Hello, hello, welcome back everyone to another episode of the Nick amp podcast. This is episode 24.
Today we have another guest on. His name is Josh Diaz. He's known as Josh Diaz Films.
And before I get any further along about our guest today, if you're watching this on YouTube,
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podcast is at the Nick Gamp podcast. And enough of that. That's all out of the way. Hopefully we'll
connect with anyone there. And if you have something to say, go ahead and leave it in the comments,
send me a DM. I would love to break down a topic that you may have in mind that you would love me
to break down and discuss, whether it's business, entrepreneurship, creativity, filmmaking, any of
them. So our guest today, Josh Diaz. I found him about two, three years ago on TikTok. Had 50
followers, now has 158,000 followers on TikTok. One of the most authentic people on social media.
He's known for making short cinematic films on TikTok about everyday life. Now you may say,
what's so special about that? People complain that they have nowhere to film. They have no cool
places. He does all of his stories straight out of his apartment. That's super interesting. That's
super inspiring for those who say they can't make stories, they can't make films. In this podcast,
we discuss creativity, how to be authentic and how to be authentic as an introvert. Some of you may
be uncomfortable talking on camera and he talks about his strategies to overcome that and to
develop your own style and advice that he would give his younger self. How he lets you tune in
all the way to the end. He gives really good actionable steps to build yourself up, build
your own style and get confident in your own creativity and just getting after your dreams.
Without further ado, let's cut to the podcast. Josh Diaz, it's good to have you on, man. Appreciate
you taking the time to be on the podcast, bro. Yeah, for sure, Nick. Appreciate you for having
me. I know you reached out. I've been keeping up with some of your podcasts that you have, so
it really means a lot for you to have me here, man. I'm excited. Josh, I've been following you
for quite some time back when you had about 50 followers, bro, on TikTok. Maybe less. Your videos
caught my interest right off the bat. I remember just recently, I mean, it's been a little bit
now, you've looked to 158,000 followers, bro. Did you imagine that on TikTok?
No, absolutely not, man. I feel like I have the same story as everyone else.
You know, like started out for fun, just kind of like a creative outlet. And then, you know,
you wake up one day and you see over 100,000 and you're just like, wow, you know, maybe I can
really do something with this. So I was just as shook as you were, man. But I'm grateful for it,
though, for sure. So Josh, I want to get right into it. So you're a creative through and through,
I mean, it shows through your work and the effort you put into it. Can you please bring it down for
me and for the people listening? How did you get into this creative industry? Was it just by
accident? Was it on purpose? Did it grow on you? Was it something that happened later in life?
Break it down, man. How did you get into this creative industry?
Yeah, man. I feel like it's a long story, but I don't know. I feel like ever since I was like,
literally, you know, my mom tells me stories of me just doing stuff with like different cameras. And
so I guess it started from me being little, but it wasn't until, you know, my late 20s where I
really started to pick it up. But where it really, really struck me, man, was my very first like
professional job, I would say I was 18. I was still in college and I got hired to be a camera
operator for a local news station. So they hired a bunch of college students, you know, and I just
one of my friends was like, hey, you know, you should just go get this job. They typically hire
everybody. And I was like, all right, so it was one of those kind of blowoffs, but they gave me the
job. It turns out I ended up working there for like three years, man, as a camera operator. And I
just kind of fell in love with operating. I mean, these were like big old Panasonic studio cameras.
And I got a chance to shoot a couple of NCAA D1 games. And I just kind of loved the quality and
just like the image it was producing and the story I was able to tell for these like football
players and these news anchors. So I just kind of found my passion there. And then I just kind of
dropped it for a little bit. I worked there, like I said, for three years, ended up going to college.
