16 Video Agency Owners Expose Their Secret To Scale

Hey, what's going on, guys? This video is going to be a compilation of my favorite client case studies and some of their stories and journeys, growing their video business, and going from freelancer to successful business owner. So this is a great one to have. If you're on in the car or if you just want to listen to other people's stories about how they got started and how they progressed in this industry, this is going to be great. So let's go ahead and dive in. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Ben, who actually just closed 20k in, what, the past week, dude. Savage out here. Crazy week, dude. I love it. And a lot of people don't know you're only 21, right? Like, you're. You're still young, in the game, man. Fresh out of college, graduated a little bit early, but yeah, still, how does that. Dude, how does that work? I love it. It's. I mean, for anybody who maybe doesn't know you, I guess just give us a little bit of background on yourself and kind of how you got started. A little bit about your journey, if you don't mind. Yeah, so I. I pretty much started in sports at my college. I went there for three and a half years. I just grinded. I worked as hard as I could outside of class. I really perfected the technical aspect of everything. And when I got done with school, which was last December, and this was film school, right? Yeah, this was media arts. When I got done with that, you know, I didn't have clients pouring in, you know, over my shoulder. So I felt like I was completely undervalued with the work that I was doing at the level I was doing it at. So that's where I kind of reached out to Eric. I had seen his ads, and now I'm here. You talking about me? Dude, I love it. What? Was I just in your feed so much that you're just like, I'm tired of seeing this guy's ads. I better. I better get him out of here. Well, he was. I mean, you're saying all the things I needed to hear, and you had all the. All the lessons I needed to learn and all the. The biggest thing is, like, there were so many questions that I didn't know I was supposed to be asking, but I was able to join and find the answers to all the questions I didn't even know I was supposed to be asking for sure. And I guess, like, what was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to joining with us? Like, what was that big? Was it just like, I don't even know how to structure the business at all? Was there, like, something specific? I mean, I felt like I had a good understanding of. I had a great understanding of exactly how to run a camera, and I had a good understanding of some basic business principles, but I had no help in marketing or sales. And I've had hundreds of aha. Moments like that right there that have helped get me to, like, huge success within just a month of working with. Now, I was gonna say, you're just getting started, man. This is. This is small potatoes compared to where you're gonna be. I promise you. And I know you. You may not see that yet, but I see that in you. And I know you're gonna crush. I think it's going to be a very bright future for you, dude. I guess. Was there any reason why maybe you chose this program over maybe some of the other programs out there? Was there anything that really stood out to you? I think this one was specifically for filmmakers. When I spoke with other people in the program, they saw my work and they saw the tremendous amount of work that I had put in to get to this point. So I didn't want to speak with just a coach about business in general. I wanted specific help within filmmaking because that's what I do, Right? And, you know, you see a hundred testimonials, and I watched almost all of them because I wanted to be so sure, because I was taking a huge, you know, a huge. It's a big bet. Yeah, it's a big jump, dude. Especially someone who's just out of college, right? Yes. It was a huge. A huge investment that I had to make. So I watched as many testimonials as I could. And now you're going to be on that page, too, man. How does it feel to be like I'm going to be one of those ones that you're watching now? Feels great. That's all I can say. Just all that proof underneath, you know, the. What you're talking about, your program doing, all that proof helped me just have the confidence to be where I'm at now. Well, I don't want to discount you because, like, we're just. We're just a servant to you. Like, you put in the work, you use the tools you did the things you needed to do. I want to make that very clear for anybody else watching this too. Like, you have to show up and meet us halfway. We'll give you the tools. We'll show you what to do. But you're the one who took that and like, really implemented it. So I want to make that super clear for everybody as well. You know, it's a lot of work. It is almost. It is a lot of work. Like, I, when I first started, I was like, oh, I'm just going to speed up, speedrun through these first couple weeks. No, it was too much work to get done in those first couple weeks. Well, and it's, I think the thing is, is it really comes down to like, anything worth having takes work. Right. You don't want it to be easy because if it was easy, everyone in their and their mother would be a successful video business owner. But, like, there's a reason that the people who put in the work are the ones who make the money and succeed and the people who don't, don't, you know, And I think, like, that's really where it comes down to. You have a really good work ethic and anybody who wants to be successful here has to have one because, like, it's just the beginning. But it really comes down to that work ethic for you, you know, I appreciate it. I love it, man. I guess, like, was there anything so far? Because we're only like literally 30 days in with you at this point. Like, is there anything so far that's been particularly helpful, like working with us up. Up to this point? I mean, there's been many things, I think doing role playing specifically, you know, acting out, you know, customer scenarios and how you can pitch yourself, rightfully so, based off the work that you stand on, but do that in a, in a digestible way for the consumer has been really helpful for me. Having the advanced coaching calls with you has been super helpful for me. Just sitting there and listening to other people deal with their problems has been super helpful for me. It's. It's all been super helpful. It's hard to pinpoint one. I love it, man. I guess. How do you feel now that you have this path forward? Like, do you feel like you can see a path forward for the business and like, how does that feel right now? Yeah. And to your last point, it made this idea come to mind is I've been telling everyone who asks me what I'm up to now because I just moved that I have, for the first time, I have a pinpoint, like, accurate view on exactly where I need to go to get my business to where I've always wanted it to be, whereas I've never had that. Like I said, I didn't know some of the questions I was Supposed to be asking so I would never be able to find answers. But now I feel like I, I have the roadmap and it's an incredible amount of work that's sitting in front of my desk right here. But now I know exactly what to do every day when I wake up to work on my business. I love it, man. I guess where do you think you would have been if you hadn't maybe taken that jump? Because it's, I'm sure you, you felt it. I've been there too. I've invested so much of my own education, dude. Like, it's scary every time. Like, where do you think you would have been if you hadn't made that bet on yourself to jump in, man? I just, I remember just running horrible ads about my business when I first got to Florida. When I moved out of college. Nothing was converting at all. So I, I like to think that I would have really, really struggled to, to find work because I didn't even know what my market was, like what my niche was. I didn't know how to pitch myself at all. The numbers definitely wouldn't be where they're at. They might not even be a fifth as big as what they're at. In the last couple of months, I just did my tax return and I've already made more. Like I've collected more in the last week than I did in my entire last year's tax return as a full time student. You know, that took up a lot of time, but it was like, it was, that's how far. That's wild. Yeah. Dude, you're making me feel like a proud father over here, dude. I love it. I love it. This is why I do what I do. I love seeing this. I love seeing your success and I can't wait to help you push it even further. And one last question. I guess if anyone is maybe on the fence about even just booking a call and speaking with us, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give them, man? There's no one, there's no one that could make it work more than I did. Like, like, I, I, I shouldn't really admit to this, but like, I wasn't super truthful about like the money that I was making as a full time student because I needed to get into this program. Like, I, I knew I had the skill, like the technical skills. Your work is beautiful, dude. It's, it's amazing work. It really is. I, I just, I, I had to get into the program and it's not like it was a Lot of money. It's a huge investment. But if I can make that work as someone who just graduated college and has no job lined up, like other people need to make that jump and if the jump is really just to make a call and see if it's a good fit for you, like, that's like 100%. Absolutely. Yes. That people should at least book a call because that doesn't hurt. But that's all. I gotta say, dude, I'm very proud of you and I'm very excited to see where you go. It's literally just the beginning. This is like, this is like the tiny little tip of the iceberg. There's so much more to come. I'm so excited to see it. And dude, I appreciate your time. And we're going to do another one of these when you close multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars in the next couple months here. But now I believe you when you say that too. Like I. Right, you're like before, you're like, Eric's just lying to me, dude. He's just saying these things and you do it and then we keep going. I love it. Exactly, dude. Well, appreciate your time, Ben, and we'll keep, keep rolling from here. Thank you. I appreciate that. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Ben, who actually just closed a 15k retainer. What's going on, Ben? How are you? How are you doing, Eric? I'm doing well. Well, man. I'm doing well. I guess maybe for anybody who doesn't know you, a little bit of background on yourself. Do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on kind of what you do and, and your journey up to this point? Yeah. So my name is Ben and I own video strategy and production company. And it's kind of a full service production company where I at this point kind of wear all the hats. And so, you know, I've. I've been doing this for about 10 years. Largely work with agencies and businesses as well as like independent producers or creative directors or I get brought in on projects in various capacities. Whether it's doing everything or just editing or shooting or doing motion graphics, that kind of thing. And so wearing one hat or wearing multiple hats, like I just do what needs to be done more or less. And so I discovered master filmmaker. I don't know, you know, it was about nine months ago and it was at a point in time. It's kind of interesting where I was running into, try or trying to figure out like where, where I wanted to Grow my business, you know, and I wasn't sure exactly how like I, I had glimpsed, I've had glimpses of being put on kind of like contract positions with companies. Yeah. And that was kind of my glimpse of like this, this is, I need like two or three of these. Gotcha. And that is gonna be really great. And so I discovered master filmmaker and it kind of hit all, you know, all of my, like pain points in terms of scaling up my business. And it was, you know, that, that was, it was kind of ticking all those boxes that, you know, I had. And so that's kind of how I got here. And so, you know, I work, I do brand films, print promo videos, social media, you know, kind of everything, you know, all the different video types and so. And have you been a one man band kind of this entire 10 years? Has it always been that way or. Yeah, yeah, more or less. And what, what I found is I bring people on or I, I hire contract, you know, on a contract basis as needed. Right. So you're kind of, you're kind of in that tech, you're, you were in that technician role and now you're trying to move more into the business owner. Like I want to hire people under me. I want to start to buy my time back and not have to worry about a lot of the things that you're, you're currently doing. It sounds like. Yeah, that's what I'm moving towards because I, I'm getting kind of like maxed out, like my type of. Right. And I, and I found like, if I can just for even little tasks, like just delegate or farm it out. Yeah, it just buys you back all this time. Well, I think it's interesting because a lot of people want to hold onto the creative side a lot of times. Like I want to do everything, but unfortunately that's the thing that keeps you bottlenecked this entire time. You can't physically do everything. And if you want to grow something that's bigger than yourself, you want to support your clients in a better way, you have to be able to have other people in the business with you to start building that business with you. Yeah, I totally agree. I guess, like, how did you come across us? And then what was kind of like the biggest issue prior to joining? I know we talked about it a little bit with like buying back your time, but I guess was there anything that kind of stood out about us in our program as opposed to maybe some of the other programs out there? Yeah, I mean, I think it was. I, I I found you guys on social media. Okay. I mean, you guys have a really strong presence. And again, it was just. I. I was at a point where, you know, and we've talked about it, where my. My business was referrals in word of mouth, which. Which has been. It's worked out really well. But there. There are those, like, you know, it's. It's a lot up and down, you know, instead of just like. Like that. And so that was my. That's my goal is to just have consistent, you know, recurring, you know, clients in revenue and, you know, from speaking to Hakeem. And it was just hitting all those points where it's like, I'm bought, you know, a little bit bottlenecked, where I can only take on so much work. Right. And it's not always consistent. By and large, it's consistent, but it was just like looking. Looking to take connection valleys in. In the business. It sounds like where maybe you have a couple months where it's a little bit drier and then you have, like, a stuff. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's the beautiful thing about having more consistent retainers, because you can start to stack those on top of each other and really build consistency to where you can hire more people, because, you know, hey, I know, you know, there's $20,000 coming in next month or there's, you know, $50,000 coming in next month. You can start to really build that consistency within the business instead of having kind of these, like, hit or miss. Because previously it sounds like you did a lot of, like, hiring contractors when you had a job, right? Yeah, that was kind of what it was. Now we're starting to build that where it's. We have consistency every single month and we don't have to worry about as much of the consistency, which is great. Yeah. Has there been anything, like, particularly helpful within the program so far? I know we're still going through it. I know we're still working through stuff, but is there anything that's been particularly helpful so far for you? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like, where do I start with this? It's. Because there's so much. It's such a dense and it's such a, you know. Okay, so, like, first off, which I think is important, is having the mindset and having this mindset shift in terms of. And you speak to it a lot. It's going from the technician to the business owner and really, like, embracing that shift. And I'm. And it's. It didn't. It's not happening overnight. For me necessarily. But that's, that's not really why I got into this program. It's, it's more of like a long term investment for me. And it's where I, where I see myself wanting to take my business. Not, not necessarily in one month, but it's like one year, you know, it's like six months, one year, three years, five years. It's like, it's a long dream. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it's like understanding that mindset shift was, was a really, in embracing that was, was really great for me. And it's, and it's still a work in progress. But then it's also the sales process and really understanding kind of that, the steps in that process instead of, you know, hey, you know, get talking to a client, having them say, gosh, you know, we just don't have, we don't have the money right now, you know, or can you work for half your rate or just, you know, every objection under the sun, you know, but now I have some tools to handle that, you know, and having that roadmap kind of set for you is, is, is great. And then, you know, the implementing the systems you guys have, like the CRM and implementing ads in the AI bots that you have. I didn't know about that stuff. I didn't, you know, and so that's going to be really invaluable, I think, moving forward in terms of, you know, building this thing. I'm really excited dude too because like, I feel like we're just on the cusp for you and we're really about to push this thing forward. I know we're talking on another call as well. You're like, hey, I really feel like I'm, I'm right on the edge here of really pushing this thing up. I can see where I'm going, I guess. Like, where do you see that going in the next couple of years and like what gets you excited about that specifically? I think, you know, and this, this goes towards kind of working gig to gig and having, having you guys as like the support to being work, creating these relationships with these businesses. And that's kind of like versus working like working with a ad agency where I don't interface with the actual client. And so I'm just like, I'm a contractor to them. And so it's shifting away from that to being an actual business owner and developing these relationships and in going through this, you know, this sales sequence to like earn people's trust, having stuff, having material to back it up and Then, you know, having these, these retainers and, and having a proper, like, how to properly price yourself with all this stuff. And so because of that, like, I, I feel like I'm really soundly building this foundation where you can, where you can reasonably and realistically scale this thing and get up into Those higher, like 40,000amonth, 50, up to 100amonth. You know, it's. And I'm seeing like that's it. That's realistic. Yeah, that can happen. Yeah. And I think it can happen really fast too, when you, like, dial in your sales, dial in your ads and then. And then. But then I think it's also like having the infrastructure to handle that, the people, the operations. Because. Yeah, because like, you probably, like one person can't do 100k a month. You need a team of people under you who you can, who can support you on that because you're going to run out of, you know, you have maybe 8, 10 working hours a day. All of us do. If we're lucky, we have to sleep. Right. So we have to buy other people's 24 hours to then bring them into the organization so we can support more clients and really push that thing as far as you want it to go. Yeah, 100%. I agree with you, 100%. I love it. Ben. Well, last question. I'll let you get back to closing deals here. I guess if anybody is maybe watching this and they're on the fence about just even booking a call to see if this is the right fit for them, I guess. What advice would you give them specifically? I think maybe it's. It's not for everyone, but, But I think if you are in this industry and you want to grow your business and you're willing to put in the work, because there is work to it. There's no question. And you have to work hard at it. You have to hustle and you have to, you know, it's so worth it. It's so worth it. It's just in terms of the kind of, the fundamentals you learn all the way up to kind of the more advanced kind of things. And just it's. It's such a densely, you know, there's so much material in this program that, you know, and I'm still, I'm still diving into it, you know, and, and I'm so thankful for it. And I say, you know, it's. It's such a good investment. And, you know, it's like people that are hesitant because of the price or whatever their, whatever their roadblock Is like, you have to invest in yourself and you have to invest in these things. I think if you want to move forward, because, you know, I could have, I could stay where I'm at right now and be okay, but like, but that's, you know, it's like, are you willing to settle for being just okay where you're at? Yeah. You know, I think a lot of people who join this program want to get to that next level. And you said it perfectly too. It requires work, it requires you committing to yourself. And at the end of the day too, I always say it's like if you expect clients to invest a lot of money in you and you have to be willing to invest a lot of money in you at the end of the day. Yeah. Because how could you expect anyone else to do that for you? Yeah, I agree 100%. Well, Ben, I appreciate your time today, man. I can't wait to continue to help you crush it. And I'm very excited for the future. Really exciting. Thank you, Eric. And thank you to the whole team. Absolutely, man. