Mike, David, & Anika from Projectline

Mike Kichline, David Jones, Anika Lehde, with Director RJ McHatton

It was a sunny, warm day as I ventured over to the Projectline offices in Seattle. I was there to interview the top leadership team of Mike, David, and Anika, the founders of Projectline, for the Puget Sound Business Awards for their “Best Workplaces in Washington Award.” Projectline is a Marketing and Advertising firm. I was very impressed with the enthusiastic team and their laid back offices. Once we sat down for the interview I learned that there is way more to this story than I anticipated. Mike, David, and Anika are incredible leaders with a deep passion for creating a fun workplace, where creative people can be creative and supported by the entire team. We did our interview in a room with a foosball table, kitchen, and big red couches. I learned that Projectline is a very successful company that has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the USA by INC Magazine. They have over 100 employees, but the company still feels like a family anda team of friends. I really enjoyed my visit with Mike, David, and Anika and appreciate their hospitality.

Jim Rogers, Alex Bogaard, Tracy Johnson of Rogers & Norman Insurance

Jim Rogers, Alex Bogaard, Tracy Johnson, and Director RJ McHatton

I really enjoyed my interview with the team over at Rogers & Norman Insurance of Seattle. They were nominated as one of the very Best Workplaces in the state of Washington. Tracy Johnson is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm and she really set a positive tone for our interview. She is an awesome leader who goes the extra mile to help inspire her team to make each employee have a fun place to work. Jim Rogers was very philosophical about the importance of the Core Values of the team, that everyone be treated as we each would like to be treated. Jim talked a lot about how its vital to hire good people with integrity and character. Alex Bogaard reinforced how important the Culture was to the success of the organization. I learned a lot.

Bob Frause interview - CEO of Frause

Director RJ McHatton with Bob Frause

We were asked to go interview Bob Frause at Frause in Seattle for the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Best Workplaces” video project. Bob is the CEO of a PR company named after himself in Seattle. I was very impressed with Bob’s philosophy about the importance of ethics and treating people right. Bob is a great guy who really believes the secret to success is to have a great attitude and to always serve others. You can learn more about Bob and his team at www.frause.com

Gordy Graham on Transitions

Gordy Graham with Joe Cargile

Gordy Graham stopped by to brainstorm about a new series of Videos he wants to make about the topic of Transitions. I have known Gordy Graham for over 20 years now and he always makes me think about life and change. I took Gordy into our green screen studio and started recording some of his thoughts about transitions. Gordy feels that so many Americans are going through transitions, whether it be transitions from the loss of a job or transitions from divorce or the transition from changing of a career path or the loss of a 401k. We agreed that Gordy was right on about the need for such a video DVD. So we set up a time for Gordy to come into our studio to record his new DVD on Transitions (COMING SOON).

Dave Lockwood Memorial - Tumble Creek, Cle Elum

Dave Lockwood is the little boy in this picture

I got the call that Dave Lockwood had passed away in a terrible accident near Roosevelt Lake in Northeastern Washington. Dave was a very well known builder-outdoorsman in Snoqualmie Pass and Suncadia Resort. His family contacted me to see if I could prepare a professional Memorial Video and also to record the actual event and to interview several people who knew Dave. Dave Lockwood was one of those unique individuals who seem to touch so many people who do not know each other. Dave led a full life, from Michigan to Texas to Washington. A successful businessman, more importantly he was a successful human being. It is very inspiring to learn the story behind this man.

Joe Cargile - Spanish Voice Over Recording

Joe Cargile records Spanish Voice Over for Director RJ McHatton

Joe Cargile is an intern visiting from Auburn, Alabama, helping Cathy Crosslin with her new company InStar Performance. Once we heard that Joe had spent a year in Spain, we recruited him to record a Spanish-language Voice Over for a series of videos from a seminar by nationally known motivational speaker, Gordon Graham. I first met Joe’s father when I went back to Saginaw, Michigan to interview several employees and managers at Plant 6 of Delphi Steering. Joe’s father Curt was one of those I interviewed there in Saginaw. Joe turned out to be an awesome speaker in the Spanish-language, so the recording sessions went well. We shot four hours worth of Spanish language with Joe. Next stop is the actual editing of the language tracks into the video footage.

Scott O'Brien - interview for his father's Video Biography

Director RJ McHatton with Scott O'Brien

It was a gorgeous day as we drove up to Cashmere, WA . We decided to go interview Scott O’Brien for his dad’s video biography on our way to a family funeral down in Oregon. My Suburban was occupied by my son Jason and my great-granddaughter Virdenna. It was one of the hottest days of the year in the Seattle area, so it was fun to go up in the higher elevations towards Cashmere. Cashmere is located north of Cle Elum in Central Washington. Scott had hired us to make a professional Video Biography on the Life and Times of his father Michael O’Brien. Over the past few months I had interviewed Mike several times up in Edmonds and several of his kids. Scott was to be our final interview for this project. As we arrived at Scott’s business, Jim’s Auto Sales, we were very impressed with the cool selection of cars on his lot. Scott did a super interview. We went ahead and shot lots of footage of the cars and trucks and did another interview of Scott for a possible TV commercial we want to do for him. You can see a short clip from our Video biography of Michael O’Brien by clicking here: VIDEO CLIP