5 Must read Business books for filmmakers - Den Lennie

Howdy, folks. Dan here. How you going.

This week? I am talking about my five favorite business books. You know, I never used to read when I was at school. It wasn't something you'd ever find me doing. But getting into business, I found a real love of business books. And the reason I love them so much is because you get to shortcut your way to success by reading about how others did it. Now, I still do read a fair bit in traditional sense with actual books or on the Kindle, but my preferred way of reading is using Audible. I sometimes drive great distances because Australia is a big place and what I love about that is getting in the van and throwing an audiobook on. Now, one of the hacks I have for listening to Audible, because sometimes the boots can be 10 or 12 hours long, is to listen to them at 1.5 times speed. And in some cases I can listen to them at two times speed, but it tends to be a bit too fast. But if you want to, you know, accelerate the way and the speed at which the information gets into you, then think about reading books or listening to books at 1.5 times speed. But these five books I want to share with you today have had a profound impact on me and how I think about business and really on my mindset. You know, I find that the sometimes the biggest challenge when growing a business is thinking big enough and not being caught up in your old belief systems and thoughts and actually allowing yourself to think bigger and to overcome challenges and think of creative ways to build your business. So I hope you enjoy this. I've enjoyed sharing why with you and I'd love to know your comments on what books you like. So please let me know in the comments or on social which books you like, which ones you recommend. If you think there's other books I should look at, I would love to get your feedback. So, yeah, enjoy the show.

Welcome to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast. Each week we uncover the secrets to creating a wildly successful and scalable video production business. With your host, Dan Lenny, discover how the accelerator program is transforming the lives of our members at www.videobusinessaccelerator.com. enjoy this episode.

Well, reading books, it was never actually something I loved doing when I was growing up. In fact, I barely read any books as a kid. But when I started running a business back in 2009, I found myself really, really getting into books because it's where you get the information on how not to do things or you learn the value of somebody else's experience. And given that Running a business is such a massive learning curve. Constantly. I'm a great believer that, you know, why not shortcut some of the mistakes by learning what doesn't work? And probably since 2009, God knows how many books I've read dozens and dozens and dozens. And my preferred method of reading books is, is on audible because I can be driving and I can listen to them at one and a half times speed and just pack a lot of information. But I wanted to talk today about five books that have certainly had a massive impact on me. Now I was, I'd be hard pushed to find a favorite, but I'm going to kind of, you know, go through them one by one and give you an idea of why I find each book so interesting. So I'm firstly going to start with Great By Choice by Jim Collins. Now this is a great book because I love the way it's written.

It's a study of multiple companies over a nine year research period where the author Jim Collins and his team studied businesses in different sectors and tried to understand why some businesses experienced as much as 10x growth when others didn't.

And they came up with this notion of the 20 mile march. It was a distinguishing factor to a pretty overwhelming degree between the 10x companies and the comparison companies in the research.

The principle that I really took away from this book was in relation to your video production business is that solid research based on empirical evidence rather than knee jerk reactions and whimsical business ideas is far more sensible. If you want to achieve the growth plans and financial goals you desire, you have to set a very clear plan and then work extremely consistently at a measured pace that will allow you to weather any storms you might face in the process and keep you on track in your intended destination. So what I mean by empirical evidence, I mean we measure data, we grow. We don't simply go, oh, I think this or I feel that we work based on data.

So a good 20 mile march has the following seven characteristics. It has clear performance markers. You need to be measuring how you're going, how you're doing and how you're going to get there. You have to have self imposed constraints. That means you've got to be disciplined, you've got to be doing things that are appropriate to your business. There's no point in, you know, going off and flying drones if it's not a part of your business. It's going to develop significant revenue no matter how much fun it might be.

You know, everything is largely within your control to achieve. If you've got the discipline being realistic about a proper time frame. You need to be thinking long enough in order to manage the goals, but short enough for it to have some teeth.

And the company has to control.

Its own resources. You know, it's important to say no to some things. It's important to rest. It's important to make sure. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. And you have to achieve these goals with high consistency. Consistency is one of these things that comes up again and again and again.

In the coaching side of what we do. And it's the one thing that I think video business owners struggle with the most because as creatives, myself included, you know, we just, we love new ideas. We get carried away with new ideas.

So the 20 mile march is really all about measuring your progress, being realistic about what you can achieve. And the research conducted shattered the following deeply entrenched myths.

So it said here, successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold risk seeking visionaries. Which my interpretation of that is, hey, it doesn't matter what's going on in the market. Be bold, throw caution to the wind, buy that new camera, spend the money, you know, build it and they will come. Not, not the right approach.

Innovation distinguishes 10x companies in a fast moving, uncertain and chaotic world. Well, that that myth was debunked.

Fast moving is not necessarily the most appropriate move. Sometimes sticking to what you know, holding back a little bit can be very, very valuable.

Number three, a threat filled world favors the speedy. You are either quick or the dead. Again, the research conducted shattered the myths that the fastest to market would necessarily be the best. Taking your time doing your market research, making sure there's an audience willing to buy what it is you're selling. Very, very important.

