Imagine having work booked until the end of 2020.

Episode Transcription

Den Lennie (4s):
G’day guys. It is Tuesday, October the 27th. I’m your host, Den Lennie with this week Shorty of the How to scale a video business podcast. Now on a Tuesday, I generally record these directly after we have finished our weekly coaching call with you two coaching calls a week. The first one goes out at 8:00 AM Brisbane time and covers off from the US and Australian clients. But then we have bands night jumping in from the UK as well. So I want to just share a little bit about what happened on that call, because it was, if it’s the call in the months where we basically go to what’s walking now, you know, what, what is, what is getting your results?

Den Lennie (54s):
And it also, you know, are, are you having problems in your business? And which is, you know, it was usually a marketing issue. You don’t have enough. Clients are, it’s a capacity issue and you have too many clients and a, you know, it, it, it’s a really incredible caller actually, because virtually every one is at capacity.

Everyone is struggling with too much work and, and the ones that are in our, because they just pivoted into a new business or are there, they’re just changing the business slightly. But yeah, So the thing that’s really kind of encouraging, and the reason that I talk about this so much is that, you know, they’re, the guys in the group are getting incredible results and we were breaking down, you know, some of the challenges that we’re experiencing with having too much work.

Den Lennie (1m 38s):
And I just wanted to kind of share that with you or you’re in a position where you got too much work, because if you have, that can be as big a problem as not enough work. And first of all, I’m really proud of my members. You know, my clients, they work incredibly hard, no one in the group has a load, any of the events of the last six months to get in the way. And we have a number of clients are based in Melbourne, Australia who have been an extended secondary lock down, and it’s been tough, but you know what, they’re still gunning the still putting out there and they’re still winning jobs.

There are still preparing for when things open up here tomorrow. And so I’m really proud of them for that. But what became clear on the call to D was, you know, If, if you’re someone who’s really good at what you do, then you have the potential to be extremely busy.

Den Lennie (2m 27s):
And if you’re not, it’s because you’re not clear enough about the problem that you solve for a specific target market. And, and that is the number one reason that my clients are doing so well is that they are getting very focused on solving it type of clients or a target market. And people often get confused with this idea of niching that, that you can only work in one sector.

And it was not the case. What we talk about with niching is the ability to focus on in an ideal market and then pitch your website, copy in your messaging in the right way. You’ve got to identify who you want to do business with, have a compelling offer, and then the systems to deliver that product consistently.

Den Lennie (3m 15s):
And what often happens is that as businesses evolve, they can take on more and more work, but their systems don’t come up with the rear to back it up. And so whenever there’s a problem in the business, it’s usually down to a lack of systems, a lack of process. And, and the good news is, is if you are experiencing a lot of work than you’ve got a bit of money coming in, that money can help pay for additional team members or additional support, be the contractor are full time and building the systems and building the processes because where confusion arises is when we, as creatives are trying to express and the outcome, we want to have achieved to something else and other human being, but we are not able to articulate clearly what we want them to do and what we want in the open to be you.

Den Lennie (4m 3s):
And what often happens is we, we tend to, we tend to, you know, get frustrated that the person who is, we were giving the instructions to it, doesn’t get it, or it doesn’t understand, or doesn’t fully understand. And actually what’s happening is generally speaking is we are not communicating effectively what that outcome needs to be. So there’s a great deal of extreme ownership needs to be taken. And that, and that’s, that is part of the business journey. And it’s, it’s a tough part of that business journey when we learned a lot about ourselves, you know, but yeah, I just wanted to kind of, you know, ask you a question really, which is where are you at in your business? Are you at a point where you don’t have enough work?

Den Lennie (4m 45s):
And why do you think that is? And if your answer to that is, you know, that you rely on word of mouth, then that, that probably explains why you are not able to predict the future. You know, a couple of our clients have got like 17 jobs and the pipeline just know there are 13 jobs are, I’ve got work till the end of the year. And that is not an accident. That is, that is, that is a result of discipline around clearly identifying a target market, fully understanding what that target market’s wants, or needs aspirations, desires, and pinpoints are, and then crafting an offer that gives that target market for what they want.

