From zero to $500k in 2 years with Josh Langmade (Part 1). EP #262

Hey guys, it's Den here. And this week on the show we've got a client of mine, Josh Langmead from Mediacore Marketing in Rochester, Minnesota, who's going to share his journey from setting up a production company in just 2019 and getting to $500,000 in revenue just two and a half years later. In this episode, Jos Is going to share his journey. He's a young guy, he's under 30, and I think what's interesting about Josh is he's got this absolute commitment and belief that he cannot fail in his video business. So I think you'll find this a really interesting interview. It's actually a two part interview split over the next couple of weeks. So the first part, today we're going to learn about Josh, how he got started and his philosophy for running a video production company. I think you're going to find it really interesting, so I hope you enjoy the show.

G', Day, Josh. How are you, mate?

Doing. Doing really well. Doing well, how are you?

Great, thank you. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you because it has been a little while coming and that's partly down to the fact that you're so damn busy. And I was just looking back over our notes. So for everyone here, Josh and I work together inside the vba, but I've watched Josh's company just blow up in the last year and a lot of that is down to obviously the work we do together. You know, let's not pretend that it hasn't had an impact. But, but more than that is, is you are an incredible young man who is like, just so hungry for success. And I think that what, what excites me about you is you have this like old soul mentality where like, you know what you need to do and you're just, you're willing to do anything to get there. So why don't you explain a little bit about your journey and how you got to here and then, and then let's, let's learn a bit more about Mediacore.

Yeah. So just a little bit about me. I mean, I grew up, I was never a big school guy, so I didn't, didn't get into that. A ton of. When I graduated, I tried a semester of college. I was like, this isn't going to be for me, and just got into the workforce and one day a guy approached me, said, hey, would you be interested in coming in for a job description? I was working an okay job. It wasn't a career by any means. So I go in Interview with them all goes well. That was a company that I was at before I started mediacorp, and I was there for three years and I was doing tech stuff, but I got into the media side where I built a new website. I was doing photos and videos and whatnot.

But growing up, I always wanted to own a company that was just like, I want to do this. I've planned out the ideas for a couple other companies. It just never happened. And part of that was just trying to have partners in those. And, you know, you never find someone all the time that's going to be in and invested as much as you are. So those never happened. But after three and a half years at this job, I kind of moved up very rapidly and got to a point though where I couldn't really do anything else. And that was where it's like, okay, I've enjoyed video, I've enjoyed doing it here. I know a bit about social media and stuff like that. I think this is what I'm going to do. So I started at Mediacorps at the end of 2018.

And I had worked, or I think it was August maybe. So I think I had four months that I was doing my full time job and this. So it was like nights and weekends and just trying to get my name out there. But at the end of the year, I was talking to a previous mentor and he was just like, you know, ultimately, if this is what you want to do and you're young, you got to just both feet, you got to take the leap. And I said, you know, that makes sense. It's kind of, you know, kind of scary. He's like, just pick a date and then stick with it. So I said, well, we're toward the end of the year, let's just start January 1st of 2019 full time. So I told my boss, you know, that was. They obviously didn't want me to go. But he also understood that this is something that I'm trying to do. So it was good leaving. But when January rolled around, I mean, income was at zero. And it's like, figure it out.

Yeah, leap off the cliff and the net will appear. Right.

So this is like almost. We're recording this in January 2022. So this is like your third anniversary of starting. Where are you today compared to where you started three years ago? What have you achieved in three years?

Yeah, so over those three years, I mean, now we have a, we have a 1300 square feet office. I got six guys working for me and we just did, I think 520,000 sales last year. And. And so, I mean, that was pretty cool. And we got some big goals for this year too. And I don't even think you and I have talked about them yet, but.

No, but I'm excited.

Lofty goals.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm excited. Hey, do you. I remember looking back at like something that happened when I was at school that I realized that I had a kind of desire for entrepreneurship. And that was when I was like 12, 13 and I basically like, so. So it was around the time of, in the UK they have like fireworks night on the 5th of November, bonfire night. And so all the shops and the stores sell fireworks in the like month leading up to that. And I had a paper round at the time delivering newspapers. And I was buying, I mean, it's kind of crazy, but I was buying boxes of rockets like that were like 10 cents and, and I was taking them to school and I was selling them for 15 cents.

