Loom Videos to Power Business Systems with David Jenyns Part 2 (Episode 92)

Chris Schwager 0:01

Welcome to part two of the Video Made Simple podcast with David Jenyns. I'm your host, Chris Schwager. And if you missed last week's episode is a quick highlight. Brendan and I both started as singles in this working relationship, and now have a combination of five kids. Brandon's the nerdy, dude, the system's dude, I'm the flowering flamboyant creative dude. And the yin and the yang. And that's how we've maintained our business relationship for the last 20 years,

David Jenyns 0:27

I love that you touched on something that very common I think a lot of videographers need to think about is this idea of the yin and the yang, given the different areas of your life, because a lot of videographers, they are these big picture visionary and creative type people. And they might not see themselves as a systems person. And that's okay, you, you might not be a systems person, that doesn't mean you can't own a systems driven business, what you need to find is the yin to Yang, it's the studio manager, it's the person who can cross the t's and dot the i's, because it's really important from a business perspective, the business owner, they can appreciate and value the systems and support it, and make sure that they lead that example for the rest of the team. And then you have someone else that really helps to manage the team behind them. I think that's a missing piece for a lot of videographers.

Chris Schwager 1:19

And now let's r e join our conversation with David Jenyns from systemHUB.

Is it a slow process of just chipping away chipping away chipping away at how does a freelancer just come to the conclusion that what they're doing with recording these loom videos and all that is actually working? Like where do they find the confidence and the motivation to go "Yep, it's working, I see the big picture. Let's just keep on going."

David Jenyns 1:52

Am I allowed to jump on a rant? Now?

Chris Schwager 1:54

Please!

David Jenyns 1:55

I can't, I feel like

Chris Schwager 1:56

you're the guest.

David Jenyns 1:58

Because you I've written it down on a little bit of paper, there are three points there, because you had touched on three things that I felt as equally passionate about each one. So the first one is around this idea. If we go back just to touch to the idea of firing staff, and not staff, sorry, firing clients. But it's the same with staff as well. The most amount of resistance that you are going to get from this new approach, as you start to build a systems culture in your organization is from your existing relationships, whether it's clients, whether it's staff, it's the people who are used to you doing things a certain way.

Once you start recruiting staff, and effectively clients because that's really what you're doing with your marketing, you're kind of recruiting and figuring out if you're a good fit. If you do all of the right recruitment strategies and onboarding strategies and your sales strategies, you're pre-framing what it is that they're going to expect, it makes perfect sense that the one that was the most resistant to change was the one that has been with you the longest. But now this only gets easier. And that's one reasons why videographers and business owners sometimes abandon this initiative for Systemising a business because all of the resistance and challenges up front, they do it for a little bit for two or three months and then they go oh the teams pushing back, clients are pushing back on, this is not going to work. The systems don't work for us. We tried that doesn't work. And it's good to hear how long you've had persisted at it. So I think that was with identifying.

The second point was around the McDonald-ization or McDonald's side of the business. Now this is an interesting one. And I remember reading an interview with Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, and he was talking about when they start on the process of Systemising their business. He said we wanted to dummy-proof our business. So we put systems for everything meticulous, you know, detail down to the nth degree. And he said after we dummy-proofed our business, we found that only dummies wanted to work here and I thought oh, isn't that interesting that they had over-systemized and sometimes there's a misconception thinking, well, if I'm going to systemize I have to systemize like McDonald's and it has to be to that level of detail. But there's a good chance some videographers might not be building a hamburger business. So we don't need to necessarily follow their roadmap exactly. But but there's a lot of so key valuable lessons to be learned from McDonald's.

How they got started. You know, we don't look at how McDonald's is today. They're this lean machine systemized. They can open stores within 30 days and meticulous the way that the store runs recruit like they are every aspect of their business is down to sort of like a fine tooth comb. And that's the result of it 60 years worth of work. But if you come back and you look at the movie, the founder with Michael Keaton, which is the homework, I love setting homework for videographers, that is to watch a movie, because I feel like that's right up their alley. So your homework is to watch the founder. And right at the start of that movie, they are around on a basketball court, and they've got some chalk. And they're mapping out the floor plan of one of the stores. And they say, let's put the fryer here, let's put the registers here, let's put the drinks machine key

