Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrian Zaw.
Hi Adrian, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The theme of this story is all about being the change we want to see, resilience to the odds that were stacked against a dream, and the top 5 key takeaway lessons nobody told you when you start your own business after a decade of just surviving, to actively thriving.
Everyone in life are dealt very different cards. For this story, we were dealt with being born in a 3rd world country of Myanmar plagued with disease, civil war and oppression. This is our starting point, from our struggles as immigrants to becoming aspiring Asian American Actor at age Twelve, the odds were never in our favor, but resilience through gratitude, hard work ethics, positive mindset and principles helped me build a strong foundation. But the greatest help came from mentors, books, and a series of failures, trials and errors.
There was no investor, there was no crowdfunding, no business plan, just an extensive checklist that would take us from one milestone to the next.
Today marks the Twenty Sixth year anniversary of this journey. What we have collected along the way are amazing memories, friendships, Broadband Emmy Award, Pictures with the President of the United States, Millions of dollars raised for non-profits, and hundreds of millions in sales for our clients, and the best part of all was we got to be the change we wanted to see in the way content was created, movies were made, and business was operated that helped empower the next generation of filmmakers, give a voice to the stories that mattered the most, and still feel like this is just the start with bigger and better things yet to come.
Join me and continue reading…
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?
There’s a wise old saying that goes, “You can’t control the things around you, but you can control the way you react to them.”
If we’re going to measure risk, adversity, and odds through pure means of statistics. We’re quite the anomaly. While luck will always have some small part in our success and survival, the biggest player in our growth was the mindsets and principles we adopted along the way.
Born in Myanmar a 3rd world country with a picture of myself and my mother outside an outhouse in the dense jungles of Myanmar to standing next to the President of the United States in the next picture can visual showcase the vast journey we’ve been on.
We weren’t just minorities but a minority of the minorities. Financial literacy had to be a self-taught lesson as we came from extreme poverty while being well-educated.
While others were proud to be a first-generation College graduates, I was proud to be the first-generation College dropout.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
While still being an active SAG/AFTRA Member working in Hollywood for TV Shows and Movies, I also do own an S Corp, and for the past ten years ran a brick and mortar Studio Space helping other creatives grow through mentorship, resources and a place to create content.
What sets us apart from others the most is our Speed, Quality and Mobility. We’re able to produce quality content in 6 hours that would take others weeks. From leveraging the latest gadgets to an efficient mindset of valuing time over perfection we were able to revolutionize the way people produce commercials domestically and internationally, editorial photography, event coverages to help brands, influencers, companies and non-profits reach their goals.
Time is worth more than money, and when you’re able to produce and be compensated based on results and not by the hours you spent on it, word gets around pretty quickly.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
The reason we are able to solve problems and overcome challenges so quickly and efficiently is because of our diverse backgrounds of experiences. Yes, we can shoot film/video, we can also specialize in photography equally well, but we’re also creatives and have extensive history and credentials in front of the camera as actors, voice-over artists, and tv hosts.
Sometimes we fly drones, other time we have to fly actual airplanes as pilots. Consultants for clients who need to grow their brands with a deep understand Social Media trends, marketing, to writing copies, scripting, set design, to props management, firearms training, to even being a licensed manicurist. All in the name of bringing more value to the table with whomever we work with.
In end we’re never just ONE thing, we’re a collection of a lot of things and that’s a leverage you can’t find elsewhere.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: zawstudios
- Facebook: zawstudios