Then I kind of put it down for a little bit, you know, did the norm, went to college,
graduated, got a regular job. Nothing wrong with that. But I just really wasn't finding, you know,
like my piece. So I just kind of started doing some self-reflection, trying to understand like
what Josh really needed. And I just kept falling back to that piece and that, I don't know, you
know, that comfort that the camera and just like storytelling kind of brought. So then I ended up
buying like a drone and a, my Sony a7 III, which is what I'm using right now. And that's what kind
of kicked it off, man. It was, I had a lot of inspirations on YouTube, on TikTok, and I just
kind of started producing a lot of stuff to kind of develop my style. But that's, that's kind of
how it started for me, man. Wow. So you don't share a lot of that, at least what I've seen on your
social media. So this part is new to me. So timeline, going back 18 years old, working with
Panasonic cameras dove right head deep into it. You have a background in sports. I have a
background in sports. That's cool, man. It's a good way to learn. And then he did the college thing,
came back to it, felt the comfort of all of it. Let me ask you this, Josh,
after being in this creative industry now, again, could you ever imagine leaving the creative
industry? Absolutely not, man. The sensation and the freedom that this, you know, creativity just
brings me, I don't think anything that I've done so far in life, as far as I know, can top that.
So that's an absolutely not, nothing, nothing can top that. I can't imagine myself doing anything
else. Let me ask, so something that for me really sticks out when you make these videos,
you talk about, you've talked about gear and what camera you use. And for people that
want to create, do they need the best camera gear? Because sometimes people get this notion
that you need all this fancy camera, the big ones, some red Aria, a lot of them,
the big ones, some red Aria, Lexus, they think they need it. What's your opinion on that,
especially for the style of creations that you do specifically?
Yeah, man, I feel like that's a, I mean, I feel like all creatives, well, creatives in a sense
of having to use a camera, I feel like gear is always like something that like crosses our mind.
I mean, who doesn't want the new FX3, FX6? So I understand that as far as like starting off or
like your question of, is it something that you absolutely need? No, I'm just a firm believer
that a story is more important than what quality can bring as far as image. And eventually,
once you start developing your storytelling and being able to keep an audience engaged using
whatever you have, whether that's a cell phone or a $500 camera, I mean, nowadays you can really
buy something that's going to give you good enough quality to be able to tie your story.
But once you kind of like master that pen on paper and being able to really produce something
that's just beautiful, eventually, you know, the quality and the camera comes later, but you don't
want to put your focus on that yet because you're missing the key part that's going to really make
you successful. And that's telling the story. Something that you stand out for amongst a lot
of people, and this is why you have so many people who follow you and find enjoyment through your
videos, is that you are an authentic person and it shows through your videos. Can you share your
approach to being an authentic person on social media through storytelling? How do you do it?
Some people, you know, you watch people and you could tell it's scripted and it feels scripted.
How do we go about not making it sound scripted? How do we go about being authentic?
Ooh, that's a good question. I feel like we all kind of start off with it kind of being scripted,
you know, because you're kind of, you know, you're developing your own style. You're trying to
follow your inspirations, you know, the people that you look up to so you can kind of get into
a season where you're maybe not being as authentic. Something for me, man, is just,
and I know it's kind of cliche to say, you know, just be yourself, but sometimes you really have
to be yourself, you know? So like me personally, for me to really show off like an authentic side
of myself, I tend to like showcase all the imperfections that I have, you know, like as
far as like being an introvert or always just being homebound. I mean, I love to produce those
insecurities in myself because then it brings more confidence within me, but at the same time,
it showcases me just being more authentic. And it's kind of a win-win situation because more
people can relate to you. You can start building a bigger community that just is rooting for you,
you know what I mean? So that would be my best bet. That's what I do. And that's what's really
kind of helped me develop myself as far as I am now. So you are an introvert. Was that hard for
you talking on camera, bro? I mean, I'm an introvert too and being comfortable on camera. Yo,
so and so Josh Diaz, I'm the guy, I'm that guy. Here I am dancing, doing all this stuff.
How was that? Was that a learning curve for you to get over that? Man, yes. And that's something
that, you know, it's never going to go away. You're never just going to wake up one day and be like,
oh my God, I'm the most confident person in the world. You know, it's a battle that I still face.
It's one thing that is promised is that you do become a little more comfortable with it,
but something that's not promises that feeling of you being in an awkward situation going away,
but the more confidence you gain, the easier it gets. But it's funny that you say that though,
because for me personally, I started off this creative stuff by being behind the camera,
you know, like the news station, recording the sports. And then even after I kind of dug back
into this like creative side, I would do like weddings. I've done a few weddings, few photo
shoots, and then it just got to the point where like, I guess I just wasn't getting enough business
and I didn't want to have to always rely on people. So like I had a deep conversation with myself
and I'm like, well, what's one way that I can continue to be creative, continue to kind of
fulfill that little void that I had and just continue to kind of push myself. And so without
me having to rely on anybody, the only person that I can rely on is myself, which caused me to jump
in front of the camera. And I don't know, I just kind of went all gas, no brakes, man. It was very
hard to this day, it's hard, but looking back now, it's all worth it, man, for sure.
