BusinessLife Spotlight: David Scheinmann

Today’s BusinessLife Spotlight is an old friend of Peter Marcus: David Scheinmann. David and Peter have known each other for the last 40 years, both having grown up in Manchester, UK, where David was a close friend of Peter’s sister and nephew.

Professionally, David is a photographic artist, film director, screenwriter, and most importantly, a father. In our Spotlight, we’ll be exploring David’s career and how it has grown and benefited alongside Coach Peter Marcus.

How their working relationship began

David and Peter’s working relationship started as David was beginning his photography career. At the time, Peter had a showroom in New York and lent David some wall space.

Flash forward to 2009, David was living in LA as a filmmaker and photographer. Meanwhile, Peter was living in Monterey and was continuing his journey into BusinessLife coaching. David and Peter would go on to cross paths again, and David become one of Peter’s Superstar coaching clients.

David began his coaching journey with Peter through check-in calls on a weekly basis. These check-ins played a significant role in David’s life today as Peter helped David build awareness of how to succeed as a director, photographer, and artist.

As a coach, Peter was a mirror to David’s growth, which David found both empowering and humbling. Peter helped David understand the value he brought, as well as express gratitude which made David a better artist and businessman overall. The more David put into coaching, the more he could perform at a higher level.

Today, David sees Peter as indispensable because Peter has helped him bring inspiration to people as a filmmaker and a parent. His purpose is to be “an inspiration,” and by centering everything on this profound personal truth, David knows he is doing the right thing.

Moving through his career with coaching

From a very young age, David knew that he wanted to be in the photography and film industry. So, in 1985, he jumped right into the commercial TV and film world after he graduated with his degree in photography.

David’s career as a photographer began with shooting ads for companies like British Airways, as well as record covers – shooting for Cher, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Dire Straits, and many more famous artists. At the height of his successful career as a commercial photographer in the ‘90s, David began a slow transition into film via commercials and music videos.

In the late ‘90s, David began dismantling the career he’d built and decided to retrain in film. He attended film festivals, acting workshops, producer courses, script writing, and courses on editing intellectual property. He took a leap of faith into the film world, so his career as a photographer began to change direction.

In ’04 to ‘06, David made his very first film and got the attention of a few West Coast film festivals. From there, he moved to LA, got an agent, and lived there for the next 3 years. David reconnected to photography differently at this point in his life – he began his exploration of the human condition and in capturing the human side of people’s lives.

Working independently and selling his work more freely than before, David became a new type of photographer. He now makes a movie every so often, doing what he really wants to do and being satisfied with it. It isn’t the glamorous life he once had, but he finds so much more value in doing what he loves to do instead.

New capabilities from coaching

Through his coaching relationship with Peter, David found new heights to what he is capable of. He discovered his armor from a place of personal truth, figuring out what is essential in his life, separating the fake from what has integrity. As someone that was motivated from a position of truth and clarity, coaching has helped David gain self-awareness and a way to be true to himself both in business and in life.

By asking vital questions, Peter helped David understand that if you’re a fake, you are going to get found out. Coaching has helped David understand the importance of doing what he wants and learning how to follow his heart. Peter never told David what to do, but where to courageously build stepping stones for himself.

Collaborations in business

One of the things Peter recognized in David early on was his ability to write and communicate effortlessly. So, to Peter, it made sense to collaborate with David in the early days to get his coaching materials started. Just as Peter has helped David in his growth professionally, David has played a vital part in helping Peter express what he was doing.

Looking forward

One year ago, David decided he wanted to build an artist practice. Since that, he rented a space dedicated as his studio to his artistic practice. The clarity of intention has manifested itself. David had been a commercial artist, running a business his whole life. He is at a point in his life where his goal is to become an artist unencumbered by the need to sell pictures – he just wants to move into just being an artist.

David believes in the pursuit of a life of higher practice where work will be worth more because of his niche in telling stories about people. He wants to keep digging deep and produce works of art about coming of age, about people’s lives, and their personal journeys.