oh no no, let's move that over here. And that is the way that systems are built, you start off rough and ready, you kind of just get whatever best practices, you make a tweak, you move things around. And that kind of speaks to what you were talking about, around this idea of this slow process. OIt is a cultural change that you're looking to have here, it's a way of doing things. I just want to make sure that you know, there are different ways to build a business. And it's an expression of the business owners, there's just as much art in here as there is science. And there is a way to find a healthy balance by rip out some of the creativity, and we're just robots following a process. But you can create enough of a structure that helps your team members win, you set their level of expectation, you make it within the confines of you know, business and profitability and making sure that you can continue to sustain because that's always the biggest risk for a lot of creators is they'll sit down, like you said, in that first meeting, the client will be wide eyed, you'll be wide eyed thinking of all of these things, not thinking about, you know, what the budgets gonna look like, you know, sometimes the client will have one picture in their head, the picture in your head is very different. And that misalignment ends up causing issues. And then there's scope creep, and then there's extra edits. And oh can you just can you change one small thing? Little do they know moving that scene changes the whole sound score, and it changes the graphics and like that one little thing is one very, very big thing. So having rules and structure, you want to find that that balance. And it might be just as an example. Something like we have one major edit, yes. And then we have two minor cuts. A major edit, we can move structure, change music, but as we get closer past the we're not going back and changing these without additional costs.

Chris Schwager 7:30

There's there's a lot of I mean, there's so many things Brendan, you probably have been nodding all the way through this, but that we had nipped in the bud, trust the process, iron out those types of things, lay out the rules, make sure that it's clear to the client, keep them steered in the right direction, don't let it get out of hand. All of these things, you know, we're becoming more and more familiar with now that we're obviously bringing on the staff but it was something that was so painful for us many, many years ago that we had to nip in the button and just through listening to other stories of smaller companies going through that that arduous process of endless amounts of changes is enough to go we just never want to go through that. And what's interesting about your rant is on X McDonald's, you know, I got to see it firsthand, I saw founders. I love that movie.

David Jenyns

It can be quite polarizing, because my line oftentimes I will say, is don't systemize like McDonald's.

Yeah.

David Jenyns 8:31

And I do that it's a little bit of a pattern interrupt, because most people they automatically think like, of course I need to systemize like McDonalds. So it's always funny when I talk to someone from McDonald's or his way or they say that, because it because really, when you get down to the guts of it, I'm saying don't systemize like McDonald's is today. Systemize like McDonald's was 60 years. And that's the real insight.

Chris Schwager 8:56

And you know what? Yeah, so I did I do have a question at the end of this. But you know, what's, like, even yesterday, I had a chat with a client. And you know, we had a good half an hour together, and she's very interested in the DIY program and all this other stuff. And at the end of the meeting, she said something like, "Sir do you have anything like that I can see?" And I was really like, what do you want to say is, you know, it's like, stuff that your your clients have done and done today. And she was basically beating around the bushes to say, you know, show me what my thing is gonna look like.

And that was the realization many years ago is like, you could explain until you're blue in the face, what the product's going to be, visualize and paint the picture and put the storyboards together and all of that stuff, but they will never know unless you offer offer some kind of real representation of what it is. So yeah, why did McDonald's succeed? Is it because they had the juicy succulent hamburger that was consistent no matter where you went? Was that the thing? That was kind of moving right now. Now we just got to keep doing that for fries and pick shakes and everything else and we'll you know, get packaging and packaging and packaging, so that people build that trust and consistency with the product. Now, the answer to that lady's question from yesterday was, yeah, here's the Products page, there's the list of all of our products. But the one that you want to be looking at, because you're a legal firm is this. And here's what your thing's going to look like. This is what other lawyer firms have done for you. Okay, I think I've got everything I need. Thank you. So there's this idea that, you know, the selling almost is done through, you know, obviously, reputation and skin in the game, and all of that, but a lot of the convincing "Can you do this job?" is, is done in the proof of the work

David Jenyns 10:44

Yeah. That you hit the nail on the head this in this applies across the board to all business. When a client is thinking about working with you, they want to know, can you deliver on your promises? Because everybody can make promises. And sometimes, some of the best way to prove that you can deliver on promises is to say, here's the other times, when I've dealt with someone who's just like you, and I delivered on my promises, and they got the amazing result that I'm promising you right now. And then that gets them to go, oh, yeah, I can trust this and believe it, so there's nothing better as a videographer than building up your portfolio of clients. And if you can go yep, here's the legal person that I worked with, who is almost in a similar situation to you. And here's what we did for them. That then they just go, oh, wow, my level of risk here is dropping significantly.

A big part of what I think about for consistency for videographers is consistency. In the experience, what was the the sales process, the briefing process, the proposal, you set out the timeline, you shot when you said you were going to you got the first edit when you're going to like that's the beat if you can now that level of consistency. That's what keeps clients coming back. Because in the video space, especially, especially for the solo freelance people, they really struggle to deliver on that. And that's painful for clients. They don't necessarily like that. So if you can solve that problem, you probably, you know, 99% above all other videographers because so many videographers just can't do consistency.

