Video Production Business Manifesto with Ryan Spanger (Part 2)

Hey, guys. Dan here. And I'm excited to welcome you to another episode of our podcast. This week we are doing part two of the Ryan Spanger interview. Ryan runs Dream Engine, a video production company in Melbourne, Australia. And ryan wrote a 20 part manifesto, really detailing lessons he'd learned in 20 years of running a business. And we were just chatting about this on one of our calls and I asked if he would come on and share them with you. Now, Ryan is one of my clients in the accelerator program, runs a very successful business. And in this episode we're going to look at a few really interesting topics. The one that really I thought was a great starting point was that you don't need to be an evangelist for video. All too often I see people trying to convince the public or the prospects of the value of video. The fact is, clients know the value of video. You don't need to tell them that. You know, 80% of video will be on Facebook by 2020. It's not necessary. What you're better off doing is focusing on how you can help them solve their problems. So he also covers off how running a video business is very much like running a restaurant and how you can have whatever you want if you make a very clear plan for that. So before I kind of rattle them all off, because there's some great points here, I hope you enjoy this episode episode and please do subscribe. And if you know someone who would enjoy this, please let them know. I would love if you could leave us a review and I appreciate you being here. Enjoy the show.

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.

Ryan, last week we got through the first half of your manifesto and had some incredible insights. This week we're moving on to part two. And.

I love, I love this one because it's all about clients, which is getting give them what they want.

Yeah. And I guess for people who just in case they haven't heard part one, go back and listen to it. But this is basically a series of ideas that I have put together. Either things I've read or come across, ideas that I've had, things I've borrowed or stolen, but basically try to put a bunch of ideas together to remind myself in my video production business, these are the things that are going to keep me on the right path. So give them what they want is just a reminder that.

Always, and this is something that we talk about in the accelerator. Always think from your clients or your prospect's point of view. What are the things that they want? And something that you mentioned quite a bit is this idea that everyone, not everyone, but often video businesses will go on about their storytelling credentials, about how they're great storytellers. And, you know, you know, I'm not here to knock. Storytelling like this is one of, like, the most important arts, sort of not of not only what we do, but of human survival. I mean, that's how people shared ideas about how they learned about threats and opportunities and entertained each other. The thing is, you've got to ask yourself, are your prospects Googling Storyteller Melbourne? They may be, but it might be more likely that they're Googling something, know more specific.

Sometimes.

There'S what your clients want and there's what they need, and you've got to think about giving them what they want, responding to that, and then almost like smuggling in what they need, which is the great storytelling. So.

I guess storytelling, if I was sitting at a campfire.

I would want a great storyteller there. That's the place where I'd be Googling for the, you know, the world's best storyteller. So, you know, at the light of the campfire, you know, we could be enthralled by this great story. But I think if you're thinking about Google searches, it might just be something sort of far more specific. So think about how you can dress yourself up and promote yourself in the way that your clients expect you to be, more so than your idealized version of yourself.

It's interesting. You know, my. My philosophy in this is very simple. Here's what clients actually want.

Drum roll.

Okay. You to turn up on time to look smart, be polite, get the job done, and deliver the project on time. That's the minimum viable offer that 95% of clients are happy with. There's a danger if you start getting too fancy. It will actually put them off. And someone said to me last week on another podcast, it was Simeon actually said, I've actually lost work by being too creative.

Yeah, it's a great point.

Just. Just keep it simple and deliver. So move beautifully into the next point, which I also find I kind of smile slightly when I see this because I. I come across a lot of people applying to come in the program, and oftentimes they just don't qualify.

For.

Whatever reason, the revenue is not high enough or they're Just not their kind of level of business that we typically have the best results with. But I see this a lot. And your point here is no need to be an evangelist for video.

Yeah, it's funny, I don't know why people feel compelled to do this, but just from checking out other websites often or, you know, LinkedIn posts or blog posts often, people will, in video production, companies will write articles or web pages along the lines of video is the most effective way of communicating. In fact, YouTube is the world's second largest search engine. So, you know, you need to focus on making video. But the thing is, if someone's come to your website, they're probably already sold on the idea of video. It would almost be like if you had a website for a restaurant and you were trumpeting the idea how, like, food is actually the most effective way.

