Are you a Tradesperson or a Business owner? EP #123 - Shorty - Den Lennie

G', day, guys. Dan. Lenny here on Tuesday 13th October, we're up to week 42 of 2020 and dropping in here for a little shorty. And that's just for the benefit of Benjamin, who listens to the show every week and loves the way I say shorty. So that's one for you, Ben. We have just come off our week coaching call one of two that we do, and we've got some really fascinating insights to share with you today about how that call went.

So as I do with these shorties often refer to what we've been sharing in our video business accelerator, because I think there's things that we talk about that might benefit you if you're sitting, listening to this and you're, you know, thinking about your business and how you can scale.

And if you're not, then you're probably listening to the wrong podcast because this is called how to Scale a Video Business. And what came up today was a common problem that we have with our members, which is a great problem to have, which is because of the structure and the discipline, the methods that we use to help filmmakers grow and scale their business. They reach a point where they get to a capacity issue, but they literally have so much work that they're struggling to break through the kind of freelancer mindset, if you like, where we're used to doing everything ourselves, keeping all the money so we can maximize profit. And this is happening with a couple of our members just at the minute where they've just. The marketing they've been doing has been working so well. And when I say marketing, you know, we have very simple strategies that we use that don't involve being really salesy, don't involve having to kind of, you know, do a ton of work. But it is about consistency. And we were talking today about the fact that to get a business really running the way you want it, to get away from that feast and famine, that roller coaster, if you like, where you're either really busy and you've got lots of work or you're quiet sitting at home wondering about whether a job is coming from. What we look to do in the accelerator is create a kind of more of a travelator, more of a conveyor belt, more of a, if you like, a smooth running process that will help you to build sustainable, consistent business, but also manage the capacity for doing the work. And so, you know, one of the challenges which comes up often is that, you know, the marketing that we do works very well. And so you end up with a lot more work than you anticipated. And there's always a tipping point where you're kind of doing everything yourself until a project comes along and sort of tips you over the edge. And you end up with just so much work that you kind of drop the ball or you kind of miss a deadline. And so one of the topics we went into a lot of detail today was how do you. How do you combat that? Because not everyone is. Is keen to hire team or even outsource editing. And editing is one of the easiest things to outsource, but also one of the most difficult to get out of your head and into a process. Now we have a structure for doing that, but it's still challenging because we have to let go of control. And that's one of the most challenging things we can do. I remember my own journey, you know, having to experience letting go of control. And it's very difficult to do when you know what you want in your own head. And sometimes, you know, you haven't quite formulated the story when you're. When you're editing it, and when you're editing, it's when you do it. So that's. That's more difficult to outsource. And really the secret to that is actually hiring an editor full time. But that's perhaps for down the line. What I wanted to share today was the fact that if you're reaching a point where you've got too much work, then you have a capacity issue, and that's when you start to drop the ball. And a few of our members are hitting that point just now. And so we've been working with them to help figure out how to kind of best combat that. But another member this morning raised a very, very good point. And this particular member is very articulate, and I always love hearing his perspectives. And one of the great benefits being in this community is the strength of the experience that is sitting on a call. And so we have a very abundant and open sort of manifesto, if you like, where we create a safe space where people feel they can share if things are not going so well, or share successes when they're happening as well. And so today we were talking about this notion of, you know, it, there's two types of filmmakers and, and. And you know, you are. You're a tradesperson, essentially where you are, you know, you're on the tools, you're doing the work, you taking the invoices, you're processing them. And. But you are kind of one man band tradesperson. And. And that is completely okay to be that tradesperson and then there's another type of business owner, which is the person who decides they want to be more than just a tradesperson. They want to start taking on bigger jobs and hiring other tradespeople to backfill so they can manifest more opportunity, but at the same time still choose to do the odd job if they want to. But you've got to build some resources around systems and processes and.

