874: The HUMAN TRUTH behind video content that moves your customers w/ William Rossiter

0:00 Hey, what is up? Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast. As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and we are all in for a real treat today, because we have not only an amazing entrepreneur but an incredibly talented strategist and visionary when it comes to sparking conversations in business, and he does it through a medium that is so near and dear to my heart when it comes to content, and especially video production. So let me tell you about today's guest. His name is William Rossiter. For over 10 years as the director of Slice, william and his team have brought expertise all the way from the introduction of an idea through production and finishing out through the post-production process, working with local, national and international clients over multiple languages.

0:44 I for sure want to ask William about that today. Focused on the idea. Now, williams Company Slice is a production and post-production company that is idea-centric focused. They provide video, photos and media for various mediums, including broadcast, social, internet, reels and multimedia. Most importantly, when I was going through William's work, one part of his work that I think really affects every single one of our businesses is that they say we don't just create video, we spark conversations. William thinks about this stuff so differently. We're all going to glean incredible insights from him today, so I'm not going to say anything else. Let's dive straight into my interview with William Rossiter. Not going to say anything else, let's dive straight into my interview with William Rossiter.

1:27 All right, william, I am so excited that you're here with us today. Welcome to the show, thank you. Thank you for having me. Heck yeah, listeners won't know this, but you and I have already connected the dots that we are really neighbors here in Tampa, florida, which is super exciting for me. Yes, it's a great city and I advise anybody who hasn't at least visited to come down and check it out. It's grown so much over the years and there's a lot to do and it's a really bustling city. Heck yeah, and it's right there on the homepage of your website. From Tampa to Tokyo and everywhere in between, william, you've got to take us beyond the bio, because I am such a big fan of all the things that you and your company are up to. But who the heck is William? How did you get into all this awesome stuff?

2:08 You know it's funny because everybody always asks me that same question, right, like how did you get into the business? And I always tell them the same thing. It's like I have no idea, but that's always a good thing for me. Growing up, when I was very young actually in high school days I had my own web design company and I thought I was, that's what I was going to do. I was going to become a web designer, and then there was a agency down here in Tampa that I really wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately, I never nailed the interview process there, but I did say, hey, you know, I'll intern for free. And that's exactly what I did. I just interned, I worked, butt off, and one day my boss comes up to me and says, hey, we have a party coming up, can you do a video for it?

2:50 And as an intern, you just say yes to everything. And that's exactly what was my attitude. So I said, yeah, I know. Yeah, sure, and of course I had no idea what I was doing. But I learned overnight and ever since then I've been doing it and I kind of fell in love with it. So, yeah, that's how it kind of got started, that's how I kind of got into the video business that way. Yeah, I love that, william, because I kind of feel the same way. You and I, I'm sure that we were at the earlier edge of the internet and all of so many different shifts in the way that business works, the way that marketing works. When I started my first business when I was 19, it was purely because it was for fun. To be honest, everyone always wants some aha moment or some just catalyst that sparked my entrepreneurial journey.

3:33 It was two o'clock in the morning and I found blogspotcom and I started a free blog, and the rest is history. I so relate to that, william. I think it's fascinating. When I look back at these unintentional businesses that we started, I feel like we go through so many more evolutionary processes because of the fact that we did kind of fall into it. Talk to us about those beginning days, what it looked like then, because I think that your messaging, the output that your company Slice creates it looks so polished, william, and we're going to get there, but I know that it wasn't always that way. So take us back to the beginning days. Yeah, well, our belief at Slice has always been idea-centric.

4:13 So what does that mean? Right, that means a lot of people who do a lot of similar things that we do are very obsessed with the tools of the trade. This is a common thing that we find, right. They're obsessed with whatever the new camera is, whatever the new lenses are, what you know how we execute it. Our philosophy has always been different. We get obsessed with the why. It's kind of the idea, the core. We call it the. You know, the human truth. There's always a kernel of human truth when it comes to that. So, whether you know, in my early days, when you know I didn't really have all the fancy cameras and all the fancy equipment, we did what we did, right? So what actually? One project in particular we bought a disposable camera from CBS.

