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Change is Hard with Craig Brooks
149 Plays3 months ago
Change is hard—but it’s essential to longevity. In this episode of Crossing the Axis, I sit down with Craig Brooks, co-founder of Kontent Partners, a film and photography production services company, to discuss how embracing change has fueled nearly 20 years of success in production.
We explore the risks they’ve taken—launching new ventures and adopting a new system for growing business and improving operations even though the current system is working. If you’ve struggled with narrowing your market, adopting new tools, or maintaining culture while growing, this conversation is for you.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Crossing the Axis' by James Keblis
00:00:06
Speaker
You're listening to Crossing the Axis, the podcast that explores the commercial side of film production with your host, James Keblis.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome listeners, and thank you for tuning in into the show.
Why Change is Crucial for Business Growth
00:00:29
Speaker
Today's conversation is about change, because change is hard, and we all need to get better at it. As a business development consultant, sometimes when I get brought in to help an agency, it's because they didn't change soon enough.
00:00:40
Speaker
They found themselves in a tough spot, forced into a come-to-Jesus moment where change wasn't optional, it was survival. And while that kind of pressure can be a powerful motivator, it's not really the ideal time to make moves.
00:00:53
Speaker
The best time to change is when things are going well, when you still have options, when you can be adventurous in your decisions, when you're operating from a place of abundance rather than scarcity. When you choose to evolve before you're forced to, you get to shape the future on more of your own terms.
Craig Brooks on Embracing Change and Risk for Success
00:01:09
Speaker
That's exactly what today's guest, Craig Brooks, strives for at his company, Content Partners. He's built a production company that's thrived for nearly 20 years, not by standing still, but by developing a safe culture to actually take some risks.
00:01:22
Speaker
And last year, he might have taken his biggest risk when he brought me in to help take advantage of some of his own growth instincts. That's why I'm thrilled Craig has agreed to join me to talk about his experience and his mindset, how he's kept his company going, how he approaches risk, and to share some practical ways he's growing now.
00:01:37
Speaker
And maybe we'll even get into why he decided to work with me in the first place. So let's get into it. Craig, welcome to the show. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here. Well caffeinated and...
00:01:49
Speaker
And excited. Change is hard. Change is very hard. And that's, i want to talk to you about that. And if this is funny because this was actually my idea for the show to say, Hey, how do you want to talk about change? Because I've gotten to work with you recently and I, but I've known you for a long time. We should probably make that disclosure. We've known each other for, since you started content partners.
Founding and Philosophy of Content Partners
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah. We go way back.
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And i remember when you started doing really well with content partners. And part of my reason for wanting to do do business with you, like to help you with consulting stuff, was to figure out how you were able to beat me in some of our competitive bids together. I was like, I'm going to learn the sauce on this because I've lost you a couple times. you know And that's I've always been, always feel like i was in good company, but little bitter.
00:02:31
Speaker
Oh, well, likewise, I'm super excited to dive into this. there's There's a lot to talk about. Change is hard, but there's life on the other side. And you know it's really been something you it, it's really been a part of kind of every day at the company.
00:02:45
Speaker
Well, and that's what has been so impressive to me is I've learned like, how have you done this? One of the things that I picked up on was just that how well you've taken risk and embraced change. It was ah as a pattern that I observed.
00:02:58
Speaker
And I do want to get into that. But before we do, let's talk about content partners in general. You've been around for almost 20 years. That's a feat in of itself. Why did you start content partners?
00:03:08
Speaker
Describe what content partners is and what problem you intended to address when you started it I think the easiest way to get into that is to back up a little bit further.
00:03:19
Speaker
I first got into production when I moved to Los Angeles, and I started at the bottom. I was PA, I drove trucks. So I learned how to really do all of
Maintaining Flexibility and High Standards
00:03:29
Speaker
the different jobs.
00:03:30
Speaker
And I knew what it was like to be on set. I moved to LA because I wanted to get into film. I was just really drawn to it. And I was that guy who showed up to l LA with like 500 bucks in his pocket, really full car and lots of dreams and learned very quickly that it just takes a lot of work.
00:03:47
Speaker
Got my break early on, moved up and started producing advertising and fashion. And before I moved from LA to New York, I did a handful of music videos. And i think it was in New York that I really fell in love with production and just the idea of the world of the people that you get to work with, what you get to build, the places that you get to go, the things that you get to see.
00:04:09
Speaker
And being from the Northwest, wanting to get back here and spend more time with my daughter who was living with her mom, I moved back to Seattle. I wanted to start my own thing. I realized that I wasn't a very good employee. I liked doing my own thing. i had my own opinions. I had seen enough productions and worked with enough people and outfits to kind of get an idea of what I liked and what I didn't like.
