The Path to Entrepreneurial Success With Colleen Fischer

Colleen [: 00:00:00

I wanted so badly for everything to constantly be evenly busy but not overwhelming and also never be drowning. And I had The coach that I spoke with twice a week and finally understood that that's just not how it's gonna be. It's just not the real world. And I feel like that was probably somewhere around, like, year 3 or so where I just was like, okay. This is just the life of a business owner and entrepreneur and a of a very changing landscape. It's always ranging. And that's accepting that was probably acceptance and just being present enjoying what what what I do have while still, obviously, like, you know, planning for the future was personally for me, like, the the game changer.

James [: 00:01:04

This is James Peterson. Welcome to the Business Blind Spots It's podcast where we talk to entrepreneurs, founders, and business leaders to learn from them about obstacles, roadblocks, and stakes that they've made along their business journey to learn from them going forward. Today's guest is miss Colleen Fisher. She is a co owner and producer of Genius House Media. How are you?

Colleen [: 00:01:29

I'm great. Thank you for having lead, James.

James [: 00:01:31

My pleasure. My pleasure. Can you start us off by just giving us kind of an overview of who you are Yeah. Your journey, with. Where you come from and how you got to where you are today?

Colleen [: 00:01:42

Sure. So I have been co owner of Genius House Media. We're a video production shop for 10 years. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Before that, I was mainly in marketing, communications and marketing. So what I've ended up doing at Genius House is mostly, more business development and, you know, scripting, messaging, and producing and organizing things and that kind of thing. How far back? I went to Ohio State. I'm a Buckeye, for communication, And I'm originally from Ohio.

Colleen [: 00:02:16

Nice. Yeah.

James [: 00:02:17

How are you guys doing this year?

Colleen [: 00:02:19

I mean, we're we're usually doing pretty well. Buckeyes are yeah. I think we're 5 or something like that right now, but

James [: 00:02:26

So we need to brag. I think TCU is number 85 this year so far, but, You know, it's still early in the season, so we'll see where it goes. And so yeah. So what was your first job out of college?

Colleen [: 00:02:39

My 1st job was, public relations manager or probably coordinator at the Make A Wish Foundation of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. So I did, PR and communications and a little bit of marketing, kind of work for a wonderful nonprofit granting wishes to children with life threatening medical conditions. And that was a pretty solid foundation working in nonprofit because you really are feet on the ground, doing everything, dealing with media. You know? Everybody is needed in, in the nonprofit world. So

James [: 00:03:17

Yeah.

Colleen [: 00:03:17

Had a really, really wonderful boss there who really has been a lifelong mentor for sure. Where she's she's still a friend of mine. In fact, after we left that position, we we left together and started our own little firm, and she still Runs it today. And that was probably, you know, 20 years ago.

James [: 00:03:37

Was that marketing firm?

Colleen [: 00:03:38

Yeah. Uh-huh. She still does a lot of press, you know, PR kind of stuff. But, yeah, it's a marketing firm in Columbus, yeah, in Ohio.

James [: 00:03:48

So what made you, wanna leave your job Didn't Angus start a business?

Colleen [: 00:03:52

That was, around the time that my husband got a a job here in Fort Worth. And so we left Fort Worth and I actually started working. I worked at at Agency First in Dallas, and that was really far. I didn't realize what a pain that was. So I that didn't last very long, probably 6 months or so. And then I actually worked for a small social media agency here in Fort Worth, as well as United Way of Tarrant County and also did a lot kinda solo work. So my husband was working, in video production here. His, the job he got here was, in kind of like the medical education industry.

Colleen [: 00:04:34

Mhmm. And I'm working in marketing in different roles, and we both kinda realized that there was a big need for not just these gigantic productions, not just these huge commercial, you know, Super Bowl, you know, huge budget types of content, but a lot of consistent quality digital content. And so we started Genius House together in 2013. And he He was a production manager there. So, we actually ended up hiring someone from his former staff before. They make a great team, and, we kinda just went from there.

James [: 00:05:11

Did you do, a lot of market research before you started the business?

Colleen [: 00:05:15

I definitely think we had we did definitely did market research, worse. Google searching who's around competitors locally, who's doing well, and maybe kind of smaller cities like a Fort Worth, or maybe mid tier cities. But we also just had a very lucky break where When he was working for this company, he was taking on other clients and he ended through me, he got introduced to someone, with a A very big with Dickies. Really big the clothing company. And so we started out in a very unique position where, he did some work for Dickies. They were really impressed. And we ended up with a, I think, you know, series of 6 videos that we were doing for them. So it wasn't the big scary jump like it is for a lot of people.

Colleen [: 00:06:04

We had a we had a partner and and somebody that was going to be really good for our portfolio. So it while we still did, you know, we still were like, okay. Are we really doing this? Because we had all you know, we had only dabbled in entrepreneurship before. We really were lucky in the way we we were able to get started.