4:57 It cost us seventy dollars, and we bought some board from board in a marker and went out and made a video and it turned into this glorious campaign for the company. So it actually turned out to be to make me realize that it doesn't really matter what you're doing or how it's coming across, or how low fi or how high fi it is. Really, it's the message and the idea that comes across that really resonates with your consumers. Yeah, I want to go a bit deeper there because, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. Of course. It's such at the core of your marketing and your positioning and your messaging out. There is that idea-centric focus. And, William, so many entrepreneurs, we are idea factories, we have so many different ideas that it's actually hard to dispel it into a clearly conveyed message or one singular idea or focus.

5:46 When you talk about ideas, how big are these ideas? How niched down, especially when we're talking about a video. A video should be focused around the idea. How big is that idea? How do we even start attacking what is at the core of it? Well, it really depends on what you're trying to convey, right. So at the core of it, there always is a human truth. So you know, one great example we always use is everybody down here knows Publix, right. Like Publix, it's where shopping is a pleasure, and one of their core ideas is it's all about the customer experience and it's not necessarily about you know the can of tomato sauce that you buy at the store and if it's 99 cents or not. Right, it's about when you take that tomato excuse me, tomato can sauce home and you make a nice dinner with your family and you spend quality time with your family.

6:34 And that's kind of the message that they want to get across. It's not so much what you can buy at the store, it's why you're buying it. That idea can be as big as the entire business mantra, or it could be as simple as a specific message, for instance, for the Homefront Foundation, the project we did that helps veterans. They came home and they had a hard time telling their story, so their message was very simple we just helped them tell it. That's their whole goal is they just help them tell it. So the whole video's idea is very simple we just help them tell it. They just that's their whole goal is they just help them tell it. So the whole video, the whole video's idea, is around that. So if you watch it, the veterans have struggled.

7:14 They struggle on camera to talk about their story. You actually don't hear any story from them and that's kind of the idea, right, like they can't tell their story and this foundation is what helps it. So the idea can be as granular as a simple objective you know, we want to do specifically this or as big as you know this is our entire philosophy for being in business. Yeah, I love that overview, especially because your examples are just rich with so many different types of businesses, business models, for-profits, non-profits and it's something I want to brag for you here on the air, william, is that your client portfolio. It's such an impressive array of brands, from Adidas to Southwest, to Bentley, to FedEx, to PayPal, home Depot.

7:56 You've already talked about Publix and, with all of those in mind, people might be thinking I'm going to pick on PayPal for a second. Obviously, paypal is a very cool company that has changed the world, but they are in the financial sector, which may or may not be the sexiest industry out there. And, william, you also come from the web design world. When you were young, that was one of your first businesses and a lot of people it's something I hear from listeners all the time is well, yeah, I make websites. I'm in WordPress every day. How can I tell that story on video? Take us there, because I know that you firmly are of the belief that this stuff transcends any industry and there's always you keep talking about that human truth behind it. How do we even navigate to find the crux of that messaging that's going to resonate with an audience?

8:41 Well, I mean there's and this is not an idea I've come up with, this is an idea that I've kind of learned over time. But I mean there's, there's, and this is not an idea I've come up with. This is an idea that I've I've kind of learned over time. But you know, there's the, the how, the what, the how and the why and what you do and how you do. It is very simple, right, it's I? You know, let's say, you're a tire shop and or you're you're a web designer. I design websites. How I do it is I use WordPress. But the real reason that people gravitate towards any business or any product or any service or anything that they take action is they fall in love with the why, and that's the core of everything. Why are you making websites? Are you making it so that it's easier for people with?

