Connor Lewis [00:00:00]:
Everything becomes easier. Marketing becomes easier. Sales becomes easier. Your process in the back end becomes easier because I'm not juggling 50 different types of videos with 50 different freelancers. And I know if I were to listen to this show that I'm in right now two years ago, and I heard myself say niche down earlier, I'd be like, yeah, you've already made it easy for you to say, but, like, niching is what makes you make it. It is everything. It is the way to stand out in this oversaturated market.
Nick Bennett [00:00:34]:
Hey Listener, welcome to 1000 Routes. I'm your host, Nick Bennett. In each episode, we explore the uncommon paths of solopreneurs who have bet on themselves and the reality of what it takes to build a business that serves your life. And if you want to change your own route, you can check out Full Stack Solopreneur.
Our 90 day group coaching program that has helped dozens build clear, compelling offers that you can market and sell with confidence. You can join now at FullStackSolo. com. That's FullStackSolo. com. Enjoy the episode.
Connor Lewis [00:01:34]:
My name is Connor Lewis and I'm the owner of Studio Lewis. Ooh la la. We make B2B video ads for software companies. Series A and Series B.
Nick Bennett [00:01:42]:
The most concise answer. Your top. Top three most concise answers I've ever gotten on that.
Connor Lewis [00:01:48]:
Oh, cool. Yeah, it's taken a lot of work to get that to be concise, so I'm happy to hear that feedback.
Nick Bennett [00:01:55]:
Well, you. You've done a lot of work, so I was. I had a. I was, like, cracking up, researching you and, like, prepping for this conversation because one of the things I noticed was, how does a tax associate become the SaaS video ads guy? Can you walk me through that? This progression?
Connor Lewis [00:02:11]:
No one has dug that deep. I love that. No one's asked me about my tax past life. Yeah, I can walk you through that progression. It's very simple. In college, I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do, and my mom is A tax accountant. And so I was like, I might as well follow the family business. I wasn't a tax accountant.
Connor Lewis [00:02:29]:
It turns out that life is miserable, at least for me. You work Saturdays, you work late, your boss kind of hates themselves. I was in one of the big four, so it was a lot, man.
Nick Bennett [00:02:38]:
It's like a pretty shitty month to be a tax accountant too.
Connor Lewis [00:02:40]:
Yeah. Right now, if you're a tax accountant listening to this, I'm praying for you because tax season is real and it's hard. But also, I just, I just found that there wasn't a lot of creativity in there, which I probably could have guessed if I had thought about it for a second. But I needed that. And so I was doing film on the side at the same time. And eventually I started to figure out how to make money with that. And then eventually I was like, okay, actually maybe I go all in on that. Being a tax accountant kind of built up a little bit of capital for me to be able to take that risk.
Connor Lewis [00:03:10]:
And then it wasn't really a risk. At the end of the day, I went in house full time. So that was not the start of my freelance slash entrepreneurial journey.
Nick Bennett [00:03:18]:
But you gotta feel some level of like, I'm good enough that I could provide this as a service to people before you take the leap. I mean, you worked your way up from video intern to head of video in 4 and a half short years, I would assume just learning the skill of doing this work over time. What was the turning point for you from, okay, I'm ahead of video and this thing is fun. It seems to be working to. I'm going to go out and create my own video ad studio and sell this as a service people.
Connor Lewis [00:03:52]:
Good question. I will say, like in being in house teaches you so much. So I'm really grateful for my time in house. And also like it just up levels you like. I was, I came in just knowing how to make videos, but I didn't know what kind of videos actually converted. I actually had never written a script before. I had never done animation before. And so like on the job I was learning all of these things and how it integrates to a broader like marketing plan.
Connor Lewis [00:04:18]:
So if I just gone straight to freelancing, I think I would be a very different solopreneur right now. I don't think I would have a product.
Nick Bennett [00:04:23]:
You'd probably be back in house.
Connor Lewis [00:04:25]:
I'd probably be back in house, yeah. I mean, I think I would just do video in air quotes and not really know how it Fits into the strategy. Not know how to talk on sales calls, not know how to do messaging. So if I could go back in time, I would do my in house sprint again. It was just amazing. And part of it is that I landed in a really lucky spot. But to answer your question, how did I end up switching? I had already been thinking about it for a year before I jumped. And so I was starting to put my reel together.
Connor Lewis [00:04:53]:
I was dipping my toe into the water a little bit. I was doing freelance gigs here and there, starting to understand how to charge more, what to charge, what's valuable for people. And then I got my website up, I got my reel. It was so much work, especially because I didn't want to work. After I. I was done with my full time job, I was like, this sucks. Like, I just want to play video games and watch TV or cb, see my friends. But it was a hustle.
Connor Lewis [00:05:16]:
I finally got it up and it's the day. This is so weird, but literally the day that I got my website up and my reel up and my messaging finalized and I was ready to launch, I got laid off. The whole marketing team got laid off. It was in the tech crunch of like 2022 in the fall when everyone was laid off and our company just made the decision that they no longer needed marketing anymore. So I took that severance check. Yeah. Yeah, Weird decision, right? I digress. I took the severance check and I was like, this looks like seed funding, kind of.