00:04:33
Speaker
Things that I wanted to incorporate into a business and i was just willing to kind of take that risk. I have enough understanding to know that I'm smart enough to figure things out and I'm just dumb enough to not be fearful. So I can really, have the ability to jump into the deep end pretty quickly.
00:04:51
Speaker
And I formed content partners originally with a C, but then Mark Cuban had that company. And so I just changed it to a K. And just kind of drafting off of my work in New York and a lot of the clients that I had there, I continued doing a lot of work. Just my base was in Seattle. And I really enjoyed having my own thing.
00:05:08
Speaker
And very quickly connected with my now business partner, Michael Beaney, my now business partner and wife, Courtney Clark. And together, the three of us really shaped what Content Partners is. And the foundational friendship that we started with is still just as strong, if not stronger today.
00:05:26
Speaker
And I think the bond that
The Arm Car Investment Story
00:05:27
Speaker
the three of us have and how we treat each other also bleeds over to how we treat our clients. And that's the culture and the company that we all wanted to have.
00:05:38
Speaker
And we put a lot of effort into making sure that our company, our culture, our little shop, and we're little, there's just five of us. And that's also by design. We wanted to have something that we could really keep our hands on throughout the entire process and be very careful with each other and also careful with our clients and the projects that we work on.
00:05:57
Speaker
That's one of the things I've noticed that's been really incredible too is, and I won't give out any numbers here, but for a company that does as much volume of business and the kind of revenue you draw to stay at a small four or five person operation is really impressive, actually, that you're talking about that's by design.
00:06:13
Speaker
i also think that's what's made you capable of continuing to be risk taking. There's kind of there's a core group is less at stake, you can actually take those risks. and Is that an accurate kind of look at it?
00:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, I think because because we are small, we can move really quickly. We can pivot on a dime. Large organizations probably have a few more layers to kind of go through, but we really just like having this size of group.
00:06:37
Speaker
We can maintain how we work, how we communicate, how we talk about projects, how we take on projects. And i think it makes for a really wonderful place when you walk through that door. I say this every time someone comes in or we do kind of an intro meeting, it's like, we all know why we come in the door and we all know who we're working with. We genuinely enjoy each other's company.
00:06:57
Speaker
The joke is whenever we go to an event or a party or something and all of us are there, the three of us end up in the corner talking with each other because we just love the conversations, the camaraderie that we have. And i like to think that that spills over to the projects that we do, the interactions that we have with our clients, the fun that we have, the way that we approach the work is at the very highest level because it has to be. But we also approach it with a really strong sense of humanity.
00:07:24
Speaker
And from a kind of services that you offer, I think one of the things that also makes you unique is that you are firmly planted in photography as much as you are video, right?
00:07:34
Speaker
Pretty kind of equal in terms of the services that you're offering? Yeah, it's got a pretty good split. It changes a little bit from year to year. that's That's where the three of us started. That's where I got started in l LA, was working on fashion projects and big advertising campaigns. That's where Michael came from. That's where Courtney came from. I think that's an original love that we have.
00:07:53
Speaker
I'm fascinated by photographers and it's something that we really genuinely enjoy. And from the very early days, we've been doing still and video together. And understanding that they're two very different beasts that require a different approach.
00:08:08
Speaker
But because we understand both elements so well, we can speak to those those two and understand that how we can shepherd the stills portion and the video portion and give them each equal time and weight.
00:08:19
Speaker
It's because we love it.
The Role of Risk and Curiosity in Business
00:08:21
Speaker
I think you've created a really cool thing. And I want to talk about this journey over almost 20 years now. My observation and knowing your story and knowing you and seeing it and not being kind of helping you kind of shape it a little bit is that you just embrace change. I mean, you kind of have this to use your words, you're Not bright enough to be scared or whatever it might be. Yeah. it's a Risk is inherent. And once I think you understand that, then you you give yourself some leeway to try things. I'm infinitely curious.
00:08:51
Speaker
And I question just about everything. And I think that just bleeds over to wanting to try things. I don't think you ever become successful by not taking risks. You have to. It's inherent.
00:09:02
Speaker
I think it was Estee Lauder who said, risk is the cornerstone of your business. No one became successful by not taking risks. And I think that's just something that's always stuck with me. And I still am in love with production. i still have that same kind of drive and that hunger of the guy in the car who drove down to LA and rolled in with all these you know big wide-eyed dreams. you know, it's ah it's a really, really fun business to be in. And there's so much to try and to explore. And I also have the backing and the confidence from my business partners, Courtney and Michael, that together, we're all in the kind of the same boat. We're all willing to extend and try and explore.
00:09:41
Speaker
I want to get into some examples of what we're talking about with change. I remember when you bought an arm car and I was like, that's a fun one. Like you just bought this arm car and then over the years got to see use it. And then, you know, on the inside of it and seeing in what you're, have you how you've taken advantage of that. And then hearing the story about how you decided to take that risk with an arm car. I think it's fascinating. It's an an entry point into some examples of change.
