Being Authentic With Your Content With Matt Smolen (Part 2)

G' day guys. Dan here. And this week we are following up with the second part of the interview I did with Matt Smolin from Balloon Tree Productions. Matt is the producer and director. He's the founder and owner of Balloon Tree Productions. And in this episode I wanted him to share with us how he's able to use Balloon Tree as an investment vehicle producing great content for the clients to enable him to fund creative projects and develop his career as a director as well. And, and he's able to do that because of a great culture systems and fantastic clients. And Matt shares how he's done that and why it's important to have a creative outlet as well as running a business. But the two aren't mutually exclusive. Matt's really open and shares how he grew from that one man band to adding people into his business on a contractor basis until he got to a stage where he's now got Hayley full time and Michelle part time. And the idea is to bring more people on and expand that space. He also talks about his studio space. He's got a 4 by 8 meter white psych studio, he's got a podcast studio and hot desks. And he shares how he his vision for building that space into a creative, creative environment for others to to get together and create. Great work. Really good to have Matt on the show again. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, go back and check that out where Matt talks about how he built his business from like leaving university, being a one man band freelancer, to now having a studio space and a full time team. And how he's able to balance the commercial demands of running a business and also, you know, the creativity he wants to explore with his writing and directing. Hope you enjoy the show. Guys.

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, I'm excited to have Matt back from Balloon Tree Productions. Matt Smolin, director, producer, owner of Balloon Tree and last week we had him really deep dive into the business know growing Balloon Tree Productions and the thing we didn't get a chance to do is talk more about Balloon Tree style. Matt, welcome back.

Thanks Dan. Thanks for having me back. I've withstood the week. It's good.

Fantastic. So at one of our recent events you started telling us about a film you'd made and during lunch, we actually put the film on and it blew me away. And I'm talking about there's a mobster under my bed. And what I wanted to talk about in today's show was, you know, not only have you spent time building a really robust business with great clients and producing great work, but you've also got this parallel career as a film director. And I think what I find very appealing about your approach is that you're using the production company to fuel and create resources for your film career. Do you want to tell us a bit about lobster under your bed? And you went to Myth and you were sponsored to do a, do a fast track program. Being a director, something that's really close to your heart, isn't it?

Yeah, I love storytelling, like most filmmakers get into it for, you know, wanting to share stories and tell their own story to people. So, you know, I've never wanted to stray too far away from that when running a business. And one of the things that I identified, you know, years ago, the reason I made a web series, you know, in 2014, 2015, was that I was just working and I wasn't creating, I was just doing the work and kind of going through the motions, that I was like, I need to satisfy this creative edge again. I need to really stimulate that part of my brain that loves making jokes, making something funny and entertaining for people. And so made a web series years ago, jump forward to end of 2018, started 2019, the same thing. I could sense the same thing kind of happening. I was like, I needed to scratch that itch. So was like, you know, I need to, I need to make a short film. And what do I love more than wordplay, mobsters and Dr. Seuss novels? So essentially mashed all of them together and made there's a mobster under my bed. So the basic premise is that it's written like a Dr. Seuss novel. The whole thing's in rhyming pairs and it's narrated by this eight year old girl, this phenomenal actress called Keely. And yeah, it basically follows the journey of. She finds a mobster under her bed. Her parents don't believe her. They say there's no such thing as monsters. And she's like, no, you don't believe me, Mum, It's a mobster, like in a pinstripe suit, the whole get up. Anyway, she's underestimated and so sets in motion this sort of trap to essentially, you know, corner him, get him to admit to being a bad guy and get him arrested at the End. So the whole thing's just this really playful over the top thing with rhyming language and just crazy visual. There's a massive rat head and all this sort of stuff. And it was a real sort of labor of love in this passion project and then obviously making it, you want it to hit an audience. So we just did a bit of research into the film festival circuit and kind of went, well, you know what we're really happy and proud of this film hit all of the festivals that are.

