How Mike & Joel Added $118K In Video Deals - Master Filmmaker Review

What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of our clients, Mike, who added 118k to his video business. What's going on, Mike? How are you, man?

How we doing, man? Glad to be here. Thank you.

Absolutely. For anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind just give us a little bit of backstory on, like, you. Your production company, what you guys do?

Sure. So my name is Mike, and I have a business partner, Joel. He is our primary producer, videographer. We came together a year and a half ago to kind of start building the agency. My background is in design, so any. Any still. Any still production is me. Any video production is him. We a small team. We have a team of, like, three or four shooters, editors that, you know, can. That we can delegate to, and one, you know, marketing intern that kind of takes. Takes some of the load off of myself. And we've been. Yeah, so we've been going for just over a year, a year and a half or so.

And, like, since starting the business. Yeah, dude, I wish I had 100k my first year in.

Yeah, yeah. No, so he has a. Joel has an awesome portfolio. You know, I. Mine's half decent. You know what I mean? So it was like, we had that conversation with. Of. Of, like, look, like, we can totally do this. He's got a good client base. So he had, you know, it really just took at the beginning, like, one retainer that was like, okay, can we just. You know, that can be the village. The validation of, like, we can definitely do this. So we got. And we got that very early. And then it was just, you know, we. We've just been grinding since.

I love it, man. What was kind of the biggest problem you had joining, like, prior to joining the program? What was kind of the thing that was holding you guys back?

I would say probably. Probably time management and just dealing with, like. Like, success measurement, too. Like, okay, like, and how that. How that affects time management. So it's like, am I. Are. Is this the right way to be spending our time? Like, and just just having some sort of direction and even just, you know, even just a little bit of direction right from the jump with the program. Like, like, helps, you know, 100.

And I know these were reactivations, which is obviously one of the first things we do with you guys. We still need to get into, like, new business, new things. So, like, I think for anybody watching this, too, like, there is a lot of money in doing reactivations and adding, you know, 118k, right. It's like, There's a lot of money there. But before we even get started with cold traffic or new people coming into the ecosystem. But I guess, like what. I guess, like, was there anything besides the reactivation that you felt like, was particularly helpful within the program that's kind of helped you guys going forward as we're. We're continuing through here?

Well, we, we definitely are the type of people that like, like having a dialogue with you guys. So, you know, we had that or just, just with anybody, you know, we didn't, we didn't want to do this if we weren't going to have, you know, contact with you guys. So I think being able to chat with Ethan every week and I think definitely hopping on the sales calls that. And I. And in trut, it took me, you know, a couple months to even do that, you know, just for sheer, you know, ignorance, I guess. You know what I mean? But finally, you know, every day, just being able to, like, we. If we had a sale one week and it was like there was. There's always. When this. Everybody knows in this business, there's always some crazy nuance that you learn about. So being able to navigate those nuances basically every day just hopping in the sales call, talking to, Talking to Ethan or Evan, whatever it may be. I think, to answer your question, long story long, is definitely the accountability and just, just having a dialogue with everybody. Definite helps us.

Sure. Yeah. I think. And I was. We were saying this offline too, but it's like the little hinges swing those big doors, right? So it's like, I mean, I've helped people do things like close $100,000 deal because they didn't send a proposal. Right. So there's like a million little things you can do that can really make big impacts. It's not always like, hey, we're going to come in and overhaul everything you're doing. Because I think some people get scared about that where it's like, I don't want to change everything. It's these little things we can tweak to start making big improvements down the line.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And to that point, I can actually comment on that too, because, you know, we get, we get caught up in like, okay, you know, there's a system that you give us, and it's like there's. There's so many. There's scripts and there's structures and whatever. And there, you know, it, it. It was just like, incredibly helpful and. But like, taking a step back and saying, dude, these are, these are guidelines. And like, what's helped us. What's helped us be successful so far is. Is just allowing this to guide us. We don't necessarily have to just, like, stop everything we're doing and do this. It's just. And so that little.

And a lot of times, we don't want to do that because you guys already have something that's working. We just want to optimize it to make it even better. I think a lot of times we don't have to overhaul everything, right? So I guess, like, is there anything. Is there. Is there any reason why maybe you chose. Might be a weird question, but, like, is there any reason maybe you chose this program over maybe some of the other programs? Is it just. I was annoying you on Instagram for too long? Like, anything specific that kind of caught your eye?