00:10:05
Speaker
Why did you do that arm car? Like, that seems like a pretty sizable investment and how's it worked out? It's a lot of things. Scary is definitely one of them. I was doing about 10 years ago, I was doing a bunch of automotive work at the time and getting into into that side of things. And, you know, we're being a small company and seeing all the larger big arm cars out there. It was like, that was always kind of a dream. I was like, well, that's <unk>s fantastic, but that's just way beyond what we're doing. And when you're doing automotive work and you're trying to kind of pull off some of those interesting shots, you realize that there's some limitations. I was in California and I was on car rally and we're filming there.
00:10:41
Speaker
And colleague of mine sent me a note that there was a new company starting up that was creating this remote arm. So 30 minutes later, I'm on the phone with the company's CEO and I just pulled the trigger right there. I said, I want to try it.
00:10:53
Speaker
This looks interesting. I'm all in. I get back to the office. I talk with Michael and Courtney. go, I have this idea. And I think if you were there at the time, you would have looked at them both and they would have just had this quizzical look on their face of like, I don't know what you're talking about, but let's try it.
00:11:09
Speaker
And with their backing and blessing, I just kind of dove all the way in. you know The first guy through the wall breaks his nose. I love that quote. I've got a really bloody face because of it, because I'm just trying all these different things. And So we got it and it was a really long road to get to where it became sustainable, positive. Two iterations of the arms, thousands of hours of practice, a huge investment for a small company. And this is, you know, buying an arm car for a production companies, you know, for what we were doing was very much outside of our normal business. Blair Enns would probably shake his finger at me and say, I don't know what you're doing.
00:11:44
Speaker
Stop it. But it was just driven by my curiosity. i just i just wanted to try it Again, it took a long, long time to get it to a place to where it made sense. But I put myself around some of the smartest people in the region who had the same kind of idea of this is cool. Let's go try this.
00:12:04
Speaker
And it's because of those people that it helped kind of lift the whole thing up to be sustainable and to really be something. And by doing that, it got us into a whole nother body of work that we never would have had before.
00:12:18
Speaker
A huge amount of learning that we never would have seen. Terror beyond you would ever imagine because arm car shoots and those things are, they're dangerous. It's super exciting and and really fun, but it's a whole level of technical skill, a ton of practice and technology.
00:12:36
Speaker
challenges. But we stuck to it. And there were a couple of times I had to go back to the well and ask the partners to, hey, we got to keep doing this. We need to invest again. Here's the reason why.
00:12:47
Speaker
And we got into it and people agreed and we continued on. But it opened up so many opportunities for projects we never would have had. number of different things because of that opened up for us. And when I look back on it, the original idea of why should we try this is what I'm really excited about.
00:13:06
Speaker
I'm a car guy. I love tools and gadgets and gear. And the Cayenne that we have now with the arm and the Raptor that we have with our new partners is amazing.
00:13:18
Speaker
What I'm most proud about is the original idea and the willingness to take that risk, the willingness just to try, to see what would happen. and There was no guarantee of success. It was a really big gamble. It was far outside our skill set, what we were doing.
00:13:35
Speaker
All the credit goes to Michael and Courtney for trusting. and There's nothing like painting yourself in a corner where your only way out is, I have to go do this thing. And like that spirit is exactly what's in me every day.
00:13:50
Speaker
I want to try things. I want to go do new things. I want to continue learning. And that curiosity, like that is what I'm most excited about. When I see it and we go on jobs and I look at it and I see the crew, how excited they are and how exciting it is to do these things. It's a really incredible, incredible feeling.
00:14:07
Speaker
I'm going to spill the tea a little bit and ah say, I remember when I first was asking you about like, so tell me about the business with the arm car and we're getting into it and realizing how much business was coming in that wasn't using the arm car at all, but just came to you because they saw you had an arm car.
00:14:24
Speaker
It's a really good conversation piece. It's oftentimes the very first thing that people talk about when they come in, they're like, so you have an arm car. which opens up a great conversation. It's a really fun thing to talk about, and I'm incredibly proud of it because it's just a really great platform for who we are and what we want to do and how we operate as a business. And I'm incredibly proud of it and what it represents for all of us.
00:14:46
Speaker
From a business development point of view, I like it because I always try to encourage clients to focus, narrow, deep, kind of really hone it in, right? Niche and and how you talk about yourself, how you market yourself. And doing that with an arm car is the great example of that. Investing in a thing that's super hyper niche that not only brings those clients that need that service, but also you know makes people see you in a way that then starts conversations just beyond that niche. And that's, I've seen that working over and over again. And to do it with such a practical thing like an arm car, I just think is ah is a great model for what other production company and agency owners should think about as they're thinking about growth.
