Meet Jeff Hickman of Rocket Farm in Long Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Hickman.

Jeff, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was raised in a household of video production. My father had a small production company that he ran, so I was exposed to the inner workings of various sets and even be on camera a handful of times. As I grew up seeing the productions I always said I wanted to be a “director” without knowing the true meaning of that title. Fast forward to entering adulthood, the video production world had changed a bit. Cameras were becoming more portable, HD was entering the realm and possibilities of what you could do were becoming endless. I decided to follow the path of post-production for the National Headquarters of Toyota right out of high school, which allowed me to grow with the technology.

At Toyota, I was able to see how business was run, the ups and the downs, and quickly realized that the corporate “job title” was not for me and wanted some creative freedom and collaboration. I made great relationships there and thankful for the knowledge I gained, but it was time to move on. So, going freelance seemed like the path to take to be on my own…

Quickly after going freelance, I had the desire to grow. It was partially because I wanted something better for myself, but I wanted a team to collaborate with. The other part to that was the work just seemed to keep coming. I was the guy that kept saying “yes” to every project and made it happen. There were days where I would work 56 hours straight to make sure I delivered on time. That is probably not the best business model, but it was what I felt I needed to do.

When I hit that wall and had my first child, it was time to start recognizing that I was becoming a business and needed to function that way. I was fortunate to be a connection with my first employee, Andrew Hakim, who brought the same level of ambition and creativity as I did to the table.

Without making that step with Andrew, I would probably be in a much different position than I am now. Since then we have expanded to a full-service creative content company, service anything and everything that an end user will see.

We are now 4 full-time employees strong and a very large network of freelancers that we call part of the team.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I would have to say that road has probably been smoother than most who have ventured the same path. There were struggles of no sleep, tight deadlines, and really trying to figure out everything as I went. The struggles of failure for me was not an option, I like to think that I am a VERY optimistic person and letting someone down is something that I never want to happen.

So, to sum up the question, the roller coaster (not road) has been fairly smooth with a few bumps along the way, but there is no way I was letting it go off the tracks.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rocket Farm – what should we know?
We have been trying to create a term that describes exactly what we do and we landed on Creative Content Partners. We provide content alongside our clients that help tell a brand story or initiative. The content can be created and delivered on various platforms such as video, web, print, animation, social media and mobile, but the best is when it is fully immersive and delivered on all.

Our specialty stems from video production because moving imagery is usually more interesting than non-moving. We take a project from concept to delivery and try to hit everything in between. This past year we have shifted focus to help clients as a whole and really push for the one-stop shop to have one unified look for everything their customer touches.

I am most proud of and what sets us apart is who we are, collaborators over competitors looking to provide great work. Most other “agencies” are looking out for themselves and they have their reasons why they choose to do so, but we are up for working with anyone. If you have a project that you need some assistance on in one space of it, we can fit ourselves in there. We like to do the same if there is something that we just can’t take on or you do it better.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I would say if anyone deserves credit, it would be my now wife, Jodi. She has been with me from the very beginning days just out of high school and still pushed me to this day. There were some decisions I made that she probably didn’t agree with or may not have completely understood, but she never detoured me from what I was trying to do. She pushed me to take risks, she reminded me of why I was doing what I was, and never told me to stop. So, for the main success, I would say it was because of her.

The teammates I work with are my extended family. We enjoy each other’s company and they are there to bounce ideas off of and grab the occasional beer. We laugh and listen in the office while determining as a team what the next steps are. Fitting into the team is just as important as your job skills here, you can’t be separate, you must be a collaborator, even if it’s not in your wheelhouse.

Contact Info:

• Address: 320 Pine Ave. #400
  Long Beach, CA 90802
• Website: http://rocket.farm
• Phone: 562-435-0707
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocketfarmlb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rocketfarmlb
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rocketfarmlb

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