Meet Trey Duffey

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Trey Duffey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Trey, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My parents demonstrated what real work ethic looks like from a very early age. I was always taught that even though you may not be the most talented or the smartest person in the room, your work ethic can help close the gap. That mindset and principle alone is what has sustained me as a small business owner since I started on my own in 2018. Whether it’s shooting video, moving furniture, cleaning, loading gear, or whatever else goes into my job as an independent contract, I’ve tried to remember the lessons about hard work that my parents taught me growing up.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I went to school for music and always had the dream of moving to Nashville to try and make it as a session musician. Oddly enough, my senior college internship was with a video production company. After a few years of working on staff at a local church as a worship leader and media creative, I started to gravitate towards and attract more video work on the side. After landing more and more side work as an independent videographer, I decided to take the jump and branch out to pursue it full time. I’ve never really had the dream of directing big blockbuster movies or being a part of massive film crews, I really just enjoy the freedom to be creative in my own respect and work with people who are like-minded and have similar goals as me. My favorite type of video work is when I get to sit on the other side of the camera and hear someone else’s story. Conducting a good interview requires me to listen and I feel like that’s a lost practice today. I’ve learned so much just from listening and processing different people’s stories. I also have a huge passion for sports and creative sports media. Being a part of a team taught me so much when I was a teenager and I love being able to capture those moments of learning and growing for others who are in that position now.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Always have a willingness to learn. You’ll never know everything and I possessing that self-aware quality is what helps you grow. Be a sponge and surround yourself with people that are better at what you do than you are.

The mountains can be tall and the valleys can be low, but no matter where you are in your journey try and bring yourself back to a level playing field mentally. Early on, especially as a creative, I would be all over the place emotionally, but the truth is that reality is never quiet as good or quiet as bad as we make it seem in our own heads.

Be a pleasure to work and do business with. Being a creative is only half of my job, the other half is having conversations with people and trying to guide them down a certain path of their business when it comes to investing in a service. Look people in the eyes, be kind, communicate well, give them grace, then wake up and do it again the next day.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
When I started on my own I never knew what all running a business would entail. Looking at numbers, spreadsheets, tax documents, and P&L’s can all become pretty overwhelming at times. I think having someone to talk to who’s been in my position before is a huge help, and I have a short list of those people I contact when I get to that point. The other big thing I’ve recently started doing is just taking a walk. I’ve been in the gym for most of my life and I still go almost every day, but if there’s ever a point in the day I get stress or overwhelmed, I leash up my two dogs and we just go walk and I listen to College Football Podcasts for about 20 or 25 minutes. It’s crazy what fresh air and sunlight can do for your mindset.

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