00:15:25
Speaker
Yeah. It represents a very small percentage of our business, but I think it it symbolizes so much more. So I want to talk about a couple of other things too.
Preserving Culture Over Client Demands
00:15:34
Speaker
You've told me before that you have let go of clients, right? That you had a bad client concentration problem and that you there was a change in your world about, hey, this is going to hurt, but I think that we need to cut bait.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, let's go there. Let's talk about that. When you start a company, you take everything that comes in the door and you're hungry for anything. And this is a client that came in, started small, did a few projects, and then continued on and continued growing. And being a small company, there were just three of us at the time, we started taking on things that were started to get outside of what we normally do.
00:16:15
Speaker
But we're like, okay, well, the money's good. Let's continue taking this. and And then we'll take this. And then we'll take this from maintaining a website and copywriting and all of this kind of stuff. It just kind of bled out.
00:16:28
Speaker
And you're also in those younger years, you're gaining your footing. You're figuring out who you are. You understand why you're there. you just need to figure out what you're doing. and So over the course of a couple of years, it just expanded and expanded and became so big for us and untenable in a number of different ways that it just it really started to kind of tear at the fabric of what we had originally built as a company. Our culture started to shift. There were a few more people in the office and the personalities were just a little bit outside of what we wanted to build. So over the course of probably a year or so, it really kind of became slowly evident that this wasn't a good fit.
00:17:13
Speaker
And change is hard, but there's life on the other side. I firmly believe that. And i think it was apparent to us for quite a while before we understood what we had to do.
00:17:25
Speaker
And so it kind of came down to you know a conversation between us. and we're like, this just if we're going to continue, this is what we have to do. And can't remember some of the specifics. It's buried in the black box in my mind because it was kind of a moment that I don't don't often want to revisit.
00:17:41
Speaker
But it's we kind of made that decision that, okay, we went back to them, I believe, and said, if we're going to do this, here's our number. because we're just going to have to fundamentally change what we're doing. And we agreed that it wasn't going to work. And so we all kind of stepped away.
00:17:54
Speaker
And one could look at that as being, oh, that's really scary. You're walking away. And at that point, it had grown close to seven figures. So for a small company, that's a big thing to walk away from. But it was the best thing we ever could have done. Because we've always said from the get-go that the culture of our company is the most important.
00:18:15
Speaker
The relationships that we have as partners and the people in that office are the most important part of our company. And if that starts to get fractured or break, then the company becomes something that I don't want.
00:18:27
Speaker
And so we let go. And it was quiet afterwards, but it was, like I said, the best thing that could have happened to us. We stood up for ourselves. We stood up for what we wanted to do, how we wanted to operate, and how we wanted to care for each other.
00:18:42
Speaker
How long do you think it took to fill the revenue that was lost by leaving the client? That's good question. I don't think it took that long. It probably took a little bit longer than what I'm remembering, but the positive effects far outweigh any kind of monetary backfill that happened right away.
00:19:00
Speaker
It was a chance for us to regroup and recenter. And like I said, it it was a big confidence builder. And when we were chatting about this the other day, I genuinely forgot all about it. It's way in the past. I don't like to think about it, but when I thought back on it, i was like, wow, that's a really, really interesting moment. And it's fun now to think about it, to interpret it with this mindset to be like, that's a really, really powerful moment for this company and what we did and what we stood up for. And the fact that you can do that, you can walk away from work and it will be okay.
00:19:32
Speaker
What's very relatable is having a lot of your business come from one singular client that grows to be a pretty difficult, demanding, maybe not rewarding, you know, and there's a lot of problems and you don't like the client anymore.
Advocating for Client Diversification
00:19:44
Speaker
You're not happy with the work, whatever, all of these things.
00:19:47
Speaker
I think that's fairly relatable and people want to, you know, diversify. They want to, they know they got to get away from this. They might want to quit the client, but it's so scary. I wanted to tell the story because I just want people to go to do it. Like,
00:20:00
Speaker
What other variables went into your decision making between you, Michael and Courtney? Or what other kind of factors did you have to have your prospects lined up before you did it? Was it something else? But like just for folks to go it's a force function. You let it go and you're going to fill that time and that energy and that capacity you have somewhere else. It's going to happen. And it's probably going to be better once you capitalize on it.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of work out there. Again, it's testament to to Michael and Courtney being really strong executive producers and having a really great network that by keeping ourselves centered on who we are and what we want to do as a company, as people, you just continue the relationships. You continue who you are. You find and you get back to your center and you'll attract the right work.
