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Meet Matthew Osborne

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Osborne.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Matthew. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was 19 years old I dropped out of Ohio State University after pursuing a career in Medicine which I had been preparing for in High School. I didn’t know what was wrong but I felt like I was on the wrong path. I came from a Christian private school with a graduating class of about 30 kids to a freshman class of almost a thousand (not sure exactly). I grew up in middle-class America and grew up watching the Cosby Show like so many other African American families. I thought my only two options in life were to be a doctor or lawyer. I knew nothing of law, and science/medicine seemed more exciting.

After a short amount of time at OSU, I saw the possibilities of what life could offer. I didn’t know that you could literally do anything you wanted to do. After some deep thought and speaking with my mother and father I decided to drop out of college. I was terrified along with my dad, but my mom knew I would be alright. I knew I had to do something and I was coming into my own as a person and was dealing a lot with spirituality at the time, I started writing down my thoughts on spiritual healing as it relates to Christianity. I knew of some people who had been dealing with mental and physical sickness and wanted to help. After some time I had enough material for a short book. I decided to publish it. I contacted a few publishing companies and wasn’t happy with the results as some weren’t interested or wanted to change things. I decided to then publish the book myself.

Now, this was back in 1999 before the internet is what it is now, so this was a far more difficult task. I did my research, found an editor, a printing company in Wisconsin, and bought some ISBN numbers in Cincinnati. I was doing this all while living in my parent’s house in my bedroom fronting as an office with a fax machine. I had everything I needed except for a cover. That same year we took a family trip to the Dominican Republic and we had a silly little digital camera. The sun rises there were so beautiful. I thought to myself, I would take a picture of the sunrise and use that for my book cover. I did. I kept having these thoughts to myself “why can’t I do the things I want to do?” There’s nobody to stop me. That way of thinking only snowballed after that. I came back to the states and contacted the printing company with my photo and they slapped it on my book cover. When I first got the printed books in the mail, my family and I were ecstatic. The challenge was to now sell them. I somehow managed to get them on Amazon, Borders, and Barnes And Noble’s website. To this day I can’t exactly remember how I did that. At that point, I could tell that my dad wasn’t as worried about me.

From that point like I was saying my thinking on what I can do only snowballed. I had always been a big fan of music production and followed hip hop religiously. I loved listening to everything Bad Boy, and Timbaland. I thought to myself “I can produce music” so I did. I took some time, worked, saved my money and bought some music production tools, and then taught myself how to produce music. I had no music training but I just plugged away at it and turned my parent’s basement and pantry into a recording studio. My little brother accidentally served as my A and R guy by listening to my music and bring me local high school kids who could rap. I then started producing music for local rappers.

I started to work with some local names and some local unknowns. I started to develop their image as well. I would take pictures, put together press releases, websites, and videos. I had no training in these fields but I knew they needed media content to go along with their rapping and none of us could afford videographers or photographers, so I again taught myself. I developed a partnership with a guy named Frank at Wright Tyme Studios in Toledo Ohio and would drive all my artists from Columbus to Toledo to record at his studio. He introduced me to a rapper by the name of Silky Slim at the time who had a deal with a local record company in Columbus who I believe was backed by a major but I never saw the paperwork. I produced some music for him and got to work in their studio for some time and kind of served as management/studio operator/business guy for Slim, but that never took off. Fun fact that label asked me once if I would be willing to a tour manager for Slim and Bizzy Bone after his Bone Thugs N Harmony days but that as well never happened.

I kept producing music and taking photos, and making video documentaries for the artist in the Columbus Ohio area. I would travel to New York City, Los Angels, Memphis, and Chicago to try and promote them. I would go to music conferences and somehow I managed to make a contact at WEG Music and got to submit some music for some of their artists who were recording around that time, but that as well never took off.

While I was grinding away making music and filming, and got into the world of roller skating and filming it and met a man by the name of Bill Butler. Bill Butler is a legend in the world of roller skating and me and him connected right away. He took me to Atlanta and Cascade and we discussed the plan to open up a state of the art rollerskating rink that incorporated entertainment and filming. We worked tirelessly on a business plan and found a location just outside of Cleveland Ohio. This was a multimillion-dollar idea and Bill got some of his people on it, and I met with the mayor of Shaker Heights and found an abandoned JC Penney building in a mall. I again like the book, did all the necessary work. I found a rink company, lighting company, CPA, staff, business plan, etc. But yet again it didn’t work out. I was exhausted at this point, but I managed to capture all this on film an put it into a documentary I made called “Roller Skating Business”.

