Meet Juan Gomez | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Juan Gomez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Juan, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Taking risk is the single most important piece of the puzzle when trying to see the needle move in terms of progress. There were many key times where I had to bet it all but there’s one in particular that stands out as a great story. I had just sold my half of my video business at the time to my business partner because we couldn’t quite get along. We were still small at the time so the deal was he gets to keep the entire business and I can walk away with the equipment. This meant that I needed money quickly, so I was able to get a job as a director at a studio, making six figures. Not bad at 23 years old. But something inside of me felt that it was wrong and that I was meant to be a business owner. Every day on my drive to work I would listen to the audiobook Think And Grow Rich. And every day I would feel more and more of the urge to quit and go start another business on my own this time. After two weeks working at that job, I came across a lesson in the book where it talks about how quickly successful people make decisions once having all the necessary information. It said that successful people make decisions quickly (as soon as all the facts are available) and changed them slowly (if ever). So that morning, two weeks into working my six figure job at 23 years old I walked into the bosses office and resigned. Safe to say he was pretty upset about that. After quitting, I walked downstairs to the parking lot and sat in the car, struggling with my emotions tearing up, wondering if I did the right thing. And out of the blue, I get a call from an old friend that I hadn’t talked to in a of couple years. And the first thing he said was “Hey Juan I’m not sure why, but I felt God telling me to call you to tell you that he’s with you.” That shook me to my core and gave me the confidence I needed to bet it all on my new Video production company JDG Films. Now if only it went easy after that, lol. The following month I ended up making zero dollars. And on top of that, the boss from the job that I just had didn’t want to pay me for the time I was there. This is when I started to think “I really fucked up.” From 100K a year to zero was a brutal blow, but I stuck to it. The following month I made $1,000. Not enough to live, but at least it’s something. It went like this month after month with me having to use my savings to supplement my living expenses. After I went through all of my savings, I had to start selling things like my truck and this is when it really started to hurt. I vividly remember calling my mom and telling her I have two options, quit now and get a job somewhere and accept that I wasn’t made for this, or keep going until I’ve either broke even or sold every last thing that I had until I had nothing. My mom gave me the motivation I needed and reminded me that if anyone could do it, it would be me and that I was meant for this. So I continued along and in the back of my head I had a doomsday timer ticking, because if I had not made X amount of dollars by September (which was only a few months away) then that would be the month that I would officially lose everything. September rolled around and I just barely broke even. The next month same thing, broke even again. And by January exactly one year from when I had to quit my job I had my first 20K month. I love this story because it shows the necessity for risk. Risk is tied directly in proportion to reward. And there’s a risk in everything. I’d argue that staying where you are is far more risky than taking the leap to where you want to be.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Getting to the point where I’m at today was not easy and was a very long journey that started over 10 years ago. As a troublemaker in high school I was somehow able to get a job on the video team at Christ Fellowship Church. The directors Ian Achong and Carolina Achong were able to see the potential in me and were patient with me in all of my stupidity lol. After developing my filmmaking skills at the church, the 2020 pandemic came, and I was inspired to start my first attempt at creating a video production company (Haven Digital Marketing) with my business partner Devin. This was really exciting because we were offering a skill that was very important at the time. With everything going digital during the pandemic, we were able to help so many businesses accomplish goals that would have otherwise felt impossible in an era where everything was contactless. And that’s what’s really exciting about this business. Storytelling by using video is only going to become more and more important as time goes on. Now, years later, my set up might look different, but the mission is still the same. JDG Films was created to help businesses communicate to their audience using the power of professional video production. Whether that be communicating out to a larger audience to promote your business, or communicating internally towards employees, or anything in between we have you covered.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I currently live in Jupiter, Florida, and there’s plenty to do out here. What I would do is take you to all my favorite spots that I go to throughout the week starting with Monday all day happy hour at Black Bird Modern Asian. This restaurant is incredible. They have the best drinks I’ve tasted and the best part is they’re one of my clients! To be fair, they were my favorite restaurant before they were my client so this is a non-biased recommendation.
Tuesday we go canoeing at Riverbend Park right down the street. I grew up canoeing that same river and catching baby alligators. To this day, I go and catch gators and turtles for people to take pictures with.
Wednesday we’ll go fishing at DuBois Park as Jupiter has some of the clearest waters and is known as the snook capital of the world.
Thursday, we’ll take a quick trip up to Sebring to get on the race track. I have a Mustang that I’ve built as a race car and take it to the track often. While we’re there, I’ll also go ahead and capture some content for my YouTube channel (@soflostang) about my car.
Friday we’ll go and train some Parkour and maybe go to the trampoline park Defy. I’ve been doing parkour for 14 years and was a gymnastics coach as my first job so I’ll teach you how to backflip!
Then on the weekend, I’ll have to let you do your own thing because I prioritize spending quality time with my fiancé.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I definitely want to first give a shout out to my Mom (Andrea Estrada). Not only for being the one that really believed in me when I was losing everything and giving me the pivotal motivation that I needed to keep going. But for truly being there for me, no matter what I needed. From helping me buy my computer to simply getting on phone calls at any time to help me think things out she is my number one supporter.

I want to Shoutout the Achong family, for investing into, mentoring, and teaching me since over 10 years ago at the beginning of my journey in video production. Where most people would see me as some 17 year old getting suspended from school that probably wont make it far, they saw the potential in me and most importantly had the patience to mentor me for years.

Honestly, there’s 1 million people along the journey that I wish I had the space to shoutout. But I’ll end with one last shoutout to the book Think and Grow Rich. That book taught me so many valuable lessons and instilled key habits and mindsets that helped me along my journey.

Website: https://jdgfilms.com

Instagram: @thepindropking

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@soflostang

Other: This will tell you exactly what my business does:

Image Credits
Erica Paul
Stephanie Tarno
Julie Tarno
Zack Wilson
Tyler Burd