Do you say “No” to projects? Getting very clear on who you are and what you do and being comfortable saying “No” to opportunities can step up your game in the business and make you really successful. Chill out and listen to this episode!
Episode Transcription
Den Lennie (1s):
G’day guys! Den here in episode 175 this week’s shorty on Tuesday, April 20th. I want to chat a bit today about opportunities and how there are always many opportunities to pursue in your video business. And I think a common mistake that can be made by all of us, myself included is just saying yes to everything, which is a hangover from the days of being freelance, where, you know, it was a culture of if he did, if he said no to the client, they would not call you again.
Den Lennie (41s):
And of course that is a valid as a freelance. But saying yes to everything is a business owner can be actually detrimental to the business. And Steve jobs famously said, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s more important to say no to great ideas than it is to say yes to everything. And this comes down to the whole motion of staying in your lane and being very focused on who you serve, how you serve them. And we had a discussion this morning on our call with the VBA. Masterminders about this very thing. And you know, the thing is oftentimes, you know, running the business is really hard and it’s very easy to make mistakes.
Den Lennie (1m 28s):
And in fact, it, its it’s a kin to walking in to the nice every day. You know, if you take the wrong step, you can put a hole through the ice and be up to your neck and water. And so there’s, there’s a kind of analogy or phrase that goes something on the lines of this, you know, as a business owner or entrepreneur, someone who is willing to risk the unknown to build something that will return a yield later on, he has to have an in built optimism that believes you can’t fail. You know, I have it. It’s like it’s of course I can’t fail, but equal in measure like a Seesaw or on the other side of that is I’m only ever one bad decision away from disaster.
Den Lennie (2m 12s):
And so it, it creates this kind of realism that says, I’ve got to protect downside. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if this and that happens? And then this happens, what, what is this? This is what are the consequences of that? So I like to always be very cautious about opportunities at you. You can’t possibly serve everyone in every market. So I really recommend you don’t even try. And what I have observed is problems that occur in Business. When we say yes to an opportunity based on it being lucrative, our thinking, all we can just, we can slide the SIM and then something goes that was unexpected.
Den Lennie (3m 2s):
And that is that kind of thing that can trip us up that thin ice we can stand up. And it’s really important to ensure that you’ve got real clarity around who you are, what you do and who you do at For, because if you keep doing work for everyone, you will trip up at some point and, and UN all your burnout because you just chasing too many opportunities. And the more you focus on staying in your lane and being clear about who you work with, what problem you solve for them, and the fact that you are an expert in this field, I guarantee not right. How do you enjoy it more?
Den Lennie (3m 42s):
But you’ll end up with great clients who, with the respect for you, because as you stay in that lane. And so I want you to think about that today. You know, are you chasing too many opportunities? Do you have projects that are on your radar? I just know that are problematic. That are not the most fun. That are a bit of a, you kind of drag, you know, when you think, Oh my God, I’ve got to deal with this client today. And, and if you have, and then I want you to ask a deeper question, which is what was the motivation for taking that work? Where are the totally aligned to your purpose of helping a specific target market achieve a specific result with your unique offer?
Den Lennie (4m 24s):
Because that, that is what it is critical. And it’s probably one of the hardest things to do in business. And every, every ounce of your ego and body we’ll be like, no, no, no, no, we can, we can do all of these different things. So let’s do them, but true, true business success, I believe is his instinct very focused on one thing and to reference Steve jobs again, you know, as we get to today’s the day that Apple are announcing the, the, the April event, well, it started probably tomorrow, but by the time it gets here in Australia, but you know, that Apple’s philosophy is I always like to stick to their Lane’s to stick to one thing, to say to Steve focused on the core core philosophies, and then, you know, without getting into the shoes and froze up for, you know, Apple and professional services and all that kind of thing, you know, the fact is they they’re, they are known for one thing.