I still keep in touch with Bill and we are good friends until this day. I was still filming and producing in Columbus, Ohio when I came across an abandoned building in King-Lincoln District called the Edna. My eyes widened again as I began a talk with local business owners as this was a black community and began learning about the area. I thought to myself I could turn this building into a media/music recording studio. I met an awesome lady by the name of Charity who owned a coffee shop who befriended me and held my hand through the process. She knew people in the economic development department of the city and plugged me into the right people. She alerted me to grant funds that President Obama had set aside for urban communities and urban development. I don’t think the city wanted me to know about this money. I got that feeling when I brought it to their attention I wanted it to develop a studio and help bring entertainment and more culture to the city by supporting its creative community.

The city put me through the wringer as I spent months working with an Architect, CPA developing a business plan, getting support from the local community, research, and finally, someone from Chase Bank who would sit down with me, and the City, top discuss funding. I asked the city to sell me the building for one dollar and I was asking the city for a million of grant money, Chase for a million in the financing, and they could use the newly revamped building as collateral. It seemed like a win-win as the money wasn’t the city’s in the first place, Chase had collateral, and the community and city would have jobs, culture, and a thriving entertainment venue. The city then realized I wasn’t going away and asked me to pay for an environmental assessment of the land which cost somewhere around $200,000 with no guarantee I would get the building. It was at that point I was advised to walk away by all the business people I had been consulting with as the city never had any interest in giving me that building.

At this time I had had enough of Columbus Ohio, and my then-fiance and I were looking to leave and go to a bigger city. We thought New York, Chicago, LA, but they were all so expensive so my mom recommended Dallas as she had some college friends who lived here. I said I would never move to a cow town! She told me to just check it out. To my surprise when I got to Dallas it was an actual big city! All I knew of Dallas was what I saw on TV from the show Dallas which looks like Fort Worth. I quit my 9-5 back in Columbus, emptied my 401K, proposed to my finance, she said yes, packed up and moved to Dallas. I came down three months before her to find a job and get situated. I had to start over at 30 years of age. I found a job at an insurance company and began working. My wife and I got married back in Columbus and made a life for ourselves in Dallas.

The one thing that never changed and was always a constant for me was a damn camera! Since that photo in the Dominican. I loved filming, taking pictures, and making music. I began studying the city of Dallas and laying out my master plan to go at it again. This time not depending on help from anyone. Just me. I thought to myself I’m going to be the bridge for other people, businesses, and Entrepreneurs as I was for myself. Whatever I needed, I could always find a way to make it happen and I want to do that for other people who need it. Throughout this whole journey, I had been upset with the big guys telling me no, while I was working with the little guys to make things happen. I thought, well, why cant the little guys and gals help ourselves. I’m going to provide high-level video production quality to the business that needs it but can’t afford the big guys. All these years I had been honing my skills as a filmmaker, and a creator without even knowing it.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We target businesses and entrepreneurs who need help growing their brand with high-level video content and images that tell their story. Honestly, I believe what sets us apart besides the creative style and amazing content is I care. All my jobs won’t be that way but I love helping people enhance their business as the has been something that was very personal for me as I struggled with the same things.

What was you like growing up?
I’ve always been very independent and a self-starter. I thought it was this great awakening when I hit 19, but mom was like, Matt you’ve always been that way since you were a kid. From making the honor roll when all the kids were and I wasn’t, to not going to hang out with NBA star Charles Barkley at a golf tournament in Columbus Ohio because it was my friend’s birthday. I’ve always been independent and headstrong.

Pricing:

  • We focus on three key services for our business clients: (1) About Me/Business videos; (2) Highlight Reel videos; and (3) a combination of the About Me/Business & Highlight Reel videos. The purpose of these videos is to allow businesses to tell their stories to their consumers and to show off their products and/or services. Our prices for these services range from $500 to approximately $1000. We also do custom projects for our clients if they have a special event or specific concepts in mind.

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Image Credit:
These are all my pictures.

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