Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2julHoPn5wE&list=PLOQvdw7d0cd9RZZkd2lZy2hmrnJv-cfLI&index=33
Evan Snow: On this episode of the Choose954 podcast, we are back here on the Choose954 podcast, episode 67, with my friend Mike Hewitt of Lime Digital Agency, who’s our upcoming AAF creatives and speaker. Very grateful to have him here.
If you didn’t know about Choose954, we started a social movement to cultivate culture and community here in Broward County, where I’m very proud to be born and raised. It’s an effort to keep people informed about all the great things going on and make this a better place to live, not just a better place to vacation. The point of the podcast is to connect you with impressive people like this young man, Mike, who do important things in the community. As you’ll find out, we’re very grateful to Mike for making us look good over the years with various projects. But for those who don’t know, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself at a high level?
Mike Hewitt: Yeah, well, like Evan said, my name is Mike. I run a small creative agency called Lime Digital. We’re based here in our sunny Fort Lauderdale Fat Village area. We’re a small team and we’ve worked with a ton of different people to create really engaging online learning material, videos, courses, all that kind of stuff. Some of which, if you’ve gone to some local universities here in South Florida, you’ve probably taken a course that’s gone through our team or we’ve touched in some way.
I actually started at film school. I was always really drawn to storytelling, especially in photography, video, that kind of stuff. I really fell in love with that aspect of the creative process—taking something from an idea, talking about it, and figuring out the goal of the content and what we want the audience to take away. That’s what pushed me into the storytelling element.
Coming fresh out of film school, I, like many film students, had this idea that I’d pack up my car and head to Los Angeles. That was always my plan until the end of my career coming out of film school when I realized that’s a long way away and a big upheaval. So, I decided to give South Florida a chance for a year to see where things would fall, let the dust settle a little, and go from there.
I went 100% in, emailing different film companies here and taking any job I could get. I did a lot of production assistance-type jobs here in this area for some TV shows and movies in the Miami and South Florida area. And when I say I worked on movies, I mean I was getting coffee for people, running the clipboard, being the battery guy for the camera operators. But that opened the door to working with a company called FremantleMedia, a huge conglomerate production company based in Los Angeles but with offices everywhere. I also got into working in sports, covering college football stadiums, basketball arenas, and that sort of thing.
The whole process of live TV, especially in sports, is so much more complex. In an arena or stadium, you might have five, six, or eight cameras going at the same time, whereas in a TV studio, you might have only two or three. I really grew to love the organized chaos of it all. But as with many things in the sports world, you have to figure out what to do during the off-season.
Throughout this time, I was also fortunate enough to find a position nearly fresh out of college with my film degree. I applied for it at the university I graduated from, didn’t hear anything, applied again, still didn’t hear anything. So, I went online, found people who worked in that department on LinkedIn, and made it my goal to get in front of the head honcho. I must have gone to their office two or three times, leaving paper applications even though it was all digitized, just to make sure they knew who I was. Finally, I got an opportunity to have lunch with him, and by the time he finished his sandwich, he offered me the position. It was my sink-or-swim moment, and I was thrown into a role where I could build a team and create something from scratch.
Evan Snow: You were literally at the right place at the right time, days after graduating. But I think proper preparation put you in the right position to accept that opportunity. Now, it’s interesting how things have come full circle. You’re still doing work with your alma mater, even though you have your own thing now. It’s amazing how those connections can evolve.
For those who aren’t familiar with you, what is some of your why behind the storytelling and the work that you do now? When you start working with a new client and take on projects, what’s the why behind the work?
Mike Hewitt: The biggest thing for me is the thought that if you want to put something out into the world, it needs to be polished and perfect. But I think that can become an obstacle that stops people from sharing their knowledge because they compare themselves to others on social media or Instagram, where everything looks professional. But those people didn’t start that way—they grew into it. My biggest why is to show people that there are tools and processes within reach that can help them create and share content without feeling like it has to be perfect from the start.
Evan Snow: Amen. You can do so much with so little. And that’s why we’ve been so fortunate to work with brands and teams of all sizes, on bigger projects and smaller ones. Whether it’s a module course on diaper changing or something on tax reform, it’s not just about what the content is but how it’s shared. This has translated to over 4,000 hours of finished edited video content online.
Aside from courses, you’ve also been a Comcast Spotlight partner making commercials, and you’ve worked with the American Advertising Federation and other notable clients. Could you share some of those?
Mike Hewitt: We’ve been fortunate to work with medium-sized businesses and bigger brands, especially around sports time. We’ve done some work for Southeast Toyota and other companies during football season and March Madness. We’ve also worked with FAU, my alma mater, and various other clients. Even though we focus a lot on e-learning, we started more on the marketing side, and it’s opened up new opportunities.
Evan Snow: For those that aren’t familiar with AAF Creativity, Mike is our next speaker at our monthly breakfast lecture series, a mini TED Talk that we host for free for the creative community every second Friday morning of the month. It’s a free event with coffee, breakfast, and networking. That’s where I had my original inspiration that led me down this path of creative entrepreneurship, arts advocacy, and community building. We’re very appreciative of Mike, who helps us package it up with video so we can share it online.
If someone can’t attend but wants to know some takeaways from your talk, could you give us a little preview of what you’ll share?
Mike Hewitt: Definitely. My biggest takeaway is the importance of being open to new opportunities and not getting too caught up in titles or backgrounds. We’re in a digital age where content is shared almost immediately, and the mindset of "this is what I do and that’s it" can limit us from discovering new passions or connections. Being open to trying new things and learning from challenges has led me to where I am today, working on amazing projects with passionate people.
Evan Snow: You never know where it will lead. As we’ve discussed, you never would have guessed five years ago that you’d be flying a drone over an artificial reef deployment or shooting artists’ talks. But it’s all about being open to new experiences and continuing to learn, grow, and evolve. If someone wants to learn, grow, and evolve their brand, where can they find you online or contact you?
Mike Hewitt: You can reach me at mike@limedigital.biz. You can find us on social media as Lime Digital Agency on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We’re here for all sorts of projects, whether it’s editing, advising, consulting, or conceptualizing.
Evan Snow: We encourage everyone to join us every second Friday morning of the month, including this upcoming Friday, September 10th, at General Provision’s downtown location. It’s a free event open to the community, and you can co-work for free at General Provision for the rest of the day. If you want to find out more about great events coming up, check out Choose954 on Instagram, Facebook, and the interwebs. We hope to see you at Creative Zen and other events like the Female Brew Fest. Anything else you have coming up that you’d like to share?
Mike Hewitt: I’m currently working on an online course to help people share their knowledge and overcome the obstacles of creating content. It’s about using free tools and resources to put something together and share it with the world. I’m hoping to have it out by the end of this year.
Evan Snow: That’s phenomenal. We’ll definitely be glad to plug and promote it. We hope you can join us Friday, September 10th, and every second Friday morning of the month. We have some phenomenal speakers lined up and a special surprise exercise this Friday morning. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. We appreciate you tuning in and look forward to seeing you at General Provision on Friday, September 10th, 2021. You guys have a good one.
Mike Hewitt: Cheers.
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