I don't know how you best describe it, but essentially they're Academy Award accredited or BAFTA accredited festival. So if they had that saying, you know, if you won best short at this festival, you then go on the shortlist for the Academy Awards. I was like, these festivals must be a pretty, pretty big deal. So that was kind of our barrier to the ones we submitted to. And then lo and behold, we got into Myth, which was the Melbourne International Film Festival. So it's the big, it's the big one here in Melbourne, let alone Australia, one of the biggest, and does a mix of features and shorts as well. And the film and myself got accepted into accelerator, which is essentially a, you know, talent of tomorrow kind of pool for directors. So if you haven't had a short in Myth before, they bring you into this thing. It's this five day workshop where you meet other feature film directors, other shorts directors. You kind of get workshops with industry bodies, funding bodies. You then get to sit down at lunches and network. Like I sat down next to the, the head of Univers for Australia at a lunchtime. It's just like, hey, what do you want from a film? And he's like, it needs fast cars or dinosaurs. I'm like, cool, I can't afford those, whatever. But it's, you know, like, it's that kind of thing. They just really just reduce the distance between you and the people, the decision makers. And yeah, the film played really well. It played at the Hoyt's in Melbourne Central, one of the big screens here in Melbourne. And yeah, we've now, you know, it's been submitted to a bunch of other festivals as well that we're waiting to hear back from some, we got into a couple of others. So it's been a really, really exciting journey for the film that purely started as a, as a need to creatively express myself has gone on to do really well on the festival circuit.

You don't just have these kind of parallel lies, do you? I mean, I know the film is something you do in your spare time and use some of the resources from what you make at Bloomtree to fund that. Yeah, and. But the comedy and comedy writing and storytelling is something that it would just. Is it fair to say that's kind of your modus operandi? It's like if you can try and twist something into a story for a client, the clients come to you because they get that unique perspective.

Yeah, I think so. I really like deconstructing and repurposing the familiar. So I my touchstones for films that I love, like the Mel Brooks films. So Blazing Saddles is an all time favorite. Flying High, the Naked Guns, all those films that kind of par and genre and absurdist kind of humor is great. And so when approaching a project, it's always interesting to do something like that. You know, it presents something that people know in a different way and they go, oh, I now understand something different about that. You know, the web series I made years ago, which kind of led me to more TV commercial stuff, was it was about these two guys, two best friends, pretty stock standard kind of idea. Right. But each episode was a different genre. So one was a murder mystery, one was a zombie apocalypse, one was a rap battle. And through genre, you learn more about the characters by what was presented through those genres. So it was a really interesting way of kind of presenting information and then putting that into work for clients and stuff. It's like they. Especially in the learning space as well, where they've got staff members or teams that are just disinterested in watching stuff. How do you engage them in an interesting creative way? Well, if you take that information and then deconstruct it and put it together in a new way that sort of says something different about what it is. All of a sudden it's got cut through. It's going to be entertaining and exciting. You know, one of the best things we ever did was for Spec Savers, which was a conference opener to be played once and once only. And it was a Back to the Future themed conference opener. So we had like the head of optometry, who's a doctor, playing Doc. Now that's funny to the people in the room because they get the parallel. But then you can play off all of those understandings of like, they know who he is and they know who Doc from Back to the Future is. But then putting those two together creates something new. And so I think by doing that and really sort of looking at that, on every project we do, you create really interesting stuff that is memorable as well. And then People come back to us because they go, this is a great style, I'm really unique. They want more of it.

You know what's interesting about that, and I think this is a really important point, is that a company like Specsavers, who basically make eyeglasses for the people in the States who call them eyeglasses and, and sunglasses and optical lenses, they're a high street chain. But I think, you know, particularly at the moment, there's a lot of focus on, you know, oh, your clients are just not spending money. You know, they're just, you know, I mean, I say I focus. I read a lot in Facebook groups and forums that, you know, clients aren't spending money or they're bringing video in house or they're only doing one off. They're not really doing one offs anymore. But evidently there's a lot of work that is still being done that is one time use that's perhaps used internally. And I think what I'm getting from a lot of our, you know, the guys in the accelerator program and our video, but the business accelerator program, not the myth one, is that the real opportunity to grow a video business today is it's possible to do stuff you really love for clients who will pay. And I think what, I guess what, what I see from you is you've, you've gone not so much niche or niche, but you're very clear on what it is you do. You're very, you kind of offer a, a particular style. How would you say, how would you, what would you say has been the key to your success as a production company? Because you don't do everything, you kind of stick to a particular style, don't you?

Yeah, I mean, it's probably just being authentic to what we think is, is interesting. You know, like we, we do do some other more stock standard stuff, but by and large the clients we have understand that we are creatives and we are interesting with a, a sense of humor and a sense of fun and wonder and, and whatever that we can elevate whatever their idea is. And it's, it's through doing that and working with them and not being like we're creatives over in our ivory tower, but rather, hey, this is a really inclusive experience where we can throw ideas out and if they suck, they suck. But let's work together and find something that's fit for purpose, but a bit different. It's a process and it's one of those things that.