Den Lennie (5m 26s):
It’s as simple as that, give the client what they want. And, and if that is clearly articulated on your website, and we were using this analogy on the call there, it’s like, you know, when your doing an edit, any one can edit a 30 minute interview down and, and, and, and kind of, you know, make, make a documentary it’s 30 minutes long. And tell us a story in 30 minutes, the person that can take that 30 minutes and tell the story in three minutes, that is the skill. And if you’ve ever had to do that, which I’m sure that you have, that is where the skill comes and the skill comes in in taking stuff out and solidifying the message don’t sauce, or clearly that it’s very, very concise. And you can only do that.

Den Lennie (6m 6s):
You can only do that if you’re clear on who you’re talking to. And a lot of the confusion and business comes from not being clear enough on who you’re talking to and all were thinking, or trying to work out which direction you should go in. And in actual fact, what you need to do is back any thoughts up with data, you look at your numbers, you look at where your business has come from. You’re looking at your profit, not just your turnover. And you look at the kind of work you want to do. And from there, you take the hard data and the desire, and you made that up with a target market. And that is the tri-factor of, of things that have to happen. And for most video production companies, that, that doesn’t happen most because, you know, production companies that have come into contact with who, who are struggling or not getting the predictable income they want is because they don’t have that Trifacta in place.

Den Lennie (6m 60s):
And so if you are sitting, listening to this would be in listening to this for a while, and you think you may or may not be ready for any more support while I’m here to see that, ask yourself this question, or how are you going to achieve your goals? How are you going to achieve your results, trying to figure it out on your own. And so I am doing a special episode that actually on Thursday, have the podcast. I want to break down our name, growth accelerator as, and explain the, the exact process that we run through in the video business accelerator to get the results that we get for our clients. And then I think you’ll find that really, really fascinating. And, you know, often times there can be a little bit of fear, the idea of getting some coaching, getting some coaching, because you may feel that you’ve got to be accountable.

Den Lennie (7m 43s):
And sometimes it’s easier for us to do, to sit comfortably in our space and see what we were, just figure it out for ourselves and look that’s OK. You know, but when I want to do we want you to do his, if you’re sitting there running the business, thinking that I can do with some help, and I do want you to just feel apprehensive or a scared to kinda just reach out and have a chat ’cause, you know, we don’t, we don’t take every one that applies into a program that we were looking for a particular type of business, but I’m certain that if you have to jump on a call with me, we give you some advice, give you some guidance and, and, and you find that very, very beneficial. So if that’s something you’re interested in, please do just reach out on LinkedIn or through the website.

Den Lennie (8m 24s):
And I’ve also some exciting news coming. We actually rebuilding our website of the minute and we’ve got a hold of it and, you know, copywritten. And I seen some of the proofs and it’s blowing me away and I’ll show it to a few of my members and they are really excited about it as well. So can’t wait to share that with you. That’s probably going to be live sometime in December, but that in itself has a great story in that. I’d love to get my copywriter and my web designer on a, on a podcast episodes at some point to share with you that process. But guys, that’s it for me to, they’re going to keep it nice and short and sweet. Please make sure you chill out on Thursday, going to take you through the entire nine growth accelerator process that we use to help businesses double and triple, eh, in this space and to have more time off or with their family.

Den Lennie (9m 5s):
And, you know, if you want to be in a position where you’ve got predictability with what a boot, till the end of the year, then you do not want to miss this episode. And until then, I’ll see you later. You’ve been listening to the how to scale a video business podcasts with me, your host, Den Lennie. If you’re a Video business owner, it’s hit the ceiling and we benefit from a mentorship support and coaching and check out how you can work with me over at denlennie.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and rate the show over on iTunes. And we’d really appreciate your taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don’t forget to share if you feel you’ve gotten value from this episode, and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers, you know, and please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and ingroups that you might be in see you next week.