Scaling your video production company to 7 figures with Simon Holt EP013

You're listening to the Business For Creators podcast, where each week we uncover the secrets to balancing creativity and business all in the one place, with your host, me, Dan Lenny.

G', day, folks, and welcome to another episode of the Business For Creators podcast. This is, as you'll notice, the second episode we're doing just as audio. We've decided to just go down the audio route and so we can invest in creating more content for you, the audience. This week I am joined by a client and friend from Melbourne from Visual Culture, Simon Holt. G', day, Simon.

Hi, Dan.

Now, Simon started life as a video editor and I've seen quite rapid growth in his company in the last six months after a challenging couple of years where he basically built his company up to have a big team, was doing great revenue, but all the headaches that come with having a team brought to the forefront, and he decided he wanted to go back to a more lean operation. And we've actually been working together for about six months now helping him achieve that. So, Simon, before we get into what you're doing now, maybe you could share with the audience a bit about your background and how you got to be here today.

Yeah, great. So I started my career probably just over 20 years ago as a video editor. So I was lucky to spend about 10 years initially in a production company here in Melbourne and basically learned the ropes there. So, yeah, primarily as a video editor, but also had a bit of background in graphic design. So we had quite a few major corporate clients there, so sort of definitely learned the ropes there. And yeah, did a lot of training videos, corporate videos, a lot of TV commercials as well, and even, yeah, managed to edit probably 100 plus episodes of lifestyle TV. So sort of after that nine or 10 years, I decided it was time for a change and there was a good opportunity to head over to London. I was lucky enough to get a working visa and, yeah, decided to try my hand at freelancing. So it was quite daunting. A lot of people probably listening to this realise how difficult it is to get into the industry. So I was lucky. I spent 10 years with the same company and, yeah, was very hesitant to leave. But, yeah, it was just a golden opportunity to head to London and try freelancing. And luckily enough I landed probably three or four good clients over there. So that kept me in regular work for two years, again just doing a lot of corporate videos. I was lucky enough to do a, yeah, my own lifestyle sort of travel program for British Airways and working with the mayor of London. So as an Aussie in London. It was just a dream job, sort of doing a travel program about London. But yeah, that sort of sparked the interest in starting my own company. So yeah, had my two years in London and decided to come home and still had the job offer open the old company. But yeah, again just decided to try out the freelance. So yeah, that was back in 2010. Yeah. And that's sort of where Visual Culture was born. The name and the website were born but the idea was over the next few years to build that up and build a company. So yeah, it's been a few challenges but also a lot of positives that have come of the last few years. And yeah, probably 2014 I hired my own staff member and things have gone from there and yeah, especially in the last sort of 18 months, two years. Yeah, it's quite, quite a few challenge. The business was growing but I realized, yeah, just the systems and processes weren't quite there so it was quite difficult to manage a team and run the business properly. So I thought I'd learned plenty from freelancing and watching what other businesses were doing. But yeah, just decided it was, you know, strip things back and yeah, and then, yeah, six months, 12 months ago we got in contact and yeah, seen a, I guess a second wind in the business and yeah, yeah, moving on from there.

So. So just want to talk a bit about that transition from freelancing to.

To running a business because it's something I've been through myself. We think as freelancers that we know how to run businesses but. But running a business and being freelance are two very different skill sets. Talk me through some of the obstacles you faced when you started running a business and did you start running it as a kind of glorified freelancer?

Initially, yeah, it was, yeah, it was called Visual Culture but it was still me as a one man band for quite a few years there until we hired that first staff member. But yeah, it was, the transition was very different. There's a lot more involved as far as going out and getting your own clients where you don't rely on other agencies or other production companies to bring you the work. So that was always a goal of mine. Even before I started Visual Culture I had a few goals in one of those to work directly with clients. There's cash flow issues and things as well.

I wanted to pay all my contractors and staff within 30 days but I.

Had a few times where I was sort of waiting up, you know, those 60, 90 days plus from agencies to get paid. So sort of that, that was one of my rules is to make sure that we paid all our contractors on time. But again, a lot of the, the businesses that we work with now are big, bigger businesses so that they've got their own payment terms. So just managing that and yeah, getting around that. So that, that was one of the challenges and I think the other thing, you know, I've worked in yeah, sort of smaller to mid sized teams throughout my career. But yeah, it's just the management side of it was, yeah, getting and yeah, that, that's sort of been a big learning lesson for me. So yeah.

