September 11, 2024 • 44 mins
Simeon Quarrie, CEO of Vivida and an award-winning international speaker, discusses his journey from starting a business at 16 to becoming a multimedia storyteller for major brands like Apple and Google. He emphasizes the importance of blending creativity with technology, delivering work to the highest standards, and listening to the right voices of support. Simeon's transition from wedding photography to corporate storytelling was facilitated by his ability to tell compelling stories and his dedication to excellence. He highlights the value of understanding one's strengths and leveraging them for future success.
Action Principles
Pick one to do this week:
- Blend passions. Stand out in the marketplace by uniquely combining your interests. ACTION: Explore ways to combine your passions or interests into a possible career strength.
- Focus on quality. Deliver work to the best of your ability to open up future opportunities. ACTION: Pick one task you’re responsible for and look for ways to improve the quality of your work.
- Listen to your most valuable voices. Surround yourself with the right voices of support, especially your most valuable customer. ACTION: Determine who those people are and listen to their recommendations for improvement.
- Learn about yourself. Discover your strengths and leverage them for long-term success. ACTION: Schedule time to consider your strengths, write them down, and identify patterns.
Guest Resources
Learn more about Simeon Quarrie by following him on LinkedIn.
Suggested LinkedIn Learning Courses
Dave Crenshaw develops productive leaders in Fortune 500 companies, universities, and organizations of every size. He has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have been viewed tens of millions of times. His five books have been published in eight languages, the most popular of which is The Myth of Multitasking—a time management bestseller. As an author, speaker, and online instructor, Dave has transformed the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands around the world. DaveCrenshaw.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Simeon Quarrie (00:00):
Could you apply the same approach to do some
storytelling on this corporatestrategy? And I said, Yes. Then
they told me what it gave me thebuzzwords. And I said, what is
that?
So the answer is yes. I willfind a way.
Dave Crenshaw (00:18):
In this episode, you'll get to know Simeon
quarry, the transformativestoryteller, and you'll hear the
story of how he turned hispassion for both technology and
the arts into a multimediabusiness that serves some of the
world's biggest brands. I'm DaveCrenshaw, and this is my success
Show. Welcome back, friends, tothe Dave Crenshaw Success Show.
(00:44):
This is where I speak to some ofthe most successful people I've
met in my life's journey. I'm ona mission to find universal
principles of success that youcan apply immediately and that
my family can apply immediately.
If you're not familiar with me,I'm a best selling author. I
speak around the world ofFortune 500 companies, and I've
taught millions of people how tobe successful through my online
(01:04):
courses, especially in mycourses on LinkedIn learning
with this show, I wanted to dosomething different. I was
thinking about, how could Icreate a legacy that would help
my children succeed? I thought,wow, I know all these amazing
people. Let me find someprinciples that I can teach them
and that will help them succeedin their life. Then I thought,
Well, why not share theexperience with you as I do
(01:26):
that, and my goal is tointerview people who have
multifaceted success, so notjust career or financial
success, even though those arevery important, but that they
also have balanced lives andhave fun and and spend time with
the people that they care about.
And I'm looking for things thatyou can do right now, not a year
(01:48):
from now, not way off into thefuture, but today, this week, so
that you can make my guestsuccess story a part of your
success story. So as I'minterviewing today's guest, look
for something you can do. Andboy, the person I'm interviewing
today, I've gotten to know himthrough the last few years.
We've done some things together,and I have such a high degree of
(02:10):
respect for him and his craft.
Simeon Corey is the CEO ofvivida and is an award winning
international speaker. Recently,he was awarded the UK creative
entrepreneur of the year award,and his contributions to
learning, cybersecurity andinclusion are world renowned.
Simeon has addressed audiencesfor leading organizations such
(02:32):
as canon, Apple, LinkedIn, HSBCand Google, where he shares his
vision for using storytellingand innovation to make subjects
such as cybersecurity accessibleand engaging. He dedicates his
spare time as a board member ofthe ideas Foundation, which
helps young people enter thecreative industry, Simeon. It's
(02:53):
been way too long since we spokelast, my friend, thank you for
being on the show.
Simeon Quarrie (03:01):
Thank you for having me, longtime fan of your
work and what you do, what youtalk about.
Dave Crenshaw (03:06):
Oh, well, thank you. Myself in the same
direction to you. I really lovewhat you've done with video,
with storytelling. It's alwaysentertaining. I you like to take
some risks, which I think isreally fantastic. But you just
have such a personable presencein everything that I've seen you
do. And so I've been reallyexcited to do this interview.
(03:28):
Great to chat with you. Andwhere are you located today?
Simeon Quarrie (03:32):
Some the audience will naturally know
London. If you drive down to thesouth of the country by about an
hour and a half or so, I'm quiteclose to Salisbury and Salisbury
cathedral at the moment, and I'msitting here in the studio, so
whilst what you see, and forthose of you in the audience
that can't see, I'm in a kind ofa dark studio environment with
(03:53):
lots of kid around me with alight that just illuminates me
by myself, just so that you canconcentrate and I can
concentrate.
Dave Crenshaw (04:00):
Yeah, it looks very mysterious, but also just,
of course, perfectly framed,because you're a master of
video. So let's just dive rightinto this interview. And I
always ask every guest the samequestion to start off, which is
the question we all got askedwhen we were young, what do you
want to be when you grow up?
What did you want to be in yourformative years, let's say your
(04:21):
teenage years. What did youthink you were going to become
in terms of your career?
Simeon Quarrie (04:27):
Do you know, for me, actually growing up, I think
there was a lot of uncertaintyabout what I was going to
become. I wasn't sure, partlybecause I couldn't quite
identify what I was what I wasgood at, or the things I felt I
was good at. I didn't I couldn'tsee a pathway from a work
perspective.
Dave Crenshaw (04:43):
Now, when I was doing research, you started a
business when you were 16. Isthat accurate?
Simeon Quarrie (04:49):
Yeah, you have done your research. How did you
dig? Now, I love it, yeah. So Ithink partway through my
journey, I realized that thething I really. Enjoyed was
anything that was kind ofcreative. So I enjoyed the
anything to do with graphicdesign. I loved the internet. I
(05:09):
enjoyed gaming, and so with thefirst business that I was asked
to get involved in, it was as adesigner, like a web designer.
It was right back at that pointin that kind of 1996 1997 the
internet was just forming. So ofcourse, getting involved in
design, I got to work out wherethose graphics that could load
(05:29):
with load bandwidth, dial upconnection, where they could be
placed, and how they could bepositioned. So that was kind of
my inroad into work business,but also starting to understand
what I truly, really enjoyed,
Dave Crenshaw (05:44):
and what did you learn during that time? Let me
preface this question, Iremember a mentor saying to me,
the secret to success inentrepreneurship is to make sure
that it's your second time. Whathe was implying by that is you
kind of have to have a businessthat doesn't go so well the
first time, and learn from it,and that helps you in the
(06:04):
future. So I like that you didthis so young, when you were 16,
what did you learn from it thathelped you in the future? It was
Simeon Quarrie (06:12):
important to love what you do. I didn't
actually do that really forcommerce and the money side of
things. I think what we wantedwas to create something that
people saw and had impact. Andwhat I learned was that I just
got lost in the process ofdevelopment and developing an
audience. So I learned to digdirectly into that. I guess the
(06:37):
bit that I learned on the otherside of it was to find a way
that was that offered value thatpeople would pay for when we
were doing this as like a, youknow, a business with some of my
other peers in the, you know,the class, along with a Business
Studies teacher, it had a socialenterprise type of feel to it,
(06:58):
Right? Almost a charity,charitable esque type of field.
So the the money making wasn'tthe the main aim. However,
naturally, as we started to getinvolved in, you know, I started
to grow up, I needed money and Ineeded revenue. And it became
very apparent that I needed tofind a way of linking the two
(07:18):
things, the thing I waspassionate about, but also my
need to sustain myself andeventually sustain others.
Dave Crenshaw (07:24):
So that brings up a great point, Simeon, and this
is something I've talked to mykids about, in particular my son
who who's got some ADHD, whichis the idea of feed the valuable
obsession. And I think that'swhat you're talking about by
valuable obsession. I mean, it'ssomething that you're passionate
about, you're interested in, butit's also valuable, meaning the
market has said there is valuebehind this, and we want to pay
(07:47):
for it. It sounds like that'ssort of where you started to
form the beginning of yourcareer,
Simeon Quarrie (07:52):
yes, but I have to admit, I wasn't necessarily,
I didn't think about that soearly on. And in some ways, I
think that's okay, because thekey thing, I think, was starting
to understand one myself, whichwas key. I had to learn what was
valuable. But I only I to behonest. I learned that over
(08:14):
time, and it took me some timeto be able to scale that value.
So look at the very beginning Iwas doing design work, and of
course, that design work is doneon a bit of a day rate, and then
it scales up and it becomes aproject. And it took me much,
quite a while before I was, waita minute, actually, I don't need
to think about things in termsof projects where I hand over
(08:36):
all the IP I can do it andcreate something where I own, or
the business then owns the IP.
