Name, Age, City and State: Brad Mix, 46, Live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, Companies in Edmonton AB, Franklin TN and Norco, LA

Job-title(s): ENTREPRENEUR Partner, President, Vice President, and Peon

 Web/blog site URL: www.ChristianDVD.com  www.TheTrial-themovie.com  www.mixbros.com  www.faithflicks.ca  www.pmgonline.ca

Give us your job description in 25 words or less.  As an entrepreneur I have various job descriptions depending on which company I’m doing work for. Mostly, it’s encouraging and empowering people and managing projects and writing/managing agreements.

Describe a typical workday.  On any given day I could be writing, editing and executing contracts or distribution agreements, hunting down new DVD titles we can carry, selling property leases, looking at business plans, having meetings to plan and authorize our teams to implement business strategies. I spend a lot of time communicating on the phone and by email. I love strategizing about how to land and launch new projects. I talk to my wife and/or kids at least once during the work day, and try to be home by dinner each night. I have home office and generally spend an hour or two moving various projects forward before retiring to watch news, sports and/or an episode of Corner Gas (Canadian sitcom)… and then of course, cuddling with my cute wife in bed (is that too much information? J ). 

What led you to realize that you wanted to do this type of work?  Much of what I do has just been part of our family businesses. My father and were partners until he died in 2005. I went to Bible College in the mid 80’s and realized there that my ministry was to be in business. I love selling. I love working with people. I love tackling projects. And I love visual media because I believe it speaks to and impacts culture in ways that nothing else does!

Did you have any heroes or mentors in your industry that you admired?  My biggest hero was my father. He was very humble and loved his wife and family in word and action like no one I’ve ever seen. He walked with God. He would take on challenges that no one (in their right minds) would have attempted. I’m writing a book about him entitled, “My Dad’s Tougher Than Your Dad”. Beyond that I’ve always looked up to or been impacted by Dan Howton (CEO of our multimedia company), Ken Curtis (founded Gateway Films, Vision Video), Ken Davis (comedian/speaker), Paul Young (author of The Shack book), Frank Viola (author of Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church and others), Gary Wheeler (producer/director, Level Path Productions) and Bobby Downes (ChristianCinema.com). 

What type of education or training was required to land your job?  I’ve never applied for a job in my life. I don’t have a resume. I have a Biblical Studies Degree, which has helped shape my worldview, which certainly affects the way I do business. Beyond that, my training has been “the school of hard knocks”. I was thrown into the fire, so to speak, when at the age of 24, my father released the management of one of our companies and I took over by default. I have been running that company now for over 22 years – it is now called Crown Entertainment (Edmonton, Alberta and Franklin, Tennessee).

What do you love most about your job? The people I get to work with – employees, partners, customers and vendors – each as significant as the other. I often marvel at the incredible people God has put in my life that I get to spend time with and work with and laugh with. Also, I love the satisfaction that comes from formulating a plan and seeing it come together and then impact people in various ways. Although I’ve been distributing faith-based films for over two decades, it’s only recently that I have started getting involved in actually being a part of a team that is making movies. I have to say, being a part of making a great script come to the big screen is really cool!

What one part of your job do you wish you could hire someone else to do?  Administration… the detailed stuff.

What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to get into your field of work?  Depends what field. My advice about careers is usually goes something like this… In the world, your identity is derived from what you do. I believe that God is all about relationship, so what you do is not as important as who you are and who you do it with. Put your relationships first, starting with your marriage and kids, and let what you do for money flow out of that. Once you have that in perspective, love whatever you do as a career (or don’t do it). Find something that fuels your passion, and go for it – and do it in such a way that honors God and others above yourself.

How does your job allow you to use your God-given gifts?  Interesting question – I see gifts as simply an expression of my personality and passions when I am living in the place God intends for me. Organizing and inspiring people to accomplish more together as a team than they could alone; writing and pitching investment opportunities; selling products and ideas – these are all expressions of the gifts God has graciously given me.

Do you have any hobbies or off-hours pursuits that teenagers would find of interest?  My wife and I have four kids, 12 – 18, and we live on an acreage… we quad and dirt bike, shoot the odd gopher making holes in our lawn, trampoline. My daughters play basketball and my sons are into football. Our oldest boy coaches our youngest in football. We all love to go cheer them on. We call ourselves a football family. I also play hockey (I have for over 40 years - I’m Canadian, eh!) and my favorite hobby is golf.