And what, what are some of the challenges that.

That, that you would say a freelancer will face when looking to scale a business? Are there any limitations with, you know, when you're freelance you can, you can make a certain amount of money and that can be quite a significant amount of money, but you reach a ceiling and you keep hitting a ceiling because it's just you doing all the work. So what are the things that you find looking back are really big deal breakers in terms of moving and transitioning from being freelance to owning a business?

Yeah, well, that's the thing. You're responsible for doing all the work. So I've got a young family now, so that was a big thing for me to actually start the business and get more people on board. I just knew I couldn't do all the work myself. So I don't have the luxury.

As a freelancer. I could have earned probably a lot more money and things like that. But it's just trying to manage those projects and.

Just having those ten twelve hour days and late nights and things like that, it just aren't possible at the moment with the young family. But yeah, just transitioning and I know I can take on more work because I've got a reliable group of contractors behind me to help. Reliable team that I can call on. But yeah, that was probably the biggest limitation. You can only take on so much work and if a client comes back and they want maybe an hour or two of changes and you've booked in for a full day of filming, then yeah, it gets tricky to manage that. It's either an early morning start or late at night to do that. So yeah, just building a team and having that, being able to reliably say to a client, yeah, we can handle this. And that was a big thing for me.

So yeah, another big thing talking to you over the last few months was that you had this team of like four or five full time employees. But the, the challenge with that is that you have people on salary. You've got all sorts of additional costs to think about. You stripped that team right down and literally started again. What is. Who is the one hire that you think is critical in a business that needs to scale?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Introduce our production manager, Sammy. So for me it's I main thing. I just want to focus on the creative and, you know, delivering what we promised the client. So I'll go out and either chat to them on the phone or go and meet them in person and chat about their project and we get a good understanding in those first few meetings exactly what the project, what needs to happen. But yeah, for everything else to run behind the scenes to booking the crew, to organize all the logistics of a shoot and yeah, make sure the editing's done on time and things like that. I needed, yeah, a production manager that's always been, ever since my first employee, it's always been years of having that person there to handle that admin and logistics side of things is just absolutely critical to run efficiently.

And I think it's important in these podcasts to tell the true story of what it's like to run a business because most of the time it's really hard and there's lots of challenges and we don't always get things right. And before we started working together, I think Sami had only started with you a month or two earlier. And I recall from our earlier coaching sessions that there were some challenges for you around how to effectively not just manage Sami, but actually get out of the way enough for you to let go of some of the control to enable her to be able to step up. Do you want to talk a bit about some of those, that some of that journey? Because I think it's really helpful people to understand that it is difficult and letting go of control can be challenging as well.

Yeah, I'm someone that I couldn't. Yeah, I've got a million things going on. Every email at any one time. We've got maybe 15 or 20 projects at different stages and.

I keep all the little details of every project. If it's a little email, maybe it's a change to a script. I'll remember that and that sort of thing. Yeah, for me to let go of that has been. Yeah, it's a challenge. I guess all creators are the same, so it even comes down to the editors we've got in the edit suite. So I just gotta be a bit more hands off and yeah, try and give them as detailed a brief as possible beforehand. And that makes Sammy's job easier. So she'll be managing the time that they're spending and making sure they're working on the right thing because there are times I'm interstate for a few days at a time or last year was overseas for, for a few weeks. So, yeah, just need to know that, yeah, I can, I can trust the process and the systems that are in place. And yeah, I guess it comes back as creatives, we. Maybe I'm making things a bit too complicated as far as some of the creative ideas I've got. But yeah, again that all comes down to process and if you plan it all out, you look at the end, the end vision and what the project's going to look like at the end. You work backwards and make sure the right people are doing the right things.

Now you just mentioned systems and processes. There something that I've been quite big on in the work we've done in the Creative Business Accelerator. When you first hear the word systems and processes, when you first heard it, what were you thinking inside, truly and honestly?