And I think that was a realjourney in understanding that,
that value proposition,
Dave Crenshaw (08:50):
did you go to university after secondary
school?
Simeon Quarrie (08:54):
I did secondary school, I went to college and I
did at college, I worked and Iworked kind of understand
computers. I did computerscience, and then I didn't go to
university. And I didn't go touniversity because culturally,
it was not something that wasencouraged. I was brought up in
(09:14):
a very religious household wherecollege was seen as an
environment that was fraughtwith risk, and so my way of
increasing my skill sets andtalents at that university age
was actually to get involved ineducating myself to self teach.
(09:36):
So a lot of the things that Ihave now as a skill set and a
talent is self taught.
Dave Crenshaw (09:42):
You mentioned how you were studying computers, and
yet you what you do is socreative based, so art based. So
were you starting to marry thetwo? I did. Also saw that you
were a photographer for a time.
Was that taking place while youwere studying at the. At
college. So
Simeon Quarrie (10:01):
if I think about the my pathway into, I guess,
the creative sector, when I wasin college, I thought I really
wanted to do the highlytechnical element, which I
loved, the programming andunderstanding, the databases,
etc. And there was oneparticular piece of coursework,
because we call it here in theUK, like a practical examination
(10:24):
that taught me a lot aboutmyself. They said, you're going
to use Microsoft Excel, and youneed to use macros to come up
with an app, like anapplication. And I turned Excel
into the equivalent ofpaintbrush. And for many of your
viewers, you might remember anapplication on Windows, Windows
3.1 it was like paintbrush,where you would click and you
(10:47):
would be able to draw and paintpictures.
Dave Crenshaw (10:50):
This is old school here. This
Simeon Quarrie (10:52):
is really old school. This is really old
school. Dating me. What I didis, if you imagine, if you
visualize this in MicrosoftExcel on the left hand side, you
had cells which were a colorpalette, and if you clicked on
one of those cells, let's saythe green cell, the macro meant
that any other cell that youwould click on in that
(11:12):
spreadsheet would change colorto green. So I turned Microsoft
Excel into paintbrush andsubmitted, Oh, wow. What that
taught me about myself is thisthat I love the technical and I
have a technical mind, but myfire is lit by creativity. And
(11:33):
so I blended the two. So whatyou now see is this that I was
always building up that creativeelement. But then also I was
really quite technical, whetherthat meant that I was
technically really strong atexecution, or whether it was
really focusing on my creativesensibilities. And this, that
sense of style, sense of mightbe brand, or how you get across
(11:56):
a message, it ended up being forme, myself and my identity ended
up being about the intersectionbetween the two,
Dave Crenshaw (12:05):
which now is so valuable, right? That's a huge
part of the world that we livein with YouTube and social media
and everything. People wantingto share their brand, people
wanting to develop their owncareer. What a valuable blended
skill set for you to have, yes,
Simeon Quarrie (12:25):
and I think that the intersections between two,
ideally three things, is oftenwhere that that value occurs.
Dave Crenshaw (12:37):
So you started to develop this unique perspective
of blending these intereststogether. What did that do in
terms of your first career? Asyou left college, where were you
working?
Simeon Quarrie (12:48):
When I was in college, someone spotted my
technical skills and asked me toset up an Internet service
provider back in, you know,literally, I left college, and
the day I walked out, I steppedstraight into a job where
someone trusted me with hundredsof 1000s pounds, what ended up
being well over a millionpounds, to build an Internet
service provider in the.comboom, which ended up being a
(13:09):
bust, but it taught me a lotabout creating something that
attracted people. So weattracted 70,000 people in a
very short period of time. I gotmy 15 minutes of fame, and I
learned a lot from doing that. Iexited out. When I say, exited.
No, I didn't exit. I left and Iwent back into my bedroom. I was
a bit disillusioned with thefact that I'd just been part of
(13:31):
this business. We grew quitequickly. I delivered for the
organization what they wanted,but I realized that I didn't
truly believe in what I wasbuilding for them. So I went
back into my bedroom and Ibecame a graphic designer for a
time. Interesting.
Dave Crenshaw (13:46):
Yeah, that was my question when I heard that story
was, did you feel fulfilled?
Because there wasn't much of acreative outlet. It was only
technical during that time,right?
Simeon Quarrie (13:58):
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Talking to
you, like talking to a therapistand, like, bring back so
Dave Crenshaw (14:02):
many of these.
That's the best complimentsomeone can give me. That is my
goal here.
Simeon Quarrie (14:08):
You're gonna get it a lot of me today, you're
100% right that that was one ofthose key learnings from that
stage of my career. So thislearning was in a very short
period of time. So I did anumber of a year or two where I
learned about my passion and thetechnical. Then I went to
(14:28):
another which was largely aboutthe technical, and I went then
back to the bedroom to end, youknow, I'm just going to keep
working on myself. Keep itsmall. Eventually, I ended up,
yeah, going into weddings, ofall things, wedding photography
and filmmaking. And that camebecause I had a year where I
really struggled. I just gotmarried. I got married really
(14:50):
young, and my wife at the timewas a nurse, and the business
just dried up all of a sudden,and that some of it was to do.
With the, you know, the economyat that particular, that
particular time, I was stuck. Iwas I felt a bit ashamed of
myself. I just got married. Shehad married this entrepreneurial
(15:11):
person, and all of a suddenthere was no income. And I
remember thinking, I am going touse these creative skills, and
I'm going to try somethingdifferent, but I'm going to be
highly creative in an area thatdoesn't normally get the level
(15:31):
of creativity I wanted. But Iwas also attracted by the fact
that if I was to book a wedding,I would be able to see that I
had money coming up in July,even though we were sitting in
February or or may, for example.
And so I could see a bit of thefuture with income coming, but I
could hopefully find a way ofbeing highly creative as a
(15:52):
result, so that those budgetswould get bigger. But I wanted
to do it really just for atemporary period of time, not as
my my end game.
Dave Crenshaw (16:04):
How did you feel about the sales process of that?
I know a lot of people who arecreative typically shy away from
the whole concept of sales, yetif you're in a wedding
photography business, you've gotto hustle, right? You've got to
find customers. You've got toget referrals. So was that
difficult for you, or were youquite comfortable?
Simeon Quarrie (16:26):
I loved it. The reason I loved it was there's a
part of me this still existstoday. This is therapy. I know
that I want to see people'sreaction to something that's
being created. So having acouple enter into my studio, and
then being able to see theirreaction as they look through a
(16:48):
portfolio, and then I would beable to story tell off that
work, I loved that, because Icould see their appreciation.
And that's actually the pointwhere the storytelling element
really clicked for me, whichbecame my third pillar, in a
way, became my main pillar,because at the very beginning,
my shoots were like most otherwedding photographers or
(17:13):
videographers, and sure, I had ashallow depth for field, and it
was technically great, but itwas lacking story. But when
people were coming in to see me,I was trying to tell stories
based on what had happened atthe wedding. Then I thought,
what would happen if I actuallydeliberately entered the wedding
environment with storytelling inmind? And that changed
(17:35):
everything.
Dave Crenshaw (17:36):
How did you do that? What did that look like at
first? What
Simeon Quarrie (17:40):
I did is I went in the day searching for a
story, a thread. Now, thechallenge with a wedding is you
kind of know what the outcome isgoing to be, but there are these
threads, these other storylinesthat happen along the way. It
might be it's raining and rainwas the last thing they wanted.
But actually, if you start tofollow that thread, it becomes
(18:02):
quite exciting. What's going tohappen, how's the bride going to
feel, what's the reaction goingto be? And you start to get all
these brilliant shots, becauseyou're focusing on telling the
story, but linked with the rain,whether it be using a reflection
in the puddle, getting shots ofpeople in their expressions as
they're running in trying tokeep themselves dry. So that was
a basic level of storytelling.
However, I realized the powercame when I started to interview
(18:25):
my customers or clients inadvance. I would sit them down,
I'd get them to talk aboutthemselves, and I would start to
be like we're doing now, likechat, find out their origin
stories. From that, I found outtheir own story and their
narrative, and I would also findthese other little threads and
these anchors that my team,because it grew to a team, once
(18:49):
this started to take off, wouldbe looking for Fall throughout
the wedding day and because thathappened, in terms of that
growth, but also people noticingthat we were telling stories, we
started to form an audience, andat that stage, we were going
viral every week, because peoplewere waiting for the
Dave Crenshaw (19:14):
story well, and it's so Important now we live in
a world where storytelling hasbecome almost a survival skill,
a critical skill for our career,and you started understanding
this and mastering it at anearly time, I want you to pause
(19:36):
and share something with us fora moment about that. How do you
find the story? Because I thinka lot of people are like, I'm
just gonna put up a picture ofsomething, but that's not
necessarily telling a story. Howdo you take something that seems
mundane or every day and drilldown so that you find the story
(19:57):
in the midst of that?
