Announcer: 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. Through his innovative work and the Forward Focus Forums, Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the lessons they've learned and the stories behind their success. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights and a little fun. Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein: 0:40

Good morning America. How are you? I'm Marc Bernstein. This is Founders Forum and we have a great show today. We actually have a couple of great shows lined up that we're doing today, and I'll introduce the people in the audience to you in a minute.

Marc Bernstein: 0:55

Just thinking, though, about well, let me introduce them now. Actually, I have David and I have Arnie in the studio. I'll officially introduce them in a couple of minutes, but I've been thinking a lot about there's a lot going on in the news. There's a lot of chaos, which was promised by our current administration, the United States, and right now it's about tariffs. I've mentioned this a couple of times on the show. We don't get into politics and we're not going to talk about the good or bad of any of that, but in the midst of this, I saw a quote from a friend of mine on Facebook this morning, and it's about authenticity, and that's a word that's occurred a lot to me in some of the personal development work that I do and things recently. So with that, I wanted to get your guys' thoughts, that word, what it means to you, David.

David Calderwood: 1:46

I'll start with you well, it's interesting because it brings me back to authenticity authentication, which is a big thing when security with internet today.

Marc Bernstein: 2:00

Because you would have a different perspective.

David Calderwood: 2:02

Yeah, even though one of the biggest things with anything in the Internet is security, and it's overlooked so much and you need to know how authentic things are, and that spreads through your entire business. So that's why I take from that. That's great, I love that.

Marc Bernstein: 2:22

Arnie any thoughts on it?

Announcer: 2:24

When I think of authenticity, I think of truth, and that's for me the bottom line.

Marc Bernstein: 2:31

That's great, so interesting. I think we can get into that more when we do your show. Actually, and this is what my friend Scott Merrill said I don't have his authorization to uh talk about this, but since he put it publicly on facebook, I don't think there's a problem with it. And he he wrote about authenticity and said with the rise of the internet, social media and now ai, the most valued trait in a human being is authenticity. But the way he describes it and I would agree with this is authenticity isn't just being. He describes it, and I would agree with this is authenticity isn't just being real or saying what's on your mind. It's commitment to living in alignment with your highest values, principles and purpose. It requires deep work, self-awareness and the courage to share your genuine self with others. So it's a lot more than just like oh yeah, I'm authentic, I say what's?

Announcer: 3:25

on my mind. You know, because you hear that all the time right.

Marc Bernstein: 3:27

So I think there's a little more to it.

Marc Bernstein: 3:28

Anyway.

Marc Bernstein: 3:29

So now let me officially introduce our guest today, David Calderwood.

Marc Bernstein: 3:34

He is senior digital producer with Euro-Pacific Digital Media and founder, of course, of Euro-Pacific Digital Media, since we have founders on the show With over 30 years of experience as a director and producer specializing in digital media, e-commerce websites, search engine Marc or SEM, ad campaign development and live streaming video for corporate events and still the occasional TV commercial.

Marc Bernstein: 4:01

David is a Kiwi, meaning, if you didn't know this, grew up in New Zealand and started out in the television commercial Marc, working with a major advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies. After arriving in the US, he started Euro-Pacific Film and Video Productions, which focused more on providing video and visual marketing services to leading corporate organizations and national TV broadcasters. Relying on his international experience and connections, David is currently a Florida resident, actually in Babcock Ranch, which we have discussed a bit on the show as is our other in-person person today, arnie Eastburn, and as am I on a Snowbird basis, and he has a very active client base throughout the US. He's also a Google partner and authorized partner and reseller with Goat Daddy and Zoho. So welcome, David. Oh, thank you, David.

Announcer: 4:57

So to be an entrepreneur.

Marc Bernstein: 4:58

There's all different ways people get there and before I know your story, we're going to talk about how you got from working for companies to becoming an entrepreneur in the U? S. But is there, I hadn't asked you this, so I'm going to ask you this one Is there anything in your family or a background that would indicate that you had entrepreneurial lenience, leanings or tendencies?

David Calderwood: 5:22

Well, yes, A little bit. I've been working a lot on my family tree recently going back and that goes way, way, way back to like 950, but I won't go into that. But looking in, my great-grandfather had one of the very first photography businesses in the United Kingdom back in the 1850s, when photography was just starting out. So he was obviously an entrepreneur at the time. Can you find some photos?

