Why Business Owners Need to Get Out of Their Comfort Zone
For almost three years, I isolated myself trying to build my business.
A lot of my time went into working, learning, shooting, editing, figuring things out, making mistakes and then trying again. When you’re building something from the ground up, it’s very easy to convince yourself that every spare hour needs to go back into the business. Thats definitely another blog post for another time (or maybe a talking reel).
And for a while, I think I needed that.
But I’ve also realised that it’s not sustainable forever.
At some point, I needed to push myself to do more than just sit behind my computer building Social Sync AU. I needed to meet people, work on projects outside of my usual bubble and put myself in rooms where I might not necessarily feel like the most experienced person there.
Recently, videography has unexpectedly been helping me do exactly that.
Getting Back Into the Room
I've been doing more content videography with FanCast Productions, working alongside Dave, who has been such an amazing producer to work with.
It has given me the opportunity to step into different types of productions, meet people I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with otherwise and become more comfortable walking into environments where I don't necessarily know what to expect.
One of those jobs was an event at Chin Chin in Melbourne.
When I first heard about the job, I genuinely thought I was going there to help film some sort of restaurant campaign.
Cool. Food. Chin Chin. Makes sense.
Turns out, I was very wrong.
Definitely Not a Restaurant Campaign
Once we started filming interviews, I quickly realised this was actually an Investors Lunch for That Stock Chick x Sonder Management
Suddenly, I was listening to conversations about gold and silver mining companies, business operations, production, projections, investments and the market.
There were people from all sorts of industries in the room, including the team behind Betadine and former AFL player Chris Judd.
Meanwhile, I'm there with my camera thinking:
Oh. This is what we're doing today.
It was completely outside of the spaces I usually find myself in.
Most of my work has me surrounded by photographers, models, stylists, makeup artists, content creators and business owners in the creative industries.
This was different.
There was definitely a moment where I felt incredibly small.
Not because anyone made me feel unwelcome, everyone I interacted with was actually really lovely and respectful.
It was more about recognising how much I didn't know.
I was surrounded by conversations about industries, investments and businesses operating on a completely different scale from mine.
But instead of walking away from the experience thinking, I don't belong in rooms like that, it made me realise something else.
We need to put ourselves in rooms where we don't know everything.
Especially when we're starting a business.
There can be so much pressure to look like you have everything figured out. You see founders talking about their revenue, investments, teams, growth and achievements, and it's very easy to compare their chapter twenty with your chapter two.
But you don't have to walk into every room already knowing everything being discussed.
Sometimes being there is how you learn.
I Went There to Film, But I Was Still Listening
My job that day was content videography.
I wasn't there as an investor and I certainly wasn't there to give anyone financial advice.
But I could still listen.
Through filming the interviews and conversations, I found myself genuinely interested in hearing how these companies worked; what they produced, where they operated, how they described their businesses and what their future projections looked like.
I've already had an interest in things like gold and silver holdings and US stocks, so hearing people actually speak about businesses operating within these spaces gave me another perspective.
That's something I've started appreciating more about being a photographer and videographer.
Your camera can take you into some pretty interesting rooms.
One week I might be photographing a fashion campaign.
Another I'm working with a Pilates brand.
Then suddenly I'm at an Investors Lunch learning about mining companies.
It's one of the reasons I don't think I want to box myself into only one type of creative work.
For the Business Owners Who Feel Like They're Behind
If you're building something right now and you feel like everyone around you knows more than you do, I think that's normal.
You don't have to wait until your business is bigger.
You don't need a huge team.
You don't need to have mastered networking.
And you definitely don't need to understand every conversation in the room before you're allowed to enter it.
Go anyway.
Listen.
Ask questions when you can.
Meet people outside your industry.
Work with people who have more experience than you.
There is only so much you can learn when you're constantly surrounded by the same ideas and the same people.
I'm still very much building Social Sync AU, and there are plenty of things I don't know yet.
But after spending three years mostly keeping to myself and focusing on building the business, I'm realising that the next stage of growth probably isn't going to happen by isolating myself even further.
Sometimes you have to get out of your little bubble and see where your work takes you.
And apparently, sometimes it takes you to an Investors Lunch at Chin Chin
Running a creative business has taken me into some pretty unexpected places, and I'm trying to document more of the things I'm learning along the way, from behind-the-scenes productions and creative projects to business, networking and navigating life as a founder.
