The Business of Video Production

This episode is the first in an occasional special series I’m doing called The Mentor Series. Where I talk to people who have greatly impacted one part of my life. Whether an expert, coach or mentor.

People who I look up to as leaders in their industry.

And people I’m really grateful to have connected with. Because of what I’ve learned from them. And the positive effect they’ve had on my life and business.

My guest on this is Greg Merrilees. Founder of Studio1 Design. A global design company based in Melbourne, Australia that specialises in creating websites for businesses.

Greg is a master of website design and strategy. There's a real opportunity here for you to learn about some of the gaps you may have in your website strategy, and how to fix them.

Ryanspanger.com

When you think of the words 'video production proposal', what thoughts or feelings come up for you? Do you have positive or negative associations? Do proposals feel like a burden, a drain on your time, or are they an exciting opportunity for you to connect with your prospect?

If you work in the corporate B2B space, then being able to put together a good proposal is an essential part of doing business, but it's something that I've noticed over the years a lot of production companies don't do very well, and it's an area that I've been able to help them with and make an impact on their business. So let's talk about video production proposals on this episode of the Business of Video Production Podcast. 

With the holiday season quickly approaching, it can for clients to start to wind down their marketing activities and plans for making videos for this year.

And sometimes it can be common for business owners - video production business owners in particular - to start to take their foot off the gas and coast through 'till the end of the year.

And so what I really want to emphasize in this episode is the idea of finishing strong. Of resisting the temptation to wind things down, and to finish the year in the same spirit and with the same commitment that you came in...

Welcome to the Business of Video Production podcast and to Season Two. Over the last four weeks I took a break from recording new episodes of the podcast and repeated four of the most popular episodes and I hope that you enjoyed the opportunity to check them out and I hope that they were of value to you.

The last four weeks have been a great opportunity for me to take a break from the podcast, get some perspective, refocus and get right back into it and it feels good to be here talking to you and recording the first episode of season two.

If you're new here the Business of Video Production podcast is a weekly opportunity for video production business owners, aspiring production company owners or people who work in the industry, to take some time to think about one aspect of the business and then hopefully take an idea and run with it and put it into action. 

If you run a video production company, is it a generalist agency? Or do you focus on a particular niche? Or maybe you’ve heard more talk lately about the importance of niching. And maybe even felt a pressure to become more specialised. And choose only one market.

What’s your relationship like with the Sales process in your video production business?

Do you feel confident with it?

Is it something you enjoy?

Or do you treat it like a necessary evil?

Many production company owners have an uncomfortable relationship with Sales.

I did for many years. Because I got into the industry to make films. I didn’t see myself as a sales person.

Things only changed for me once I worked out a way of selling that was natural and authentic for me.

So lets’s talking about Sales. On this episode of the Business of Video Production Podcast.

Show notes at ⁠https://www.ryanspanger.com/podcast/episode5⁠

⁠Pre-Suasion by Dr Robert Cialdini⁠

⁠Carl Rogers' Core Conditions

For anyone who’s ever struck out on their own, and decided to build their own business, it’s inevitable that you’ll experience quiet times. I doubt if there’s ever been a business owner that hasn’t gone through this. You could think of it as the tax you pay for being an entrepreneur. 

And while it may feel terrible at the time, often this is where you learn your most important lessons.

So let’s talk about how to survive the quiet times in Business. And not just survive, but in time, actually take the incredible opportunity for learning and growth and transformation this experience gives…on this episode of the Business of Video Production Podcast.

How do you approach the process of working on your video production business? Do you have a system to help you identify what areas need attention? Do you just go on instinct? Or do you just get so swept up in the doing: writing quotes, doing pre-production. The shoot. The edit etc. And then working on the business ends up taking a back seat?

What’s been helpful for me is having a Framework - a bird's eye view - of all the different moving parts in my production company.

The value of using a Framework is that it:

Download a copy of the framework.

Do you consider yourself a competitive person? Or do you feel like competition holds no interest for you? And what does competitiveness actually mean to you? Do you consider it a positive or negative quality?

The reality is that as humans we come hard -ired with a level of competitiveness. I’m very interested in harnessing this energy in a positive way. To help me achieve more. And the people around me.

It’s a topic I’ve thought about quite a bit over the years. So I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas about Competition with you. On this episode of the Business of video production podcast.

We've hit episode 25 of the Business of Video Production podcast: a bit of a milestone. I think it's a good opportunity to look back on the past 25 episodes, and extract some key learnings from each one.

I take a look at the list of episodes and mention something worth thinking about from each one. As I go through them, consider if there's a particular topic that resonates with you, or needs attention in your business right now. Then, it might be worth going back to that episode, even if you've already listened to it before. Listen, see how it relates to you and your business, and then set some action steps to implement those ideas.

https://www.ryanspanger.com