9:24 You know who people have trouble seeing color. Is that why you're doing it? Or are you making it easier so that people can access? You know their banking system? You mentioned PayPal. You know, if I were to design PayPal, the reason for me would be to make it easier for people around the world to connect with each other and to send financial transactions towards each other and that's the why, how and what you do. It is very simple and everybody can replicate it, but nobody can replicate your why, and I think that's something that's very important for people to figure out. It's different for everybody and if you can resonate that in whatever you're doing whether it's web design, video production, podcast interviews that will resonate with your consumer and customers and get you a fan base and get you people that really just basically advocate for whatever you're doing more than if you were just to put a billboard up.

10:21 Yeah, gosh, I so appreciate those insights, william, because for a lot of newer entrepreneurs especially, which is about half of our listener base, if you do feel like you are just one of many William called it out right there is that if you focus on the what and the how, then you're probably right. You are certainly not the only WordPress web designer out there, but if you focus on that, why love how clear you make it for us, william, which I guess leads us right into a core part of the way that slice shows up with your clients. It's collaboration is such a strong word everywhere that I went to look about your work and and behind that collaboration is really your attitude towards what it is that you do and how it is that you do it. Coming back to those two elements, is you articulate?

11:02 We speak the language of video globally. Now, I've been around a lot of amazing entrepreneurs in my life. Not all of them have fully embraced video just yet, william. What is the language of video? What's so special about video in today's world? Well, I think it's very cliche. But they say pictures are worth a thousand words. Then you wonder what video is right? It's got to be in. But they say pictures are worth a thousand words. Then you wonder what video is right? It's got to be in the trillions at least. I think what video does, is it? It lets the person who's doing it give you the exact emotion they want to get out of you. Now, everybody that views it may interpret that a little differently, right?

11:45 If it's a nonprofit, it might pull on your heartstrings a little more. If it's a consumer-facing product, it might make you laugh or might entertain you a bit more. It might make you laugh or might entertain you a bit more If it's a new vehicle, for instance, it might make you excited and might make you feel like you want to be on an adventure. And those are the kind of the emotions that I think every video people who create videos or want to be in the video space or, you know, video production have to really understand is, you know, we? It goes back to the why, but is? It goes back to the why, but it also goes back to the core human emotion. People act on their emotions.

12:26 They do not act on if something is on sale or whatever it may entice them to get in the door. But really people buy things based on emotions. The classic case of that again is, you know Apple versus Microsoft. And you know Apple. All they had to do was simplify their box and just say, hey, this is a computer, for this is an easy to use computer, and Microsoft's just talking about all their technical specs and people just started gravitating towards Apple at that point. So that's true for video production and ideas. And get down to the emotion of the video. Get down to what do you want the viewer to feel after it's said and done?

13:06 Yeah, and you bring up Apple as such a shiny example of this. They obviously have mastered the art of video use in their marketing. I swear any product of theirs that I see. It's the whole reason why I caved, william. I finally got an Apple Vision Pro. It's because that story that they tell you. I didn't just buy a virtual reality or augmented reality device, I bought a piece of the future, and seeing the way that that works is incredible. Take that down to the smaller business level for us, because I feel like Apple sets the bar so high that, rather than being inspiring and encouraging, it could be deflating for people saying gosh, I'm a million miles away from telling that story, william, what's that look like? For? Let's pick on the local tire shop, for example. How's a local tire shop going to compete with those Apple videos?

13:50 Well, it doesn't really matter how big or small you are, because the human truth is the human truth, right? It doesn't matter if you're a multi-billion dollar company or you're just on a few hundred bucks or you're just scraping by. Everybody has a human truth and I think that that's the most vital piece of advice I can give anybody or any business is come down to it. So, if you're a tire shop, one of the most frustrating things is when your tire goes down or you have a flat. Most people don't understand what's wrong. Right, they don't understand tires, they don't understand grooves, they don't really understand why it happens.

14:30 And I think a place like a tire shop message could simply just be let's take that kind of worry away from you so you can kind of worry about other things in life. That's just an example. That's not a solution by any means, but I think people misunderstand the fact that you don't need to spend millions and millions and billions of dollars to be able to get your message out. Well, that's great to be able to project it to more people. I think if you start at the core of your business and the message being what it is, your truth is or whatever that human truth is, to your business. It will resonate with customers and they're actually your best people to advertise for you.

