How Justin Closed A $15K Retainer - Master Filmmaker Review

What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Justin, who actually just closed a 15k video retainer. What's going on, Justin? How are you, man?

I'm good, man. How are you?

I'm doing well. Do you mind just giving us a little bit background on kind of you, your story, how you got into this? Just for anybody who maybe doesn't know you?

Yeah, I've been doing video production for full time for 12 years and it's just been me and I've been busy. I stay. I stay pretty busy overall. But it's. It's a job. I own my job. And the. I never knew a path forward really to honestly never until the last couple of years really wanted to scale. I liked what I do. I feel like I'm a craftsman and I enjoy it. But I'm tied to this job and I really wanted to know how to take it to the next level, how to bring employees on, how to get to a point where there's enough monthly revenue coming in that I can feel confident I can still feed my family and. And yet manage all of that. And it was honestly, I've learned my art, I've learned my craft, but the business side is a whole nother deal different. That is.

It's completely different. Yeah, I mean, I started as a DP too, so I started as a freelance dp. I DP on other agency sets and other stuff like that. And it is a completely different ball game when you are on the other side of that and you want to run a business and actually scale. I guess like what was kind of the biggest problem you had kind of coming into the program or what were some of the kind of the issues you were running into?

Well, I've always run it as a company as my own name. It was my name, it was photography and film. I incorporated this year and that was a big step in. I've always viewed it as a business. I've always viewed it as like a real business. But there's something about promoting your own name versus promoting your corporation, your company. And so that was first. First and foremost was just a mindset shift on that. So coming into the program, the biggest things I'm struggling with or have been struggling with is the sales process and understanding that my primary job as the owner at this time right now is sales, which is not what I want to do. It's not what I'm excited about, but I know that it is the thing that I need to be focusing on. But I don't even really know where to start. I saw the 27 retainer package online that you guys offer downloaded that, got a call from Hakeem right away and talked with him. And it helped me just flesh out in my mind the pieces that I needed even to offer.

Were you mainly doing one offs prior to that, or had you already implemented some retainers?

I have a couple of retainer clients, but they honestly were close personal relationships that we were doing regular work. And then I was just like, why don't we just make this regular? The problem with that was, is that it really varies the type of organizations they are. Their needs are sort of the same every month, but it's different. And I just couldn't figure out how to take that model and like, apply that to other businesses. I didn't like it, number one, because it's so varies. Some months are just feast, some months are fame, and sometimes we're just running like crazy. And so, you know, just even putting together the package was like, oh, okay, so I can categorize this and then market this to a company that was just, you know, as dumb as I feel. Not something I really thought about.

Not dumb at all. No. I mean, you don't think about things until you, like I always say, like, one of the biggest, like, kind of issues people have in business is like, they don't know the questions they should be asking or the problems they should be solving. And like, oftentimes it's not like, if you knew how to solve the problem that gets you to the next level, you would solve it. But a lot of times it just takes that. That other kind of eye looking down at your business and being like, oh, like the biggest issue here is this. We need to change some things and actually make a shift. Which is. Which is absolutely huge, I guess. Like, was there anything? Because we're still. We've just gone through the offer crafting and like, was this a past client that you reactivated or how did this one come about?

It was a. Yeah, it was a testimonial. I went and filmed for another company and he was one of the. One of their reps. And while we were talking, he was like, man, I've got this other thing going. I need some stuff for it. And I'm like, great. I have packages that I've just created.

You know, you have the offer, and.

It'S only have an offer that I can like, you know, so, you know, we back and forth a little bit and then got together for lunch and it was just. It was really, really Easy. And it was, you know, even coming to it from the one off things where you're, you know, you're thinking day rate and hourly rate and it's, it's such a, for, I don't know why it's such a different deal to think about this package. And I'm looking at my packages thinking like this is so much money sometimes, you know, and if I break it down by each piece, it does make sense and it is a fair deal, it's a good deal even compared to the market. But I still had all this self doubt like is this package really, you know, is any business owner going to look at these and say like yeah, I could go for that. And you know, when I, when I was meeting with this guy, he just immediately was like, oh that's great. Like there was no hesitation, there was no. And I'm immediately like, I've got to raise my prices obviously if I'm not getting any pushback then. But nonetheless it was a really good start for me, you know, and I'm just like you said, I'm just barely into this. I've been in for a couple months now and I'm just like in week two still. I mean I'm staying busy with work so I'm like, I'm squeezing it in when I can and I'm you know.

Going at your pace. So what was the mindset behind like, like how, because I've been there too, but maybe talk from your perspective about like what's the mindset from switching from like day rate to an hourly to like project based and like retainer based. Like what was that mindset? Like that changed.

I just, I knew I had to if I was ever going to because there's no way I can hire a contractor and take their hourly rate and then say, say they spend five hours on a project and then I charge the customer my five hour rate because I charge significantly more because I'm really fast and I'm good at what I do and it takes less revisions. So I couldn't ever figure out a way that I could actually have somebody else do my work for me. I was just locked into this job, I guess. Yeah, you know, it was, it was a job I enjoy but I couldn't ever, I didn't know how to bring on contractors or employees until I could figure out how to package it. And then this is the price and.

