How to overcome hang-ups over money and success. EP #228 - Den Lennie

Howdy, guys. It's Dan here with episode 228 of the how to Scale a Video Business Podcast.

And today I want to take a slightly different turn.

And that's to hopefully pose a question to you that you may not have an answer to straight away.

That I think is important to address, and that is the one around evaluating your own version of success. If the last couple of years have taught us anything during this pandemic, the last 18 months or so, it's that, you know, we've. We've been forced to take a different direction. We've been forced to pause, we've been forced to. We've not been able to do many things for a long time here in Australia. New South Wales just got out of lockdown.

Victoria is now the harshest lockdown conditions anywhere in the world. And we've been very fortunate here in Queensland that actually we've had very little.

In the way of lockdown.

So I think, you know, what that does is has everyone just think about.

What does freedom mean? What does success mean? What does joy? And, you know, what is. What is it you're working towards? And I think what's really important to understand is that success isn't just measured in how much money you make. You know, success in life is not simply commercial success. And I have been going through an interesting journey myself recently, observing people in my network.

And those who are focused entirely on how much money can they make, because they feel and believe that if they've just got more money, that will give them more choices in the future. And whilst that is true to some degree, the risk is that you spend all your time working towards the future. And in the meantime, life is passing you by. And I guess I have a unique perspective here because Sam and I uprooted our lives in 2015 and moved from Essex in the UK to Australia.

And so that. That is an interesting perspective that not everyone.

Has done and not everyone would want to do, and that is okay. But I had a chat with them. I was actually had. Warren Eagles was over the other day, a friend of mine who's a colorist, and he lives about an hour away from me here on the sunshine course he's done in Brisbane. And I first met Warren, I think at. I probably met him at IBC or NAB, probably 2012 something. But he ran a class in London or 2014. And at that point we'd been for a visit and we were like, really kind of seriously looking at it by them. And. And I, I said to him, I Said, we're going to move to Australia. And he's like, oh, yeah, Riley. And. And he was there the other day and he said, you know, a lot.

Of people will come to me in.

Classes and go, oh, I'd love to live in Australia, but you actually did it. And so it got me thinking about, you know, why did we do that? Why was that such an important thing for us to do? And. And the truth is, I don't really know, but what I do know is that when I decide to do something, I do it and nothing will get in my way. And I think really, it was driven from that sense of wanting to experience life a certain way. And I'm not saying that, you know, moving to Australia is the be all and end all for everyone. It's probably not. But for me, I came here 1992, backpacked around Australia, fell in love with it. Just felt a wrench every time I left and was, like, determined to come back and see it again. And I came back, I think, two or three times after that. And every time I got here, I was like, my God, this is amazing. Like, I just. How can I make this happen?

And it took me, like, the best part of 20 years to figure that out, but.

I made it my absolute focus. And so I found a way. And the first door closed and we didn't get a visa, and the second door opened up a little bit, and it was a complex and expensive process. But six years in, we have a house by the beach. My relationship with Sam has never been better.

Business has never been better. I love working with people I work with. And we've just put a deposit down on a motorhome and. And the reason for that is that we love to travel, we love to explore, and so we wanted to figure out a way to do that ongoing. Now, what's really smart is that we're actually buying it through the business and we're going to rent it out when we're not using it. And that's completely legitimate. It's. I've spoken to my accountant about it. And so I guess what. What I'm trying to say here is that commercial success comes in different forms, and.

In black and white, it's like, yes, you're going to make money, you've got to make profit. I get all of that. That's a given. But it's what you do when you reach a certain level of success, which I think really counts. And I wonder if.

Everyone spends time stopping and appreciating how far they've come so I'm thinking about a few people I know who have reached an enormous amount of commercial success, but it's almost not enough for them. You know, they've paid their house off, they've got plenty of money in the bank, they've got investments, they've got investment properties, and yet they still work five, six days a week. And there's this fear that if they stop, that the money tap will get turned off and that they'll be, like, suddenly lost.

I know people who've got millions of dollars worth of investments and, and they're just not satisfied. They're not happy. It's like they're not happy unless they get to 10 million. And look, everyone is wired differently. But what I've learned in the last four or five years from going on this journey with Sam and coming to Australia and we had our fair share of marital troubles, it's not an easy thing to do to move to the other side of the world and leave family behind. And there's lots of challenges there. However.

It was something that was important to us that we wanted to have a different life. And for us, that meant for us that we perceived that as a better life. We both love to live in the sunshine. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. We love being surrounded by tropical plants. We love walking on the beach. That was the choice that we made for us.

