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Meet Anthony Awadalla of Feel Right

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Awadalla.

Today I run my own commercial video production business called Feel Right Inc. where we specialize in everything from commercials, animation videos, corporate and online video, to social media content management. We’ve worked with over a hundred companies, brands and specialists here in Orange County across a variety of industries. We love businesses and learning about what makes each of our clients unique. What makes their product or service different than the others and how we can communicate that to the world.

This all started when I was ten years old. My cousins and I spent most of our summers making funny movies. Our creativity back then was really weird and out of control, but it was something the entire family laughed about. They’d always ask “when’s the next premiere?”… and many would jokingly call me Spielberg. I remember editing footage on a VCR when I first started (don’t ask me how) but eventually my mom bought me a camera and editing software around 12 or 13 years old and I would just get lost in my room editing for hours upon hours.  

Fast forward to 19 years of age – my older cousin needed some videos and slideshows done for his engagement party, newly opened real estate firm, and wedding. He told me to “invoice” him for my time — no idea what that really meant back then so he basically gave me a crash course in Business 101. Throughout the span of that year, he influenced me to open up my own business, which I called “Picture Perfect.” He walked me through the entire process to register for a sole-proprietorship. It was an experience that I am very grateful for.

In theory, he was my only client, but a few months later I got accepted into Chapman University. Due to that, Picture Perfect eventually became obsolete and my focus shifted to school. Shortly after graduating, I landed my first corporate job out of college and worked there for three years. I thought it was good for me because I was a business professional working at a Fortune 500 company collecting a secure paycheck, 401k, dental, health, and all the other other benefits that came along with it.

But after one year in, I felt miserable. I began realizing that I was doing work that meant nothing to me. I felt like one of those cymbal-banging-monkey-toys on repeat, but instead, I was just plucking away at my keyboard entering data that was meaningless to me. It felt like the same day every day. I made several attempts to apply for different positions at the company but that failed so I looked into other positions and careers outside of the company, I even got into a 1-year post-grad program at UCSD for app development, while working full time in OC. That was a failure too. Nothing seemed to jive. I hit a wall.

Once I finished the UCSD program, I quit my job and pressed the reset button with everything– it basically felt like I jumped off an aircraft with no parachute. My mom was worried, everyone was worried, including myself but I just spent time figuring out what I really wanted to do with my future. That self-exploration period included a one month trip to Europe on my own with nothing booked, except my flight. As if my mom could not worry anymore. But it was exactly what I needed. Sometimes you have to step away from everything to gain the perspective you’re looking for.

My motive was to learn more about myself. I hold that one month experience extremely close to my heart and attribute a lot of my personal development to that decision. When I got back, it was time to figure my shit out. In order to make money, I reverted back to what I know – I started taking on small video editing jobs. I developed a website called Feel Right Inc., which was basically my own personal site that acted as a representation of who I am and what I love. I adopted this new strategy to attract instead of chase.

Chasing job applications with a resume did me nothing and led me absolutely nowhere. On my website I showcased everything I’ve ever created including blogs, videos, and the website itself. If you wanted to learn about me and see what I’m about then I would send people to my site www.feelrightinc.com instead of reading my resume – I called it Feel Right Inc. because it was a place that focused on solely things that felt right to me.

Now that I had a site, I slowly but surely started gaining exposure, mainly through my writing. Huffingtonpost, Elite Daily and Entrepreneur magazine published some of my articles and through social media mediums people started getting curious. Furthermore, I posted ads on craigslist to promote different services. I was good at video editing and my new found passion for writing.

I remember getting several leads and seeing the potential. Sometimes the leads were pretty big jobs. They were emailing me. I was mind blown. I had little to no confidence in myself and my abilities at that time, so I only took the smaller jobs and free jobs for the bigger sized companies to get my feet wet. I remember sending my first invoice for $200 and receiving my first check in the mail – then it came back full circle, and I had my “aha moment,” but now I’m 26 years old and hungry.