James [: 00:06:23

So I think that that would come with its own set of challenges, right, versus, you know, bootstrapping A start up wondering where the next payroll is gonna come from, wondering how you're gonna keep the lights on where you were just immediately in bed with a huge client From the start. Right?

Colleen [: 00:06:40

We were for sure. And we did have that feeling after that 6th project contract ended of, Oh, what now? You know? Now we gotta figure out how to really sell ourselves. The executive that we worked with there left and went somewhere else. So, we didn't really have our connection there anymore. So we really had to be like, okay. We know we're not gonna just jump on with another Dickies. You know? So, we started small and started with, local nonprofits and and started really, like, kinda almost not starting over, but, we had that experience, And that was really helpful for us, but we knew we really we couldn't get too, egotistical and think that we were just gonna land all these big clients from there.

James [: 00:07:28

So, what what did that planning process look like? Because you're as you're wrapping up with Dickies and you're looking on like, okay. We have our niche. Right. So how how did the marketing plan go? And so it sounds like the business development kinda fell on you?

Colleen [: 00:07:43

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. That was that was always kind of the plan for me to be, business development. I was really, really involved, with what doesn't exist anymore, but was called the Social Media Club of Fort Worth. I made a ton of connections with them, and we start that's really how it was fully word-of-mouth. I can't say that we had this marketing plan. We weren't spending money on anything other than networking and, events and things We did go to 1 trade show, which we actually went with Dickies where we really practiced our pitch because it was it's called the OR show, Outdoor Retailer Show, and they have the Patagonias all the way down to the brand new smaller companies at time.

Colleen [: 00:08:28

Harimari was a really small company. We met them there. It didn't necessarily turn into anything, but we realized, okay. So now let's maybe, like, kinda narrow this down to apparel. We we we have Dickies. We've done this with Dickies. Let's let's think about who we could go to that is apparel. And so we really kind of started to focus in on that, which we now have a a pretty decent sized portfolio of apparel brands.

Colleen [: 00:08:58

That and that's a really good one for video production because they are seasonal. So, they always need they always need new content. So next month, We are or at the end of this month, we're going to a spring summer shoot with one of our clients. And then in the in March, we'll go to the fall winter shoot, and they're always, you know, a season ahead, and filming content for them.

James [: 00:09:25

What, Where do you fill your film your content?

Colleen [: 00:09:28

You

James [: 00:09:29

have a studio? Do you do outdoor shoots, locations?

Colleen [: 00:09:31

For this particular one that we do twice a year, it's always outdoors. So this one will be in Palm Springs at the end of this month, for spring summer because they just want sunshine. Sometimes they go somewhere beachy. We've done done them in Santa Monica. And then for fall winter, it's usually and we've done one in upstate New York and, several of them in Colorado. And they there, they They just want they want a little bit of snow, but not much. And they want maybe a little bit of, color on the trees. So that's So I we don't select the locations.

Colleen [: 00:10:04

They have a production company that does that, but that's always a that one is always a challenge for fall winter.

James [: 00:10:09

So what was your Would you say was your number one challenge in your 1st year starting out?

Colleen [: 00:10:15

1st year starting out was definitely Major imposter syndrome. Major, like, I don't know if I'm doing this right. We Really just kinda had to brush that off and keep going and figure it out. But I also was really careful to not pretend like I knew what I was doing. And sometimes just be honest and say, okay. We we haven't done that before, but let's let's figure this out and we're gonna make it happen. And let's you know, we have folks that we can talk to and get advice from. But that's kind of, like, I think, on a, on a personal level as far as, like, in in my head was, oh my gosh.

Colleen [: 00:11:02

Like, you know, I didn't really come from video production. I came from marketing. So Mhmm. As far as, like, logistics wise, I think we were a little, the 1st year, shy about well, you know, the things like proposals and estimates and, getting paid and getting paid on time. That was out of my care it was out of character for me to be like, closing the deal. Let's do this. You know? Or This is past due. You know? Where is it? That kind of thing.

Colleen [: 00:11:35

That over the years became much, much easier because I know, you know, the

James [: 00:11:41

Pay me.

Colleen [: 00:11:42

Yeah. I know the value, and I know when everything's due. And I know how hard we worked. And, so I I would imagine that's something Not a lot of people maybe experience in the 1st year is just, oh my gosh. I don't it's that's why I don't know what I'm doing. It's just the imposter syndrome of do do I really do I really deserve this? Like, you know?

