Today we’d like to introduce you to Danny Owen-Kohutek.
Hi Danny, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started doing video as a hobby since the age of 5. His first videos were co-produced by his Grandma who owned a VHS recorder. I would often play the role of a dinosaur and would pretend to eat his family.
At the age of 21, I decided to stop acting like a dinosaur and attend college at St.Mary’s University. It was there that I found my passion for video could become a career. While attending college, I took two internships in NYC; Comedy Central (on-air promotions) and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The internships taught me advanced editing, camera work, production and how to eat bagels while sprinting to the Subway station.
After college, Danny decided to pursue his passion and became a full time video producer.
Since starting DEKO 37, Danny has done videos for corporations, small/medium businesses, non-profits, musicians, realtors, lawyers politicians and start-ups. He has produced videos in San Antonio, Austin, D/FW, Houston, Alaska, Hawaii, Brazil, Guatemala, and Cambodia.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Owning my own video productions has it’s ups and down. The first year I worked a lot and didn’t make a lot of money. But, I loved doing videos so much that it didn’t seem like work. I was going to quit and go back to a corporate drive, I prayed and said if I didn’t get any work in the next week, I’d quit my business. The next day, I met Julian. Julian needed several commercials for his new app. I did really well on them and he helped me get more business. Learning how to network and sell was hard at first, but learning from others helped me become great. There’s also periods where I have been non-stop busy and other times where it’s been dead. I had to learn to take advantage of the dead times to learn how to improve in filming, editing and marketing. I’ve owned DEKO 37 for eleven years now and I am very happy with my success. My motto has always been Improvise, adapt and overcome.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do videography, editing, sound mixing, animation and film. I am proud that I have owned a small business for over 11 years. Most of my clients tell me that I work extremely hard, I am great with communicating, but most importantly, I know how to create video that tells a story.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Going to business mixers in the morning and lunch is a great way to meet people. Fortunately, I found a great place called Geekdom when I first started my business. It was at Geekdom that I was able to meet several people that helped me on how to run a business with marketing and keeping clients. I remember when a few members and I would meet every week for an accountability group. For example I didn’t have a website in our first meeting, so my goal that week was to get one started. That week I built it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.deko37.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deko37/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Deko37video
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DEKO37