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of my clients, Clayton, who just added 50k to his video business. What's going on, Clayton? How are you, man? What's up? Hey. So, yeah, I'm doing great. I mean, learning the system, implementing and you know, could be, could be quicker in the implementation, but I'm really thankful to. Even though you've been slower to it, it's like you're still, still making money, dude. I guess profitable, even not slow. Yeah, I guess. For anybody who maybe doesn't know you, kind of your background, do you mind just giving us a little bit background on kind of you, what you do and what your production company does? Sure. So we do mainly just video content for service businesses and help them build out their video sales funnel. So we run their top of funnel ads or we create their top of funnel ads. We make their landing page assets, we make any pre appointment videos that they need and just nurturing content that, you know, converts. So that's what we do. And then I've partnered with one of my media buyer friends who, you know, we both need each other. He has clients that need content, I have clients that need ads run so nice. I love it, man. And you're based in Nashville, right? Correct. Yep. Sweet. I know that. I know. When you first came in, you had booked a call with us, I think. Right. And then you were like, yeah, maybe it's not the right fit for me or whatever. And then I think you came back and you were like, hey, can I just like, pay for a one off session with you? And then I think we did that. And then it was like something about, I think, limiting beliefs around your pricing. Correct. And then we fixed that. And then you closed a 10k from there. And then you're like, all right, fine, I'll join the full thing. 50. And then we're. We're going from there. I guess what was kind of that biggest problem when you first jumped in with us? So, yeah, I had entered the funnel, like, probably six months prior. And, you know, Danny was on my butt like, bro, hey, let's talk, let's talk. I had gotten on a call with him, but I was premature. And then I had a question around my pricing, right. And I DM'd you specifically and was like, hey, I've got this project I've just completed. I feel like I'm undercharging and I need some confidence to, like, know what the heck I'm doing here. Yeah. And, you know, I was gonna charge, I think, 6k for it. And I realized that was severely underpriced. And you wanted me to go to like, 20, and I ended up going, I don't want to do 20. And then, yeah, I was like, I can't do that, because there they would be like, what the heck's going on? But I ended up going to 10. And you were like, DM me when the, when the contract, when the invoice is paid. And I was like, all right, so I just sent it, no questions, Boom, they paid it. Yep. And I was like, crap. Well, that's 4k right there. I paid you like 500 bucks for a call. And yeah, so then I was like, well, that's way better. And. And then you're thinking, like, how much. How many other projects did I not charge as much as I should have on? And I should have charged more. Yeah. And I was really excited about, you know, I approached the 100k number last year and I was like, hey, that's, you know, for just figuring it out and not really knowing a system. I felt like that was pretty good. But now, you know, into July, I'm sitting at over that so far, halfway through the year already. Yeah. So you've already pretty much doubled the business at this point this year. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm like, you know, 300, 400K is not out of reach in this year. So I'm like, heck, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think the pricing and the limiting beliefs there just realizing and the more I see other people charging it, like, in the program, they're like, just close 130k deal for 12 months. And I'm like, like, what the heck? What the heck is that? Yeah. Now, like, that's a lot of deliverables, but, like, still. But you hire people to do it, right? It's like you. You hire a team, you have money to do it. And I think, like you said, it's like, it's super cliche, but it's like getting around people who are charging more than you to push you up, because you are the average of those people you hang around with. You're hanging around people who charge little amounts of money, then, like, that mindset's gonna seep to you versus people who are charging more. Right? So, yeah, it's insane. So I'm. I'm very. I'm. I'm thankful, and I'm still moving forward, even though I'm thankful. But I'm still like, yeah, this isn't it yet. No, no. I think you have to have. You have to have that mindset of, like, cool, I got here, but that's not enough anymore. And, like, I talk to my sales team and my. My team members and everybody on my team about this all the time, but it's like, you. You can't be satisfied with where you're at. Right? Because if you hit that number, you have to keep wanting more, and you can't be happy with that. You have to keep getting to that next level and keep pushing yourself, because there's always new level, no matter where you're at in business at the end of the day, and I think you can do it in a sustainable way. That's what I'm working on. I get tunnel vision sometimes, and I'm like, this is all that matters. Yeah, but truly it's not. So I'm like, how do I balance that? But that's. That's the newest. That's the next step. So, 100, I guess. Like, why. Why did you choose this program over maybe some of the other programs out there? Like, because obviously there's some other ones out there as well. I mean, I actually, when I DM'd you about the call, I DM'd another guy about the call too. Okay, cool. So, yeah, they didn't get back to me. And I was like, well. And you were like, hey, I'll do it. And I'm like, great. So then, yeah, worked the. I mean, fine. It just worked. So I was like, yeah, why not? And you're like, cool, I made money from this, so why wouldn't it work again? And then, yes, it has. And you keep going from there. Yeah, I've seen the millions of Riverside testimonials where you're on right now. Yeah, I've seen them all. And I'm like, yeah, I mean, I'm not that special. Come on, it's going to work for me. So, yeah, that's kind of. That's kind of. I think it's that mindset, like you said. It's like, it's. People who are not successful say, will it work for me? People who are successful say, how can I make it work for me? Because at the end of the day, everything works. It's like you go to the. Like, losing weight. I use this all the time. Go to the gym, eat less, workout. You're going to lose weight, you're going to build muscle. Right. Same thing with business. You take the actions that are necessary to get there. It will work for you. But the people who are not successful are. The people who come in, they're like, oh, is it going to work? Am I, you know, is this going to work for my business? Because I'm a special, special snowflake and I can't do, you know, X, Y, and Z. It's like, yes, it will if you make it work. But you can make anything not work if you want that. Totally. So that's kind of the mindset at the end of the day, you have to come in with. And that's one of the things we want to obviously instill in you guys when you come in the program. It's like, this will work. It has worked for 412 other people. You got to make it work for you at the end of the day. Yeah. And that's. That's where I'm at now is like, yeah, I know. I. I haven't been as studious and following everything to an exact T with my timelines and everything. So that's. And you're still. You're still getting results, dude. I mean, that's why sometimes you just need to kick in the pants, get back on the calls, and let's keep rolling and keep making more money. You know what I mean? So totally. That's where I'm at now is. Is. And there's been pivotal moments where I'm like, okay, that was a high leverage decision. Like. Like, one thing was targeting my. My other agency partners where I'm like, hey, you're a media buyer. You. You don't focus on content. You you just need a content arm for your. For your agency. Let us be that sent that to one guy. I texted it to him. It was a very targeted ad. And he was like, yo, this sounds awesome. Let's hop on. A call sent me two clients the same day. Yep. So. Worth almost 20k. So it's like. It's like, okay. And then, you know, I'm gonna kill it for them. They have already come back again. The one of the clients has already come back again, and we're doing the exact same thing. So that's another almost 10K. So it's like, just, you know, making those high leverage moves. Doesn't take. It's super boring. And you're like, why is this like. It's so. I don't know if it's like that for everybody, but I'm like, dude, it is. It's the little. It's the little hinges that swing those big doors at the end of the day. Right. It's like. It's those little things that can move the business forward. That's. That's honestly what it comes down to at the end of the day. Yeah. So. And I guess, like, what. Was there any particular part about the program that's been helpful for you up to this point? Like, is there anything particularly that you've experienced? I really liked. I really. The sales process is something that I'm really enjoying, and I can see myself progressing in. It's fun, man. It's so fun. When you get them to talk the whole time, it's like, dude, I just freaking owned that. And there's times like, I'll have a really good one, and then sometimes it's a flow, you know, like, if you do it more often, you do it better more often. So my, my, my. What I'm working on now is just staying in that state of awareness and of sales flow. Because since deals are sometimes. Or calls are sometimes few and far between, it's harder to stay in that mindset. But, yep, when I can get in it, that's so fun. Yeah. I love it. 100, man. Love it. And kind of a weird question, but I guess, like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't taken the leap and joined the program? Because obviously it's scary, right, to invest in yourself, but I guess, like, what. Where do you think you might have been if you hadn't taken that leap? I hadn't taken that leap. I mean, I'd probably be. I always knew that ads and things would work and that putting your offer out there. And like Alex says, uncle Alex, he's always like, just tell more people about your stuff. Yep. And I can tell everyone else to do that. And it's really easy because I know that's how it works. But when it's for me, I'm like, you know, I got enough people who know. But so it's like, do I really need to shove it down people's throat? And the answer is yes. So literally, just having the accountability and the someone who's asking you about your progress, like, helps push it forward. So without it, I'd just probably be. I mean, I'd probably farther along than I was when I joined, but not as far as I would as I am now. So it's like, I'm growth focused as I. It's all about speed, right? It's speed of implementation. It's. If you can get there, you know, 50% faster, that's half the time. Right. So it's like, it's. At the end of the day, you know, when I'm investing in things, I'm not investing because I can't figure it out. Like, I probably could eventually. I'm paying because I want to figure it out tomorrow and not in, you know, five months. Right. And that's where it's just, you're paying for the speed of implementation at the end of the day, so. Correct. I would not have. I'd probably be at half to a third of the revenue I've brought in so far this year. What I always say, too, it's like, whether you decide to go with this program or another program or whatever it may be, it comes down to, like, we only have so much time in our life to do things. And so, like, I would rather not waste the time. Spend money, make more money. Doesn't matter. Do that as opposed to, like, spending, you know, two years trying to figure something out that somebody else has already figured out for you, you know? Right. Makes no sense. Exactly. 100%, dude. And then last question, I guess, like, what if somebody's maybe on the fence about potentially booking a call, speaking with us and joining the program? I guess. What advice would you give them? Knowing what you know now? I'd say my $500 call was worth it. So a free call would definitely be worth it. Yep. And just for everybody else, I don't do those anymore, so don't come asking. Don't come asking for $500 calls. One off call. Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to speak. No, you're good, dude. You're Good. But yeah, so I'd say the value you can get from that and like, yeah, just, just, just talk with them and, and talk with you or whoever, whoever knows the system really well. And just also watch the videos of everyone else who have done it, listen to what they've done, where they came from, and realized that you're not that different. Even if you have. Oh, my niche is different though. Yeah, who cares though? Yeah, like, oh, my area. I can't do it in my area. It's like, bro, whatever, dude. Just like, you either have excuses or you have results. And at the end of the day, winners make it work, losers have excuses, so. Yep. And they can. I mean, you're already doing it then if you really don't think it's going to work, then why are you even in this industry? Right. Like, you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be doing this in the first place then. Yeah, yeah. You can't have an ego about things, dude. Like, there's stuff I don't know. I invest in people. It's like if you're not at the place you want to be, if you're physically not where you want to be, it means you don't know something. Right, Right. And I think some people get that ego. I've been in the industry for 20 years or 15 years, it's like, yeah, but you're not at 500k a year or a million a year. So fundamentally you don't know something that's holding you back. And so either invest in learning the knowledge or be okay with the level you're at right now. So. Yeah, and I will say the last thing I would tell them is, look, it's so valuable to know what everyone else is doing, who is doing it. Right. Yeah. Because if my, if I had some, like, mentees that were that, because I talk to people who are younger than me, 20 year olds, 18 year olds that are doing this and they're like, yeah, I just booked a retainer or I booked a gig for 500 bucks. I'm like, great, but realize that I will charge 10k for that same thing. Yeah. Okay. So like, it's like being kept in the loop of what, what's going on, because everything's always changing all the time. And like, any updates that we see in our business, we pass on to you guys. And that's also an added benefit obviously of doing this is knowing what those updates are because things are constantly changing, you know? Yeah. And your sales process, like, if I'm in the slack wins Community. And I'm seeing people book, you know, a 10k project left and right, 15k project left and right. I have no problem saying, yeah, this project's gonna cost 10 to 15k. Yeah, it's like, bro, they're doing it, and they booked it. So I'm not weird for. It's kind of like that, like, social bias, where you're like, okay, if other people are doing it, I now have the confidence to do myself. Even though nothing's actually changed with what you're offering, you're just. You just think that you can charge more. Yeah. It's all a mental frame, and. And I think that's super, super valuable. 100%, man. Well, dude, I appreciate your time. I'll let you get back to closing deals, and let's keep going from here. All right, man. Sounds good. Thank you. Of course. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Graham, who added. You said, over $300,000 to your video business over the past year working with us. Dude. What's going on? How are you? How's it going? Yeah, absolutely amazing. Busy, Busy, dude. I know. Absolutely. I guess for anybody who maybe doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on you and kind of what you do? Yeah, most definitely. So my name is Graham Duval. My company is Valued Productions, and I help business owners skyrocket their business using content and video marketing. Nice. I love it, man. And where are you based out of? I'm based in Maine. Sweet. Very cool. Yeah. And I know you've been a client of ours for a while now, but I guess what. What. I know. We're out. We'll speak to some of the new things that we're working on because there's always new levels in the business, but I guess what. What was kind of the problem you had prior to jumping in? What are some of the things we've tackled recently that you feel like has really helped kind of move the needle for you in the business? Most definitely. Well, I mean, I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't joined this program 100%. So, like, that's the. The biggest thing. I appreciate it, man. You did the work. We're just. I can't take credit for you doing the work. We just. We're happy to be a small part of your journey and help you along here. Most definitely. And so, like, after, like, initially getting started, like, I was to a point where I was bringing in business, but it's like, okay, so how do I actually, like, take that to the next level? Because ultimately my goal as a business owner is to remove myself from that, like, part of the business eventually. So, like, it's running and it's doing its thing. I'm still involved right now, but like, eventually us working together, that's going to be the goal. And so what we've been working on is starting to implement the processes to start doing that. I've built up a team and yeah, so like, working towards that. I know we just recently hired an appointment setter for you. Like, how has that kind of helped take some things off your plate so far? Most definitely. So it's. It's. Well, one of the things that you always talk about is like, we're working towards our next bottleneck and like, where that next problem is. And so like, for, for a while it was, you know, getting the leads and the sales, and then it was like, okay, now in fulfillment. And so now it's like how. How I have this setter bringing in more business and like, how that's gonna take it to the next level. And so, yeah, I just onboarded him recently and he's already killing it as far as. Said you did 30k in sales last week and he booked 4 appointments for you his first couple days. Yep, most definitely. Yeah. So it, like, clearly it's working. And so now. Now the. You're like, holy crap, there's so much. Exactly. And so like now working towards that next bottleneck and we talked about this yesterday is like, okay, so I was doing a lot of fulfillment and so now I need to start working on that bottleneck of like, okay, now I've got this setter who's bringing in business and setting appointments for me. Like, I need to lay out all the processes on how to offload that next as far as like, all the business that he's going to be able to bring in. So, yeah, I think business is interesting because, like I say, it really is the theory of bottlenecks. Right. So like when you first started and when a lot of people first start, they don't have a lot of leads or sales or people that they can actually close. And then when they start closing those, then it becomes that bottleneck on the fulfillment side and you need to start taking yourself out of the day to day and some of those smaller tasks so you can rise up and kind of become more of the operator of the business and then eventually putting an operator in place so then you can be the owner of the business. And I always like to refer to like using a sports team analogy, right. At first you just got to run the ball down the field, right? Then you can hire a quarterback and then you can bring on the best defensive linebacker, like you can bring on all these people. And then you become the coach and that's the owner, operator. And then eventually you can become the owner of the team where you have a coach under you who coaches the players. That's such a great analogy. And that is the ultimate goal, like where like being part of master filmmaker has definitely brought me to a point where I'm like the coach and a little bit of the player at some points, you know, maybe I fill in on the quarterback. But very close to being straight coach right now. You know what I mean? And it's exciting, man, because it's like you're building this machine that's helping clients and serving you and building this thing that's able to make you money and start to take, take that and build something independent of your time. Because we talk a lot about like being a technician versus being a business owner. Yes. And I think like you've really made that full on jump into business owner where you can hire technicians under you to do a lot of that stuff for you. That has been one of the biggest game changers is that mindset shift of like, you know, I started this business like, oh, okay, I'm going to be a video person and I'm going to do all these shoots and stuff. And then like coming in and having that eye opening of like, oh, there's no way I can get to this level of what I want doing this myself, you know. And so like I bring in my team, I've got my editing team and I've got my people on appointment setting and eventually we're starting to work on bringing in the closer eventually, you know, and so like I'll have this full operating machine, which we're close to getting that point. And so it's absolutely super exciting. It is. And it's so interesting because I think a lot of people still operate out of that like technician mindset. And I think you just, at the end of the day, you need to decide what you want because it's not for everybody. You know, running a business is putting in systems. It's sometimes not all the sexy stuff. Right. It's not always shooting and editing all the time. People who just love the shooting and the editing should stay and do the shooting and editing. Like if you don't want to run a business, that's okay. Yeah. But I think really what we're building here with you is building this machine where you have. You can empower a team of people to work with you to then bring jobs for them and then them be the technicians within your business, you know, Most. Most definitely. And like, talking about having that. That machine is it. Like I said, I wouldn't be here with out this. The. The guidance and like, this road map and like, for someone who is looking to, you know, do that, it. It's such a huge help being part of this community. I love it, man. I love it. And I think it's really. It's just. It's. It's awesome to see you grow into this place and just. I know, I know we're gunning for a million dollars this year, so it's. It's awesome to see that. Yeah, I guess kind of a. Kind of a crazy question, but I guess, like, what, like, where do you think you would be if you hadn't made the jump and taken action and gotten into the program? You know, honestly, I don't even see the fact of, like, I mean, I'd probably be like, second shooting for someone, and that's probably the level because there's no way I would have been able to bring in the amount of clients that I was looking to do if I hadn't set up working with you guys. Because where I was at before, I had a