Over the last 5 years, Self Hired has made enormous contributions to Vancouver’s music scene. With video production credits on numerous Vancity Classics, they have always shown big support to upcoming independent talent in the city. Their brand has grown significantly from the beginning branching out into Events (June 31st at Fortune Sound) and notably apparel. We recently caught up and had a chat with the founder Kevin Wong and co-owner Mike Smaill. Check the interview below!
HHV: What is the concept behind the Self Hired brand, and how did it start?
Kevin: Well, it definitely wasn’t thought out and executed as it exists now… I feel the idea was always in our heads, but the concept and direction all happened organically. The overall concept of ‘Self Hired’ is knowing what you want to do, and doing what it takes to get there. It’s roots are definitely entrenched with one’s self motivation and ambition to accomplish what’s in front of you, regardless what it is.
Mike: We have a lot of people assume it is based on being self employed, which isn’t wrong, but definitely not the extent of what the brand emanates. As a whole, the Self Hired lifestyle is staying motivated and ambitious in whichever avenue you’re in.
HHV: What drove you guys to start directing music videos?
M: To jump in there, Kevin is the guru behind the video work which I don’t really get involved with… so he’s gonna answer this one.
K: Honestly, I just wanted to be a part of the music scene, and at the time, I was messing around with a little bit of studio engineering and the videography allowed me to network with local artists. I decided to try some very basic music videos with those artists and I just kept meeting more artists, and getting better with what I could provide visually. My friend Val was around and was just as hungry, and willing to learn and help wherever he could which made a big difference. At that time there wasn’t nearly as many “online” based music videos, nor people shooting their own stuff, so we were able to capitalize and flood the scene out here for a little bit. After awhile we developed a little bit more of a team (Charles & Eric), I spent less time physically behind the camera, and I started to focus more on putting the videos together, directing and editing them.
HHV: How many videos has Self Hired shot? The styles and look seem to vary for each video… what is your general approach to shooting/editing each video?
K: I think we’ve done around 50 music videos over the last 4 years or so. We’ve covered quite a range of budgets and resources. Some videos have gotten over 1 million views, and some only a couple thousand. Sometimes the artist comes with the idea/concept, and sometimes we create the treatment and put it all together. Every video is a completely different process I find, and therefore you will always get a different result.
HHV: Now it seems like you are focusing more on the apparel side of Self Hired. How did this start?
K: Over the last two years, a lot of the momentum has definitely shifted…but not only to the apparel, but the brand in general. We had a demand to put something out for people to rep the brand with, and we logically decided to produce a few T-shirts. Well a long story short, the T-shirts sold out and the demand was still there, so it took a lot of focus and time to keep up… and the business model developed organically. T-shirts grew to sweaters, hats, etc. and our design work had to keep up, so Mike jumped in and learned the tools and took over.
M: We totally had to self-educate ourselves in a lot of the processes from design, to marketing, to printing. We dropped the ball a few times, but took advantage of the mistakes and learned from them. As we grow as a brand, the knowledge grows and the process became clockwork. We are constantly moving outside our comfort zone to keep the growth going and ambitiously tackling new developments as we move forward.
HHV: How have you gotten the brand out there, and what are your most popular streams of sales?
K: We’ve just made it a goal to experiment with different approaches of marketing and promotion. On top of that I feel the most important thing for us is to create as much content as possible, and since we do everything in house we’ve been able to just keep pushing that. Locally we have had a decent amount of success through word of mouth, and street sales which really got us started. We’ve now shifted that momentum to the online store, and we’ve seen sales from all over the world which really blew us away.
M: What Kevin said…the internet is great.
HHV: Your connection with the hip hop scene is apparent, but can you talk about how the brand has reached out to other demographics?
K: Our connection to the hip hop scene and music scene in general fit so well because of our brands message. However, we’ve also taken notice to all different types of ambitious individuals that represent the Self Hired lifestyle, so we’ve been working on ways to integrate within their markets.
M: Yea, it’s been our focus to branch out and work with hungry, like minded people who work / live different types of money making avenues. Currently, we are doing some cross promotion with some fitness & lifestyle coaches, and also working with some successful entrepreneurs as brand ambassadors. Team work makes the dream work!
HHV:What are some of the pros and cons of running a smaller brand in your perspective?
M: Some pros for me would be looking back on where we came from and how much we’ve grown as a team / brand. We laugh about some of the mistakes we’ve made, and how they’ve really helped us in the long run.
K: Ha Ha – been some rough goes here and there…
M: But yeah, honestly it’s also tough to deal with lack of response on a design or video you’ve put time and effort into… and also coming to terms with not being able to satisfy every single person who sees your brand.
K: For me, I love the feeling of grinding and making things happen. The fact that you create your own schedule, and your fully dependable on if it happens or not. I’d say the freedom is the pro for me, but is also the biggest obstacle. It’s easy to lose momentum, get distracted or just slow up on the hustle. You get exactly what you put in
HHV: What is the direction your team plans on taking Self Hired in?
K: Growing, learning and working with hungry, like minded people.
M: Amen.
Follow Self Hired:
www.SelfHired.com
IG @selfhiredbrand
TWITTER @selfhired
FB /selfhiredproductions
Check out some of their Youtube videos: