How to overcome hang-ups over money and success.

Episode Transcription

 

Den Lennie (1s):
Howdy guys, it’s Den here with episode 228 of the, How to Scale a Video Business podcast. And today I want to take a slightly different turn and that’s to hopefully pose a question to you that you may not have an answer to straight away, that I think is important to address. And that is the one around evaluating your own version of success. If the last couple of years have taught us anything during this pandemic when the last 18 months or so, it’s that, you know, we’ve been forced to take a different direction.

Den Lennie (46s):
We’ve been forced to pause. We’ve been forced to, we’ve not been able to do many things for a long time here in Australia, new south Wales just got out of long term. Victoria is Now the harshest slot down conditions anywhere in the world. And we’ve been very fortunate here in Queensland that actually we’ve had very little in the way of lockdown. So I think, you know, that does is has everyone just think about, you know, what does freedom mean? What does success mean? What does joy and you know, what is, what is it you’re working towards?

Den Lennie (1m 29s):
And I think what’s really important to understand is that success isn’t just measured in how much money you make. You know, success in life is not simply commercial success. And I have been going through an interesting journey myself, recently observing people in my network and those who are focused entirely on how much money can we make, because they feel and believe that if they just got more money that will give them more choices in the future. And whilst that is true to some degree, the risk is that you spend all your time walking towards the future.

Den Lennie (2m 14s):
And in the meantime, life is passing you by. And I guess I have a unique perspective here because Sam and I uprooted our lives in 2015 and moved from Essex in the UK to Australia. And so that is an interesting perspective that not everyone has done and not everyone would want to do. And that is okay. But I had that chat with them. I actually had Warren Eagles was over the other day, a friend of mine, who’s a colorist and he lives about an hour away from me here on the sunshine coast. He’s done in Brisbane. And I first met Warren, I think a I probably met him at ABC or NEB, but we 2012, so on that, but he ran class in London or 2014.

Den Lennie (3m 4s):
And at that point, we’d been for a visit and we were like really kind of cities. They’re looking at it by them and I said to him, we’re going to move to Australia. And he’s like, oh yeah, Riley. And then, and he was thrown the other day and he says, you know what? A lot of people will come to me in classes and go, oh, I’d love to live in Australia, but you actually did it. And so it got me thinking about, you know, why did we do that? Why was that such an important thing for us to do? And the truth is I don’t really know, but what I do know is that when I decide to do something, I do it, nothing will get in my way. And I think really it was driven from that sense of wanting to experience life a certain way.

Den Lennie (3m 51s):
And I’m not seeing that, you know, moving to Australia is the, be all and end all for everyone. It’s probably not. But for me, I came here in 1992, backpacked around Australia, fell in love with it just felt a range. Every time I left and was like determined to come back and see it again. And I came back, I think two or three times after that. And every time I got here, I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. Like, I just, how can I make this happen? And it took me like the best part of 20 years to figure that out, but I made it my absolute focus.

Den Lennie (4m 34s):
And so I phoned a week and the first door closed and we didn’t get a visa. And the second door opened up a little bit and it was a complex and expensive process. But six years in, we have a house by the beach. My relationship with Sam has never been better. Our business has never been better. I love working with people I work with and we’ve just put a deposit down on a motorhome. And the reason for that is that we love to travel. We love to explore. And so we wanted to figure out a way to do that. Ongoing. Now what’s really smart is that we’re actually buying it through the business and we’re going to rent it out when we’re not using it.

Den Lennie (5m 17s):
And that’s completely legitimate. I’ve spoken to my accountant about it. And so I guess what I’m trying to see here is that commercial success comes in different forms and in black and white, it’s like, yes, you’ve got to make money. You gotta make profit. I got all of that. That that’s a given, but, but it’s what you do when you reach a certain level of success, which I think really counts. And I wonder if everyone spends time stopping and appreciating how far they’ve come. So I’m thinking about a few people I know who have reached an enormous amount of commercial success, but it’s almost not enough for them. You know, they paid their house off. They’ve got plenty of money in the bank.

Den Lennie (5m 58s):
They’ve got investments, they’ve got investment properties. And yet you still work five, six days a week. And there’s this fear that if they stop that their money tap will get turned off and that there’ll be like suddenly lost. I know people who’ve got millions of dollars worth of investments. And then just not satisfied. They’re not happy. It’s like, they’re not happy unless they get to 10 million, and look, everyone is wired differently. But what I’ve learned in the last four or five years from going on this journey with Sam and coming to Australia, and we had our fair share of marital troubles, you know, it’s not an easy thing to do to move to the other side of the world and leave family behind.

Den Lennie (6m 42s):
And you know, there are lots of challenges there. However, it was something that was important to us that, that we wanted to have a different life. And for us, that meant for us that we perceived that as a better life. We both love to live in the sunshine. I mean, that’s really what it comes down to. We love being surrounded by tropical plants. We love walking on the beach. That was the choice that we made for us, but it’s not for everyone, but everyone is passionate. Success is different. But the point I want to make to you is that you get to choose how you spend your life. You get to choose what you do with it. You get to choose where you want to live, how you want to live.

Den Lennie (7m 25s):
And I’m not saying it’s easy, but you do get to choose. It is a hundred percent down to you. How, how you make those choices and those decisions. So, you know, to me, it’s not just about dollars in the bank that is, of course, you know, let me be clear, you know, not having any money, is horrible, but when you’ve reached a level of commercial success and you’ve got a bit of cash in the bank and you’ve got some investments, you know like it’s making money. It’s actually quite easy. All you have to do is deliver a lot of value for an ideal target market. And if they perceive that value to be high enough, they’ll pay you in principle.

Den Lennie (8m 7s):
That is all there is to it. I think human beings make it more complicated, but I think what, what actually goes on is that we are in many ways shackled by our childhood. And I think sometimes the little Den, the little person inside can, can get in the way, you know, for me, it was my grandmother saying, you know, all, don’t get too big for your boots on. And so I constantly have to be aware of my limiting beliefs. And sometimes I’ll be in a position where we’ve made some money and I spend it, I spend it cause, I kind of want to get rid of it because I sometimes feel like I don’t deserve it. And for many, many, many years, I had this issue around new cars and I, my mom and dad didn’t have a ton of money.

Den Lennie (8m 57s):
My dad doesn’t like 22,000 pounds a year in the UK. It’s about $44,000 as a printer. He brought four children. We never went without, we never stopped. We were never on the bread line, but they were able to bring us up and they bought a house and they paid it off and they worked hard for that. But my dad had this thing where he was like, oh, son, don’t buy a new car. You know, they’re, they’re a waste of money. Cause you know, as soon as you drive off the forecourt, you’ve lost half the money. And I had this really drummed into me that it was an, it was a waste of money to buy a new car, you know, the idea of flying anything, but the economy was insane, you know?

Den Lennie (9m 39s):
And so I had to overcome the limiting belief that I didn’t deserve a new car. And then, you know, we started buying newer cars. We were in England and I really enjoyed them. You know, I had Mercedes for a while. I had a three-series BMW co-pay for a while. We sold that and we bought a land Rover defender, which was great fun. We got rid of that. And we bought a BMW, one series for a while, brand new, and that was amazing. And we leased it. We didn’t, we always leased the cars in the UK. And then I had an Audi Q seven, which had bought from you.

Den Lennie (10m 21s):
And I, you know, I waited like 15, 16 weeks for it. And it was amazing. I loved that car so much. And one of the things that I love about running a business is that you can put your production vehicle through the business. And so you’re, you’re paying for it with pre-tax dollars and you’re getting the benefit of going to work and driving it around. And that to me is a huge benefit and something I really enjoy. And so when we came to Australia, a while we bought, I think, was it a Jeep Cherokee, something to Jeep Cherokee for while. And then we got rid of that. And we bought our VW van, white camper van, a shell.

Den Lennie (11m 1s):
And we converted that into a kind of camper. Van struck, you know, mobile studio. And we went up and down Australia, recording podcasts and stuff. And then we actually sold that cause we bought everything cash in Australia. Cause we didn’t have any, any finance ability when we first arrived and you don’t realize this and you move to a new country, you’ve got no credit rating. So you’ve literally had a lot of difficulties getting a credit card or a loan. So fortunately we had some cash and we’d be paid for a lot of cash. And anyway, we sold the van to recoup some money for the flat, for the host we bought, sorry. And it was at a time when there were a lot of demands. So we didn’t really lose any money on the van.