James [: 00:12:06

I think that ties with with the phrase fake it till you make it, which I heavily disagree with Yeah. Especially if you're taking money for a service. And also, it's it's very common thing with with young Young entrepreneurs and maybe not young, but newer entrepreneurs are very quick to sell themselves short, especially their price point collections, demanding knowing their worth and and with and asserting their value, that they're bringing to the table. So now did you take, so you recognize the imposter syndrome. Did you take active steps to kinda get around that and overcome that challenge?

Colleen [: 00:12:39

I mean, every book I could pick up we went to a really great. I guess it was like a workshop. And my partner, my husband, he had been working in production for, I 5 years at this point. So he was along with me, but because of what he had done before was probably a little bit more informational, we wanted to learn more about, you know, story. And especially at that time, with what we had done with Dickies, It was like that, maker video stuff. So it's like, go out and find this really cool guy who's been wearing Dickies for years and his, you know, his dad wears them. His Dad dad's dad's dad wore them and, they're so reliable and you know? But okay. How do we make this a, you know, a story? So So he's a really cool knifemaker and you know? But so we wanted he knew the technical.

Colleen [: 00:13:30

He knows the technical thing, but the arc of everything and, you know, the build up. And, of course, you know, he's got the angles and that kind of thing. So we went to a really a really great workshop. It was really small. They were traveling around the country. They had made a documentary, found them, started following them, and they're very focused on that content. So we Learned a lot from, them in person at their workshop, and then they have online courses and books and handbooks handbooks and things like that. We also didn't wanna just stick with this this one, you know, resource.

Colleen [: 00:14:05

So, obviously, there's tons out there, And there's there's also your own style that you you don't always wanna be fully inspired by by someone else. So, I mean, we're we're very versatile, and we still are to this day. But we started to kind of embrace what we did best, which for me, my Favorite part of it, and this might not be for everyone, is really, really getting to know people that I interview, kind of getting past so You're doing a testimonial. Getting past like, oh, this this product is just the best thing on Earth. But, like, okay. Why? And how did it solve your problem. And, you know, our nonprofit work, of course, is a little bit more makes a little bit more sense for that. But, I mean, I can't say that I took deliberate steps because I still feel it to this day.

Colleen [: 00:14:55

But, 10 years in, I still do. But I think, just knowing other people felt it and continuing to educate myself every possible way I could.

James [: 00:15:05

Education is key.

Colleen [: 00:15:07

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And there's so many. I mean, there's so many resources

James [: 00:15:12

for So I gotta I I know people that have been doing their their job For 10 years and and they still have no idea what they're doing. Yeah. So imposter syndrome doesn't just go away naturally. You have to take action whether it's educate with yourself or become the best in your space. Yeah. You have to do something.

Colleen [: 00:15:28

And I think that I were I think I saw a quote somewhere that said the wrong people have imposter syndrome or something like that. Like, if you're not questioning things a little bit, you might be maybe Maybe a little too egotistical or something.

James [: 00:15:41

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's, I know people who who, to to double down on that could use a bit of a imposter with case? Yeah. We spoke to someone recently who is very accomplished and professional. And and one thing with they talked about was impostor syndrome. So I think it's pretty common across the board.

Colleen [: 00:16:01

Yeah. Yeah. And I think we I think Part maybe maybe the most intentional part of that is figuring out what I knew we were really good at

James [: 00:16:10

Mhmm.

Colleen [: 00:16:10

And following that. Figuring out, like, okay. We have some really, really happy customers with this type of video. Go. Let's keep doing that.

James [: 00:16:21

Mhmm.

Colleen [: 00:16:22

And I guess the sort of niche is comes naturally from that while, of course, still trying to learn new skills, but also being just taking advantage of the market and our with our skill set.

James [: 00:16:37

Yeah. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Right?

Colleen [: 00:16:39

Right.

James [: 00:16:40

So when when people married or or nonmarried, with partners do business together in partnerships. There's usually someone that we we'll call the good idea fairy Who just, oh, let's go do this. Let's go do that when it may or may not make business sense. So do you guys have that in your partnership? With. And is it you or is it your husband?

Colleen [: 00:17:02

Well, actually, we call it the genie. And by the way, the genius house name is very sarcastic. No. We don't think we're geniuses at all, but

James [: 00:17:11

the when you ruined my joke later. I was Yeah. I was gonna okay. Good to know.

Colleen [: 00:17:17

Oh, no. We definitely it it started as a full joke. We're very sarcastic. We It's humor every day in our office and our shoots as much as possible. That to answer that question, the genie, The the actual word genius comes from the word genie. And when the genie enters a room, it's like that fleeting moment when you have an idea and you're like, oh, this is this is it. You know? Mhmm. I think I'm probably I'm probably that, But I I think we're both at.

Colleen [: 00:17:46

And I don't know I mean, we I don't know if I could say we're it's really one or together. He has he has really, really amazing ideas for our videos. I have probably the crazier ideas for our company.

