6 things I've learnt working with a business partner for the past 2 years

In Oct 2019 Kieran and I partnered up in order to take Dead Pixel to the next level. Following that we had a cracking first 6 months working with new clients such as Pip and Nut, Frankie & Benny's, and Myprotein. Some have remained long standing clients and friends. Things were going so well up to until 23rd March 2020 and we all know what happened then...

18 months later, a new 1300sq ft office, new staff members, a full Red Gemini kit and we're stronger than ever. I thought I'd jot down some thoughts as to how we've made the partnership work and some lessons learnt along the way.

1.Hyper communicate

We always joke about hyper communicating in our office but honestly, it's been the saviour of the business and our relationship. Any thoughts or feelings should be aired and there's no such thing as a bad idea. We've found talking about any and all issues early doors and maintaining full transparency means there's very few surprises.

2. Double down on varied skill sets

We partnered up originally because of our varied skill sets. We didn't want to be two film-makers coming together to simply increase the volume of videos we created. We wanted to scale the business and that meant focusing on different areas. Kieran's background is in strategy, operations and social. Whereas, my background is in shooting and storytelling. There's a lot of cross over in the day to day running of the business but having that previous experience really helped in saying the right things to clients and handling bigger & better projects. Our portfolio has become stronger than ever and we're now working with some of the largest brands and agencies in the country.

3. Trust the person is doing their job to the best of their ability

We're now at a point where we can't each know every single thing that happens within the business throughout the day, there's too much on. So having implicit trust in the other person to do their bit, is crucial. We both have a tenacious work ethic which made surviving the pandemic an easier journey.

4. Be comfortable talking about money; Sales and spending

I personally find generating sales gives me quite a buzz. We're able to look back on the last quarters turnover & profit fondly and can see in the figures that we're growing nicely. We have regular meetings and forecasts in order to help maintain our cash flow, and work out where to invest in the business next. We still manage all the financials of the business ourselves (other than the accountant) and are both on the same page when it comes to expenses and investing in kit/ people.

5. Respect each others days off

When you run a business you're hardly ever fully off but when the 'Out Of Office' is on it should be respected. We, as a partnership, try and avoid taking the same days off at any point to make sure someone is still steering the ship.

6. Have fun

Finally, and one of the most important parts of running a business for me is to have fun. We work very hard as a team and do our utmost to enjoy it. When we're travelling across Europe, for days on end, we end up spending countless hours together. It's much easier if you enjoy the other person's company and you can put the world to right over a few beers.

In all seriousness though, our partnership was a business venture first and then we became friends. Our team is growing, and 2 years in I can't imagine running a company with anyone else.

As you're here, you might as well have a scan through some our show reel below.