Jan 2025
1h 27m
What’s up Rock Nation, today we’ve got the legend Chris Hau on the pod! Chris is a filmmaker, photographer, and entrepreneur who’s completely flipped the script on how creators work with brands. After building a 600K-subscriber YouTube channel and crushing it on social media, Chris realized that all the views, likes, and followers didn’t actually bring him happiness. Instead, he stepped back, redefined his goals, and went all-in on his production company, proving you don’t need massive teams to make massive moves. Chris loves to work with Travel and Tech brands like DJI, Fairmont, and One-Plus, and leverages his personal brand into six-figure production deals. Chris is all about creating meaningful projects, building community, and helping other creators find success while staying true to themselves. This episode is Chris like you've never heard him before.
Check out Chris here:
https://www.youtube.com/@UCRte954rw0oeMWFroy_ClAw
https://www.instagram.com/thechrishau/
https://thechrishau.com/
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Trailer
0:41 - Intro
2:18 - One Handed Crack
3:50 - Taking a step back from YouTube
6:05 - Working with small vs big crews
7:52 - The ideal team size for Chris’ production shoots
10:10 - How Chris builds out his crew
11:15 - Why Chris hated big production crews
13:00 - Chris’ hiring process
15:19 - How Chris educates clients on the unique value of his production company
17:48 - Finding the white space in a saturated industry
19:29 - How Chris leverages his personal brand
20:45 - Working with Fairmont on Lake Louise
22:40 - Navigating sales calls with potential new clients
24:48 - Communicating your value to clients
26:50 - Leveraging Chris’ positioning for 6 figure paydays
28:36 - How Chris double dips on partnerships
29:36 - Working with tourism boards
31:27 - Where Chris sees his production company going
34:15 - Spec ads Chris is working on
35:29 - Travel changes you
40:38 - The importance of creating spec ads
43:53 - Chris’ journey to overcome people-pleasing
49:19 - How Chris’ relationship with YouTube has changed (move this earlier in the convo?)
52:43 - Reframing a toxic mindset
59:29 - Reading vs. listening to books
1:00:39 - The pressure to create on YouTube
1:06:01 - Aspirational lifestyle
1:07:49 - Chris’ YouTube creation process
1:10:19 - What Chris would do differently if starting YouTube today
1:12:56 - Reframing his identity as a photographer
1:18:31 - Chris’ love for teaching
1:20:59 - Hosting live events
1:26:45 - Advice to your 18-year-old self
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