Den Lennie (11m 41s):
Anyway, I had to buy another car. And by that time I had got some credit rating. So I bought myself a Range Rover Velar, and still for a while, then I was like, oh, it’s a bit flash but fancy. But then I stopped. I stopped in the mirror and I said, hang on a second. You have created an incredible business that delivers enormous value to your clients. And you are only a healthy income from that. Why shouldn’t you enjoy a beautiful car? And every time I drive that car, I feel joy. I absolutely love it. And so you know, why not? It’s something that gives me a lot of joy. It costs me what it costs me every month.

Den Lennie (12m 24s):
It’s part of doing business. I, you know, I have a vehicle to get around and I’m able to very, fortunately, drive around in a beautiful top of the range, ranger of Villa. And I absolutely love it. And I’m getting better at just embracing the fact that I enjoy what I do. I provide a lot of value. I receive remuneration for that. And in return, one of the things I choose to do is drive around in a nice car because why wouldn’t you? The other thing that I’ve done a lot of is fly business class. And typically it’s become something that I’ll just make a prerequisite for. Someone wants to hire me to do something like Sony in Asia. I’ll be like, well, it’s Climeon system business class.

Den Lennie (13m 5s):
And again, my dad would probably be turning in his grave thinking you’re not spending that much money on a flight, are you? But I look at it differently. I look at arriving fresh, being able to perform at my best. And, I’ve even paid for a business class a number of times to fly back to the UK and that’s a considerable amount of money, but every single time has been a joyful occasion. And Sam and I were talking this morning about, you know, what, what, what drives us in our life? You know, what is, what is our version of success? And it’s creating experiences. That is our purpose in terms of celebrating our successes, creating experiences.

Den Lennie (13m 48s):
We have the most incredible life. Our house is rammed full of beautiful plants. We live in a beautiful four-bedroom townhouse, which is more than ample for the two of us. And two little pugs, the gardens look delicious. I have the most incredible cinema setup and stereo setup. These are things that bring me an enormous amount of joy. I can sit for hours on a Saturday watching movies on a hundred-inch screen with a full 7.1 surround sound. I have the most incredible handmade Hi-Fi speakers made by a guy in Melbourne called Osborne, Greg Osborne. Some of them were beautiful, stunning speakers deliver to get.

Den Lennie (14m 30s):
And I sat and I listened to music and I feel so much joy. And those are the fruits of my labor. Those are the things I enjoy. I’ve been going to the gym no for 17, 18 weeks. And I’m loving how that makes me feel. And so I look at my life and I think, well, I get to eat beautiful food. We can eat out when we want. We can order, take you when we want. And it’s not that we can’t be bothered cooking it’s that I don’t I’d much rather somebody else cook for me. We have a cleaner that comes in a Melinda beautiful woman who cleans for us every Friday. She’s a nurse, she’s taking a break from nursing and just doing something else. And we have great chats with her. And she looks after our home and makes the beds and little things like that.

Den Lennie (15m 15s):
That just take some of those tasks out of our daily life. I have this incredible studio. I have an eight K screen on the wall. I have it all pre-lit and surrounded by all the tech I need to deliver this podcast easily. And with the least friction possible, I have incredible studio reference monitors. I have an incredible 4k panel that I use on band Q panel, 32-inch, two people to kind of work and create whatever I need to create photography or video. I’m fortunate. I have incredible clients, including Sony, who I’ve had for 14 years but work is only part of what I do.

Den Lennie (15m 59s):
Part of the freedom comes from really only having to work three, four days a week and choosing to spend time reading or meditating or going out to the beach or riding a bike. These are my triggers. These are things that make me feel joyful. I’m super excited about the camper van, the, you know, the motorhome that’s going to be with us this time next year. So we can literally go away for weeks at a time and explore Australia. So I guess what I wanted to ask you is are you truly living a joyful and fulfilled life? It might be that you have young children.