You led me to my next question that I was going to ask you, how you got started on TikTok. Was
the plan always to do these storytelling types of videos or did it just something that evolved and
grew into this type of storytelling showing off your life? Like how did that all begin? Was it
just you knew it's what we're doing or it evolved? No, it's definitely something I did not know. I
wish I did because then I'd have it a little more mastered now. So I'm still kind of learning
through all the kinks and stuff, but it started off, I'm a big fan of film. And so I'm like,
my biggest passion for myself is to one day be able to make a feature film. And I know I'm a
long way away from it, but I'm slowly starting to make the progress, at least to get more familiar
towards that. But film has always been my baby. I love Quentin Tarantino's, the whole directors.
I'm the type of person that studies the directors. And so that's where it kind of got. And I used to
try to make these little short films with some of my friends I had at the time. But it goes back to
me saying it's kind of hard on relying on people that weren't really into film. A lot of my friends
at the time didn't have the same hobbies as me. So for me to convince them to be in my little short
film, especially back in the day, they were horrible. And they would help out a lot. But
I think where it evolved is I just stopped relying on them so much. And I'm like, well,
how can I continue to make these little short films, make them a little cinema-like,
kind of like you're watching a little movie? And I started out with these voiceovers
and me just kind of like adding stories, like narrating my life pretty much. And then
I tried some other stuff as well. And then it just kind of fell back into me like narrating
my life and just kind of making like a film look visual that went alongside with my voiceover.
And I think that's how it kind of fully developed to what it is now as far as TikTok.
You spurred something exciting in my brain. I want to ask you now that you're a film guy, man. I'm a
huge film nerd. I find myself breaking down every scene, movie, even when I'm watching with family,
friends. I'm like, yep, they shot it like that because they want to do this thing. I'll tell
them all, everyone's like, yeah, it's okay, Nick. We get it. You understand film. We get you know
how to make videos. We get you want to do it. But that's how you get better. But the point
I'm getting here is I want to know what your favorite movie is.
Yeah, I had to say it really quick, man. I'm sorry, but I'll let you finish the question.
Okay. Yes. That's top five for me. 100%. So Pulp Fiction. Okay. I have two questions for this.
Favorite movie and then favorite movie to look back on, to study, to implement it into your own
work. Does that make sense? Yeah. So I mean, this is going to make me sound like a huge Quentin
Tarantino fan, but I seriously am. The guy's crazy, but he's a crazy kid. So Pulp Fiction,
definitely favorite movie. Something to look back on. A lot of my inspiration and color grading
and like visuals goes back to all the kill bills, man. 100%. I just love the font. I love the
just the way that they're shot. You know what I mean? It's just like, I don't know, no one,
it's so good. You can't replicate it. And that's what I love. Well, also said by Quentin Tarantino.
That's why his movies are so distinct. You know, you're watching it when you're watching it,
when you're watching it, right? Yeah. 100%. Okay, bro. That's so cool. Moving forward with that,
man. I mean, something I know I deal with along with a bunch of other creative people, I'm actually
making a YouTube video on this. That's coming out literally tomorrow, getting over creative blocks.
And you're someone who posts very creative pieces. And I know it takes time to write those out. I
know you have to plan out your shots and where you're going, transitioning, making sure it flows
right. How do you get over this creative blocks when you're trying to just make this video about
you taking a shower? What's your go-to process to get over that? For me, man, I mean, I feel like
we all as creatives, we're always going to go over, you know, get creative blocks. But a best way,
a best practice that I've kind of learned for myself is, you know, I still create and if it
doesn't feel good, I'll still make it. Sometimes I won't post it, but at least I'll get that
ugliness out really quick, the rust out, and then be able to kind of find the diamond within that.
So sometimes you just got to make some crap in order to discover the gold in it, man. So
that's me. Or whether it's recording or just writing, sometimes I'll just try to write a script.
And if I'm just like really, really stuck, I'll just write everything that's on my mind. It
doesn't have to make sense, but it just kind of gets all the junk out that's causing the block.