Of ensuring your survival. I love the analogy. Or it might even be that, you know, like, Japanese food is the most tasty, healthy, whatever. People give people the credit that they sort of know what they want, but they're probably just deciding between you and some other production companies. So it's also a lot easier to sell something to someone who wants it already. It's really difficult to sell something to someone who has no idea that they want it. So to think that they would read all about video and then say, oh, gee, I was going to put all my money in Facebook advertising, but now that I've read that, I'm going to funnel it across to video. Just, it's a lot easier to just sell to people who already know what they want.

Well, of course, if you are a business who knows who your target clients are, and let's say you make mining videos for the mining and manufacturing industry. Well, someone who's in the mining and manufacturing industry is going to come to your site and go, oh, these guys understand because they make mining and manufacturing videos. They probably don't want to see a show reel. They want to see a video about tires for a big piece of machinery. Or they want to see a crane being built. Oh, okay, so you can shoot cranes being built. Well, we've got a crane video we need shooting. Oh, we'll use you. And oftentimes filmmakers will think it's really too simplistic. But actually part of the process in the group is that when we're looking to write website copy, we actually get you to interview your clients and ask them a certain number of very simple but very effective questions. And as I've reviewed many, many of these interviews, the same thing keeps Coming up, which is, oh, when I come to your website, I want to see a video like the one we want to make. So I can use that as a reference point and say, oh, that video you made for Red car company over here, could you make the same video for us but with a blue car over here? And it's literally that simple. And yet for some reason, the marketplace seems to overcomplicate it. Would you agree?

Oh, definitely. And that's been actually one of the most useful things I've learned in the program so far is this exercise of interviewing your, your clients. I, before that would try to, you know, get a sense of where they were and what they were looking for. But actually doing a formal interview and recording it and then analyzing their language just gave me a much deeper insight into, into the sorts of things that they were looking for.

That's right. And I love the food analogies. Your next methodology is actually you're running a restaurant. So what do you mean by that?

Well, I think I thought of this because my father in law for many years had a restaurant and you know, we used to go in there quite a bit and I would notice the way that he ran it. And just think about the experience of going to a restaurant just so that I get the wording right. I'll read this one. You are the maitre d. Your crew are your chefs. You've worked really hard to get your customers in the door. Now everything needs to be perfect. You can do everything right, but if you over salt the meal, they'll never come back. Now think of the best restaurant experience you've ever had. Not only was the food amazing, but the staff anticipated your needs. Your glass magically refilled at the perfect time. So how can you deliver this to your customers every time?

Beautiful. What a great analogy. I don't think it needs any more explanation. There it is. I love the over salt your food. It's true. And I think what happens is we sometimes take it very personally when a client's upset with something we've done. You can put a lot of effort into something, but it's just not the right flavor for the client. And ultimately they're the ones paying the bill and they've got an option to go elsewhere. And so you just need to step back, remove all emotion from the equation, and simply look at the facts and fix it. Because whenever there's a problem, it's a great opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with the client.

Definitely. And it can just be one thing like that, where you've Got everything right, but you've stuffed up one key thing and just the meal tastes terrible. Have you ever.

Had the experience of going to a restaurant where it just felt like everything was perfect, where as you came in, they greeted you straight away, they led you to a perfect table, as when you're ready to order, the waiter was there, you know, the food was perfect. They weren't like, didn't. They weren't too forward, but they weren't too formal. Kind of just the whole process was right. And you felt so kind of held by the experience that it was just, you know, it was remarkable. And it was like, it could be, like, transformative. You just came away going, wow, you know, what an experience. Now, that's pretty challenging to deliver every time. But I guess it's like that journey towards mastery, like, how can you try to deliver that dream come true, you know, or remarkable experience to your clients? Because if you do, they're just going to become regulars. They're just not going to want to go anywhere else.

Exactly right. Your next point here is you can have whatever you want.

Yeah.

That'S actually another thing which I had a realization from cycling. And one of the beautiful things about cycling is that it doesn't necessarily take a huge amount of natural ability. What you put in is what you get out. And if you're really prepared to work at it, it's almost unlimited what you can get.

