How I made $1.4 mil a year but still Broke, part 2, - Growth , Betrayal and What now? FilmNeverDie
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker shares their journey of growing a business to $1.4 million, despite financial struggles. They recount the establishment of a photography hub and the expansion into film development, funded by a Kickstarter campaign. The narrative takes a turn with the betrayal by staff, leading to a discussion on the importance of trust and gut feelings in leadership. The speaker emphasizes the value of reinvesting in the business, the abundance mindset, and the significance of creating innovative products like the CP800 film processor. They conclude with a focus on providing value and continuous improvement, rather than engaging in price wars.
Takeaways
- 📈 The business started in a shared space at 640 B Street, Eliza TC building, and later expanded to level one of the same building.
- 💼 The opportunity to expand came with the acquisition of film developing machines, funded through a Kickstarter campaign.
- 🏢 They were fortunate to have a landlord who only charged minimum rent, allowing for business growth without high overheads.
- 🔧 The business faced betrayal from staff, including a wedding photographer and a groomsman, which was a significant setback.
- 🌱 The importance of trust in leadership was emphasized, along with the advice to trust one's gut feeling when it comes to personnel decisions.
- 💡 The speaker learned to invest aggressively back into the business, citing Microsoft's early reluctance to invest in cloud computing as a cautionary tale.
- 🤝 The concept of an 'abundance mindset' was introduced, suggesting that there's enough success to go around and that helping others can benefit everyone.
- 📸 The business is focused on providing high-quality film cameras and services, including a new camera line named 'Nana Camera'.
- 💼 The company has developed its own film processing machines, the CP800, and made the design open source to encourage community involvement.
- 🚀 The speaker emphasized the importance of innovation and not just focusing on being the cheapest, but on adding value and improving the customer experience.
Q & A
What was the initial business opportunity that the speaker was invited to participate in?
-The speaker was invited by Michael and Susan Silva to 640 B Street, Eliza TC building, to have their camera café and shop.
What additional business did the speaker decide to expand into and why?
-The speaker decided to expand into film developing by offering some film developing machines, as they thought it would be a good complementary business to their current camera business.
How did the speaker raise funds for the film developing machines?
-The speaker raised funds through a Kickstarter campaign to buy the machines for 640 B Street, level one, all Australia Post building.
What was the advantage of the rental agreement at 640 Buck Street for the speaker's business?
-The advantage was that the speaker only paid minimum rent without outgoings, and the contract was month by month, which allowed flexibility in case they needed to move due to building permits for a skyscraper.
What was the first heartbreaking moment the speaker experienced in their business?
-The first heartbreaking moment was when some staff, including the speaker's wedding photographer and groomsman, started to betray them behind their back and build a lab behind their back.
What advice does the speaker give regarding trusting people in business?
-The speaker advises to trust people but also to trust one's gut feeling. If there's a feeling that someone might not work out, it's better to cut losses and move on.
Why did the speaker invest half a million dollars into the development of the CPA 800 compact processor?
-The speaker invested in the CPA 800 compact processor to continue the creation of new film processor machines and to spur the community together, even making it open source.
What is the importance of the 'abundance mindset' as mentioned by the speaker?
-The 'abundance mindset' is important because it recognizes that there is more opportunity than one can think of, and it's not a zero-sum game. It encourages business leaders to unlock new markets and blaze new paths.
What is the significance of the Nana camera in the speaker's business?
-The Nana camera is significant because it represents a high-quality, pure film camera that is easy to use and takes amazing photos, which is crucial for the future of film photography.
What is the speaker's approach to competition and pricing in their business?
-The speaker's approach is not to get into a price war but to focus on adding value to people and providing a better experience through better processors, apps, delivery systems, and customer service.
How does the speaker encourage continuous improvement within their business?
-The speaker encourages continuous improvement by challenging the team to identify one thing they can improve each week, leading to 52 improvements in a year.
Outlines
📈 Growth and Betrayal in Business Expansion
The speaker begins by welcoming viewers back to the channel and diving into part two of their series on achieving significant financial success despite facing challenges. They recount their journey of establishing a camera cafe and shop at 640 B Street, Eliza TC building, and their collaboration with Michael and Susan Silva. The partnership aimed to create a photography hub, but the speaker soon pursued an opportunity to expand by investing in film developing machines through a Kickstarter campaign. They moved to a new location within the same building, benefiting from a flexible month-to-month lease. However, they faced a heartbreaking betrayal by staff members, including a wedding photographer and a groomsman, who secretly set up a competing lab. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trust in leadership but also the need to trust one's intuition when it comes to personnel decisions. They advise cutting losses early if there's a gut feeling that someone may not be a good fit. The speaker concludes by stressing the value of focusing on one's own business growth rather than engaging in destructive competition.
