At Around the Corner Productions, accomplishment looks like a lot of different things. As a team, we wanted to share our personal and professional highlights from this year as we look forward to the video production needs 2026 will bring.
Eric
The Year of Deere
2025 will go down as one of the best years in the history of Around The Corner Productions, which makes it difficult to choose a single project or accomplishment that stands out above the rest. One of my personal highlights was producing a video for John Deere North America. This project showcased our team’s creativity, collaboration, and execution over the span of several months.
It all began with the vision. I wrote and pitched the original script and storyboard to the client, which laid the foundation for the entire production. From there, I managed the logistics of coordinating footage from multiple locations across the United States and Mexico. It isn’t easy to send a film crew with all the cameras/lights/audio equipment on a plane…but we pulled it off! The editing process is where the story truly comes to life, and our team absolutely nailed it. The client loved the first draft, resulting in only minimal revisions.
A look behind the scenes at our set up.
From mastering the final video to coordinating translations in multiple languages and delivering finished files, every phase of the project was successful. This was an incredibly rewarding experience as all members of our team worked on this project in some capacity, and I’m excited to take on even bigger challenges and projects in 2026.
Jack
Becoming a Certified Drone Pilot
Flying a drone might seem simple: take off into the air and capture some footage. However, when you are doing it for a business, like here at Around the Corner Productions, you have to follow a specific set of rules. These include understanding Part 107, acquiring a remote pilot certificate, and registering the drone with the FAA.
Throughout the several years, Devin Harschnek has been Around the Corner Productions’ drone pilot, going on all the video shoots that required one. Relying on him as our sole pilot posed some scheduling issues. If a shoot needed a drone, Devin had to go. As a team, we found that having a second pilot would help with scheduling and give us another person with the knowledge to support bigger shoots or bounce ideas off of. We decided I made the most sense to get certified, so I set off on that journey.
Jumping into the world of the Federal Aviation Administration was a little overwhelming at first. While going through the online course, I was lucky to have Devin right next door to answer questions about reading charts, understanding METARs and TAFs, and walking through drone maintenance and flight procedures. Even with the complexity, I found it very interesting and appreciated the attention to safety that the FAA demands.
I finished the course, studied a lot, and passed with flying colors in July! While working through the material, I realized how much knowledge overlap exists between piloting unmanned and manned aircraft. This resonated with me because my grandpa is a manned aircraft pilot. When I visited him this summer, we talked all about flying, walked through his pre-flight procedures, and I even got to fly the approach over the airport. I had flown with him many times before, but having my Part 107 knowledge made it a completely different experience. I finally understood the depth of rules, regulations, procedures, and all-around knowledge that my grandpa and any pilot needs to grasp. Getting a glimpse into his world was a lot of fun..
Jack and his grandpa taking of in his Van’s RV-6A.
I’m excited for the many drone shoots ahead as I keep honing my skills in the sky.
A shot from Jack’s first drone flight as the pilot in command.
Jacob & Prushia
Organizing Video Production Projects with Notion
As Around the Corner continues to grow, so does the need to keep our growing number of video production projects organized and accessible for the whole team.
Early in the year, our team adopted the project management platform Notion as our main means of tracking project progress. Previously, our internal communication was a Frankensteined combination of Google apps, emails, free online kanban services, text messages, handwritten notes, and the office whiteboards. With Notion, we’ve been able to streamline our project workflow, making communication between team members efficient, clear, and searchable.
In the spring, a few of our ATCP staff launched an initiative to fully customize our workspace. The final result allows us to track a video project from an initial lead all the way through to the final invoice. Each step of the way, our producers, editors, and production staff can easily create and track meetings, storyboards, technical notes, production calendars, budgets, and much more. There’s now a dedicated spot for all parts of a project to live, making creative collaboration that much easier.
A look at the Notion workflow at Around the Corner.
Brad
Supporting UNI
When our clients succeed, I get a feeling of a job well done. In 2025, I have been blown away by the success achieved by the University of Northern Iowa Foundation. What started in 2022, “Our Tomorrow: The Campaign for UNI” set a goal to raise $250 million by 2026. It seemed like a gigantic task for a regional institution known best for preparing teachers & accountants for their profession. In January 2024, the UNI Foundation passed their initial goal and before 2025 closed, the generosity surpassed $300 million.
Around The Corner has been a critical video partner with the UNI Foundation since the video portion of the marketing plan cranked up in 2021. Fast forward through dozens of student spotlights, donor appreciation videos, and documenting a true celebration of a university welcoming its 150 freshman class, and I have been blessed with so many reminders of the excellent work the Around The Corner team is completing.
While I understand the full $300+ million dollars raised isn’t all because someone watched a video our team made, I do understand that our team had a positive impact on the image of the campaign, and the image of the university.
This year’s Homecoming Recap video made in collaboration with the UNI Alumni Association and Foundation.
I’ve felt the warmth this past year from staff, alumni, and community members of UNI, through their offerings of “thank you” and sometimes a “job well done”. I’m grateful to be surrounded by a talented and wonderful team at Around The Corner and be part of impacting a greater good in my community, through our work with the UNI Foundation.
Devin
Financial Literacy & Our Simple IRA
My favorite accomplishment of 2025 isn’t about video production, though we did crush it and I am quite proud of my team. My favorite accomplishment this year involves breaking down walls of confusion and taboo around discussing money and personal finance. I did this by sharing what I have learned on my journey and by connecting with the right teachers (Warren Buffett, John Bogle, Mike Finley) to help empower my team.
Over the summer we hosted Mike Finley, of The Giving Solution and The Crazy Man In The Pink Wig, at our office for three one hour classes covering investing, insurance & taxes, and personal finance. We learned about the power of owning the market in low cost mutual index funds, what Roth IRAs are, the rule of 72, and brought clarity to many more mysteries of money. Armed with this knowledge, we took action in 2025 to invest in ourselves by setting up a no fee Simple IRA through Fidelity. It’s “a low complexity plan for small businesses with up to 100 employees” and something I highly recommend any small business owner consider. We paired that with their zero expense ratio funds so our money works even harder for us. This is huge as all fees reduce potential returns. I swear this isn’t an add for Fidelity, they’re just doing a lot of things right by us.
I list this as my favorite accomplishment because of the positive long-term impact it will have on my team and their financial futures.
