How Robert, Zac, & Cole Closed $36K In 3 Weeks - Master Filmmaker Review

What's going on, guys? I'm here with Robert from ZC Productions who just closed a 36k deal.

Robert, how are you? I'm doing really well today.

I love it. I love it. For anybody who doesn't know you, do you mind give us, giving us just a little bit of backstory on kind of you, your production company, how you found us, some things like that?

Sure. We're actually three owners. So Zach, Cole and myself partnered just after the pandemic. We each had separate production companies and then we combined them and. And so we've been kind of like bootstrapping ourselves along. But this year we really wanted to push the gas pedal, you know, and do some exponential growth. So I originally was working a full time job out at Oak ridge at the Y12 National Security Facility. But what happened was just by bootstrapping.

We were able to gain enough traction that I could quit. Quit my job and come to work at this full time. When I got here, I was really nervous about, you know, it being able to support my full time salary. So I was putting a lot of pressure on the guys. We've got to exponentially grow this.

And so Zach had been receiving your ads for the Master Filmmaker Program.

Sorry about that. It just.

Too much.

Yeah.

He got in the Drip campaign and he was like, I get these all the time. We should check it out. And I'll be honest, we were super skeptical. You know, it was, it was a very, very difficult decision for us and it kept us up many late nights.

I'm just some guy on the Internet. You don't know me. Right. We'll call Spade a spade.

Right. And you know, your, your campaign is aggressive, which, you know, triggered some scam alarms for us. We were like. But eventually we, we rolled the dice and we said go. And almost instantly the phone started ringing and we, we can't even keep up. Like, I think I sent nine quotes last week.

Wow.

What's the most you sent in a week before that?

Oh, gosh. Like if we sent a quote a month, that was pretty good. And to do nine in a week was, was really nice. That's crazy. And so I've got, you know, the 30, $36,000 deal that we closed yesterday, but I've got 65, 66 more in the pipeline.

Nice.

Just since we started this program.

That's awesome.

So, yeah, we're, we're really enjoying our lives right now.

I was going to say.

Yeah.

And to be honest, it really wasn't. You know, the tech stack is amazing and it's complicated, it's frustrating. It's all of the things tech is. Right. But in truth, the real value in our membership in this program has been in our attitude shift.

Yeah.

If we had to spend this much money to get in the program, we, by God, we're going to take it seriously.

Yeah.

And, you know, so we, we committed and we said, okay, we are 150% in. And we basically were doing 15 hour days and, you know, just getting the tech stack set up and getting our, our workflows in place. And.

And you've only been in the program, I want to clarify too, for three weeks, right?

Yeah, three weeks.

Okay.

So. And really only two, because that first week was just half a week.

So, yeah, I got you.

And so, yeah, this, you know, but in that two weeks, we've been able to create our offers. That's a problem that we've had in the past.

Yeah.

We've developed a language that we can use to speak to our clients differently, and that has been worth gold right there.

And when you say a language, what do you mean? Like, specifically? Like, like how to speak with them around results. Like, what does that kind of look like for you guys?

Yeah, exactly. I can give you an example of a conversation I had yesterday. This guy calls, he's an executive coach, and he's about to run an event, and he called for a recap video. That's all he wanted. Right. And so, because my mind shift over the last three weeks is, is, you know, so profound, I backed him all the way back to the beginning. And I said, whoa, wait a minute. You probably want to promote the event to get more people in it. Right. And so then I started asking him questions about, well, how much does a ticket cost for your event?

Like, you're asking real business problem questions as opposed to, like, sure, I'll make this recap for you. And then you're just like, you know, you're back into, like, order taker, mod. I love that.

Exactly. So, you know, I go back to the beginning and I start talking about, you know, how much money this video is going to cost versus how much money can we generate for you. So then I'm asking him questions about the lifetime value of a client and all of these things. And then we get, you know, past the promo video of filling up his event. But then what does he want afterwards? He wants people to join his coaching program. That's where the real money for him is, Right?