James [: 00:18:05

How do you guys handle conflict?

Colleen [: 00:18:07

What I say about owning a business with your spouse is that is the most amazing thing on Earth and also the worst worst thing on Earth. But, I you know, the funny thing is the first probably 5 years, I was like, we Cannot talk about work all the time outside of the office. And then I realized we We don't have kids. And I realized that this is probably like having a kid. I'm sure all parents talk about but I'm sure all parents talk about their kids all the time even though they don't want to because they're at dinner. And so I feel like embracing that, was really helpful. But as Why is conflict to be totally honest, if this is something that if if that has anything to do with on a shoot on set, it's it's up to him. He's

James [: 00:19:01

the director. It's his lane.

Colleen [: 00:19:03

It is. Yeah. And I'm the producer, so I'm just solving problems and making everyone comfortable. If it is about the company overall, there's no one who gets to have the say. It is discussion. It is let's argue. Let's think about it. Let's stop.

Colleen [: 00:19:21

Let's not make the decision right now. Let's table we'll come back to it. Let's research. You know? Just continue the conversation or the argument. Mhmm. But yeah. I mean, we had to definitely I had to delineate, like, okay. The set is his.

Colleen [: 00:19:39

If If I'm definitely gonna tell him my opinion, and he can take it or leave it. And that has been really helpful as far as conflict. Because it can get really stressful, especially if you're, you know, you're Filming, there's multiple things going on. There's multiple people to deal with. There's almost always limited time. You know? And so it's stressful. So that That, I think, is a a helpful thing to just say. That's why they're the director, you know.

Colleen [: 00:20:03

That's it's it's their call.

James [: 00:20:05

So that's really interesting. So I've never heard of a a business partnership where someone doesn't have, like, the controlling vote. Even if it's 5050, someone usually has veto power. So that that's interesting. I imagine that's led to some pretty fun Discussions, conversations.

Colleen [: 00:20:25

As far as when, like, not on set? You mean about the business? Or do you mean

James [: 00:20:29

About the business and and trying to hash out direction Direction to go and decision Yeah. Decision points, I would imagine.

Colleen [: 00:20:36

Well, also, I think, I've noticed and I'm I might It might just be more my style anyway. But when you have multiple people or you have the veto and you Say you're working on an edit, a, you're gonna slow everything down, and, b, our employees are gonna sense

James [: 00:20:59

Conflict.

Colleen [: 00:20:59

The conflict. Clicked. And I never ever wanna have any sort of toxicity or who do I ask about this or I what you know, like, I do think Think of my role as to support and make everyone not to make everyone happy, to make everyone comfortable, you know, in the office, on shoots, with my clients for sure. Mhmm. That is probably one place where we do where we do have like, you know, he's a lot of times in the work. And I'm kind of looking out for the client. And I'm like, no. We need to we need to change that.

Colleen [: 00:21:41

Not because of my creative opinion, but because of my, that's that's my role.

James [: 00:21:48

So you're a bit of a client advocate in the in the

Colleen [: 00:21:50

For sure. Yeah.

James [: 00:21:51

The functionality of the business.

Colleen [: 00:21:53

I've I've we're a small business, so it's I am business development. I am, definitely, like, the account person, as far as not accounting, but as far as, like, face, you know, face faced with the client, kind of like the advocate for the client, but also making it so that they don't have to talk to our editors, that kind of thing. So and and I will say also, we we have a lot of long term partners. So we don't everything is pretty smooth and efficient. Like, we've had you know, we were at a shoot this morning for a client that we've had for 6 years. They didn't need us they didn't need to be in the room when we were doing interviews. They didn't need oftentimes, when we deliver things, they're they're you you nailed it. We know you knew exactly who we want because we've been doing this so long.

Colleen [: 00:22:40

That's helpful. I don't know that I could be all of that if we if we had new clients twice a month constantly, you know, needing to understand the process and that assessed and that kind of thing.

James [: 00:22:50

So 1 more question about partnerships. So, have you guys had I know you talk about You mentioned leaving work at work. But have you had to set a little bit of, parameters and boundaries within your marriage as far as as, with Hey. Let's let's maybe crack a bottle of wine and put work aside.

Colleen [: 00:23:09

Absolutely. Yeah.

James [: 00:23:10

Yeah. This is critical.

Colleen [: 00:23:11

It is. And and, actually, I'm fine with talking about work as long as it's not complaining. And we both will say, I you know, like, it's just the typical boundaries with everything in life. I'll say, okay. If you need to vent about that, we can do it for 5 minutes, so we're not gonna do it all night. You know? And same with him. If he's like, tell me about how that went. And then, you know, once we are done with the cocktail and we're having dinner, then we're gonna stop talking about it.

Colleen [: 00:23:41

You know?