Den Lennie (16m 39s):
That might be that, you know, you get to drop your kids off at school every day. It might be that you get to leave early on a Friday and spend time with the children. Those are things that money can’t buy, but in a sense, it can, if you’ve got your business running optimally, if you’re systemizing, how you run your business if your business is not relying on you if you have a team who you can hand things over to. And so, you know, first, the first step is to work out. What does success look like to you? And it’s one of the first things we do in the VBA. And it’s something that we do on a regular basis. Like at least once a year is reevaluate the vision board.

Den Lennie (17m 22s):
Re-evaluate what success looks like to you check off things that were on your vision board a year or two years ago, and evaluate, how far have you come on the call last week, I realized that I do a vision board, but once every two years and every single thing on this vision boards bar, I’d say 90% becomes reality. I was joking last week that I have had a chair on my vision board since 2013, that still doesn’t exist. And, but that’s only because we don’t actually have any space for it in the house. I mean, we could fit it in, but it wouldn’t really go with the furniture, but everything else has become reality. And so what happens is when you start this process of creating vision boards, it’s kind of frightening how real they become and how quickly they happen because your subconscious is being stimulated by images of what your future life looks like.

Den Lennie (18m 18s):
And your brain can’t distinguish between reality and what’s in an image. And so if your brain sees, you know, a Tesla every single day on your vision board, then at some point in the next year, you’re gonna end up either in a Tesla full-time or doing a lot of, you know, driving around in a Tesla. That was something that’s on my, my envision board. And the reason I don’t have one yet is only because I’m waiting for the model wine and not in Australia yet, but I could go out tomorrow and trade in my range Rover and pick one up. And we’ve got the 20 kilowatts of solar on the roof so we can charge it for free. So these are things that, you know, bring a lot of joy to me, the fact that we’ve got, you know, financially self-sufficient power brings me a lot of joy.

Den Lennie (19m 2s):
And so I want you to think about your own version of success. Is it something that you have consciously sat down and mapped out? Because if you haven’t, why not? What is it that’s stopping you? Because you might find yourself it’s a very enjoyable and pleasant experience, but B it actually helps you to direct your focus to working on the right things. And I think w w what happens often in businesses, people just like, they just keep going. I want more, more, more, more, more without necessarily having a clear plan of why. And I think more for the sake of more is actually very unfulfilling, but focusing on why you want more and what that’s going to enable you to do, and then be that, you know, expand your team.

Den Lennie (19m 56s):
So you can step back from the day-to-day is awesome. But you’ve got to be really clear on the why and it can be a little bit confronting because sometimes when we, you know, face up to what we really want, it’s hard because you’ve got to really think about it. And I know I’m avoiding it. Just know I’ve got to go into a new vision, but I don’t have to bow. I want to do a new vision board. And part of me is like a bit wider. I won’t be thinking big enough, because I know that if I do this vision board, it will all become reality. So I’d love you to think about, you know, how to evaluate your version of success.

Den Lennie (20m 37s):
And there’s something that I think is incredibly powerful because when you get really clear on what your version of success looked like, everything, you then do becomes a conduit to making it happen. And that is really, really magical. Ask yourself this. Has owning your own video business, been everything you dreamed it would be when you first got started? It might be hard to admit, but think about whether you’re genuinely achieving everything you set out to. When you made that decision to grab the camera and go it alone. Are you really working less? Are you really earning more? And are you really in control?

Den Lennie (21m 19s):
Chances are you’re bloody good at what you do, but you’re having to work like a dog 70 plus hours a week, whether it’s filming, editing, marketing, or any of the other jobs that come with being the big boss of your own video company. When you’re managing projects constantly searching out for new clients and worrying about cash flow, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or make real progress. Let’s face it. That stress is the last thing you need. When you’re trying to run a profitable company that supports you and the people you care about. Truth is a business that provides financial professional and personal freedom really is achievable, but maybe you’ve got that nagging feeling that you’re overworked, lacking stability, and struggling to get to where you really want to be right now.

Den Lennie (22m 1s):
It could be that you just don’t know how to make a positive change on your own. So I created the video business accelerator coaching programs to really supercharge your video business with these unique coaching programs. You’ll learn all the tools you need to get complete confidence in the success of your video business. You can take the first step on your journey to a successful business that doesn’t control your life. Let me show you how head over to denlennie.com and click on accelerator.