client, but he wasn't staying very long and he was about to leave. And so, yeah, who knows? And it's crazy to think about because like I said, there's no way that I would have been able to grow this business to where it's at without, like, you guys have gone through this stuff. You know what it is, it's laid out, and then I just need to take that action. And I've always said that I'm the type of person that you give me a to do list, I will bust through that to do list. I know, but coming up with the to do list, that's where I struggle, you know, I think that's the hardest part sometimes is like. Like, anybody can work hard, but how do you know if you're working hard on the right things? Right? And that was me for a very long time where I'm like, like, give me what to do and I will do it. But the. Where most people are stuck is they don't even know what to do. Or even worse, they're spending years working on things that are not the right things and wasting years of their life on things that are not going to move the needle. That to me is like the biggest cost in the world. I'm like, I don't want to do that. And then that's even. That's like you're going the opposite direction. I mean there's really only two directions. You're either going forward towards your goals or you're going the opposite direction and like your business is going to close. There's no, there's no middle ground there. Yeah, 100% man. Well, last question. I'll let you roll. I guess if anybody's on the fence and maybe on the fence about booking a call or at least speaking with our team, I guess what advice would you give them? Yeah, I would most definitely say go for it. It is the greatest investment that I ever made into myself, into my business. And like the thing that we always talk about is like how do you expect someone to invest in you and. And what you're offering them if you can't take that into yourself and your professional growth. So I would highly suggest doing it. It is, it's going to change the way you grow your business. So dude, I appreciate it. I appreciate your time and. And let's scale to a million this year. Yeah. Yeah. What's going on guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Jacob who just had his first 31k month. What's going on Jacob? How's it going man? How's it going? I am doing well. Yeah, stoked for you know, 31k month. Let's go man. Kind of crazy. Yeah, I love it. I guess for maybe anybody who doesn't know you kind of your background. Do you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself and kind of what your business does, if you don't mind? Yeah, yeah. We video production company in Pittsburgh. We really. Or like before kind of starting the program I was focusing mostly on smaller projects. So like a lot of real estate but like slowly getting more into corporate and commercial projects. But really most of my time was you know those smaller projects but they were taking up a lot of my time. But yeah, now you know, I do. I'm doing a lot more commercial wise but yeah, just video strategies offering bigger one off projects but then also you know those retainer stuff that you guys teach in the. In the course as well. And I know this is kind of just the. It's just the beginning obviously for you and I know you're still working through a lot of points within the program was still time. We're still going from there but I Guess like, what has been. What was kind of your biggest problem prior to joining the program? Like, what. What do you feel like was kind of that main thing that was holding you back? Looking back now. Yeah, I mean, I think looking back, my biggest thing was just like almost. Hormozy says it's a lot like the ignorance debt, like not knowing specific things or like not even knowing where to, like, kind of take the first step in, you know, being able to consistently find bigger paying jobs. But then like the whole sales process, I think what I lacked the most was just like not really having a sales process at all. Yeah. And I think a lot of creatives are kind of similar with that. It's like they're not really natural when it comes to where to, where to, you know, sure as hell wasn't when I started. That was rough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that was probably my biggest problem coming in was like one finding leads, but really being able to close those leads and even like thinking kind of bigger picture on some smaller projects. Being able to like, you know, what I probably should be offering or asking these previous clients, like, hey, do you guys need more, you know, upselling them, trying to have a conversation? And like. Yeah, no, I know. I know a lot on the sales aspect and I know that that's been obviously pivotal in like, helping you close these deals with like. I guess what was kind of your biggest fear around selling was it just like, you didn't know how did it. Like, I feel bad about selling because I know for me it was like I felt bad about it when I was doing it at first. Yeah. I think it's kind of. Well, yeah, I think just like the. Sometimes it can be a little bit awkward, like in the sales process. But really, I think you guys, like, made me realize that it's, you know, it's really not like it shouldn't be an awkward thing. Yeah. And like, kind of working through that and, you know, following the script that you guys have and being able to just with the practice and everything, really. Just like being able to be better at sales and like, I think it's just having authentic conversations with people. Exactly. How do I just talk to this person, help them understand their problem, and then help them understand I can solve their problem at the end of the day, you know, it doesn't need to be some weird thing like you said. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And it can be easily taken as some awkward conversation, but it doesn't have to be. And I think that's kind of what you guys helped Me, make me or help me realize? Yeah, no, 100%, I guess. Kind of a weird question, but like, what made you kind of choose our program over maybe some of the other programs out there? Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just me being annoying and Instagram and Facebook all the time and just being ridiculous. But was there anything that kind of made you choose us over maybe some of the other programs out there? Yeah. I mean, I think first off, just like, you know, the amount of testimonials that you have and that master filmmaker has, but you're about to be on that page too. It definitely drew me in. I think that was probably the biggest thing and like realizing like, wow, okay, there's a lot of people that have been getting results. So it seemed like it should work, the course should work. And I mean, it does, it does. And I see it with like even in our slack right now, like how many people, you know, tossing in the winds channel of like, new deal, new deal. Like what you get, what you're teaching does work, but you have to put in the work for sure. Of course. Yeah, that's always the thing. It's not a magic bullet. You got to put in the work you got to do. You got to do. You got to run your business. At the end of the day, it's not. No one's going to hand you the keys to a perfectly run business. Otherwise they'd just do it themselves, you know, so it's like if you want to take that step, you got to. You got to put in that effort. Put in that work for sure. Yeah, I think a big thing. Well, Danny's helped. He's one of your sales guys that got me on board. But we had a conversation last month or two months ago, and we were just talking about the process of your guys course and all. And I think the biggest thing I realized was I needed to start saying no to some of these smaller projects. And I think that was kind of one of the biggest bottleneck. But yeah, I mean, I think just saying no to smaller projects and focusing on maybe getting a bigger, even like a 2000-5000 deal compared to sub thousand dollar deal. I think that's made probably the biggest difference in the last few months to take on those bigger projects and OB. It's like, would you rather have the $12,000 deal you closed or the, you know, the thousand? It's like usually they take about the same amount of work or you have a team you can actually hire at that point to then outsource work. To, you know, 100%. Yeah. It's just saying no and deciding and cutting things off and taking them out of your life as well. You know, I think a lot of people, especially me, I mean, everybody does it, but it's like, hey, I want to say yes to everything that's going to make me more money, when in reality, the opposite is true, you know? Yeah, well, I think especially for creatives, it's like you want to. You want as much work as you can, like, possibly can or have to show for. For your portfolio and stuff. But there's definitely a point, I think, in people's careers where it's like, you know, more of a bottleneck than not. So 100%. Kind of a weird question, man, but, like, where do you think you might have been if you hadn't taken the leap, taken action, joined the program? Because obviously, it's a scary step, right? It's. It's an investment. It's an investment in you, an investment in your business. But, like, guess where do you feel like you would have been if you hadn't made that jump, made that leap? I mean, I think I would honestly be struggling with trying to find commercial work still and doing these, you know, smaller, smaller projects just to get by. So I think, yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of where I would be, but I'm glad I'm not. Yeah, I'm. I'm glad you're not as well, dude. And last question, and I'll let you get back to closing deals and doing your thing. What? I guess if anybody is maybe on the fence about just booking a call, at least speaking with our team, speaking with Danny, speaking with Akeem, speaking with anyone on the team. Like what? I guess what advice would you give them, knowing what you know now? Yeah, I think the biggest advice would be, well, just, you know, take a look at where you're maybe investing in yourself and, you know, think. Think a little bigger than maybe what you are or where you think you can be and start saying no to some smaller projects so you can focus on bigger ones. 100%, man. I love it. Well, I appreciate your time, Jacob, and I'm excited to see where you go from here, dude. Yeah, Eric, I appreciate it. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Josh, who closed $56,000 worth of video deals. What's going on, Josh? How are you, man? How's it going? Doing great. Doing well, man. I guess for anybody who maybe doesn't know you kind of what you do, do you mind just giving us a little bit background on you and kind of how you got started and how you got into this? For sure. I would say about four years ago, I started shooting a ton more video than photo. I've been in the photo business for about 20 years. But yeah, four years ago I started shooting a ton of videos and it just got asked more and more if I could shoot increasingly more videos and make them better. And so I've just been slowly been increasing that part of my business. But almost all of my leads have come in from either agencies or bigger brands that already have a whole, you know, branding team and they have internal teams that run their own marketing. So, yep, I was basically working, you know, as a contractor versus kind of wanting to start my own thing. Stepping into more of a business owner role versus being kind of that technician is kind of what you were looking to do. Yeah, absolutely. Makes sense. And how long. I know you said you started in photography. How long have you been in photography for? Overall, for 20 years. Oh, wow. Okay. So then in the past four years, you're, hey, what made you want to switch into the video world on your end? That's a great question. So it was kind of by chance. A lot of it had to do with opportunity and cash flow. So with video, I was working for an agency and they're, hey, we just got an account with Amazon that we can't do unless we do video. Is that something that you'd to take on? Because I've, I did a whole bunch of their other stuff and I was like, sure, why not? And so I shot. Well, now I've probably shot 30 commercials for Amazon. But, you know, shooting my first three or four, it was such a crazy learning curve with video. But yeah, does that answer your question? I feel like absolutely, man. Yeah. And I guess. Cause I know we were talking on and off, I think you talked to someone from my team and then we talked to you talked to me and we've been talking. We were talking on and off for a couple months. I think what, I guess what was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to kind of jumping into the program with us? I would say generating, generating my own leads was definitely an issue. And I think having a community of people that understand the video world can answer, just be there, answer questions either from a mentorship perspective or just from a peer to peer perspective and just be, hey, what do you do for. What do you use for this system? And how do you. All the different processes that it takes to run A bit, you know, run a full time business. Yeah. All the little nitty gritty things that you have to, you don't always think about. But questions that come up, and I know because these, this $56,000 that you've closed, I think it's interesting for everybody else too to know is that was all from past clients that you had. Yeah. In your network. So it's a lot of times I think people are, hey, I need more leads, I need more people, I need more, I need more inbound leads. But a lot of times you have a lot of money sitting in your pipeline if you have the right offer and the right sales process to capture those people and turn them into, you know, consistent revenue or even just initial one off projects to then turn into consistent revenue. You know, I guess what was kind of the, did you, do you feel like you kind of had some sort of breakthrough there when you started to see all these people, hey, these people are actually ready to buy, they're ready to pay me. Yeah. I think one thing that was super helpful was being in community with a lot of successful videographers, your people who are running, you know, really cool agencies of their own or just video production companies of their own and seeing what's possible and just opening my mind up to there, it is possible to charge a lot more and be more consistent in what I'm charging and have the confidence to go into certain meetings and just being, you know, this is what we offer. I have the skill set and I had the, I had the past clients, I had the names to drop, I had pretty much all of it, but just more of a mind space, headspace thing where it's, there's a lot of companies doing what I'm trying to do and doing it really well and they're charging good amounts. So I think the confidence aspect played a pretty big portion for me in that, in that kind of switch of I have a lot of past clients, but I just treated, I don't know what my brain, dude, I tell, I tell everybody this. It's the smallest hinges, swing the biggest doors and it's, yeah, sometimes people are coming in, okay, you're going to overhaul my business and you're going to do all this stuff and it's, yes, we will get to that. But a lot of times there's a lot of money where you aren't looking for it. And it's, let's make a couple of tweaks within the sales process. Let's work on the offer, let's work on These different pieces and let's swing open those doors so we can cash flow you and then kind of jumpstart this thing. You know what I mean? Yeah. It actually sounds pretty silly to say it out loud, but I just. All these kind of contract jobs that I'd gotten before, I hadn't hit them up for more business. I hadn't been, hey, how did that, how did that shoot did you feel it went well? What went well about it? And hey, I'm launching, you know, really, it really does help to have something new that you're presenting to a client instead. We do an offer. Hey, we're thinking about this thing. Yeah, we're launching something new. We have a new offer. We have a new thing that we're putting together. We think you'd be a good fit for it. Just that, just that alone is enough to spark a conversation of. Oh, and something else that I did that I feel helped was I approached these companies and I just said, hey, just so you know, I love your products. I believe in your brand. I believe in who you guys are. A company, you're really great to work with because they were. Yep. And I had little stories of, hey, you know, my family actually uses your products now because I got to send, you know, some of them as gifts. And so having that piece plus the, hey, we're launching, you know, something new, plus just the mindset of I don't want to just offer one small thing. There's actually 50 things I can offer a company work with you on a consistent basis to help you achieve a goal. So I know that was kind of a mindset thing we worked on where it's, hey, instead of, remember, we're not just creating content here, we're helping them achieve some sort of result with the content that we're creating for them to where it's more of a long term partner, you know. Yeah. And I think companies have really resonated with that in, in the sense of, hey, you're not just hiring a contractor. I want to, I consider myself part of your team. And it's actually cheaper if you hire me as part of your team, but still a contractor than if you were to bring on somebody full time. Yep. I'm more efficient, I have more reason to work harder, I have more skin in the game because if I don't do a good job, you're just going to boot me with no problem. Yeah. So I think those, those conversations are just little, little tweaks to how I was holding these conversations and, and getting to walk into companies doing $100 million a year in their own work and just feeling fine walking in and be like, yeah, you know, I offer a really solid product, and we can actually really help your team in a lot of different ways. I just think having that confidence versus going into a meeting being, I hope I can offer them something cool or they're doing really, really well, I can, you know, probably book something off them. It's a different mindset. That's the technician mindset at the end of the day, instead of the business owner. I think so many people need to switch from technician to business owner, where you're, hey, I solve a problem with my content. I'm not just somebody who creates content at the end of the day. And when you flip that, it's funny how just that quick little shift can really make such an impact on your conversations. You know what I mean? It's crazy. Totally. It's absolutely crazy. Have you found. Have you found that to be pretty consistent with the people that sign up with Master filmmaker? Yeah, most of the people that we're working with, as I'm sure you were in the same boat. It's. And I was in the same boat, too. It's. They start as, I'm a dp, I'm a videographer, I'm an editor. I do a task. Right. Whereas really what this is for is I want to build a business, solve a problem for my clients, and then turn that into revenue for my business. Where it's. Instead of I'm just going to do this one task where I'm capped at 24 hours a day. Instead, it's, hey, let's leverage other people's time, start bringing on other people on the team, and start to grow having an asset that actually works for me. Absolutely. Yeah. And kind of a weird question, but I guess where. Where do you think you might have been if you hadn't maybe taken the leap, taken action doing the program? Because I know it's a scary step for a lot of people, you know, but I guess. Where do you feel you would have been if maybe you hadn't taken that bet on yourself? Yeah, I feel I'll totally own that. It was a scary step to spend, you know, that much money at the beginning where you, you know, it's not. It's not. You have, you know, this cookie cutter thing. It's not a magic pill. No. Yep. So. And I think looking back, I definitely. I definitely had to put in the work. Right. So it wasn't. And so it really was a big Kind of kick in the butt. I'm just a mere servant to you guys. I'm just. I'm just helping you guys. You still have to put in the work. It's still your business. I'm just. I'm just serving the best I can for you guys. Absolutely. So to answer your question, where I would be, I mean, I would have been fine. I would have been fine. I would have. I would have stayed probably the same. And I just been. I would have just been waiting for jobs to come along. Hopefully they did. And, you know, when they did, it would. I don't. I wouldn't have the same maybe drive or kind of this. I don't know, this kind of internal competition that I'm having with myself. You know what? I'm gonna make this happen. You know, I've wanted to for a long time. I've known. I've known that I've been capable for a long time, and I just. I needed kind of a kick in the butt. I wanted to be like, hey, let's do this thing, man. Yeah. And in a community I think that I'm seeing is also doing this, you know, similar things in a similar journey and on, like, the same path. Like, I don't feel so alone. I don't feel so crazy for feeling and thinking all the things that I am, because it's scary to kind of jump out, and it's hard, dude. Yeah, entrepreneurship is scary. It's hard to be alone with your own. Hey, am I the only person going through this? I've been there to myself. It's. Yeah, it's tough. You know, you got to. You got to have people around you. Just having people around you sometimes and being. Oh, you're going through that thing too. It's great. I'm not. I'm not the only one feeling this way, so I totally relate to that. And last question for you, Josh. I guess if anybody is maybe on the fence about even just maybe booking a call, speaking with our team, seeing if it's a fit for them, I guess. What. What advice would you give them, knowing what you know now? That's a great question. I would. The advice I would give is if you're willing to. And you're able to put in the work to really grow your business and grow your company, and you're willing to take a risk and take a chance to do something that feels pretty risky, you're probably in a good spot to make that decision, to push forward. There's probably four or five of those opportunities that I'VE gotten just from the reactivations. I wouldn't, I definitely would not have thought of to book from a different mindset from a more working with their team retainer mindset. Yeah. And I also, I wouldn't