It's a mindset thing, isn't it, really?

It's a mindset thing. But the thing that comes along with it is that you can have whatever you want, but it's going to cost you, and you're going to have to sacrifice, and you've got to decide for yourself whether it's worth it or not. I mean, you could have the largest business, you could be making particular types of work or whatever it might be, but you might end up working 16 hours a day. So I suppose you anything's possible, but everything has a cost, and you've just got to ask yourself whether it's worth the cost to get that.

Which brings us right back to that whole idea of growth. Accelerator one is being clear on your why. Because if you want to. Charlie, for example, who was on the podcast a few weeks ago, Charlie works six days a week, four hours a day. And at the last event, he talked about him building up his team to the size where he went, how big does my team need to be? So I don't need to work so I can go and ride my bike 60km a day, which I guess moves us beautifully on to your next point, which is work the system.

Yeah, that's right. And that's something that we talk a lot about in the accelerator and something that the group, we're all individually working on building the systems in our business. And that was something that, like, I first started to think about when I, I was watching a lot of football and I was noticing like the most successful teams. And you'd hear the interviews afterwards when they talked about how they went and, you know, maybe if they had a big win that week or maybe they didn't go so well. When they'd interview the coach or the captain, they would often talk about the process. They would talk about the style of football that they play, and they would mainly just bring it back to their system. So they weren't too focused on kind of the actual outcomes. They were very process focused and they knew if they followed the correct process that the outcome would just naturally follow rather than the highs and lows of like, you know, you go out, you make a great sale, you're celebrating, then you've been quiet for a while and you're starting to freak out. This is like a really scary, uneven way of running your business. But once you've got great systems in place and you know that the systems are going to develop good results, then you make a sale. You don't make a sale, you go through a quiet phase, then things are really booming for a while. It doesn't upend you too much because as long as you know that you're working that system, then success is bound to follow.

Yeah, it's about consistency, it's about process, it's about predictability and it's about measuring. Because once you've got a process, you can start to measure how effective each step in that process is. And when you start to make decisions, business decisions based on data, it really appends everything. And that's when you start to get freedom. And one of the things I love that you said to me a couple of weeks ago was in your weekly Win video, you were like, I've decided I want to take a Friday morning off and have time to myself to go and see a film or ride my bike. And that's only possible because you've heavily invested your time and effort into systemizing yourself out of the day to day.

Yeah, I think, yeah. Without systems, you're very reactive. So system gives you that feeling of control because otherwise there's a lot of things that are happening around you and then, and you're just reacting to them. But you're the one that actually builds that system. And it just, it really, you can concentrate on the things that you can control. Maybe I'm a bit of a control freak, I don't know. But it makes me feel more secure knowing that I'm kind of working the system rather than just coming at, you know, there are enough curveballs that you have to react to, so you've got to control that sphere, that you can control yourself.

And the other thing, of course, is that when you expanding a team, they, they can't be inside your head. So that the only way to reasonably expect them to be able to follow any kind of process is for you to download your way of doing things, let's call it a system for argument's sake of how to do. And you can systemize absolutely everything in your business. The golden thing is, is that you, the business owner, doesn't have to be the one sitting doing the systems. You can map out the flow and then you get your team to build it.

And I'm by no means the expert on this stuff. This is stuff that I'm working really hard on and improving. But I guess it's like a lifelong process.

But really it's there to remind myself that is one of the key ways to grow the business and have more control and have more freedom.

Your next point here just says make the bed. And I'm a bit confused by this, so perhaps you can enlighten us and the other listeners.

I remember many years ago, this was so long ago, I used to go to Borders, you know, the bookshop, and hang out there and spend a bit of time. And I found this book in Borders. This could have been maybe, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago and was actually a book of advice for filmmakers. And I felt exactly the same way when I saw this topic, make your bed. But it's basically the idea of when you get up in the morning, taking the first step that you can to sort of control your environment and do something positive. Because it's based on the idea that how you do one thing is actually how you do everything and start as you intend to continue. So if you do the small things right, the larger things will follow. And it's mainly based on this idea of consistency. And Robert Cialdini, who wrote the book Influence, and if people haven't read that, I recommend checking it out. One of the things that he identified as like a key driver of humans is we just have this naturally inbuilt desire to be consistent. Once you Start doing things a certain way. Like, if you set that discipline for yourself, that when you get up, you make your bed, you will apply that same logic and discipline to the rest of your day. So I guess it's symbolic. It's not like if you physically make your bed every day, then everything else will follow from that, but just applying.