You know, create some kind of guidelines for what your expectations are. And that will take a little bit of work. And that's something that we work on continually inside the accelerators as of which to streamline that process. But, but both are okay if you want to be a tradesperson or you want to be a business owner, both are okay, but they take different disciplines. And so, you know, if you're reaching a point where you've got too much work, you have to make a decision. It's a fork in the road, you know, do you. If you want to achieve a certain level of income, then you have no choice really but to, to go to the business owner stage. If you want to. If you want to achieve financial freedom, if you want to achie creating revenue without you having to pick up a camera, then you certainly have to consider the business owner pathway. And that's really where we provide the most value inside the accelerator. It's. If you're looking to bridge that gap from freelancer, tradesperson to business owner, but occasionally going on the tools, then that's where we have our sweet spot. And actually on Thursday, the podcast we're dropping on Thursdays with Tim Arch has been through that journey in the last 20 months and has totally and utterly gone from being the tradesperson to the business owner and seen an enormous growth in his business, including, you know, spending more time with his kids, him and his wife co parenting, you know, full time, their children. And that's a beautiful story. And, you know, Tim will share that with you on Thursday, so make sure you listen out for that.

But if you're in that position where you're at that tipping point, it's quite a terrifying stage because I know from my own journey, you know, managing people is very difficult and it's very difficult if you don't quite know what it is you want to do, especially when we, when we struggle to let go of our own control over creativity. And so I totally get it, you know, and we were supporting a member this morning who's going through this. And, you know, growing a business is challenging. It's even more challenging if you're doing it on your own. Thankfully, within the group there's a lot of support and I think that that really is one of the huge benefits that members tell me. We are fundamentally a coaching business. It's a coaching program like I coach you week in, week out. We have a training library of resources which support that. But one of the big assets is that we get together on a phone call, on a video session every Monday or Tuesday if you're in the UK or in Australia, Monday if you're in the us and we get on that call and we have six hours a month of coaching, live in the room coaching. And it's on those calls that we have so many breakthroughs. And people often tell me when they're just listening into the calls, they're picking up so much information. But today was a very open session. And so we did a couple of things. We looked at Tim's client avatars and we dug deep into them to help him extract copy from a process we have called the Ask Framework. And then we worked with a few other members who were just having a few challenges and we were able to kind of give them support and help them kind of break through that next stage. And one of the things we were working on at the minute is, you know, looking at ways to outsource editing and how do you, how do you pitch that to freelance editors and how do you actually, you know, create the job description, if you like, that's going to be remote. So we're always, we're always adapting and adjusting our course, if you like, in, in terms of, you know, what, what, what we're doing and what we're not doing. And it really is. I'm very proud of the guys and girls who are in the program. You know, it's pretty intimate. We don't have tons of people on a call. This isn't a kind of one size fits all. It's very much. If you are a freelancer who's looking to bridge that gap between freelance and running a business, then this will really, really help you. And if you're interested in learning more about it, just reach out to me on LinkedIn or drop me an email. Denleny.com Happy to have a chat and see if it's right for you. We do have a kind of application process. We don't just let anybody in. It's not about that. It's about the right people getting the right support. So that's something you're interested in. Please do reach out. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while and kind of a lurker and things aren't going so well, then also reach out. You know, even if we don't decide it's the right fit for you and us to kind of work together on a call, we can at least give you some ideas and some strategies. Because I had this situation the other day. Someone asked me, like, why are you giving away free calls? What's in it for you? What are you selling? And it's like, well, we're actually not selling anything because until I know more about you and your business and what your challenges are, I actually don't know if I can help you. And so we're not just selling a course. We want to make sure we're fulfilling, you know, helping people with the right kind of support. And if and if we feel we can support you, then we have a couple of ways in which we can do that. But we don't just sell a course because we want to make sure that, you know, we're getting the right fit so we can get you results. And that's ultimately what matters to me because, as I say to all my members, if you win, I win. And so my primary focus is helping my members succeed and achieve greatness. And that's really what it's all about. So anyway, guys, make sure you tune in on Thursday for an amazing podcast with Tim, and until then, have a great week. You've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner who's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support, and coaching, then check out how you can work with me over@denleny.com 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 review. And don't forget to share if you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers, you know, then please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that. That you might be in. See you next week.