David Calderwood: 5:56

Oh yeah, I've got lots of photographs that he had taken or studio took. And yeah, the studio was Hunter and Sons, so his sons obviously went into the business as well. So there's two generations right there and then my grandfather on the other side of the family he owned about three or four stores, also in the United Kingdom.

David Calderwood: 6:24

And he had apothecaries, which is basically, I won't say snake oil sales, but he sold all sorts of things that could fix all ailments. Today they call them pharmacies, but back then they were apothecaries and I believe he had three or four of them and very much an entrepreneur from that point of view and I know a lot of the other stuff he had done over the years which, um, he was into the business world and so I threw I threw a curveball with that question yeah and uh, but I.

Marc Bernstein: 6:59

It's interesting because usually we find that when we yeah when we, when we, when we dig a little bit on this.

David Calderwood: 7:04

Actually, you know, I'm also forgetting that my mother and father actually had shops as well. Well, there you go. Now I'm remembering my parents, when I was a baby, had a sort of a corner store with ice cream sales and stuff. They had that, and for many years my mother ran, owned and ran a business in Auckland for probably 20 years which sold ponchos. Initially my father bought at an auction one day, bought up all these felt hats, the blocks that they make them on the old boulder hats and top hats from a company that had gone bankrupt and started producing them, but they made them in all strange colors and started selling them through their shop, Sold tens of thousands of these things, and so they were also entrepreneurs too Interesting.

Marc Bernstein: 8:00

It actually reminds me of a story someone I had on a few months ago named Janet Bernstein no relation who I met, who's English, and her father had a candy store and he died young and the imprint that was left on her was she loved this candy store and she said at that age she wasn't really interested in sports, she wasn't really interested in anything else she was interested in. I'm going to have my own business someday and it didn't work out that way. She'd done other things along the way and her life took all kinds of twists and curves and then, through family circumstances, she had to go to work and she started an organizing company which is probably the largest of its type you know people haven't getting ready to move primarily from their homes to other homes and um, and probably the largest and it's best of Philly and Philadelphia and that kind of thing. But it all traced back to her father's candy store. You know nickel and dime candy store I guess it's Pence's and something else in England but Pence's and Pounds or something like that.

Announcer: 8:59

But, anyway.

Marc Bernstein: 9:00

So let's then talk about the journey. So tell me what you did prior to coming to america and prior to starting the business yeah, so my initial um.

David Calderwood: 9:11

Initially I started working out for a television company I guess is the best way to describe them though a film video production company in New Zealand, and I had been through an apprenticeship program at the local public television system and I was offered a job there. But I got offered a better job at the private company. So I went there and I was there for about eight years and moved through. I had actually done a degree in marketing. So when I was working at this television company and I was working in production, one stage the general manager came to me and said you have a degree in marketing, why don't we have you working in sales and marketing? I said, oh, I like production. And he says I think you might be better in this and he moved me over into that and I became very successful and as one of their top sales and marketing people.

David Calderwood: 10:07

And then I left that company and purchased a. I actually went to work as a freelancer with another company and in between I bought my first company, which was a crewing company called Film Cruise, and what that did is it was a company where you could I had all these production people listed and if you were making a feature film or something, you would call us up and then we would book the crew and send them out for you. And so when I came to the US and I was looking for something to do I already had clients in the US when I was in New Zealand and one of my first calls I got was from SmithKline Beecham, which is the pharmaceutical company.

Marc Bernstein: 10:52

You already had your crews as well.

David Calderwood: 10:54

And I already had the international crews and they needed to do a shoot in every SmithKline facility on the same day around the world. And I put that whole thing together and it came off without any issues and a big publication here wrote up an article about it and the phone started ringing and I had a production business working immediately.

Marc Bernstein: 11:21

Right, so you were so. You were so when you bought your first company, you became, that's when you became an entrepreneur, correct, but when you had the need, that's when you became a founder of a company.

David Calderwood: 11:31

Yes, that's a good way. Yeah, that was the first one I founded, right.

Marc Bernstein: 11:33

So, so, let's, so, let's, let's talk about why you came to America, because I've actually met the reason you came to America and that's how I met you so intelligent film producer or television producer, and then we started dating internationally and it came down to well, we can't keep moving backwards and forwards between New Zealand and the US.

David Calderwood: 12:12

So I said well, come to the US, let's see how that works out. And that's how I ended up here and the rest is history.

Marc Bernstein: 12:19

Her name is Lisa, not to give away secrets, but that's how I met you and tell me cause she's in the business. So you two have worked together. Why don't we talk about that for a minute and then we'll take a quick break and talk about the sort of the development of this company?