00:20:45
Speaker
Another example that comes to mind when I think about how you've just navigated change so well is i would characterize Content Partners as a very quiet company. Like, Content Partners is the biggest unknown production company in the Pacific Northwest kind of a thing. Like,
00:21:02
Speaker
You're just never out front. you know you's You're kind of a shadow production company. you're kind of you know You're just always there, always doing great work, but not you're not always right in the spotlight of things. And I think that's by design. i think you've kind of done that kind of client-led thing first.
00:21:16
Speaker
But there's a particular instance when I saw you pop out of that and become this very clear leader is when COVID happened, right? Yeah. COVID came, it made all of us, you know, fearful, we didn't know what was going on.
00:21:29
Speaker
And then you created this manifesto that became like how we do production during COVID. And it was a strong point of view, clear minded, directional, and it was leadership that I hadn't seen you do in this kind of industry way ever.
00:21:45
Speaker
And it was this new thing. I'm just go curious, where'd that come from? Why did that happen? Am I articulating content partners the right way in terms of its point of view? but What's your take on that? Well, don't know if we were quiet by design.
00:21:58
Speaker
i think we kept a lot of our focus on the work that we did and on focus on for our clients and also taking care of the crew. you know i think we approach this with a really small ego and it's more focused on how do we solve the problems of our clients?
00:22:16
Speaker
How do we continue to do really high quality work? How do we take care of our crew as best we can?
Proactive Leadership During COVID-19
00:22:22
Speaker
And I think that was the mentality for the white paper that we did our way forward during beginning parts of the pandemic was things shut down in mid-March and we had projects that were in the pipeline and we realized that we need to take care of our people.
00:22:40
Speaker
How are we going to do that? How do we continue working? How do we solve the client's problems who are not going away? And I really have to give the credit to Courtney. She was the one that said, we have to do something. We need to put together a path. How do we do this? And so it was a few conversations that we had around, okay, well, what should we do? And then we kind of built the steps around this. We started doing a bunch of research. We started talking to lawyers. We did a bunch of writing and started to put the shape together of a 40 page document of
00:23:11
Speaker
here's our idea. Here's kind of what we think. And think it took us, can't remember exactly how long it took us, probably a couple, like a month or so, a month and a half, two months to put it together and then just send it out to everybody we knew.
00:23:22
Speaker
I sent it to every state film office. I sent it to every studio. I sent it to other production companies. I sent it to every crew person that I knew all across the country and even around the world.
00:23:32
Speaker
And then we sent it to clients. We're like, hey, here's this. It was with that same intention of, well, how do we continue? There are going to be a lot of people who are going to need to continue to work. No one can just like stop working and take all this time off. And it turned into a lot of companies kind of turned it around and said, great, help us take care of this. How do we do this?
00:23:53
Speaker
And we were able to bring a lot of people back to work. It was difficult as everyone knows and challenging, but we got back to business. And I'm really, really proud of that document. I'm proud of all the work that went into it, not only from the content, the conversations, the legal conversations we had, the logistical conversations on how to do this, the design of it and everything. I'm super proud.
00:24:16
Speaker
I'm proud of it, too. I remember when it started getting legs and really being passed around as the kind of this industry-leading idea of how we can continue to work in this situation. It was so cool. And I think of it as just a great example, again, about being the kind of company who isn't always out in the spotlight. or you know i you know I'll talk to talk to production companies or agencies, and I'll say, hey, why are you not marketing? Well, we're not that kind of company.
00:24:40
Speaker
You know, we're not the kind we're not the kind of that's putting ourselves out there all the time. Okay. You may not be all the time, but there should be times when you do it.
Embracing Change and Trusting Instincts
00:24:46
Speaker
There should be times when you do put yourselves out there. And I would say you have to put yourselves out there, even if you're not the kind of company that does it.
00:24:54
Speaker
Find your spot, find your moment, listen to your gut. I don't know what it is. i mean, it seems like with you, you're not planning for them. You're just really got your kind of finger in the air and you're kind of paying attention. And then when something feels right, you just jump.
00:25:07
Speaker
Imagine that a lot of other people are feeling that that you know they probably have those same moments. Maybe they're acting, maybe they're not. But the takeaway that I want people to have from these kinds of stories is to act, to do it.
00:25:18
Speaker
It serves them well. You have to trust your gut. you know Your gut will tell you what to do long before you have the gumption to actually do it. And I'm pretty attuned to that.
00:25:29
Speaker
I've really trusted my gut with every step that I've taken through my career, from packing up my car to go to l LA, to packing them out of my bags to go to New York, to packing up the bags to come back to Seattle.
00:25:41
Speaker
And even every little step along the way, different projects that you would do, things that you would agree to. you know When you're producing big advertising fashion in New York and you're working with big name photographers, asking huge amounts of logistics and things to kind of pull off,
00:25:57
Speaker
You know, the first time I shut down a New York street and had it covered in snow was ah really proud moment. You're like, oh, I can do these different things. And so you just you just trust yourself and you have to trust your gut and you have to be willing to leap.