James [: 00:23:42

Permission event is an amazing thing.

Colleen [: 00:23:44

Yeah.

James [: 00:23:44

Like, hey. You got 5 minutes? Yeah. Because let me just get this out of the way.

Colleen [: 00:23:48

Yeah.

James [: 00:23:48

Okay. So You started off with Dickies and then things kinda just got off to a 60 mile an hour start, and then they went back down to 35 miles an hour and you had to build out your portfolio. At what point if there was a point did you realize, oh, hey. We're we're actually kinda doing this. Like, we're we're there. We're small business.

Colleen [: 00:24:10

I I can't really name a point as I felt like that kinda came in waves. But I do remember having a a moment where I actually had a a business coach for myself because I wanted so badly for everything to constantly be evenly busy, but not overwhelming and never have downtime, but also never be drowning. And I had a coach that I spoke with twice a week and finally understood that that's just not how it's gonna be. You know? It's It's it's just not the real world. And I feel like that was probably somewhere around, like, year 3 or so where I just was was like, okay. This is just the life of a business owner and entrepreneur and a of a very changing landscape, the digital, you know, content, social media. You know? Do it is it long form? Is it landscape? Is it you know? It's always changing, and that's accepting that was probably Acceptance and just being present, enjoying what what what I do have while still, obviously, like, you know, planning for the future was personally for me, like, the the game changer of this is how we're gonna how we're gonna get by.

James [: 00:25:38

So So I am a huge advocate of business coaches and executive coaches. Can you talk about that experience for a little bit? Sure. What what was that like for you?

Colleen [: 00:25:47

It was it was really valuable for me. I I'm level for me. I I'm always trying to learn from other people. Mhmm. This was the 1st time I had really done it intentionally. He had started the company Death to Stock. You ever heard of that? It's a stock photo company, but very, very different than

James [: 00:26:06

I know who you're talking about. Yeah. He he was my coach.

Colleen [: 00:26:08

Really? Mhmm. Alright. No way. Tony? No. You're

James [: 00:26:11

not talking about 24?

Colleen [: 00:26:12

Something in a David Sherry.

James [: 00:26:14

I thought you were talking About 24 that did the the film business.

Colleen [: 00:26:19

This was a photo. So at fur the way it started out is you could sign newsletter and get packs of stock photos, like, for free. And it was a community of creators. And this is quite a long time ago. It's evolved into something else. He's no no longer a part of it or We sold it or whatever it was. So it's it's there's a different kind of framework for it now. But I met him through that at because I was just getting these, you know, images to use for social media or something.

Colleen [: 00:26:53

And then I emailed him about something Thing he had written in the newsletter. And then I found out he was gonna be at South by Southwest Interactive, and then I met him there. So we had coffee there. And I really just was like, this guy is just had this, like, calmness to him, this wisdom. And I was like, you know, let's let's do this coaching thing. So, I can't he We worked with a handbook. He he really just gave me the like, I and I can't Even ex describe the strategy or how he did it, but he gave me this peace of mind that as long is, you know, I'm moving forward, and I'm not getting I remember feeling stuck at that time, feeling just stuck. I'm like you know? But he He gave me the peace of mind that this is just what it this is what the life is.

Colleen [: 00:27:51

You know? To he really got me to move out of that stuck place that I felt like I was.

James [: 00:27:55

I mean, that's why you pay them. And that's, I mean, that's business coaches and mentors, I think, are invaluable to people within that stuck space, Especially if you're dealing with someone who's already built it. I have a pet peeve, and that's coaches who are coaching something they've they've never done. So I'll see I hate when I see people, who are trying to sell a coaching program. They've never built built or sold a business. They've never built and failed a Business. So they don't know what's right, what's wrong. You know, they just attended a coaching course and now are selling their self with something.

Colleen [: 00:28:27

100%. I know what you mean with that. Yeah.

James [: 00:28:30

No offense to anyone who does that. But, so do you have do you have any books that you that you read along your that were really impactful in business for you?

Colleen [: 00:28:38

I'm reading a book right now.

James [: 00:28:40

Of course, whatever book that we can share

Colleen [: 00:28:41

in the notes. Time is is going to, movie, but it's called the creative act, a way of being by Rick Rubin. Music producer.

James [: 00:28:53

Jay z's gag.

Colleen [: 00:28:54

Also, how gorgeous is the cover?

James [: 00:28:55

It's beautiful.

Colleen [: 00:28:56

I mean, it's just I got it from the library, but I'm gonna be returning that buying it. It's a keeper. Make notes in it. It's not a really advice as it is more you know, No. I I keep making it sound like I have no confidence in myself, but a lot of people are like

James [: 00:29:12

You're coming across as extremely confident.

