How to Monetize Your Passion

Join us to learn about how to turn doing what you love into a business! This class will take you through how to create a sustainable business plan and how to get your business off the ground. Join fellow future or early business owners to learn how to identify your custom base, ways that monetize your product and the benefits of an LLC from a seasoned business owner and instructor.

Who am I? Isn't that what you want to know? I'm a passionate storyteller who's just as passionate about my family and my friends. I was born in Levittown, New York but moved to Atlanta in 1973 with my family. In 1982 I attended and then graduated in 1985 from Belmont University. I majored in Recording Engineering and Music Business. After graduating, I interned at Studio One in Doraville, Georgia. It was there that I worked with Johnny Van Zant (lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd). In 1993 I sold a business to pursue video and story telling. The only thing was I didn't know what story to tell, so I told other's stories. I shared their lives with their families and friends, and along the way I grew into teaching film and video. Teaching was something I never knew I could do-but I excelled and found my passion. and in 2009, I took everything I learned through the years and began teaching film and video at Alpharetta High School. And over the years, our program piled on the accolades, winning 32 Student Production Awards (Student Emmy Awards) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. I focused on documentaries, teaching students how to uncover a story and dive deep to get the story behind the story! I also helped students learn how to monetize their passion and build a sustainable business. In 2012 I started The Alpharetta Film Academy and began teaching film to students in an Academy style teaching system–that was the beginning of the Winston-Salem Film Academy that I started in 2023. In 2016, I was honored by the Student Television Network as their Teacher of the Year for the entire country! My network had grown nationally as my students got accepted to film schools across the country. And then in 2018, I became an Apple Distinguished Educator. I retired from teaching in Alpharetta, Georgia and relocated with my wife to Winston-Salem in 2022. That same year we started Misner Media and entered and won the Winston-Salem Business Plan Contest. As Misner Media grew, so did my love for giving back to my community. In 2023 I volunteered at the Winston-Salem Street School, teaching entrepreneurship and worked with Alan Shelton at Mixxer to develop a program to teach story-telling and monetization for students in Winston-Salem.

This class is for makers ages 18 years old and older. Please email workshops@wsmixxer.org with questions or comments.

Workshops must meet a minimum number of registrations.  Mixxer may cancel workshop 48 hours prior to start time, if minimum is not met. Should you need to cancel your registration, 48 hours notice is required to request a cancellation, refund or credit to future workshop date.