Yep.

And so I said, you know, a recap video will be great to thank your attendees for coming and give them some, you know, some memories and things like that. However, we could also create a series of videos for a sequence following the. The conference to help you get more memberships in your coaching program. And this is where. And this is where his brain just kind of exploded and he said, oh, my gosh, you know, I hadn't thought through all of those business decisions. And so now I'm not a video producer, I'm a business consult.

I love when people say that because we've been doing this for like seven, eight years and we see a lot of video agencies kind of transition from like creating a video to now I'm solving real problems. And businesses are willing to pay you on retainer when you solve real problems.

Right.

And I think even with, like, a lot of people are scared about, like, AI and things like that. And like, if, if all you're doing is creating beautiful work, you're. You're gonna get replaced by something as opposed to when you solve real problems, like, you're not going to get replaced because they need someone who can actually consult them on how to solve a problem with content, you know?

Yeah. With the technology changing, I get this a lot from my friends. They say, oh my gosh, aren't you afraid that AI is just going to run you out of business? And the truth is, AI is so bloody complex, no one really has the time and the energy to figure out how to implement it into their lives. And they're reaching out to people like us who have already done that work and begging for help.

Yep.

And so again, we're, we're back in the consultation mode and we're helping them increase their revenue, increase their efficiency, and that makes us valuable. And, you know, I don't think that we will have a problem in this new AI future at all.

I don't think so. If anything, you might use it to speed up some of your workflows and we'll talk about that as well. But, like, speeding things up, cutting your costs, making it more profitable for you to be able to do things with clients, which is absolutely huge. And I guess, like, what was kind of the main problem you guys had prior to joining? Was it more so, like you didn't have that mindset or what? What specifically do you feel like was holding you guys back?

Well, it's funny, me and the guys were just talking about an hour ago on that very subject, and we had all of the things that you have said in your videos. We had had those conversations already.

Yep.

What we were missing was the organization, primarily. So how do we put it in an organized way that makes sense to our potential customers? But then we were also missing a significant amount of confidence in ourselves. And so this program has given us not only an organized way to put our program together and our workflows together, but it's also given us a significant amount of confidence to go out there and say it's $7,000 and it's worth it.

Yep. Absolutely. I love it. And I know you said you obviously had some skepticism and things coming into it, which is totally normal. I guess what ended up being the decision, like, the deciding factor for you guys to be like, hey, let's pull the trigger. Let's do this.

My salary.

Cool.

Yeah. You know, I. I was used to making six figures, and so I. I agreed to do this for three months at less than six figures.

Yep.

But I said by the end of the year, I need to be back where I was.

Yep.

Otherwise, I'm going to jump ship and go back and make six figures again.

Sure. So you needed the business to obviously, like, take off and get more deals under. Under wraps so you could do that.

Yeah. So that was one of our pressure points. Our other pressure point was that we were at that tipping point in terms of the amount of business we were able to get under our old system that we were getting too much business to do it the way we were doing it. So we had to move into an office, we had to hire an employee. I mean, so these things had to happen because we just couldn't do it on our own anymore. So we were at that tipping point where we either had to do it or not. You know, we either need to get smaller or we need to get bigger, but we couldn't stay at that line that we were at any longer for sure.

And was there anything that you saw from us that was particularly kind of helpful in. In helping you guys, obviously, make sure we're not a scam or, like, anything on that. Was it case studies? Was there anything you guys went through that helped you kind of feel that? I guess I don't.

So I think ultimately the. The conversations that we had most often were that all the things you were saying in these videos and all the things that we were hearing in the testimonials, those are conversations we've had.

Yeah.