15:15 Seeing a video online is great, but if you have a friend talking about you, I think that's worth more than the video you put out. Yeah, it's a really powerful point, especially because I'm going to you and I have already tooted Tampa's praises here today. But the one thing about Tampa is it's constantly under construction. So I recently picked up a nail in my tire and I had to go to a local tire shop who I got a full new set of tires all four new tires classic experience at the tire shop. But their warranties they made me feel at home. The tech who took care of me was just like hey, if you get another nail in your tire, we'll patch it or replace the tire for free. If your tire tread runs down before this amount of time, that's covered under warranty because we expect this.

15:55 And I just felt so taken care of that. When I left there I felt the human element of it. I forgot that I was there for tires and it was incredible to make that connection with them. Is there anything you want to add to that? Yeah, I was just going to say so. One another big thing we harp about, right, is it's not our job to sell the product for you, it's our job to get you to the door. So that's, that's part of the business. That's part of the thing that I think that a lot of businesses may or video production companies may not understand, right is we we don't pretend like we know your business better than you do, but what we can do is communicate your message clearer. We do understand how to how to project your message in a way that will resonate with our consumers and, like I said, our job is to get you to the door.

16:43 So, if you have a flat tire, we want to make sure that our message for that tire shop, for instance, is what resonates in your mind and it gets you to that tire shop. Now, once you're in the shop, our job is essentially done and it will be up to you in order for you to make a memorable experience inside of the shop. Yeah and I'm going to call this out because you may not be saying it explicitly, but I think it's so on display here in our conversation today is that part of your expertise behind video is so frequently in our conversation today. You keep using the word consumer, you keep talking about their benefits, and I feel like for all of us who are creating video or just creating any sort of content or even just marketing messaging for our businesses, is we always have a tendency to think about ourselves.

17:29 But, william, so frequently here, even with these off the on the fly examples, is that you're thinking about the consumer, and I think that's so revealing about the way that you approach this work the consumer and I think that's so revealing about the way that you approach this work, which I guess also leads us right into the next segue, which is talking about platforms, because a lot of people just want to force feed and I'm guilty of this, I'll call myself out here on the air is that when we started this podcast, I thought I could just upload the exact same stuff to every platform and it would work, and, of course, it doesn't work that way. So you work across platforms. William, what's your take on what is working across those platforms and, I guess, a little bit of insights. I know it's always changing. We don't like to get obsessed about the current platform of choice, but what are some of the things you see working right now?

18:14 Well, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. The different platforms have different audiences, right? I think your TikTokers and your Snapchatters are going to be different than your YouTubers, and your YouTubers are going to be different than your digital media people. Now, there is obviously a mix, and people who watch TikTok also watch YouTube, and that's true. But I think that, knowing your platform beforehand, I don't know if a long form video that works well on YouTube will also work really well on the reels or anything like that. It may hit every once in a while, but I think you have to think in terms of what are people gravitating towards?

18:55 How fast are they consuming the content? In TikTok, world, instagram reels, facebook reels? We're consuming content very fast, and so I think the trend has leaned towards, you know, hooking them really quickly and then explaining it later and there's plenty of examples of that and I won't get into all that. But YouTube, for example, you may want to educate yourself more, so YouTube may be a great place for someone who's looking to do some kind of series or some kind of longer form entertainment or educational video. You know TV, you, you may you, with the internet and data being basically today's gold, we can actually take the data and incorporate that into what video?

19:47 What message are we gonna get across? So say, you're watching Twitch and you're on a gaming stream. We could actually target gaming centric or things that may relate to the consumer or may relate to them easier than, let's just say, the traditional TV model. But even the TV model you could get down to an integrated there. So I think it really does depend on what platform you're on, and there is a big difference. I don't think that one size fits all anymore. I wish that was the case, because it would make our jobs a lot easier. But you know, this is the way of the world and we just got to ride with it. So the days of you know we talk about this, the days of million dollar budgets and you just do a 30 second commercial for the TV are long gone.