Simeon Quarrie (19:58):
I think if. You are the teller, which is a role
telling the story. The firstthing is, often it's the
listening. Now, sometimes thatlistening is via research. In an
ideal world for me, because Itend to work with people or
organizations, it's directlyasking those open questions. I
(20:19):
think that's the key thing, isit starts off with that
listening. And I think if youstart to notice what
storytelling structure is, itthen means that it's easier to
find that story. So for example,you will know that we will have
often an inciting incident,something that happens that
means that someone decides to doan action or go somewhere that
(20:43):
they would not have done hadthis thing not happened and
incited that action. Then youthen go on this journey which is
full of obstacles in the hopethat you get to the end goal,
once you understand that that'sthe simple version of a story
(21:03):
structure. As you haveconversations with people,
you'll start to identify it,even if they don't know it
themselves, and then you're ableto leverage that to have the
impact or drive the purpose thatyou need to
Dave Crenshaw (21:20):
I love that, looking for the inciting
incident and then how thatdrives the story to come to
life. When did you make thetransition away from being a
wedding photographer,videographer to more towards
what you do? Now,
Simeon Quarrie (21:37):
a client of mine wasn't a client until later, but
they invited me into. It wasactually Barclays Bank, huge
bank, so on the 33rd floor,which is where they hold a lot
of their conferences, theyinvited me in, and I was a bit
intimidated. I'm like, I bankwith Barclays. I have no idea
why they're meeting me. It'sdefinitely shouldn't be about my
(21:58):
bank balance. It's not in theblack a lot, and it's not too
far in the red. It made no senseto me, but I was definitely
happy to be there. And I sataround this board table, and one
of the directors said to theothers in the room, have you
seen the wedding video that's inVenice? I was confused, and
someone said, Yes. Did you watchthe video Josephine? That
(22:21):
happened in any year where theytold the story of the of the
dress? Yes, did you watch thestory about such and such? It
became apparent that theseindividuals had actually watched
a lot of the Vedas content thatwas wedding content, and they
were reciting the stories, wow.
And turned around to me andsaid, you see what you did
there? We watched wedding videosthat we're not when none of us
(22:43):
are getting married, but we'reaware of your content. Could you
apply the same approach to dosome storytelling on this
corporate strategy? And I said,Yes. Then they told me what it
gave me the buzzwords. And Isaid, what is that? So the
answer is, yes, I will find away. And then the unique
(23:07):
approach ended up being, is thatthe leader ended up being this
place that you would come with aconcept that I wouldn't
understand. In reality, maybethe main organizer, the whole
organization, the wholeorganization wouldn't
necessarily understand, but wewould use storytelling to make
it digestible, understandableand engaging. And that was the
(23:29):
moment that it clicked. And overtime, we then transitioned from
doing the wedding storytellinginto telling stories that were
seen by larger audiences, andimportantly, had greater value
for that organization. So ofcourse, the project sizes were
drastically different, and thenthat correlation between value
(23:52):
that you mentioned earlier,creativity started to click to a
different level, and we startedto act on that.
Dave Crenshaw (24:02):
And it's the work that you did in weddings and how
you developed that skill andbecame an expert at storytelling
that opened that door. Right?
Because you were honing yourcraft, you were getting better
at it. And then, thankfully,someone had the insight to say
this can apply somewhere else,but that wouldn't have happened
(24:24):
if you hadn't become a master ofstorytelling in the wedding
industry. First, to
Simeon Quarrie (24:31):
add another point that I think about, which
I think is really key wheneveryou're working, deliver it to
the best of your ability. Icould have said I was working in
graphic design. I had helpedbuild a startup, and now I'm
doing wedding work. This isbeneath me, and I'm going to
(24:53):
just do it to a simple standardmatch the rest of the market.
But what I decided to do. Was Ihad my own core values of what I
expected of myself. I forgotabout what everyone else was
doing and delivered it in my ownway to the highest standards
possible, which then ironicallymeant that when a large
organization looked at it,whether it was a Barclays ended
(25:17):
up being a Unilever and cannon.
Actually, that's how I became anambassador. They saw the work
because the standard was of acommercial grade that
transitioned from one toanother. They made the link in
their head. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (25:31):
that's fantastic.
There's a turning point thatoccurred here, which is, now
you're starting to do commercialwork. How did you let go of
weddings because that has beenhad been lucrative for you. It
had been working. How did youfinally make a full transition
away from that?
Simeon Quarrie (25:51):
It was tough, because I wanted and needed the
revenue, and I had a certainamount of staffing that was
based on the levels of incomethat we had, and we had built up
the size of the wedding so thatthey were actually more than
some commercial jobs. At thestart, it was a client of mine.
We went out to dinner and said,Look you at the moment, you're
(26:12):
leaning so much on the crutch ofthe wedding work that you're not
fully engaged in taking the riskyou need to take on the
commercial work. And so heencouraged me to take the leap
of faith, and I ended upstopping totally the wedding
work, and then I ended up beingall in and it was scary. It was
(26:34):
tough. The income droppeddrastically for a time, but I
stuck with it, and eventually itthen went up, and then, you
know, naturally, far outweighedwhat we had been doing from a
wedding side of things. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (26:51):
that's a big risk to take, but you had the faith
to do it and persevere throughthat.
Simeon Quarrie (26:58):
I think that's where having the right voices
around you as support is reallyimportant. One of the challenges
I had, personally is partly it'smaybe cultural. Many people
resonate with not necessarilyhaving a network around you that
you feel that you can lean onfor advice. So when this client,
and for me, these clients, werereally important they would then
(27:22):
have these conversations thatwere unlike conversations I was
used to having, you know,talking about entrepreneurship,
taking risks, working withorganizations, etc. And so those
relationships were, were highlyvaluable, which is why I think I
focus on having or taking somuch time and having those
conversations with the youngerversions of myself, because I
(27:46):
realize how important they areto moving. Then it was me, but
now it's them. Forward.
Dave Crenshaw (27:53):
You said the right voices of support. Who
were the right voices of supportfor you?
Simeon Quarrie (27:58):
I think the voices I needed the most was
from those that were in my ICPor my my ideal client or
customer profile, because theyknew and had an understanding of
where I was trying to get to.
They had a really goodunderstanding of what we were
delivering at that particulartime, I have great supportive
wife and family around me, sothat's been great. I find that
(28:23):
those that are within your teamor organization, they will often
be very supportive of what youare doing now, because there
might be their livelihood mightbe the use of their talent is
based on what you're doing now,the moment you start to think
ahead, for some that are in yourcircle, that actually denotes
(28:48):
risk. So I've actually learnedto not over index on those who
may be employees in a team, ifyou're talking about future
strategy. An example of this,Cornell now end up being one of
my best friends. He was anindividual who saw me doing
(29:08):
wedding work, and he knocked onmy door and said, I would love
to support you as an assistant.
And He came and he volunteeredfor free, and he helped me on a
number of shoots. He was sogood, so talented, that I
employed him. Then he gotinvolved in the wedding work,
and it was transformative forme, because he had now me to
(29:29):
grow the business. I wastransformative for him, because
he grows, grew skill under mymentorship, until a stage where
he his skill set was justbrilliant for the moment, I
decided I wanted to stop doingweddings, he was in total
disagreement, and our friendshipfractured for a time, and we
separated. Why? Because hewanted to keep the business
(29:50):
going as it was, because that'swhat served his interests, as a
relationship with me being hisboss. But then. Coming into a
friendship. If I had overindexed on that, I would not
have moved the business forward.
We parted ways, and there was amoment when our friendship was
frosty because of that, butlater on down the journey. Now,
(30:13):
whenever you see clients we'reworking with, it's Cornell
that's now working with us sideby side, and our friendship is
now a true friendship, and I nowkeep that in mind whenever I'm
looking to keep growing on thatjourney, to make sure that I'm
listening to those right voices.
(30:33):
And those right voices are notnecessarily based on proximity,
not necessarily based on thosewho are closest to you or those
who are already in your circle.
Dave Crenshaw (30:43):
Oh, that's so profound. There are two things I
want to call out on that anddraw attention to. First is in
everybody uses a different term,and I have a book called The
Focus business. I call it yourmost valuable customer. Listen
to your most valuable customer.
They are the people who arepaying the most, they're buying
the most, and their opinion iswhat matters most. And you
(31:04):
always want to continually gettheir insight so that part of it
is fantastic. The other thing isunderstanding that entrepreneurs
and employees are driven by twodifferent things entirely.
Entrepreneurs are driven by riskand reward. If I take this risk,
I can see the payoff, andthey're willing to take those
risks and make those changes,just as you did to transition
(31:25):
away from wedding work.
Employees are mostly driven bystability and security, and so
they don't want to see a lot ofchange. They're not quite as
interested in these big things,because, hey, that could change
their income. Neither is rightnor wrong. In fact, I feel like
(31:46):
the push and pull between thosetwo things is essential for
success, and your storyillustrated that so so
beautifully. So thank you forsharing that. Yeah, you're 100%
Simeon Quarrie (31:57):
right. I totally agree.