Yeah, I mean, when I worked as an editor in house, yeah, I mean there were some systems and processes, but there was a lot of the time that I'd get a simple brief and I'm just someone that can sort of run with it. Again, spoke before about seeing the vision of what the end product's going to look like and make sure where I'm aligned with the producer or director and just make sure we're on the same page and sort of go about my work and then come back and we'll look at it in a day or two and see what happens. The TV show is a perfect example because it was basically a startup as far as a TV show and they used to just lump a whole bunch of old tapes on my desk and say just make a 21 minute program out of this and here's the structure, here's roughly what we've got with interviews. And yeah, I sort of relish that opportunity. It's always find a bit of a challenge, but a creative challenge. And yeah, so as far as system and process, yeah, I realized I'm someone that can just run with it and see the vision and work towards it. But yeah, for me as a business owner and making sure I get the most out of the team, I need to take a big step back and make sure those systems and processes are much more clearly defined. And yeah, I guess I assume too much that a lot of creators are like me and just, yeah, run with it.

But yeah, yeah, but also when, when we first started talking about systems and processes, you were like, oh, I'm going to, in the next three months I'm going to create 100 systems.

Yeah.

And, and the reality has been somewhat different. Talk me through what's actually happened.

Yeah, well, we'll talk about System Hub shortly. But yes, I signed up to that and immediately said, right, I've got 100 systems and I need to put in and write all the topics for them and put them in the right categories. And I thought, right, in the next three months we're going to, we're going to write a system and process for every single one of those and there's probably another hundred we could add after that. And yeah, it's ready to jump in. But realize it's not that easy. So it's a matter of again, Sammy's been with us for probably eight months now and she's new to the production industry. Before this job she worked in real estate industry. But yeah, again it's all systems and process driven there as well. So I thought she'd be a great fit. And she runs her own magazine as well on the side. So yeah, but again, realize that yeah, we just have to go in and every project's different that's come through the door. So it's a matter of watching what's happening and how things happen. And after each project or during each project we'll just work out we need to develop a system for that or if we can template things and make things easier for the creators and the editors and the film crew. I remember once last year we got hired by us company, production company to yeah, this film on site for a client. And yeah, it was basically a white backdrop and yeah, it's a bunch of interviews but they basically had a 10 page document that said this is exactly the lights you need to use to light that background and this is the audio levels you need to record at. They even had a time lapse video of how to do the setup of the white screen studio, the portable white screen studio. And I just remember our crew were just like, oh, this is amazing, this is perfect. I'm like, yeah. And as Sammy said, you know, keep saying, yeah, creative, creative loves process. So yeah, it just makes, it just made things so much easier and everyone was just able to walk in. It was just a breeze for everyone to put, put the gear together and yeah, realize that yeah, the more we document things and I mean that's a simple example but yeah, there's so many other opportunities that we can use a simple process like that to make things run more efficiently so.

Well, I think there's two key observations there. One is that, you know, systems and processes actually help you become more creative because they put process in place of ambiguity. The second thing is you don't need hundreds of systems. You need about 10 to 15 key systems in your business. And that's the thing that I think I want to help people understand is that systems and process, when I first hear that, I just think, oh, oh my God, I've got to create all these systems. But in actual fact, I've got a lot of my business systemized now and I've not created any of the systems. I have a full time employee who does them for me. And really initially you were going to kind of try and create all these systems, but in actual fact, Sami's been doing a lot of it.

Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, just we started off where, you know, I just jump in the car or get the phone out and just do an audio recording and just do a bit of a brain dump about a certain system. Maybe it's. Yeah, we've got Dropbox, we use that quite a bit and just a layout of how Dropbox works. And we've got a junior here that works a few days a week with us. And you know, I made sure the first few weeks she was with us, you know, might run through four or five different processes on different editing techniques and things like that, but realized that, you know, they're not, they weren't really critical to the. Yeah. To the running of the everyday business. So yeah, we needed to go back and just identify what was absolutely critical and you know, and then I guess branch out from there and, and then we can fill in the blanks as far as the more I guess refining those, those editing processes and things like that. So. Yeah.

So would you say now that you've embraced and embarked on a systemized systemization journey, how is that affecting the business?

Yeah, we're noticing a big change even just.

We try and make the emails as personalized as possible, but it's just something that's nice and quick and easy. We've got already drawn up and you know, copy and paste and, and send that off to the client. Just refine sentences here and there. But yeah, just being able to identify what we're missing. You know, I mean, for us, the process beforehand was coming up with a job number and a folder in Dropbox and things like that. But we realized we need it much more refined. So we need to sort of, you know, get timings off, you know, what, what editors are spending on different projects and end of day tasks and things like that. But it's also about the clients. So that's one thing. Our clients probably see us. I referred the other day to being a duck on the pond. Whereas, yeah, everything seems calm and normal on top of the surface, but underneath it's sort of scrambling around trying to get that process right. But now that, yeah, we're really implementing over the last two or three months some of those processes, it's just making a huge difference. And for me, because I want to focus more on the creation creative and helping deliver those projects for the clients. And now that I know that Sammy is really confident in developing those processes that I can confidently just spend more time on that creative and working with the editors and cameramen.