💼 Investing in the Future and the Importance of Mindset
The speaker shares lessons learned from their aggressive approach to reinvesting profits back into the business, citing Microsoft's early dividend payout as a cautionary tale. They emphasize the need to continuously innovate and invest in the future, such as their decision to invest in the development of a new film processor machine, the CP 800. Despite a failed Kickstarter campaign, they remain committed to improving this machine and have made it open source to encourage community collaboration. The speaker also discusses the importance of adopting an abundance mindset, suggesting that there is plenty of opportunity for everyone and that a rising tide lifts all boats. They express a willingness to support former staff who have started their own labs, reflecting a belief in the potential for mutual growth within the industry. The speaker also introduces the Nana camera, a new product designed for ease of use and high-quality photography, and discusses the development of supporting software and platforms to enhance the film processing and delivery experience.
🚀 Prioritizing Improvement and Long-term Success
In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on their philosophy of continuous improvement, focusing on incremental weekly progress that accumulates to significant annual growth. They stress the importance of not getting caught up in price wars and instead aim to provide value and superior customer experiences. The speaker encourages their team to identify one area of improvement each week, leading to 52 enhancements over the course of a year. They advocate for a mindset that focuses on self-improvement and innovation rather than on competing with others. The speaker concludes by reiterating their commitment to being the best in their field and to enduring in the long term, emphasizing the importance of providing exceptional service and products to their customers.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Photography Hub
💡Film Developing
💡Kickstarter
💡Betrayal
💡Leadership
💡Reinvestment
💡Abundance Mindset
💡CPA 800 Compact Processor
💡Community
💡Nana Camera
💡Value Addition
Highlights
The channel's part two series discusses the journey of making $1.4 million and the challenges faced.
The opportunity to expand the business with film developing machines was explored.
A Kickstarter campaign was initiated to raise funds for purchasing the machines.
The business was able to secure a rent-friendly location at 640 B Street, thanks to a supportive landlord.
The company experienced betrayal by staff, including a wedding photographer and groomsman, which was emotionally challenging.
The importance of trusting one's gut feeling in leadership was emphasized.
The concept of 'running your own race' and focusing on self-improvement was discussed.
The necessity of investing in the future and not just in the present was highlighted with the Microsoft story as an example.
The company's investment in a new film processor machine, the CP 800, was detailed.
The idea of an 'abundance mindset' in business was introduced, suggesting that there's more opportunity than one can imagine.
The company's philosophy of not engaging in price wars but focusing on adding value was explained.
The development of a new camera, the Nana camera, was announced, aiming to provide a high-quality, user-friendly experience.
The company's commitment to reinvesting profits into future projects was stated.
The importance of continuous improvement and focusing on one's own business rather than competitors was stressed.
The speaker concluded with a call to action for others to join in the company's mission and to focus on collective growth.
Transcripts
hi everyone welcome back to the channel
today we are doing the part two series
of how I make $1.4 million but it still
broke so we're very quickly talking
about how we grow how we will betray and
where we are today so we were invited by
Michael and suzan Silva to 640 B Street
Eliza TC building initially at level two
to actually have our camera Cafe and our
shop which is pretty cool my and runs
magnet Gallery which has which is a very
nice photo gallery and they also run uh
photonet fin art printing so with a
combination of them and us it would be a
very nice photography
Hub um but then after a while we got the
opportunity to actually expand our
business we will offer some film
developing machine and we thought oh
this is going to be a very good
complimentary business into our current
camera business and film so we did a
Kickstarter raise some money so that we
can actually buy the machine to 640 bu
St level one all Australia Post building
we are very lucky to meet some amazing
land lot where we only pay minimum rent
without goings uh which is great the
contract is month by
month uh because whenever the building
permit comes in to build a skyscraper
then we will need to move so we are very
fortunate to have good opportunity to
grow the business in 640 Buck Street you
can see some of the event we did here
and just about this period is when um we
experienced our first very heartbreaking
moment our first heartbreaking moment
where some of our staff started to
betray us behind our back and S build a
lab behind our back um one of them is my
wedding photographer and another one is
my groomsman as you can imagine how
heartbreaking that was um to be honest
this was probably
almost almost 10 years ago or 7 eight
years ago and only recently we just
recovered from this incident and started
to forgive them fully um it's very
heartbreaking um they even started
sabotage my reputation and F reputation
but I remember wise men once say that
never go wrestle with a pig because you
both get muddy and a pig lies it so
that's a very good saying where I just
run my own race look at my lane and just
keep being honest with myself and see
how I can do better one thing that very
important in leadership is trust as much
as we need to put trust in people we
also need trust our gut feeling because
sometimes you have the tingling feeling
that that one or two person might not
work out if you have that feeling and if
you're contemplating that my advice is
just to cut your losses and move on
chances are it's probably be better for
you and that person that you're
struggling to let go because it's not a