Especially with our long standing trusted clients, they just trust us now. They go, we Know you know us, we know you know our brand. So go run free, see what you can come up with and do it. You know that Spec Savers one we spoke about just before we didn't have a signed off budget. They were kind of just like, whatever it costs, it costs, just go ahead and do it. And there was an inherent trust built into that that we wouldn't abuse that because a, we'd never come back if we abused it. But it was understood that like they want something that's going to be great and exciting and that's going to cost. And we went, cool, we'll do it as best we can for as frugally as possible, but knowing that we had resources there to support whatever idea it was. The same goes for our big TV commercials we do. We have clients come to us and go, hey, we just want this idea. And it's like one sentence and we have to then spin that out into scripts and social content that comes off the back of it and how that actually works and plays as a 15 or a 30 or a longer form for whatever it is. And there's kind of trust there because they don't need to micromanage it. It's a process that will work through with them. But they know that where the. I was going to say the hilarious ones, maybe we're the interesting ones that will have the ideas that they can then come back on and put their two cents in.

But to me, this seems very straightforward, is that you don't go into a client situation going, hey, how much can we get out of the client? How much can we make? Yeah, I get the feeling, and I know you pretty well, that you go to the client going, what are you trying to achieve? I think we can make it work for pretty much any budget. What have you got? Because the more you can spend, the better it will be. And I think that's something that's missing from a lot of smaller video production businesses that they go in to situations too focused on. And I call it like this, like the curse the freelancer. You know, when you're a freelancer, you've got your rate and you're not working for any less. And if someone dares ask you to work for less, you can be affronted. It's that you know what's happening to the industry. And I saw it recently on some Facebook crew site where people just went nuts over a request that was perfectly reasonable for someone. But I think the difference between the winners and the losers, speaking frankly, is that your company is Growing at a time when a lot of people are complaining that there's no work. How much of your experience growing a business from scratch and running a business, understanding costs and overheads and staff costs, how much does that help you when working with even some bigger, bigger corporations?

Well, I think it comes back to that authenticity and that, you know, culture as well. Right. So the, yeah, we could get a blank check from somebody and they go, cool, do whatever you want with it. We could charge them $10,000, we could charge them $10 million. But ultimately, if it doesn't do what it's supposed to do, it's worth none of that. It doesn't matter how much it cost. If it doesn't hit the key performance indicator, whether it's engagement, entertainment, conversion, whatever it is, it does not matter how much it cost. So, you know, there's a mate of mine who, he used to say, there's no big jobs. There's only small jobs that get bigger and bigger. And I was kind of like, that's an interesting way of doing it. But I like to look at that and then sort of flip it on its head where they're all big jobs, right? Because for somebody that comes to you and goes, I've only got $1,000 and I want to do X. Well, for them, that's, that's stretched their budget as far as they can go. And we'll be realistic and say we can achieve X, Y, Z. But knowing that that's what they've got, we want to make it work for their purpose. You know, the same goes for. If you've got this, this blank check in front of you, you don't want to abuse that because they're never going to ask you back. So, you know, you've got to make sure that all of the numbers add up at the end of the day as well. You can't be sort of spending, spending, spending, and then go, oh, we don't have any money to pay our rent or pay the contractors or pay whatever it is. You've still got to make sure it works in budget. But having the goals of the client in front and center of your, of your mind means that all of that stuff should fit into place. Because then if you go, cool, they've only got a small budget. Let's get somebody that is, you know, we need to upskill and get a bit more experience that we've got a bit of profit margin on, or let's get this person in that's really, really experienced to do it faster than what they Think, you know, it could be a day shoot, but we can get this person super efficient. We can do it in half a day. Whatever it is, it's kind of making the client and the job at hand the most important thing, and make sure it hits its goals, and then the rest of it fits into that wherever it goes. We're not. You know, we had some discussions a while back with a branding agency about building packages, basically, and I kind of resisted that idea. You know, I think there's, like, a good way of quoting for something that should be repeatable. But as far as offering a package, it feels like you're kind of trying to fit somebody, a square peg into a round hole. A lot of the times, especially when you're dealing with a lot of intangibles in a more creative, you know, zany space, being able to say, we'll make you crazy exciting video for $5,000 doesn't quite fly because that it might. You might need to shoot on a farm with alpacas or you might need, like, whatever. So packages didn't really work for us, but as long as you can keep the client front of mind and what they want to achieve, then the rest should just fall into place.