I loved the feeling. I loved what I had discovered, and it’s all because of the internet. I’m like wait, people are willing to pay me for doing something I love to do? It lit an old flame. I knew that this is my strongest skill, I have many weaknesses and undeveloped skills but video storytelling to create an emotional connection with people is something God has continuously waved in my face saying “do something with this! Go do something with this”. I did not fully listen until my mid to late twenties, mainly due to false pressures and insecurities.

Fortunately, having a badass female support system of my mom, my sister, and my girlfriend really created an environment for me to thrive. They say the right women will change your life and I had all the right women around me. Every day I put in hours and hours of work. Some days six, some days 18 on my couch. I sat in the same spot everyday and eventually you could look down and see the caved in imprint and blue color fading away. I was relentlessly crafting my skill, not only in editing but also in business.

Experimenting with sales, email marketing, cold calling, prospecting, drafting proposals, contracts, agreements, sending invoices, trying out different software, spending money on marketing and throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. My first actual filming job was on a GoPro. Around the same time, I got a call from my first big client who wanted me to film and produce content for their website and social media platforms. The job was to document a music festival vendor at different festivals throughout the country and I was stoked on the idea.

This job was my opportunity to upgrade my camera gear. I felt like this jump started my career. Throughout that year I bought lighting, audio equipment, green screen, tripods, stabilizers, lenses, an industry standard camera and the list goes on. As time flew by, I formulated a commercial video production company which also included services such as animation and social media marketing. Within 6 months in business, I landed an animation job that was astronomically larger than what I had begun with.

It was a heavy duty project which took nearly eight months to complete. Going from sending out a $200 dollar invoice to managing an almost year long production, you can probably imagine how much my eyes were opened up to future possibilities.

Outside of the one and done type of jobs,  most of my work is contract based. We’ll provide you with “x” amount of work during “x” amount of time. We work with restaurants, supply chain companies, universities and high schools, health care companies, startups, medical offices, attorneys, and several other industries across the board.

Thankfully, a good chunk of my clientele who were with me when I first started still work with me to this day.

That does not go without saying that times can be really good during certain periods of each year which can make you feel bigger than life but times can also be really rough, which can bring you low and mess with your head if you let it.

However, if I can create jobs, live a happy personal life, build something that continues to provide value, leave some type of legacy behind that inspires others to do what they love, then I’m on the right track.

Today I am happy, but there’s more to achieve. Since starting two 2.5 years ago I can safely say I’ve been pulled into different worlds, industries, cultures and seen different companies, clients and creatives who make my work life truly fascinating for the most part!

My immediate goal is to create a synergistic team and continue building my business, so we are known as the go-to video marketing and visual storytelling partner in Orange County, while also keeping our ears open for amazing companies to partner up with across the U.S.

At the end of the day, I just want to continue doing what feels right.

Please tell us about Feel Right Inc.
We specialize in video marketing — everything from pre-production, script development to production and overall getting your products, services and brand in front of the world to see. Whether that’s corporate video, commercials, animation and motion graphics, website videos, online video, TV spots, Promo Ads, Event Videography, social media related content, drone services or training videos – we do it all in regards to visual communications.

We work with brands all over OC – various industries, from resorts to universities and supply chain companies to non-profit organizations, as well as several restaurants. We also offer social media management services. We manage social media accounts and produce content for them to build brand awareness and retain and attract new customers.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Build a company with the mindset that one day I will sell it. This is relevant to people who are taking on the role of a business owner vs. advancing as a creative.

I can’t really say I own a company if it’s just me. I can’t really say I own a company if I can’t sell it. How do you make your company worth selling? Regardless if you sell it or not. This something I’ve adopted lately.

At the same time if I put all these pressures on myself like trying to perfect a business plan and all the details that people can get stuck in when first starting then I would’ve never started. So just do it. Plan to a degree but don’t get stuck planning. Figure it out as you do. Just do.

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