But it's not for everyone. But everyone's fashion of success is different. But the point I want to make to you is that you get to choose how you spend your life. You get to choose what you do with it. You get to choose where you want to live, how you want to live. And I'm not saying it's easy, but you do get to choose. It is, it is 100% down to you how you make those choice and those decisions. So, you know, to me, it's not just about dollars in the bank. That, that is, of course, you know, let me be clear. You know, not having any money is, is horrible. But when you've reached a level of commercial success and you've got a bit of cash in the bank and you've got some investments, you know, like, it's, it's, it's, it's. Making money is actually quite easy. All you have to do is deliver a lot of value for an ideal target market, and if they perceive that value to be high enough, they'll pay you. In principle, that is all there is to it. I think human beings make it more complicated, but I think what actually goes on is that we are in many ways shackled by our childhood. And I think sometimes the little den, the little person inside can get in the way. For me it was my grandmother saying, oh, don't get too big for your boots, son. And so I constantly have to be aware of my limiting beliefs. And sometimes I'll be in a position where we've made some money and I, and I spend it, I spend it because I kind of want to get rid of it because I sometimes feel like I don't deserve it. And, and for, for many, many, many years I had this, this, this issue around new cars. You know, my mom and dad didn't have a ton of money. My dad earned like 22,000 pounds a year in the UK. It's about $44,000 as a printer. He brought four children. We didn't never went without, we never starved, we were never on the bread line, but they were able to bring us up and they bought a house and they paid it off and they worked hard for that. But my dad had this thing where he was like, oh son, don't buy a new car. You know, they don't waste of money because you know, as soon as you drive off the forecourt you've lost half the money. And I had this really drummed into me that it was a waste of money to buy a new car.

You know, the, the idea of flying anything but economy was, was insane, you know, and so, so I had to overcome the limiting belief that I didn't deserve a new car. And then, you know, we started buying newer cars. We were in England and, and then I really enjoyed them. You know, I had a.

Mercedes for a while, I had a 3 Series BMW coupe for a while. We sold that and we bought a Land Rover Defender which was great fun. And we got rid of that and we bought, I bought a, with a BMW one series for a while, brand new and that was amazing. And we least, we always leased the cars in the UK. And then I had an Audi Q7 which I bought from new and I, you know, waited like 15, 16 weeks for it and it was amazing. I loved that car so much. And one of the things that I love about running a business is that you know, you can put your production vehicle through the business and so you're, you're paying for it with pre tax dollars and you're getting the, the benefit of going to work and driving it around.

And, and that to me is a huge benefit and something I really enjoy. And so when we came to Australia, we, we, we bought, I think, was it a Jeep Cherokee something. Jeep Cherokee for a while and then we got rid of that and we, we bought a VW van, a white camper van shell, and we converted that into a kind of camper van stroke, you know, mobile studio. And we went up and down Australia recording podcasts and stuff. And then we actually sold that to. Because we bought everything cash in Australia because we didn't have any, any finance ability when we first arrived. You don't realize this. When you move to a new country, you've got no credit rating, so you literally have a lot of difficulty getting a credit card or a loan. So fortunately we had some cash and we paid for a lot of cash. And anyway, we sold the van to. Could recoup some money for the flat, for the house we bought. Sorry. And it was at a time when there was a lot of demand, so we didn't really lose any money on the van. Anyway, I had to buy another car and by that time I'd got some credit rating. So I bought myself a Range Rover Velar. And still for a while there I was like, oh, it's a bit flash, is a bit fancy. But then I stopped, I stopped in the mirror and I said, hang on a second. You have created an incredible business that delivers enormous value to your clients and you, you earn a healthy income from that. Why shouldn't you enjoy a beautiful car? And every time I drive that car, I, I feel joy. I absolutely love it. And so, so, you know, why not? It's something that gives me a lot of joy. It, it cost me what it cost me every month. It's part of the doing business. I, you know, I have, I need a vehicle to get around and I'm able to very fortunately drive around in a beautiful top of the range range river. And I absolutely love it. And I'm getting better at just embracing the fact that I enjoy what I do. I provide a lot of value, I receive renumeration for that. And in return, one of the things I choose to do is drive around in a nice car because why wouldn't you? The other thing that I've done a lot of is fly business class. And typically it's become something that I'll just make a prerequisite for. Someone wants to hire me to do something like Sony in Asia, I'll be like, well, it's going to assist in business class. And again, my dad would probably be turning in his grave thinking, you're not spending that much money on a flight, are you? But I look at it differently. I look at arriving fresh, being able to perform at my best.

And I've even paid for business class a number of times to fly back to the uk and that's considerable amount of money. But every single time has been a joyful occasion. And Sam and I were talking this morning about, you know, what, what, what drives us in our life, you know, what is, what is our version of success. And.

It'S creating experiences. That is our, that is our purpose in terms of celebrating our success. It's creating experiences. We have the most incredible life. Our house is rammed full of beautiful plants. We live in a beautiful four bedroom townhouse which is more than ample for, for two of us and two little pugs. The gardens look delicious. I have the most incredible cinema setup and stereo setup. These are things that bring me an enormous amount of joy. I can sit for hours on a Saturday watching movies on a hundred inch screen with a full 7.1 surround sound. I have the most incredible handmade hi fi speakers made by a guy in Melbourne called Osborne, Greg Osborne. Some of the most beautiful sounding speakers you'll ever get. And I sit and I listen to music and I, I feel so much joy. And those are the fruits of my labor. Those are the things I enjoy. I've been going to the gym now for 17, 18 weeks and I'm loving how that makes me feel. And so I look at my life and I think, well, I get to eat beautiful food. We can eat out when we want, we can order, take when we want. And it's, it's not that we can't be bothered cooking, it's that I'd much rather somebody else cook for me. We have a cleaner that comes in, Melinda, beautiful woman who cleans for us every Friday. She's a nurse. She's taking a break from nursing and just doing something else. And we have great chats with her and she looks after her home and makes the beds and little things like that that just take some of those tasks out of our daily life. I have this incredible studio. I have an 8K screen on the wall. I have it all pre lit and surrounded by all the tech I need to deliver this podcast easily and with the least friction possible. I have incredible studio reference monitors. I have an incredible 4k panel that I use on BenQ panel 32 inch to be able to kind of work and create whatever I need to create, be it photography or video.