And that was all going great. My enterprise was going really well until someone let one off in a double decker bus. And then I got thrown under the bus as the guy who was a supplier and I got hold over the calls and nearly expelled from school. And what was interesting was, I mean, yes, obvious health and safety concerns. But what was, what was, I think what was missing from the education system, and it may still be missing, is that other than the actual product, the enterprise wasn't encouraged, it wasn't supported. I was told I'd done something wrong. I was told this was terrible and I needed to study harder. And I think that was the point where I realized I had an entrepreneurial spirit. Fast forward another umpteen years and I was actually employed by someone, um, and, and I remember having to ask that person if I could take a vacation. And he was like, well, you can't take these days because this guy's on holiday. And I'm like, this is not working for me. Like this working for something else, someone else thing is not working for me. And I was like, the only thing I can do is start a business. And so do you have. What was, what was your story? Do you remember a time in your childhood or your teens where you recognized you had an entrepreneurial spirit? And can you remember, can you go back and retrospectively pinpoint that?

I mean, not when I was super young. I've always kind of been, I would say, a leader in like my friend spaces growing up. So I definitely knew I was, I had that mentality of just leadership in general.

But in high school, that's When I started to go, like, okay, I could, I would be interested in just owning a company, but I feel like my brain was unlocked when I read a book. And this was before I started the company called Unscripted. And it just lays out the path of like, this is what the system teaches you. Go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house, go into debt and then do that and then retire one day. And these people are stuck in their jobs with their debt and they're like, well, I did have dreams to do something else, but now I'm stuck because, you know, I can't just. I have a family now and I have, you know, all this debt and stuff to provide. So they, they're just stuck in that rut now. And I'm reading it, I'm like, I never want to be stuck in that rut and just go, this is the life that you have to follow.

That's why I really looked at like what I think just our system in general pushes. And I was like, there, there is a different way. And one of the things I still tell my guys now is like, there's no rules. You know, as long as it's legal and ethical. It's just like we can do what we want to, try to get to where we want to go.

Yeah.

And you know, I just like that. And I think the book was kind of the key that just unlocked, you know, my brain into thinking differently. And now having a business and being years down the road, I think, you know, even more differently now. And it would be extremely hard to go back to work in some, you know, for somebody and, and, and how.

Old are you, Josh?

Currently? I'm 27.

Yeah. So I think that's phenomenal. You know, I wish I started my business, I think aged 30.

I'm 51 now. I'm nearly 51, so it was about 38 years old I started my business. So I think that, you know, starting early has, has several benefits and, and like, you know, you don't, you don't. I mean, what, what does a 27 year old man look like? You know, I think, you know, you're someone who, who has, who has an older soul and, and who just has this vision. And I think one of the things that you, you do exceptionally well is, is lead. I mean, you've got a team of young guys, you have a lot of.

But I've seen your guys perform and they're so respectful of the opportunity and they're respectful of your business. What is your secret to leadership? Do you even know? I mean, is it something you just naturally do, or are you more conscious about how you renumerate your team, how you motivate them, how you keep them culturally aligned with the media core vibe?

I think at the beginning, it was just kind of just who I was. And then now, while it's growing, you know, when your company grows, you really try to dial in, okay, what are we doing? That works? So you just try to, you know, you're looking, you're looking in and you're going, what are we doing? And I feel like.

Just growing up, I took, you know, I worked for a lot of people and I tried to take the things that I really liked and respected from people that, you know, my bosses, previous bosses were like, they did this really well and, like, I can respect that and I can learn from that. And then here's. Here's the group of, you know, a group of traits or things that I don't feel like they did well and, you know, made me not want to maybe work as hard for them or something like that. So I tried to take just previous experiences and, like, put those together and go, these are the things that are good. Let's stay away from the things that are going to turn people, you know, away, turn their brains off. Just make them employees that are just here for a paycheck and make them high performers because you can be the whole entrepreneur inside of a company and still succeed and do really well, you know, without taking all the risk.

Yeah.

And culture's just. Yeah, culture has been a huge part of the growth. You know, what we put out there, how we talk internally, how we have, you know, monthly reviews or at least try to have monthly reviews.

The guys know we care.

Yeah.

And inside or outside of business, we want them to be the best that they can, and we try to help them get to that point.

So how would you describe mediacore to someone who's maybe watching this or listening to this the first time? How would you describe who you are and what you do?

Yeah, I mean, Mediacor, right now, we're a commercial video production agency. We work with any kind of businesses right now, strictly businesses. We're all B2B, but we help them achieve whatever goals that they're trying to achieve. If that's branding and marketing and just telling who we are, what we do, why we do it, to recruitment, to internal training.