And then slowly but surely starts to open up and you start to kind of develop these ideas and
things start to, you know, make more sense. But that's definitely a way that helps me. And I've
I've used that little tip for myself since the beginning, man. So it hasn't filled me yet.
That's very specific. And I know some people don't talk about this out loud, what you're
talking about writing everything out and whether it's crap, not good, and tossing it out after. I
mean, I've talked about this where worked on a project, edited it for three days and threw it
away, you know, threw it away. And for you, do you ever look back at those scripts that were crap and
maybe come back to it maybe like a month, two months later, maybe think, oh, this actually
wasn't bad. And maybe go back and reuse it for actual ideas or something that happens for you.
Oh, yeah, for sure. And yeah, like just just like you said, it's not that you like completely
delete it. Throwing it out means, you know, you just throw it out as far as like you posting at
the moment. But yeah, man, sometimes those best ideas come whenever you're throwing a bunch of,
you know, quote unquote crap out because you can once you get that rhythm back going, you go back
to that that stuff that you wrote, you know, two days ago, and you make something like beautiful
that was supposed to come out of it. So yeah, for sure, you can always don't throw it away. Never,
you know, keep it in your notes somewhere, wherever you're writing down. But for sure,
because sometimes you got a you got gold somewhere in the back and you just got to look for it or
just bring it back. So yeah, I'm a firm believer of always kind of going back to the old stuff.
I've definitely used a bunch of my old ideas. And they've pretty much almost gone viral on
TikTok, some of my old ideas that I bring back. So like to prove like that that stuff is true,
like it is true, man. Man, that's so cool to hear and just encourage me for people listening,
because I know people get discouraged all the time, because they feel like they can't
post like that guy on social media has all these great ideas. And for you,
making everyday life seem interesting. How do you even go about that? Most people,
dude, I know, you know, I know you understand this, because most people,
they say, I have nowhere to film, I don't live anywhere cool. I don't live anywhere cool.
How do you, can you explain how you just go about making normal life? Look cool.
Man, I love that you say that, man, because, man, I love that question. So when somebody,
especially I've had many people ask me like, how do you find a place or I don't have, you know,
I live in my, you know, my apartment isn't nice, or, you know, to hear a ton of excuses, like,
to be honest, my apartment that I live in now is less than 600 square feet. So if I can come up
with over a hundred videos and a 580 square foot apartment, no, you have no excuses. Like you just
have to just, there's, there's, I trust me, it is possible. Sometimes you just set your camera up
in weird angles and you'll be like, oh my God, that looks pretty, that looks good, you know.
But there's, there's a story everywhere you look, you just got to change your perspective. You know,
if you always have a perspective of my apartment is not nice enough or, you know, this and that
and that, then you're, you're never going to make that progress. But sometimes you just really have
to think outside of the box and be like, okay, like I can really make this work, you know,
it might not look good now, but if I continue to do it, it's eventually going to look to where,
you know, I want it to look. And that's kind of how it went with me. And I still live in this
apartment from my first like TikTok videos. So I've made almost 200 videos in this lesson six
on the square foot apartment. So it's possible, man.
Man, that's amazing to hear. And so inspiring for so many people out there who make excuses
about not having anywhere to go, man. And on top, to tag onto that, you said you're a big film nerd
and as filmmakers were taught story is king, story is everything without a story. What do you got?
Even if you're in the most beautiful place in the world, what do you got without a story?
So being a film nerd, how much in every video are you pulling just in resonating about how can you
create a story? I mean, are you resonating with these movies all time and pulling them into your
films or are you now at this point in your stage where you can just create up stories on your own?
Yeah, well, no, I feel like now I definitely can create them on my own for sure.
But for a while and sometimes you always want to be able to pull from other inspiration films,
ideas and just kind of like inspo that way. And then you can kind of soon develop.
It goes back to developing your own style and just being able to kind of pull within yourself.
But that feeling is great, man, whenever you literally make something from scratch,
as far as you know, right? Because nothing's truly original, but you know within yourself
that you just kind of popped it up in your own head and that feeling is just like unmatched.