And also your ambitions are to build this business into a seven figure revenue production company but without having a huge team. So, so full time production manager, part time assistant, you in the role full time, but everybody else is contracted. So how important is our systems and processes going to be in helping you scale? Because to scale to that kind of revenue you're looking at between 80 and $100,000 a month in revenue. You physically can't do all of those shoots. So how do you see systems and processes is aiding that growth target?

Yeah, I guess the big one for me is developing those, those contractor processes. And yeah, that's one thing. I've got my own way of editing when I was a freelancer and I've noticed the same with the four or five guys that we use. Everyone's a bit different but we really need to get, you know, get it all on board and yeah, maybe it's an onboarding process. Maybe eventually I'll develop a bit of an induction. This is how we do things. I call it the visual culture way. But yeah, it's just so everyone's on the same page and everyone's working the same way. And, and for Sammy, when she comes into the office after an editor's been the day before or at the end of the day if we need to send a few edits off, then it's. Everything's done exactly the same way. And whoever's sitting in that seat, yeah, everyone's doing it that, that visual culture way. So yeah, yeah, now I want to.

Just shift slightly to something that's been happening in your business in the last few months, which is a. You, you've got a really busy first few months of the year lined up. And I think you were saying you attribute Some of that certainly, if not a significant part to it, to clients. Re engaging with you because you're now creating video content on a regular basis that is being pushed out across social. Tell me about that strategy.

Yeah, so I mean last year was a bit of a slower year for us so we just weren't getting the inquiries and yeah, marketing, we've always relied on referrals and also SEO was a big one but SEO really died off in the last year or two and yeah, just needed to find another avenue and that's how I found, I've been told Simon Banks, one of your past members, he's a mentor of mine as well, he was telling me to check out some of your videos and this is going back maybe a year or 18 months. So yeah, really, really admired the Bereal series and I thought, yeah, started watching your stuff and a lot of other guys on YouTube. I hadn't really got into it that much beforehand and I thought, well yeah, I've got a point of difference in the way I approach production so yeah, why don't I start making my own. And I spoke about it for probably quite a few months beforehand but never actually went into it. But yeah, since I, it was probably November last year, just decided to jump in and start making these little two minute videos that I put across Facebook and LinkedIn and also YouTube and just the results. The first one, I've only got maybe 500 or so when I started, just had 500 LinkedIn connections and I find LinkedIn's been the best engagement for me so far. But yeah, just the first, the first video was 600 views or something and lots of engagement and then, yeah, since then, one a week. So I'm up to about 15 now. And it's just the engagement and people getting in contact and yeah, even people that don't press the like or comment button there. Yeah, every time I see them or speak to them on the phone. We saw your video so. And yeah, really it's just, yeah, just getting that exposure and it's just a new avenue and for me it's really trying to, yeah, differentiate myself. There's, there's a lot of people out there will show you, you know, what to say in front of camera, how to act in front of camera and things like that. But for me it's just thinking a bit differently, you know and just trying to come up with those topics that are a bit different. But yeah, just at the end of last year and especially the start of this year, we've already had within a three week span, put out 20 new quotes and things like that. So which is just, yeah, off the charts compared to this time last year. So we've got lots of work, yeah, three or four months worth of work lined up and we'll just continue on with it. People are enjoying it and yeah, I'm enjoying getting in front of camera and it's sort of, not only it's great for promotion and marketing but yeah, I did a speech the other day and I try and avoid public speaking whenever I can but it just gives you that confidence to take on something new and yeah, I've just found that, yeah, it's been, been just a huge benefit to do it. So.

And what would you say to someone who's perhaps not that confident on camera or doesn't think they're going to be any good on camera? I mean that was you, you were like, oh, I don't want to be on camera. But you did it anyway and, and now that you've got business coming in as a direct result.

What would you say to someone who's sort of sitting on the fence thinking, oh, I want to try and avoid that?

