Imagine having work booked until the end of 2020. EP #127 - Shorty

G', day, guys. It is Tuesday, October 27th. I'm your host, Dan Lenny with this week's Shorty of the how to Scale a video business podcast.

Now, on a Tuesday, I generally record these directly after we have finished our weekly coaching call. We do two coaching calls a week. The first one goes out at 8am Brisbane and covers off our US and.

Our Australian clients. But we had Ben tonight jumping in from the UK as well. So I wanted to share a little bit of what happened on that call because it was, it's the call in the month where we basically go, what's working now? You know, what, what is, what is getting you results? And also, you know, are you having problems in your business? Which is, you know, it's usually a marketing issue, you don't have enough clients or it's a capacity issue and you have too many clients. And, you know, it is a really incredible call actually, because virtually everyone is at capacity. Everyone's struggling with too much work.

And the ones that aren't are because they've just pivoted into a new business or they're just changing the business slightly. But the thing that's really kind of encouraging and the reason that I talk about this so much is that, you know, the guys in the group are getting incredible results and we were breaking down, you know, some of the challenges they were experiencing with having too much work. And I just wanted to kind of share that with you. Are you in a position where you've got too much work? Because if you have, that can be as big a problem as not enough work. And you know, first of all, I'm really proud of my members. You know, my clients, they work incredibly hard. No one in the group has allowed any of the events of the last six months to get in their way. We have a number of clients who are based in Melbourne, Australia who have been in extended secondary lockdown. And it's been tough, but, you know, they're still gunning, they're still putting out there, they're still winning jobs, they're still preparing for when things open up tomorrow. And so I'm really proud of them for that. But what became clear on the call today was.

You know, if you're someone who is really good at what you do, then you have the potential to be extremely busy. And if you're not, it's because you not clear enough about the problem that you solve for a specific target market. And, and that is the number one reason that my clients are doing so well is that they're getting very focused on serving a type of client or a target market. And people often get confused with this idea of niching that, that you can only work in one sector and it's not the case. What we talk about with niching is the ability to focus on in an ideal target market and then p website copy and your messaging in the right way. You know, you've got to identify who you want to do business with, have a compelling offer, and then the systems to deliver that product consistently. And what often happens is that as businesses evolve, they can take on more and more work, but the systems don't come up the rear to back it up. And so whenever there's a problem in a business, it's usually down to a lack of systems, a lack of process. And the good news is if you are experiencing a lot of work, then you've got a lot of money coming in. And that money can help pay for additional team members, additional support, be the contractor or full time and, and, and, and, and, and building the systems and building the processes. Because where confusion arises is when we as creatives are trying to express an outcome we want to have achieved to somebody else, another human being, but we're not able to articulate clearly what we want them to do, what we want the outcome to be. And what often happens is.

We tend to, you know, get frustrated that the person who is giving the instructions to doesn't get it or doesn't understand or doesn't fully understand. And actually what's happening is, generally speaking is we are not communicating effectively what that outcome needs to be. So, you know, there's a great deal of extreme ownership that needs to be taken. And that is part of the business journey. And it's a tough part of the business journey when we learn a lot about ourselves, you know. But yeah, I just wanted to kind of, you know, ask you a question really, which is where are you at in your business? Are you at a point where you don't have enough work? And why do you think that is? If your answer to that is, you know, that you rely on word of mouth, then that, that probably explains why you're not able to predict the future. You know, a couple of our clients have got like 17 jobs in the pipeline just now, or 13 jobs or I've got work till the end of the year. And that is not an accident. That is the result of discipline around clearly identifying a target market, fully understanding what that target market wants, needs, aspirations, desires and pain points are, and then crafting an offer that gives that target market what they want. It's as simple as that. Give the client what they want. And if that is clearly articulated on your website, and we were using this analogy on the call there, it's like, you know, when you're doing an edit, anyone can edit a 30 minute interview down and kind of, you know, make, make a documentary, it's 30 minutes long and tell a story in 30 minutes. The person that can take that 30 minutes and tell the story in three minutes, that is the skill. And if you've ever got to do that, which I'm sure you have, that is where the skill comes in. The skill comes in, in taking stuff out and solidifying the message down so, so clearly that it's very, very concise. And you can only do that. You can only do that if you're clear on who you're talking to. And a lot of the confusion in business comes from not being clear enough on who you're talking to and overthinking or trying to work out which direction you should go in. And in actual fact, what you need to do is back any thoughts up with data. You look at your numbers, you look at where your business has come from, you look at your profit, not just your turnover, and you look at the kind of work you want to do. And from there you take the hard data and the desire and you marry that up with the target market. And that is the trifecta of things that have to happen. And for most video production companies, that doesn't happen. Most video production companies that I've come into contact with who are struggling or not getting the predictable income they want is because they don't have that trifecta in place. And so if you are sitting listening to this, maybe you've been listening to this for a while and you think you might not be ready for any more support. Well, I'm here to say that ask yourself this question. How are you going to achieve your goals? How are you going to achieve your results? Trying to figure it out on your own. And so I'm doing a special episode actually on Thursday of the podcast. I'm going to break down our nine growth accelerators and explain the exact process we run through in the video business accelerator to get the results that we get for our clients. And I think you'll find it really, really fascinating.

You know, oftentimes there can be a little bit of fear, the idea of getting some coaching, getting some coaching because you might feel like you've got to be accountable. And sometimes it's easier for us to sit comfortably in our space and say, well, we'll just figure it out ourselves. And look, that's okay, you know, but what I don't want you to do is if you're sitting there running a business thinking I could do with some help, I don't want you to feel apprehensive or scared to kind of just reach out and have a chat. Because, you know, we don't take everyone that applies into to our program. We're looking for a particular type of business. But I'm certain that if you were to jump on a call with me, we give you some advice, give you some guidance, and you'd find that very, very beneficial. So if that's something you're interested in, please do just reach out on LinkedIn or through the website. And I've also got some exciting news coming. We're actually rebuilding our website at the minute and we've got a whole lot of new copywritten and I've seen some of the proofs and it's blowing me away. And I've showed it to a few of my members and they're really exc. Excited about it as well. So I can't wait to share that with you. That's probably going to be live sometime in December, but that in itself is a great story and I'd love to get my copywriter and my web designer on a podcast episode at some point to share with you that process. But guys, that's it for me today. Going to keep it nice and short and sweet. Please make sure you tune in on Thursday. I'm going to take you through the entire 9 growth accelerator process that we use to help businesses double and triple in this space and have more time off with their family. And if you want to be in a position where you've got predictability with workbook till the end of the year, then you do not want to miss this episode. And until then, I'll see you later.

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@denlenny.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 you might be in. See you next week.