David Calderwood: 12:35

Yeah, so Lisa was working for a company in New York as a producer. I was freelancing and running my crewing business and building that and so I was working with a lot of networks like Good Morning America was a big client of mine and a lot of corporate companies like American Express and other companies like that and a lot of corporate companies like American Express and other companies like that and moving into that whole corporate business we eventually it was a pretty successful business right from the start and Lisa was still working on her job and then we moved to New Jersey and we decided to have children and she was commuting into the city every day from New Jersey and one day she said I've just, I can't do this anymore.

David Calderwood: 13:23

It's like driving me out the wall. She was stuck in traffic for five hours, you know, and I said well, come and work with a Euro-Pacific. You know, at that stage I already had two or three people working for us. So she did, and we worked together in Euro-Pacific for almost 18 years and then she went back into another company.

Marc Bernstein: 13:43

What a great business and love story. So with that, we're going to take a short break and we'll see you all in a minute again on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 13:52

Euro-Pacific Digital Media delivers customized video, search engine optimization and website hosting services adapted to your organization's specific needs. We will create a successful cross-platform strategy combining video, web design, social media and digital marketing. Euro-Pacific will craft relevant digital media content for your websites and social media campaigns, helping you to stand out in a cluttered marketplace. Our team of seasoned digital professionals will help take your organization to the next level and boost your digital presence. We offer 24-7 support on all of our fast and secure web hosting platforms, with web hosting packages available throughout the United States. Call 732-530-4451 or visit our website at euro-pacific. com. That's E-U-R-O-P-A-C-I-F-I-C dot com. Again, that's E-U-R-O-P-A-C-I-F-I-C dot com.

Marc Bernstein: 15:14

So we're back on Founders Forum with our guest today, David Calderderwood, and we have arnie eastburn in the studio with us. He's going to be quiet. He's quietly observing, um, and we were just talking, David, about, uh, lisa coming into the business. So what happened after that? You grew the business from there. Yeah, so, and I'm interested in also I'm sorry also challenges you had along the way in growing it, because that's a common theme on the show and in entrepreneurialism in general.

David Calderwood: 15:44

Yeah. So one of the things with video production for people who don't understand how it all works it's very labor intensive, but it's also not where you need people all the time. You need people for a project, so that's. You know, they come in for two weeks and they're working 20 hours a day and you're churning stuff out and then you don't need them another for six months. So it's not like you can go and hire people and just have them working there because they sit around doing nothing.

David Calderwood: 16:15

Now, we did hire certain people because we had edit facilities where we had contractual work that we were churning out and we needed people for that. But if we went and were doing something for Good Morning America, for example, we went and did their what they call Sweeps Week show, which is where they get all the ratings, and it's a one-week show and they do it somewhere exciting. We did one for them out of Europe. We had 45 crews working for us for two weeks. You're not hiring those people. They're all freelance, and using freelancers opens up it's a whole other thing, because you pay more for them but you don't have to cover the costs of healthcare and all the other things, but you're still paying all your taxes and adds a lot of paperwork and liability insurance. Believe it or not, but we did have one stage we were up to about.

David Calderwood: 17:11

I think we had about 15 full-time employees on staff.

Marc Bernstein: 17:16

It was a lot for that type of company.

David Calderwood: 17:17

It was, but we complemented that with an, all you know, with a lot of freelancers staff as well and I think on peak we probably and and also that was on our crewing side, the crewing business. That actually led to a few issues because some of the crew that we used, who are all freelancers and I I mean we had over 1,000 people on the books and some of those people would be working maybe 60% of the time for us and that moves them into employee status but they're not employees. So we were insisting that people had to be incorporated, had their own companies and we were hiring their companies, not them, for these projects, and we were very strict on that. And we actually sold off the crewing business a week before 9-11. And we had a very Timing yeah well, good and bad timing because part of the deal included that we were going to get revenue share for three years and that business sort of dried up for three years.

David Calderwood: 18:28

But part of the reason we sold it was that the company who purchased it from us had a payroll company and they were able to put all the freelancers into payroll because our insurance company was really quite concerned about how many freelancers we were running, you know close to a thousand, without them being employees. And he said you know they weren't sure whether they cover the liability on that, so that sort of drove us to sell part of our company Interesting.

Marc Bernstein: 19:00

So that was a challenge and you came out of that challenge by working with freelancers. I understand, right, yeah.

