We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Ampuero a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joshua , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My father is the hardest working man I’ve ever known. He has already retired and he still keeps working and earning money for himself on top of helping my mom build her own business. When I was growing up, my dad would wake up every single morning before the sun came up and would drive over an hour away to work and get home after 6pm every night. And even on top of all that he would still come home and strive to be a good father and strong example to my siblings and I. I have attempted to follow that example ever since I myself started working, and also in my pursuit of my dream of becoming a filmmaker. Following my father’s example I also started a business a few years ago and recently started a second business in the hopes of increasing my income and not need my hourly job anymore. At the same time I attempt to devote some hours to my filmmaking dream every week and daily devote my time to my wife and 3 children. My mom is also a very hard worker. Throughout my entire life I have seen her work hard at her job and now business and usually at the same time she devoted a lot of her time to being a student and earning degrees. And while doing these things, she was never distracted from being a good parent and example to my siblings and I.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have been making movies since 2007. I had spent most of my childhood interested in history, reading books, archeology, and watching movies. It wasn’t until I made a film in my senior year of high school that I realized I had never felt as passionate about anything else in my life as the experience of making a movie with my friends. I was hooked immediately and just in time for college applications, I made the decision to major in Film and Visual Culture. Throughout my college years and even after graduation I would make short films whenever I would have the time and opportunity. I have built my Youtube channel: “JoshMakesMovies” for over 10 years and am semi-consistently trying to build that brand across all social media platforms.
In 2014 I started a financial services business and started to teach people about the importance of retirement planning and life insurance. I still have an active license in the insurance industry and have recently started a Medicare business as well. My business brand on Instagram is Joshthefinancialguy. Working in the insurance industry taught me sales and marketing, but it also showed me how to take control of my time and how to build a business. In the film industry it is not longer about being talented alone. You now need to know how to market yourself and build a brand as well.
In 2022, “Red Sands,” a narrative series that I co-created premiered its first episode on Amazon Prime. I wrote, directed, and edited the first chapter and co-wrote and directed the second chapter. I also executive produced and did the visual effects for the entire series. I try to stay consistent in writing new stories and uploading new short films at least yearly to my Youtube channel. I have written a six episode new original webseries that I hope to start production on next year. All of my films/shows can be found on my youtube channel.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Learning how to make a movie from scratch was one of the most challenging and time consuming things I’ve ever done. Making my first film was a life changing event because I realized that I had never felt as passionate about anything else in my life as I did about filmmaking. I am excited every time that I get to go through the filmmaking process again because it reminds me that patience and hard work produce works of art that I am very proud of. I believe that my particular voice is expressed throughout my portfolio of films on Youtube and in all of my unproduced scripts that I plan to make into films/series.
Learning sales was a game changer for me. I have been a positive person for most of my life but it wasn’t until I learned sales, that I began to set boundaries and notice when people were taking advantage of me. Sales can be scary, especially for introverts but if you find the right company and training, it teaches you confidence, how to get over rejection, and important social skills. I believe these are all qualities needed not just to become a filmmaker but to lead a successful life.
I also think that anyone can benefit from learning empathy or just basic people skills. It unfortunately doesn’t shock me anymore when I come across “professional” people who are completely disrespectful and think of themselves first and their team second. It is very difficult to build a successful business/company/team by mainly thinking of yourself and sparing little thought for how to help people get what they want. I think the more you expose yourself to working environments with lots of people/personality types, the more your people skills will grow. Becoming a father myself, has also greatly helped me develop a desire to see others succeed. I want my kids to grow up happy and surrounded by love so thats the environment that I try to create around myself.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes. Always. But I just want to work with positive people who are serious about their goals. If you’re gonna be an asshole and shit all over my positive energy, I don’t even want to be in the same room as you. I love working with fellow creatives and I will meet with anyone interested in working together. However I am also careful about the people that I bring into my circle because how they treat my team is a direct reflection of me as a leader and the boundaries that I set. But if you genuinely like having fun and are respectful to others, I want to be around you and get to know you. I always answer any Instagram DMs. Feel free to reach out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.facebook.com/joshmakesmoviesonyoutube
- Instagram: joshmakesmovies
- Twitter: joshmakesmovies
- Youtube: youtube.com/@joshmakesmovies1
- Other: Business Instagram: Joshthefinancialguy
Image Credits
Photo by: Shamel Payne