But sometimes you do got to work to that point. You got to learn how to kind of build your
foundation and just kind of looking at different inspo and different films, whatever you however
you get your inspiration, just kind of use that to build that foundation. And then eventually
you'll be able to kind of create your own stuff around that built foundation that you kind of made.
What are your thoughts on taking inspiration from another film? Let's talk about me, okay?
Let's say I'm going to recreate a scene from the Lord of the Rings. I don't know,
I'm the same Lord of the Rings. Is there anything wrong with artists taking inspiration from another
film and recreating it? What are your thoughts on the whole process of that? Because some people
may make arguments that they shouldn't do that because they're not being original. I was curious
to see what your thoughts on this because I know you're a big into the whole creativity side of this.
That's a good question. So I've had that happen to me, man, on TikTok. Someone literally,
they took a video from mine like word by word, scene by scene. The only thing that was different
was the characters, right? And that video did really, really well. It kind of left me like in
a weird spot because I'm just like, wow, you know, but at the end of the day, man, the way I look at
it is there's only one OG that can do that style. And the person that stole that video, that's all
they have. And you got to look at the OG that can continue to make that fire video. So I just rely
and have confidence in myself so they can still all they want, but there's only one Josh and there's
only one Nick. So that's the way I look at it, man. That's a great mindset, man. I really think so.
And on top of that, can they literally be, they literally can't be you. So even if they're
recreating it, they're adding their own spin onto it, even if they're not meaning to. So there's that
whole aspect of it too. Can you really make someone else's work exactly like it? Just like you mentioned
Kill Bill and Quentin Tarantino. Yeah, no, I guess you're right on that. So even when you, I guess,
even if you take someone else's work or you see someone take your work, they still got to add some
kind of spin because like you said, like they're not Nick and they're not Josh. So at the end of
the day, they're not a hundred percent stilling. So yeah, I guess if you put your mind in that
perspective as well, I think it just makes it a little easier. But like you said, there's only one
one of us. And if someone really liked what they stole or whatever happened, they're going to expect
more. But what are they going to do? At some point they got, they can't always steal from me.
Eventually you'll get found whenever your time is. Everyone has a time, you know, your time will come
and they'll really find who the real Nick is, you know. That's right, man. You're the OG. OG Josh.
There we go. All right, man. So what are your thoughts on social media? There's another argument.
I mean, do you think it has a negative impact on creativity? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this
because you're someone who has benefited from this. So maybe you have a different perspective on it
than people who are not growing. Maybe, I don't know. Some people would say it has a negative
impact. What are your thoughts? As far as like social media, well, the funny story about social
media with me is I've always disliked social media before. So before I started like this
creative stuff, as far as like posting content, I went, I say sober, but I was like sober up
with like social media for like two years. I didn't have a single app or nothing. So when I
downloaded the app again, it was strictly for like a creative outlet, you know. And so I,
I feel like social media can have its, I'll start with the bad impacts. I feel like if you get too
sucked into social media, you start to kind of get lost into like comparison. And yeah, I feel like
once you get in that, that realm of comparison, I mean, you better stop where you're just going to
end up in a, in a pretty bad place and it's going to put a creative run in your, in your own creative
mind, you know? So I feel like, you know, comparison is probably the worst and it can be, it can be good
as well, as far as like developing your business, getting your name out there, just landing business
for yourself and just kind of being able to meet other creatives, other people that are like-minded.
So I feel like it, it just depends on how you use it. But I feel like we all have enough common sense
to know how to use it the right way and how not to use it. So ultimately it's just, it just kind of
depends on how you kind of utilize it, if that makes sense. Makes a hundred percent sense, Josh.
What are your actionable steps to get around these negative impacts for people listening?
Maybe they don't know where to begin to get around it. What would you do?