good fit as simple as that the longer
you drag it out there just be more pain
and just miss opportunity so this is
where uh one of the lesson then is just
don't pick up anyone that walk into the
door but really do your due deligent and
really know their heart obviously the
bunch of people was not the right fit
and um and I know in the future they'll
cost a lot of hawor as well so it's
actually a good thing that they were
quickly Steven K mentioned that we need
to run our own race and also ass Simon C
always ask the question start with why
which is amazing because the the reason
why we want to be in business is we see
a gap in providing film cameras as well
as a place where you come and develop
your fi so that's super important and
being a place where it's welcoming a
safe space for anyone to ask any
question no ST big question and we just
want to give the best service from
choosing the camera to the film to
developing scanning and eventually do
community event like Photo walks and
exhibition together trust is a very
important commodity also it's one of the
community as a leader we need to put in
first because often and this happens to
me very often that we'll be training and
putting the best into everyone but not
everyone will stay with you till the end
and often only a few of them do but as a
leader if you don't put that anti of
trust in them you won't grow you will
probably be a Onan operation burning out
and wondering why you can't get it off
the ground because the business is just
more than one person or two it's
actually a team of collective people
with a Shar journey and share motor and
share e talks to how to make this work
so as a leader I can run very fast but
if I'm not running with my team then
that's a
problem so you definitely be
disappointed trust me you will always
want to be the best you want to treat
them as the best friend and everything
you even pay them first and pay yourself
last we need to be smart on how we
choose the right people and just get the
right people get the right people on the
bus get the wrong people off the bus and
get the right people in the right seat
in the bus which is very important so
another lesson I learned is I've been
very aggressive in investing back into
the business one of the story that
always stuck with me was the Microsoft
story where in 2003 when they first
started to pay dividends the share price
dropped not only that but they also did
not have the vision to invest in cloud
computing and as a result for the next
10 years they were playing catchup so
whenever you have money and not
investing in the future this is where
there's a problem and in film as we rely
so much on Old developer and scanners
it's only natural that we need to start
making our own machine again so we s
about half a million dollars actually in
our CPA 800 compact processor
800 purpose to continue the creation of
new film processor machine we even made
it open source because if we don't want
to do that anymore someone can pick it
up and also we want to Spur the
community together so that we can
improve this
together so we did Kickstarter on this
but we fail uh but I'm very pleased to
announce that we are still improving
this
machine another lesson or another Moto
that always been carrying with me is a
moto or the mindset of
abundance the abundance mindset is very
important for every Business Leaders The
Pie is not as small as you think and to
be
honest if the people that betray us come
to us to say hey we want to open a new
lab I'll say no problem I'm more than
happy to support them as how I supported
some of these businesses
below the pie is always bigger than you
can chew and guess what met a rising
tide raises all boats meaning that if
there's more More film that's around
more people know about them and the
industry as a whole would become better
so please but the mindset is important
because there's way more out there than
you can think of it's not a zero sum
game the build is how we can unlock new
markets and go into places where no one
been how we can unlock new markets and
go somewhere no one has been and TR blaz
A New Path which is what we're doing
with the CP Andro and also our Nana
camera which is important because that's
as a place where we sell so many
secondhand cameras we know the only way
to make this and give Fil A much more
future is having a very good quality
pure camera that's why we have Nana
camera same name as Nana my
daughter and the idea is that you have a
metal body
aspherical lens motorized camera that is
just easy to use and take amazing
photos so with the new camera cp800 uh
the compact
processor and also the back end system
and the app we build to catalog film and
also the app we build to deliver photos
not to mention the software as a surface
platform we built to support
labs on how we can catalog film and
automate film and scan s out it's going
to be crucial for the future and if
anyone want to use our service or
platform please hit us up because we're
all about doing this
together so I just want to finish off
with the fact that we made 1.4 million
but I reinvest all the money and all in
on the next project and more to come
we have a great bunch of people working
with us and hot on my hand I want to be
the best out there in providing what we
can provide another thing I learned very
quickly is don't get into priz game this
is not a place where I want to be the
cheapest and just go on prize for to see
who can race to the bottom I want to be
a business where we can add value to
people and give people the ability to
enjoy a better experience whereas to
have better processor a better app
delivering system or just a better
customer service I always tell my team
what's the one thing that we can improve
this week if we can improve one thing in
a week 52 weeks down the road we improve
52 things which is one year so look at
what we need to do and how we need to uh
improve instead of going going around
and see what our competitors doing is
through
that's what I challenge everyone to do
is just to see how we can improve
ourselves run our own race don't really
need to uh comments or critic what other
people doing if people want to do it
think cheaper they have their way but I
just want to be in here to be the best
and to be here to last the longest thank
you m come
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