have thought as big when I was asking them questions or asking what their needs were asking. Asking to be paid a certain amount. I just don't think. It's not that I necessarily was capped, but it was kind of. I had a self, I didn't know. Belief around it maybe. Yeah. I didn't even. It's not. Oh my gosh. It was so self limiting. But in a way I kind of was. We all do it. I do it too. Everybody does it. It's. I think until you have somebody who's, hey, you could do 10 times more than what you're doing right now. Until they come along. You're. It's happened to me many times in my career where I'm like, I can. Then you do it and then you're, holy crap, I could. And sometimes it just takes someone to give you a kick in the pants to be, yo, you can do this thing, man. You can charge way more than what you're currently charging. Let me get eyes on your business and see what, what's going on and how you can do that. And half this game is mindset. At the end of the day, you could have the best tactics in the world but if you don't have the right mindset around it, they're all useless at the end of the day. You know, it's like a person who thinks they can't get in shape, they're not going to take actions in accordance with the person who can get in shape because it's a self limiting thing, you know. Totally. And I think, I think the, the mindset part that had to crack for me is that jobs have just always kind of come to me. Yeah. And I didn't know how to turn that faucet on. Or off. Yeah. Or off. Or turn on a couple more faucets. Right. Yeah. And I've always wanted to push for more work. And how do I do that? I'm thinking just agencies have been sending me stuff. So do I just go to more agencies? And I only knew how to play in the sandboxes that were in front of me. I didn't know that there were four or five more that I could easily, you know, mess around with and start playing with levers and dials and oh my gosh, actually there is, you know, I've been Kind of sitting on a lot of opportunity and a lot of. A lot of money, just not accessing it. And that's why we do the reactivations first, man. I love it. It's smart. Gotta take that and then get you guys that great win. Everybody's super happy, and then now we progress into the next stages of building the business and. And up and onward from there, man. Totally cool. I. I appreciate your time, Josh. Dude, I love hearing your journey, and it's literally just the beginning for you. There's so much more to come, which is super exciting. So excited to continue working with you and very grateful you're in our community, man. Yeah, thanks, man. I really appreciate just everything you put together, and it's, like, super cool to have the resources and just the. Not only the coaches, but the people to kind of chime in and the other, you know, entrepreneurs who are working hard to succeed and get their input and get their tools and get their shortcuts. You know, I know that. I know that the information that the community and you and the coaches know have saved me so much time in getting to where I am now. I'm. I love it. You could totally. You could totally make an argument that I could have gotten to where I am without it. Oh, yeah. But you guys are all smart people. It's just a. Everybody, I think, in this program could get to where they want to be. It's just a matter of, do we want to do it faster? Do you want to spend time or money? You know what I mean? Yeah, that's really what the. Do you want to do it faster and do you want to be motivated to. I don't know. For me, it was. I wanted. I was so motivated just to not only obviously start and continue have a more successful business, but make this coaching system work. I'm. I'm gonna. I'm gonna make it work because I need to. Not only do I need to, but I want to, so. 100%, man. Well, dude, I can't wait to see where you go from here. And I appreciate your time. Appreciate it. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Julian, who added 216k to his video. Video business after working with us over the past, what, year, Year and a half? I think it's been. Julian. Yeah. Correct, dude. What's going on? Welcome. Yeah, pleasure to be here, man. Pleasure to be speaking with you and just want to say thank you for everything. You've coached me through all of the video lessons you took the time to put together completely has transformed my mindset and my business and has overall just changed the course of my career. Dude, I love it. And I guess for maybe anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on yourself and kind of what you do? Just a little bit about your background, how you got started in this? Yeah, so I started a long time ago in high school, just shooting photos and videos, and then was freelancing for a while, had a sales job. Didn't really know how to make a cut career out of this skill set I had. Then I came across Eric's videos, the ads he was running, and got targeted that way. You got annoyed by my ads? Dude, they kept hitting you in the feed. Yeah, they kept hitting me. And then I'm like, okay. I kind of got tired of where I was at in the corporate job, and I just decided to book a call with you. You took the time to understand where I was at at the moment, and then you basically opened up the opportunity for me to join the program. Master filmmaker. And I decided to invest into myself. Decided. I remember that. That was so long ago. You're an og, dude. Yeah, so long ago. Because that was back when I was taking calls, and we have a full team taking calls now. I was like, I remember that. So long. It was crazy. You took that call with me. I remember speaking. Speaking with you, and then from there, I decided to just go for it. I honestly started my business with no savings, no money, nothing at all. And I remember just right from the beginning, everything I was learning from you and your course got me getting results really quickly and completely changed my mindset overall. And then through the ups and downs that business, you've been there all along the way to help me out, and you've been very, very helpful. And bottlenecks to. It's always. It's always bottlenecks. Right? That's. That's always how it is. I mean, with. Are you. Did you move at all? Because I. Weren't you in a different location last time we talked? Or were you. You're always down in Florida, right? Dude, I was in my mom's house. Okay? I didn't know that because I was like, you're in, like, a nice place, and you're in Miami now, right? Or where are you at? I'm in Miami. I love it. I got married. Now I have my own place with my wife, and she's like a whole new man. Dude, I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot. A lot. Has Changed. And man, it's just a blessing because at one point I didn't even think any of this was possible. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, what was kind of the biggest problem? Because I know you were still, were you, you were still in the sales job when I talked to you, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. And so what was kind of the biggest issue for you? Like getting, getting out of the sales job in the first place? For sure. The comfort. Yeah, just being comfortable with a salary. And I had my own book of business that I had built when I was there as well. So I was making more than what my salary was. I was making a comfortable, a comfortable amount of money and it was, I was doing well. And that fear and hesitation of leaving that and starting my own thing, having it, you know, build something from the ground up, was, was a hesitation that I had. Yeah, I remember we talked about that. You're like, dude, but I'm feeling good in this job. Like, I like where I'm at. I'm like, but is that really where you want to be? And you're like, nah, dude, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't like it. That conversation I had with you, funny enough, was one, one of the, like, one of that, one of the little impulses I needed to get out of my comfort zone. And really it's scary though, man, I think for everybody watching this too, it is. It's very scary to get out of your comfort zone. It's scary to like make a jump and do something different. Cuz it's like, you know, what if it doesn't work? Right? That's always the, the option, right? And it's, I think the mindset around that is like, I wouldn't ask yourself, like, what if it doesn't work? I would say, like, how can I make it work? You know what I mean? Because winners in life make things work for them. And like, there's always going to be ups and downs. You're always going to fail at things. Even with the proper guidance, you're going to mess things up or things are going to happen, right? And it's like you have to just have that mindset of like, I'm going to make it work for me, not like, will it work? Because then you're putting control somewhere else and you're not keeping that control within your own center. You know what I mean? Yeah, 100%. And I know what that feels like, having that fear. And one of the biggest fears too is that, you know, I, I knew how to get out there and make sales. But just running a business was something that I never knew how to do. And that's something that you helped me with and that, that you helped me learn along the way. I'm sure that there's people out there probably on the fence because of that too. They're, they're like, they're freelance. And that's, that's where I started too. It's like you're a freelancer, but when you want to turn this into a real business, it's a whole different side skill set because, like, as a freelancer, you can be really good at shooting and editing, but if you don't know how to actually, you know, turn that into a business where you hire other people to shoot and edit, you do the payroll, you run the, the systems, you set up lead generation marketing, sales systems so you can actually run the business properly, like, that's a completely different ball game, you know, and it's a different skill set at the end of the day. Yeah, 100%. And the cool thing is that what you teach and, and the business side of things, learning those skill sets ultimately allows you to scale and break that, break out of that, that cap that freelancing has over people. Because if you really think about it, freelancing and doing everything yourself, you're limited because. Yeah, because you only have 12 hours a day, right. Maybe. Maybe less if you're, you know, you want to sleep and have a life and all that kind of stuff. It's like you're limited by your time, you know? Yeah, yeah, you could probably raise your prices, charge more, but eventually there, there's a. You're gonna cap at a certain. Yeah, yeah. And that's what you've helped me realize. And man, it's been like a complete paradigm shift in my mind to understand that, hey, I can take this a lot further than what I may think. And you've, like, you've even helped me think, like, hey, let's shoot for 100k a month. Like, yeah, we've already done well on a yearly basis, but let's push for more on a monthly basis. And I really believe, like, with the guidance, because I've seen you do it with your business and seeing you grow master filmmaker now, like, where you have people taking sales calls, like, you have people running the trainings as well. And like, you've done amazing for yourself and you're someone I still look up to this to till this day. And I'm, I'm grateful to continue to, to be able to learn from. And I'm ready to start seeing my business in a way where I can take it to that level as well. I appreciate that, man. It's a lot like building a sports team, right? Because it's like you're just building a team at the end of the day. It's like, how can I get these different people in different positions? Because, like, you're going to run out of time. And if you have one person focusing on one specific thing, like, if you have a sales guy focusing on sales all day, they're going to be the best at that. But if you have to focus on sales, you have to focus on marketing, you have to focus on fulfillment, you have all these different things you have to focus on. You're not going to be as good because you have a million things that you have to focus on. So it's a lot like building a team. And it's. It's. There's still things I'm always learning and there's people I look up to and there's different people that I look to. To get help with different bottlenecks. But it's just. There's different levels to the game at the end of the day, and it's just. There's. There's a lot of different bottlenecks and challenges and things to. To get solved. Which is why I'm a huge proponent of not even, like, you know, I preach to other people, like, get coaches, get mentors, get people like that. You have to get them for yourself. Like, I have them for myself. And it's like, if I didn't have that, how the heck would I know what to do next, you know? So. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a fast track to success, because if not, imagine having to learn all those things on your own. Takes years. Yeah, it takes decades. And I guess, like, was there anything, like, particularly, was there anything in particular, I guess, that kind of made you join the program in the first place when you first made that leap? Like, what kind of put you over the fence? I would definitely say the. The level of guidance that was coming from you, for sure. And the coaching, the course itself, the content that I saw within the program, which was very specific to what I was encountering at the moment, like, where I wanted to go and where I saw myself going, the content and the program, for sure. And the community. Being able to be on slack, ask questions, talk to other people that are basically in the same shoes as I am and. And have that level of community as well. 100%, man. Yeah. And I. I guess, kind of a weird question, but I guess, like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't taken the jump? Right. Because it was obviously scary to leave the sales job, invest in yourself. Like, it's where a lot of people get hung up. Like, what. Where do you feel like you would have been if maybe you hadn't taken that leap on yourself? For sure, I would still be there. I would still. Yeah, I would still be there, man. I don't know. I would still be there. Probably comfortable trying to earn more where I was at, but then ultimately not really being happy or satisfied because I was just building something for somebody else and ultimately capped as well, because there was gonna be a cap on what I can manage within that position. And now I really feel like I am learning all the things that I've always wanted to learn as far as business. Learning how to actually grow a business, run a business, and scale. And I know that the future is bright. We're going on to. We're in the middle of year, year two, so two and a half, more or less. And I know that a lot of people say, like, statistically, within three years, businesses tend to, like, either make or break. There's definitely a level of commitment you have to make when joining the program, because in the beginning, like, and still you're like, I'm the one that still has to make the calls, talk to people, sell, grow, advertise, like, run the ads and do all the things that you're telling me to do. And that's true. Like, anyone that thinks they're gonna invest into a program or in a coach and expect the results to just come in, who knows? And last question for you, man. I guess, like, if anybody is maybe watching this and maybe they're on the fence about taking the leap and just booking a call with us, like, what advice would you give them? Yeah, it's funny. I actually had a friend reach out that was getting your ads, too, and he asked me if it was worth the investment joining. And I told him, hey, it's great, you know, like, I really think you should do it. It's changed my life. But I think he ended up not doing it. And he's still, like, freelancing, trying to figure things out on his own. And I definitely see, like, from an outsider's perspective, that maybe he could have done more. Yeah. With the right proper guard, proper guidance. And I would say, like, imagine trying to join a sports team or be like, let's say a tennis player and be Successful like an individual sport, right. You can't really be successful if you don't have like proper guidance and coaching and whatnot. So I definitely think in business it's 100 necessary to, to have coaching and, and be part of a community of people that are doing the same thing. 100 I would definitely trust and whether it's with us or somebody else, it doesn't matter. But it's like you wouldn't try to fly a plane without going to pilot, like getting pilot lessons, right? Like you wouldn't, you wouldn't try to be a professional athlete like you said, without getting a coach and hiring somebody to train you. Like Conor McGregor trains a coach or hires a coach, pays a ton of money before every single camp, before every single fight. And it's like the fact that I guess people think, and this is not to say to join our program or another program, but it's like people, people think that they can be successful without investing in themselves and getting the help that they need. It's crazy because it's like how else are you going to learn those things without somebody actually coaching you and working with you to get those things done? So. 100 well, dude, I appreciate your time. Congratulations on all the success. It's only the beginning. We're gonna go up from here and appreciate your time. Let's go, bro. Thank you. Appreciate it, sir. You got it. What's going on guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Kyle, who added 50k to his video business. What's going on, Kyle? How are you? Not too bad. How are you? I'm doing well, man. I guess for anybody who maybe doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on yourself and kind of how, how you got started, how you got into this? Yeah, so I've been a filmmaker for probably 10 years and mostly been a contracting cinematographer working on movies. Did occasional commercial stuff here and there, but I found myself doing a lot more commercial work and I just saw that I wasn't really qualified really to be in the commercial world, so to speak. And I had a lot of different business opportunities. So I felt like there was sort of an untapped potential in my income there. So yeah, it was, there was just a little bit of a threshold there where I felt like I needed to learn a little bit more and I could increase my income potential. So that's when I started looking into your guys service. And it came kind of at the perfect time because it really helped me gain the skills and the Knowledge that I needed to just increase the leverage of the skill set that I was already making money with. But, and I mean really, like, I didn't. I didn't really change much, you know what I mean? Like, in terms of what I'm doing, it was just more about how I was presenting myself and how I was, you know, proposing. And it just allowed me to leverage the skill set that I have a lot more. So that's kind of my background and how I got involved with you, for sure. Was there any like, particular problem you were having within the business when you were coming in, like, that you're looking to get solved? Yeah, I would say it's more like, you know, client relations also just like being able to translate somebody's goals into, you know, how our skill set can help with that was kind of the bigger thing that I was struggling with because, you know, many times we get a little focused on the tech technical side of what we do. And really when it comes to, you know, value propositions and working with companies and different clients, like, it's more about learning how you can provide value rather than just saying, hey, I am a good cinematographer and I can light things. Well, I have a skill set. And yeah, it's like, yeah, exactly. I mean, that's like a commoditized service in a way, whereas we're providing more value to the business. And that's really where like I see a lot of help with this is being able to really provide value rather than just being a filmmaker. Yeah, yeah, I think. Well, because if you want to be a filmmaker, it's more so like you're working on set under other production companies or you're a cinematographer, you're doing that. Whereas with this we're more. So how can we build a business that we love? Helping clients achieve some sort of outcome with the content we're creating, you know, and I guess, like, was there anything. Obviously we're still going through the program, still working with you, but has there been anything that's been like, particularly helpful for you throughout this entire journey? Yeah, I would say that the most helpful thing is just having somebody to bounce ideas off of and having that feedback immediately is something that helps a lot. And that's something that, you know, in a lot of self help and just self development and business, you hear like you can spend a lot of time learning something or you can just pay to learn it from a teacher. And really it's like about figuring out where to put that money because there's a lot of people out There that claim a lot of things. And so it's about being smart on finding who's going to help coach you up. Yeah. And that's really where I found a lot of help with you guys is just immediate feedback, you know, if I have an issue. Because, I mean, business is just a constant stream of problem solving and to have another person to just bounce ideas off of and everybody's situation is unique, you know, so it's not. It's really not a one size fits all. And it takes a lot of iteration. And just to have somebody in your corner to do that with you helps so much. For sure. I love that dude. Yeah. I mean, I've invested in a ton of mentors myself too. It's like, it is super helpful to just have somebody who knows the path ahead of you as opposed to, like, having to guess, do I go left, do I go right? Like, which way do I go? Because, like, you could go left and waste five years going left, and it's not the right way to go. Right. And that's the scariest thing for me is like, I don't want to. I don't want to invest all this time, energy, and resources into a path that in the end is not going to work when I could have just paid someone a fraction of what I lost going that path. To just know which way to go, you know, that makes sense. Totally. And I guess, like, if. I guess, like, if anybody is maybe watching this, like, where do you think you might have been if you hadn't maybe made the leap and taken action and jumped