Today we’d like to introduce you to .Joseth Francois
Joseth, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is a combination of my father’s name Seth and my mother’s name Joi. I was born in Lancaster, CA and moved to Sacramento in the 3rd grade. I grew up around a family of entertainers, my father being a musician in his younger years. Many of my relatives were musicians, models, actors, etc. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to get into the entertainment space, always wanted to know what happens behind the screen. Once I graduated high school, I was interested in perusing music myself, so I produced and directed my first music video called Cherry Red. I got better feedback for the video quality than the song. Eventually, I would take these skills to Los Angeles.
When I was 18 years old, I lost my job in Sacramento for not answering a phone call. Jobless, and seeing no real opportunities in my hometown, I decided to move to Los Angeles.
Upon making this decision, I made a promise to myself that once I was in LA, I was going to make myself open and ready for as many opportunities as possible. I tried starting college, but it wasn’t something I was passionate about, and it was getting in the way of other experiences that piqued my interest much more.
I’m a planner, I have always appreciated strategy and simplicity. So, I made a plan. I was going to get the phone numbers of two people I met, every day for a year. This would: 1. Get my name out there and 2. Help me find some good friends along the way.
I actually did it! I accumulated over 700 contacts in my first year in LA. I started becoming more and more open-minded every day and with every new person, I met. But, I wanted to meet even more people. To do this, I needed the internet. I went to social media, and started to connect with people on there, and find ways to bring us all together in person.
One person I met online, is now my best friend and business associate Dominykas Zegliatis aka Durte Dom. He and I started throwing house parties in LA and considering I had acquired a network of people it helped with inviting people and staffing the parties.
Eventually, I developed a relationship with Dom’s roommates. At the time, he was living with David Dobrik and Alex Ernst. I didn’t really understand social media yet, I just knew that they had made some popular Vine videos.
One day, David asked me to help him with one of these videos. It was going to be a skit with him, and his then-girlfriend, Liza Koshy, where we were to create a secret handshake. After David posted the video, I saw an Immediate change in my social media. My follower count started increasing, I was receiving better engagement, and people even created fan accounts for me.
I was shocked by how fast it affected my social media. But, it made my original plan a lot easier. Now, I didn’t have to reach out to people, because I had people reaching out to me, and I continued to talk to people, and make as many connections as I could.
While doing that, Dom and I started to produce music videos like Gucci Bands, Vlog squad content and more, which were put out on YouTube. With all of the producing, I started reaching out to all of the people I had met around LA, and online to be a part of these videos. To my surprise, the videos were going viral, every video was getting 2 Million views or more. Other influencers saw my capabilities of getting talent to set one of them being David Dobrik and on August 6th David promoted Sertified via Instagram story. We experience over 79,000 website visits in a day. This also got the word out to many other influencers and gave us legitimacy in the space.
But, I was starting to burn out and run out of resources. I was sleeping in my car, my phone was the only connection I had to all of these people and I couldn’t even afford to pay the bill. As the business continued to grow, we continued to fall deeper into debt. At the time, we were more focused on working out deals with influencers in order to promote the company.
All the while, my personal brand began to take off, because of being a part of these videos. However, my personal accounts were looking pretty unprofessional. I had to make a choice. I needed help, but I had exhausted all my resources. So, I reached out to all of the people I had met online, that didn’t live in LA. One of the responses I got was from my good friend Jordan Sweat, who lives in Atlanta.
He promised that he could get me a job as a PA on a film set and that he would house me for a few months if I moved to Atlanta. So, there it was, I made a choice. I bought the first plane ticket I could afford, and I arrived in Atlanta with zero dollars in my bank account. But I had to explore the city, and do exactly what I did in LA, developing organic friendships and seeing where the city took me and the Sertified Casting company.
After overcoming an uphill battle with my own brand and the financial stress of a start-up company, we accumulated over 125,000 website visits and over 8000 registrations in our first year. Sertified Casting has now worked with the likes of Jake Paul (Team Ten), Anthony Padilla, Adam W, Twan, Brent Rivera, Kristen Hanby, Chris Chann, Sugar Pine 7, Colby Brock, Lil Xan, and David Dobrik. We have cast popular music videos and tv shows. We now generate enough revenue to continue expanding the company.
Sertified Casting plans to expand South and bring a positive impact via social media while creating more film and entertainment jobs.
“As much as we blame each other for the problems we see in the world, we forget to see that we are also the only solution.” – Seth Francios
Has it been a smooth road?
I basically exhausted all of my income while still having to run my company while having internet notoriety.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We do casting for film tv, commercials, music videos, and mostly social media projects. Our social media niche is what sets us apart and that’s what I’m most proud of. I really care about how social media is affecting people in real life.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, I think Atlanta is a great city to start a casting agency. We keep the relationship between productions and talent professional. If someone was starting a business, my recommendation is just to get started and evaluate on the way. You never really know what is going to happen and how the world and people will change. Adaptation is the #1 thing that will keep your business alive.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sertifiedcasting.com
- Email: admin@sertifiedcasting.com
Image Credit:
@ashlynicolephoto Instagram
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