That same logic and applying that same discipline to yourself and everything that you do.

Yeah, I think. I think I have a version of this which is don't hit the snooze button once. Once you get up, you get up. Now, your next point I'm very, very in alignment with, which is just focus on doing one thing really well, which really comes down to niching, which is always a contentious topic for filmmakers. But can you share your perspective on doing one thing really well?

Yeah, well, there's two versions of that. One is focusing on your business just doing one thing really well. And there's also you doing one thing really well. So it took me a long time to realize this. For some reason, I thought that in order to become more successful, I needed to improve my weaknesses. I needed to identify what my weaknesses were and work on them and try to improve them. And so I, you know, I'm not that great at After Effects, and I went and did an After Effects course, and that helped me a little bit, and I got a little bit better at that. But, you know, in our business, there's so many things that you could do, and you're not going to do any of them well if you spread yourself too thin. You know, like, that's pretty obvious. But I guess the thing is that it's actually much more effective to just forget about the things that you're not that great at and bring in people who are great at them to do them and put all that energy into the few things that you do extremely well. And I just find the more that I do that, the more successful I become.

Yeah, absolutely. 100% agree. Now, your next point is draw widely for inspiration, which I think is about, you know, not looking just with tunnel vision. You've got to. You've got to look in other places for ways in which to improve your life and business. Can you expand on that for us?

Yeah, that's something that I've tried to do in my life, and maybe I just sort of naturally gravitate towards it. But often people in our community are reading the same books. You know.

Everyone'S read, I don't know, maybe the four hour work week or story by Robert McKee or they're reading the same blogs or they're getting the same information. And I think if you can go a little bit wider, you can find stuff that you can apply to your business and to your thinking that can actually help you to transform and move in ways that can make you a little bit more unique. So it might be about. It's really just about noticing the world around you. Whether it's like, as you walk down the street, the graphic design in shop windows about, say, thinking about music and how the rhythm of that music relates to video editing, you know, noticing the light, you know, looking out the window, noticing sort of what quality of light is in the room or being, you know, more aware of the sky or starting to read things that may not appear to apply to you. I, like, started reading the Australian Financial Review, Weekend Edition. And it's just such an eclectic newspaper that takes you from the economy to. To culture, to politics. So, you know, whatever that thing is for, you go look at painting, dance, whatever it is, draw from all of that and then bring that into what you do.

I think it's also true from business perspective. We draw on all sorts of different types of businesses. And I adapt what I'm learning from elsewhere and apply it to filmmaking. And that's another thing that's really, really powerful.

Your next point is take it personally. Now, they say in business, don't take it personally. You're saying take it personally. What do you mean by that?

And of course, some of the topics that I've come up with have been sort of like deliberately prompting the question where you go, hang on exactly what you've done. Why are you saying that you're not supposed to take it? The. The thing is, we are creating, we're doing creative work. We're bringing a level of artistry to what we do. And with the work that we make, it's never going to be that great unless you bring a little bit of your heart and soul into it. We're not just digging a ditch. We are drawing within ourselves for some kind of magical, creative aspect that we're putting out there. Art and commerce together. And so it's got to be a little bit personal. You know, it's got to be something that you can really put yourself into. That being said, you've also got to let go. Because ultimately the work that you're creating is not for you, it's for someone else. It's like if you're, you know, a tailor and you're making a suit, the client's the one that's got to wear that suit. They'll be going out every day and presenting themselves to the, to the world in that way. So. So I think it's about putting the correct amount of heart and soul into the work that you do and then also at the right stage being able to just let go and put it out there.

Yeah, wonderful.

Next one is never waste a good fuck up. Which I think couldn't be said in a more direct and appropriate way.

