Meet Pierre Xavier | Failure is Terrifying

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

Hi Pierre, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
Not being afraid of failure.

The question is; what was the single most important decision that has contributed to my success. The answer to that question starts with a 21 year old Pierre who firmly believed that “good things come to those who wait.” At 21, I was an account manager at a marketing firm who had a large direct sales contract with AT&T Wireless; a Fortune 500 company. To put that simply I was a broke door-to-door salesman working 12 hours a day, six days a week knocking on peoples door to get them to buy AT&T cable. On the bright side I did have a phenomenal mentor named Gaige Roberson. I wasn’t doing very good at sales when i worked at the marketing firm and one morning in the office Gaige and I were talking about why I wasn’t making any sales. I told him that I was a good person and a hard worker and that I firmly believed that “good things come to those who wait.” I knew that I would eventually be successful at sales or whatever endeavor i pursed because I was hard working, kind, and patient to wait for my turn for success.

My mentor Gaige looked at me firmly in the eyes and said that that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard! And then he began to explain to me that good things comes to those who chase down what they want in life, wear it down, and dominate whatever it is good that they want to happen to them. He also included that no one in life is gonna hand you anything and that if you sit around waiting for good things to come to you, the only thing you’ll get is a bunch of wasted time. It was within that moment I realized that my biggest fear was failure. I was afraid of trying and failing and because of that it made me never try and I became a person who waits for life to reward me. It’s funny because generally most people’s biggest fear is failure and sometimes its not the failure we fear but the embarrassment of the failure. We fear how people will react to our failures. But because of what Gaige told me I learned to understand that failure isn’t real if you LEARN from it. The most important decision I made that contributed to my success was to stop fearing failure and learning from my mistakes to improve my methods in filming, photography and content creation. Deciding to quit my job three years later and become a fulltime filmmaker was hard and to be honest I wasn’t exactly making more financially doing videos than I was at my day job at the time. But I knew that waiting for that big contract for a film project would never come if I didn’t leave my job and spend more free time perfecting my craft. A year later I’ve been able to employ myself fully with steady clients every month, hire a photographer and videographer to work with me on bigger projects, and grow my company at a pace that I can keep up with. Imagine wanting to win a marathon but being so afraid of losing the race that you never practice running. Then all of a sudden your in last place, panting for breathe, barley passed the starting line, and watching everyone else fly by you reaching their personal finish line. Why? Because you were so afraid of losing the race that you forgot that starting out as a bad runner and failing at exercising, and failing at practice marathons but also continuing to improve on yourself was how you prepared to run a marathon and finish. So instead of learning how to fail, you never tried at all…..and failed anyway…… All because your fear of failing also made you have a fear of trying.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Back in the early 2000’s anyone who didn’t have cable TV or satellite television only had access to about 13 channels or so free for the public called “local channels.” Thanks to streaming, today we can watch virtually any movie but anyone who grew up local channels only had access to the boring B list movies that aired on their few stations. But their were times when once every month or so popular movies like Rush Hour, The Grudge, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, or even Shrek would air. It was these few times that these A-list films played on local channels that mesmerized 7 year old Pierre and had him entranced with the ideas of film, how they work, the music, the camera angles, the cinematography. I have a very visual memory which has blessed me with an eye for knowing exactly how to film a shot and what it should look like without having to even up the camera and look through the lens first. This reason is the reason as to why I was able to adapt to the film world so quickly and improve my skills at rapid speeds.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Having people in your circle who work harder at the same goals you’re also working towards is crucial. It’s necessity. I wouldn’t be anywhere without my brother and personal business partner Sunny Nguyen. Him along with his brother Brian, my photographer and best friend Hung, and my nephew Cayden have played huge roles in reminding me that not achieving my set goals was not an option. They have kept me punctual and direct in what i need to do, improve on, and accomplish. All them inspire me and believe in me while also holding me accountable for my flaws, how i handle clients, how I approach marketing and getting better at filming content. Without them I’d still be a beginner within the game of life. They say that you are who you hang around and my circle is filled with people who all have accomplished an aspect in life I wish to obtain. I’d end this by thanking them for how they’ve impacted me but then this paragraph would never end.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepierrexavier/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/recover/initiate?lwv=120&lwc=1348092&ars=facebook_login_pw_error

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhC-tPIlMq8

Image Credits
First Photo Description: “Pierre Xavier @ Model Shoot – Los Angeles, California 2021 Second Photo Description: “Hung Pham – Team Photographer, Night Shoot with client – 2019” Third Photo Description: “From left to right – Pierre Xavier, Sunny Nguyen, Cayden Wolfe – The Spotlight Episode 2 Filming 2021” Fourth Photo Description: “Pierre Xavier Promotional Shoot for Men and Nails 2020” Fifth Photo Description: “Pierre Xavier Fashion Shoot 2019”