The #1 reason business owners hit a financial “ceiling” and can't bust through.

All right, guys. Well, welcome to this episode of the how to Scale a Video Business Podcast with me, Dan Lenny. I am on location today because this is a very special show. I'm actually coming down to the beach here on the Sunshine coast in Queensland, Australia, because today represents the fifth year to the day that.

We arrived in Australia from the UK to kind of start again, really. And I wanted to come down to the beach today. This wasn't the episode I was going to put out, but I sat in my office thinking, you know what, this is kind of a big deal, a big day. And so I wanted to come down and just be on the beach and reflect on the last five years and also to kind of share the story of why I wanted to come to Australia and why we ended up in Queensland. And also, you know, what was involved in making this happen. And more than anything, I wanted to share really perspective on how we often overestimate what we can achieve in a year, but we wildly underestimate what we can achieve in five. And I think, you know, as I sit in this, on this beach today, recording this podcast.

The, the magnitude of that hasn't escaped me. Now, moving countries is far from easy. And, you know, even though we speak English in Australia and it's, it's, you know, it's beautiful climate, there are some cultural differences that connect some gotchas. But I'm not going to go into that too much because that's not why you listen to this show. I want to share the, really, the business lessons.

That I've garnered from, from doing this move. Because, yeah, I started the business f stop Academy in 29,009. We started making DVDs for DSLRs. And over the years, things, you know, evolved. The DVD market died and then went to digital downloads. And then from there we went to, you know, to doing, doing more involved training things like, you know, you know, how to light, how to shoot sequences. We ran a lot of workshops. And I think, you know, it's only when you reflect on something like this, you realize that the business never stays the same. Business changes every year. I was talking to my members this week just saying, you know, it's phenomenal how nothing ever stays the same in business. That's the one thing that's guaranteed is that change will be inevitable. And what worked last year may not work this year. I think back to 2009, we were selling DVDs for $100 and $137 per DVD. And now we were selling the same as downloads, and now we Couldn't give this stuff away because the industry's moved on. And so I think as long as you're aware that in business everything always changes, then, you know, it's a good, good starting point. I think as, as creatives, we oftentimes kind of shy away from some of the business side of things because it's hard. And, you know, we. It becomes very difficult if you. If you're not willing to. To sort of move and ship, shape shift with everything that goes on in the world anyway.

You know, sitting here five years in, it's. It's been. It's been a hell of a five years.

Lots of lessons, lots of growing. It's been very hard. It's actually one of the hardest things we've ever done because, you know, you're changing everything, you're uprooting everything in your life and starting again. And I think the biggest lesson for me was that I literally had to start my business again from scratch. When we first arrived in Australia, I ran a production company in Sydney and, you know, we did reasonably well given we had literally no contacts. I mean, it was kickstarted by doing the FS5 launch films by Sony virtually as soon as we arrived. So that was a really good kickstart. Then we had to start marketing our services from scratch. And so I joined a business mastermind and I started working with people in that group. And then, you know, it evolved. And as it does when you do some marketing, you become known and suddenly opportunities themselves. And before you know it, you've got a list of clients. But about two years in, we received our permanent residency. And at that point, I kind of didn't want to be running a production company anymore, to be honest. I'd been doing a bit of coaching on the side, and as a result of doing that coaching, had developed some quite nice relationships in a couple of programs. We had a program called the Inner Circle, and then we had a kind of Mastermind program, which at the time was called the F8 Business Accelerator, and that's now become the video business Business accelerator. But what I realized when I was looking at my annual accounts was the coaching and online training had developed a kind of, you know, but 30, 40% of our revenue. And it was kind of like really enjoyable. So I decided that I would. I was going to pivot the business and move it towards a dedicated business, coaching for creatives. And at the time it was more for creatives. I've since narrowed it further into just boutique video businesses, you know, and I think there's a lesson in that in so far as you know, the broader you go, the harder it is. And I think that in many ways it's quite hard to go narrow. I think a lot of people fear niching down or specializing. But a better way to think about this is, you know, what are you known for? So rather than thinking you've got to go for a specific niche, what are you known for? Why do people hire you? Why is it they hire you over someone else? Why did they keep coming back to you? And that kind of thing is really the beginning of identifying where your sweet spot is. You want to be staying in your lane as much as possible. We in the video business accelerator, we've been running for about almost two years now. Thereabouts, 18 months, two years. And when we first started, we were taking a broad range of people into the group. And now we're almost exclusively working with people who are late 30s, early 40s, might have kids, might not. But the thing they've got in common is that they have been freelance for a long time. They may well have been running their business for six to 10 years. And they've hit a ceiling, they've hit a revenue ceiling where they are hitting the same money if every year and they're doing all the work themselves and they can't seem to bust through. And the reason for that is because they're doing everything themselves and they're not running the business like a proper business. And so that is really our sweet spot. So if you're someone listening to this, who can resonate with that, this accelerator program is exactly for you.