Yeah, well I mean one of the topics is just, yeah trying to work out what to say and people think that they're not going to be no good in front of camera or the other thing is that, yeah, not sure what they're going to talk about but they're just once you break it down and before you press the record button, it's all about. For me, I just sat down one day and just started writing out all the topics that yeah, I thought would be of interest and something a bit different than what everyone else is doing and within half an hour I had 50 different topics and I kept adding to that and changing it every week but for me, yeah, I was pretty nervous initially and I, I still try and film it all myself so I don't have the camera behind me and yeah, just not as self conscious. But yeah, eventually I'll work up to if we can go out on the client shoot and do more of that vlog style and do quick pieces of camera here and there. I'm feeling much more confident to be able to do that but.

It'S much easier than you think once you start and especially as filmmakers where I've been coaching, yeah, all types of people in front of camera. So yeah, it's about time I did the same and yeah, just prove how, how easy it is and get more people to do the same.

So, and so what, what kind of Topics are you talking about on, on camera? What kind of things can you tell the listeners that are getting great response from the audience?

Yeah, I was surprised. Some of them, I think, you know, bit iffy if I should release them or not, but they've actually been the most popular ones. So one of them was about filming in noisy environments. I went down the local beach and filmed down there and yeah, just that one's had triple the amount of views than anything else and just the comments were like, oh, we never thought of that. So, you know, and filming in noisy environments, the whole premise was that, you know, you need to show in the background what the source of the noise is and it was quite, quite a simple message. But yeah, not that many people have thought of it before. So things like that and you know, how to, how to do a great case study video. What, what are the five keys you need to, to put in the structure of a case study video? And. But then on the other hand, some of the more creative ones that I thought might be, might be fun and engaging just haven't quite hit the mark. But I think that's, I'm not so much. Yeah, it's more about me and yeah, so you've really got to focus and, and work out who, who's that person you want to talk to directly. For me it's marketing and communications professionals and I just want to show them a different way of thinking about video. And yeah, a lot of people these days want to try and do video themselves but yeah, it's just, it's just thinking a bit differently about, about the approach and yeah, just how, how beneficial.

It can be and you know, why are you doing all this? What, what was, what was, what was the catalyst to you deciding to start making video content?

Yeah, again, it was a bit of a slower year last year at the start of the year. Yeah, sort of very much questioning where, where the business was heading. And yeah, again we, we ramped up back in 2016. It just didn't work. It sort of, yeah, the business was, yeah, we had lots of business but the business process just wasn't working. So I had to change things and sort of reassessing where you just dig.

Into that a bit more specifically in terms of what wasn't working. You had business coming in, you had inquirers, you had a team, but it just wasn't profitable. What was the issue?

Yeah, profitable. It just, yeah, burning, burning through cash. So yeah, we're growing but yeah, we just weren't managing the bottom line. It was a Lot more expenses than I thought. We were still using a lot of external help to. Yeah, because we had so much work on. So yeah, that sort of doubles up and we went, yeah, so again it was all systems and processes that we didn't have in place and yeah, that was, yeah, that just had to make the decision.

You had, you had full time employees but you're also subcontracting and because you were so busy you thought we've actually got lots of money coming in, there's lots of budget. But it wasn't being, I guess there was no, there was no process of keeping an eye on expenses so that you've got business coming. So you hire freelancers, you hire crew, you hire equipment or buy equipment and at the end of the day you're left with no money. So what was the catalyst, what was the turning point.

Back then? It was, yeah, just got to the day where I just realized it just wasn't just too many expenses coming in. And again we work with a lot of big businesses and yeah, that they've got their own payment processes which is fine, we fully understand that and fit within their payment guidelines. But again, for me, I mentioned before about contractors. For me it's always a goal and most of the time we pay our contractors within 30 days and yeah, again if I'm waiting 60 or 90 days and obviously the cash flow's becoming an issue so it's very up and down. So now we, yeah, just really took quite a few steps back. Yeah, just downsized a bit and it's contemplated where the business, I still think we, you know, it's a great business. It's a great product offering that we've got for our clients and our clients, you know, they, we still work with clients we've been working with for years and years. So yeah, it was just refining, you know, what, what we could do for them. And yeah, I've decided, you know, still wanted to use the contractors. You can bring in different skilled people for different projects. We don't have a core product offering. I guess it's more, yeah, we sort of take on the brief that we get from the client and yeah, do do our best creatively to deliver that. And yeah, they're all different. So yeah, so it's just having a really small in house team and then yeah, bringing those contractors to help out.

