite? You need time, and I would say if you have a full-time job, you need to try and arrange for some time off during that period, as much as possible, to fully… You have to really kind of get into it to get the most out of it.

13:15 And yeah, I think you need to minimise on that as much as you can, because it’s a lot to do. There is enough time. I was kind of up till the early hours, up early in the mornings. Last thing I thought about, but the first thing I was thinking about in the morning. It was just trying, back, back, back. If you’ve got another job alongside that, wow, it’s a challenge.

13:46 If someone’s listening to us now and they’re thinking about taking the course, and thinking about not taking it, what advice do you give to them? I would say you’ve got to jump in. If, like me, you’re worried about how much it costs, that kind of investment, like I was, it wasn’t cheap for me, what you get back in terms of the knowledge and the skills and the tools that you get, and like I said, the whole new awareness of the world you’re operating in, it’s worth it. It’s so worth it.

14:30 If you’ve got a good idea, but you know that you haven’t got a grip on how to realise that idea, how to promote it, then yeah, this is the course for you. And I think it’s important to have an idea, an idea of your passions, and it needs to be something you’re passionate about, because that will mean that you will retain energy and you’ll have that follow-through. You’re passionate about it, you can get tired really quickly. It needs to be something that you’re plugged into and committed to.

15:09 And how are you going to be interacting with the rest of the class over the next year or so? How do you see yourself talking to them, or what are your plans? Well, we’re all still on the Facebook group, and a couple of the guys I’ve kind of earmarked to maybe come doing some joint venture stuff with in the future. There’s a couple of other video guys on the course, and they’re in London as well, and Brighton’s not too far away.

15:44 So there’s the potential there for maybe doing some business together, or creating something together. So yeah, on the business side, but also on the social side, and also we’re still doing it: as and when problems come up, people are still posting on the Facebook group and helping each other out. So it’s like a support network, but it’s there now, and you can make use of it.

16:02 Wills, it’s been amazing having you on the course. Thanks for bringing the energy here and, you know, the great attitude. I can’t wait to see where you’re going to take your film production going forward, using all these tools, so make us proud. I will do. Check me out, gopimpmypro.com, have a look. We’re doing some very cool editing of GoPro camera footage for people, so pretty slick. It’s pretty sexy. I’m really excited about it, and yeah, just chomping at the bit.

16:34 Yeah, I love your micro niche. I loved it from the start. I think it’s perfect, and again, that’s the perfect example of a micro niche, isn’t it? It’s not too big, because like you said, there’s video guys everywhere, but you’re doing something and there’s a real need for it. A lot of people have this footage and don’t know what to do with it. Yeah, I mean, there’s footage accumulating on people’s hard drives everywhere, so I figured let’s try and take that editing burden off them and make something really quite snazzy. I think it’s about adding a high production value to people’s regular kind of holiday footage, pimping it up. I love it. Thank you, appreciate it. Thanks, bro. Much appreciated. Bye.