David Calderwood: 19:09

So to this day, we don't have any two people, basically myself and my wife, but other than that, we use freelancers because we work around projects on a per-project basis. So if I need a graphic designer, I hire a graphic designer for that project, and that could be a month, it could be three months.

Marc Bernstein: 19:34

So you're in a creative business and you work, obviously remotely, because there's a lot of technology involved in what you do today. What is your? We always ask, and you've chosen your three-year vision. We always talk about what's your vision for the future. This is the kind of work you can do into your 90s and beyond if you wanted to. So what are your thoughts about that?

David Calderwood: 19:57

So, yeah, I looked at that and I thought three-year vision, what am I going to do? And part of it is to narrow down on the physical stuff that I'm doing, so, in a way, be more remote, right, right.

Marc Bernstein: 20:17

Less in person.

David Calderwood: 20:18

Right. Not having to lug equipment around and that kind of thing, yep, and also white labeling other people's services, gotcha, and I've actually been doing quite a bit of that for the last few years so I have a lot of friends that are attorneys.

Marc Bernstein: 20:31

I'm an attorney by background. It's interesting because everyone is figuring out how to do that in their own businesses. So as you get older, because they can still produce business, these guys are always in connections with people, but they don't necessarily want to keep going putting on a tie to do that in their own businesses. So as you get older, because they can still produce business, these guys are always in connections with people, but they don't necessarily want to keep going putting on a tie and going to court. To the extent people do that and all that you know and do the intense labor of it. So they are farming out to younger attorneys and things like that, and I see it in all different kinds of businesses going on. So it seems to be a trend for the future. I did want to ask you how did you and Lisa end up in Florida?

David Calderwood: 21:01

from New Jersey, I'm going to ask you that question. That was more just logistics. We'd sold our house in the Jersey Shore and we actually rented. We were only going to rent for a couple of years. While we looked around to find something, we just wanted to get out of New Jersey because of the tax rates and find somewhere with lower taxes.

Marc Bernstein: 21:25

Where were you at the Jersey Shore? I don't know if I ever asked.

David Calderwood: 21:27

We were in a place called Shrewsbury which is near Red Bank oh, near Red Bank, yeah and yeah. We sold the house and then, of course, covid hit, so we actually ended up renting for about five years and that changed a lot of stuff and we started looking during COVID actively and we went to North Carolina, south Carolina, georgia, kept going south, got to Florida, saw a lot of places would be like there and we were going to look at Arizona, but we found a place in like there and we were going to look at Arizona but we found a place in. Actually, I was trying to find something that was not in a flood zone. Then we ended up where we are, at Babcock Ranch, and we saw a whole bunch of houses that we really liked and started bidding on stuff.

Marc Bernstein: 22:15

So you're drawing the Babcock Ranch to avoid hurricanes, to a certain extent, pretty much, which is our story as well. Stuff. So you're drawing the bad conquerants to avoid hurricanes to a certain extent, pretty much our story as well, yeah, um, so you well, we always ask some fun questions at the end, and I'm going to ask you the second one. First, because I'm intrigued as to why you picked this one. So I'm sure there's a story behind it. So what is your favorite song?

David Calderwood: 22:38

Well, it was interesting. I saw that question and I thought, Ooh, what is it? And I have so many favorite songs and. I I really like albums. So yeah, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

Marc Bernstein: 22:54

Ah, it's funny, I was reading.

David Calderwood: 22:56

I just read something about it, yeah, but if I just had to do a song, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody. Ah, and there is a reason for that One. I love the song. When it came out, one of a kind, it was the first real video commercial or video music reel Music video. Yeah, that was the first music video ever. It was yes, I Yep, that was the first music video ever. It was yes, I mean, it was selling, designed to sell songs. Oh, came out in 1974 or something.

Marc Bernstein: 23:30

Really that long ago? Yeah, oh, interesting, Because when I think of the first music video, it wasn't really the first music video, it's the first one that MTV played. Do you know what that was?

David Calderwood: 23:48

Yeah, I do. Music video wasn't really the first music video. It's the first one that mtv played. Do you know what that was? Video, I do video killed the radius.

Marc Bernstein: 23:52

Uh with um the police, was it no with uh sting, sting.

David Calderwood: 23:53

No the buggles, roger saves the day yeah so, but that was not the first TV music show either. That was a copy of a New Zealand TV show called I can't remember the name of it. Mtv openly has listed on their thing that it's based on the New Zealand television show.