Then I can switch to results based pricing where it's like, hey, we're, you know, just because we get it done sooner doesn't mean that we should be charging less, because if I can get you a result quicker, you should actually be paying more for that. Because people want to pay. They want to pay for a quick result. If you can get them a result through content quicker, then that's more of a benefit to them.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Which is absolutely huge. I guess, like, kind of a weird question, but, like, where do you think you might have been if you hadn't maybe taken the leap and jumped in the program? Because, like, obviously you're just getting started in it, but, you know, it's also a big leap to bet on yourself, invest in yourself, invest in your company. Like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't done that? And then what are some of the things that kind of, like, pushed you to make a change in the first place?

Yeah, I mean, I've kept my. I fed my family now for over a decade, so I know that I would continue doing it, but it's. It's. There's a lid. I just know there's a lid on my life. There's a lid because of what I know and the way that I think. And so for me, it's breaking past, limiting mindsets. It's thinking bigger, it's doing things differently, and you don't always know how to do that yourself. So if I wasn't in this program, I'd be continuing on, and I think I would still continue to feed my family. But. But I would be. I know my growth would be stunted. I know that I wouldn't be achieving what I'm capable of achieving. I know I wouldn't be hiring and training it and building up another generation under me, sewing into them and bringing them up the way that I could be. So it would be like, It'd be fine. I'd continue doing what I'm doing, but it wouldn't be as good as it could be. And so really, even just this one deal is just. It's just the beginning. I haven't even run any ads yet. I haven't even seen half the stuff.

We said, which is crazy. Why I get so excited about this stuff where it's like, once you fix those offers and you change those, like, the whole world can shift because now you have something that people actually want. And then we pour gasoline on that fire with everything else that we're doing, which is going to be really exciting.

Yeah. So I think the future is. The future is really bright. I mean, for the first time in my life, I mean, revenue Wise, I've been running 15 to 20,000amonth. So it's been like, it's been a sustainable business. It's been fine for a job. But, like, for the first time in my life, I'm like, man, I can see a million dollars a year. I mean, I can see, I can see growth that's like, that was never possible when it's just me and my camera running around, you know, and. And now I see like a future that's like, there's, there's a real business.

Here helping other people. And, and that's, for me, like, as I've built a team too, I think it's really fulfilling to be like, bringing other people up in your company and training them and helping them achieve their goals. Because there's like, it's make yourself rich first, then make your team rich, then make your clients rich. And so when you can pour into other people, it's really, really fulfilling outside of just.

Yeah, I want to tell you too, one other thing that I really, I'm really grateful you spent the time to do these type of case studies testimonials, because that was one of the biggest things for me. There's a ton of people online that are, that are selling things. And, you know, I'm skeptical of everybody because it's really easy to make claims. It's really easy to advertise something. And what I saw in, you know, in seeing your guys, the case studies you guys have put out, it's like it was an overwhelming amount of evidence. And again and again, I'd be like, that's me, that's me. That's me, that's me. I see myself in these people. And you know, you, you guys have done a great job marketing the program, but honestly, I was sold by the people that were in the program that were sharing their story.

We're just a vehicle for you. Yes. That's ultimately what we are at the end of the day is like, we were just a vehicle to help you get where you want to be.

If they can do that, I can do that, you know, and it's like, here we are, we're doing it, you know, and already I think I've done.

Like 75 to 80 of these case studies, and every single time, I love it. I love hearing everybody's stories, like their background, where they're coming from, the challenges they faced and the things that they're going to go through in the future as well. And I think that's, that's super awesome. Last question for you, Justin. I guess if maybe anybody's on the fence about booking a call, speaking with our team, seeing if it might be a fit for them, knowing what, you know, now kind of on the inside, like, what. What advice would you give them?

I'd say definitely take a call with you guys, Talk to. Talk to Hakeem, talk to the guys. You guys are real people. You're. You're genuine, you're honest. You know, I mean, like, yeah, at least chat with you. It's an investment, you know, like, and I know magic pill.

And you got to do the work, and you have to, you know, and.

You still got to overcome all your limiting mindsets. But there's. But there's a plan to do it, and there's, like, a path, and there's like, oh, I can click that, watch that, do that. Oh, it's working, you know, and. And I'm grateful for that. I know that all the information to grow a business is out there in the world, but it's like, how long do you want to take? Do you want to take years learning all this, or do you want to join a program in a few months, like, ramp things to where you want to go? And that was ultimately what did it for me, was just realizing, okay, I can do this quicker and better and without so much headache of figuring it out myself. You guys have done a great job with that, so I appreciate it.

Thank you, Justin. We're going to do another one of these when we're getting everything scaling and rolling even further, and I'm excited for it.