20:30 I think that you need to think about commercials in the TV space. But also, how does that message translate into a TikTok reel? How does that message translate into a TikTok reel? How does that message translate to a YouTube short or YouTube long form? And if you don't think that way, then I think you're going to be behind the curve. Yeah, and even just hearing the way that you think about these various platforms and using Twitch for an example, again you're thinking like a consumer. I've not watched Twitch and you've already made me feel like I'm not qualified to create content for twitch because I don't know the local customs and the norms on there and what people are used to. As someone who does scroll through tiktok every once in a while, I for sure I relate to that about that initial hook and then they do explain it later.

21:11 So I absolutely love the way that you think about that and I think it's so revealing in your work as well. About it's right on your website. I'm just going to read from your website for listeners is you guys wrote this is how we do it. We believe the magic happens throughout the entire process, not just at the finish line, and I think that speaks to your level of strategy and intention behind all of these things that you do. You've painted some of the contrast here today between the way that you all operate at Slice versus so many other video production companies that just view themselves as merely that we create video. We literally hit record behind a camera lens. Yeah, exactly, and I think the big thing on that exact point right is we don't pretend like we know their business, like they do. The reality is that whoever you're advertising with or doing video production with will know their business inside and out.

21:58 And a lot of people like to pretend like they know, for instance, like a flower shop. They pretend like they know a flower shop or they know what's best for the flower shop, and I think that collaboration process with your clients makes just for a much better product because, again, our job is to portray the message in the best way that they can, but not become flower specialists, not become tire specialists, not become specialists of their certain business. Our specialty is to be able to take their message and convey it the way that they want to. So if you're not working with your clients in a collaborative way, I think you're missing the mark in a big way. Yeah for sure. Well, let's dive straight into that collaboration, because I love it and I know that a lot of people probably haven't gone through all the three phases of video production, from pre-production to the actual production to post-production.

22:46 William, of course you could give us a masterclass on all three of those phases, but for people who have never gone through this with this level of strategy and intention, what do those phases look like with your clients? Sure. So I'll just lay down a very broad brain brush here. But pre-production would include things like understanding what the message is. That might include, like the script writing, kind of storyboard drawing. Some people like to plan out every shot, every little angle. They'll draw it out easily. It could look like a ransom note sketch is as bad as it could be. I can't draw to save my life, so that's what probably it would look like.

23:27 Or you can hire an illustrator to make it look a little more nicer. We do that a lot with Southwest. We basically draw out with someone who can actually draw to make things look the way we want, and so the client then understands what they're about to get into. The client understands the story and how it's going to may lay out. Now we're big on leaving a little bit of room in the post-production, which I'll get into in a second. But in the pre-production process we basically kind of give like a rough kind of shell or an outline of of how, how the production's going to go, um, and we plan out. You know our crew and things like that. You know, you got to understand. Do you need makeup? Do you need uh, you know, do you need lighting?

24:10 If you, if you have lighting, how many? How many crew on the lighting do you need? Do you need a grip and gaff? Do you need someone who just is focused on lighting, or do you need someone who's kind of a hybrid role? Do you need one, two, three, four cameras? What kind of setup it is? Audio is audio going to be a thing? These are all things you have to think about, and I think there's a lot of that. If you do a lot of your homework up front in the pre-production process, your production process is going to go way smoother. Now, that's not to say you're not going to get projects where you just need to kind of go and figure it out because we've done that too and we've definitely made lemonade out of lemons. But after the pre-production process, then you get into the production and that's kind of where the hard work comes down.

