Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Guest Blog from twitter handle @OwenVideo - #4

Four out of five days a week I'm a stay-at-home Dad. The fifth day my daughter spends eight (or so) hours at Grandma & Grandpa's house, while Daddy gets some work done, or meets with potential clients. I'm a wedding videographer by trade (let's take a second here and I'll ask that you please detach the stigma associated with your Uncle Bob who shot your wedding from his Sony handycam in the back corner of the church...that's not what I do). I edit my work from home but I don't like to meet with clients in my house. It's a bit small, and I'm not yet set up as a studio. So Biggby is my top choice for getting to meet clients. It's my nomadic office space if you will.

I know I'm not the only professional that meets clients at Biggby. I've seen others there quite often in fact. There's a silent nod of understanding between us. Kind of the, "welcome to the office" acknowledgment.

I've got a wonderful wife and daughter. And I absolutely am living a dream, by doing something I love as much as I do. And as perfect as it is, and as good as it sounds, there is one catch. When I had an office, I knew when quitting time was. So for those of you who, like me, enjoy what you do, but find yourself constantly working and don't want to miss out on crucial time to grow with your family, heed this advice that photographer Mike Larson posted on Twitter a few days back, it's resonated with me a LOT recently:

"You don't have to work a 9-5, but you MUST have a 5:00 at some point in your day."

Love your family. Love your friends. Enjoy what you do. And most of all, B happy. ;)



Thanks guys! If it makes it, sweet, if not, hey, I had one or two people read it, so that's cool too! :)

--Andy


www.owenvideo.com

12 comments:

@mattjacksongr said...

Killer post, Andy. I too am fortunate to have a job I love, but I agree you must have a quit time built in somewhere. Family first, always...good stuff man.

Unknown said...

Hey Andy, I read the first two lines when Bob posted this on Facebook and knew right away it was you!

Dan Moyle said...

Great blog, and great advice! Thanks for sharing. I love the meeting atmosphere of Biggby too.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Andy - great post and I am sure many people will read this and it may help them put things into perspective!

TCB
@T_C_B

Anonymous said...

Great post, sounds like Andy is a great guy =) I also enjoy having meetings at BIGGBY. Great place to catch up.

Anonymous said...

That's a great philosophy to have on life and living! I did laugh about the uncle videotaping the wedding. I've seen that too many times! It sounds like you are in a wonderful line of work that you get to not only be a stay at home dad, but be present for so many people's happiest days! Thanks for your thoughts!! NM

halfbakedmusings said...

Right on, Andy. As a man who loves what he does and works out of his house, I agree completely that a person needs a 5:00 at some point of the day.

Also, as per the silent head nod of recognition to other professionals using Biggby as an office, I suggest devising a special double secret handshake or maybe a code word in Swedish. Then you all will be REALLY cool.

JD said...

Andy, Thanks again for submitting this post. I think it's absolutely great and can't wait to see what else you have to say on down the road. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Andy, loved the post! Isn't it great to love what you do on a daily basis! sd

Anonymous said...

I know quite a few people who use their local Biggby as their office. Fee wifi and coffee too.

Andy Owen said...

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I think I need to go learn a good Swedish code word now since I'm not so coordinated in the 'secret handshake' department. :)

And yeah, the free wi-fi is totally what drew me in to Biggby in the first place! Now it's the baristas, coffee & atmosphere.

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