Connor Lewis [00:05:48]:
That gave me two months of Runway. It wasn't a ton, but it was something for me to chase after that solopreneur thing, figure out how it works. And yeah, that was kind of the start of it.
Nick Bennett [00:05:57]:
Dude, I love your story because it is my story. Just a year earlier, I went through almost the same thing. Although the company that I was at, they didn't ask the whole marketing team, but there was a big chunk of the marketing team that. That got cut. And I was, I was part of that. And so like, very similar, like the involuntary move.
Connor Lewis [00:06:18]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:06:19]:
To. To do it. But I know that it wasn't like sunshine and rainbows. I mean, you even posted in January about how 2024 was insane, like in January almost didn't work out. So, like, talk me through a little bit of like, what were you second guessing through that process? Like, what. What was going on there? How did you work through that? What went on through. I mean, all of 2024, but specifically, like the early stage, like a year ago from now.
Connor Lewis [00:06:46]:
Yeah, I can even go a little earlier than that to my first year of business was 2023 and that was the hardest year of my life so far. Like, I feel like I talk to a lot of solopreneurs and entrepreneurs and they all say that the first year is the hardest. And I'm here to tell you, it is absolutely the hardest. It's just you don't know what you're doing in so many areas. And I'll, I'll back up a bit. So in the first year I managed to get 130k of top line revenue. That's not bad. You look at that from the outside and you're like, wow.
Connor Lewis [00:07:16]:
But honestly, the paycheck that I took home was more like, you know, 60, 70, which was good enough because, you know, I'm chilling. But at the time it was, it was a huge pay cut for me. And also I was working more than ever simply because I didn't have any processes in place. I didn't know how to sell, I didn't know how to market. And so I was just guessing at what would work, putting proposals together that I thought were priced right without really understanding what I was doing, like, which was creating a business. I was a video freelancer, I wasn't a video solopreneur. And the difference is easy to see in retrospect, but hard in the moment because you don't know what your offer should be like. I knew I needed to make an offer that whole first year, but I just needed to live.
Connor Lewis [00:08:01]:
I just needed to pay rent. And it was really hard. And so I was accepting anything under the sun. And it gave me a lot of different perspective on what worked and what was valuable and what I could make into a process that was scalable for me. But there are a lot of months where I was just, I would just cry at night. And it was just very, very tough that first year. But I came out of it stronger. I knew what had worked from that first year and what I wanted to double down on for year two.
Connor Lewis [00:08:27]:
And most importantly, I'd made like really good connections and worked my ass off for certain clients who now refer me and are still clients today. So it was the beginning of building that snowball, man. It's just, it was tough. So I'm here to provide empathy for anyone in their first year. It was really hard.
Nick Bennett [00:08:43]:
Yeah, the first year is a crazy roller coaster. But how did you define the chain, the transition between, oh, I'm a video freelancer to now, like, I'm building a video business, like this is becoming a studio or an agent or however you want to describe it. What do you feel like the difference was for you? Like it was a mindset. Was it just the, the packaging? Like I'm not fucking around anymore. Like I'm going to put some processes in place and make this thing work.
Connor Lewis [00:09:08]:
Yeah, that's a great question. It's about packaging and it is about mindset. But you're spot on with both of those. I'll go into both. For me, from a mindset perspective, it came from a position of being an executor to being someone who actually pitches the strategy and like goes a lot more high level with it and knows what they're talking about. That was like a mindset difference in my head because before people would already know what kind of video they wanted. They already have a script, they'd already have all these things done that I didn't really have any say over because they knew I was a video guy and they knew I could execute. But when I was switching over to bigger projects and becoming a solopreneur and air quotes, I was the one who was pitching what their strategy could be.
Connor Lewis [00:09:51]:
I was comparing it to my in house role and showing them what we did before and bringing that insight to the table. I was showing how the distribution plan would work and being a lot more high level with it. So from a mindset and package standpoint, that was kind of where I leveled up. And then from like a sales point where I leveled up was like I didn't take projects that were just execution based anymore. I just brought on people who needed a little help figuring out what the right video to chase is. Because at least in my world there's a billion videos you could do. But which video do you actually chase after is a question that it turned. I learned in the first year a lot of people don't know the answer to.
Connor Lewis [00:10:29]:
So that was a huge unlock too.
Nick Bennett [00:10:32]:
Being someone's video monkey is the worst place to be because it's the most commoditized version of the, of the work. They're like, we did the hard part. We just need someone who can hold a camera. And I totally get why getting out of that work. One, it's like it's not just hold a camera but two, it's the perception and the status you hold to any client buying that is going to be. The incentives are just way too upside. So I totally get all that.
Connor Lewis [00:10:58]:
Plus just to add on to that. I didn't realize the value of that perception thing that you talked about. Like you level up in their mind, in your clients.
Nick Bennett [00:11:06]:
And you can charge way more.