Colleen [: 00:29:14

Okay. Really good. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's about how everyone is an artist Mhmm. No matter if you're actually creating something and putting it out there or just the way you solve problems or the way you talk to people. Like, I hesitate. Somebody called me an artist once or somebody called me a filmmaker once.

Colleen [: 00:29:33

I'm like, I don't operate the camera. I might hold it once in a while, but that has been really speaking to me. I just have read not even I mean, it's not like one you pick up and just read it all the way through. You read it occasionally for for inspiration and for, but, anyway, it's that's the one right now. I remember where. And back when I was doing more, I we when we first started out, I was in social media for a few different clients. So I was, writing content and creating posts, that kind of thing. I would read a ton of with Gary Vee and, or Gary Vanderschek and if it's been a long time for those, but don't include those.

James [: 00:30:15

It isn't, I don't really I mean, Gary Gary's good for a story now. Mister inspirational guy. He was all

Colleen [: 00:30:20

about social media. Guy. He was all about social media.

James [: 00:30:25

And before that, he was all about sales.

Colleen [: 00:30:28

Wine sales.

James [: 00:30:28

Yeah.

Colleen [: 00:30:30

Yeah. So anyway but so I saw him with social media club Fort Worth. We had him come to

James [: 00:30:35

Oh, wow.

Colleen [: 00:30:35

Well, not Fort Worth. He came to Dallas, but it was like a a joint event. So we, he spoke and we met him and he signed a book. And so, of course, I was, you know, hooked at that point.

James [: 00:30:46

Speaking of Rick Rubin, not to did you watch this documentary on HBO? Absolutely will. Fantastic.

Colleen [: 00:30:52

I mean

James [: 00:30:52

It's on Meeks.

Colleen [: 00:30:53

Yeah. I've got I have it. I'm gonna watch it wait. Yeah. Actually, after my mockumentary that I watched tonight. I don't know if you heard me telling Chris.

James [: 00:31:00

Well, let's talk about it. Throw it out there.

Colleen [: 00:31:02

Okay. Yeah. No. No. It's it's a big joke, really. But So for our 10 year anniversary, we partnered with our friends at, a brewery here, Martin House Brewing, and they made us a beer. And So we decided also their 10 year university this year. And so we decided to we I've always wanted to work on something funny, and we the only other time we've done that is a video for them probably 8 or 10 years ago.

Colleen [: 00:31:30

And so we made weighed. Adam and I went to the bar near our office and wrote everything out about this mock documentary that we were going to create about how the Genius House team went about trying to convince Martin House to make us a beer. And it gets real Silly. It's just ridiculous. It's 10 minutes long. And tonight, we're

James [: 00:31:55

Is it gonna be on YouTube?

Colleen [: 00:31:57

It will eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Right now, we have some we need to find some stock music because we're using, you know, real songs at the moment. But for the for the for the, the private viewing with the guys. But but, yes, it will be, and we have a bloopers reel.

Colleen [: 00:32:13

And so it'll be out there soon.

James [: 00:32:16

Is that the favorite thing you've done? No. What's the favorite what's the favorite project you've worked on and why?

Colleen [: 00:32:22

I'm gonna I'm gonna put that into a few different categories. So there's 1 favorite on where we've been. Because with our client, US Polo ASSN, we have been to some really amazing locations. And, we got to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina with them, and that was one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life. We were on a polo field, you know, during a match, and, also, we were out in, the neighborhoods with models speaking Spanish. And it was just incredible. So that was location and also just with beautiful content. People getting to know people is my, one of my favorite parts of this job.

Colleen [: 00:33:07

And we work with the warm place, which is a grief facility for families who have lost someone for kids, have lost a sibling or a parent and and their families. And we film with them for their impact video every year, and every year I get the honor of getting to know the most amazing families. And I spend we spend multiple days with them, filming them, interviewing them, and it's just a beautiful experience for me and a reminder of hug your people and and enjoy your life. And so that's the people. And then, I guess the other one would just be beautiful content, just gorgeous content. And that is also with US polo and they are the the the the clothing side.

James [: 00:33:56

Mhmm.

Colleen [: 00:33:56

And so, we get to go to some beautiful locations, work with their photography team and shoot some of the most gorgeous content that I that that is in our our library. So the 3 categories. But yeah.

James [: 00:34:14

That sounds awesome. Yeah. I've never been to Argentina. I would love to go. I would love to go. Wanna

Colleen [: 00:34:19

Go back. And but then you gotta go to, like, Brazil. And, there's also a place in Argentina. Oof. I'm not gonna be able to think But it's a it's one of the wonders of the world, and it's all of these gorgeous waterfalls.

James [: 00:34:33

Oh, wow.