So for me, I mean, I still do this because I feel like comparison, it just hits anybody. You know,
you watch it, that's for you, you know, especially photography. It's if you, if you see somebody take
like this dope picture, you appreciate the picture, but in the back of your head, if we're all just
being real with each other, you're just like, man, you know, and it just kind of makes you feel a
little insecure. Same thing with me and other videos. So once I start to feel that way, man,
I'll just close the app, call it a day, call it a night and just, you know, kind of rest, go look at
a tree, go feel the wind for a little bit, just kind of feel my feet on the ground. And then, you
know, once I'm kind of clear, then I'll dive back in to, I don't know, just see what's out there,
again, get some inspiration or just go support some other creators. But sometimes you just, the
best way to overcome that stuff is just to step away, man. And that can be hard as well, but
it depends on how bad you really want it. Just log off, delete the app, do what you have to do,
but just step away. I really liked that you touched on that. I really want to stick on that for a
moment. The self-control it takes, first of all, to say, not today, Josh, not today, Nick. We're
not going to compare ourselves to so-and-so, user one, two, three, four. We're going to exit out and
we're going to go be present in what's real life because what's online, what we see online,
is it really the reality of everything that is in our everyday lives? Most likely not for most
people, right? So I really think that you have a good mindset for that in logging off, stepping
away, being immersed. How often is that something that you do to keep your creative juices flowing?
Man, daily, daily, Nick, all the time, man, all the time. So I tend to find my own inspiration
by just logging off, man. Most of the time, I mean, I tend to watch a lot of movies. I can't
really compare. It's hard for me to compare myself with like movies that are on Netflix and stuff.
I mean, that's a lot of money in that production, so I tend to draw from that. But as far as social
media, man, I tend to log off, delete the app every single day, anytime I get a sense of that,
man, because I just don't want anything to interfere with what truly has made me happy
and truly has filled that void. And I just don't want to put that at risk. So I just kind of think
of that whenever I do find it hard. Couldn't have said it better, Josh. 2024 is here. We're
two months into the year now. I can't believe it. Josh Diaz films 158,000 followers on TikTok,
growing, making impacts, inspiring people, including myself. What's one thing then this
year that you want to accomplish in 2024? What do you got your eyes set on, man?
Man, this year is awesome. So I feel like the past two years I've been grinding it out on
TikTok. TikTok was like my main focus for, I'd say like 2021, 2022, all the way to 2023.
I've kind of slowed down my post on TikTok and I recently just really went in on YouTube.
We're growing there, man. You got to go follow us. We're almost hitting 10K subscribers, man. So
you got to go hit that, man. So my ultimate dream has always just been long form. I've always just
been someone who just really, really loves long form. And I just kind of used TikTok as a way to
just really develop my style. It's really kept me on my toes as far as just being creative and just
coming up with ideas and then being able to kind of execute that stuff. But this year, man, I'm
taking long form. I'm really going hard at it. And my ultimate goal is just to see what I can do on
YouTube. If I'm being 100% honest with you, I just really, really want to say, man, I'm
really, really want to see if I'm fully capable of just being able to make something out of long
form, whether it's like YouTube or anything like that. And so yeah, that's my goal. And
I've been pretty consistent so far. I've been a lot of progress on there. So that's definitely
my goal is to see what I can do on the YouTube side, long form side. And that makes sense.
And when you say you want to make a future film one day, so I mean, moving towards that long form
video, storytelling, I think that's the right way to go. I mean, that's going to be super cool for
you, man. Where can we find you on there? Just for people listening just real quick before we keep
going. Is it Josh D as Films? Yeah, so it's all the same handles. Josh D as Films. I have the link in
my TikTok bio if you do follow me there. But yeah, all across the board social platforms is Josh D
as Films. Do you feel that there is a short form content video burnout from the people
who are on social media these days? Oh, man, we're gonna have a good conversation. I love these
questions. So I love short form, man. Short form, it really pushes you to places that long form can't
push you, right? But I feel like sometimes when you just 100% stick to that long form, you do get a
burnout. And it's just because that story doesn't have enough time to just kind of sit there and
marinate. I mean, TikTok has just kind of made it where you post. And I mean, you're pretty much
like forgotten about because people are on the For You page. People enjoy your story for like
30 seconds, a minute, however long it is, and then they're on to the next one. And then you're
pretty much like forgotten. You got to keep up with it. And it's like inevitable to hit a burnout
with short form. Don't get me wrong, though, I love my community on TikTok. I mean, they have been
there for a long time. I love the people who are just, you know, show up all the time and comment
and just like message me. I love that community. But there's nothing that is like long form, that
long form community, man. Like that is where you can really develop, you know, true, authentic
community, people that can really relate to you, people who can know you for who you are and who
can really have that real connection with you. And it's almost like, you know, your story doesn't get
forgotten. It's not a For You page, you know, like people go search for you. People are like on your
on your channel, you know what I mean? So it's like this this true, authentic connection. And it's
just that's something that long form just can't touch or short form can't touch when it comes to
long form videos. And yeah, so I feel like both of them can have burnouts. But that's just something
that I'm just kind of discovering for myself, because I did start off with short form. And now
I'm just kind of leaning a little bit more into that long, long form. So I'm just kind of seeing,
you know, both sides of what they have to offer. Yeah, 100%. I'm glad that you pointed out the pros
and cons of both because no one thing is right or wrong. I mean, they both have their uses and they
both have their bad parts. And with that being said, have you been recognized in public over
where you're at? People see you on the street. Hey, man, that's that guy who makes those stories on
the TikTok. That's a TikTok guy, man.