So yeah, and the other thing that I've observed, you know, working with a lot of filmmakers and creatives is that you know, they'll, they'll happily spend money on equipment without thinking twice about it, but very rarely or are very skeptical about investing in coaching or education to get support and accountability. Now you've invested in significantly in coaching and education in the last six months. Certainly talk to me through the value of that. What kind of returns do you get from investing in yourself and how does that support you in the business?

Yeah, I mean, that was a big thing. I mentioned Simon Banks before. He and I have been talking for a few years now and yeah, it's just been great to have and yourself in the last six months just being able to bounce those ideas off. And for me, maybe it's a bit of the old employee mindset when I was back working in a product, but sometimes you just need those to do lists or action points to just this is what you need to do and chat about the idea or what the problem is at the time and work out an action plan and just get it done. And yeah, as creatives, we can sort of sit back and think our ways the best way. We don't need any help. But yeah, it's just been a huge benefit to me. And yeah, just being able to get out and get those things done and identifying. Sometimes we might not realize there's a problem in this area of the business and that's what a business coach is there for. Just to say, well, have you thought about this and maybe approach it this way? And yeah, I mean, I need a new avenue to, to market and you know, you can't always rely on referrals and SEO. And that's why the videos, the weekly videos was a great idea. Yeah, we just jumped straight in and got that done. Again, the systems and processes, the weekly tops and things like that just. That's just made a huge difference in the way I approach.

My work week. And again, it's made me much more efficient and yeah, and it's helped set the goals as well. So I think my goals as far as the business is still the same as it was five or six years ago. But yes, it's a different approach and now it's more realistic to get there and we're well on track to reach that.

You mentioned tops then obviously someone who's not in the creative business. We didn't know what you're talking about. Just explain how that works and what it is.

Yeah, so basically we set up an Evernote program and it's basically a list of a to do list. So you start off with your, I guess your yearly goal or your ultimate goal, you know, where do you want to get to? And I know you've spoken a lot about seeing what that vision is, what do you want to achieve in your business and working backwards from there and sort of breaking it down, you know, what do I need to achieve this year to make that happen? And then, you know, how do you break those down into monthly tasks, into weekly tasks and even daily tasks to ultimately get to that goal? So. Yeah.

And how does that weekly reporting help you stay on track?

Yeah, just, I mean, it's either every Sunday night, Friday afternoon, Sunday night, I sort of get down, get, get the list out and just work out what I've done that week or what needs to be done. Just change those priorities if they need to be changed. And it's just kept, kept me on track and you know, I've got as much as I've got the, the actual client work there. Yeah, it's more about the visual, making sure I'm dedicating enough time to that visual culture side of things. So that's always on the list of things to do through the week.

It's interesting, isn't it, because we can so easily get distracted by the actual production work, but if we don't have a really strong vision and goal, both a financial goal but also a lifestyle goal, you just end up working all the time. And the purpose of those strategic priorities are that they go beyond simply tasks and a to do list. They are actually events that will move you measurably closer to your goals. So I think the video was a great example where you wanted a new way to get in front of clients. We discussed that video would be a great way for you to show clients what you do. Because so few video production companies actually produce the kind of video content that you're trying to sell to your clients. And so by doing it, you immediately put yourself in front of your clients and they go, well, he's actually using the very service he's trying to sell me in his own business. And I think it gives you huge credibility. What kind of feedback have you had from clients?

Yeah, I mean, it's all been positive. So yeah, again, it's a different topic every week. So different, different topics are going to resonate with different people. But going back three or four years ago when Instagram was starting out and even Facebook, you know, always got the team, it was one big thing for me. I didn't qu quite understand why I needed to do it, but just getting all that behind the scenes footage and photos and things, I thought this is going to be useful one day. And I always Thought we need to be showing our clients. It's not just about us. It's not showing behind the scenes, the equipment and the crew and all that sort of thing. It was more about.