I think packages only really work when there are very clear boundaries. You know, we've had Sonic Jeff from Sonic site on the podcast, and he has packages for private schools. That's a perfect example of package, because they have the school play every year, they have the school sports day. It's a known quantity. But of course, what you're doing is, is you're offering something more. You're offering a sizzle, which is intangible. And I wanted to just touch on the fact that, because this is really a business podcast, and what I love about the way you run Balloon Tree is that you're very clear in your numbers. You're very clear what needs to be happening. But having you guys also got like a kind of fund where you take a certain amount of money from what you make and you put it into the creative pot. Tell me about that.

Yeah, it's. I mean, it's. It's not nearly as official as a nice fund sitting there, but essentially, you know, we know what we've got to make every month to be profitable and keep everything, you know, everybody paid and everybody all the lights on. And part of, you know, what we said at the start of this podcast, the reason I got into it was because I love telling stories. So why not leverage the business and the resources that we have here? And you know, there might be a free afternoon one week that we can do some work on that stuff that you know, you'd be crazy not to, right? You've got all these resources sitting around chewing up money like editors and whatever that you might as well put them to good use and do something with them. So we started, it's probably about two years ago now, essentially a program called Seedlings Balloon Tree Seedlings, where little ideas grow from wordplay, puns for you, where basically, you know, it was our little idea generator. So anything that we wanted to grow and foster through Balloon Tree we would explore through this program. And a lot of that was self generated either through myself or other people in our team and network. But we've also been open to other writers and other creatives that didn't necessarily have the ability or the resources to film stuff or create something tangible that we could then work with as well and expand our networking creatives and what have you. So it's been a really good thing. It's where mobster came from. It's, it's a really nice way of having that, that other side of the business keep ticking over and, and that creative energy that, you know, could easily go lacking if you don't check in with it once in a while, have it there in the back of your mind. You know, in our job management system, there's all of the jobs for all the different clients and every single one of our creative projects, all Seedlings is there. And it's every day or every week we go through that list and we check in on it and if it might just be like, nah, no news today, or oh, I had a thought and it might just kind of get things going again. It's always there. It's not like, oh, the weird side, you know, the brother that's kind of, you don't talk about, it's like, no, this is a thing that we're doing as well and it fits into our priority list. So putting that front and center as part of the business has been really good to, meaning that we achieve a lot of those goals we set out to achieve with them.

I think what's also great about that is that you, you obviously have a very strong desire to direct and at some point that opportunity will absolutely present itself. But what I think is so incredible about your willingness to invest in your business, you know, with us, with, with, with the team, is that you, you're building an asset, you're building an investment vehicle that is already at a point where if you're not there it kind of runs without you, which is really the case, the nirvana for every business. Because if an opportunity comes along tomorrow, you don't want to have to make a choice between following your dream to be a director and telling a great story or the business. And I think that that's particularly unique to you. Why do you think more businesses don't treat their business as an investment vehicle?

That's a big question. I don't know. I think, I think maybe some of it was, was that naivety when I started freelancing, it was kind of like, cool, I've got money now. I don't need, I don't need all of this. Let's reinvest it back into stuff and grow it. You know, I, I think I love the sense of community that the space we have here creates as well. You know, having a cyclorama in a podcast studio brings in other creatives and it's, you know, in any other circumstance you'd be like, get these filmmakers out of my space. That we could cannibalize each other's business. But for me, it's like more people making stuff, the better because the more stuff that's out there, the more people discover it, the more people want to consume. It's just kind of like that rising tide lifts all ships thing. And so investing back in the business, it's sort of in some ways a no brainer because by investing and growing it and building it to a point where it's self sustaining, I can, like you said, step away and do the things that I really want to do and then have that passive income stream and have that support there that I can go and try and make a film for a year or something knowing that I'm financially okay because of the work and the effort and the investment I've put in. So yeah, it's the reason why people don't do it is because it's hard. You know, like you want to, you make money. All of a sudden you make more money than you ever seen in your life because you're freelancing and, and then you go, well, I've got to pay tax, I've got to do leasing. And so you kind of want to squirrel it away and keep it. But you know, I've been doing this for myself for over eight years now and I've not once been left wanting. And I've always felt really satisfied by the stuff we do and the creative energy that we create here as well. That the financial gain to that is just an added bonus.