24:56 That's where you're doing the actual video production. That's when you're either working with the client or not working with the client, or you're just working with your crew. Everybody in the crew has to understand your vision or the objective of the vision. So it's important that everybody kind of is on the same page. That's why pre-production is such a huge part of production and I think that if you spend more time on pre-production, that I believe your production will go better. And then in post-production worlds you take all that and you actually make a thing. I say that very, you know, generally, but whatever thing it is you're making, whether it's a long form, short form, that's where you make it.

25:38 And then post-production it's its own world, and I think there needs to be some form of creative process in the post-production part, because things change during production. As much as you like to plan it out and things to happen the way you see it, the reality is most productions never go 100% to plan, and that's okay, it's not a bad thing by any means. And in the post-production world is where you can kind of play with that and even come up with even something new, so it kind of evolves and kind of morphs into something that you can be really proud of in the end. Yeah, I'm going to call all of us out, listeners is that if you haven't approached shooting video or creating content for your business with this level of intention that William just highlighted for us, you can see how difficult it would be.

26:28 And, of course, it is because we haven't done these steps that are laid out, and this is not unique to William. This is something that goes back to the beginning of Hollywood. Entertainment is that this has always been the intentional, strategic way to approach it. So, william, I so appreciate and love the overview that you've given to all of us here today. I would imagine that a lot of people want to ask you about the production process, because any of us can reach out our cameras and selfie mode and hit record on a video, and that's something that, if we haven't done the pre-production, like you shared with us, then we aren't prepared and it's not going to be as effective and certainly not as efficient. But with that in mind, let's talk about production for a second, because you use the Southwest example. If you're shooting a video with a pilot from Southwest, that guy or girl is amazing at being a pilot.

27:13 They're not amazing at being a spokesperson on video. What is it? Do you have some tricks in your sleeves that you can help people be more comfortable on video in those moments to bring out their authentic selves. Or what's your advice for business owners or for practitioners who may not be used to being on video? How the heck do we get comfortable and be our authentic selves on video? So it's funny. I just had this conversation with them recently. The great thing about the Southwest client, for example, is you're absolutely right, the people we are talking to are not on-screen talent. They're not models by any means. They're not voiceover actors, anything like that. They're pilots, they're flight attendants, they're gate agents, they're, you know, ramp up agents, and the great thing about them is you know, at the end of the day, they're just people.

28:03 And a lot of my strategy as a director comes into. You have to know and I think I think you're great at this too, I can already pick it up on you, you're great at this is you have to know the kind of subject that you're about to talk to them about. So, whether it's an onscreen interview or a podcast interview, you need to kind of know the framework of what you need to say, but at the end of the day's just a conversation. So a lot some directors that I've found do well reading off a piece of paper and it's kind of a questionnaire. I've never found that to be successful for me, so I don't actually bring any questions with me. I understand the subjects I need to understand too, and I understand the messages that I need to get across.

28:45 But we just have conversations with them, we just talk to them and and we may go off the beaten path a little bit, and that's okay. They may say things that you know the clients behind me go hey, wait, hold on, legal is going to freak out. And I was like it's okay, we'll, we'll, we'll deal with that in post-production. But it's nice to be able to get them kind of in a comfortable element. So we ask a lot of questions about the job or whatever objective it is. We just did, for instance, we did one about the winter update there and they were talking about their de-icing capabilities when it gets wintertime. And you know, I was just asking them about how do you love Chicago? Tell me more about Chicago, tell me what does it mean to be from Chicago compared to another city?

29:30 And the questions have nothing to do with the video in the end, but it kind of warms them up a little bit. It gets them to talk about themselves and get them kind of in a friendly conversation, kind of flow, and then from there you pick up questions as you go and you sort of over time segue into the different messages that you need to get across. But I'd say, the biggest advice for working with talent that's not really talent and not really a script is just have a conversation with them. But you really do need to know the content that you're about to get into beforehand, because if you don't know it then that won't go over as well as if you did. Yes, for sure.