And what we focus on is helping businesses to scale and grow and build predictability. And this is all based on my own journey. In 2009, I gave up my very well paid job in a big broadcast reseller and started Desktop Academy. Refinanced the house and off we went. And it's taken 10 years to get to a point where I feel I've succeeded and that, that I think is, is, is, is normal. It takes seven to 10 years to build something meaningful. Building something real takes time. Now we're at a point now where I'm very proud of what we've got. We know exactly who we serve. Our program is excellent. We get amazing results quickly for the right people. So we have quite a stringent process for bringing people into the group. It's not a place for whinging and complaining and bitching about why life's so hard. We take a very proactive approach to ensuring that you know you have the tools and the frameworks and the templates to deploy in your business so that you can.

Grow using a proven system. And that proven system is something that I cracked the code on running my own business and moving country and starting again. You know, we started a brand new production company in Australia. Maybe it was called F Stop Academy Australia. But apart from that, everything was new. We didn't really bring any clients with us. And so I know what it's like to sit there and start a business from scratch. Even though I've got all this experience, it didn't mean anything in a foreign place. And so I think if I can do that in Australia, then you can do that wherever you're based. And we've now been able to replicate that with dozens of clients around the world. We've got clients currently in Japan, Florida, California, Boston, Philadelphia.

You know, in Australia, in the uk, in Ireland and Norway. So we have a very broad mix of clients. And I'm very proud of the fact we've created that. While I am living my ideal life. You know, there's a great fable of the Mexican fisherman. The Mexican fisherman fable goes something like this. A Mexican fisherman's out fishing on his boat, catching enough food for his family and he fishes all day and he relaxes at night and drinks wine and eats fish and. And the Texan tourists came to town and was like, oh my God, this is amazing. This is the most amazing fish. This is great. You know, why don't you think about buying five boats and. And then selling this fish to the local market and to local restaurants and then you could build an empire. And. And then the fisherman said, well, why would I want to do that? And if the guy was like, well, if you do that, you can, you can sell it at a massive profit and then retire, and then you can spend all day fishing and catching your own fish and relaxing and living this amazing life by the sea. And he's like, but I'm doing that already. And so the moral of the story is you've got to get really clear on what it is you want from your business. Really clear. And what you want from your life, because you might actually be closer than you think. One of the first modules we do when people join our video business accelerator is it's called what does success look like to you? And that is simply a process of identifying what really matters to you. And we visualize it, we create a vision board, and that is the basis from which we create a strategic plan and then we audit your business where it's currently at. And we look at the numbers and we get a benchmark and then we say, okay, well, if you want to achieve this goal, it's going to cost this much money and that equals this many jobs at this rate a month. How do you think we can best do that? And like, like many things in business and life is very simple. It doesn't mean it's easy. So, you know, wrapping this back around to why I'm coming to you today from Bocarina beach in Queensland, looking at the ocean, it's middle of winter and it's 22 degrees is because that's what, that's what I wanted. That's, that was what I wanted to create. I wanted to create a life in Australia. I'd been here in 1992, 93, and backpacked around and fell in love with it. Just the open space, the blue sky, the miles and thousands of miles of endless beaches. It's not too crowded, the food's good, the coffee's good, the people are cool.

And so I decided then that I wanted to come and live in Australia. And it took me 25 years of thinking about it and visiting and trying to figure out a way of doing it, including, you know, trying to find an Australian girlfriend for a while. And that didn't work out too well. But that was, I was talking 20 years ago, you know, and so.

We moved here five years ago because I was reaching a point where I was, I was hitting 45 and if I didn't do it, then I'd never do it and I knew I would live to regret it. And so I think when you've got real clarity of your goals.

You just got to make it happen. And I guess I've been blessed or I'm lucky or something in me that's just always been very tenacious. And if I decide I'm going to do something, nothing, literally nothing will get in my way. And, and so I can be a force for change and a force for, you know, really kind of making an impact. And so I channeled that and I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to get to Australia. And look, the first time I tried, we failed. Went through an agency in the uk, spent three and a half thousand pounds, went through the entire application process. It was a state sponsored visa and it got rejected. And that was, you know, devastating.