00:26:11
Speaker
And my endless curiosity just kind of draws me to that place where I just want to know, well, what if? What if we try this? And what if we do this? And again, I have to give a lot of credit to to my business partners, Michael and Courtney. They give me a tremendous amount of confidence and courage to be willing to go do that. Being mindful to risk, you still have to kind of keep it within you know the fence posts, but you can always look over and try.
00:26:35
Speaker
Well, the takeaway is that when you try and you do these things, they're successful. And you've been really really successful with this. So why would you even think about hiring somebody like me as a consultant to help you do biz dev? Are you crazy? You're doing just fine. Who would want to just hang with James? I mean, come on.
00:26:49
Speaker
I mean, you've known each other for a very long time. I have a huge amount of respect for you. And we can almost turn this around and talk about change is hard for you as well. That's true. That's true. I have those stories. Yeah. Who wouldn't want to hang out with you, James?
00:27:01
Speaker
Well, and pay me on top of it. I mean, yes you know, but when we first started talking about, you know, what can I do to help?
00:27:12
Speaker
I remember quickly learning that you're doing quite well and you're doing a lot of things right. And the first thing that came to mind for me was do no harm. Like, just don't mess this up. yeah You know, like we can tweak a little bit here and there, but I just think it's you know, once again, change is hard, you know, systems or points of view or learning new tricks when the the old tricks have been doing just fine or the biz dev happens because the phone rings and our reputation is good. And so that's fine. That works for us. Changing that to actually we're going to go out there and drum up business now. We're going to tell people why we think we can help them and have that approach. Like what's got in India? at what How's this? How's this thinking serving you right now?
00:27:53
Speaker
Things have been going well, but my endless curiosity has me just thinking there is another way. There is more that we can learn. Part of that endless curiosity is I do want to learn more.
00:28:05
Speaker
You know, being a follower of Blair and David Baker and knowing that hey, there's something here. There's some new things that I think we should try. How do I incorporate some of those types of things? We've had conversations internally about some of these different things. And it really wasn't until you and I connected again and found so much common ground on what I was thinking about, things that i wanted to try, things that I wanted to talk about, how much you knew exactly what I wanted to do, how we could implement that.
00:28:35
Speaker
I mean, it's like you and I just instantly reconnected again, got in the fast lane and we're like, oh, this just makes sense. This is great. And so change is hard in this respect. It's like, to me, this didn't feel super hard.
00:28:48
Speaker
I mean, it's change, but it's also like, oh, this is really exciting. This is a whole nother chance to learn, to grow. And I'm excited to share this with Michael and Courtney. And I think that there's someone else who could articulate that in a much better way.
00:29:01
Speaker
It was less about, hey, let's completely pivot and try something new. How do we augment what's already working? How can we refine? And could there be some new things that we could add to our toolbox that might help?
00:29:16
Speaker
One of my favorite things that you added that I try to get every client I work with to incorporate. And if you're listening to this, you're not doing this, take the time to develop it. And that is a newsletter, develop a newsletter. It's one of my top goals when working with clients. Can I get them to actually publish a monthly newsletter that represents their thinking, their clients' needs, all of those types of things in a way that they feel really proud of.
00:29:42
Speaker
And you did it. You went along with me you and created this. Not only did you make a newsletter, you turned it into this magazine. And not only did you publish it monthly, you developed a physical version of it that you gave out at the end of the year with all these gifts to clients. And I mean, you took what I hope to be and made it like my poster child of dreams.
00:30:01
Speaker
It's so good. But so many people don't know how to do a newsletter. it's ah It seems like a but trivial thing, but it's not. It's really, I think, hard to develop a newsletter, to think about your voices, and then to actually put the systems together, have it work, segment audiences, all those kinds of things, and then put it out there for the world and kind of go. So talk about your experience developing a newsletter.
00:30:23
Speaker
No, you're right. it's It is a lot of work. And I've had a love-hate relationship with newsletters for a very long time. They've always felt very, show me the work, show me the work, show me the work, show me the work. And and they didn't really have a depth of what what I found very interesting.
00:30:38
Speaker
And it was hard for me to think about how we could do that for us. And you know this is where like my business partners were kind of pushing to be like, let's send one out, let's send one out. i couldn't quite figure out in my head, how do we do that?
00:30:53
Speaker
How do i make this something that's really interesting, useful, and really gives the voice of who we are? And so when you were with us and we were talking through kind of what this could be, and we kind of, you know, the different ideas of it, and you kind of put that hole out there. And I looked across the table, i was just like,
00:31:09
Speaker
Oh, man. Oh, God. Okay. It just took me thinking about it differently. And when I changed it in my mind from being a newsletter to a magazine, i was kind of taken right back to my New York days of fashion, what I loved about those shoots, what I loved about advertising.
