Today we’d like to introduce you to Chase Johnson.
Hi Chase, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up as a kid, I was obsessed with videos. I remember being 12 years old at Christmas and unboxing my very first “Flip HD Camera” and feeling like I was on top of the world. I used this camera to start my first Youtube channel where I recorded myself jumping on the trampoline, snowboarding, and playing sports. I loved it but as I continued to grow up I slowly fell out of touch with cameras; I just didn’t have a lot of things to film and my lifestyle changed drastically as I matured.
Eight years later after my first year of college, I got my first internship at Syndicate Logistics and this became my life. I was obsessed with my position as a marketing intern and for the first time in my life I felt like I was providing real value and solving real problems. This position allowed me to pick up a camera again and get passionate about creative ways to market the business. The business was in a tough spot. We were battling a ton of turnover and although we had 23 trucks but only 10 drivers to run them. We eventually came up with something called “The Driver Experience” where we focused on putting the drivers first, creating an inviting culture, and most importantly giving them a voice, We did this through content creation.
We did truckstop food reviews, driver of the week, giveaways, and even had a sitcom-styled office series called “Trucker Bros”. It was amazing watching the culture amongst the drivers change drastically. These drivers became invested in the culture of the company and felt more connected to the office through this content. We gave them the voice they didn’t know they needed and it was so fulfilling.
I was so invested in the drivers and the company I decided to drop out of school during my sophomore year and continue to work at Syndicate Logistics. After about 13 months at the company, the owners/investors were finally able to stabilize the business and sell it to another trucking company in the area. I worked a few months as the company transitioned but ultimately wanted to head back to school, finish my degree, and start my own business.
The reason I tell you this story is that this was the time when I found what I was truly passionate about, I wanted to continue to use my skillset in storytelling to give companies a voice. I spent the next 2 years working as an executive assistant at DRG as I finished up school. I attribute a lot of my success and connections to my time at DRG. They are such a well-connected real estate brokerage; I was constantly meeting new people and making connections that I still stay in touch with today. It was amazing.
As I neared graduation, I began getting back to what I always knew I wanted to do. Give companies a voice. I began to pick up a camera again and work at creating higher-quality videos with more meaningful storylines. I had never worked more relentlessly in my life but I loved it. I would work all day at DRG, come home and do school work for an hour or so then spend most of my night perfecting my camera & editing skills. As my video production skills progressed I remember being so proud of what I was doing. I would obsess over new gear, I loved playing around with my camera, and I even loved spending 15+ hours on edit if it meant I was going to be proud of it. I knew that if someday I could make this my full-time job I wouldn’t ever work a day in my life.
At this point, I was about 6 months out from graduation and I was getting restless. I was still working full-time but my freelance video work was consistently matching what I was making at DRG. I felt I was ready to start on my own and I told my boss I had to move on. Finally, on March 4th of 2o21, I became a full-time freelancer at age 22. I remember being so scared yet so confident because I knew if my back was up against the wall and I needed to make ends meet I would find a way. I remember my first-month full time I doubled my income, the month after that I doubled it again and my business slowly began to take on a life of its own.
Things progressed rapidly and the hours got pretty long but I loved every second of it. I was willing to work 17-hour days simply because for the first time in my life I truly got out of bed in the morning and looked forward to working. I was building something bigger than myself and I needed a brand to reflect that.
I always knew that freelancing wasn’t the end goal for me. I wanted to create a brand, build a team, and operate under a name that was bigger than Chase. This is officially when Bloom Creativ started. I began operating under the name Bloom Creativ about 3 months after going full-time. I had a clear vision for the brand and had a friend of mine Zach Hagen help me bring my vision to life. Once we finalized everything I remember being so confident in the brand. I knew I had something special right away and even today I attribute the brand to a lot of the early success we’ve been able to have.