Brendan Southall 12:29

That's right. Yeah. There's many times where we've won a project purely based on that we have a process and clients feel reassured that there is something there to hold their hand through that. Because they don't know what necessarily that they're going to get at the end. But the fact that upfront, we tell them, there's a process and we'll hold your hand through it. It's great for clients, people really respond to that really well.

Chris Schwager 12:50

They see it firsthand, you know, a short reply inquiry video, it's just been a game changer for our business. To see that a reply to the inquiry through video in 30 seconds, and then just like yeah, all book in. Do it do whatever you want to do, because it looks like you guys have got it covered.

The DIY video program helps you personalise sales, produce video emails and record videos regularly without tech hassles, look and sound amazing in every video meeting and go to ridgefilms.com.au/diy.

I do have a couple of other questions. If that's all right, we'll wrap up in six minutes. I want to get you out on time. I know we've talked about loom and how great it is. But what I'm really curious to know where do you see a business that has loads of video content, maybe for their systems, maybe for their marketing, maybe in their sales? What role do you think video can play in I guess this systematizing. But also the saleability of that business?

David Jenyns 13:59

Why I think they kind of go hand in hand. Well, when I think about saleability, of business, a big part of it is de-risking the purchase for the potential acquirer. Like I don't want to buy a business that is so key person dependent. And they think, Oh, wow, as soon as I buy this business, if Chris walks out the door, what am I left with? He's going to walk out with all of the clients with him. So regardless of what the business is, that's what the acquirer is thinking like, is this going to continue to function as well, when the key people walk out the door. So a big part of that is the systems and making sure that that's in place and the way that clients are dealt with and things like that. And I've got, I suppose a unique experience with regards to video businesses because I ended up selling the Melbourne video production, which is quite rare. You don't see a huge amount of turnover in video-based businesses. Oftentimes because it's a little bit like or seen a bit like a dentist or something where someone oftentimes bonds with the person doing the work. And then when the sale of the business happens if they're gone, the client either goes somewhere else or follows that person over to the next business.

But when we had built Melbourne video production, because I didn't know how to get on the tools, and I didn't build the business just around me, we built it to the point where it was this machine that was working without me. And there was some real value there. And that's what it was that we ended up marketing because we had some changes in the business, my main operations manager, she had to move to the US. And for some family reasons, I stepped out of the digital agency in the video business, as I was building up systemHUB and SYSTEMology. And then when she came back, she basically said, Look, I'm gonna have to resign and move to the states. And then I was left with a situation. I was like, do I get sucked back into the business and start to run this? Or do I look to sell and exit? And that was where I thought, well, look, my passion is now in SYSTEMology. I've kind of fallen out of love with the digital agency and that type of work. So I thought not now's the right time to sell.

And then I did, I ended up selling it. So both businesses, and the thing that they cited that they will perform, buying it with two reasons. One was the financial port performance. And the other was the the systems because they just wanted to take that and then ingested into their business. So it's one of those things where,by recording everything, getting on the path for Systemising, whether you sell or not as irrelevant, you should always be building as though you're going to sell, because you never know what's going to happen. I didn't think I was going to sell. It wasn't until Melissa resigned and I thought what am I going to do? Do I want to do this? No. Okay, now's the time to exit. So Systemising, recording everything, gives you options. And that's really what all of this is about.

Chris Schwager 16:58

David, thank you so much for coming on and helping us get clarity over our business. And I'm sure this many of our listeners that would think the same we'd get loads and loads and no matter if they were small, sole trader or large marketing manager, I'm sure there's loads to take away from getting things out of your head and into video. Thank you for coming on.

David Jenyns 17:22

Pleasure. Yeah, if I can do a final little plug, I wil. Get yourself a copy of system ology. There we go. If you head over to Amazon, or if you're an audio person, that is a useful and complete documentation of my methodology. Great place to start if you're thinking about systems, and then of course, if you need a hand with anything, just reach out I'm over at systemology.com

Chris Schwager 17:44

And Brendan can confirm the books excellent. Perfect.

Brendan Southall 17:48

I've read the book cover to cover I plan on reading it again cover to cover. Thank you very much Dave. It's made a massive difference in the business. I highly recommended. Pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Chris Schwager 17:58

That's all for this episode of Video Made Simple podcast. Having a system in producing videos shouldn't restrict creativity. Just as owning a business shouldn't restrict you from getting wor- life balance by systematizing it. Thanks for tuning in and see you next week.