Absolutely devastating. I was like, I put all this work and money into it and they just said no. But, you know, I got rejected from the BBC the first time I applied. And so I kind of. I know is only, no, not now. And so I had to dig deeper and I ended up finding a lawyer in Sydney and. And he was like, look, we've never lost an application in 20 years. If we take you on, it's because we know we can get you in. And we ran the numbers and ran kind of some information by him and he. He got us in. It was an expensive process, probably. Probably all up to move to Australia, $100,000. And by the time you factored in moving costs and flights and moving dogs and packing up lives and. And just the visa process itself is very expensive, but absolutely worth it. And I think when you set your. Your goal very clearly and what you want from your life, for me, it was living in Australia and I did it. And five years in, I'm very proud of that. It's been a challenging journey. My wife's family hasn't been all that supportive. Her kids don't speak to her anymore. That's been challenging.

But worth it. Yes. Because, you know, as my hypnotherapist said to me many years ago, you know, you guys have to be the parents here. You have to be the guys who lead the way. And you say you're going to do something, and we've been talking about doing this for a number of years, and everyone was kind of on board, and then complexities with family and ex husbands and the likes, and it all got a bit messed up. But I still feel it was the right thing to do. I have conviction and it was the right thing to do. And, you know, I remember actually the managing director of MIT Corp, Simon Miko, saying to me, you know, Dan, when you're the CEO of a company, you often have to make unpopular decisions. And that really stuck with me. And then another client of mine who was at an event, I forget his name, but he was at an event and he said, oh, I remember working with a CEO. And the CEO said, my job is to steer the ship, set the direction and let the crew figure out the rest. So when you are running your own business, you are the CEO of you. You are the leader of your company, and you have to do what is right for you. You have to set the course and with conviction, set the direction and go right. This is where we're going, and we're going to manage any rough seas that happen. And, you know, this last five years hasn't been without its challenges emotionally, financially. There's been a lot of risk involved, but I don't see it as risk. I'VE never really regarded that as a big, as a big deal. You know, I just think you, you know your abilities, you know, your skills, and you, you know, you know what you want to achieve, and you've got to do it. And I think with focus and clarity of focus and an absolute determination and probably a little bit of optimism. I think entrepreneurs are.

Optimistic realists. I think we like to weigh up the risks and, and assess the risk and mitigate the risk by going, well, you know, what if this happens and what if that happens? And I think that's something that comes from being a filmmaker. You know, I don't know about you, but every time you do a job, you're going, okay, well, there's my plan A, what's my plan B? And if that battery fails or that card fails or that camera fails, what's my plan C? So I feel like we were brought up in the film and television industry in a way to always be prepared for things going wrong. And so I think when you go into environments where you feel like things are probably going to go wrong at some point, you kind of, you're prepared for it. One of my mentors and friends, Ben Simkin, says, I go into the office every day going, right. I know stuff is going to go wrong. When's the first thing going to happen? So I think when you prepare yourself for business being a rocky ride, when you prepare yourself for business being something that is filled with challenges, then I think you have a better job of handling it.

Otherwise, you're probably not cut out for it. And that's okay, too, you know, I mean, this podcast is about how to scale a video business. Not everybody wants to scale the video business. There's probably people listening to this now who are just happy listening to it, picking up a few tips, and that's okay.

I do this podcast because I love it. I do this podcast because it's very rewarding when I get comments and feedback from people saying they just discovered it or they've been listening for a while and it's been beneficial to them. And I think one of the things I've learned about the power of abundance is that.

You know, I'm happy to give away for free and share openly what goes on in my life and my business and how I overcome problems. And. And so I think when you, when you have that sense of abundance, that sense of just giving for the sake of giving, you know, I. I have great clients, and we have a good business. It's consistent, it's growing.