00:31:26
Speaker
Always wanted to make a magazine. Always wanted to be a part of a magazine, making something printed like that. And it just clicked. And what I love about our company and our office is anybody who comes into our space, the first thing you see is our kitchen bar area. It's a third of our entire office. It's where everybody meets, everybody congregates. We've tried to make our office more like a living room than just an office. And so when people come in and we have these conversations, we talk about all sorts of things, not just the work.
00:31:57
Speaker
What are they like? What's their favorite coffee? Where have they traveled to? do they love about fashion? What do they love about travel? So it's it's really this, how do we take the conversations that we have at that bar and kitchen that we have with outside people, but also internally, and put that into something that we can then send out?
00:32:15
Speaker
Because then it's so much more of our voice. And it's less about, we did this work, we did this work, we did this work, which to me feels very surface important. But I want to share something more than just, here's the work, here's the great work, here's the great work.
00:32:30
Speaker
The work has to be good. It has to be top level and that's a given. But what else can we give? What else can we share? The personalities of all of us in the office, Michael, Courtney, McKenna, our head of production, and Madeline, our coordinator, we are so unique and so different. How can we put something like that out to the world?
00:32:50
Speaker
And it's turned from being something that's been laborious and a difficult lift into something that is so exciting to do and so much fun to make that it's we get to make our own little magazine. It's fantastic.
00:33:02
Speaker
and And the printed piece that we sent out over the holidays was really great. have to admit it was the idea of my daughter, Tatum, who is also going into production, which I'm super excited about. But she she threw that idea out there and I was like, it just kind of clicked.
00:33:15
Speaker
And I'm super proud of all of this. I'm so proud of the company and what we do and what we've built together that putting these pieces out there has been so exciting because I'm just so proud of it.
00:33:28
Speaker
It's a fantastic job at doing a newsletter and taking it to the next level. You know, I think one of the things that I would characterize content partners and how they do business, how you do business you know, it is through relationships. That's one of the driving ways you develop relationships with clients. You don't really think of your clients as the brand. You think of your clients as the people and which is the right way. And you really work hard on developing the relationships and your newsletter work reflects that.
00:33:51
Speaker
It really reflects people getting to know each other and the personalities and the point of view and the you know approach to work and approach to life and who we are. And it develops that. And I think that's a great magnification of your instincts. to you know And that's what I think people need to do when they're developing a newsletter. What is it about you?
00:34:09
Speaker
It may not be that way for everything, but you have to identify that thing and then go for it. Just do it. Own it. It's one of the best pieces of biz dev that you could possibly do. Would you say it's been working for you in any practical way?
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's been really fun to see the responses to it. It's one of those, you're like, you just kind of put it together. It takes a huge amount of work and design to have it fit. And then you just kind of put it out there.
00:34:31
Speaker
And the minute it goes out, I'm on to the next one and kind of thinking about what are the things down the road. But it's it's always fun to get a response, an unexpected response, or someone kind of reads this piece.
00:34:42
Speaker
It's very satisfying. At the same time, it's it's kind of those We're just going to continue doing it. I'm not really thinking about that one. I'm thinking about the 48th one, the 50th one. How do we do this and keep it sustainable?
00:34:54
Speaker
One of the things that I love to bring to clients is to, i have this, um I'm a very action oriented person. I'm a bias for action. And that's my biz dev point of view. And in order to have action, you have to have organization. You have to know what the hell you're doing. You have to have everything set up with systems to make it work. And so I come in usually with a client and I came in with you and, you know, everyone has had their system and maybe it's spreadsheets, maybe it's this database, it's this production software, whatever it might be. People are using native apps for mail systems. And then I come in to say, we need to have a system. Copper is my go-to system. And I do all the integrations with Copper. It's all web-based. I make you move from this to that. It's all transparent.
00:35:34
Speaker
You know, there's processes and stages and you have to do this. That's I actually find a lot of friction there, you know, where people are like, I don't want to have to change my workflow. I don't want to have to change how I do. I don't want to change my program, my app, my tool.
00:35:48
Speaker
And you have to, of course, you know, for the way I built it. And you guys did it. The whole team just in like I was so impressed with. Even though there was some resistance and some concerns and caution, it's been adopted across the whole from from the kind of sales work to delivery work and production. I just think it's been great.
00:36:05
Speaker
From my point of view, it looks really good. Well, you're very convincing, James. You're very, very convincing. Is it is that true from yours? ah Yeah, that's been, you know, I'm a creative guy.
00:36:16
Speaker
And so forms and structures and processes sometimes are difficult for me, but they're so necessary to an efficient system. And this is where you can pull McKenna into this part as our head of production.