Marc Bernstein: 24:14

Well, they also say it was based on. They consulted with Michael Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees, who was a big music video guy and he had a show called Elephant Parts and they basically modeled it on that as the story I've always heard, according to, I think, john Sykes I forget the guy who was the original creator of MTV, but I wouldn't be surprised, no he bought the rights from new zealand from television new zealand very interesting yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 24:43

So, um, speaking of pink floyd, real quick, I just got to tell you. I read this morning a thing put out by David gilmore saying that, you know, roger waters walked off saying he was pink floyd, and he says I object to that because I, you know, I feel like I was a lot of pink floyd as well, and I think Richard Wright maybe I don't know if he died because he was talking about how important he was to Dark Side of the Moon that that album would have never been. There were several key songs that would have never happened if it weren't for Richard Wright. And the way he said it. He says it was like Walk in Peace, my friend, or something like that.

Marc Bernstein: 25:23

I don't know if he died or I don't know what happened with richard wright, but some reason this was he just posted this and I just saw it anyway. Oh, he died. Oh, he died. He died in 2008. Richard wright, oh, I guess. So I don't know, maybe he was, maybe it was on his birthday or something. He posted it interesting, so I don't. I guess I didn't realize that. Um, so I one question I wanted to go back to that I skipped was the challenges for your future vision, in other words, in terms of white labeling, services and working more. What challenges do you see in terms of getting there?

David Calderwood: 25:55

it's. You're competing with a lot of other people also white labelling similar services. We already white label a number of services where we're in the top 10 sellers and you've got to get into those top groups. Once you get in there, you get a lot of other stuff from them, from whoever you're reselling, because that's all you are. You're a reseller in a way. But the nice thing about all the support services and that are moved away from me I don't have to worry about that. It's just we find the clients, we sign them up and they hopefully become long-term clients because we continue to receive income and revenue from that.

Marc Bernstein: 26:41

And it sounds like the challenge is you know the competition, but it sounds like the way you overcome the challenge is making sure you're on the A-list. Yeah.

David Calderwood: 26:50

And that's what you have to do, and so you've got to focus only on one or two of those. And I have two at the moment and I'm looking to start a third, and that's probably as many as I can handle.

Marc Bernstein: 27:02

Last question your favorite book or books.

David Calderwood: 27:06

Pretty much any science fiction book. I'm a big science fiction reader and a lot of Did you read as a kid.

Marc Bernstein: 27:13

Yeah, which ones did you like as a kid?

David Calderwood: 27:17

Oh Time Machine, oh um Time Machine.

Announcer: 27:21

Oh.

David Calderwood: 27:21

Time Machine. Yeah, is that what it's called.

Announcer: 27:24

Yeah, you know the person.

David Calderwood: 27:26

I can blank out his name off the top of my head.

Announcer: 27:28

Jules Verne no, no, no.

Marc Bernstein: 27:29

The other guy.

David Calderwood: 27:30

Well, I read Jules Verne's too as a kid, but um oh Did.

Marc Bernstein: 27:35

Did you have Tom Swift in New Zealand? No, there was a whole series of Tom Swift books about this guy that jumped back, becoming an astronaut and doing all these things. No, that was my favorite.

David Calderwood: 27:44

Well, so On the Beach. Have you heard of that? This is one about the nuclear war, that's actually required reading what used to be in New Zealand for high school kids. Oh wow, because it made you realize that you live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and if there really is a nuclear war, you may be the last people alive.

Marc Bernstein: 28:06

So on that positive note HG.

David Calderwood: 28:09

Wells, hg Wells. Thank you for that HG Wells right, of course.

Marc Bernstein: 28:13

So, and what were his other big books? Since you have it up, Roger, I don't have it up.

David Calderwood: 28:19

He had a couple of them. Oh yeah, yeah, but anyway, big science, that's my favorite one, though, hg.

Marc Bernstein: 28:24

Wells the Time Machine. So, for our listeners, go back and check out HG Wells again.

David Calderwood: 28:28

Yeah, HG Wells has written so many books and they're all great.

Marc Bernstein: 28:34

Well, listen, I think we're out of time, so thanks so much, David, for being here. Great, interesting story. We thank you all for listening today to Founders Forum and we look forward to seeing you again next week.

David Calderwood: 28:45

Thank you.

Announcer: 28:50

We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum and that you found value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WXKB 1039 HD2. Sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group.