I Think I've actually noticed that in our NRX and the video business accelerator community, there actually aren't that many people who are that gear focused. And this came up recently on a call we're doing. And I think that's what's interesting is that you're not particularly a gearhead. And I think the businesses that do well, I think of the other businesses in the program doing well, they're not gearheads, because that's where your money can go. A lot of freelancers go, hey, made some money, quick, buy some gear.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it helps that I. I've identified that I'm not. I love bringing people together to work on something and I don't think I'm the best at anything. So I can edit, I can shoot, I can do sound, whatever, but I'm not the best at it. And so as soon as I recognize that and could find people to put in those roles that were far better than I ever would be, all of that need to know about the latest gear and, oh, what's my bitrate on this camera? Like, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm like, can you shoot it? Does it fit the purpose that we need it to do? Will the client be happy with what we're doing? Great. That's it. You know, there's certain things like mobster. There was gear brought into it because we went for a certain look and we wanted to make sure that it was cinema. So it had to be shot on, you know, red cameras and 5, 6K, whatever it is to fit that. But outside of that, I could not care less. You know, it doesn't bother me in the slightest because it's all. They're all just tools to tell stories or create work for people that I don't need to worry about that stuff if, you know, somebody else I can trust to do that. And by having people, you know, contractors that we bring in that have all the cameras and all the gear, it's not an expense that we have to worry about either. So it's kind of. We just get the person and its camera and crew essentially as a package. That is great, because then it's all fit for purpose. You know, it's going to work and it's. You don't have to worry about paying those monthly installments on something. It's awesome.

What I'd like to do while we're on here, because we've got quite a big listenership in Australia, and particularly in Melbourne, is that, can you Tell us a bit more specifically and like technically about your studio and the space you have, because I know you, you love to foster a creative environment and I know you were talking about hot desks and, and space. So why don't we use the opportunity to tell people who are listening to this what's actually available? Because, you know, let's use this as an opportunity to share the opportunities that you might have for the wider community.

Sure. Well, thanks, Den. Yeah, look, we've got a couple of spaces. So there's the white Cyclorama studio. It's a 4 by 8 meter wide space, two curved walls, and then there's a black curtain as well. So it's a white space. Can be a black space. There's a little green room out the back. So we've had a lot of great responses saying it's a great place to bring clients. You know, like, sometimes these spaces can be dingy and dark and a bit messy and whatever. But we've really prided ourselves on the experience of coming in, being, you know, welcoming and supportive and then having a space that is, you know, exactly what it says. So they've got the, the White Psych Studio. We've also got the podcast.

Is that. And is that White Psych? Is that pre lit? Have you got. Is it lit for White Psych or.

No, it's all, it's all dry hire. Yeah.

And is it, is there, is there, is it driving? Is it roller shutter? Can you drive a vehicle in or is it.

No, no, driving a vehicle in. It was where we are used to be an old wool shed. And we got really excited because there's a roller door where we were, but then there's like a meter and a half drop where the trucks used to unload. So we quickly blocked that up and went, sorry, we can't do that. But it's this easy access through the front. Plenty of on the street parking and stuff as well, so no issues.

And what's, and what's the ceiling height? So my DP head's coming up. How high is it to the grid?

I think it's 3.8, if not 3.9, so it's pretty high.

Okay.

Quite a lot of clearance.

Yeah. So I just thought a DP listing this is going to be like, how high is it? What's the access like?

Exactly. Illustrates your point before. I'm all like, the experience and the, the vibe and you're like, yeah, but what about my hard numbers?

So yeah, we got the White Psych. We've also Got the podcast studio, which I'm in currently. It's set up to be pretty much dry hire as well. So plug and play. There's four microphones, it's all acoustically treated. Again, you know, there's tea, coffee, sort of facilities to bring clients in. And again, we found it really, really good for people that have especially more corporate clients that, you know, want to interview, say CEOs or people high up in the finance industry, can bring them to a space that feels clean and nice and friendly as opposed to this sort of down some back alley warehouse, you know, stepping over garbage bins and stuff to get in. It's this nice, light, clean space as well. So that's horrible by the hour. And then we've got.

And can. Sorry, I just ask another question here.

That's right.

Sorry to cut in there, Matt, because I'm sure people are thinking this. It's like, so you've got a podcast. You. But can you also provide filming. Filming like cameras. So you can do it, make it a video podcast.