It'S you know, you know, I, I make enough money, I enjoy what I do, I have a great life, I get to live in Australia. And that's incredible. But kind of bring it all back to, you know, the five year anniversary. None of it happened by accident. Everything that's happened here today has been deliberate. And so it was a plan that was put in place, a plan to create a future, a new future, a new life, a different life. One that was different from what I knew. And that, that is, that's the biggest challenge I think you'll face in any kind of change is just believing that this is the right thing for you to do. I knew in every cell of my body that I had to do this. And so it was the, it was a kind of fait accompli, it was a done deal. It's like this has to happen. And everything that's happened since has been, I guess, compounding that decision. I, I don't regret leaving the UK at all. I, you know, I'm very fond of the UK. I grew up there, spent, you know, 45 years living in the UK. But I also got to travel a lot. I got to travel a lot with Warwick. I traveled through Wish youh Were Here and all the other shows that I used to work on on British tv. And that gave me a taste of the bigger world, that gave me a taste of the wider world, gave me a taste of there's more out there. And for me personally that was important. That, that was, that was the deal breaker for me. But you know, I have friends from primary school who I'm still in contact with and they've kind of stayed close to where they grew up in Edinburgh and they're perfectly happy. And I kind of sometimes think, wow, you know, isn't that amazing? They're just so happy and content and I was so restless from, from day one, perhaps because my dad traveled in the six days to Europe and mum was from Germany. And we kind of traveled a bit when we were kids, only to Europe. But you know, at the time it was a big adventure and that's what gave me the kind of the wanderlust bug, if you like. And you know, being fortunate, I've traveled to 50 plus countries, maybe 60 countries, and settling here in Australia. And you know, particularly at this time, and this isn't lost on me, you know, when the coronavirus is kind of affecting lots of people around the world in different ways. I mean, here I am sat at the beach and it's not really been anything but that for the Last five years. I mean, we didn't always live by the beach, but it's, it's pretty cool to realize that dream. So what I wanted to kind of really share, why I wanted to share this with you is that, you know, don't. Don't underestimate what can be achieved in five years. You know, we often get, get this, you know.

What'S the word we get? We get. We can be easily, you know, put off our goals when things don't happen in the time frame we set. It's easy to kind of feel disillusioned when you, you know, set a goal for 12 months and you don't achieve it. But the fact is.

Nothing happens quickly that's worthwhile and meaningful. It's why we apply our strategic planning inside the Video Business accelerator. You know, any goal in your business or life, there's a good chance that, you know, you're probably overestimating how quickly you can do it. And so what we do is on a monthly basis, on a quarterly basis, we review our strategic plan and we track, you know, where we're at on that plan, and we track how, how close or how far we are from that goal. And that, that constant measurement is something that takes a bit of work as a creative, because as we'll discover next week with Lauren Kress, the neuroscientist, our brains, like, you know, they have kind of, you know, organized side and they have kind of creative side. And sometimes as creatives, we don't want to do the organized stuff. You know, the idea of spreadsheets can be a bit like, for creatives. We want to do the creative stuff. The kind of. I'm bored. Let's go for a walk, come up with an idea. But we should talk a lot more about that next week. And so we've got some, some workmen just working on the surf shack now, but that's okay. Has location request recording.

So, yeah, I just wanted to kind of do a special episode today that just, just shared a bit about my journey, really. I hope you find it helpful and useful and be inspiring. I, I certainly feel like I've got a lot of life left in me and living here in the sun really does make a huge difference. Difference to, to your lifestyle. And, and it's not for everyone, obviously. You know, a lot of people feel like it's a very long way from Britain, but I just see it as just 24 hours on a plane. I can get on a plane. Well, maybe not at the minute, but if I wanted to be Home in three days. I could be. And I. And I feel that, you know, with. With digital technology, I mean, my group, the Video Business Accelerator, I mean, we meet every week on Zoom. We do two calls a week. And so regardless of where everyone's located, we feel like we connect in a community. And I think that with video Zoom technology and that kind of thing, you never feel that disconnected. You know, you can be very connected to people if you want to be. So that's not really something that's become an issue for us here. And, yeah, I just want you to know that if you have. If you have a dream or a goal or an idea and you really feel it in your heart, then you should do it. Just set a course of action in place. And what I would do is work backwards from the goal and say, well, this is the outcome I want to achieve in my business or life.

And then create a plan by deconstructing what are the steps that you need to come backwards from there on, and then start working on it week by week, day by day, and you'll be amazed at how. How much more quickly you can achieve those goals than you might think. Without a plan, you're a bit fucked. But a plan and disciplined, consistent action, imperfect action, will. Will absolutely get you the results you want. So, guys, a bit of a ramble there, but I wanted to share this special episode because I'm feeling kind of reflective today. It's. It's great to get to five years, and we had a hundredth episode of the podcast last week, but to get to five years in Australia, kind of. I forgot it was there and then it crept up on me and.

And, yeah, I mean, it's. It's a great feeling to have pulled off and to know all the pains, you know, that fades away and, you know, as a result, you end up kind of where you want to be, living the life you want, and it's there for the taking. You know, just. Just don't. Don't die with regrets. Hey, guys. That's me signing out. Before the workman get too noisy, I'll talk to you soon. 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, we benefit from mentorship, support, and coaching. Then check out how you can work with me over@denleny.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. So thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.