30:11 So much of this comes back to that preparation and, william, those real life insights. I really appreciate it because I think for listeners it can be so intimidating seeing. You know, when we tune into a podcast interview. I get emails all the time and actually past guests have emailed, forwarded me emails where people are just like how did you guys pre-plan that conversation? And it really is exactly this a conversation, which is why listeners enjoy tuning in, because there are no pre-plan questions here and we are going where the conversation takes us, but we're trusting in our ability to do that. And where does that trust come from? Preparation? So I love those insights. Is there something you want to add to that, william? Well, brian, I was just going to say, like I think you're a great example of this, right, we don't.

30:52 I mean, let's be honest, we don't really know each other. This is the first time we're really kind of getting to know each other, but you're very passionate about what you do. You understand what it takes to be good, you know a good podcast, podcast interview. I can tell you're not just reading off a list of questions um, you understand the subjects you want to get and I think that makes for more authentic conversations. And I think it makes for more authentic um and your past interviews. It makes for more authentic questions and answers and you get the real truth out of people that way. Versus you know an interview, uh, you know, we're not. We're not doing a job interview here. We're trying to. We're trying to give people insights and we're trying to educate them a little bit and get them excited about being an entrepreneur. And that's part of the excitement is discovery and learning about people, and if you just realize that people are just humans and they just want to be talked to like a human, I think you'd be better off.

31:43 Yeah, I really appreciate those kind words, william. I really do, because that is such a core part of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast is that when I started my first business when I was 19, I mean, I was in college up in Boston and I was sitting in college classrooms not talking to anyone who had ever started a business and I was like, where can I be at the table and, even if I'm not engaged, at least listen in on real life conversations between entrepreneurs talking about the stuff that they're not willing to put on YouTube, that I'm not going to find in business books? So these are the real life insights that, yeah, we love bringing this to our audience, and I think that really one of the things that I wanted to ask you about this, because so many entrepreneurs are going to be sitting there and I'm excited for them to visit your website.

32:26 We're going to talk about your links in just a few minutes, but at slicecreatescom, your website showcases so much of the amazing work and the projects that you all have worked on. But looking through that list of editorial type content photography, broadcast commercial production, branding videos, social media content your everyday entrepreneur might be thinking well, what types of videos should I have in my business, like should I have a commercial? Should I have a home page video? William for small business owners, let's say all the entrepreneurs out there that are striving to reach for so many people. The first milestone is 10k a month. What's an effective first video that they can actually take action on and focus on for their business?

33:09 First video that they can take action on? Wow, that's a great question, I think. Well, I don't really know how to answer that specifically, but I think what would help is a lot of some of the younger I would say the younger people that I've run into get obsessed with, um, pitch work a lot and and it's great, it's. You know, pitch work is great and it's it's a great idea to just kind of do a video and if that's all you have, you don't actually have client work. That's that's great. But really, I think your ability to tell a story and it doesn't really, I said, it doesn't really matter what story it is um, you could tell the story of a non-profit. You could tell the story of a consumer I'm sorry, a consumer facing product.

33:53 You could tell the story of a, of a new product launch. I think, depending on what you want to do is is, if you want to be in, for instance, if you want to do short films, I would just focus on short films. If you want to do short films, I would just focus on short films. If you want to be in advertising, kind of like what Slice is kind of geared towards you just kind of need to have some advertising-focused videos and because a lot of we found a lot of the people who would be your clients, right, they're not very, they're not all creative. Most of them aren't just as creative. They're creative in their own right, but a lot of them are very left brain analytical, as they should be. So it's hard for them to kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel.

34:36 For the most part and that's kind of your job, right Is to sell that light at the end of the tunnel for them and to be able to see and to guide them and say, hey, this is kind of where I want to go and you're able to get me there. So I think that you're the videos that you probably need to do is take, take your favorite thing product, ideas, service, whatever it is and then figure out what that core message is and then be able to portray that message in a way that means something to you. And that doesn't necessarily mean a 30-second commercial. It doesn't necessarily mean a 60-second commercial. It could mean a six-second reel, it could mean multiple six-second reels, it could be a photo, it could be a four or five-minute YouTube video.