This is how for me it's always been working with clients. I want it to be as an easier process as possible for them and being able to show them behind the scenes and showing as much as possible about how we approach different productions as this is just a perfect way to do it. So we've over the last three or four years built up a nice library of behind the scenes footage and yeah, I'm utilizing that in the videos I'm producing now. Just we're talking one of the videos or at least shortly is about why do we use two cameras in interviews and things like that. So we've got a bit of behind the scenes footage there and I can talk about the editing process and yeah, why it's important. So yeah, it's just building up a library and just working out those topics that are going to resonate with different people, especially that target market that we're looking for now.

What would be your three greatest lessons that you would pass on to listeners in running a business?

Yeah, I was thinking about this one before. A big one for me is just trust your instincts. Just, just.

Been quite a few times in career if something doesn't feel quite right or it does feel right, then yeah, just trust your instincts and either find out a bit more or.

A lot of the time I sort of will look at the overall do a bit of research and find out as much as I can. But yeah, at the same time you feel it in your gut if it feels right or wrong. So yeah, that's a big one for me. Another one is definitely getting in help. Yeah, that's a big. You just can't, you can't run a business on your own and think you know it all. Yeah. And just having help with yourself and others over the. I'm always looking for advice and as creatives especially you know that's, that's. I could be working back home in small home office and you know, comfortably be doing freelance work. But it's not, it's not what I wanted to do. I always wanted to build a business so. And to build a business you need help and yeah, I'm always looking for advice and yeah, the coaches or even the freelancers that come in just yeah. Creative advice and things like that. So.

Yeah, third one thought about that. So.

Yeah.

I mean what about around mindset, you know, how do you, how do you go from being a freelance to setting a target of a seven figure production business without having a team? I mean how, how do you go about preparing your brain, your mind to believe that's possible?

Yeah, it is a big, big shift and.

Yeah for me it's, yeah, I guess you've got to learn a whole new skill set about leading people and as much as you want to focus on the creative, yeah you're not going to be able to do that full time. You just need to focus on yeah, what's right for the business. And again we spoke about the weekly tasks and leading up to the ultimate goal but that's where those things break down for me. Tell a little story about. Yeah, when it finally clicked for me I was, yeah, I just finished up a TV contract. This is when I had just started out visual culture and working as a freelancer and was just going around town to different production companies asking for any, seeing if there's any production work. Had a job, a day job, just a bit of a trial to see how I went at a production company and I sort of felt at, you know, that day is that you know, giving up on the dream as far as, yeah, running my own business and yeah, just yeah felt a bit down and actually got offered a job to manage a team of 10 in House editors and yeah, sort of just, it just didn't sit right with me and I thought oh you know, accept this job and it was much lower pay than I was getting even you know, five, six years ago. But it was, yeah it was a full time job. It was getting, you know, keeping my foot in the industry and yeah, I sort of, yeah, left that day thinking yeah, I guess I might as well take it. And I know it sounds a bit cliche but they're sort of standing on the, on a train platform and get a phone call. It was from a, my first direct client and yeah, they said can you please quote on this job? And yeah, and from there, you know, you know within months I was producing 40 or 50 projects a year with them. So yeah, then that was the first big step as far as having my own client. And then the sort of the mindset pretty much changed from there and as soon as I got that first client then things changed and just my whole mindset changed and yeah, I never went back to thinking I'm my own boss and want to run my own thing.

Are there any challenges around balancing business and creativity? Because I think as you, as you scale a business you have to come off the Tools in order to be more strategic. But how do you now manage the creativity within the business for yourself?

Yeah, I think that that was one of my last year was a big focus of mine to try and be off the tools as much as possible and just bring in bringing the talent to do the work. And yeah, it just means for me, you know, I've been an editor for 20 years. That was my, you know, for the first 10 years that's pretty much all I did. And yeah, for me I knew producing and things like that, even camera work, you know, quite skilled in that as well. But I realized if I want to grow this business, I need to step back and find a way. And it's hard because yeah, sometimes you don't really call it a system or process as far as creative and getting that client brief, but it's just relaying that on getting the idea out of my head and getting that onto the creatives and the editors and things like that. So yeah, yeah, I lost track.

Yeah, so I guess, yeah, now it's more focused on the business. So last year it was really a. Yeah. Focus. Probably spent 75% less on the tools. So I knew that just to see how the business operated and how the work went and things like that.

So by spending less time on the tools you've actually been more strategic and now your business is growing more rapidly than prior to that.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, for me that's ultimately, I won't say I'm going to be 100% off the tools. There's still going to be times that I do want to jump in. But yeah, it's more about I need to find ways of getting the ideas out of my head and that creative. But then we need to get the systems and processes up and running for me to spend more time and, and work with the other guys to get the work done.

