I have a spectacular client who hires me to teach business and finance classes on video. This usually requires me to travel to another city and spend three days in front of cameras from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun. And the experience has taught me some valuable business lessons I might have never learned otherwise. Here are some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned while filming video classes for this particular client.
Putting a good product out there requires investment and commitment.
There’s one thing I really love about this client: they are willing to throw down money in order to put out the best product possible.
For example, they actually hire a full-blown production company when we’re filming video classes. In the past, I’ve had companies try to get me to film stuff on my iPhone to save money and it just doesn’t work.
I’ve taken this as a major cue for my own business. If I want to put good stuff out there, it’s going to take some money and I shouldn’t be afraid to make the investment.
No one succeeds alone.
Simply filming video classes takes a village. There was the production crew (four people for the set), the teachers involved in this set of videos (two of us) and the director (my client). I also interviewed a couple of other people for the class. And that’s just for the actual filming!
There’s also the editing, putting the sales funnel together, the marketing, figuring out how it’s going to be delivered to customers and getting everything onto their website. There are a lot of people behind this project and behind this company, and I’m pretty sure that’s a huge part of why they are successful.
The lesson here is simple: I need to let other people help me. I need to continue outsourcing to people who are far better at certain things than I am.
People should stick to their superpowers.
I recently wrote and article about how business owners should cater to their unique strengths. That piece was actually inspired by this client who told me one of my superpowers was story telling. This was after he’d watched me film video classes for a few hours.
He’s right. I get into a weird zone when I’m in front of the camera teaching. It’s like nothing else exists. Because it’s my superpower, that’s why I get paid to do it.
The same is true for the other people involved. The videographer has insane skills with a camera, so that’s what he does. His boss has skills for finding on-camera talent and making sales, so that’s what she does.
The point I’m trying to make is this: stick to your superpowers. As Sophia Amoruso says, play up your strengths in business and you’ll get much further.
Final Thoughts
Filming a video class for a client has taught me quite a bit about what it takes to run a successful business. From investing to collaborating, there are lots of nuggets of wisdom I took with me.