35:23 Whatever it means to you, the most important thing is to figure out the why and how to get the message across. Yeah, william, I know that that was a loaded and a very broad question and you're right that is hard to answer. But I'm going to encourage listeners go back and re-listen to William's answer right there, because I think that his natural gut and intuition just showed there in front of us. Because the first way, william, william, that you started answering that question is pick a story, and that's really the advice that I heard from you. There is your first video can be about any story. Pick a story of why you started it, why this product, why you serve that client, what happened to that client any story. I think that that's such a strong way to answer that.

36:04 I learned? I learned from the first person that I interviewed with right, it's not necessarily school, we're always taught like to have a broad range of ability. Um, so the first job I interviewed for, I had, you know, I had logo design. I had brochure design. I had, you know, website design. I had all these, I had all these buckets that I hit and, uh, he actually took 80% of my portfolio and just threw it in the trash like literally in front of me, which it sounds harsh, but I think it was a really good lesson for me that it's not necessarily how much you have, it's how impactful and what you have. So you could have two, three videos on your website, even maybe I mean one's a little bit of a stretch but maybe two, two, three videos comparative to 30.

36:50 You don't need 30 videos to show that you can do a broad range of things. You just need two, three videos that you can do very, very well and that will ignite enough interest in a client's mind in order to hire you. Yes, that is encouraging and it is actionable for every single person tuning into today's episode. So you all, william has really challenged us to sit down with this layer and level of strategy and intention to make it happen. And it's not a huge product or project here it is. We're really dispelling the myth of us needing to compete at that level of what Apple's outputting into the world. So I think that that's a really important message for us. William, speaking of broad questions, I always love ending our sessions with this one, because I have no idea which direction our guests are going to take it in, and especially you, because you can take it from the video perspective.

37:36 But also you're a seasoned entrepreneur and I so respect and admire and appreciate your entrepreneurial mind as well, beyond just your subject matter expertise. So, william, with all of that in mind and all of your incredible experience, what's the takeaway If listeners tune into this? What's that one thing that you hope everyone walks away from today's session with thinking gosh, you know what, on this long journey with a lot of twists and turns that we call entrepreneurship, here's the one thing that William imparted on me that I want to walk away with. The big message that I would say is it's not the what and the how you're doing it, it's the why you're doing it. That would be the biggest thing. It does not matter, in particular for video production, if you want to be a video production or a videographer or photographer.

38:20 It does not matter what camera you're using. It does not matter if you have the latest and greatest. It really means something when you can figure out that story behind it. Yes, amen, and I think you illustrated that perfectly here today. You shared with us that you did a project with a disposable camera. I think that that's such proof out there that it doesn't matter. Let's stop focusing on those tools and let's start honing in on that. Why, william? I think it shows through in everything that your business puts out into the world. I love the branding that you've all created at Slice. I love all the projects and how you display your clients. So drop those links on us for listeners that want to check out more of your work. I've teased so much of it here today. What are the links?

39:00 Where should they go from here? Sure, yeah, you can check out all our work at slicecreatescom and from there you can check out all the great projects we've done. We have a select amount of products on that site, but if you're interested, bentley Southwest uh, home from foundation, so we have a a a a slight range of of projects. But if you want more information, just either uh email or call. Yes, Listeners, you already know the drill. We are making it as easy as possible for you to find William's business. It's at slice createscom.

39:41 We're dropping that link down below in the show notes, wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, as well as a link to William's personal LinkedIn If you just want to reach out and say thank you to him. Most people are too shy, but if you want to have amazing entrepreneurs in your network, then get over that shyness. Show a little bit of courage. These are real life entrepreneurs who are here to be of service to you and give so much valuable content which, William, you have been a wealth of knowledge. So, on behalf of myself and all the listeners around the world, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much, this was fun. Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast. If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

40:24 Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests. There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate. These are not sponsored episodes. These are not infomercials. Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions. They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible. So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

41:09 We also have live chat. If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom. Initiate a live chat. It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.