What's Wrong with Your Business? You Are!

Last week I wrote a post about being on the business end of some harsh truth, and how a note from an industry contemporary ended up being transformational to me and my business. What I didn't really touch on was how I made those transformational changes. Simply put, I expanded my skill set, invested in new equipment, and brought in a partner, whose skill set was both similar and complimentary to my own.

When I found him, Dale Roossien was a strung-out, two-bit hustler, running guns and girls in the Bronx. No, none of that is true, Dale is actually a middle-aged Vegan Dad from Oakville, who lives 10 minutes from me, used to be a chef, and shares my passion for documentary storytelling, creative cinematography, and creating compelling narratives.

I often quip to clients who have worked with me and my small team prior to Dale joining us, that Dale and I do the same thing but Dale is 20-30% better at it. In truth, there are some areas where his skills and artistry - especially with a gimbal, where his skill level could best be described as "wizard" - have made some material improvements in the quality of our video production. Coming from a 'legacy' television background, with some healthy layovers in sales and marketing, my core competencies are skewed more towards the utilitarian, corporate side of video production, which is why my client roster has included companies like Payment Source, LogDNA, Tridel, and various law firms and dental practices. Dale has done some corporate stuff too, but he's also done some awesome music videos, activist documentary work, and close to 200 vlogs for his 25,000 YouTube subscribers. His video of his autotuned dog has over 5 million hits.

Aside from his creativity and skill behind the camera, Dale brought something vital to Billet Media that we didn't have before; someone else to shoulder the burden of the company's success. Now it's not just me missing family dinners and staying up all night to meet client delivery deadlines. There's another person on staff who is just as committed and accountable to the business, and more importantly, to the work, as I am. As a consequence, my stress levels have plummeted, our work looks better than it ever has, and I wake up every day excited to go to work and make little movies. So having a good partner has actually made the work itself more fun, and less stressful.

The other real, tangible benefit of this reduced stress level and increased job satisfaction and technical capability is more revenue! Since Dale has come on board, even though I now split the net revenue from the business with Dale, I am still making significantly more money than I was before. And so is Dale. Together Each Achieves More might be a trite aphorism, but it's also very true. I started Billet Media (formerly Billet Marketing Inc.) seven years ago, and bootstrapped it to where it is today. If I had a do-over, I would have worked a lot harder, much earlier, to find a good partner for the business. I can't claim to have the secret formula on how to do this, but here are the things I believe make our partnership work;

1. Similar work ethics; we both have pride in what we do, sometimes bordering on the obsessive. We can't always get the end product there, but damn do we ever try. We show up on time. We both answer phone calls. We put in the time and work.
2. Proximity; we live ten minutes from each other, which affords some logistical advantages when scheduling, or getting to, shoots and appointments.
3. Morality; my partner and I have similar views on society, what's wrong with it, and how to fix it. We have similar moral compasses, senses of humor, and understandings of truth and justice. We are both people pleasers who are accountable to long-suffering, incredibly supportive wives.
4. Social location; we are both married, middle-aged, middle-class dads with two kids, who live in Halton, and are married to strong, successful, bad-ass women. This isn't to say that our partnership couldn't work if one of was from a vastly different social location, but our similar lived experiences have given us similar perspectives on many things that might otherwise have caused friction and potentially wasted time and money.
5. Affinity. I like my partner. I genuinely enjoy spending time, and doing work with him, so I don't mind tackling a project that might have some stupid, sucky bits, because I get to do it with my buddy, and I know that it won't be all bad.

There you have it. Free, unsolicited advice on LinkedIn from someone barely qualified to offer it. And you thought you wouldn't see anything new today.