Dave Crenshaw (31:59):
So you still have people on your team, people you
still manage and lead. Oh, yes,
Simeon Quarrie (32:05):
absolutely. Now, through what we're doing, you
know, the team has grown. Itshifts and changes because we,
our key aim is to keep blendingstorytelling with technology and
the creative process. And youcan imagine that we've our Tech
has changed. We've moved fromwe've worked with virtual
reality and crafting and tellingstories where we place people
directly in the story, to thencrafting interactive experiences
(32:29):
that scale those things that wewere doing back when I was in
that boardroom with Barclays,has now changed and transitioned
a lot. So we're alwaysinnovating, and so the team
grows, and sometimes that teamhas to change in order to
facilitate the change that isgoing to happen next.
Dave Crenshaw (32:48):
What have you learned from from hiring and
leading a group of people likethat?
Simeon Quarrie (32:54):
The thing I've learned is not to focus on
hiring people that are exactlylike you. The reason I say that
is because I'm creative, and Ifeel that if I dug deeper, there
would be traits, or, you know,elements that would point to a
(33:16):
condition and to ADHD, so mymind creates these sparks right
in these these ideas, and thenwhat I'm able to do is I'm able
to create the prototype. I cancreate systems and models. But
what I don't do is I'm not theperson that will maintain a
(33:36):
system. So often, when I findmyself talking to people, I may
form a very quick relationshipwith someone who I can bounce
off the creative ideas and thesparks are flying, and it's
like, you know, we arecreatively making love, if you
see what I mean. However, I nowknow what I need is the
(33:59):
individuals within the team whowill be the reins, or they will
be the individuals that will beable to look at a system and a
model I've put together and beable to use that as a mold to go
and create really consistently,and they're Happy staying in
that space. So I've learned toidentify where my weaknesses are
(34:26):
or my differences, depending onhow you want to look at it, and
try to recruit for that. Talk
Dave Crenshaw (34:33):
to me a little bit about your personal life.
How do you make time for fun?
How do you make time for family?
Simeon Quarrie (34:39):
I struggle truthfully, with making time for
fun. The reason I hesitate isbecause I have a lot of fun
doing what I'm doing. That's oneof the lessons that I learned
very early on. So if I findmyself with spare time, I end up
tinkering and I end up. Playing,and I end up creating, and then
(35:01):
that thing I'm creating ends upbecoming a thing that we end up
working with. So I feel like Ihave crafted a role for myself
and a business whereby thethings I find fun I'm actually
doing for work. I strugglesometimes to find what that
thing is outside of work. And Ithink that's one of the things
(35:24):
with creativity, right? Is itwork or is it just part of your
natural desire to craft and toand to shape? There's
Dave Crenshaw (35:33):
an interesting book that I don't know if you've
come across it. It's a by JohnCleese creativity, a short and
cheerful guide. And it is. It'sexactly what it is. It says it
is. It's a short and cheerfulguide. But one of the things
that he talks about is the valueof how play promotes creativity,
so doing something outside ofwork helps you solve problems or
(35:57):
come up with creative ideas thatmaybe wouldn't have occurred if
you were just forcing yourselfI'm going to sit down and be
creative. Is that something thatyou found to be true for you?
Simeon Quarrie (36:09):
Yes, it is. I think I work in two modes as
part. There's one mode where Irespond really well to
constraints and time andpressure ends up being one of
those constraints. The challengeis, is that that reward system
can drive you totally in thewrong direction, from a personal
perspective, and to your point,I think I've recognized that,
(36:32):
and do allow time to give myselfspace to see what happened. And
that's how I think of it. Ratherthan it being having fun, I
think of it as providing andcreating space, because that's
where my true creativity oftencomes out.
Dave Crenshaw (36:50):
I think we could talk about this for a long time.
I'm fascinated about thecreative process and how you're
how it's working for you, andwhat you've been doing.
Simeon Quarrie (36:59):
Yes, I think that, you know, look, creative
process is something that can,in some ways, can be taught. The
bit I've had to learn is tocreate that space, but also to
allow myself to be in differentplaces and different scenarios,
because I'm in the studio rightnow. Ironically, this is no
(37:20):
longer my creative space,because the moment I'm in one
spot for a period of time, itdoesn't spark off new ideas,
because everything around hereis fixed. So I know that I need
to be placed in differentenvironments with different
people, and yes, that cansometimes be a family or a
(37:41):
different type of playfulactivity, interesting.
Dave Crenshaw (37:44):
I like that idea of placing yourself in different
environments to stir creativity.
I hadn't thought of that before,but that's really clever. Where
do you see yourself in yourbusiness five years from now?
What's the what's the plan thatyou see ahead as the visionary?
Simeon Quarrie (37:59):
The vision for me is to scale the impact of
what we do and what I do bystill keeping that unique blend
of that creativity, thatstorytelling and then also the
technology. The aim for what wedo now is to change the way
people are educated inorganizations leaning into the
(38:21):
younger version of myself,actually, as you've reminded me,
I'm actually going back to theoriginal in some ways, elements
of the original business that Iwas involved in when I was 16.
It was involved in, you know,providing an educational
resource for people that wasdifferent and it was unique. And
that's what we've now reallystarted to stumble on, is
(38:44):
learning from all of thesedifferent ways in which people
learn, the way people absorbstories, and how beneficial it
is, I can now see a reallyexciting way that we can really
scale that to reach 1000s and1000s of people.
Dave Crenshaw (39:00):
That's exciting.
I'm going to be looking forwardto seeing that progression.
Okay, so here's the pointSimeon, where, unfortunately I
have to start wrapping up. Butwhat I do with every guest that
I interview, and I know you'veheard some of the interviews, is
I like to summarize possibleaction steps that someone can
take. The idea is that someonelistening does something today
or this week, not not a monthfrom now, not a year from now,
(39:24):
something they do immediately tomake your success story a part
of their success story. So I'mgoing to suggest three of them,
and then I'd love for you tochime in at the end and add one
potential action they couldtake. Sound good. Sounds great.
Okay, the first is going back tothe beginning of your story, how
you blended technology withcreativity. And I would invite
(39:46):
someone listening to this tosay, are there a couple of
things that you're reallyinterested in and passionate
about that don't seem to connectwith each other? And then ask
yourself the question is. Are away that I could connect them
together, and within that youmight find the genesis of an
interesting career turn, orsomething that you can do that
(40:08):
makes you truly unique in themarketplace, like Simeon has
done. The other one is thatconcept of delivering to the
best of your ability. Simeon wasdoing that with the wedding
videos and the stories that hewas telling with that. And he
was doing it, the term that heused was at a very commercial
grade, meaning it's the highestpossible grade. And him doing
(40:31):
that with weddings, it opened upthe opportunity to do it for
brands and major companies. Hadhe not been doing it to the best
of his ability, that opportunitywouldn't have been there. So I
would invite you to say, Whatcould I do to do a little bit
more to increase the quality ofthe work that I'm doing, so that
it opens up the doors in thefuture, and then that one
(40:54):
concept of listening to theright voices of support, how you
were listening to people to helpyou understand what strategic
choices you'd make in thefuture. And in particular,
listen to your most valuablecustomer. Listen to that person
who's going to buy what youwant. And even if you're not an
(41:14):
entrepreneur and you'relistening to this, ask yourself,
Who is my customer? Is it myboss? Is it the boss that I want
to have? Is it the company Iwant to work for and try to get
that opinion and that will guideand influence some of your
future career choices? Allright? Simeon, those are my
three. What would you add to it?
Simeon Quarrie (41:36):
I love those three. I love those three. What
I would add is, what are youlearning about yourself? As you
listen to my story, you'llnotice that I ended up learning
a lot about myself, whether itbe the things I was
exceptionally interested in, thethings I was gravitating
towards, and then once Iunderstood how I worked, I was
(42:01):
able to lean into that sorevisit elements of your
childhood, the jobs that you'vehad in the past, what you're
doing now, and write down on thepiece of paper, look for those
patterns, those things that younotice about yourself, so that
you can use that to youradvantage, to become an unfair
(42:24):
advantage in future. I
Dave Crenshaw (42:26):
love it. What a great principle. Thank you so
much, Simeon for sharing yourwisdom and your knowledge with
us. I greatly appreciate it.
Simeon Quarrie (42:34):
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to
listen in all of your futureepisodes as
Dave Crenshaw (42:40):
well. And what's the best place for people to go
if they want to follow you, theywant to keep track of your work
and be inspired by you. Wherewould you like them to keep in
touch with you?
Simeon Quarrie (42:49):
LinkedIn is probably the best way. Simeon
quarry on LinkedIn or onInstagram, okay?
Dave Crenshaw (42:55):
And in case you're just listening to this,
quarry is Q, U, A, R, R, I, E.
Thank you very much Simeon andthank you everyone for
listening. Remember, it's notjust about the inspiration that
you receive from hearing Simeonstory. It's not just about the
knowledge you gain, but it'sabout the action that you take.