Number four, radical change on the outside requires radical change on the inside. Another myth that was debunked. You can dramatically change your offering without having to change dramatically how it is you actually serve your audience.

And then finally, great enterprises with 10x success have a lot more good luck. Luck has very, very little to do with success. It's all about consistency. And in fact, one of the other books I'm going to talk about, the Road Less Stupid is all about consistency. There's definitely themes in the books I'm going to be sharing with you that will have a dramatic impact on you. So that was great. By Choice by Jim Collins. One of the great books to read. Now the next book I'm going to suggest to you is an Absolute Gun. It's called the One Thing, the surprisingly Simple Truth behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller with Jay Pappasam. Now, this is one of the books that could quite literally transform how you view and run your business. To summarize this book in one sentence, think big, but focus on one specific thing at a time. Now.

I shut down my corporate video production arm.

About two years ago to focus fully on business coaching to help video producers and video business owners succeed. That's my one big thing. I recognized that by running a video production business and a coaching business, I was actually splitting myself into two. Now, some people, including myself, used to argue, well, how can I be coaching people if I'm not running the business as well? And it's a very, very common but incorrect assumption to make that you need to be doing the thing to be able to coach the thing. I've got plenty of experience in the industry and I've experienced lots of different ups, downs and sideways turns in business to know what you do and don't need to do. So my one big thing is helping video producers succeed. So this book dives into everything surrounding that one big thing. The key to your success is figuring out your one day goal and then working out all the dominoes that need to line up, then knock down in the right order to achieve it. It's very, very simple. But don't be fooled into thinking, because it's simple, that it's easy. Now, you've heard me talk, probably repeatedly if you know me for a while, about focusing your business on one specific area or niche. That's because once you identify that one thing, the iceberg required to achieve it at the highest level is quite a gargantuan task. However, by identifying what is most important and giving it your undivided attention, you get more done with more precision and you start to chip away at the top of the iceberg, you know, shovel by shovel. You can do two things at once, but you can't focus effectively on two things at once. So if you embrace small doses of self discipline, it will develop into long lasting habit. And when you see other people who appear to be super disciplined, what you're really observing is people who have conditioned a handful of habits into their lives. So in a nutshell, focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well. That is what will give you massive breakthroughs in your business. And it's a pretty tough thing try and wrap your head around. But I can tell you that it's had dramatic impacts on some of my best clients and they're now reaping the rewards six to 12 months later. Book number three, which is an absolute must read, is Extreme Ownership, How Navy Seals Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. This book is is, quite frankly, fucking incredible. This book is about taking 100% responsibility for your actions and relating it to running a business. When these guys get it wrong in battle, lives are at risk. But this is not some gruesome war storybook, but rather a psychological study of what it takes to take responsibility in the most extreme of environments. This book is about leadership and teamwork, but even if you don't yet have a team, there are valuable lessons about many aspects of leadership that will benefit everyone who reads it. There are so many takeaways in this book, but the main focus is on ego. It's massive and was a real revelation for me. Here's how the authors summarise their challenge of.

The dichotomy of leadership. A good leader must be Confident, but not cocky. Courageous, but not foolhardy. Competitive, but a gracious loser. Attentive to details but not obsessed with them. Strong, but have endurance. A leader and a follower. Humble, not passive aggressive. Not overbearing. Quiet, not silent. Calm but not robotic. Logical but not devoid of emotions. Close with the troops, but not so close that one becomes more important than another or more important than the good of the team. Not so close that they forget who is in charge. Able to execute extreme ownership while exercising decentralized command. A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove. I had the good fortune of meeting Jocko and spending a bit of time with him and that guy is a scary motherfucker, but at the same time so strong and humble and gracious and charming. And I recently read another one of his books which I think is called Extreme Habits or Extra Extreme Ownership the Handbook or the Field Guide. And that's another cracking one. But I wanted to keep this as the main focus here.

Now moving nicely on to another book here which is from another U.S. navy SEAL, David Goggins. And well, you know, a friend of mine said, if this is not the best book you've ever read, I'll give you 50 bucks. And I've got to say, if you don't find this book to be the most inspiring book you've ever read, well, I don't think we can be friends, frankly. It is an incredible story from David Goggins and what I would recommend when you read this book is get the audiobook because David Goggins and.

The guy who wrote it with him, whose name escapes me just now, actually debrief the chapters at the end of each chapter and give kind of anecdotal stories.

But you know, the crux of the book was that David Goggins childhood was an absolute nightmare and would ordinarily have been destined for complete failure. But he battled against the odds. He transformed himself into the person he wanted to be through self discipline, hard work and mental toughness. And he went on to become one of the world's most enduring and outstanding endurance athletes. He was a Navy SEAL who went through SEAL training three times for various reasons.

According to Outside magazine, he's the fittest real man in America.

He talks about how most of us feel like when we're exhausted we've only just achieved 40% of our potential and actually there's another 60% we can access if we have the mental discipline, the fortitude and the sacrifice to are willing to sacrifice the pain to get there.

So can't hurt me. It's not only an incredible story, but offers really valuable lessons.

