Go with your gut feeling | Magnus Walker | TEDxUCLA

TEDx Talks
3 Jul 201419:05
EducationalLearning
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TLDRMagnus Walker recounts his journey from a working-class upbringing in England to building a successful clothing company, film location business, and classic Porsche collection in LA. Despite having little education, he followed his passions, took risks, and leveraged serendipitous opportunities that arose. His philosophy of going with your gut instinct, staying dedicated to what you love, and not overplanning has enabled rewarding creative freedom. The short film about his Porsche obsession brought unexpected publicity and connections, affirming his unconventional path of doing what he enjoys.

Takeaways
  • 😀 Left school at 15 with no clear future path, came to the US at 19 seeking opportunities
  • 🚗 Had a lifelong passion for Porsches stemming from childhood experience seeing one
  • 👔 Built a successful punk rock clothing company in LA called Serious Clothing
  • 🎥 Accidentally fell into a lucrative film location rental business
  • 🚘 Eventually started restoring, racing and collecting classic Porsches as a hobby
  • 🎞 A chance encounter led to a viral film called Urban Outlaw documenting his Porsche passion
  • 👍 The film brought him widespread recognition and partnerships with major brands
  • 😊 Attributes his success to following his passion, taking risks and not overplanning
  • 🌟 Became an inspirational figure for many who connect with his authentic unconventional path
  • ✨ Continues following his passion into unknown opportunities instead of a fixed career plan
Q & A

  • What inspired Magnus to start collecting and restoring classic Porsches?

    -Magnus had loved Porsches since he was 10 years old when he saw a white Martini Porsche at a car show. This early passion for the brand stuck with him over the years. He started racing Porsches in 2001 which further fueled his interest. Around 2008-2009, he decided to begin restoring some classic Porsches as a new hobby and creative outlet.

  • How did Magnus build his clothing company from scratch?

    -In the late 1980s, Magnus started selling vintage clothing he found at yard sales and thrift shops on the Venice Beach boardwalk. This slowly grew into his company called Serious Clothing which he ran for over 20 years, outfitting rock stars and celebrities. The company had its own unique punk rock-inspired aesthetic using non-traditional fabrics.

  • What pivotal moments or turning points impacted Magnus's journey?

    -Key pivotal moments that opened up new opportunities for Magnus include: moving to LA in 1986 on a leap of faith, starting his clothing company by chance selling customized pants, buying an old warehouse building downtown in 2000 which launched his film location rental business, and the Urban Outlaw documentary in 2012 which dramatically raised his profile.

  • How did the Urban Outlaw film come about?

    -In 2012, filmmaker Tamir Moscovici reached out to Magnus after seeing some articles about him online. Tamir flew to LA to make a short YouTube documentary about Magnus and his Porsches. The film grew into a 32-minute documentary which gained widespread popularity, greatly expanding Magnus's following and opportunities.

  • What approach does Magnus take in pursuing his interests and business ideas?

    -Magnus relies heavily on intuition and gut feelings to guide him. He believes in taking risks, keeping an open mind to possibilities, and not overthinking or overly planning things. He pursues what he is passionate about rather than carefully mapping out a strategic business plan.

  • Why did Magnus decide to close down his clothing company Serious?

    -After 20 years of running Serious Clothing, Magnus felt they had gotten stagnant and he wanted a change. The exposure from the Urban Outlaw film brought new prospects so closing Serious freed up more time for Magnus to pursue other interests. He still retained the rights to the clothing designs.

  • How did Magnus's relationship with Porsche develop after the film?

    -Impressed by Magnus's passion, Porsche reached out after the film's success. They invited him to Stuttgart, incorporated him into dealer events and commercials, and asked his opinion to better understand the views of Porsche enthusiasts.

  • What other business opportunities arose following the film?

    -The film generated interest from major brands like Nike, Oakley, Bentley, BMW, and Volvo that were drawn to Magnus's authentic approach. They consulted with him and valued his unconventional viewpoint.

  • What motivated Magnus to leave home as a teenager?

    -Growing up working-class in Sheffield, Magnus felt limited future prospects so he took a chance to work at an American summer camp. This first trip to the US opened his eyes, showing the possibility of self-reinvention and pursuing his interests.

  • What message does Magnus try to convey to audiences?

    -Magnus encourages people to follow their passion, take risks on opportunities that feel right, ignore self-doubt, and stay fiercely dedicated to whatever they wish to achieve or create.

