This is a YouTube testimonial interview where Eric Deeran (Master Filmmaker) interviews his client Ben, who closed a $35,000 retainer after joining Eric's program. Ben describes seven years in filmmaking (mostly weddings), transitioning to commercial production, starting his own agency at the beginning of the year, and using the program's $39 funnel product as an entry point. He credits team support (notably Evan) and the accountability of investing for helping him prioritize and close the deal. Ben's advice to others: be ready to work — the program is not magic but provokes action.
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What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of my clients, Ben, who closed his first 35k retainer. What's up, Ben? How are you, man? How does it feel?
It feels great.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Dude, tell me. Tell me a bit. How it. Like, how did it feel when you first closed it? Like, what. What went through your head?
Just finally everything. Finally everything kind of made sense. Yep, just the process. After doing a lot of hard work and. And not necessarily seeing it in the moment, but once everything got together and it finally clicked, it felt good.
Yeah. 100%, dude. And I think, like it. I think I could speak for everyone when I say it. Master filmmaker. We're super proud of you, man. Like, it is. It's always that culmination of, like, a hard period of time, and then everything clicks and then you get it, you know what I mean? Which I freaking love, I guess. For anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind just giving us kind of a little bit of background on you, your story? Just for anybody who doesn't know you?
Yeah, so I've been. I've been in the filmmaking industry for the last seven years, so started commercial production, though, mostly wedding for the last seven, but I started commercial production freelancing a little bit last year and then finally took it seriously and started my own agency beginning of this year and just been. Look, I was looking for a way to kind of develop things, take it to the next levels, you know, have consistent clients, consistent people, always to work with instead of just working from, you know, project to project, hoping to get the next. Get the next meal, essentially. So we. I remember seeing the 39 retainer package and then got connected with you guys and went from there.
I love it, man. I guess what was kind of the biggest problem you had prior to joining the program?
Well, the biggest thing with. With, for me, I would say is just. I just didn't know what to do yet. Didn't really have a niche, didn't really have a specific vision or goal in mind yet, essentially because. Just didn't. Didn't know what to do yet just because of how new the. The business is. So just didn't know what to do essentially. And I think that was. That was a big, big thing of like coming into this program not knowing.
The steps to take to get to where you wanted to get to.
Yeah, essentially. Essentially like knowing kind of what I wanted to do, but not knowing how to get there or how to build it up. Right.
Well, dude, now you got the sick, like, polos and the jackets and the logo. I love it.
Yeah, it's awesome, dude.
Well, I'm super proud of you, like, from where you've started to where you are. And, like, we have so much more to go. Obviously, it's just the beginning, which is huge. I guess, like, kind of a weird question, but, like, why did you maybe decide to go with this program over maybe some of the other programs out there? Was there anything specific? Maybe I was just super annoying on your ads in Instagram every day, so anything.
I'm. I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't really get much. I didn't get many ads for any other programs. A few, maybe. I just. I remember the. The funnel being, you know, $39 for, you know, 39 retainer ideas. And I just, literally just wanted to get in, just wanted to see, like, okay, get a little taste, you know, what's out there, what, what are. Well, you know, what are some options? What are people doing? And that then just kind of the conversation that led from, from getting by the setter and, and all of that just kind of the. It made sense, you know, in a way. It didn't just like, okay, someone's trying to sell something, shove something down your throat. It just. It made sense. You know, there was. We had a. We had a problem, or you could say we had a need, something that we wanted to get to, and the questions were being answered on how to get there.
100%. That's fair enough, I guess. Is there anything that's been particularly helpful throughout the program thus far that you feel like has really helped with, like, maybe closing this deal? Confidence, like, anything within sales pricing? Like, has there been anything that's been super helpful so far?
I think biggest help specifically would probably be Evan. He's always, just always been in the corner, like, giving ideas, you know, do this, try this, you know, maybe try doing this. You know, different ideas, different things to, you know, you have to try things. And then some things will fail. Yep. But then you figure out what succeeds and you go with that specifically. Has been definitely well worth the money.
I love it, man. I love it. And I guess, like, kind of a weird question, but I guess where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't taken the leap? Because obviously it's scary to, like, do something new and like, change the course of action, but, like, I guess where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't done that?
You know, what's funny is that you Know, I was kind of thinking about this a couple days ago, literally that the, the, the. The fact that an investment was made into this, you know, like, money was paid into this, like, hey, I need to make it work. I need to make it happen. I feel like, not to say that I'm not motivated, it's just that you're always busy, you know, stuff will. Stuff will always be thing. And then, because like I said, I've. We've had this office space for a little bit, and we didn't really think about it or even really put it onto our, like, front burner to build the commercial business and, you know, use these avenues until the fact that we started to get into the program. We, you know, talk through about, okay, what's the direction that we want to take this in? And it made us. It made us work. It made us think about it. Yeah, yeah. Instead of just like, hopefully, we. We land some big commercial client, we're here, you know.
Yep.
Because there was that investment kind of.
Like that under your ass and like, hey, let's go. Let's get this done. Yeah. And I've done that myself too, man. Where it's like, you gotta. It sounds super, like, corny and whatever, but it's like the transformations in the transaction. It's like, now that I've invested in something. Yeah, I think you said it perfectly. It's like, I'm gonna make this work, not will this work. And I think a lot of people who don't find success in just any avenue of their life are very much so the passive. Let me sit back and like, will it work for me? Instead of, like, I'm going to do everything in my power to make this work for me.
Yeah.
Which is huge.
Yeah, absolutely. That's. That. That's the biggest thing for us is that I think if we didn't do this specifically for myself, I feel like I would have probably been continuing to be, you know, worrying about the wedding business and worry about this and worry about that. You know, I have other, Other businesses I'm a part of. What specifically? The fact that, you know, you have this investment. You put this time and money aside for this. Now you have to make it a priority.
Yeah, 100%. And last question, dude, and I'll let you get back to closing deals, But I guess if anyone's maybe on the fence about booking a call and just seeing if it's the right fit for them, kind of knowing what, you know, now, I guess, like, what advice would you give them?
I would say twofold I would say, be ready to work. Don't go into it and just expecting to be like, okay, I spent this money, and now it's gonna work for me.
It's magic. Yeah, it's not magic.
Yeah, you gotta. You gotta be able to work. But it's definitely well worth it because it inspires you and it makes you want to grow and expand your business. Not just let it just sit how it is. Whatever it's doing just stagnate in itself. You know, if you're on the fence and you're like, man, I'm just like, I'm ready to maybe, or maybe I'm not. If. Just. Just do it and. And it'll light that fire underneath you that, hey, I'm. I've invested money into this now. Let me put the time and effort into it now, too.
100%. Well, dude, I'm very excited to do another one of these. When you're at a million, we're freaking crushing it. Like, I see it. I see the vision. I'm super pumped for you, dude. I can't. I can't tell you how much, like, everyone at the team is super proud of you. We're just super excited for you, man. So I appreciate your time.