So please do one thing as aresult of what you heard from
(43:20):
Simeon today, and you'll makehis success story a part of your
success story.
Darci Crenshaw (43:30):
You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw
Success Show, hosted by my dad,Dave Crenshaw, and produced by
invaluable incorporated researchand assistant production by
Victoria bidez, Sound Editing byNick Wright, voiceover by me
Darci Crenshaw, and the music isby Ryan Brady via pond five.
(43:50):
Licensing, please subscribe tothe Dave Crenshaw success show
on Apple podcasts Spotify,wherever you like to get your
podcast. If you have asuggestion for someone my dad
might like to interview, pleasesend it to guests at Dave
crenshaw.com and please don'tforget to leave us a five star
review. See you next time you.
Could you apply the same approach to do some
storytelling on this corporatestrategy? And I said, Yes. Then
they told me what it gave me thebuzzwords. And I said, what is
that?
So the answer is yes. I willfind a way.
Dave Crenshaw (00:18):
In this episode, you'll get to know Simeon
quarry, the transformativestoryteller, and you'll hear the
story of how he turned hispassion for both technology and
the arts into a multimediabusiness that serves some of the
world's biggest brands. I'm DaveCrenshaw, and this is my success
Show. Welcome back, friends, tothe Dave Crenshaw Success Show.
(00:44):
This is where I speak to some ofthe most successful people I've
met in my life's journey. I'm ona mission to find universal
principles of success that youcan apply immediately and that
my family can apply immediately.
If you're not familiar with me,I'm a best selling author. I
speak around the world ofFortune 500 companies, and I've
taught millions of people how tobe successful through my online
(01:04):
courses, especially in mycourses on LinkedIn learning
with this show, I wanted to dosomething different. I was
thinking about, how could Icreate a legacy that would help
my children succeed? I thought,wow, I know all these amazing
people. Let me find someprinciples that I can teach them
and that will help them succeedin their life. Then I thought,
Well, why not share theexperience with you as I do
(01:26):
that, and my goal is tointerview people who have
multifaceted success, so notjust career or financial
success, even though those arevery important, but that they
also have balanced lives andhave fun and and spend time with
the people that they care about.
And I'm looking for things thatyou can do right now, not a year
(01:48):
from now, not way off into thefuture, but today, this week, so
that you can make my guestsuccess story a part of your
success story. So as I'minterviewing today's guest, look
for something you can do. Andboy, the person I'm interviewing
today, I've gotten to know himthrough the last few years.
We've done some things together,and I have such a high degree of
(02:10):
respect for him and his craft.
Simeon Corey is the CEO ofvivida and is an award winning
international speaker. Recently,he was awarded the UK creative
entrepreneur of the year award,and his contributions to
learning, cybersecurity andinclusion are world renowned.
Simeon has addressed audiencesfor leading organizations such
(02:32):
as canon, Apple, LinkedIn, HSBCand Google, where he shares his
vision for using storytellingand innovation to make subjects
such as cybersecurity accessibleand engaging. He dedicates his
spare time as a board member ofthe ideas Foundation, which
helps young people enter thecreative industry, Simeon. It's
(02:53):
been way too long since we spokelast, my friend, thank you for
being on the show.
Simeon Quarrie (03:01):
Thank you for having me, longtime fan of your
work and what you do, what youtalk about.
Dave Crenshaw (03:06):
Oh, well, thank you. Myself in the same
direction to you. I really lovewhat you've done with video,
with storytelling. It's alwaysentertaining. I you like to take
some risks, which I think isreally fantastic. But you just
have such a personable presencein everything that I've seen you
do. And so I've been reallyexcited to do this interview.
(03:28):
Great to chat with you. Andwhere are you located today?
Simeon Quarrie (03:32):
Some the audience will naturally know
London. If you drive down to thesouth of the country by about an
hour and a half or so, I'm quiteclose to Salisbury and Salisbury
cathedral at the moment, and I'msitting here in the studio, so
whilst what you see, and forthose of you in the audience
that can't see, I'm in a kind ofa dark studio environment with
(03:53):
lots of kid around me with alight that just illuminates me
by myself, just so that you canconcentrate and I can
concentrate.
Dave Crenshaw (04:00):
Yeah, it looks very mysterious, but also just,
of course, perfectly framed,because you're a master of
video. So let's just dive rightinto this interview. And I
always ask every guest the samequestion to start off, which is
the question we all got askedwhen we were young, what do you
want to be when you grow up?
What did you want to be in yourformative years, let's say your
(04:21):
teenage years. What did youthink you were going to become
in terms of your career?
Simeon Quarrie (04:27):
Do you know, for me, actually growing up, I think
there was a lot of uncertaintyabout what I was going to
become. I wasn't sure, partlybecause I couldn't quite
identify what I was what I wasgood at, or the things I felt I
was good at. I didn't I couldn'tsee a pathway from a work
perspective.
Dave Crenshaw (04:43):
Now, when I was doing research, you started a
business when you were 16. Isthat accurate?
Simeon Quarrie (04:49):
Yeah, you have done your research. How did you
dig? Now, I love it, yeah. So Ithink partway through my
journey, I realized that thething I really. Enjoyed was
anything that was kind ofcreative. So I enjoyed the
anything to do with graphicdesign. I loved the internet. I
(05:09):
enjoyed gaming, and so with thefirst business that I was asked
to get involved in, it was as adesigner, like a web designer.
It was right back at that pointin that kind of 1996 1997 the
internet was just forming. So ofcourse, getting involved in
design, I got to work out wherethose graphics that could load
(05:29):
with load bandwidth, dial upconnection, where they could be
placed, and how they could bepositioned. So that was kind of
my inroad into work business,but also starting to understand
what I truly, really enjoyed,
Dave Crenshaw (05:44):
and what did you learn during that time? Let me
preface this question, Iremember a mentor saying to me,
the secret to success inentrepreneurship is to make sure
that it's your second time. Whathe was implying by that is you
kind of have to have a businessthat doesn't go so well the
first time, and learn from it,and that helps you in the
(06:04):
future. So I like that you didthis so young, when you were 16,
what did you learn from it thathelped you in the future? It was
Simeon Quarrie (06:12):
important to love what you do. I didn't
actually do that really forcommerce and the money side of
things. I think what we wantedwas to create something that
people saw and had impact. Andwhat I learned was that I just
got lost in the process ofdevelopment and developing an
audience. So I learned to digdirectly into that. I guess the
(06:37):
bit that I learned on the otherside of it was to find a way
that was that offered value thatpeople would pay for when we
were doing this as like a, youknow, a business with some of my
other peers in the, you know,the class, along with a Business
Studies teacher, it had a socialenterprise type of feel to it,
(06:58):
Right? Almost a charity,charitable esque type of field.
So the the money making wasn'tthe the main aim. However,
naturally, as we started to getinvolved in, you know, I started
to grow up, I needed money and Ineeded revenue. And it became
very apparent that I needed tofind a way of linking the two
(07:18):
things, the thing I waspassionate about, but also my
need to sustain myself andeventually sustain others.
Dave Crenshaw (07:24):
So that brings up a great point, Simeon, and this
is something I've talked to mykids about, in particular my son
who who's got some ADHD, whichis the idea of feed the valuable
obsession. And I think that'swhat you're talking about by
valuable obsession. I mean, it'ssomething that you're passionate
about, you're interested in, butit's also valuable, meaning the
market has said there is valuebehind this, and we want to pay
(07:47):
for it. It sounds like that'ssort of where you started to
form the beginning of yourcareer,
Simeon Quarrie (07:52):
yes, but I have to admit, I wasn't necessarily,
I didn't think about that soearly on. And in some ways, I
think that's okay, because thekey thing, I think, was starting
to understand one myself, whichwas key. I had to learn what was
valuable. But I only I to behonest. I learned that over
(08:14):
time, and it took me some timeto be able to scale that value.
So look at the very beginning Iwas doing design work, and of
course, that design work is doneon a bit of a day rate, and then
it scales up and it becomes aproject. And it took me much,
quite a while before I was, waita minute, actually, I don't need
to think about things in termsof projects where I hand over
(08:36):
all the IP I can do it andcreate something where I own, or
the business then owns the IP.
And I think that was a realjourney in understanding that,
that value proposition,
Dave Crenshaw (08:50):
did you go to university after secondary
school?
Simeon Quarrie (08:54):
I did secondary school, I went to college and I
did at college, I worked and Iworked kind of understand
computers. I did computerscience, and then I didn't go to
university. And I didn't go touniversity because culturally,
it was not something that wasencouraged. I was brought up in
(09:14):
a very religious household wherecollege was seen as an
environment that was fraughtwith risk, and so my way of
increasing my skill sets andtalents at that university age
was actually to get involved ineducating myself to self teach.
(09:36):
So a lot of the things that Ihave now as a skill set and a
talent is self taught.