I let me see. If I did, it was probably once man, I think it was at a HEB. If you're from Texas,
you know what HEB is. It was a long time ago. I had to tell my girlfriend about it too. But no,
man, I live in Austin. It's a big city. I feel like I would need to continue to produce these things.
But I don't know, I'll let you know next time. And plus I'm like always home all the time. So I
probably don't put myself out enough to get recognized.
That I was once I asked that question, I was like, well, he does post that he's an introvert. So why
would he be out eating dinner, you know, going to concerts, all this stuff all the time? Of course,
it makes sense. You posted about it. People, he's an introvert. If you want to see him, you just
have to watch through his videos. But yeah, anywho, I mean, you've inspired a lot of people. Can you
share just one story that maybe touched your heart that you realized, dang, what I'm doing is really
making an impact? Yeah, man. So when I first started, you know, it's just it started off as,
you know, like a, and it still is like a creative outlet, you know, somewhere where I can just be
able to express myself. I haven't always been the best of like voicing how I feel. I've always had
a hard time with like being able to just like voice my emotions pretty much. So it's easy for
me to be able to express myself visually and creatively. So through the process, that's
pretty much like the foundation of it. And I do the whole process of that. I would have a lot of
people more now, but even in the beginning, like reach out and like really tell their story on how
me just kind of like showing my imperfections on how it just kind of made them, you know, feel a
little more confident, feel, make them feel like they're, that they're okay. And it's crazy to,
to really know that there's really people out there that really like struggle with this stuff.
And I mean, like struggle, struggle with this stuff. This guy has been following me for,
and I won't say his name, but he's been following me since like the very beginning. And he's shared
some like pretty, pretty like hard stories, you know, and the fact that I can help him,
you know, just kind of overcome some of the battles that he faces, whether it's like feeling alone
or, you know, just being introverted or just like being bullied or whatever the case may be. And for
me to be like his outlet and motivation, just to simply let them know that everything's going to be
okay. You know, I go through the same things and just kind of show them like the different ropes
and actions that can be like taken. It's just amazing, man. I didn't know that this stuff can
really have that much of an impact on people until you start getting those, those stories and,
you know, the thank yous and stuff in the inbox. And I don't know that that's amazing, but yeah,
that guy that reached out to me, it's just, I can't really have to go back. I mean, he has been
keeping up, keeping up with me with stories since like the beginning, but some of the stuff that he
has gone through, it's really heartwarming to see like where he is now and for him to, you know,
just to tell me his, where his confidence is now from where it was, you know,
his confidence is now from where it was. I think that's just like the beautiful part of
what comes with, with this, I guess. Man, you are doing a great job. That's,
that's really good to hear. And with that, when you positively impact one person,
who are they going to impact? One, two, three, four, five people. So what you're doing, you're,
you're making a chain effect, man. That's inspiring stuff. Keep that going, dude. I know I'll share a
little story. You actually might transition to video because I started out in video when I was
18, 17, 16, back in the day, but I left it for a while, photography. And recently I went back,
came back to video and I was using your work kind of as, well, it was as inspiration, just
how to storytell better. And so just what you're doing is really cool, man. And keep going with
that aspect of it. And in terms of advice, I mean, you're a seasoned now, obviously you still have
a lot to learn. We all are always going to be learning, but what's your advice for an 18 year
old, Josh, just picking up a camera for the first time. What'd you tell that guy? Man, I wish I
could. I wish I really could, man. I would tell that guy so much, man. But I think the, the main
thing that I would tell any 18 year old, especially like Josh, 18 year old Josh, is just to really go
out there and just like do it, you know, and go out there and mess up now, you know, because go out
there and fail as much as you can, because through that failure, you're going to end up finding some
kind of success. And I would just continue to tell myself not to be so scared of failure. I think
the main problem that most probably have, I know with me at 18 was like fear of like rejection, fear
of like failure, fear of like judgment. And I would just like praise myself to go out there and fail,
you know, fail as much as possible, get all that dirty stuff out now, or then that way, you know,
it's a little bit easier to find, you know, that gold and that success through that journey, man.