Outlines
00:00
😃 Summary of Early Life and Interests

The passage details Magnus Walker's early life growing up in Sheffield, England in the 1960s. He left school at 15, had interests in running, heavy metal music, and became enamored with Porsches at his first auto show. After reading about a program called Camp America, Walker left England at age 19 to work at a summer camp in Detroit.

05:01
🇺🇸 Move to America and Starting a Clothing Company

The passage discusses Walker's subsequent immigration to America, where he had a chance encounter selling customized pants in Los Angeles. This grew into the Serious Clothing company, which did music videos and magazine outfitting. In 2000, they bought their own building in downtown LA which accidentally launched them into the film location rentals business.

10:02
❤️ Restoring and Racing Classic Porsches

Walker details his long interest in Porsches stemming from childhood, and his eventual first purchase of one in 1992 while his clothing business grew. He began racing in 2001, then restoring classic Porsches as a hobby and posting online, leading to some magazine articles.

15:06
💡 Pivotal Moment and Reflection

The passage concludes with Walker noting a pivotal moment 2 years prior, when a filmmaker approached him to do a documentary. This greatly elevated his visibility after it was released online and led to media opportunities and connections with major brands. Walker reflects on following intuition and dreams.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Porsche
Porsche is the luxury sports car that Magnus fell in love with as a child and became his lifelong passion. It represents his dreams and aspirations. Throughout the video, Porsche cars feature prominently as symbols of his journey to build his clothing business, film location rental business, and Porsche collection in LA.
💡passion
Passion is a recurring theme in the video. Magnus attributes much of his success across various unconventional careers like clothing design and Porsche restoration to following his passions. He believes passion can motivate perseverance when tackling new challenges without formal training.
💡freedom
Freedom is core to Magnus' approach to life and business. Coming to America represented the "land of opportunity" and freedom to him. Building his businesses allowed the freedom to do what he loves. He defines success as the freedom to do whatever you want.
💡journey
Magnus frames his life story as a journey filled with serendipitous events, course corrections, and leaps of faith rather than a planned path. His journey has evolved over 28 years in America from odd jobs to running successful clothing and film location businesses while pursuing his Porsche dreams.
💡leap of faith
Magnus credits much of his success to taking "leaps of faith" by following his instincts and gut feelings to pursue unconventional paths without overplanning, like coming to America or buying an old building to start a new business.
💡restore
Magnus taught himself to restore classic Porsche cars through passion and motivation despite having no mechanical background. Restoring rare Porsches became a gratifying hobby and part of his identity and personal brand.
💡Urban Outlaw
This refers to the short documentary film made about Magnus' life and Porsche collection by chance in 2012. It went viral and transformed his exposure and opportunities, acting as a pivot point in his journey.
💡inspirational
Magnus says the most rewarding aspect of his unexpected fame from the "Urban Outlaw" film is hearing that people find his story inspirational. This reinforces the message that passion and perseverance can make unlikely dreams come true.
💡motivation
Magnus emphasizes that passion, dedication, motivation and focus were key to teaching himself new crafts like Porsche restoration and achieving results without formal training through uncertain journeys.
💡open road
In the closing lines, Magnus uses the metaphor of being "on this open road, along for the ride" to describe his openness and optimism about the unknown opportunities ahead while staying true to his passions.
Highlights

I came to America 28 years ago, and that represented the land of opportunity for me.

I had no education in them. I didn't really think I was going to end up in that particular field.

Freedom to do whatever I wanted to do, and a dream sort of to be able to --, I suppose, live my life to the fullest,

I took this leap of faith, and I applied to Camp America.

I realized in that one hour transaction, I’d made more straight away --, literally within being in LA for 3 days, than I'd made in a whole week, working construction in England.

We took fabrics that were not necessarily garment fabrics. We used some car seat fabrics, and made them into jackets, and things like that, non-conventional materials,

We always go back to follow your gut, do what you love to do.

Somehow when my gut tells me to do something, generally it’s a good thing. Hence go on your gut feeling.

If you’ve got the will, and the desire, and put the motivation in, and focus, things tend to happen.

Also a little bit of luck, and a leap of faith really help out as well.

What turned out to be a 32-minute documentary was shot over 4 days.

Within the first day, it got over 50,000 views, and all of a sudden I’d just found, this thing called Facebook.

Purely by coincidence, I had been there on 9/11 2013.

It’s almost like these people were thinking, I was some sort of focus group,

If there’s one message I can leave you with, for me --, what I’ve done over the past 28 years involved a lot of leaps of faith,

Transcripts

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