Dave Crenshaw (09:42):
You mentioned how you were studying computers, and
yet you what you do is socreative based, so art based. So
were you starting to marry thetwo? I did. Also saw that you
were a photographer for a time.
Was that taking place while youwere studying at the. At
college. So
Simeon Quarrie (10:01):
if I think about the my pathway into, I guess,
the creative sector, when I wasin college, I thought I really
wanted to do the highlytechnical element, which I
loved, the programming andunderstanding, the databases,
etc. And there was oneparticular piece of coursework,
because we call it here in theUK, like a practical examination
(10:24):
that taught me a lot aboutmyself. They said, you're going
to use Microsoft Excel, and youneed to use macros to come up
with an app, like anapplication. And I turned Excel
into the equivalent ofpaintbrush. And for many of your
viewers, you might remember anapplication on Windows, Windows
3.1 it was like paintbrush,where you would click and you
(10:47):
would be able to draw and paintpictures.
Dave Crenshaw (10:50):
This is old school here. This
Simeon Quarrie (10:52):
is really old school. This is really old
school. Dating me. What I didis, if you imagine, if you
visualize this in MicrosoftExcel on the left hand side, you
had cells which were a colorpalette, and if you clicked on
one of those cells, let's saythe green cell, the macro meant
that any other cell that youwould click on in that
(11:12):
spreadsheet would change colorto green. So I turned Microsoft
Excel into paintbrush andsubmitted, Oh, wow. What that
taught me about myself is thisthat I love the technical and I
have a technical mind, but myfire is lit by creativity. And
(11:33):
so I blended the two. So whatyou now see is this that I was
always building up that creativeelement. But then also I was
really quite technical, whetherthat meant that I was
technically really strong atexecution, or whether it was
really focusing on my creativesensibilities. And this, that
sense of style, sense of mightbe brand, or how you get across
(11:56):
a message, it ended up being forme, myself and my identity ended
up being about the intersectionbetween the two,
Dave Crenshaw (12:05):
which now is so valuable, right? That's a huge
part of the world that we livein with YouTube and social media
and everything. People wantingto share their brand, people
wanting to develop their owncareer. What a valuable blended
skill set for you to have, yes,
Simeon Quarrie (12:25):
and I think that the intersections between two,
ideally three things, is oftenwhere that that value occurs.
Dave Crenshaw (12:37):
So you started to develop this unique perspective
of blending these intereststogether. What did that do in
terms of your first career? Asyou left college, where were you
working?
Simeon Quarrie (12:48):
When I was in college, someone spotted my
technical skills and asked me toset up an Internet service
provider back in, you know,literally, I left college, and
the day I walked out, I steppedstraight into a job where
someone trusted me with hundredsof 1000s pounds, what ended up
being well over a millionpounds, to build an Internet
service provider in the.comboom, which ended up being a
(13:09):
bust, but it taught me a lotabout creating something that
attracted people. So weattracted 70,000 people in a
very short period of time. I gotmy 15 minutes of fame, and I
learned a lot from doing that. Iexited out. When I say, exited.
No, I didn't exit. I left and Iwent back into my bedroom. I was
a bit disillusioned with thefact that I'd just been part of
(13:31):
this business. We grew quitequickly. I delivered for the
organization what they wanted,but I realized that I didn't
truly believe in what I wasbuilding for them. So I went
back into my bedroom and Ibecame a graphic designer for a
time. Interesting.
Dave Crenshaw (13:46):
Yeah, that was my question when I heard that story
was, did you feel fulfilled?
Because there wasn't much of acreative outlet. It was only
technical during that time,right?
Simeon Quarrie (13:58):
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Talking to
you, like talking to a therapistand, like, bring back so
Dave Crenshaw (14:02):
many of these.
That's the best complimentsomeone can give me. That is my
goal here.
Simeon Quarrie (14:08):
You're gonna get it a lot of me today, you're
100% right that that was one ofthose key learnings from that
stage of my career. So thislearning was in a very short
period of time. So I did anumber of a year or two where I
learned about my passion and thetechnical. Then I went to
(14:28):
another which was largely aboutthe technical, and I went then
back to the bedroom to end, youknow, I'm just going to keep
working on myself. Keep itsmall. Eventually, I ended up,
yeah, going into weddings, ofall things, wedding photography
and filmmaking. And that camebecause I had a year where I
really struggled. I just gotmarried. I got married really
(14:50):
young, and my wife at the timewas a nurse, and the business
just dried up all of a sudden,and that some of it was to do.
With the, you know, the economyat that particular, that
particular time, I was stuck. Iwas I felt a bit ashamed of
myself. I just got married. Shehad married this entrepreneurial
(15:11):
person, and all of a suddenthere was no income. And I
remember thinking, I am going touse these creative skills, and
I'm going to try somethingdifferent, but I'm going to be
highly creative in an area thatdoesn't normally get the level
(15:31):
of creativity I wanted. But Iwas also attracted by the fact
that if I was to book a wedding,I would be able to see that I
had money coming up in July,even though we were sitting in
February or or may, for example.
And so I could see a bit of thefuture with income coming, but I
could hopefully find a way ofbeing highly creative as a
(15:52):
result, so that those budgetswould get bigger. But I wanted
to do it really just for atemporary period of time, not as
my my end game.
Dave Crenshaw (16:04):
How did you feel about the sales process of that?
I know a lot of people who arecreative typically shy away from
the whole concept of sales, yetif you're in a wedding
photography business, you've gotto hustle, right? You've got to
find customers. You've got toget referrals. So was that
difficult for you, or were youquite comfortable?
Simeon Quarrie (16:26):
I loved it. The reason I loved it was there's a
part of me this still existstoday. This is therapy. I know
that I want to see people'sreaction to something that's
being created. So having acouple enter into my studio, and
then being able to see theirreaction as they look through a
(16:48):
portfolio, and then I would beable to story tell off that
work, I loved that, because Icould see their appreciation.
And that's actually the pointwhere the storytelling element
really clicked for me, whichbecame my third pillar, in a
way, became my main pillar,because at the very beginning,
my shoots were like most otherwedding photographers or
(17:13):
videographers, and sure, I had ashallow depth for field, and it
was technically great, but itwas lacking story. But when
people were coming in to see me,I was trying to tell stories
based on what had happened atthe wedding. Then I thought,
what would happen if I actuallydeliberately entered the wedding
environment with storytelling inmind? And that changed
(17:35):
everything.
Dave Crenshaw (17:36):
How did you do that? What did that look like at
first? What
Simeon Quarrie (17:40):
I did is I went in the day searching for a
story, a thread. Now, thechallenge with a wedding is you
kind of know what the outcome isgoing to be, but there are these
threads, these other storylinesthat happen along the way. It
might be it's raining and rainwas the last thing they wanted.
But actually, if you start tofollow that thread, it becomes
(18:02):
quite exciting. What's going tohappen, how's the bride going to
feel, what's the reaction goingto be? And you start to get all
these brilliant shots, becauseyou're focusing on telling the
story, but linked with the rain,whether it be using a reflection
in the puddle, getting shots ofpeople in their expressions as
they're running in trying tokeep themselves dry. So that was
a basic level of storytelling.
However, I realized the powercame when I started to interview
(18:25):
my customers or clients inadvance. I would sit them down,
I'd get them to talk aboutthemselves, and I would start to
be like we're doing now, likechat, find out their origin
stories. From that, I found outtheir own story and their
narrative, and I would also findthese other little threads and
these anchors that my team,because it grew to a team, once
(18:49):
this started to take off, wouldbe looking for Fall throughout
the wedding day and because thathappened, in terms of that
growth, but also people noticingthat we were telling stories, we
started to form an audience, andat that stage, we were going
viral every week, because peoplewere waiting for the
Dave Crenshaw (19:14):
story well, and it's so Important now we live in
a world where storytelling hasbecome almost a survival skill,
a critical skill for our career,and you started understanding
this and mastering it at anearly time, I want you to pause
(19:36):
and share something with us fora moment about that. How do you
find the story? Because I thinka lot of people are like, I'm
just gonna put up a picture ofsomething, but that's not
necessarily telling a story. Howdo you take something that seems
mundane or every day and drilldown so that you find the story
(19:57):
in the midst of that?
