Meet Troy Michael

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Troy Michael. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Troy below.

Hi Troy , 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 drive comes from deep inner motivation that I can track down to my childhood and wanting to save the world, explore the very edges of known reality, and make creative art while doing it. This unique amalgam of a call to serve, with this insatiable need to explore and create was bolstered by a positive upbringing and just this innate desire to “play life on hard.” This sent me through so many random side quests and truly unique life experiences, that really did position me as the main character of my own life story. Then when COVID hit, I found the opportunity to really remake myself on the path I always wanted to take. I didn’t have to passively day dream about being a creative entrepreneur, I could just dive right in and make it happen. I knew the journey was gonna be difficult, so I either brilliantly, or foolishly (time will the final judge on this) put myself in a do or die situation for chasing my dreams. It is this situation that gives me the motivation and drive to keep this dream a live. My work ethic comes from the fact that every action or inaction either puts me closer or further from that moment of self actualization.

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?
Right now my journey is completely focused on making a living as a creator while simultaneously building a functional business around the concept of transformative story telling. While carving my own path as an artist, I am striving to build a network of creatives to assist each other in the production of various forms of multi-media story telling. There are so many original and essential small-businesses out there, as well as truly gifted and talented individuals with truly inspiring stories. What I hope to accomplish, is the ability to really help these unique people and institutions get their stories out there. My ultimate goal is nothing short of helping us build the world we wanna see from the ground up with constructive content. I have currently partnered with two other very talented and connected artists, Chuck Diesel and Eddie Lens. I have now formally launched Longshot Media in Costa Mesa, and we offer a comprehensive menu of video, photo, media and marketing services. Our teams of talented film-makers, marketers, graphic designers, and much more will help create and capture the essence of your stories. I think we can all agree that we are living through some trying times, but I also thing think that is why it such an exciting time to have this project where its at right now. I feel that strong community messaging that empowers locals and individual is what we need now, not to just survive but ultimately thrive. I’m currently focusing on increasing the amount of people who want create our team and anyone who would like to help take this project to the next level.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I would say discipline, resilience, and creativity would be my top skills. It is easy to create when you are inspired. It is fun to work when the response is supportive, and it is easy to do what others are already doing. However, if you are going to try to really truly manifest your dream reality, you need to be prepared to work when you don’t want to, rest when you have to, believe in yourself when others doubt you, and always look for newer better ways to do things. I think the best way to improve these processes is to really truly have a sense of self and purpose. Then you can fully step into your unique story and create something original and empowering.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking to collaborate with anyone supportive. I have 3 main categories I’m focused on, people and businesses who have stories to tell and memories to capture: live events, commercial productions, and brand development primarily. We can do everything from family portraits, weddings, concerts, and corporate parties, as well as comprehensive media packages for virtually any platform. The second category, is other talented creative. I have a great team of camera persons, editors, graphic designers, web developers, hair & make up artists, musicians, models, actors, and more. Anyone with any of these talents are looking to help expand their portfolios, work on larger scale projects, and codify a supportive community of creators, is always welcomed for collaborations. Finally, any more experienced or connected entrepreneurs that could help fill take things to its fullest potential is always welcomed as well.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
all images are owned by me

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