So honestly, I just tell myself to go out there and fail more. As a, as someone who's online, you
in some of your videos may have not performed as what you expected. How much has that
benefited you to what you're doing now?
Yeah, I feel like, man, I mean, that's going to have an effect even with seasoned people, right?
Because you, you know, you put so much work into this, this piece of art, you know, whatever it is,
and when you don't have the attention or whatever they think it deserves, it can really leave a
little bruise. But I feel like as you mature into this, and as you season yourself, it's something
that can be great because it teaches you that that would be considered like some kind of like,
not a form of like failure like that, but a form of like failure to succeed what you thought it
should. And I guess like the more mature you get into this like creativity, the more you use like
the whys on how come it didn't perform to be able to put that into like your new project and be
able to just kind of grow on that. So sometimes you got to use why it didn't succeed on your new
stuff in order to, you know, possibly make that new one succeed and just kind of grow from there.
But yeah, man, it still kind of hurts. I'm not going to sit here and lie and say
that it doesn't and I don't care. But I utilize it for the better now. And it's just like,
it better prepares me for, you know, my new projects. And I just kind of learn it,
use it as a like a learning curve. Brother, we appreciate your honesty on that. And I'm sure
people listening are going to really appreciate that too. I'm gonna hit you one last question
right here. And you may have said it before, but I want to narrow it down into a statement here,
man. Josh, what is your why? Man, that's a good question. I just got down to asking somebody
what their why was for me. I think my why has really changed. I feel like a lot of people's
why changes as you kind of develop into the person that you were meant to be. But I would
ultimately ultimately say my why is to be able to just have a voice for myself. I've always felt like
I've like I've told you earlier, like I didn't really, I couldn't express myself. Being
introverted and stuff has always kind of led me to just keeping my mouth shut, bottling up emotions
and just causing really personal issues for like myself and being creative and telling these stories
is just a way that I can use it as an outlet to express myself and tell my story. And then it
develops my why into helping others develop their confidence, develop their story and just kind of
like just continue to use these stories for the better pretty much. So just me being able to do
that just kind of helps a lot of people. And I think that is ultimately what my why is like leading to now.
Well said, Josh. People following, listening, and they want to find out this guy who is this guy,
Josh Diaz Films, where can they find this guy? Where can they see those James Brown videos,
those oldies, bring it back, childhood memories, bring it back from when I was cleaning my house,
mom was putting on that music. Where can they find you on social media, brother?
Yeah, they can find me on Josh Diaz Films across all platforms. If you like James Brown,
I got some good music on TikTok. Yeah, across the board, YouTube, Instagram,
TikTok is all Josh Diaz Films. So stop by and say hi.
You heard it here. Go follow him on everywhere and knock on their credit. I promise you that.
Josh, thanks again, man, for coming on here. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me.
That is it. Josh has officially left the building. We appreciate you again. If you're here,
watch until the end. Best way to support this podcast is to hit the subscribe button on YouTube,
give a five star review on any of the music streaming platforms. And we have some more
guests coming on the next couple of weeks, people who are entrepreneurs, filmmakers, professionals,
and the creative industry. If you have anyone you would like me to specifically interview,
go ahead and leave me a comment saying who you would like me to interview.
And again, we really do appreciate all the support you've been bringing me in. I just can't thank
you enough. I wouldn't be able to do this without any of you. Your support truly keeps that passion
going for me. And if I know that I'm at least impacting one person on this who is listening,
maybe five people listen, one person feels impacted by it, then I feel good. I really do.
Just I'm trying to help and give back. Also be entertaining. I mean, yeah, it's fun to be
educational, but also let's have a little bit of fun, have some cool discussions, bring back
open dialogue. And again, I'll see you next week on the next episode. See you later.