Simeon Quarrie (19:58):
I think if. You are the teller, which is a role
telling the story. The firstthing is, often it's the
listening. Now, sometimes thatlistening is via research. In an
ideal world for me, because Itend to work with people or
organizations, it's directlyasking those open questions. I
(20:19):
think that's the key thing, isit starts off with that
listening. And I think if youstart to notice what
storytelling structure is, itthen means that it's easier to
find that story. So for example,you will know that we will have
often an inciting incident,something that happens that
means that someone decides to doan action or go somewhere that
(20:43):
they would not have done hadthis thing not happened and
incited that action. Then youthen go on this journey which is
full of obstacles in the hopethat you get to the end goal,
once you understand that that'sthe simple version of a story
(21:03):
structure. As you haveconversations with people,
you'll start to identify it,even if they don't know it
themselves, and then you're ableto leverage that to have the
impact or drive the purpose thatyou need to
Dave Crenshaw (21:20):
I love that, looking for the inciting
incident and then how thatdrives the story to come to
life. When did you make thetransition away from being a
wedding photographer,videographer to more towards
what you do? Now,
Simeon Quarrie (21:37):
a client of mine wasn't a client until later, but
they invited me into. It wasactually Barclays Bank, huge
bank, so on the 33rd floor,which is where they hold a lot
of their conferences, theyinvited me in, and I was a bit
intimidated. I'm like, I bankwith Barclays. I have no idea
why they're meeting me. It'sdefinitely shouldn't be about my
(21:58):
bank balance. It's not in theblack a lot, and it's not too
far in the red. It made no senseto me, but I was definitely
happy to be there. And I sataround this board table, and one
of the directors said to theothers in the room, have you
seen the wedding video that's inVenice? I was confused, and
someone said, Yes. Did you watchthe video Josephine? That
(22:21):
happened in any year where theytold the story of the of the
dress? Yes, did you watch thestory about such and such? It
became apparent that theseindividuals had actually watched
a lot of the Vedas content thatwas wedding content, and they
were reciting the stories, wow.
And turned around to me andsaid, you see what you did
there? We watched wedding videosthat we're not when none of us
(22:43):
are getting married, but we'reaware of your content. Could you
apply the same approach to dosome storytelling on this
corporate strategy? And I said,Yes. Then they told me what it
gave me the buzzwords. And Isaid, what is that? So the
answer is, yes, I will find away. And then the unique
(23:07):
approach ended up being, is thatthe leader ended up being this
place that you would come with aconcept that I wouldn't
understand. In reality, maybethe main organizer, the whole
organization, the wholeorganization wouldn't
necessarily understand, but wewould use storytelling to make
it digestible, understandableand engaging. And that was the
(23:29):
moment that it clicked. And overtime, we then transitioned from
doing the wedding storytellinginto telling stories that were
seen by larger audiences, andimportantly, had greater value
for that organization. So ofcourse, the project sizes were
drastically different, and thenthat correlation between value
(23:52):
that you mentioned earlier,creativity started to click to a
different level, and we startedto act on that.
Dave Crenshaw (24:02):
And it's the work that you did in weddings and how
you developed that skill andbecame an expert at storytelling
that opened that door. Right?
Because you were honing yourcraft, you were getting better
at it. And then, thankfully,someone had the insight to say
this can apply somewhere else,but that wouldn't have happened
(24:24):
if you hadn't become a master ofstorytelling in the wedding
industry. First, to
Simeon Quarrie (24:31):
add another point that I think about, which
I think is really key wheneveryou're working, deliver it to
the best of your ability. Icould have said I was working in
graphic design. I had helpedbuild a startup, and now I'm
doing wedding work. This isbeneath me, and I'm going to
(24:53):
just do it to a simple standardmatch the rest of the market.
But what I decided to do. Was Ihad my own core values of what I
expected of myself. I forgotabout what everyone else was
doing and delivered it in my ownway to the highest standards
possible, which then ironicallymeant that when a large
organization looked at it,whether it was a Barclays ended
(25:17):
up being a Unilever and cannon.
Actually, that's how I became anambassador. They saw the work
because the standard was of acommercial grade that
transitioned from one toanother. They made the link in
their head. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (25:31):
that's fantastic.
There's a turning point thatoccurred here, which is, now
you're starting to do commercialwork. How did you let go of
weddings because that has beenhad been lucrative for you. It
had been working. How did youfinally make a full transition
away from that?
Simeon Quarrie (25:51):
It was tough, because I wanted and needed the
revenue, and I had a certainamount of staffing that was
based on the levels of incomethat we had, and we had built up
the size of the wedding so thatthey were actually more than
some commercial jobs. At thestart, it was a client of mine.
We went out to dinner and said,Look you at the moment, you're
(26:12):
leaning so much on the crutch ofthe wedding work that you're not
fully engaged in taking the riskyou need to take on the
commercial work. And so heencouraged me to take the leap
of faith, and I ended upstopping totally the wedding
work, and then I ended up beingall in and it was scary. It was
(26:34):
tough. The income droppeddrastically for a time, but I
stuck with it, and eventually itthen went up, and then, you
know, naturally, far outweighedwhat we had been doing from a
wedding side of things. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (26:51):
that's a big risk to take, but you had the faith
to do it and persevere throughthat.
Simeon Quarrie (26:58):
I think that's where having the right voices
around you as support is reallyimportant. One of the challenges
I had, personally is partly it'smaybe cultural. Many people
resonate with not necessarilyhaving a network around you that
you feel that you can lean onfor advice. So when this client,
and for me, these clients, werereally important they would then
(27:22):
have these conversations thatwere unlike conversations I was
used to having, you know,talking about entrepreneurship,
taking risks, working withorganizations, etc. And so those
relationships were, were highlyvaluable, which is why I think I
focus on having or taking somuch time and having those
conversations with the youngerversions of myself, because I
(27:46):
realize how important they areto moving. Then it was me, but
now it's them. Forward.
Dave Crenshaw (27:53):
You said the right voices of support. Who
were the right voices of supportfor you?
Simeon Quarrie (27:58):
I think the voices I needed the most was
from those that were in my ICPor my my ideal client or
customer profile, because theyknew and had an understanding of
where I was trying to get to.
They had a really goodunderstanding of what we were
delivering at that particulartime, I have great supportive
wife and family around me, sothat's been great. I find that
(28:23):
those that are within your teamor organization, they will often
be very supportive of what youare doing now, because there
might be their livelihood mightbe the use of their talent is
based on what you're doing now,the moment you start to think
ahead, for some that are in yourcircle, that actually denotes
(28:48):
risk. So I've actually learnedto not over index on those who
may be employees in a team, ifyou're talking about future
strategy. An example of this,Cornell now end up being one of
my best friends. He was anindividual who saw me doing
(29:08):
wedding work, and he knocked onmy door and said, I would love
to support you as an assistant.
And He came and he volunteeredfor free, and he helped me on a
number of shoots. He was sogood, so talented, that I
employed him. Then he gotinvolved in the wedding work,
and it was transformative forme, because he had now me to
(29:29):
grow the business. I wastransformative for him, because
he grows, grew skill under mymentorship, until a stage where
he his skill set was justbrilliant for the moment, I
decided I wanted to stop doingweddings, he was in total
disagreement, and our friendshipfractured for a time, and we
separated. Why? Because hewanted to keep the business
(29:50):
going as it was, because that'swhat served his interests, as a
relationship with me being hisboss. But then. Coming into a
friendship. If I had overindexed on that, I would not
have moved the business forward.
We parted ways, and there was amoment when our friendship was
frosty because of that, butlater on down the journey. Now,
(30:13):
whenever you see clients we'reworking with, it's Cornell
that's now working with us sideby side, and our friendship is
now a true friendship, and I nowkeep that in mind whenever I'm
looking to keep growing on thatjourney, to make sure that I'm
listening to those right voices.
(30:33):
And those right voices are notnecessarily based on proximity,
not necessarily based on thosewho are closest to you or those
who are already in your circle.
Dave Crenshaw (30:43):
Oh, that's so profound. There are two things I
want to call out on that anddraw attention to. First is in
everybody uses a different term,and I have a book called The
Focus business. I call it yourmost valuable customer. Listen
to your most valuable customer.
They are the people who arepaying the most, they're buying
the most, and their opinion iswhat matters most. And you
(31:04):
always want to continually gettheir insight so that part of it
is fantastic. The other thing isunderstanding that entrepreneurs
and employees are driven by twodifferent things entirely.
Entrepreneurs are driven by riskand reward. If I take this risk,
I can see the payoff, andthey're willing to take those
risks and make those changes,just as you did to transition
(31:25):
away from wedding work.
Employees are mostly driven bystability and security, and so
they don't want to see a lot ofchange. They're not quite as
interested in these big things,because, hey, that could change
their income. Neither is rightnor wrong. In fact, I feel like
(31:46):
the push and pull between thosetwo things is essential for
success, and your storyillustrated that so so
beautifully. So thank you forsharing that. Yeah, you're 100%
Simeon Quarrie (31:57):
right. I totally agree.
Dave Crenshaw (31:59):
So you still have people on your team, people you
still manage and lead. Oh, yes,
Simeon Quarrie (32:05):
absolutely. Now, through what we're doing, you
know, the team has grown. Itshifts and changes because we,
our key aim is to keep blendingstorytelling with technology and
the creative process. And youcan imagine that we've our Tech
has changed. We've moved fromwe've worked with virtual
reality and crafting and tellingstories where we place people
directly in the story, to thencrafting interactive experiences
(32:29):
that scale those things that wewere doing back when I was in
that boardroom with Barclays,has now changed and transitioned
a lot. So we're alwaysinnovating, and so the team
grows, and sometimes that teamhas to change in order to
facilitate the change that isgoing to happen next.