Colleen [: 00:34:34

And it's is absolutely sick. And so while we were there, we we popped over there for just for fun. And that's another nice thing about owning a business with my husband is that when we're somewhere cool. We can spend an extra day or 2 and enjoy it. Versus if you're alone, you might enjoy exploring by yourself, but A lot of times, you just wanna go home and get back to your family, but, we've been able to take advantage of that. And Well,

James [: 00:34:59

if you ever go to Patagonia, Let me know. I'll I will, take off of work.

Colleen [: 00:35:04

Yes. Yeah.

James [: 00:35:05

Bring my laptop. I'll be your prop guy. I'll carry your bags. Wait. Wait. It's

Colleen [: 00:35:09

The funniest thing about that is the guy we were when we were in Buenos Aires, there's a, guy a a local guy there who was like, Christmas is coming up, and we're all taking a trip to Patagonia. Do you wanna stay? And Christmas was literally like a week ago. Stay and come with us. Staying with us, we're like, can we Can we do that? Can we do that?

James [: 00:35:27

Yes. The answer is yes.

Colleen [: 00:35:28

Who know their way around and what to do out there.

James [: 00:35:31

Once in a lifetime.

Colleen [: 00:35:32

We should've done it.

James [: 00:35:33

Should've done it. You should've

Colleen [: 00:35:34

done it.

James [: 00:35:34

I don't even know if I'm gonna air this episode now that you said you didn't get it. I'm so let down. Why did you bring it? Okay. So what are what are you struggling with now? Like, what are the obstacles and barriers? Not now that you've been doing this for a decade, you're a seasoned, salty business owner. Business owner. Salty. Right? That's a marine a marine term. You're salty then.

James [: 00:35:56

That's a good thing. You've seen some stuff. Yeah. Right?

Colleen [: 00:35:59

I think the only the thing that on my mind that I am maybe struggling with is and this is something we learned in the 10 k s b program is the exit strategy, what do we do with it? You know? So we're not trying to exit any time soon.

James [: 00:36:17

But I do it's a very eventually.

Colleen [: 00:36:19

Yeah. It's a very physical job, and my knees hurt from carrying cases around. And, so how do we transition that to, you know, maybe not being as much into the operations. We don't have kids. I don't have you know? So we've been thinking a lot about that lately, and we've been talking to our adviser about that. And, we're just now really starting that conversation and it overwhelms me at times.

James [: 00:36:48

That would be very over overwhelming. I mean, if you still wanna maintain ownership, I mean, you you have to be bringing someone along in a pipeline who understands a business like you, who Just like you who who already you'll be able to easily transfer over client relationships with. Mhmm. And that's not something you do in 6 months. Yeah. You know, that's a pipeline, like, special forces type stuff where you have to go check all these boxes.

Colleen [: 00:37:12

Get someone else to be salty.

James [: 00:37:16

Yeah. Well. That's interesting.

Colleen [: 00:37:18

Yeah. I, it's been on my mind a lot. It's in our conversations a lot. And we have a lot of ideas of I wouldn't say big changes to the company, but other ways to have income but still be in the same line of business. And, you know, I mean, the other thing is there's a lot of production companies opening up every day around here, around DFW, around everywhere. So, that's another thing that we think about. I mean, It doesn't worry me because I know we have a solid experience and pipeline of partners. But it's something to think about as far as that long term not the exit strategy as much, but the value of our business.

Colleen [: 00:38:10

And what if there's a whole bunch more of them? Or what if AI starts doing it all and that kind of things? You know know what? I actually not gonna be able to sleep tonight. I'm just kidding.

James [: 00:38:19

Yeah. I think yeah. I think it's

Colleen [: 00:38:21

Why'd you ask that?

James [: 00:38:21

Fascinating. I mean, there's There's so much going on with AI. I mean, we see new social media accounts. They're not even real people. You know? And there there's still it seems like a lot of the still photos are are have kinda gotten past the uncanny valley, so to speak. Well, now it's really hard to tell. It's probably easy for you because this is your industry. But, so I wrote down a question.

James [: 00:38:47

So Fort Worth, 12th largest city, in the nation, growing very rapidly, and our growth hasn't slowed down since it ramped up, right when COVID has happened. So have you seen the landscape of business changing around you? Is it harder to get clients? Is it harder to keep clients? Once. Are you getting shopped around from a price point perspective? What are you seeing?

Colleen [: 00:39:09

I I haven't seen a we don't have we We have about, like, 50% of our business is local, and most of the ones that we do have are are repeat. They're coming back to us. But what I will say about that, about the growing city, about this development is, well, a, I used to kind of be embarrassed. I used to wanna say that we're Dallas. That's something that, like, people will probably be really upset about if I said. But that was also when I newer. I've learned how important it is to, a, love my town, and, b, I look around and I see I'm inspired by so many entrepreneurs and business owners who are I mean, I could name friends or people who I just admire in this town who are doing things that make me dream big. That you know? I mean, we live here in the near south side, And it is just such a vital and beautiful area, and everybody is really supportive.

