Where are your constraints? EP #256 - Shorty

Where are the constraints in your video business? Let me explain. In every business, if everything was working smoothly and marketing was working so you get plenty of leads, and client onboarding was working very efficiently, so the clients were coming through the business in an effective manner and they were. Production was happening very smoothly and post production was happening very smoothly, and clients were coming back to you with feedback on time, and then you were delivering and then getting paid. Then you'd make as much money as you wanted to make in your business. But of course, real life doesn't work like that. So in today's episode, I want to talk about the theory of constraints and how you can look into your business and find your blind spots.

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, guys, this is episode 256 of the how to Scale a Video Business Podcast. And we just come off the two incredible coaching calls with our VBA elite members, and we had this deep dive into something called the Theory of Constraints. Now, the Theory of Constraints is derived from a book by Dr. Eli Goldratt called the Goal. Now, what's interesting, that book is actually 11 and a half hours long, and I started reading the physical copy, but then I discovered the audio version. And what's really cool about the audio version is that unlike a normal audiobook, which is just narrated, this one is narrated, but with. And so it's a bit like a radio play if you've ever had one of them, where the characters are played by people in character, in voices. So it's actually a really entertaining book to listen to, but it is long. It's like 11 and a half hours. And so it's the kind of thing that you listen to on maybe 1 1/2 times speed on a very long journey. But the essence of the book is it follows a manufacturing process, and the manufacturing manager is tasked with making the process more efficient. And what's happening is, is there's plenty of leads coming in, there's plenty of sales being made, and there's plenty of capacity to distribute, but something in the company is slowing them down. And as a result of that, the company's not making as much money as it could. And so in this book, the mark, the, the, the, the manufacturing manager goes to a conference and meets this kind of guru. And we're never quite clear who this guy is. But he sends this kind of guru, and instead of telling him what the answer is, he. He asks him deeper questions and they kind of begin this relationship whereby the manager of the plant kind of keeps asking questions to this guru and he never really gives him the answer. And he's like, I'm just so frustrated. Just tell me what I need to do. But what he's actually doing is helping the manufacturing manager character to figure out the problem for himself so he can understand better how the theory of constraints work. And the theory of constraints is like this. It's like if you had a garden hose, okay? And on one end you've got high water pressure and a really solid connection, and at the other end you've got a kind of hose adapter that will disperse the water. But if that hose is tangled up and there's a kink in it, then it doesn't matter how much force comes through the hose, nothing's going to come out the other end. And so the theory of constraints is the art of looking through the hose to find out where the kinks are, to see if undoing that kink helps the water to flow more fluidly. So hopefully that helps you understand this principle. But if we apply that to video businesses, what we're essentially saying is that we are potentially running our businesses with some blind spots, so maybe we're not doing quite the right things in the right place, or maybe there's a small part of the production process which is tripping us up. And so the theory of constraints would suggest you go looking for where the production process is being held up. So it might be that you've got plenty of opportunities coming in, so it's not a constraint there. Maybe you've got plenty of sales happening, so it's not a constraint there. But maybe somewhere in the production process, it could be something simple like you're doing the shoot and you're getting into edit, but then you're having to wait weeks or months for clients to come back to you on feedback. So that's potentially where your constraint is. That's where the kink in the hose is, and that's what slows up post production. And if you slow up post production, then you can't.

Invoice enough for the final 50%. And so sometimes that's where a constraint is. Or maybe the constraint is in that you don't have enough opportunities coming into the business, which would make it a marketing constraint. And so perhaps you've not been doing Enough outreach on LinkedIn and we see LinkedIn outreach and LinkedIn content posting as being the most effective way to generate video business organically if you're working in a specific niche. And I'm a huge fan of advocating working in niches or niches because it helps you talk that language to your market. And one of the tips I recommend is going through your LinkedIn profile and deleting anybody who's not in your niche. I did this recently. It took me six hours. But I got rid of everyone who wasn't a video production business, because I only want to talk to people who are potentially opportunities, people who can learn from what I'm sharing and maybe get to a point where a percentage of them say, you know, I'm interested in what you're saying, then I'd like to know more because I'm hearing these stories and I think I'm ready. So you have to be very deliberate in, you know, how you analyze the flow of leads and opportunity through your business so you can identify where the gaps are. And we're going to be ramping up a lot more LinkedIn content over the next few weeks and months. And we've been building a lot of content over the last sort of year or so. And the constraint has been me not actually just making it live, creating a system for the team so they can execute and publish that every day. So that's the constraint. And oftentimes the constraint is a small thing that is like, I keep meaning to do that, but I never get around to it. And sometimes with marketing, we end up, like, doing operational things or dealing with clients, which is important. Like, you know, if you obsess about your client experience, you never really have to worry about business, but you do always need to be feeding the front of the funnel with new opportunities. And the easiest way to do that is by sort of having a series of messages that you repeat again and again and again. And this is something that can really freak out creators, because creativity, by its very nature is about making stuff new, making stuff fresh. And so, you know, we want to make sure that you're aware of where the blind spots are in your business, and from there you can identify and tweak them. And so we've identified in our business that the constraint is myself. I'm the business owner, and the business owner is often the constraint. I have a team, I have content, I have a platform, I have a good set of connections, but I'm not putting the content in front of them. So that is a constraint that is slowing down our marketing reach now. I guess I've been quite fortunate that we've got a really great bunch of clients and we work very closely with them and we're obsessed about their results. We're obsessed about helping them get results. And so with that in mind, we haven't really been focusing too much on front end marketing. I mean, this podcast is front end marketing, I guess, but we've not been actively pushing it. But you're going to start seeing more content coming out on LinkedIn, so if you see it, leave a comment. Let me know if you see it or not, and I'll see you soon.

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