We did a little bit of research. I. For. For us, it was the testimonies. I mean, that was like this. Like, that was like, okay, you know, looked at almost all of them that were on the page, and the two that stuck out. We still remember. The two that stuck out to us were the gentleman. The gentleman in Maine who, like, he blew up his business, and we were like, okay, well, we're 20 minutes from a major city, so if. Respectfully, if he can. You know, if he can add on, you know, nothing against him, but, I mean, shoot, right? Like, if you can, you know, we're in the Northeast as well, so it's like, if you can add that in Maine, then I mean, what. You know, sky's the limit for us for sure. And then the second one was the gentleman that founded the Coolers. I think he was Teddy. Yeah, yeah, he. I mean, he. He. That was just like. He literally came on. The testimony was like, yeah, I just researched you versus all your competitors, and you guys were the best ones. And so I was like, okay, well, thank you for doing that, because that. That saves us some time for sure.

I appreciate that, dude. And I guess, like, is there. Is there any sort of thing you feel like you. Like, do you feel like you'd be in a different. Might be a word, weird question, but, like, do you feel like you might be in a different position if you hadn't made the jump and, like, joined, right? Because, like, it is a scary thing. It's a big leap. It's investing in yourself. It's investing your business. Like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't maybe taken that jump and, like, taken the leap in the business?

That's a good question. I think we Would just be the.

Not.

I don't want to say lack of direction. Like, we were all over the place because it wasn't like that. But it was more like, okay, we need. We need something. We need some sort of indicator that just. That helps us, gives us a little bit of direction. Even if we don't follow that direction, we know it's there and just. It kind of broadens our perspective. So I don't know what we would have invested in. It would have been something. Maybe it would have been equipment or God knows what. But, you know, there was. We just needed some sort of like, just perspective. And. Yeah, that helped. That helped. The perspective leads to guidance and then direction. And then it was like, okay. And then. And then we look at the numbers and they're actually kind of good. So it's like, okay. Like, you know, it's just. It just. I don't know where we would have been.

You know, I get what you're saying. I mean, I pay for mentors just to have perspective. Half the time it's like, I want to talk to somebody doing 50 million a year, 100 million a year, and be like, what, look at my business. What do you. What am I doing differently? Or what do I need to be doing differently?

I want to know how you sound. I want to know how you look. I want to know what conversations you. What kind of conversations you have and how you navigate them. Like, that's. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, for sure. Last question, man. If there's anybody maybe on the fence about just booking a call and speaking with us, I guess what. What advice would you give them? Knowing what you know on the inside?

Just know. Know your numbers. That's something that, like, man, it took me years, years to give a crap about that stuff. And I think.

Not fun.

No, it's not. You know, but like, one thing that's going to help anybody and if I can say anything at all, is just understanding the business by the numbers. And so if you're going to hop on a call with these guys, it's just like, okay, who am I?

We're going to ask for your number.

Yeah, that. That'll just help. That'll just help right away. And even if it kind of stuns you, because it's definitely like, okay, like, how much did your business make the first time you hear that as, you know, when you're starting out or whatever? Like, that might shock some people, and it definitely didn't shock us, but it was more of like, it's not always.

Fun to look at that if you're not crushing it all the time, it's like, oh, I don't want to know that number. You know, it's like sometimes it's not fun to look at.

For sure. Yeah, but. But it's. It's one of those things where acceptance is the first. The first step.

So it's just denial.

Yeah. Yeah. If you made. If you made $1500 in six months, just. Just write that down and just say, that's my number. And it's. It's got to get bigger or whatever. You know what I mean?

So I started as a server making $5,100 a year. So it's like everyone starts somewhere, and there's no shame in that.

Exactly. Yeah.

It starts there.

That would be my advice. Just know your. Know your numbers and don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of your numbers.

Yeah. 100%, dude. Well, I'm excited to do another one of these when you guys are at a million. We'll keep crushing it from there. And appreciate your time, Mike, Eric, thanks.

Appreciate it.

Absolutely. Sweet, dude.