The first year in business was crazy. I was just starting and was so hungry to get experience. I would say yes to just about every project no matter what the budget or scope was, I knew the next step was to build a portfolio that I could use to market myself and sell my services and this meant doing everything I could to get on set and continue to produce videos. Real estate videos, fitness videos, clinical videos, e-commerce videos, you name it I did it. This process was long but looking back today 2021 was one of the best years of my life. I felt so accomplished and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.
Throughout 2022 it was more of the same. My projects were steadily getting larger, the budgets were steadily getting bigger and I was slowly realizing I needed help. In September of 2022, I officially made my first hire at age 23. I hired a full-time Editor & Co-producer Devin Phaly who quickly became a big part of the team. Devin is one of those people you just trust. He is so creative, extremely passionate, and true to himself making him a perfect candidate for what we needed. He pushes me to take projects a step further and operate intentionally which has been one of our biggest goals for 2023.
Halfway through 2023, I can confidently say the business is in a better spot than its ever been. It’s amazing to reflect and realize that although the business is just under 3 years old that this has been a goal of mine for over 5 years now. The biggest turning point for me was choosing to follow my passion and do something I love. It was uncomfortable at times, exhausting at times stressful at times but not a day goes by where I take what I have for granted. I get up every day and truly love what I do and that’s the difference for me.
As the company continues to grow, I’m extremely focused on building a small team with a people-first culture. My next personal journey consists of becoming the best leader I possibly can be and creating a workplace that breeds ideas and creativity.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the biggest struggles I came into early on in my journey when videography was a side hustle. Being a young entrepreneur with little experience I would oftentimes get extremely low budgets.
I was just starting so I just didn’t have a lot of ground to stand on with my experience, I needed to build that up. I would take so many jobs for $100 to $400 and this led to a lot of late nights trying to shoot, edit, and deliver as many projects as I could to run the business.
Some of these projects were profitable and some weren’t but I needed every one of those projects so I could build my skillset and portfolio. I look back at this time and realize that if I didn’t truly love creating videos that there is no way I would have made it through. I would have given up during this time and probably 5 more times along this journey.
Another challenge I run into still today is patience. I have very big goals for this company and there have been a lot of times I catch myself trying to rush the process. I want to be the best, I want more gear, I want bigger projects but sometimes I just need to remind myself that we’re not even 3 years in yet. I just need to be patient and let the journey unfold.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bloom Creativ?
Bloom Creativ is a full-service production company that exists to give companies a voice. Every day, I see amazing companies/brands that have no voice. They have 30,000 followers but get no engagement because their video content doesn’t speak or engage their fans. Whether a company is creating commercial, social content, or internal videos they need to focus on putting the right message behind everything and being mindful about who their audience is and we help companies do that.
I think what sets us apart from others in the industry is taking a passionate approach to projects. Since day 1 our tagline has been “Blooming Brands We Believe In” because we believe that if we aren’t emotionally invested in every project we won’t be able to deliver to the highest standard.
As far as the brand goes, one of the things I’m most proud of is the design. I feel we have a very approachable yet professional brand that has allowed many doors to open over the years. I get a ton of compliments on the brand and attribute a lot of the initial excitement around the brand to the design.
As we head into the future with Bloom we’re looking to produce more high-production projects that allow us to take a more cinematic approach to commercial video production.
One of the best examples of this is our recent project with Maxim. We showcased what a Super Bowl night with Maxim looked like and although the video was only 1 minute there was a 20-person team behind making that vision come to life. This video is a testament to our capabilities and it’s projects like these that I see us doing more of in the future.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
One of the most important characteristics of my success has been hard work and customer service.
Sometimes you’ll need to take that $500 senior photoshoot to pay the bills. Sometimes you’ll need to stay up until 2 AM editing to hit a deadline for a client. These things go a long way and have helped me get countless referrals, reviews, and repeat clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bloomcreativ.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloom.creativ/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BloomCreativMpls
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloomcreativ/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloomcreativ
