Welcome to another episode of The HERO Show. I am your host Richard Matthews, (@AKATheAlchemist) and you are listening to episode 209 with Howie Zales – Delivering a Sleek Broadcast from Anywhere Across the World.
Howie Zales is an Emmy Award-winning Camera Operator who turned his passion for television broadcasting into several entrepreneurial endeavors. He created HJZ Productions, Inc in 2000 to address the need for professional level sports crewing/staffing in the New York market. Under his leadership, HJZ Productions grew to a multi-million dollar nationwide provider of the top talent in the broadcasting field.
In 2019, Howie and his team founded Viridity Entertainment Services, Inc. (VES) which initially focused on staffing in non-union markets. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, they quickly pivoted to offering best in class, broadcast quality livestreams of professional sports shows and interviews, corporate interviews and meetings, and religious services. In addition, Howie took his love of the television production business and created The TV Sports Course, a hands-on training boot camp for the next generation of television crew professionals. Howie is a graduate of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh’s Mass Communication program.
Here’s just a taste of what we talked about today:
Howie’s superpower for both his businesses is the ability to be the mass facilitator and being able to surround himself with people that are smarter than he is. He goes on and said, “because if I'm the smartest person in the room, then we have a big problem.”
Currently, with his businesses, he has one person that manages and is in charge of each business. His role is to oversee everything.
Howie’s Driving Force
Howie love what he does, love the television business and loves creating. Being able to get a replay and fight to have the best shot and have his shot be used the most makes him love his craft all the more.
Whatever he needed to do to get the best shot, whether take the camera off his shoulder, shoot for his knee, or put the camera above his head. He would do whatever it would take.
With his business now, he loves being able to walk away from helping produce a live event or a live stream and having the client say, “we're so glad we used you guys because that was the best event we ever did”. Those are what drive Howie and his team.
Other Topics We Covered on the Show:
- We get to know more about what Howie is known for, what his business like, and the people that he serves.
- Then, Howie shared his origin story. Seeing an elective about TV production when he was an 11th grader made Howie the person he is today.
- Not being good at writing and setting priorities has been Howie’s fatal flaw in his business. He overcomes these by composing content on Google Docs and getting back to it a few minutes later and with priorities he learned how to set boundaries.
- The question—why would people choose a small business over huge competitors is the common enemy at HJZ Productions.
- Howie also described what a camera operator's mistake looks like.
- Lastly, Howie’s guiding principles are to trust his gut and to put his family first.
Recommended Tools:
- Relying on systems and processes
- Calendar
The HERO Challenge
Today on the show, Howie Zales challenged Jamie to be a guest on The HERO Show. Howie thinks that Jamie is a fantastic person to interview because he got such an interesting business. His passion for skiing leads him to start a tour business to take people from New York City to the ski mountains and has developed a worldwide business running winter tour events. He definitely has a great story to share.
How To Stay Connected with Howie Zales
Want to stay connected with Howie? Please check out their social profiles below.
With that… let’s go and listen to the full episode…