For how to set and achieve your goals.

It's such an incredibly powerful story. He does things in this book which you just think, how is that even possible?

And I think my biggest takeaway from the book was the notion of callousing the mind or callousing the body. If you imagine you break an arm and where it breaks the bone heals stronger over the break and forms a callus. And he uses this notion emotionally and mentally where if you can callous your mind to suffer and experience pain and be able to withstand pain, then.

It.

Has a dramatic impact on you and on, on, on how you go about doing things. And to some tiny degree, you know, I've got this injured ankle that for many, many years I used as a real crux of why I couldn't do certain things. And one of them was I couldn't get fit because I've got this injured ankle. And I read you can't hurt me and I read what David Goggins did with broken legs and I was like, what have I got to whinge about? So I started going to gym and I've been going to gym solidly for a month now. And I'm at the gym every morning from 6 o' clock and I've learned to callous my brain. I now get up at 5:30 without even thinking about it. And we're punching weights and we were doing some weights this morning. I was amazed at my training partner how much we were lifting. And it's only really been a month. So you're capable of far more than you Realize, and that is what this book is all about. It's incredibly inspiring and certainly one of the most motivating books I have read. Ever.

So moving on. Finally, and this is probably my favorite book about business that I've ever read. It's a long one. It's 11 hours and 32 minutes on audiobook, but I've got to tell you, every single chapter is full of absolute gold. Keith Cunningham has been running businesses for 45 years. And he starts the book by saying, you know, he's a Texan, so he's pretty gruel. You know, he says, how much money would you have right now if you had the ability to unwind any three financial decisions you've ever made? Think about that for a second. I can think about the very first house that I sold when I could have easily remortgaged it. And I got. I hate to think what it would be worth now. You know, the money I spent on, you know, buying a new car.

The money we spent going on certain holidays, you know, you think, well, if I just made a better decision, how much more would I have? And anyway, the book talks about.

How he came to write this book that, you know, after a humiliatingly large dumb tax. He calls any poor decisions that cost you a lot of money the dumb tax. But it's a way of learning valuable lessons. He talks about the fact that he had. He seemed to have an unlimited ability to hit unforced errors and sabotage his business and financial success. And he talks about the fact that we probably all do that.

So we do stupid things. So he talks about the key to getting wealthy is to stop doing stupid things. You don't need to do more smart things. You just need to make fewer dumb mistakes. And one would be buying equipment. You know, how often have you gotten yourself into a frenzy over a new camera and convinced yourself the more videos you watch, the more you convince yourself you need that camera. And it takes a lot of willpower to not buy something you don't need. I see a number of people with, you know, financial problems, but they've got the latest MacBook Pro, which costs at least three or $4,000. So, you know, it's easy to spend money and it's easier to spend money you don't have on things you don't need. But he talks really about the vast majority of dumb taxes is a direct result of emotional, over optimistic and poorly thought out decisions. And if you can ever take one of those three decisions and unwind it, it's always an avoidable mistake. So he talks about business being an intellectual sport and that the principles of structure, regardless of the size of the business, the currency or the industry.

Is all about thinking time. It's all about taking the time to think about decisions you're going to make rather than just rushing in on a whim. I was having a conversation with someone recently and they're in a tough place in business just now and they started getting excited about an idea for an app. And I have to say straight away, just stop there. The answer to your problems is not developing an app. And the answer to your problems might not be certainly buying a new camera or justifying new software or, you know, buying new technology you just don't need.

So the key to this, and I mean I just don't have time to go into just how good this book is.

But it's about understanding the principles and strategies of making great decisions and minimizing risk. And his whole structure and thinking time enables you to minimize reacting emotionally and defaulting to the most obvious best idea at the moment. This is written as a series of short chapters and current subsequent thinking time questions which are designed to maximize clarity and help you make better choices and make fewer stupid mistakes.

The real secret to this book is that the chance of success goes up when you think, plan consistently, execute the right things, and worry about the possibility of loss.

And so he's got this at the end of each chapter he talks about. Here's a bumper sticker and this one is Operators React and Sweat Ownership Think and Plan. So think about how often you react to a situation in your business. What we do consistently in the Video Business accelerator is focus on executing the right things based on a plan that's strategic and set up for you to succeed. And also consider the downside. What is what could go wrong here if this client doesn't come back? What happens if this client goes away? What happens if this job doesn't happen? All too often I hear filmmakers saying, oh, I put three quotes out so I should get one of them. And the chances are you may get none of them. So it's far better to build your business in the reality space than it is in the unreality space. So there is my five books that I think are a must read, Great By Choice by Jim Collins, the One Thing by Gary Keller, Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leaf, Ba Bim and you can't Hurt Me, David Goggins, and finally the Road Less Stupid, Keith J. Cunningham. Guys, go and read those books. They are life changing and I'll see you on the next podcast.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast with your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner who who is tired of going it alone and would benefit from mentorship, support and weekly accountability, then mouse over to www.videobusinessaccelerator.com to learn more about how the Accelerator program can help you today. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on iTunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a.