So if you could go back 10 years and tell your old self one thing about running a business, what would that be?

Yeah, it's definitely much, much harder than you think. So.

Yeah, got to be focused on not trying to do it all yourself. So you know, we've just spoken about, you know, not, not focusing so much on the creative. You've got to get. Get off the tools and.

Yeah, you just got to find that, you know, I wouldn't say efficient way but the best way that your business is going to operate again if you come again the, the idea of the, the 12 month vision or the three year vision and things like that and just Working backwards from there. So, you know, always had in my head start of every year, I wrote down a little bit list of goals and thought I'd achieved everything. But yeah, it was, yeah, the business wasn't quite running efficiently. There's maybe one or two good years out of that. But yeah, it's just, yeah, you just got to put your trust in other people. Get as much, much help as you can throughout and yeah, just trust, trust the systems and process to get those developed and that, that's going to make a big, big difference. Straight up. So awesome.

Right, we've got some quick fire questions here. What's the best advice you've ever received?

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, just straight up, just the, the marketing side of things. Just. Yeah, trying, trying new things. Yeah, it's a tricky one. There's lots of things there.

If you had to pick, if you had to pick one that's had significant impact on your business.

Yeah, again, it's just, yeah, trusting your instincts, just going, yeah, going with what. What you feel. Right. So. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What, what. Can you share a personal habit that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

Yeah.

I know this. Every business says it, but I'm big on customer service. That's just, you know that from early on, that's a big thing for me. That was drummed in pretty early. I wouldn't say drums in, but yeah, it's just the way I work and you know, I'm always there to make the, the job for clients as easy as possible and the whole process as easy as possible. And yeah, it's just, yeah, working, working with the team to deliver that. So. Yeah.

And what book would you recommend for the audience as a must read?

Yeah, it's going back the E Myth I read a few years ago, but I didn't quite, it didn't quite resonate with me that recently read it again. But again, it's all about systems and process and letting, letting go and just, yeah, just getting those systems and processes up and running. That's a big thing for me as well. So. Yeah.

So going into 2019, in terms of the clarity of your, your mission and your business, what's the, what's the piece of advice that you would share with the audience that that's, that you could, that you could. That's resonating with you right now in terms of where you're going, in terms of your financial goals, your growth goals, what is the one piece of advice? What's, what do you think is the one thing that had the Biggest impact on this year looking as promising as it is.

Yeah. Again, we keep repeating, but yeah, it's all about just finding new ways to market, new ways to tell that message to the clients to get that working. But then on the other side, it's making sure you've got the systems and processes in place. So I've listened to so many podcasts and other business owners over the last few years and that's the same thing. As soon as they develop those systems and processes and got that involved and yeah, that, that's, that's just made the biggest difference in their business and seeing them scale. Yeah. Or just run more efficiently.

So, yeah, that's because there's no point in marketing to get new business if when you get that business, you can't handle it.

Yeah, yeah. And that's probably one thing. You know, I felt, I felt, yeah, because again, it was all referrals and SEO that we're relying on, but I felt a bit, bit of hesitation to go out and try and do a lot of marketing because I knew that the system and process weren't quite right. Needed to get the business operating efficiently to make sure we could deliver on the projects. So, yeah, I'm sure we would have found a way. But yeah, just having that run more efficiently, it's no point marketing if you don't have that business humming.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. It's been really interesting getting your insights. If people are interested in finding out more about you and visual culture, where should they go?

Yeah, I guess the website's a good place. Yeah. Visualculture.com. yeah, contact form there. You can get In Touch or LinkedIn. Yes, Simon Holt. Yeah, based in Melbourne. So yeah, probably connect with me there. Came to connect with. Yeah, all types of people.

We'll be sure to link everything beneath this podcast. Thanks so much, Simon, for sharing your time and your wisdom and I'm excited to watch your journey.

Thank you. That's great.

You've been listening to the Business for Creatives podcast with your host, me, Dan Lenny. If you're a creative business owner who is struggling to get your business performing at the level you want, then head on over to businessforcreativespodcast.com to take a free business evaluation survey and discover where you can plug the holes in your business. You can also access a range of free training to help you build your business business faster. Also, don't forget to rate the show.

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