Yeah, I mean, the work that we do is really complex. There's a lot of things that can go wrong. And I suppose, particularly in the world of whether it's corporate video or wedding video, that kind of thing, it's different to large scale filmmaking. You know, like when a large film crew is working, there's a very big crew. Everyone's just focusing on their particular thing and they're moving slowly and carefully and deliberately. You've got someone looking after continuity, you've got catering. There's. There's far less chance of anything going wrong with what we're doing. We're often moving fast. We're moving, we're working with small crews. There's a lot that needs to get done in a small amount of time. And over the years, just these conversations that come up that I reckon everyone in video production has their version of some stuff up that they've done, like some.

SD card that's gone missing or some audio that wasn't recorded correctly or some shot, like vital shot at a wedding that someone needed to get but got to the church late and didn't get it. You know what I mean?

Yeah, absolutely. I remember doing a job for a TV show in the UK and a long story, but we'd been sitting around for half a day and then we went to do the job. I forgot the tripod. I went to the went and it was a junior producer on the job. And I ended up selling her the idea that handheld, in the style of a kind of, you know, U.S. crime show, was what was right for this particular piece. And she's like, oh, I just need to phone the executive producer and run it by her. And I said, well, you can absolutely do that or you could just like make a name for yourself, like do something bold, be creative. Because then you've got the option to just go, you know, and put your name on the board. And she went with it. And I'm glad she did because I didn't have the tripod in the car. I would have been screwed without it.

So your final point and just, you know, on that topic, I think the thing is, when you have that conversation with your client, like, that really hurts. You know, the moment of realization that you haven't got something right, that really hurts. And then having to talk about it as well, and needing to try and make it right somehow. So it's vital that you have some kind of realization or transformation. Maybe it's about systems, maybe it's about communication, but whatever it might be, the fact that you have made this fuck up that needs to be fixed, if you aren't able to draw some learning and put something in place to make sure that it's never going to happen again, then it's like, it's a terrible waste. So at least try to, like, get something from that so that it never happens again.

Absolutely, absolutely. Your final point, which I'm very intrigued by, is just Be the Wolf.

Well, this is an idea that comes from Pulp Fiction, a film that I'm sure everyone listening knows very well and has probably watched multiple times. And the idea is that in our business, it would be great if our clients came to us and they had a really clear brief, they had a great schedule, they understood exactly what they wanted, and they were great communicators and we could plan things really carefully. Often, you know, the reality is that it's, you know, it's completely different. Your client might come to you under extreme pressure. They might have a really tight deadline, they might not know what they want. They might actually just be in a complete mess and, and want you to take that problem away. And that's something that's, like, pretty common in corporate, where.

Often people will just come when there's that urgency. And so be the Wolf is the idea of harnessing the spirit of Harvey Keitel's character in Pulp Fiction, where basically your client.

Is sort of symbolized by these two sort of like gangsters who've got themselves into a mess and are now coming to you and saying, we need you to solve this problem. And you sort of think about the energy that the wolf brings to the situation. You know, he arrives, he's calm. He calmly assesses the requirements of what needs to be done. He gathers the resources that he needs. He gives clear and direct instructions. He doesn't waste time.

What else does? He's polite, but firm. He takes charge. He comes up with a solution, and then he navigates the clients through that solution. And he does it all with grace and style. And it's a bit tongue in cheek, but I think if you can think of be inspired by that character of the Wolf and that type of problem solver that can be incredibly valuable to your clients.

I think it's a great analogy and a beautiful way to wrap up these 20 insights. Ryan, where can people find out more about you?

You can check out my website, which is dreamengine.com.

You can see the sort of video production services that we offer and there's also a lot of resources there in the blog section, like this post for instance.

Mate, it's been thoroughly enjoyable going through these with you, and thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to schedule the call so we could do this. And any final thoughts for the listeners and the viewers?

If these are the sorts of ideas that connect with you, that inspire you, or they're the sorts of things that you're thinking thinking about already.

There'S a great forum which is the accelerator, where we meet and we grapple with these ideas. And so there's a good opportunity to be part of that as well. There's also a good opportunity just in general to get together with your community, with me. I love talking about these sorts of ideas or other people in your community to support each other, to kind of think about this stuff, to share, to learn, and to kind of map out the future, you know, for your business. Beautiful.

Thank you so very much.

Thanks Dan.

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.