Over and over and over again. And so ultimately we had this moment where we said, the guy is speaking our language. There clearly is nobody else on the planet who understands us as well as this guy, because we've been out There looking for a long time, you understand exactly what our business is and how to move this business forward. And. And you were demonstrating that not only in the content, the free content that you were giving out, but in the testimonials as well. And I was like, we've done the best we can do with what we've got. Yeah, we have got to have somebody take us over this hump that we're on, for sure. And so, so we, we took the leap of faith. And on that subject, I have a funny story.

Tell me.

Yeah, so yesterday I went to a networking event for the Chamber of Commerce in Knoxville. And the. It was a ribbon cutting event, but in this case, it was unique because the guy who owned the business had been in the business for 40 years and he had sold it, but it was actually a ribbon cutting for the new owners and a farewell for the guy who was retiring. And so he gets up on stage and he gets really emotional and so emotional he can't really talk anymore. And his wife comes up to rescue him. And the executive director of the chamber asked her what was the most important lesson that you guys learned in 40 years of business? And then she choked up. And she said, sometimes you have to do the really scary thing. And that hit me like a brick. And when I got back, I told the guys this story and I said, we're in the scary thing right now. This is our scary thing.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, and I talked about this. I actually had a YouTube live a couple hours ago. We were just talking about this as well. And I think it's. You kind of have these different growth spurts within the company, and every time you have to risk something to get to the next level. Right. Whether it's money, time, and it's scary, and I'm. I still keep going through that, but it's like, it's easy to kind of stay where you're at and be like, I'm good. This is good enough for me for now. But it's like, it's hard to be like, you know what? I'm going to take the leap. I'm going to bet on myself, because that's what you guys are doing. And I'm going to put myself in the uncomfortable position, which is not going to be very fun, but I'm going to get growth out of it. Right. And there's no world where you can kind of grow your business and not also risk something and be uncomfortable to grow. And I think you guys are a walking example of that, you know, and it's paid off.

Yeah. And, you know, the risk for me is significantly different than for Zach and Cole. Zach and Cole are 25 years old.

Yep.

And so when I made the decision to quit my job, I, you know, had this heart to heart moment with them. And I said, hey, guys, you know, if this fails, if we screw this up, you're going to go move in with your parents and you'll rebuild and you'll be okay. I'm 56 years old. I don't get a do over. So if this fails, I go live under the bridge.

Yeah.

So the stakes for me are really, really high. And, you know, I'm just super blessed to be in business with two people that I trust this much. They're the hardest working people I've ever known in my life. They're the most honest and sincere people I've ever known in my life. And so I basically looked them in the eye and said, okay, I'm making a leap of faith. Did not realize that just weeks later I would make another one by joining this program.

I love it. I love it. And last question. We'll wrap up here and I'll let you guys get back to closing deals. I guess if anyone is in the same situation that you were before you joined. Right. They're on the fence. They're nervous about taking a risk. And whether that's with us or somebody else, it doesn't matter. Like, what advice would you give them? Kind of being on the other side of that now.

Yeah. I've been thinking about this a lot, actually, and I, you know, the traditional answer is just do it.

Yeah, I want the answer.

I'm not going to tell you that. I'm going to tell you that all of your spidey senses that are telling you to be cautious are legit. Listen to them and then do it anyway.

Yeah, well. And I think, like, the spidey senses, like you said, are there for a reason to protect you. But also, like you said, you have to just make a leap on something, whether that's betting on yourself in any way in the business. You have to take some sort of risk to get to that next level.

Right.

You have to risk something. So you guys are a walking example of coming in, doing the work. And again, it's not a magic pill. You have to do the work. You have to come in here, you got to roll up your sleeves, you have to follow directions, and you have to do what is actually necessary to get to that next level, too, which is a huge, huge part of it.

But it's already paid off three weeks in. We've already paid for the program, so I love it.

I love it. Well, and that's literally just the beginning. So we'll do another one of these. We're at a million a year, 2 million a year, whatever you guys want to get to. I'm very excited for you, and I appreciate your time, Robert.

Hey, thanks for letting me be on here.

Absolutely.