Meet Adam Swords | YouTube content creator and Brand Ambassador

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Swords and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk often precedes reward, so I think it’s hugely important to take risks. That said, it’s imperative that you’re calculating those risks first, rather than just winging it each time.

Throughout my life and career I’ve always been happy to take risks and push myself out of my comfort zone. That’s where the most growth happens and in my personal experience, it’s how I’ve ‘levelled up’ in life.

A great example of risk taking was when, at 17 years old I spent my entire savings to fly out to Dubai and attend a week of photo workshops taught by industry leading photographers. The workshops themselves were great, but the relationships and connections I made that week paved the way for me to get to where I am today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a commercial advertising photographer by trade, but my career has taken a new route in the past 3 years to full time content creation, specifically on YouTube.

I’m originally from the UK and over the years I’ve shot global advertising campaigns for brands such as Honda Motorcycles, Microsoft, Callaway Golf, Nokia, Canon and many more. I’ve always loved the challenge of executing a creative brief, taking a concept and turning it in to a tangible piece of work. I love being on set and letting my creativity flow, however that’s only half (maybe less) of the life of a successful professional photographer.

The other half is spent arranging portfolio reviews, shooting fresh personal work to stay relevant between paid gigs, cold calling advertising agencies to arrange meetings…it’s a constant uphill battle to make sure that when an opportunity arises, you’re at the forefront of peoples minds.

The ‘feast or famine’ nature of the industry is taxing and I would always wish that the amount of effort I put in directly equated to the amount of money I could earn as a result. But there were months at a time where I’d be slogging away doing everything within my power to get work, but there was just nothing happening. Then I might be sat on my couch playing X-Box, eating pizza when all of a sudden an email comes in asking me to quote for a six figure ad campaign. It was a rollercoaster of emotions!

As I teenager I watched the TV show ‘The OC’ and said that one day I’d move to California, surf every day and live at the beach. In 2016 (12 years later) I finally did it and even though I’m terrible at surfing, I do live at the beach and couldn’t be happier with my decision to flee the overcast of the UK in favour of the beautiful California coastline.

As I began to re-establish myself in this new corner of the world, I saw YouTube rising in popularity and brands beginning to require more ‘social content’ to keep up with the shifting landscape of consumer behavior.

I live an active and exciting lifestyle out here and when I spoke with my friends back home they would all tell me how jealous they were that I was ‘lucky enough’ to move to California. ‘Good luck’ isn’t something I subscribe to because I think you mostly make your own luck, it was that thought that opened my eyes to the potential of creating a YouTube channel where I could motivate others to chase their dreams and live the life they had always dreamed of by documenting mine.

Utilizing my skills as a photographer and film maker, combined with my extensive ‘behind the scenes’ knowledge of how large brands advertise and finally my willingness to be in front of the camera, I saw an opportunity.

My goal was to create engaging content that would inspire but more importantly motivate people. I’m a self taught photographer from a very small town in the middle of England, if I can do it, anyone can. So I began to shoot videos showcasing the lifestyle here and mixing in genuine, real world advice with the intention of proving that anybody has the ability to live the life they dreamed of as long as they are willing to put in the work.

Financially this wasn’t a viable living to begin with and so I was still taking on photography gigs, but as the channel grew and I was able to monetize through Google Adsense and brand integrations, I could focus more and more of my time in to making videos and slowly phase out the photography work.

Knowing that the effort I put in to creating content is directly reflected in my ability to earn is a big comfort having spent almost 15 years on the commercial advertising ‘feast and famine’ treadmill. But what’s motivated me even more than that is the impact my videos have on my audience. I get messages from people saying they’ve turned their lives around to pursue their true passion or they’ve made changes to their routines to allow for more adventure after watching my videos and it truly makes my soul sing.

Sometimes it’s only when you hear the words come out of somebody else’s mouth that they really hit home. We all know what we should or could do to get to where we want to be, but it’s hard to take that first step – so it’s my mission to motivate people to take it.

My motto is “Find your everyday adventure”, which is something I live by and encourage others to as well. It doesn’t have to mean going on wild expeditions or moving to the other side of the world. By doing something a small as driving home a different route from work or taking a walk around your neighbourhood after dinner, you’ll be amazed at the new things you experience and you never know what the ripple effect will be.

I’m proof of how embracing that mentality can take you to amazing places, so I encourage your readers to do the same. What’s the worst that can happen?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Here’s my hit list of things to do if you’re around here: – Ride a jet ski to Catalina Island.
– Go Snorkeling in Laguna Beach (Shaws Cove is a great spot)
– Drive up and down PCH between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach and count how many supercars you see.
– Head up to Hermosa Beach for happy hour at Tower 12 by the pier.
– Road trip to Las Vegas for a couple of days (2 nights is plenty!)
– Rent a duffy boat and bay cruise around Newport Habour.
– Lay on the beach and pretend you’re Ryan or Marissa from The OC.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to say thank you to Chase Jarvis for giving me the opportunity of an internship and teaching me the ropes of running a photography business. Also for opening my eyes to the creative possibilities that lay outside of the traditional job description of a photographer. His entrepreneurial spirit was a huge motivation to me when starting out on this creative journey.

Instagram: @AdamSwords

Twitter: @AdamSwords

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamswrdz

Youtube: youtube.com/adamswords