Today we’d like to introduce you to Cesar Gonzalez.
Cesar, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The first idea about founding Cognitive Mass Media came after my uncle recovered from a stroke back in 2018 and I shot a video of him after (once he was able to talk again) to thank the people who made any kind of donations for him and his family. Once they started sharing the video, I got a good amount of positive feedback which pushed my brother (and co-founder) to tell me we should open a video production company. We were both working at not-so-fun jobs and we decided to risk it, got together with our 3rd Co-Founder and we opened the company with less than $1000 that same year. The first couple of videos we shot with a cellphone, but we wanted to offer our clients a more professional look, so for the first two years, we basically reinvested 100% of the profits in equipment. Once COVID hit the whole video industry basically stopped. Gladly, after the businesses started to reopen people were eager for content trying to recover and save their own businesses. Today we’ve shot hundreds of videos and photos for a couple of dozen companies in a wide variety of industries.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At first, we struggled with money, starting a company with $1000 was challenging, especially in this industry where every piece of equipment is in the thousands of dollars. We actually had to start with a wide variety of services that we eventually discontinued, but it was the only way to start making money without audiovisual equipment. Limited money brings more questions than answers, in those first months we were wondering what to get? In what order? Should it be a camera first, a mic, a lens?. Our main goal was to start producing audiovisual content as quickly as possible so I spent weeks trying to prioritize, and after every job, we bought another piece of hardware. All these of course came with another struggle, how do you make money if you need to reinvest every penny, so we had to keep our full-time jobs and use days off to go film or do photoshoots. At some point in 2019, the other two Co-Founders retired from the company and I kept working by myself. COVID was a big struggle as our business depends on other businesses needing content and for about 4-5 months in 2020, we did not work at all.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At Cognitive Mass Media, we specialize in corporate video and photography, the list is long but we shoot: interviews, training/welcome videos, video ads, social media content, aerial shots, real estate related content (video tours, photography), portrait/headshot photography, product photography and we keep adding new services regularly.
We are different because we invest in our company to have the best equipment combined with extreme attention to detail. Little details make a noticeable difference between the content people shoot with their cellphones and a real production. We make our clients, no matter how small, look as professional as national brands, but more importantly their clients/employees can tell right away. Our success as a company is only equal to the success of our clients and the impact of the content we create.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Start with a goal in mind, it might change but you need to start knowing you are going somewhere. Don’t spend money on unnecessary things, think about what you really need to make your product/service better and keep reinvesting. Every time you think you are not going to make it, just cancel that thought, and keep going, it sounds cliche but perseverance is really the key.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@cognitivemassmedia.com
- Website: cognitivemassmedia.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/cognitivemassmedia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cognitivemassmedia/
Image Credits
Cesar Gonzalez Manny Correa
