Something Very Cool is Brewing. EP #343 - Den Lennie

Well, hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode. I've got something very exciting to share with you today. We have been running this podcast since 2019, maybe 2020. We're up to episode this week, episode 343. And in that time we've covered enormous amounts of topics around building a video business and had some incredible guests on in that time. And it's time for us to have a change. We've been working quietly behind the scenes for a while now on a new project and I wanted to share that with you today and give you an idea of what's coming and how it's going to benefit you.

Welcome to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast. Each week we uncover the secrets to creating a wildly successful and scalable video production business. With your host, Dan Lenny, discover how the accelerator program is transforming the lives of our members at www.videobusinessaccelerator.com. enjoy this episode.

So, like I said, it's been a passion project, this podcast. It's always been a lot of work, but it's also been an enormous source of value both to us and to you. If you listen, we've had a lot of clients who've listened to podcasts and come and join us in one of our programs and I get a lot of messages from people saying how much they enjoyed the show. So the good news is it's not going away completely. I think we're actually improving it. And the truth is.

For the last 14 years, I've been running F Stop Academy and F Stop Academy Australia for the last eight years, nine years. And the vision I had for F Stop Academy from day one was always an academy of expertise, not just me, but over various reasons over the years, it became my thing. And I have taken it on and run with it for the last, you know, 12, 13 years. But my vision for this was always for it to be much bigger than me. Much greater than me. And so we are announcing a new project called the video mentors.com and in a nutshell, it's video business coaching with heart. I've been leaning more and more into my true soul purpose in life and sharing more of my sort of spiritual journey and how we apply that to business. And increasingly the people who join us in the paid programs are heart led as well. And so we've decided to lean fully into that. And so we've got this new project called the Video Mentors. And in a nutshell, we're all about creating abundance. We feel like we want to just stand out in the market and offer something that nobody else is doing. So basically, instead of just getting one mentor, you get six.

So we're still running our VBA program, the Video Business Accelerator.

But we're now focusing on how we can provide more value.

And that value, it comes in the form of working with.

Mentors who have already been through the program. So we're talking about some of my greatest clients who've all gotten to a point where they are scaling to a point where they have team and systems so that they have capacity to support you. And.

The way this has evolved was after a conversation after one of our masterminds last year and I said, you know guys, I just see bigger opportunities for what we're doing here at the vba. What do you think? And a couple of them said, yeah, we absolutely see this as well. We think it's a great opportunity. How can we get involved? How can we help?

And so that's how it was born. And so the mentors who are coming on board to support this project have all been through the VBA ecosystem and gone from either smaller businesses to bigger businesses, freelance to business owner, or, you know, having no team and ending up with a team. And so what makes this very unique is everyone who's involved is still actively running a video production business. So Caleb Maxwell from Hebron Films has been with us for four plus years. Matt Smolin who's been with us over two periods for about the same period of time. Andy Johnson who's been with us for just over a year, but in that time has, I mean he has kind of tripled his business now has been accelerating that process into team and, and, and then Grant Jamison, who started off life as Grant Jamison Videography, now runs Lift Video Production with two full time staff focusing on the transport logistics niche.

And then Alana Thompson, who is our incredible dp, she's a mum of two, she runs said and done media, just taken on an employee and is scaling. She's doubled her business two times in two, two years in a row. And so everyone who's involved is supporting the next generation of video business owners. So I'm really excited to share with you that what's going on. And the really exciting part is where this podcast is going next because instead of it just being me with guests or me talking in these monologues, we actually have already recorded a whole heap of podcasts that will be going out from the middle of August. And between the six of us, we rotate and have a four way podcast every two weeks. So I Want you to be on the lookout for that. We'll be certainly letting you know about that. It's going to be on this existing podcast channel, but we're going to be talking about some really pressing challenges that are facing video offers right now day to day.

In their lives. And so what we're doing is.

Tackling the real challenges and discussing how video businesses operating at the half million dollar a year plus mark are resolving those problems today.

And so for example, some of the topics we're discussing are, you know, who are the video mentors and why we're doing this, how to overcome procrastination. We're going to be digging into the real power of niching and why it's so valuable, but then also how you can get out of your own way. And actually, you know, a lot of times we find ourselves creating problems in our business that don't exist. And then you know, the identity shift that you need to embrace to become a business owner. And we talk about things like, you know, three steps to getting better clients, you know, getting ghosted as a video production company and why mindset matters. You know, how to get clients today.

And you know, we have the benefit of businesses who still have to go out and get clients every day sharing exactly what they are doing. So you can take that and implement that. How to ask for the money, you know, how to be a reliable creative. And we've got dozens more topics that we are working on. So I'm really excited to share that with you. But in the meantime we've got a brand new resource and it's called the Little Black Book of Video Business Secrets. And that is a basically what I've done is I interviewed some of the mentors at length and asked them about how they got started in their business and from that essentially created.

A success formula and how those six and seven figure businesses stand out, win premium projects and grow their businesses while working less. So this is a new ebook that we've created. I say any books. It's actually a 60 page digital book that we're charging a small fee for. But there's also an option to upgrade to get the deep like original interviews. But really what we're doing is saying hey, if you're serious about growing your video business then we want to help you. And so we've decoded the secrets and that's why we're not giving it away for free. By the way, we figure we need to, you know, there needs to be a value exchange and I think at $27 is what we're charging for this book, it's an absolute no brainer to get basically access to the greatest techniques, strategies that are working right now in businesses doing in excess of half a million dollars a year. And we're talking about multiple businesses. So there is, there is a, there's a sequence of events here, there's a sequence of mindsets. And so we're really just helping you flip the script and want to, you know, see you in a place where clients are knocking on your door who demand to work with you and only you, and where projects come in with much better budgets which allow you to be more creative and have more fun and most importantly, be profitable.

So, you know, it's understanding the simple differences and nuances between those that can crush it in business and those that don't. And it's got really nothing to do with better gear or editing skills or a more impressive portfolio.

It's really, most videographers have the same issue.

They're just not a job. Their business is just a job in disguise.

If you're a videographer who's an owner operator, you're probably also the biggest bottleneck in your business and you end up getting burnt out and even hating your business. But so the good news is there is a way to scale and build a thriving production company that works for you and not the other way around. And so the Little Black Book of Video Business Secrets is really a set of shortcuts to consistently booking dream clients. So if you're really looking to move away from that owner operator trap and you want to build a thriving company, it comes down to systems, mindset and client attraction strategies that are being used by hiring videographers. And so it's not really about luck or talent or user experience. It's about having the right tools and the right knowledge to scale your business beyond that 10k a month mark.

So this guide is going to give you basically all of those insights. So if you're interested in that, please go to the video mentors.com and click on the Little Black Book of Video Business Secrets. We'll also link it in the email to this or it'll be on the website@denleny.com where this will be the last podcast we'll post there.

But yeah, or, you know, send me a message and we'll hopefully get to hang out with you. Because when you buy this book, we also put you into a free community where we, the mentors are actually there to support you. So yeah, go to the videomentors.com and click on the button that says Little Black Book. And yeah, hope to see you on the inside.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast with your host, Dan Lenny. If you are a video business owner who is tired of going it alone and would benefit from mentorship, support and weekly accountability, then mouse over to www.videobusinessaccelerator.com to learn more about how the Accelerator program can help you today. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review.