Den Lennie (5m 15s):
You know, it’s very simple, the right products that, that are easy to use that interface with us in a way that no other products he needs to be able to do. And so, you know, Getting very clear on who you are and what you do and being comfortable saying no. And I think that is probably the biggest challenge that, that we face because in spite of all of us are, are, are the little people who are freelancers growing up. If I say no to this client, they may not be with me again. And when I see the little people, I mean, like as in, you know, the, the, the quiet past and inside that little voice in your head, that goes, Oh, if I say no to this, I might miss out on something.
Den Lennie (5m 58s):
And it’s something that I have to continually deal with and struggle with it. It becomes easier because I know they have a very clear focus on what I do and what I do. And I say no to a lot of opportunities. And, and the thing is that the key to seeing now is to see more quickly and politely and say, look, that’s not what we do, but I can recommend someone else. And we have, we’ve had a couple of clients recently who, who have taken this on and really embraced it. And so, you know, they don’t do work under five K and, and if, when it comes in and of that, they say, well, we actually don’t do it to work on those kinds of projects, but I can hand it over to someone over there to rely on, and they’re hunting it down to their freelancers who are really happy to get the work, but then feel, or a stronger bond to that production company.
Den Lennie (6m 45s):
And as a result of that is that, you know, these guys are not doing the smaller projects, but what is happening is the clients are coming back and saying, well, all right, I didn’t realize that well, okay, I’ll, I’ll bear you the mind. Can we have a bigger project? And then cutting back to them a couple of months later saying what we got a 20 grand projects that we wouldn’t handle it to one of these freelancers, can you do that for us? So it’s all about, and, and, and authority positioning, and a premier positioning. You want to be the premier choice for your market. You don’t need to do the most work. You know, I just need to be known for doing the best work and the most appropriate work for that market. And I have a number of clients who are in this position where they just get offered the higher quality work, because they are very close in every part of their marketing.
Den Lennie (7m 35s):
They live, breathe, and, and, and exude expertise in that particular area. And this time would be something that can be very challenging and it doesn’t happen quickly. You know, for some of these clients of mine, we’ve been working in this for a year, but we’re in business for a long time. And, and, you know, I was just thinking the other day, and I was 50 this year, which, you know, to someone who is 20 seems old, but I think about Prince Phillip, who, the Duke of Edinburgh, he just died. He was 99, which means I’m only halfway through. And so there’s, there’s plenty of time. So make sure you, you work with the right people, make sure you enjoy. So the work that you do and, and get, you know, invest some time in thinking about how do you want to work with, and, and invest some time in yourself and, and some, some money in yourself.
Den Lennie (8m 25s):
And, you know, I I’ve mentioned this before, but, you know, we, we, we, we saw a readily buy equipment, but do you invest in yourself? You know, meditate spent some time, you know, taking some time out. And, and, and what I found is that, that the more you take time, right. To think about what you really want, the less you have to do to generate the income, to fulfill the, you know, the practical side of life. Yeah. And, you know, if you want some help with that, that’s what we do in the VBA. And I’m excited to say that we’ve got a new website coming online and the next week or two, we’re just finalizing a few things to do in a few tests, but I’m really excited to share that with you, because for the first time ever, we’re really going to show our breadth and depth of knowledge and experience.
Den Lennie (9m 12s):
And we’ve worked with an amazing copywriter. Who’s articulated what we do beautifully. In fact, hopefully I can twist Jamie to her arms, come on the podcast and share the power of great words. And yeah, the guys who have an awesome day, and I’ve got a really cool podcast on Thursday with Ryan, Koral from the studio Sherpas At Ryan. And I finally got on a call together and he’s going to share his story and also share the fact that, you know, we are, can you argue, did he say competing brands, but we have a really abundant attitude towards helping filmmakers succeed worldwide. And we, we love working together to help more people. So look out for that on Thursday, I will catch you then.
Den Lennie (9m 55s):
Yeah. And you’ve been listening to the how to scale of Video business podcasts with me, your host, Den Lennie. If you are a video business owner and he hit a ceiling, we’ve been at it from mentorship to support and coaching and check it out, how you can work with me over at denlennie.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and rate the shore over on iTunes. And we 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 that 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 in groups that you might be in. So thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.
