The hidden benefits of creating space. EP #187 - Shorty

Howdy, guys. Dan here with the how to Scale a video business podcast on Tuesday, the 1st of June. This is episode number 189.

I've just come off our weekly group coaching call, and great, great call this morning, and we were talking about strategic planning and how to, you know, constantly be measuring how you're progressing through your financial year here in Australia. It's the last month of the financial year.

Beginning of June, so it's not all our taxes are due in end of this month for the end of the financial year. And so one of the things we talked about this morning on the call was the importance of.

You know, tracking how, how you're progressing.

For the last month of the year for a whole lot of different reasons. You know, not least of all from a taxation point of view where you want to be checking in with your accountant, seeing how you're traveling, how you're tracking, and how that will impact your tax liability.

But we also talked about.

A totally different subject today about some of the guys have just had some big projects finished, some big commercial and creative projects finish. And Chris was sharing how. How much he realized he could create space in his business where previously he didn't feel he had time. And so we delved a little deeper into this idea of creating space in your business. And I think it's very easy as, as a busy creative, to feel like you've got to be involved in everything and if you're not involved in everything, that somehow things might, you know, not be done to the standard that you want. And I think this is a common challenge with freelancers and business owners alike, is letting go of the reins, letting go and trusting your team or your contractors to look after things, and especially the idea that they will probably do things differently to how you might do things.

And I think that our egos can get in the way and have a sort of feeling like, you know, the client only wants it our way. But what I've discovered over the years, working with really talented and creative people, is when you expand your team, be that in house or as contractors, you're actually inviting in other talent and other perspectives, which in actual fact, they ends up making you look better because they bring different flavors. It's like, you know, thinking of food without seasoning or salt and pepper and herbs and spices. The herbs and spices add layers, they add depth, they add dimension. They add elements of flavor, style, and taste that overall benefit the dish, and the dish being your film. And so as we were discussing this notion of creating space towards the end of the call. I asked everyone on the call to just share, you know, what was the takeaway from the call and how would they be implementing that in their business. And it was Chris actually who said, I'm recognizing that I'm okay with space, I'm okay, that if I don't have anything in the schedule I can go home at 5 o' clock or I could just do something else. And so it got to me thinking about. So I went down to Melbourne last week, flew down on Wednesday due to do an event on Friday with our Australian based members. And on Thursday morning it was looking very, very likely that the cases in Melbourne's Covid outbreak had expanded and that we would be going into lockdown. So I literally had to make a decision at 8 o' clock in the morning to just kick, cancel the event.

Cancel my flight, book another flight. Because I recognized if I didn't get out on, then didn't book a flight before the official announcement, I might get stuck down there. Which was in itself not a problem. I was staying with a great friend of mine. I've got lots of friends in Melbourne. But it was the being stuck in Melbourne and then two weeks of forced quarantine on return in a hotel at my expense. So I basically made a dash for the border. And.

What was interesting was that the whole trip got turned on its head. So I was back, I had to transit through Sydney and the flight was delayed in Sydney by an hour. I had to fill out all sorts of border passes when I arrived. And as I landed back in Queensland at 7:30 at night, one hour later than I should have, an announcement came through on my phone saying that the entire state of Victoria had now been declared a red zone, a Covid outbreak hotspot. And that as from 1am the following morning, anyone arriving back from Victoria who'd been there in the last 14 days, we'd have to go into mandatory hotel quarantine. So I got back four hours before that kicked in. But we got to the two arrivals, we were ushered down a long corridor into a border patrol area where we were asked to show our Queensland driver's licenses. And then actually we were asked if we'd been in Victoria and I had. So I was ushered down to the counter and at that point I was like, oh my God, this is just like, this is all going to go south.

But because I'd filled out the paperwork and I hadn't been to the hotspot, he was like, yeah, you're good to go, but I have to, I Have to.

I have to abide by the Victorian lockdown rules. So even though I'm in Queensland, I'm effectively locked down in my home here on the sunny coast. And so that created a situation yesterday where I was due to be traveling yesterday. And so I kind of got up and I was like, I'm going to just like trying to have a day off, you know, and I'd plan to have a day off, which was very challenging to do when you, when you've got, like, work you could be doing and other things. But I decided that I would just like, you know, take a bit of time out. And so I spent the morning hanging with the dogs and just, you know, just chilling. But then I went out for a bike ride. And this is where the idea of space comes in. So I, I forced some space into my day and, and one of the rules of lockdown is you can travel up to a five kilometer radius for up to two hours a day to exercise. So I got on my mountain bike and instead of going left on the route that I normally take, so I have a road bike and a mountain bike, and I've been using the road bike to go up to the heads and back. It's about 16km return. It's not massively long, but a few hills and things, and I can sort of do about half an hour, 40 minutes, and it's, it's a good, good workout. Instead, I decided to go right. So because I created space, I went from left to right. And what I discovered was taking the route on the right hand side, I discovered a track that I'd never noticed before. So I took that track and that was on the left. And then I, I discovered this incredible.

Bush track, which is only narrow enough, it's covered in sand, and it ended up being maybe, maybe a one and a half kilometer loop. But I found this incredible circuit literally five minutes from my house that I didn't know existed. And so I did four or five, got two or three runs the circuit. I took a few different trips and I ended up being out for like 40 minutes. And I don't know, I did about 10 kilometers. It wasn't very far, but I've got an electric mountain bike and I had the motor turned off. So it's a 27 kilo bike with no motor on. And I just powered through this ride. So I found a way to kind of, you know, get my blood pressure pumping and my heart rate up. But the moral of the story is that I forced myself to create some space and in doing so, decided to go right instead of left. And then when I did that, I discovered something new. And that something new was really fulfilling. And it's a tree covered, so a track. And so it's really kind of condensed and it was beautiful. The sun was shining and I just spun around this track and it's quite, it's quite, it's quite sandy, so your tires slip all over the place. But, but had I not just created some space, I wouldn't have discovered that track. And the fact that I just stopped and said, okay, I'm going to take some time out today and just reflect and do some thinking. I was able to discover a new experience and that new experience was really, really fulfilling. And I feel great today, you know, having gone out and done some exercise, I'll get out there again today. And it's only a short ride. So it's like I'm, I've lowered the barrier to just getting on the bike and going out. But it was just such an amazing experience to discover this piece of nature five minutes from my home. And so I want to encourage you to, to, to think about creating some space in your day, in your life, seeing if you can't just take some time out and see what happens. Because it's incredible what happens when you create some space. You know, life, I believe, I feel very much is, is there for enjoying. And sometimes pleasure can just be going right instead of left and taking some time out and some space to appreciate how far you've come, where you. Where you're still looking to go, but also to make sure you enjoy the present because it really is a gift to be able to do that. And yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. You know, it was, it was a real beautiful moment and opportunity to just be out in nature and enjoy something a bit. Guys, I will talk to you on Thursday. 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. 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.