Dave Crenshaw (32:48):
What have you learned from from hiring and
leading a group of people likethat?
Simeon Quarrie (32:54):
The thing I've learned is not to focus on
hiring people that are exactlylike you. The reason I say that
is because I'm creative, and Ifeel that if I dug deeper, there
would be traits, or, you know,elements that would point to a
(33:16):
condition and to ADHD, so mymind creates these sparks right
in these these ideas, and thenwhat I'm able to do is I'm able
to create the prototype. I cancreate systems and models. But
what I don't do is I'm not theperson that will maintain a
(33:36):
system. So often, when I findmyself talking to people, I may
form a very quick relationshipwith someone who I can bounce
off the creative ideas and thesparks are flying, and it's
like, you know, we arecreatively making love, if you
see what I mean. However, I nowknow what I need is the
(33:59):
individuals within the team whowill be the reins, or they will
be the individuals that will beable to look at a system and a
model I've put together and beable to use that as a mold to go
and create really consistently,and they're Happy staying in
that space. So I've learned toidentify where my weaknesses are
(34:26):
or my differences, depending onhow you want to look at it, and
try to recruit for that. Talk
Dave Crenshaw (34:33):
to me a little bit about your personal life.
How do you make time for fun?
How do you make time for family?
Simeon Quarrie (34:39):
I struggle truthfully, with making time for
fun. The reason I hesitate isbecause I have a lot of fun
doing what I'm doing. That's oneof the lessons that I learned
very early on. So if I findmyself with spare time, I end up
tinkering and I end up. Playing,and I end up creating, and then
(35:01):
that thing I'm creating ends upbecoming a thing that we end up
working with. So I feel like Ihave crafted a role for myself
and a business whereby thethings I find fun I'm actually
doing for work. I strugglesometimes to find what that
thing is outside of work. And Ithink that's one of the things
(35:24):
with creativity, right? Is itwork or is it just part of your
natural desire to craft and toand to shape? There's
Dave Crenshaw (35:33):
an interesting book that I don't know if you've
come across it. It's a by JohnCleese creativity, a short and
cheerful guide. And it is. It'sexactly what it is. It says it
is. It's a short and cheerfulguide. But one of the things
that he talks about is the valueof how play promotes creativity,
so doing something outside ofwork helps you solve problems or
(35:57):
come up with creative ideas thatmaybe wouldn't have occurred if
you were just forcing yourselfI'm going to sit down and be
creative. Is that something thatyou found to be true for you?
Simeon Quarrie (36:09):
Yes, it is. I think I work in two modes as
part. There's one mode where Irespond really well to
constraints and time andpressure ends up being one of
those constraints. The challengeis, is that that reward system
can drive you totally in thewrong direction, from a personal
perspective, and to your point,I think I've recognized that,
(36:32):
and do allow time to give myselfspace to see what happened. And
that's how I think of it. Ratherthan it being having fun, I
think of it as providing andcreating space, because that's
where my true creativity oftencomes out.
Dave Crenshaw (36:50):
I think we could talk about this for a long time.
I'm fascinated about thecreative process and how you're
how it's working for you, andwhat you've been doing.
Simeon Quarrie (36:59):
Yes, I think that, you know, look, creative
process is something that can,in some ways, can be taught. The
bit I've had to learn is tocreate that space, but also to
allow myself to be in differentplaces and different scenarios,
because I'm in the studio rightnow. Ironically, this is no
(37:20):
longer my creative space,because the moment I'm in one
spot for a period of time, itdoesn't spark off new ideas,
because everything around hereis fixed. So I know that I need
to be placed in differentenvironments with different
people, and yes, that cansometimes be a family or a
(37:41):
different type of playfulactivity, interesting.
Dave Crenshaw (37:44):
I like that idea of placing yourself in different
environments to stir creativity.
I hadn't thought of that before,but that's really clever. Where
do you see yourself in yourbusiness five years from now?
What's the what's the plan thatyou see ahead as the visionary?
Simeon Quarrie (37:59):
The vision for me is to scale the impact of
what we do and what I do bystill keeping that unique blend
of that creativity, thatstorytelling and then also the
technology. The aim for what wedo now is to change the way
people are educated inorganizations leaning into the
(38:21):
younger version of myself,actually, as you've reminded me,
I'm actually going back to theoriginal in some ways, elements
of the original business that Iwas involved in when I was 16.
It was involved in, you know,providing an educational
resource for people that wasdifferent and it was unique. And
that's what we've now reallystarted to stumble on, is
(38:44):
learning from all of thesedifferent ways in which people
learn, the way people absorbstories, and how beneficial it
is, I can now see a reallyexciting way that we can really
scale that to reach 1000s and1000s of people.
Dave Crenshaw (39:00):
That's exciting.
I'm going to be looking forwardto seeing that progression.
Okay, so here's the pointSimeon, where, unfortunately I
have to start wrapping up. Butwhat I do with every guest that
I interview, and I know you'veheard some of the interviews, is
I like to summarize possibleaction steps that someone can
take. The idea is that someonelistening does something today
or this week, not not a monthfrom now, not a year from now,
(39:24):
something they do immediately tomake your success story a part
of their success story. So I'mgoing to suggest three of them,
and then I'd love for you tochime in at the end and add one
potential action they couldtake. Sound good. Sounds great.
Okay, the first is going back tothe beginning of your story, how
you blended technology withcreativity. And I would invite
(39:46):
someone listening to this tosay, are there a couple of
things that you're reallyinterested in and passionate
about that don't seem to connectwith each other? And then ask
yourself the question is. Are away that I could connect them
together, and within that youmight find the genesis of an
interesting career turn, orsomething that you can do that
(40:08):
makes you truly unique in themarketplace, like Simeon has
done. The other one is thatconcept of delivering to the
best of your ability. Simeon wasdoing that with the wedding
videos and the stories that hewas telling with that. And he
was doing it, the term that heused was at a very commercial
grade, meaning it's the highestpossible grade. And him doing
(40:31):
that with weddings, it opened upthe opportunity to do it for
brands and major companies. Hadhe not been doing it to the best
of his ability, that opportunitywouldn't have been there. So I
would invite you to say, Whatcould I do to do a little bit
more to increase the quality ofthe work that I'm doing, so that
it opens up the doors in thefuture, and then that one
(40:54):
concept of listening to theright voices of support, how you
were listening to people to helpyou understand what strategic
choices you'd make in thefuture. And in particular,
listen to your most valuablecustomer. Listen to that person
who's going to buy what youwant. And even if you're not an
(41:14):
entrepreneur and you'relistening to this, ask yourself,
Who is my customer? Is it myboss? Is it the boss that I want
to have? Is it the company Iwant to work for and try to get
that opinion and that will guideand influence some of your
future career choices? Allright? Simeon, those are my
three. What would you add to it?
Simeon Quarrie (41:36):
I love those three. I love those three. What
I would add is, what are youlearning about yourself? As you
listen to my story, you'llnotice that I ended up learning
a lot about myself, whether itbe the things I was
exceptionally interested in, thethings I was gravitating
towards, and then once Iunderstood how I worked, I was
(42:01):
able to lean into that sorevisit elements of your
childhood, the jobs that you'vehad in the past, what you're
doing now, and write down on thepiece of paper, look for those
patterns, those things that younotice about yourself, so that
you can use that to youradvantage, to become an unfair
(42:24):
advantage in future. I
Dave Crenshaw (42:26):
love it. What a great principle. Thank you so
much, Simeon for sharing yourwisdom and your knowledge with
us. I greatly appreciate it.
Simeon Quarrie (42:34):
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to
listen in all of your futureepisodes as
Dave Crenshaw (42:40):
well. And what's the best place for people to go
if they want to follow you, theywant to keep track of your work
and be inspired by you. Wherewould you like them to keep in
touch with you?
Simeon Quarrie (42:49):
LinkedIn is probably the best way. Simeon
quarry on LinkedIn or onInstagram, okay?
Dave Crenshaw (42:55):
And in case you're just listening to this,
quarry is Q, U, A, R, R, I, E.
Thank you very much Simeon andthank you everyone for
listening. Remember, it's notjust about the inspiration that
you receive from hearing Simeonstory. It's not just about the
knowledge you gain, but it'sabout the action that you take.
So please do one thing as aresult of what you heard from
(43:20):
Simeon today, and you'll makehis success story a part of your
success story.
Darci Crenshaw (43:30):
You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw
Success Show, hosted by my dad,Dave Crenshaw, and produced by
invaluable incorporated researchand assistant production by
Victoria bidez, Sound Editing byNick Wright, voiceover by me
Darci Crenshaw, and the music isby Ryan Brady via pond five.
(43:50):
Licensing, please subscribe tothe Dave Crenshaw success show
on Apple podcasts Spotify,wherever you like to get your
podcast. If you have asuggestion for someone my dad
might like to interview, pleasesend it to guests at Dave
crenshaw.com and please don'tforget to leave us a five star
review. See you next time you.
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