in? Right. Because obviously it's a scary step. It's scary to invest in yourself, but I guess, like, where do you feel you might have been if you hadn't done that? Yeah, honestly, it kind of is a little bit more outside of business, but just in general, I think I probably wouldn't. I'd probably have less overall confidence and just drive. I feel like, as weird as it sounds, really, just because, you know, you spend all this time being a filmmaker or a shooter, and you. And you see it all everywhere. Like, people are like, how, how can I make more money? I'm not making enough money here. I feel like I'm not being valued at what I'm worth and that, that just. That does a lot to somebody, you know, mentally, or you feel like you're kind of going on an uphill slope. And, you know, joining this program for me has really helped increase. Just upgrade my mindset in general about what is possible, possible. And it's really opened up a different world of self development for me because I feel like I'm a completely different person now since joining the program. Yeah. Just, just in general, like business wise. Yes, absolutely. But just as a person, I found more confidence in myself, you know, hey, I can close a 25k package, you know, like that's totally possible. Whereas before, when I started, I was really nervous about it and wasn't really sure of myself. Whereas now, you know, I'm having conversations with business owners and I feel like more of an equal. It's not like, yeah, that's huge. That was huge for me when I first started too. It was like, you start as like a freelancer and they kind of talk down to you. Whereas when you come as a business owner, you come at the same level. And I think you're right too. Like when I, I mean, I used to serve at a country club, like being a server. So like, I totally empathize with the, the like becoming a different person. Because you have to become a different person to get what you want. Right. Because the person in the way people make decisions right now leads to the actions and the outcomes that they get. Right. And you have to become someone different to do something different. So that totally makes sense. I think it is. It's a huge mindset thing, you know. Totally. Yeah. And I mean, because that's really where it comes down. Like where the actual change is going to come is not like having somebody else help you. It's really about figuring out what's going to work for you. Yep. Being able to distill what your mindset is into. Actions that are actually going to provide legit result, you know? Yep. Because I mean, I could give you all the tactics in the world, but if you're not in a place to execute on those, it's not going to mean anything. Right. And that mindset just like getting around it sounds so cliche, but it's like get in the right rooms. Right. It's like get around people who are closing $100,000 deals because then you're going to feel like you're not charging enough and it's just going to give you something social proof that it is possible. And that's the funniest thing about it too. It's like, I don't know if I should charge this. It's like, dude, it's a mindset thing. Like you need to value you at that much so that you can ask other people for that amount of money. Yeah. And that's something. That's a Little bit more intangible, I think, but it's just. Just as important, if not more important, because ultimately you are the business if you're doing this kind of work and, you know, if you're not confident in what you're doing, like, are you gonna expect somebody to pay $100,000 for your service? Probably. You know, you go in with that conviction, and you just. You have that mindset, and you know that's gonna change where. What kind of conversations you have and where you're gonna go in life. And I've seen that personally. Yeah, I love it, dude. I love it. Last question. I guess if anybody is maybe on the fence about just booking a call and speaking with us to see if it might be the right fit, I guess, like, what advice would you give them, knowing what you know now? Yeah, the advice I'd give somebody who's kind of on the fence is really just, you know, try booking a call and just. Just take it at face value, you know, like, don't. Don't go into it with a nervous mindset where it's like, oh, no, I'm gonna. I'm gonna get pigeonholed into making or spending a lot of money or anything like that. It's not like that. I mean, in all my experience with you guys personally, I've. It's been very low pressure from the very beginning. And I don't. I think if this is something where you're really kind of battling internally on if you should do it, just. Just book a call and see. Because if it's not a fit for you, like, not everybody's gonna be perfect for this, just transparently. But if it is right for you, it'll. It'll. It'll be really good for you. And so I would say just, you know, just. Just take the call. Like, take the leap. And it's really not going to be a commitment to just get. Hop on a phone call with you guys. I mean, it's. You never know what. What could come of it, right? So. Yep, 100%. Well, I love it. Can't wait to help you close more deals. And we'll do another one of these in a little bit once you're doing crazy numbers. I love it. Absolutely. Yeah, I'll talk to you in a bit. Cool. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Maddie, who just closed 13k in the past week. What's going on, Matty? How are you? I'm great, Eric. Well, I guess for anybody who maybe doesn't Know you and a little bit about your business. Do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on you and kind of what you do? Sure. So I. In Minnesota, up in the, up in the cold part of the country and I have. I was freelancer for several years, started a production company or a production company. Came across well. I've been seeing Eric's ads for years and just annoying you in your feed and just going crazy and just. Yeah, so persistence pays off. That's one thing. But I, what caught my attention was not like I had been told by many guru to do lots of video pitches and all the outbound kind of stuff. And it was really attractive to me to potentially have a system that helps bring inbound leads. But yeah, so we. This, this business that I've been trying to grow can't be grown without revenue. So it's been helpful to, to really learn business and systems and automations and sales in particular. So I feel like most of what we've been working on right now is sales. Obviously we're getting the inbound system set up as we speak. But like from. I know when you came in, we fixed a couple things within the sales process to help with some of those things. What I guess within the sales part, what do you feel like was kind of the biggest bottleneck for you or what were some things that you kind of had big takeaways on? Sure. Well, frankly, I had no idea how to do sales and was never trained how to. Objection. Handle how to take someone and really selflessly look at their desired outcomes and their problems as like a practitioner rather than just coming in with a like gun freelancer mindset. Because like, I feel like a lot of people come in with that, hey, I'm gonna come in. You tell me what you want and I'll come in and we'll. And I'll just, I'll take orders from you. And it's kind of, it seems like you've really switched into that, like, hey, let me diagnose, let me be the expert. Let me figure out what you need. Right. Positioning yourself as more of an authority in those conversations. For sure. Yeah. And you know, we use video as one of our tools, but it's definitely also made me be open to showing my clients other solutions that might be better fits for what they're looking for. And that's something that I can offer, but it's more of a, hey, like, this is the problem you're having and here are some ways that we can, we could potentially solve it, but maybe we can't. And that's. I just think that clients really appreciate the honesty and that being real and having a real conversation. Yeah. Because, like, I mean, if all you do is take orders from the clients, like, they're not really going to feel like you have their best interests. You're just taking orders like a server at a restaurant. Whereas, like, if you can figure out what they need, what they're looking for, and then just give them, hey, maybe this isn't the best fit for you. Or maybe this is the best fit. Here's what I think you should. You should go with. I feel like you do build a lot more authenticity and trust within those conversations, for sure. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Was there anything, like, particularly about the program that you feel like has been helpful thus far? Because obviously you're still going through it. Yep. Like, is there anything so far that you feel like has been helpful for you? I think the sales training has been the most helpful for me this far. Yeah. Everything from being able to do mock calls, to be being given a framework to jump off of in questions to ask, or ways of navigating people's money, objections or fears or anything like that. And then not only sales calls, but also that you guys are accessible at any time for me to ask questions about, like, sales offers or specific deliverables. And, you know, it work because you're all about getting, giving results to people. And so I'm able to transfer that to my calls and clients and being like, hey, this is going to work. This isn't something cute and beautiful. It's gonna work. Yeah. I remember we were talking one time. You're like, should I really pitch this thing? Should I really, like, say this? I'm like, yes, Maddie, like, do that. Exactly how he said it. You're like, I don't know. And then he did it. And it's like, you see. You see the response from it. You see people, like, actually getting back to you instead of kind of stringing them along. Were you, I guess, were you someone who would send a lot of proposals over emails? You know, my whole. My whole gripe with that. But are you someone. You feel like you sent those, or did you do it more on the calls? I. I definitely was introduced to the idea. I didn't send a ton of loom videos or video pitches, frankly, because it was exhausting. Like, I didn't want to have to do that. And I just. I guess the biggest gap I felt was how do you create a relationship? And especially over email or, like, when you're doing outbound yourself. Like, how do you build that relationship without it being sterile or fake or whatever? And so to reverse that, act as. As an authority or somebody who is more of a practitioner. And having people come to you and ask for help makes it a lot easier. Yeah, yeah. Because you hold. I feel like you hold the frame in those conversations where they're looking up to you like, hey, what do I do? And it's more of an authentic feel. Yeah. I mean, we definitely don't want to be slimy or sleazy or salesy or anything like that. We just want to have authentic conversations. And sometimes that means getting real with people at the end of the day and being blunt with them. I know you said you had a previous conversation where it's like, hey, I don't think you need this. Like, and you said that person really appreciated that deal you just closed. Like, hey, I really appreciate you just telling it to me how it is. And I think a lot of times it doesn't come down to as much tactics. It comes down, how do I authentically talk to this person and help them, you know? Yeah. And the biggest challenge I've had thus far and probably will is just getting in my own head or just not trusting that I see a problem and being able to communicate that, like, don't. Like, holding back and being fearful about what they're going to think or fearful that it isn't. Not confident that it is the right thing or afraid. Like, you're so concerned in closing the deal that you're unwilling to say the truth because you're just so obsessed with the money or whatever. So it's just pressing more into the. Being truthful is definitely 100% what you should do. 100%? Yeah. I mean, when a client feels like you can actually. You care about their problem independent of the solution to the outcome of the sales call, that's when they really feel like you have their best interest at heart. So I think. Absolutely. Last question, Mattie. I'll let you get back to closing deals here, but I guess if anyone is maybe on the fence about even just booking a call and speaking with our team, I guess, what advice would you. Would you give them? Hmm. Well, if you're anything like me, you've done hoops in your mind trying to figure out whether or not it's worth it. And you aren't going to get rich quick, but you are going to invest in, like, think about it, like, education. That is priceless, really, and to me is invaluable. Because not only am I learning skills that do transfer to my business and do produce results and it is generating the income, but it's also helping me in my life being better question asker. And I'm seeking to understand people better because I'm asking better questions. And my framework of regular day life is less about me and more about the person that I'm talking to and how I could potentially help them, but like really seeking to know them. And to me, like, that's just not even. It's beyond business. And so I think that that business, like video business people and non video business people could benefit from your program. But specifically with video businesses, maybe we'll start giving relationship and communication advice. I don't know. Yeah, no, but it's, it's true. I mean, sales really does. It changes you as a person because all sales is. Is proper communication. That's all. We give you a framework to help you properly communicate in a way where you care about something. That's it. Yeah. You know, I love it. Well, Matty, I'm excited to see where you go from here and to your continued success. I appreciate your time and we'll, we'll talk to you. Sounds good. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Mike, who just had a $120,000 day. What's going on, Mike? How are you? It's good chat with you, man. Absolutely. For, I guess, for anybody who maybe doesn't know you or kind of your business, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on kind of what you do and, and, and what your company does? Sure. So we're in video and photo production, specifically in commercial world, and we work in government contracts as well. But one of the main things that we've really taken on and seen explode is what we call the marketing framework. And it's basically social marketing and ad management and what have you. But it's much more than just creating content and putting it online. It's actually strategy. And it's kind of the big win right there for our clients is that we actually put a strategy and a program in place that allows them to really succeed and thrive. So as opposed to just giving them content, you're actually putting the strategy in place so they can use the content to make more money, generate more leads, whatever it may be, whatever their goal is for the business. Is that right? Yeah, 100%. You know, I mean, and don't get me wrong, you know, there's a place for that, for just content, because you know, you might, you might be a business where you need, where you have someone at the front desk that can kind of put stuff out there organically. But when it comes in terms of like, in terms of like managing ad spend and making sure you're getting the right target demo and that you actually get an ROI on your investment, you know, it's imperative that you kind of, you find yourself in a place that allows you to do that. Yeah. Is that kind of why, like, what, what made you switch over to do it wanting to do more of like a marketing framework rather than just creating the content for them? Well, you know, don't get me wrong, I love creating content. I love going on crazy shoots and, you know, all over the world, and that's what we do. But you know, for us as a business, I don't like to say, hey, we're an agency, because that's kind of faux pas these days to say your agency. But we, you know, unfortunately, that's just the best term to say that, hey, you know, we're not just a production company that just puts together videos, but, you know, or marketing content, which we love and you know, we do plenty of. But you know, having a sense of having a program that's consistent for us but that allows us to be invested in other companies is really helpful because, you know, we're in this business to manage, maintain, and have great relationships. Like, you know, one of those things I remember talking with you back in the day, you know, it's like we don't want to work with someone that we don't want to work with. You know, we want and feel the same way. Like it's a relationship, it's an engagement. And you know, we want to see our clients thrive. And yeah, because we know if they will, they're going to come back and we're going to continue business together and everyone. Right, happy, happy, you know, and we're actually doing something. We're not just. It's not snake oil, you know, like we're actually doing something to improve. Yeah, that make, that moves the needle for them. You know, I think a lot of. I just asked that because I think a lot of video business owners are kind of wrapped up in just creating the content sometimes. But when it comes to creating content, then helping them get a result, it's a win, win, win for everybody because you're able to actually help them make more money and tie into a revenue source for them which allows them to justify continuing to pay you. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think That's, I mean, that's. That's one of the smartest moves I've seen is like, just helping people use the content that you're creating. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but just helping them use the content and then helping them achieve a result that's measurable at the end of the day too, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I guess what was kind of the biggest. Because I know you jumped in with us last year. Like, what was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to even joining the program? Like, what was one of those. One of those problems for you? I was thinking about that. You know, I think one of the things that. One. I'll have to backtrack before answering that question. Sure. One of the big things is you as an individual, use of business, use as leading your own business. You've got to figure out what's your learning style. And you've got to. You got to not only learn it, but you've got to find confidence and be confident in that because, you know, there'll be some individuals that can just do A plus B and bam. They just take off. Me, I'm an artist. Artist. Like, I need to process and, you know, look at the ins and outs, the ups and downs. What's the commitment, you know, like, you know, is this worth. Is this worth the squeeze, you know, etc. As far as what we offer. Not as far as working with the team at, you know, master filmmaker, but. But as far as what we offer, because it's really easy to just say, hey, we'll do all this. We'll do a gazillion things and you find yourself in a place of disarray, in a place where it's like, oh, my gosh, like I can't even. I can't keep up with the work. And, you know, so for us, the big impetus was figuring out what is our learning style. For me, the big change was knowing that I am a processor that I need to figure out what is it that I want to take from this. Because, you know, we spent. We spent days in, days out talking, chit chatting ideas, conceptualizing this or that. This will work. Why won't that work, et cetera, what's ups and downs of A, B and C. But, but I had to have those conversations, and particularly with you, you know. Yeah. You know, and the team as well, you know, everybody else there is great too. You know, Evan and Ethan and. And Dan. Dan's great. I had a great chat with him. I thought he was great. You know, but anyways, I just wanted to say, you know, like, that that was a big impetus for us is. And for me in particular, clarity around what it is where you're going sounds like. Exactly. Yep. And, and, and yeah, put it in, Put it into place. Because it's so easy to just say, hey, let me just offer everything. Yeah. That we can do, and then you just kind of find yourself in a place. Well, that's not what I want to do. Right. That's not, that's not the world that I want. Just space I want to live in day in, day out. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it's really sitting down and having those conversations around, where do you want to go? How do I want to get there? And what's the path? To get there is obviously super important, you know, and I think it's. It's great to see that you found this alignment around, hey, this is what I want to do. And now that you've figured this out, now it's, let's repeat this over and over and over again and just get more clients and help them succeed with these packages that you're offering at. I think you said it's like, is it 60 for a year is what you. You offered those two. Yep. Nice. Yeah. So then it's just, it's really sitting down. And how can we duplicate this out and do more of this now that we figured out what that focus is and what that thing is? Well, and that's the big thing, Right. Like, if I want to continually, you know, drop 60 over a year, over the course of a year, you know, stack them, you know, get more of those and keep those going. The reality is I have to have a system in place internally. And, you know, it's almost like having buckets that, okay, this does this, this does that, and this does that. Right. Like, otherwise, me as a, as an artist with having, and definitely have an artistic mentality, like, I'm going to get so nitpicky on every little video and everything's going to have to be, you know, not everything has to be a Picasso. And I'm not saying short sight your work in the quality at all, you know, because you're only as good as your last project. Right. But, you know, but, but the reality is figuring out how to systematize things and then productize things, you know, and, you know, we've had many chats about that, but I think if someone were to kind of have a deep dive with you or anyone from the team about that and what that means, I think it'll make. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think it goes to show everybody else, like, you don't have to have everything figured out before you close these first couple of deals, but to scale, you have to have a productized service and offering and system. Because if the goal is to remove yourself from the business at the end of the day, then we need to build systems and sops around everything that you do on a daily basis so that you can hire those additional team members, take care of that. Well. And that's a big thing. Right. I definitely had a come, come to Jesus moment for myself. Like, you know, there could be a time where this becomes way too much for me just to manage on my own and, or, or our small team, because we have a small team. We're, we're, we're a four or five person team. We are not big, you know, but we're boutique. So, you know, thing is, we are the same. On the same token, we are very focused on every one of our clients and very, you know, nuanced in a sense that like, you know, we're not letting anything go untouched or on, you know, you know, we're very particular about everything we do. Yeah. Because we want the best. But yeah, the reality is like, you know, having, setting these systems in place, the ability or the potential to kind of stack it and just have these go 60. 60 grand. Over 60 grand. Over 60 grand. Over 60 grand is very much a reality. We're not there yet by any means, but you know, but I mean, it can happen in a matter of a week, two weeks, you know, a month, a year. And the reality is we have to have these things in place that we can actually do that and not our clients, because we want our clients to have the best they can have, Right? Yeah. Well, I think the super bowl was last weekend, so I think it's a, it's a good analogy. And I heard this before. It's like you, you wouldn't try to win the super bowl with five people, right? You, you need a team to, to win a championship at that magnitude, you're going to need other people. So like, if you wouldn't think you'd win the super bowl with five people, then why would you try to build a very large business into the millions and millions and millions of dollars without a large team to help you with that? You know what I mean? Yeah. And, you know, and it was for me, you know, a really key point is for me coming from the world of where I have, you know, Pretty big clients. You know, a national, national clients all over the country. Yeah. You, you very large contracts with a lot of large companies, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the thing is, is that's the, you know, the mentality was. And that I had to kind of switch gears on was that I can do it. I can just, you know, I go on to this shoot, then I go on in this shoot or have a book five days here this week and then I'll do another five. You doing everything, right? Yeah, me doing everything, me shooting, me editing, you know, me, you know, and the reality was is that that's not sustainable for me or my family or, or, you know, or for the lifestyle I desire, you know, and so that was a big, that was a big win is realizing that and in putting a system in place that we can scale and we already are scaling. I mean, already, you know. I mean. Yeah, yeah. I think it just comes down to what. Because like a lot of people will see, well, I, you know, I have all these large contracts. Why would I want to do something where it's more retainer based, more productized out? Doesn't that kill the artistic side of it? And the answer is no, it doesn't. But it allows you to buy your time back because like, if you want these super artistic projects, great, but you're going to have to do it every single time. And it's very, it's harder to have someone in place who's going to replicate exactly who you are. You, you have to be able to let go of some of that control, put other people in place to have more reoccurring projects where you can build a system that buys you your time back and allows you to have more time with the family too, you know? Well, and that's, that goes to say, right, like, there's always going to be better shooters than me. There's always going better than me. There's always going to be better salespeople than me, better account managers than me. 100%. Yeah. So I want to be in a position to hire them. That, dude, I tell you that I'm the same way. I'm like, my salespeople are better than me, right? My, my, my ads guys are better than me. Like, I, I want people to be better than me because it's like you don't want to be the best player on your team. You know what I mean? Like, that's a problem if you're good at everything. But that's exactly right. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, last question. I'LL I'll save you some time here, Mike, because I know you got to get back to closing some more deals, but I guess if anyone is maybe on the fence about just booking a call and speaking with our team, I guess knowing what you know now, what advice would you give them? I'm a jump in. Let's figure it out and let's, let's get dirty. Sure. And, you know, I understand that can be an investment for individuals and, you know, but, you know, at the end of the day, you got to ask, what's the cost of keeping things the same? Like, you know, if you don't start making steps towards a plan or a system or a program, then you kind of just remain the same. So, you know, my advice, give me a call, I'll point you in the right direction. But the reality, and that's just joking, but like, you know, at the end of the day, give these guys a call. You know, give, give Eric a call. Give, you know, drop an email and ask those particular questions. Because I remember when I first started, I asked, I think it was Hakeem, you know, I asked him a million questions. I put them through the ringer because I was like, you know, what is this? Is this a bunch of bs? This is this snake oil, you know, but you, you know, on that note, and it's not. But, you know, just to clarify, but the reality is, is you get what you put in. Everyone learns differently. So I think that was a really good strength for you guys to kind of highlight is that you guys are pretty adaptable in certain situations. Everyone has their own journey, I think. And it just comes down to, like you said, it's not a magic pill. It's not, you get what you put in, but it's a journey of building that business. A journey of kind of self discovery, of where you're looking to go sometimes, you know, so, yeah, 100%, man. That very well said. I love that. You know, it's like, what's that, what's that statement is like, It's. There's no silver bullet. There's no silver bullet. There is 100 BB's, right? It's like giving giving someone access to a gym or giving them access to resources and tools and coaches. You have to use those resources and tools and coaches. Otherwise, you know, you can't just go to the gym and sit on the couch. You're not going to get a result. You know, so it just comes down to coming in and participating, getting the help that you know you deserve and getting to where you want to go, but that, you know, just to wrap that up. I mean, that's the one piece of advice I would give is what is the cost of keeping things the same? That ask yourself that. Do a detail. If nothing changes, nothing changes, you know, you know, and that's the real, you know, and if, if you're in a place where, you know, where that doesn't really matter or, you know, then, then cool. I mean, you know, you know, no harm, no foul. Right. But like, if you really want to kind of, you know, work at it and you want to grow things, you know, you've got to push the envelope. Yeah. And things of value cost money. So if you're worried about that initial cost, you know, it'll, it'll flip back. I mean, it's got to, it's got to 100%. Well, Mike, I appreciate your time, man. Yeah, man, absolutely. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Paulo, who just closed a 10k retainer. What's going on, man? How are you? How you doing, Eric? Good, good. How are you, dude? I'm very well, I guess. For anybody who maybe doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on yourself and kind of what you do and how you get started here in the kind of the video world? Yeah, sure. So I am the founder and owner of Arrowwood Creative, which basically just came from. From me being a one man band kind of video production guy. You know, I shoot, edit, direct, do kind of everything. And so I wanted to just kind of create something for myself that had like a brand name and all that kind of stuff. And my journey so far has just been kind of like gig work here and there, you know, either editing a little short video here or shooting another video there. And I wanted to kind of just take everything to the next level. And I would be seeing master filmmaker stuff over and over again on Instagram. Harassing you on social media. No, I mean, that's how it works. You're just knocking on the knock. One day I opened it and spoke with you guys and I think it was just like a right time for me and where I'm at in my career that I wanted to take the next step. And yeah, so I went and started following your program and started following what you guys teach and where I was at. To be honest with you, I was a little skeptical just because I didn't have a big track record when it came to like clients because like I said it would Be like here and there and then I wouldn't see the person again. So I did have one. It sounds like a lot of one offs. Yeah. And then also I worked on sets and stuff too, so I paid a lot and stuff. So, you know, stuff that I kind of produced wasn't a ton, but I was just like, you know what, I'm just gonna do what these guys are saying. And I followed, you know, some of the protocols you guys had and I used it on one client that I. Nice little reactivation 10k retainer, dude. Good way to get you started, you know. Yeah, no, it was great. It was a great way to start the program because I feel like it's. I've been over a little over a month now and so it was definitely a good. Put some win in my sales for sure. Nice to have that traction. Right. Because that's like. Is this, is this the first time you've ever done a retainer model? Yes. Yeah. Nice. I love it. How does it feel to have like, be like, dude, I got a retainer now. Like, how does that do? You feel like it's different? Like, how does it feel to have more of like a structure like that now? It feels more legit, to be honest. It feels more legit. It feels like because like, with this specific client I. It was a little bit easier because I had a proven track record of like working hard for not that much money. So I was like working at like an hourly rate and all that kind of stuff. And we pick up projects here and there and this just felt like I was just becoming more professional. So I had, you know, my offerings, I had it broken up and everything like that. So it just made everything more professional. And yes, when, when I was able to just charge more for my work, it feels a lot better and. And it just feels like, I don't know, I'm taking a step in the right direction. Well, I feel like you started and you're like, myself, I did this too. It's like you start more of this like technician role where you're doing everything, you're the person doing the doing. And now as you move into a retainer structure, it's going to help you build more consistency, you know, build people, build a team and kind of turn more into a business owner versus just that technician, you know what I mean? I feel like it does help with that. I love it, man. And I guess like, was there anything that's been particularly helpful up to this point? Because obviously you're still going through the program, you're still implementing things that we're talking about. But is there anything that's been kind of helpful for you so far? I think so. First, I, if I just taking a step back is the retainer was great, but I think the first thing was just sort of like taking like a bird's eye view of where I was sort of at. That was just more helpful. So it was like the case study first with the client, which then, you know, you guys have a thing where it's like after the case study, then talk about like, what are some next steps. And so, you know, I did that and, and then after that I got on calls and I started recording calls, which I never did before. So I think what the thing was most help helpful is just like checklist kind of stuff. Like, hey, get the case study check. Okay, now that you got the case study with the guy, like, see what, what other, you know, opportunities there are for more video check. So for me it was just like a checklist because, like there are things in the program of I've thought of, in the past of doing and it's kind of just like here and there. Maybe like, for example, the case study. I thought of just getting a written case study. I was going to put like screenshots and I was going to type stuff and I was going to hand like it to people and they were going to get it and never read it. You know what I mean? So, like, that's a good example. I'm like, I always say it's not like I'm, I'm not like, this isn't some huge magic secret formula. It's like we're making the right tweaks and we're helping you with the right little hinges that swing the big doors. Because it's like those little things like, don't send the proposal. Do it on the call. Like, don't send this. Do it this way. Like, those literally make the difference in like you either close the 10k retainer or you don't close it, which these tiny little things make all the difference at the end of the day, you know what I mean? And that's really what we're just trying to kind of nose you in the right direction with. So. But you did the work, dude. I'm just a, I'm just a mere servant to you guys, helping you guys close deals, which I love doing. So, yeah, I love, and I love to see that momentum so far. And I guess, like, obviously this is kind of a weird question, but, like, obviously it was a big Step to jump into the program to bet on yourself. Like what? I guess, like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't maybe taken that bet on yourself? Probably still in the same position. I mean, you know, maybe I would have tried different things, but I feel like it's kind of twofold. It's like, one, I wouldn't have had, like, the kind of fire under my butt to, like, start to really move forward, because this is an investment. So I didn't want to just, like, throw money away and stuff, because, you know, and it's still a work in progress. You know what I mean? Like, I think you build confidence as you go. So I'm still in the beginning phases, but definitely, I don't think I'd be able to get that retainer deal without your guys's help in the sense that, like, that checklist, you know, making sure I'm hitting the right points and stuff. With this client, it was easier because I did have, like, a track record, but still, I could have still fumbled the ball, even so, you know, so where I would have been, it might have. I don't know, maybe I would have never reactivated him. Maybe I would have been like, you know, that's in the past. Let me look for someone else. But, like, you know, so I think I'd probably be sort of in the same position and not, like, with this mindset of growth and retainer and stuff like that. Well, dude, I'm happy you're. I'm happy you're with us and you're. You're gaining that momentum this year. Last question. I guess if anybody is maybe. Maybe anybody's on the fence. Like, you were right. They're going through the case studies. They're looking at our stuff. They're on the fence. Like, I guess, what advice. Knowing what, like, you know, now what's on the other end of the fence? Right. But, like, what. What advice would you give to somebody who's maybe, you know, considering booking a call or speaking with our team? Definitely at least book a call. I mean, there's no, you know, there's nothing. You don't lose anything with booking a call. Speak with these guys and see what they have to say. I mean, I will say this was my first kind of program like this, but you guys have been, like, so helpful and so, like, supportive. So there's that, too. You guys do give us, like, the. The techniques and stuff, but you guys are, like, always ready to, like, answer a message or a call or anything like that. So anyone that's on the fence. I think it's like you're gonna have like a partner with you in your business that's going to help you, like, you know, check off these boxes and stuff like that. So it's definitely worth taking this step if you feel like you're ready and even if you're kind of a little maybe not sure, like, like I was still take the leap because there's going to be a lot of information here that it just put together in a way that I don't think you'd find it anywhere else, so. And do the work too, is what I'll say. And do the work. I mean, that's not a magic pill. I always, I say that in every single one of them. It's not a magic pill. Do the work, show up and commit to yourself at the end of the day is really what it comes down to. And I'll say one last thing about that is it's an inspiring kind of group as. Because when you're on the slack channel and you're seeing people with wins and you're seeing people with questions and this I think the community thing is a big plus because you surround yourself with. Right. It's like, yeah, it sounds cheesy and corny and whatever, but it's like it really does make an impact at the end of the day. Yeah. And it's motivating. So you're like, oh man, this guy did that. And wow, look at what that. And it's like, it's. It's positive. So, like, you want to be, you know, you want to post on the wind channel, you want to contribute as well. So that's been a big kind of push as well. I love it, dude. Well, I don't want to take a more your time. Let's close some more deals and I'm excited to see where you go this year. Yeah, same here. Eric. Thank you so much. Absolutely. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Reid, who actually just closed a 48k 12 month video retainer. What's going on, Reed? How are you, man? How's it going? How you doing, man? Doing well, dude. I guess for anybody who maybe doesn't know you and a little bit of background on yourself. Do you mind just giving us a little bit background on you, your, yourself and kind of what your business does? Yeah, totally. Yeah. So I'm. Right now, I'm 27. I've been, you know what I would consider pro since I was 20. Went to film school for a couple years. My parents kind of, you know, made me go that route. And I personally never wanted to go to the film school route. Not that it's not, you know, for some people it's the right move. Right. But I knew what I wanted to do and I saw the path to do it. So I actually ended up dropping out of film school. I think my second year or something that I just went right to being pro. And within seven months I got my first good salary gig. And, you know, videography. I got lucky because it's just my passion and it really, it's very lucrative and you know, there's a lot of everyone needs video nowadays, so that kind of got my foot in the door and then started making connections and whatnot. And then kind of realized that 9 to 5 salary wasn't really for me and, you know, I wanted to do my own stuff, kind of 1099. And so after probably only a year or so on salary, I started doing my own thing. And so, yeah, I've been 1099 for several years now. My main client has been USA Today. I do film filming for them. And. And then other than that, it's just, you know, random local gigs and because I didn't know you guys, that I just kind of wait for them to. To trickle to me, you know, and take what I can get because I'm not much of a marketer or businessman. So, you know, I had a handful of random plastic surgery offices. This one Russian crazy art lady. Were they all one off projects or what were they. What was kind of a lot of them were one off. USA Today it was. Is the one that's been consistent for, you know, several years. Yeah. And then there was a couple here and there where they need a lot of editing for a couple months and. But usually it's. It's, you know, kind of a rotating door of clients. Makes sense. And I guess what. What was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to kind of jumping into the program initially, just knowing how to get clients, you know, getting leads, basically understanding the sales of how to approach and how to close them definitely was the main issue. And then also pricing. Okay. You know, kind of pulling the classic videographer mistake of charging undercharging, man. Yeah, dude. I look back at some of my deals and whatnot, and I'm. Where was Eric? I needed Eric. I did the same thing, dude. I look back 10, 15 years ago. Why the heck was I charging as much as. Yeah, why was I charging that little. Yeah, yep. It's so funny because what we're doing is, is a game changer for businesses, man. If you don't have video content these days, you are done. You're done. There's literally no way you're gonna make it. Yeah, that's how people build trust and how they know about you. It's. There's never been, in my opinion, a better time to be a videographer, video business owner in this market. Everyone needs this content right now, which is absolutely huge. I agree. Yeah, it's amazing, man. And then that's been the really cool thing of working with you guys is helping me find a niche where it legitimately super benefits everyone. Because, you know, if I was selling a retainer this to the barber shop or something, I wouldn't even recommend them to do that because they'd have to sell so many, you know, X haircuts to make up for it. You don't want to go after those low ticket people. You want to go after the higher ticket ones. The ones that are actually going to be able to make money off your content. Exactly. Because a plastic surgeon, if they just get 10 new clients from years worth of work, which is no problem, bang, it pays for itself. And so now I can talk to them and be, you know, how many clients do you think you would need to get for this retainer to pay for itself? And it kind of makes them realize, oh snap, why would I not do this? Right? 100%, dude. No, absolutely. I mean, and I guess was there any reason? Like, because I know there's a lot of programs out there and a lot of people out there who are, you know, helping different people within the industry, but I guess, is there any reason you chose our program maybe over some of the other programs out there? Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was something. But just curious. Well, well, that's the kind of the, the funny thing about the deal that I made that I don't know, I don't know if it's a good testimonial or not sure that I, I kind of found out about you guys. I did the two calls with you guys and I had actually kind of reached out to a couple different, you know, sort of teams yours. And so I was going through the hour long phone calls. Okay, cool. And it was great. I forget the, the name of the gentleman that I was talking to, but he was awesome. And you know, he let me know kind of the price at the end. And at that point I just wasn't, I didn't have the cash to be able to do it. And I was, oh no, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to waste your guys time. I. And he was, well, no problem. You know, do what you got to do and if it works out, come back and we love to have you. And so just using what I learned on the two free phone calls and literally using a pricing sheet that you guys emailed me is how I closed the 48k deal. I love it. Again, with an old, Even if you don't join with us right away, we'd love to provide value to you and see how we can help. And I love that you took that and then implemented it. And it's it, it is, it's testament that this stuff works and you used it to close this huge thing and now it's let's pour more fuel on the fire. Which I love. It's great. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm sure you would say too. It's it. There's a lot. You definitely took that you implemented it. It was amazing. But it's now you have other problems where it's okay, cool, now I need to stack more clients on top of this and it's how do I hire a team, how do I get those leads consistently? But I mean, we love using reactivations to just take the existing people you have in your pipeline, convert them and then help you build that, that system. So now you have cash in your pocket and you're feeling good and now you can build something and really pour rocket fuel on that. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. No, exactly. And you know, when I made the sale, you know, first thing, other than taxes, first thing I was master filmmaker. I gotta, you know, get the ball. Well, I mean, dude, we just want to put out as much value as we can and then people yourself get value from that and then you're cool. I want to work with these guys even more because I got value from the stuff they just gave me on the two hour long phone calls. Yeah, I've told a lot of people, man, it's insane. I did two free phone calls with you guys and I closed a $48,000 deal. It sounds ridiculous. People don't believe me when I tell them I love it. And you know, yeah, it was very surreal because, you know, I watched a good amount of testimonials, the one we're doing right now and it's obviously I could tell, oh, these are definitely real. And no, you guys are just hired actors, man. Yeah, I've seen, I've seen comments before, guys. These, it's a higher read's not real. Dude, these people. Guys, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell. Yeah, I don't know. Ask them. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. No, and that's exactly. Even though, you know, my BS meter didn't go off at all, it's still so surreal to now be in the position of one of the testimonials. Yeah, yeah. I made. Yeah. You know, just about 15. Well. And honestly, it's just the beginning for you, man. We're gonna stack, stack, stack, stack, stack on top of that. You know, it's just. And I think a lot of people. For a lot of people, it's a mindset thing where it's. I don't think I can do this until I actually get the help I need to do it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because you don't think you can close a 48k deal until you do it. You don't think you can ride a bike until you do it. It's. Yeah. You have to just put the. Put the steps in place to try to get there in order to do it. Otherwise, if you always think you're not gonna be able to do it, but before you do it, you're never going to get there. You know what I mean? Good luck. Yeah, no, it's such a mindset thing. It's totally. Totally. And because if you don't think you can do it and have kind of a plan to do it, nobody ever is. Whoops, I got a six pack. Whoops, I got. You don't accidentally. You take the steps that are necessary and you take the steps that are in alignment with the person who does do those things, which means investing in the help that you need, getting the people in your corner that are going to help you get there. And that's where I think a lot of people get stuck in their own kind of head around. They're. They're scared to take those leaps, but they're not. They're not making decisions in accordance with the person they want to become. Because if you make decisions in accordance with the way that you are right now, you're going to get the same results you're currently getting, you know? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, dude. No, for sure. Yeah. Just. Just with the. It was kind of to a comical degree because I definitely had a bit of reservation of, I think I can do this, but can I do this on my own without the team? And so I used a pricing sheet that you had, and when I was on the phone call with them. I wasn't expecting them to go straight for the 12 months. But I've worked with them in the past. They know I do a good job. They know they can trust me. And so they were, yeah, we're thinking about doing the Pro. And I had to pull it up real quick. I didn't even remember exactly what it said. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The pro. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 48. That's great. I was, yeah, maybe I could squeeze you guys in. Yeah, whatever. But. And it's been going really, really well too, so I love it, dude. And I guess if you hadn't maybe taken action, joined the program, right? It's. You could have tried to keep doing things on your own, but I guess, why. Why even take action and join the program after getting that deal? Why not just try to keep doing it on your own, I guess. Oh, man. Because I don't. I don't. I still don't know how to get leads. You know, that was a reactivation. So that's the only reason that one even fell into my lap. So, you know, from a direct, kind of tangible perspective, just, you know, getting leads and understanding more the sales process technically. And those are kind of the two main things. But I also just think you guys could really help me scale and get more organized. Because at the end of the day, I'm a videographer. You know that half the reason I became a videographer is because I couldn't do my damn homework. You know, this is what I'm good at. And you know, yeah. Kind of suffer from the creative curse a little bit sometimes. And. Yeah, so that's huge. And actually I forgot. I guess I should clarify. They. They were looking to do the pro. They were interested. But there it is. A lot of money up front. And it was kind of a situation to where I'd be working with one surgeon that I already worked with a lot and he was bringing me in with another surgeon who I hadn't worked with. So they were kind of. It was hard to get the confidence for the four month. So they actually started with a three month 18k. Yep. And they were. Can we have the option to. Before that's up, just give you the difference of the 30k and switch to the 12 months. So that's actually what I did. Nice. So you started with the 18 and then you upsold them to a 30, which was a total of $48,000 on the deal. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And only after the first month they were. We Love it. We're super excited to do it. And they pulled the trigger. I love it, dude. And I know we're only a month in at this point, so there's still a lot we're going to be going through. I just to do these kind of student check ins to show the power of reactivations are. It's super powerful. And now we're taking you through the rest where it's cool, you close the steel. Now we need to learn how to get more leads, help you get more leads consistently and then drive those sales from there. And last question, dude, before I let you go and let you get back to closing more deals here. But I guess if anyone's on the fence and maybe you know they're on the fence about booking a call with us and just speaking with our team, I guess what advice would you give them knowing what you know now? Oh man. I mean do the calls. Absolutely. At least talk to you guys. Just, you know, the, the sky's the limit really. My goal for this year would be to make 300k which would be, you know, almost 3x of what I've made any other year. And I feel it's super, you know, possible how many, how many 48k deals you need. Dude, if you round up 50, you need five. That's six of them. That's it. Yeah, that's six, right? Six clients in a year, that's. You could do that. Yeah. That's nothing. Right. And, and that's just with retainers. So that's not even counting any sort of one off things you're doing mixed in with that. I think 300k is just the beginning. I really do. Because. Because if last year on my own I was able to pull off, I think I made 125 total. That I can totally do. You know, 305, I mean I'd say 300 to 300 to 400. And then we start as we build that team around that 500, 600, 700. Because the team at that point is going to keep you bottlenecked from getting to that next thing. So you need to start buying other people's time which we'll work with you on. And that's what we're going to start working on after we get the, the lead gen dialed in, the sales dialed in, the team building. And then it's just moving from one bottleneck to the next and just going up from there, you know. Awesome. I love it. I appreciate your time man and appreciate your thoughts and I can't wait to Keep helping you scale up from here. Awesome. Excited, man. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Ryan, who actually closed, I think it was a quarter million dollars in the past three months, and. And hired his first salesperson. Ryan, what's going on, man? How are you? Hey. Hey, Eric. I'm doing well. How are you doing? I'm doing well, man. I guess maybe for anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of brief background? I know we've had a couple of these client interviews, but a little bit of background on you and kind of what you do. Yeah. So we're a video marketing agency. We focus specifically on the manufacturing sector with the kind of the western United States, particularly Utah. But we're kind of branching out now. And yeah, our niche is really in the manufacturing area. So if our clients make something from health and wellness protein powders to. To, you know, medical devices or furniture and everything in between, we. We. We help them tell their story. I love it. And I know this was. We. We helped you. Obviously, you've been with us for a little bit, but we've helped you a little bit with the, like, actually structuring the ads, the inbound system, and now hiring the salesperson. I guess talk a little bit about kind of what that experience has been like, hiring a salesperson. Because this is your first time hiring somebody, right? Yeah, yeah. Actually, interestingly enough, he was our first hire. You know, I'd outsourced crew positions, you know, did that all the time editing. I outsourced a lot. But. But our real, you know, meat and potatoes kind of role within the company. This was our first time, and it was a little bit of a revelation. I remember sending you a message, like, after the first time, he. He kind of advanced a client call forward. I was on an airplane going to Chicago. I didn't have time to get this lead that had just come in. You know, we're all about close those leads really quickly, get in. Get in front of the customer really quickly because they're expensive, and you. You want to move fast. And he told me, he's like, ryan, I've got it. You go do your thing in Chicago, and when you get back, we'll have the squared away. And when I landed, he's like, yeah, here's the call. He sent me the meeting notes, and I listened to it while I was taxing and getting my Uber to my hotel. And I was just smiling the whole way, like, I didn't have to do That I didn't have to be the one to do that. And I felt like, okay, for the first time in my business's history, I was working on my business, not in my business. And that was a revelation for me. Isn't that such a weird. I remember my first time having a client, having someone actually close a deal, and I wasn't there. I was like, what in the world is happening? I don't have to be on these calls. And it's a very weird, like, humbling experience, I think, because it's like, you start to realize, like, you are necessary in the business, but you're not as necessary necessary as you think you need. Yeah. Which is kind of like a freeing and weird feeling at the same time, which is. Which is always fun. And then all of these have been from, like, obviously, you're. You're scaling ads right now. You're scaling the inbound system. He's taking those appointments. I guess, like, to kind of jump back to when you first started with us. Like, what was kind of that first problem you came to us with? And, like, how has that evolved over the past year or so? Yeah, so I think the first set of issues that we were dealing with is I was doing everything, and we weren't running any ads. We weren't doing really any. We didn't have any sales process. We didn't have a system. I was literally taking business based on referral and knocking doors, and anyone I could talk to, you know, I'd try and drum up something. And. And so we had hit a plateau in revenue. And so my whole objective with the program was, okay, let's see if we can actually hit another level of revenue. And, you know, we've so far surpassed that level. I mean, we're like 3x the revenue now. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, so it's. I mean, it's brought new problems. Like, I'm having to be more of a people leader now. And so, like, it's putting more pressure on my leadership skills that. That I'm grateful to be able to develop. But those are, like, new problems that we're now having to tackle as we. As we lead people instead of just focusing on the shoot or whatever. Now it's like, okay, well, what are the processes behind the shoot? And how do we get people engaged and thinking aligned and have a shared vision for the direction of the company as a group? Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting because, like, you start by doing everything yourself, and then you have other people now. You have to develop different skills, which are leadership, leadership skills obviously to bring those people, to bring those people together and have them do it for you. Because you physically can't do all the work that you know, a million dollar a year business requires. Which is the interesting part. And it's really, there's a lot of. And we'll talk about that obviously offline a little bit more on like different ways to lead and different ways to get people to do things. But yeah, I mean, and the other thing that I think is interesting for a lot of people maybe watching this too is like you target manufacturing companies with an inbound system and I think a lot of people have this limiting belief where it's like, oh, I can't target that person with ads. And I think you're a great example of somebody who can. You're targeting a very B2B sector with an inbound system, which I think is awesome. Yeah, it's so true. We, we had a client discovery call and, and they said so how do we know that this will work for us? And I said well how did I find you? You know, and it's, it's like people are humid at the end of the day, you know, even though they, they may be blue collar or white collar in a B2B sector, if they go home and they're going to go on Instagram or they're going to go on a tick tock and we're going to find them. And so far that's provided fruit. You know, it's, it may be the cost per lead is a little higher than it is in other sectors. But my, when you're closing ninety thousand dollar deals it that, and that's the thing is the lead cost is higher maybe, but you also have way higher like ceilings for deals. So it's the same anyways. Yeah, yep, precisely. I love it. Has there been anything that's been like particularly helpful working with us so far? Like, I know it keeps changing a little bit of like different things that we're working on. But like has there any been, has there been anything that's been particularly helpful to you? I would say it's probably twofold and there are probably two different ways to say the same thing. I think that master filmmaker first the community is, is helpful. There's a lot of ideation and you know, throwing things back and forth within just the community, not even your team or you yourself. And that's been helpful. Making new contacts, getting on calls, you know, kind of problem solving with others and realizing that we're not competitive with each other. We're more supportive and that's been helpful. And then I think the other, the other aspect is that your team and you specifically is, I count kind of as a trusted advisor. Right. So we re upped our subscription with you for another year in part because as we were scaling the business through this next section with adding sales professionals and media buyers and everything, I wanted to make sure that from a process perspective, from a people leadership perspective, you guys have that experience. I don't. I can trust that you'll give me, you'll shoot me straight and give me the right advice. And so I kind of view your team as an extension of my team in terms of leadership. And I'm forthcoming with my, with my employees. And I say, look, master filmmaker, we're going to pass some ideas along with them and they're going to kind of sign off on this and they're all aware that you're helping us scale. And it's been a really cool relationship in that regard. I love it. Well, dude, I can't wait to see us. Obviously we're gunning for a million this year. We'll keep upping that to 2, 3, 4, 5. And just keep pushing the envelope from there, I guess. Last question. If anybody is maybe on the fence about booking a call and speaking with us, I guess, what advice would you give them, kind of knowing what you know now? You know, I've been monitoring and you and I chatted about AI a while ago, but I've been monitoring the changes and the shifts in the industry and I think that if you are, if you're, if you were like me, like a one man band kind of guy, and you're thinking that the way you're doing it is going to cut it in 10 years, you've got to realize you've got to shift or you're going to be snuffed out. And change is coming, change is so dynamic. And I feel like the best way forward is to build these processes, these systems, relationships and methodologies to acquire new business. And I would say that you've, you owe your business needs it, you owe yourself the time to give it a serious consideration because it's more than just some kind of group that we're going to hang out and copy paste and do your thing. It's a substantial philosophical and methodical change to your business. And so listen up, listen up, implement it. And, and I think you'll find yourself in a very good place 10 years from now. Ryan, I appreciate your time, man. Can't wait to help you Scale this even further. Awesome. Thanks, bud. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Ryan, who actually just closed 48k in video deals. What's going on, Ryan? How's it going? Feeling great, dude. I love. Really good that post close feeling. It's awesome. I guess for, for anybody who maybe doesn't know you, do you mind just getting. Giving us a little background on you kind of your business and what you do? Yep. So I own a content strategy agency called Mancini Media, and the bare bones of it is creating content to help other businesses scale. And that's, that's what I close these video deals on. I love it, dude. I love it. And I guess what was kind of the. What, what was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to joining the program? Like, what was kind of that biggest thing for you? I feel like there was a lot of. And then as time went on, each, each one was. Was knocked out of the park. Originally, when I had first met you, it was just not having any sort of great lead flow. After the lead flow, then it became an issue of I need to figure out how to, how to sell myself and gain the confidence to actually sell things in at a bigger price point. Right. Yeah, I think it's, it's interesting because there's always, and we talked about this before, but it's like there's always the theory of constraints, constraints. So there's always like. It's like some people think, oh, if I just get a bunch of leads, I'll be fine. Right. But a lot of times it comes down to how you're actually closing those leads and how you're communicating with them. Your belief system around selling the packages that you're offering. I know you said kind of selling and closing was kind of your biggest bottleneck. What do you feel like within that was kind of holding you back the most? I think it was a little bit of the confidence. If I look back at my first sales call for probably a package by itself was 48K. I was a little nervous, which I'm sure made the prospect a little nervous too, of whether or not I could actually complete all of that work. And then over time, I started drilling all the objection, handling videos that were online and really practicing these conversations out loud around the apartment with my girlfriend in the mirror and just like going full on 100%. And then, yes, I look at the calls now and I feel like, like, yeah, I would buy, I would buy a lot of things from this guy. Well, and I think that's the thing is, like, you have to believe in what it is that you're. You're selling. And I think the conviction level, like you said before, just, like, wasn't really there. So then the prospects. Prospects were feeding off of that and feeling like it wasn't the right fit, which might have been causing some uncertainty within. Within them, you know? And, like, I know that you've been drilling. A lot of people will say, like, it's crazy like, drill that much, but it's the same thing as using a camera at the end of the day. You know what I mean? It's like at first, when you first use a camera, it's like you're not going to be good. You have to drill, drill, drill. And then eventually you get better at it. And then from there, it. It obviously is translated into deals for you. Man, I love it. Yeah, absolutely. And I guess, like, what. Was there anything about our program specifically that kind of particularly helpful for you? Kind of all of it, really. The fact that. That if I don't have the opportunity to get on the live calls, I have those videos to lean on. I can go on the online course whenever I need to. Yeah. But if it's something where it's like, it's too intricate of a problem to solve through watching a bunch of videos, I can go to you guys and ask. Yeah, I think. Well, at the end of the day, your business is different than everyone else's business, and everyone else's business is different than yours. So it's like, it's nice to have some content where you can go through that and train and drill. But also hop on. Have you been hopping on a lot of Dan's calls for the mock calls as well? Have you done any of that? I thought you were. I was like, have you been hopping on those? Because I love that you've been drilling, dude. I think it's so, so important. I love that he's doing that, too. Within those mock calls, was there anything that he helped you identify, like, as a part of your process that was kind of holding you up? I think it was. It was a couple different things. I think he noticed some of the things that I pointed out myself. But then also it was just another perspective of someone who was never there. Like, I think you could have answered this concern a little better. And it was like, in the moment, I never thought about that. And even watching back, I wouldn't even have considered that. So it was nice to have Dan there just like, as a. As like a fact checker. Almost. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. How do you feel like looking at your first calls versus the ones you have now? Like, is it. You feel like, it's like completely. You're like, let's just delete those other ones. That's how I feel about mine, dude. I'm like, I'm like, man, my first call sales calls were trash. But you learn through doing and you know, you keep pushing from there. And this is kind of a weird question, but like is. I guess we're like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't maybe taken that action, jumped in the program, taken the leap? Because obviously it's scary, right? But like, I guess where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't taken that jump and bet on yourself? If I did not invest in myself, I probably would have quits and gotten a full time job somewhere else. Honestly, I don't really know another way to have done it. I don't think I would have arrived at the thought process of putting my content into packages or coming up with other strategic videos to give to people. I might have just been like the social media guy. And every now and then people can call on me. But it's better for me, it's better for other clients. Now I just feel better, better as a business owner that I'm giving a better product. Yeah, well, I think it helps with the sales too because it's like no one wants to feel like they're selling something that's not genuinely helping their clients at the end of the day, you know what I mean? So it really comes down to, I think it helps with conviction with selling because you're like, hey, I truly believe in what it is that I'm doing for my clients. So that way if they give you an objection, you can overcome it. Versus, like, if they give you an objection, maybe you don't believe in what you sell. Then it's a piece of like, well, I don't know if I'm really going to conquer this because I don't know if I really believe in what I'm doing, you know, which is, which is huge. I think that's a huge thing you said as well. And last question too, man. If there's maybe anyone who's watching this, maybe they're on the fence about even just booking a call to speak with us, I guess. What would you, what advice would you give to them? Specifically, invest in yourself. At any point of being a business owner, you're going to need someone that knows more than you do. Okay. And if you don't take the time to find someone that does, you're going to be stuck for, for a long time. Like the millionaire mindset of get out of your own way is really, really true. And it sounds so corny and cheesy. I. But like, it's even true for me too. It's like I have to hire people to do, man. Like I have to hire people for myself. It's like I can't, I don't know everything. I have to hire mentors for myself. And it's like if you're going to expect clients to pay you large amounts of money, you have to be willing to invest in you. Otherwise, what are they investing in if you're not investing in yourself? You know? Yeah, I, I considered it as continuing education, really, that that was the justification for me. I think that's the way to look at it because it's like you're betting on yourself, you're betting on you doing the work, you're betting on your business and learning the skills and the processes and the tools necessary to get you to that next level at the end of the day, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Well, dude, I appreciate your time and I'm excited to see you continuing to close deals with us and. Yeah, let's keep rolling. Ryan. Oh yeah. What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of my clients, Scott, who actually left his full time job. And you said what closed? About 183k so far since you've been with us. 183k in closed deals? Yes. I love it, man. Well, dude, for anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on yourself, kind of your background, how you got started and what that looks like for you? Absolutely. So I am your, I'm an artist first and foremost. Like many filmmakers, we just want to create amazing art and get paid to do it. And there's a hunger that most filmmakers have where they're willing to work very hard to make art, to make videos for people that are artistic. So I've been an artist first and foremost and that's always been the motivation. But the problem with being an artist, just like the starving artist mentality, is if you put your art in the forefront and you never focus on business, you're going to be hungry and you're going to starve while you do your art. So I've been struggling to build my business for many years focusing on just making beautiful videos. Right. And, and your stuff's beautiful, dude. Like I can, I mean, you've worked with some big brands and some big people and you've created awesome stuff, which I think is sometimes a fallacy people fall into, like, oh, if my work gets better, I'm gonna make more money, you know. Yeah, it's, you know, it's, it's just one of those things that just because you're making beautiful work and you have a crazy portfolio, I mean there's levels to how much you're, if you're doing good. I live in California. Very expensive to live here. So the barrier of survival is not 100 GS is not what it used to be. You can't barely survive off 100 GS. So yeah, it's, you know, I've been, I've been creating videos for years and I, I love it. But coming into master filmmaker was because I needed a system to break beyond the traditional filmmaking kind of role. Where there's a dp, there's people who are camera operators, there's a director you find your niche with, working with agencies that give you a cut. But the amount of work you do for the amount of money, even if it's a lot of money, it's not worth it sometimes. Yeah. How did you find us in the first place? I found you guys from ads. I've seen you for years. Okay. And it was one of those things that always sparked my interest because I'm not just I'm an artist, but I'm also a business minded individual. I like metrics, I like numbers, I like running a business. I've ran multiple businesses in the past. I had a clothing company company for 10 years. So I understand business and I understand money, but I've always tried to find a way to make art for money because working just for money is a, a waste of your life because it's a man made paper, but we need it. And if you understand as artists you need resources to make your art, even if you want to make a, a short film or something, you're going to need to have at least 20,000 as a budget to do something respectable. You need resources to create art. So if you don't ever put thought into resources, you're never going to make really great art. I mean, you still can, but it's easier when you have resources. Well, it's kind of like the, you know, the person trying to make a short film working a full time corporate job. It's like, wouldn't you rather get retainers with businesses? Which I know is not always the most sexy thing in the world. At least be doing content and creating content within your industry and then take that money and put it into passion projects from there rather than working a full time job and like having to do it on the side, you know what I mean? We get some people who are just like, oh, I don't want to do content for businesses. It's like, yeah, but I know that may not be the end goal for everybody, but you can take that money and do what you really want to do with it at the end of the day. Well, the funny thing is even in, in the commercial filmmaking game, most of those people, people pay their bills with interviews. I've done interviews with like the Heart association and there I almost fell asleep on set. Like this isn't sexy anyway unless you're shooting movies all the time. And I know guys who are DPs that are like super amazing DPs like making cinematic masterpieces. They're on set for 30 days doing a feature, but the amount of money they truly make is not much money. That might make, you know, I don't know, 12 to 20 grand to be the DP of this 30 day project. And it sucked the whole month out of their life. Now that's a pretty fun situation making a movie, but it's just still not that much money, you know, when it comes down to it. Yeah, 100 I guess. Like, why did you decide to go with us over maybe some of the other programs out there? Because obviously there's other people, other programs. I just annoyed you enough and you're were like, fine, I'll do it pretty much. I mean what, what, what grabbed my attention is, is testimonials like this where I saw other people who had found success and I honestly looked at their work. I researched them right after and I was like, these guys are doing stuff that isn't even close to mine. Why am I not selling a bunch of stuff? I'm. And that's a key thing to learn about the most talented people. Person doesn't always get the most money. And it's about who's the best salesperson, who can market the best, who can get in front of the most people. And then obviously you need to have a good product at the end of the day too. But absolutely just having a lot of people have that fallacy where it's like, well, if I have a good enough product, I'm going to make money and people are just going to come to me. Which is not necessarily the case. No, it's it's just it, it happens sometimes, you know, if you have a strong portfolio, the work will come to you, you know. But I'd say usually that's only happens when you're at the top of the game and you're doing stuff. Also, why leave it up to chance too? It's like, that's great. If that comes in, that can be icing on the cake. But why not build a system that can bring you that predictably at the end of the day, you know? Yeah, yeah, it's exactly. I, I was not getting enough leads and people to my website. I had built a website, I had SEO. I optimized for SEO. And that's a very long term game. Praying that people would come in my door and say, hey, I'm curious about doing a brand video or doing this. And then I had agencies that I was working with that would funnel me a lot of work. But those are the people that get all the money. So they'll have, they have you do all the creative work and actually make the product a reality, but they're charging triple, giving you a small piece of the pie and then you're the one that's the talent that's actually creating it. So it's just a matter of you're hiring editors now. So it's like that's, that was you before, right? You're hiring editors for your team. It's like you were an editor for someone else's team which like you can kind of, it's kind of full circle now, which is funny, you know. Yeah. The most, the biggest paid people are the salespeople who are closing the deals and you know, business owner, the person who owns the system, the person who owns the business. Yeah. And at the end of the day too, it's like I didn't want to be the 90 year old DP on set. Like was, I bet, was I the best DP in the world? Absolutely not. But like I saw that path and I was like, I don't want to be 90 years old or 85 years old or 70 years old or whatever and still be going on these 30 day projects and like working my ass off and not having any time free to. I think that's the other side of it too. You know. My light bulb went off when I saw my heroes. The heroes, the guys that I'm like, that's like me like three years in the future and I'm seeing them struggle making money. And I thought to myself, if that's me three years in the Future and I'm struggling already. I was like, these are my heroes. These are the guys that I look up to. I said, I've maybe don't want to be what, where my hero is. I want to kind of be smarter than, than those people. Yeah, yeah. So I, I, yeah, that made me jump in with y' all and at least check it out and have a conversation and see what, you know, what is this, man? I, I also have always wanted to run ads myself. I've always had the itch to like, yeah, like explore it. Even if it didn't work. I always wanted to be like, let me see what it's like to, to sell a product on the Internet where I have an offer that leads to a page. So your guys system obviously was all about that. Building a system of bringing in someone to at least have a conversation and then walking me, helping me close these deals and, and get, get jobs that I set the price for and I set all the parameters, you know, for sure. Was there anything throughout the program? Because obviously you're still going through it. But like that was super helpful for you. Like what did you kind of get the most value from within the program? I would just say that this is not easy. It is not easy to do this. And you guys, the coaching is probably the reason why I didn't fall off and give up. You know, I've tried to do this before where I just go on YouTube and learn how to create a funnel. It's just the hard part is that you hit these roadblocks and you guys made it very easy to get a question answered with your coaching teams. So if you have a question, you know, there's always a resource there to help answer the question and keep the steps moving forward that way to get you one step closer. Because as you remember, I did not find success out the gate. Right. They start with the program and they start closing deals. For me, I did not close a deal for months and months. And I think it's because everyone has, at the end of the day, everyone has their own journey too, you know, and obviously, obviously you're rocking and rolling 183k now. But yeah, I mean sometimes it does take, you know, a couple months to find your footing and figure out like, hey, what's working, what's not working. Yeah. And it does take also I also had that, I had a full time job job. So I was just basically any spare time I had, I was trying to put it in the system, but I didn't have all the time in the world because I had a legitimate. I was the head of marketing of a large multimillion dollar company. Yep. And they needed me to execute like I'm the graphic artist for their whole brand. Doing billboards, doing all types of packaging. Yep. And it was one of those things that I just, I, I, you know, I couldn't grow as fast. Balancing your time. Yeah. And sometimes it does that. You got to replace that and then, and then you can finally leave, I guess. How did it feel to leave the job finally and kind of be done with it? I mean. Felt amazing. I'm the type of guy that never has liked how to a boss. I. You sound like me, dude. I can't stand it. I think I, yeah, I think I'd rather die than. I think I have a problem with authority myself too. I'm like, I, I just don't like doing things that aren't in align with my, you know, I'm working for someone else's dream and I feel like I'm wasting my time on earth. Like even if you're building your own business, you're, you're trying to build your own thing that you're is your own creation. Something about building someone else's creation. Some people are fine with it. Me, I've always, I feel like it's a waste of my life, you know, that's how I felt too. Cause I had a couple normal jobs, nothing crazy. I was like server to country club. I worked in a media department for a little while like earlier on and like, yeah, it does feel like it's like why am I doing this stuff? Like what is the, what's the point? You know? So I definitely resonate with that too. Kind of a weird question, but I guess like where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't taken the leap, taken the jump and kind of dove into the program? Well, I had a plan because I really hated this job and I was going to quit regardless. But I would have been scrambling to just get as many gigs as I can and I could have. I have plenty of opportunities. So many people hit me up to edit for them, film for them. I could have filled my schedule with these random gigs. But my vision is much farther. It's about building my own brand and my own channels and sharing my love for creating videos and, and why, how they can help build whatever business you want. So if you, you know, we live in a time where videos are such a dominant way to communicate. I love the communication channel of video. And like I said, my Vision is much bigger than even just launching a brand and making other people's content. It's about. So to answer your question, I would have been just scrambling to scrape by. But the hard part about that is that it's a, it's a never ending cycle. You have to just keep getting gigs, keep getting gigs and then the people who are getting paid the most are the ones giving you the gigs. You're getting a couple GS per project. But like I said, it just doesn't add up to give you any extra time, you know, where I need a certain tier to survive and, and to pay my bills, I would be working nonstop, you know, and it, it, you know, the deal with filmmakers, we buy so much damn gear, I would end up just buying so much gear. It's just like an addiction where I work to pay for gear and the cycle. I think Ryan puts one of our clients, Ryan put something in the group. He's like gear buyers anonymous or something like that. And it's like, like, what did you buy today? We all got gear acquisition syndrome. Because it's cool, man, it's super. It is cool. It's like, oh, this cool new piece and like I love it too. But it's, I always like in some of my, my content I'll talk about like, don't buy gear because it's not, it's not going to get you more clients. But like, you know, I get it. Everyone has that itch they want to scratch. But it's like get the clients first and then buy the gear with the clients payments that are coming in, you know. Well. And also what, what I, what my goal is and what other filmmakers might get from this is that, you know, my goal is to create margin in my schedule so I can do creative work. Because I love making videos. Most of the of us grabbed a camera, not so we could just do corporate videos and pay our bills. Right. But I never had time to create because I was working so many hours with all these jobs for other people. So the point of, of creating these higher paying situations with retainers is that you can literally, you have margin to now create your fun project and you have finances to hire people and you have time to be creative. You can't be creative when you're busy. You have to be bored. Like to be creative at the end of the day you have to have that dead space where you can just sit and just think about what you want. Yeah, just play around. So that's one beautiful thing about the situation of the system. You guys have built is that it gives you an ability to have stability because you're creating retainers. And then also a system to get new clients because people are always falling off potentially. But it's just, it's just an incredible system to kind of break away from the rat race of the typical filmmaking. Like, like, you know, the path for filmmakers. I love it, man. Last question, I guess if anybody's maybe on the fence about just booking a call and speaking with us, what advice would you, you give them? Coming from your perspective, I would tell them this. You know, first and foremost, your guys service is not cheap, but it is worth every penny. And if you, there's that saying by Einstein. It's like, if you want, if you want to change, you need to change, right? You can't get a different result from doing the same thing. Your guys, if you're, if anybody has ever wanted to kind of try a different path to get clients, your system works. And you guys walk hand in hand with people who have no idea what they're getting into. So if you don't want to do it, I'm telling you, like, like I said, it completely changed the entire trajectory of my mindset of business and how to market a video gig because I was always doing the same thing. Reaching out to people, agencies, getting these gigs. And it's just if you're on the fence and you don't want to book a call, it's just a little bit of time to figure it out. But once again, it isn't easy. But if you put in the work, you can be successful. And you had a great quote that I really like. It was, it was like you said at some point you say, how can you make this. It's not how can you make this work? Right? How can you make this work for me? So it's not will it work? It's how can I make it work. Yeah, it's kind of like it's going to the gym and being like, oh, will this diet meal plan and exercise plan work for me? It's like, well, of course it's gonna, it works for people, right? So it can work for you. It's how can I make this work? And that's the mindset you have to have coming in is like, how can I make this work for me? Because if you don't want something to work, you can make anything not work. Of course. And when you said that, it clicked because it's like, look, this system works for you. It's worked for many others. It may be very uncomfortable for me to do some of this stuff where I'm like, I don't know if I want to do that. Well, just how do you make it work for you? And you have to follow the formula, and that is, once again, hard to do. But it's no different than a diet plan. It will work 100% if you put in the work, you know, if you put in the time to follow the steps, 100%. Well, Scott, I appreciate your time, man. I can't wait to see where you are in a couple months from now. And appreciate your time, dude. Absolutely. Thank you, my man. Yes, sir.