00:36:29
Speaker
It's been really great for all of us to have trackable system, to know what is happening, how we place it in the pipeline, all the different kinds of pipelines, whether it's marketing or sales or or post. It's been really, really insightful for us.
00:36:44
Speaker
Frustrating, yes, to change from from the ways that you had it ingrained before. But you know it's that same same mindset that change is inevitable. And if you embrace it and you have a good coach like you who kind of talked us through and helped to get us to the right processes for us to to see it and understand it, I have no complaints. It's absolutely fantastic.
00:37:06
Speaker
One of the things that you said to me that made me feel like it was working was maybe you'd been in it for a few weeks and the team was using it and we were kind of getting familiar with everything. And you like, I feel so modern, so fast.
00:37:18
Speaker
like That's what I'm looking for. you know Feeling modern, feeling fast, feeling creative, empowered, efficient, not burdened, not more work, but less work, clear work, always knowing what you're doing, knowing what everyone else is doing. Legacy is all built in. you don't have to search for it. you know Things are easier, not harder. That's the goal, we've known each other for a very long time. And so we were able to pick right up and we've got such a good relationship too. And we all understood and came to the table with the idea that, okay, we're going to learn some new things and we're going to try some new things. And
00:37:52
Speaker
I think it's a testament to how well you know the system and how well you understand what we do, that you're able to find a way to integrate those processes with us.
00:38:04
Speaker
You fit with us really, really well and understand how we operate. And we're able to tailor it to kind of what we needed as well. And it was a process. you know We spent you know months together working through this and talking through it and stumbling at first and then figuring it out and continuing to refine. And it just takes it takes time. But you have to be open and willing to learn, grow, challenge yourself.
00:38:30
Speaker
And just because we've been around close to 20 years doesn't mean that we can't learn new things and refine our processes. I think that's integral to being a successful company and being good to ourselves and being mindful of the new technologies that are out there.
00:38:45
Speaker
How can it benefit the company? How can we continue to do high quality work and continue to to take care of our people and our office in a way, but at the same time, try some new things, improve and track things a bit easier.
00:39:00
Speaker
Learn a few things. Well, thank you for saying that. I've enjoyed this quite a bit working with you. and You've just been such a willing participant. It's been awesome. The big ad for James. I love it. Enough about me.
00:39:12
Speaker
about you? What do you think of me? Let's get back to you, James. I'll pay you after the show. um I'm curious in wrapping this thing up. What change do you think about in the future that you might have to make or excited about making or opportunities that are brewing within you now, you know, that are going to continue serving you for another 20 years?
00:39:34
Speaker
Well, not going to give away any ideas that I have on my in my notebook, but I think it's just the the continued willingness to think differently, be open to change, be open to taking risks, and be willing to have conversations. with all kinds of different people around what's happening, what does the future hold, and being very attuned to who you're working with.
00:39:59
Speaker
you know I can't stress enough the fact of the partnership and camaraderie and relationship that I have with Michael and Courtney and McKenna and and Madeline and our team is so important and I'm so proud of it.
00:40:14
Speaker
That relationship is just as important as any client relationship that we have. And I think that's a really unique place for us to be, that we care enough about what we're doing to approach the care that we're gonna give our clients.
00:40:25
Speaker
And my whole curiosity that I have for everything is really how I approach every day of what are we doing? How can we improve? What is new?
00:40:36
Speaker
And that's what I'm most excited about. I'm most excited about what I don't know yet and what is gonna be coming down the road. And I'm very proud of where we've come. I'm very proud of who we continue to be.
00:40:50
Speaker
and um No, i'm I'm very, very grateful and very, very thankful. I love that we're in the Northwest. It's a great place to be. i love the crews that we get to work with. I love that just because we're based in the Northwest, I mean, we work all over the globe.
00:41:03
Speaker
And I have just as much love for production today
Podcast Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:41:07
Speaker
as those very early days when I was getting to work on Warner's lot and Paramount and just being that little kid of like, I can't believe I get to do this. I absolutely feel that same way today.
00:41:18
Speaker
Well, I think as ah markets inevitably change and new things come online, like AI, there's going to be survivors of all of this. And i would I'd bet on you surviving it ah just based on what I've seen the past 20 years. And I want to thank you, Craig Brooks, for sharing all of these insights and these stories that hopefully let people know that, yes, change is hard, but it's worth it.
00:41:39
Speaker
take those risks, do it. Certainly like any musician, you make it look like any great musician, you make it look much easier than it is, but it's worth it. It's worth that hard work. And so thanks for coming on the show and sharing all this.
00:41:51
Speaker
Thanks for having me. I'm, I always enjoy our conversations and our chats. I look forward to many more. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Crossing the Axis with James Keblis.
00:42:03
Speaker
If you're interested in joining the conversation or have a topic you'd like covered, please drop a note at keblis.com. That's K-E-B-L-A-S e b l a s dot com