I'm fortunate. I have incredible clients, including Sony who I've had for 14 years.

But work is only part of what I do. Part of the freedom comes from really only having to work three, four days a week and choosing to spend time reading or meditating or going out to the beach or riding a bike.

These are my triggers. These are things that make me feel joyful. I'm super excited about the campervan, the motorhome that's going to be with us this time next year, so we can literally go away for weeks at a time and explore Australia. So I guess what I want to ask you is, are you truly living a joyful and fulfilled life? It might be that you have young children. It might be that you get to drop your kids off at school every day. It might be that you get to leave early on a Friday and spend time with the children. Those are things that money can't buy.

But, but, but in a sense, it can. If you've got your business running optimally, if you're systemizing how you run your business, if your business is not reliant on you, if you have a team who you can hand things over to.

And so, you know, first, the first step is to, to work out what does success look like to you. And it's one of the first things we do in the vba, and it's something that we do on a regular basis, like at least once a year is reevaluate the vision board. Reevaluate what success looks like to you. Check off things that were on your vision board a year or two years ago and evaluate how far have you come on the call. Last week, I realized that I do a vision board about once every two years. And every single thing on those vision boards, bar I'd say 90%, becomes reality. I was joking last week that I have a chair on my vision board since 2013 that still isn't. Doesn't exist. But that's only because we don't actually have any space for it in the house. I mean, we could fit it in, but it wouldn't really go with the furniture. But, but everything else has become reality. And so what happens is when you start this, this process of creating vision boards, it. It's kind of, kind of frightening how real they become and how quickly they happen, because your subconscious is being stimulated by images of, of what your future life looks like. And your brain can't distinguish between reality and, and what's in an image. And so if your brain sees, you know, a Tesla every single day on your vision board, then at some point in the next year, you're gonna end up either in a Tesla full time or doing a lot of, you know, driving around in a Tesla. That was something that's on my, my vision board. And the reason I don't have one yet is only because I'm waiting for the Model Y and not in Australia yet but, but I could go out tomorrow and trade in my Range Rover and pick one up. And We've got the 20kW of solar on the roof so we can charge it for free. So these are things that, you know, bring a lot of joy to me. The fact that we've got, you know, virtually self sufficient power brings me a lot of joy. And so I want you to think about your own version of success. Is it something that you have consciously sat down and mapped out? Because if you haven't, why not? What is it that's stopping you? Because you might find yourself. It's a very enjoyable and pleasant experience, but B, it actually helps you to direct your focus to working on the right things. And I think what happens often in business is people just like, they just keep going. I want more, more, more, more, more without necessarily having a clear plan of why. And I think more for the sake of more is actually very unfulfilling. But focusing on why you want more and what that's going to enable you to do and then be that, you know, expand your team so you can step back from the day to day is awesome, but you've got to be really clear on the why. And it can be a little bit confronting because sometimes when we.

Face up to what we really want, it's hard because you've got to really think about it. I know I'm avoiding it just now. I've got to go and do a new vision board. I don't have to, but I want to do a new vision board. And part of me is a bit worried that I won't be thinking big enough because I know that if I do this vision board, it will all become reality. So I'd love you to think about how to evaluate your version of success. It is something that I think is incredibly powerful because when you get really clear on what your version of success looked like, everything you then do becomes a conduit to making it happen. And that is really, really magical.

Ask yourself this. Has owning your own video business been everything you dreamed it would be when.

You first got started? It might be hard to admit, but.

Think about whether you're genuinely achieving everything you set out to when you made.

That decision to grab the camera and go it alone.

Are you really working less?

Are you really earning more? And are you really in control?

Chances are you're bloody good at what you do, but you're having to work like a dog, 70 plus hours a week, whether it's filming, editing, marketing or any of the other jobs jobs that come with being the big boss of your own video company. When you're managing projects, constantly searching out for new clients and worrying about cash flow, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or make real progress. Let's face it, that stress is the last thing you need when you're trying.

To run a profitable company that supports.

You and the people you care about. Truth is, a business that provides financial, professional and personal freedom really is achievable. But maybe you've got that nagging feeling that you're overworked, lacking stability, and struggling to get to where you really want to be right now. It could be that you just don't know how to make a positive change on your own. So I created the Video Business Accelerator Coaching programs to really supercharge your video business. With these unique coaching programs, you'll learn all the tools you need to get complete confidence in the success of your video business. You can take the first step on your journey to a successful business that doesn't control your life. Let me show you how. Head over to denlani.com and click on Accelerator.