I think there's a certain idea sometimes where video is only for marketing. It's like, okay, a company's like, oh, we're too Big, we don't do any marketing. Okay, we'll pump the brakes. There's a lot of ways that you can integrate video into your company, especially with big ones. So we found all these different means of like recruiting has been huge, internal training, safety, you know, people have system and processes like put that into a video now. I mean there's. So we're just trying to find those pain points in companies, use video as our tool and help them achieve those.

Now one of the things that I talk a lot about in the VBA is quite early on in the process is that video production companies, you know, like videographers normally are introverts, right? They sit behind the camera because they don't want to be seen. And yet I would say that I'm going to say 98% of video production companies on the planet may have a showree on the website. They're probably going to talk about how passionate they are. But very few, I'd say less than 2%, actually use video in the way to promote their own business that they're asking clients to spend 5, 10, 15, 20, $30,000 on.

And I find that absolutely fascinating. And I'd love to get your perspective on that because from what I've seen with you guys, you guys are constantly making content and trialing and testing different types of content to push it out. Talk to me, your philosophy around content creation as a video production company.

I think it comes down to.

There'S a lot of advertising means if it's billboard, radio, tv, anything traditional, anything digital now. And it annoys me in the fact that these people don't live what they preach. And I've always said when people ask certain things or oh yeah, we might offer that, but I'm going to try it internally first because I want to make sure it's that we can do it and we're getting good results. So being a video production company, I think.

It'S hypocritical for me to go, I think you should do this for these reasons, but I'm not going to do it myself.

And I think so much of the relationships that we've built is just built around people and around trust. And when I tell somebody to do something, it's like, yeah, absolutely, you know, we trust that you have our best interest and it's not like, oop, let's get the quick sale, let's get out. They're going to try this, we're going to burn them in a few months and then, you know, on to the next client or whatever.

Yeah.

So we just. To me, I'd rather. I'd rather figure it out by trial and error myself before I go, okay, company A pay me this to do this exact same thing. I can go, hey, we tried it.

This is how.

This is what works.

Yeah.

You know, and they're like, we can see that.

Well, it's also like, there's a hidden marketing power. And when someone visits your website or they see you on social media, they see you, the company owner, and you guys make a lot of fun stuff as well, because it's part of your culture is to make films that inspire fun and joy and a sense of, like, lightness. And it's not that you don't take the work you do very seriously, but you kind of don't take yourself too seriously. And so I think what that does is it demonstrates, without you having to tell anyone, that you're really good at what you do because you're showing them from the very moment they engage with you. And you guys have a very high production value. And look, not everything you put out works. But this is what I love about working with you guys, because in marketing, 90% of what you try doesn't work. But it's the 10% that you get to at the end that does work that you can ramp up and just start pouring all your effort into. Tell me about some of the kind of fun stuff that you make, because I know that's a really good, big part of. Of who you are. Tell me about what inspires that and what kind of stuff you guys do.

Yeah, we've. We've been doing. We call them our skits. And, you know, it started when it was just my brother Jake and I back, you know, a couple of years ago. And, you know, we're just making these little ones just with us, and they've just constantly ramped up. You know, we add more people, we have more equipment, the production value goes up, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And we have a pretty fun one now in place that we're planning out. But it's a way that we can show who we are. We can show a bit of our skills just by different editing and shooting styles and things like that. But it's really to just show people who we are. And I remember pretty early on, and in the company where I was walking into coffee shops, and that's where I had all my meetings before, we had an office and people started to recognize me.

People.

I had no idea who they were. They're like you, Josh, with mediacorp I follow you guys. I'm like, that's fantastic. And I remember one time a guy came up, older gentleman, and he came up and he shakes my hand, he introduces himself and he's. He's the owner of, like this, I don't know, $70 million company in town. And he's got to be at least 65. And he looks at me and he's like, I love your skit videos. You know, doesn't say anything about any of our other work. Owns a big company, older gentleman. And he is like, I appreciate your skit videos. Like, those are fun. Keep doing them. I feel like I already know who you guys are before I even met you. And it's that piece that, you know, if you can get that across and people feel like they know who you are and what it would be like to work with you. And that experience, it's just going to take all the fears and hesitations when they are going to reach out, you know, and we hear that time and time again.

So join us again next week for the second part of this interview. In the meantime, please do subscribe. Ding the bell. All that good stuff stuff. And if you want to leave some comments, let me know the kind of things you want to hear us talk about on this channel. See you next week, guys.