Colleen [: 00:40:10

And I do we do definitely, of course, have competitors, but I feel very confident that there's enough business to go around in this, in this community that is growing so much.

James [: 00:40:21

It it's it's astounding how much it's growing. And and also one thing that they're doing well Is there fostering entrepreneurship here? Their tech Fort Worth, you know, the stuff the stuff that Cameron Cushman's doing. He he's got his own entrepreneurial, with. Incubator. Do you know Cameron?

Colleen [: 00:40:39

No. My name sounds familiar.

James [: 00:40:40

But He's he works with, next out of, UNT health health science center, they have a, entrepreneurship in, incubator. And he's he's amazing. And he moved from DC back to Fort Worth, and he brought all that energy with him. I don't know if that's okay to say in Fort Worth. I might get fired. But That's okay. I absolutely wanted

Colleen [: 00:41:03

to say I was from Dallas when we first started, and I feel like that will also

James [: 00:41:06

But when I'm outside of DFW, I say DFW.

Colleen [: 00:41:10

Yeah.

James [: 00:41:11

Right. Because Exactly. When you say when you go to LA and you say you're from Fort Worth, they're like, okay. So you have you have, like, courses at gas stations. I'm like, no. The Fort Worth metroplex is enormous. Yeah. And it takes you an hour to get from here to there sometimes.

James [: 00:41:25

You know?

Colleen [: 00:41:26

You know what's crazy is, if I can keep talking is, We had some folks from LA that we were working with, more photography side. And they were they also worked Dickies. And they would come into town, and they were like, we love Fort Worth. We we wanna get out of LA. We love Fort Worth. We can see It's like the next thing. It's the, you know, it's it's cooler than Austin and blah blah blah. It was so awesome to hear that, and they were they're forever LA people.

Colleen [: 00:41:55

Well, I thought that was really cool. That was years ago too.

James [: 00:41:58

I tell people, if you wanna get out of California and you wanna stay in California, just move to Austin. Right. You know if you want do. Yeah. They do. Yeah. They're Uber drivers, and they tell you how amazing LA is, and you ask them to move back. But, Anyways, I'm only teasing Texas loves everybody.

James [: 00:42:16

So let me let me wrap this up with a question. 10 years. Started it. Grew it. You're maintaining it. You're you're focusing. You're you're starting to think on exit While continuing your brand, if someone is getting ready to start their journey or their you know, within their 1st 3 years, what piece of advice should they take from you? What lessons should they learn from your experience that's gonna help them on

Colleen [: 00:42:44

their journey? I'm my it's always it's Not, like, the most solid, like, here, do this, this, and this, but have a balance of confidence and humility and keep it keep them both because humility will allow you to make mistakes and learn from them. And, you know, go use resources like mentors or people, you know, who may have advice for you and may not. But humility allows you to listen, and the confidence will allow you to just keep going, keep moving, keep moving forward. That isn't, like, a I mean, if you want solid advice, waste. It's find a

James [: 00:43:39

reason for you. Solid advice you just gave. It sounded solid.

Colleen [: 00:43:42

That sounded a little self help y, but I I you know, as far as, like, a real you get a really start with a really good accountant. You know? Don't it's a pain to go back and change those things later on down the road. Legitimately use the the business plan. Like, have it all you know, have We have a plan to also be ready to to to to change it, you know, here and there and adjust. But, but yeah. I mean, I think for me, that has when my mindset has been the most important thing of having a little bit of both of those.

James [: 00:44:17

Awesome. Yeah. Can I tell you what my biggest takeaway is? Yeah. Is that okay?

Colleen [: 00:44:21

Yeah.

James [: 00:44:22

So I love what you said about imposter syndrome. I think that the fact that you recognized that imposter syndrome was a thing with you And you kinda leaned into it, and then you you you mentioned that you kinda still deal with it every every now and then. I think that's brilliant. And people People need to to understand that sometimes there it's just a thing, and you're just gonna have to deal with it. It's never gonna go away. There is no fake it till Make it. Yeah. You're just gonna have to learn the business and lean into it.

Colleen [: 00:44:51

And if you don't have a touch of imposter syndrome, you might be a bit of a know it all. You know what I mean? Like, it means you're Not trying to learn and grow. You

James [: 00:44:59

know? Which is key. Yeah. You've been a great guest. Thank you.

Colleen [: 00:45:03

Thanks for having me.

James [: 00:45:04

Absolutely. We will put All of her contact information in the show notes. If you want to hire them or reach out to her with more questions, feel free to contact her. And thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Colleen [: 00:45:18

Thanks for having me. This was fun.

James [: 00:45:19

Absolutely.