Great question then. And I will have to say for your listeners, none of this has been set up at all. You're asking the right questions. This is, this is excellent. Yeah. So, you know, we can essentially go from dry hire all the way through to full production. So we can essentially come in, produce it, upload it, send you links to where your podcast podcast lives and film it as well. So I, I have a podcast that I film in here called how do you do you? And it's. Yeah, it's just simple setup, two cameras, cross shoot it. You can, you know, essentially set it up to shoot whatever you want. If there's four people in here, we can configure it that way. So. So, yeah, really versatile, easy to use space. And then finally we've got some hot desks as well. So there's six desks in the space and that obviously it's a workspace. It's on a month by month basis, gives you access to the psych and the podcast studio at discounted rates as well. And then, you know, the culture of the space is part of the thing too. So, you know, we're always looking to work with new crew. We really want to collaborate with the people in the space as well. So it's a big part about keeping this space humming along creatively and working together to make stuff. So, yeah, the hot desks are probably one of the things I'm actually the most excited about because it just brings in new energy to the space and just different people to bounce ideas off as well. There's something completely intangible about having a new brain to throw an idea at. And then they go, why don't you think of it this way? All of a sudden it just unlocks all these new doors and avenues to. To doing something so hot.

Did I see recently that you held some kind of social function in the studio as like a kind of filmmaker get together? Yeah, there's a lot of people in there.

Yeah. So we do probably once every quarter. Maybe we're trying to do them a little bit more regularly, but yeah, essentially hold little community events. So we've done two so far. The first one was called Emerging Filmmakers, which the panel was, was a mix of directors, DPs and writers. And it was just kind of like people that were, you know, pretty going well in their careers, but still on the cusp of kind of breaking through to that next level. And, you know, we had people in just to listen to the panel. It was. Went for about an hour or so. Just ask how they got to where they're at now, blah, blah, blah. And the last one we did was with the other Myth accelerator directors. So I moderated it and we had four other directors of. Of different sort of backgrounds and filmmaking experience as well, but all had films in. In Myth. And again, it was all geared towards short films festivals. How did you approach it? Did you set out to enter Myth? Did you just make it like I did and kind of stumble into festival land? And it's a really big part about what we want to offer here because, you know that community and sharing knowledge is such a crucial thing, you know, especially for one man bands and small businesses, that you can often feel like you're stuck in this little bubble and you're all alone and nobody else understands what you're going through. But I think if we can share that experience and share tips and knowledge and. Or just have a whinge with somebody, not feeling alone makes you feel so much better. And so having these events, bringing people into the space where we can all share that experience and connect with each other and ideally, you know, work together down the line is a big part about what I, what I want to do.

I love it. So where can people connect with you to start these conversations?

Sure. So you can head to the website. It's just balloontreeproductions.com all the information about the studios are on there as well. So there's a page for the psych, the podcast studio, Hot Desking. You can jump on LinkedIn. I'm on there, just Matthew Smolen. I think it's Matthew Smollen. It might be Matt. I tend to go by Matt conversationally, but Matthew is like the official one everywhere. And I know I'm sidetracking my own self promotion here, but every time I answer the phone I say, hello, this is Matthew. And it feels weird, but saying Matt feels too short. Anyway, Google me. You'll, you'll figure it out.

Well, I, I like, sometimes people call me Dennis and I'm like, who the hell's Dennis? I haven't been Dennis since 2004, you know, but when I say Dan in Australia, they're like Dan. So yeah, that's cool, man. And there was something else going to ask you. Yes. I was going to say to everyone watching and listening, if you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn, then please do. Dan. Lenny, check us out. Let's, let's connect and be friends. Where we're big on LinkedIn inside our accelerator program because it's extremely powerful. It's an extremely powerful way to get clients and we had them. We had.

Emily on just a couple of weeks ago on the podcast talking about her LinkedIn strategy and she was at one of our events. So yeah, connect with us both on LinkedIn, guys. If you find Matt, you'll find me and vice versa. So let's expand our networks and keep sharing the love. Matt, any, any last minute final thoughts for our audience that you'd like to share?

Final thoughts, Open ended question. Talk about anything, anything. Two things go. The Western Bulldogs and my AFL team. No, I think, I think to bring it back to filmmaking and creativity, I think only you are equipped to make things true to you. So anytime I set about doing any kind of creative project, rather than thinking about what, you know, the, the audience or the world might think of it, I always go, what would I want to watch? What would I want to see and be a part of making? And nine times out of 10 that's kind of led me to a really interesting, fun place, whether it's mobster, whether it's work for clients, whatever it is. So I think if you can, if you can look inside yourself and go, hey, this is, you know, me and this is what I'm only uniquely equipped to do.

You will do well, Matthew. Thank you very much.

Thanks very much, Dennis. It's been fun.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator podcast with your host, Den Lenny. If you are a video business owner 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 review.