Connor Lewis [00:11:07]:
Yeah, and you can charge way more. Exactly. Like, the scale of projects change too. Like, in the first year I made 130, like we talked about. But in the second year, like, revenue went to 400, which was insane just because, like, I was closer to the clients. The relationship was mine. Like, I was charging for different things, not just the execution of the video, for strategy as well and stuff like that.
Nick Bennett [00:11:29]:
So, yeah, the strategy is where you're going to get like 10 to 100 times the leverage. It's this whole idea. It's like, well, anyone can make a video, but not everyone knows what video to make.
Connor Lewis [00:11:40]:
It's the hardest thing to do. Right. Though I will say, like, developing, sharpening your point of view on strategy is like the biggest unlock in the past year that I've had. Like now, now I have frameworks, now I have actual beliefs that I stand on. And I've put a lot of work into to believe in my own strategies. Because before, like, when I first started doing strategy work, I was kind of like grasping at what others were doing and I didn't really have a strong foundation and it got me by. But I could tell that, like, it wasn't my best work, put it that way. And so all this to say it's hard to actually, like, deliver and develop a strategy, but it is insane how much it makes you differentiated.
Connor Lewis [00:12:21]:
You can't go to any other person because I have the strategy for B2B video SaaS ads. Like, it's so specific.
Nick Bennett [00:12:28]:
Well, it's a fantastic niche down. And like you, you're doing and articulating the things that I'm constantly being the drum on, which is like just niche down on. The problem. You're like, here's the problem. No one knows what video to make. And it's actually really hard to figure that out. And it. You just proved it's worth 400 grand compared to 130 grand of someone who can make a video.
Nick Bennett [00:12:50]:
So what was the moment where you were like, holy shit, this can actually work. What was the moment for you where you were like, okay, something has changed. This is actually working? What was that moment like? What was it that you felt like.
Connor Lewis [00:13:04]:
That initial traction is probably in June of 2024. In June of 2024, we sold a $85,000 contract, which I had never done in my life before. I still can't believe I sold such a big contract. It's just me. And like, putting that together was just a culmination of all of the different packaging techniques. I had found all the different strategy work. A lot of this is like a two year old client. So a lot of effort went into the relationship.
Connor Lewis [00:13:34]:
And we delivered it over the next six months. And it was a slam dunk. And it was such a success. And I was like, oh my God, that was such a good feeling that I could sell a package so valuable that people will pay it and want more. Essentially I was like, this is insane. I can't believe that I could make this kind of money. I'll never go back to full time because I could never make that kind of money. It's just so different.
Nick Bennett [00:13:58]:
Yeah. Doing, I mean, to deliver $85,000 worth of value in two months. Right. Like end to end on a project like that is insane. But you don't do it all. I would assume you didn't do all that work by yourself. So.
Connor Lewis [00:14:12]:
And that's not all profit. Right. Like, more than half of that is paid out to the people.
Nick Bennett [00:14:16]:
That's where people. And you even wrote when you. When you talked about this. Like, more than half of that was paid out to creative collaborators of the 400.
Connor Lewis [00:14:25]:
Yeah. I feel like building out your bench of. Of collaborators is like one of another stage in business. Like, it took me a lot of long time to find creative partners whom I love, but they're the ones now shooting and editing. And now I'm even outsourcing writing in a big way. And so all that to say you make a margin but pay your people well. And that's kind of the motto that I have in my head.
Nick Bennett [00:14:49]:
I think that there's this misconception that because you're a solopreneur that you sell an $85,000 package that you have to deliver on $85,000 worth of videos in two months. And it couldn't be further from the truth. Like, you're responsible for achieving the goal, for hitting the outcome of whatever the project called, for creating the thing. No one cares how you get there.
Connor Lewis [00:15:12]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:15:13]:
As long as you hit it.
Connor Lewis [00:15:14]:
That's true. As long as it's really high quality. As long as you deliver on the promises that you set out. Don't feel like you have to do it all yourself. There's so much help out there. And honestly, it makes you feel less alone. Like, one of the biggest things in my first year is that I didn't collaborate with a lot of people. I was shooting and editing myself and it was lonely.
Connor Lewis [00:15:33]:
Like I didn't have anyone to talk to. And so pitching These bigger projects where there's more collaborators not only allowed me to deliver more value because, like, it's a bigger project, but also I'm less alone. I found my people and I still keep in touch with them today. And we grab coffee and, like, that's where you find community and solopreneurship 1000%.
Nick Bennett [00:15:53]:
I don't have any, like, collaborators in a traditional sense, but I feel you in that. Like, once I found a community of people that I, you know, you like, hanging like your. Your new co workers. Once you find them, you're like. Like, I feel like I'm home now. Like, I feel like I'm not so alone at work. Like, you have someone where you can just kind of like, bullshit with on the, the nuances of your life in your day, in the things that you work on that just get. It totally changes your attitude towards doing this work.
Nick Bennett [00:16:20]:
For the first, like, six or eight months, I was like, totally alone, and I was like, this sucks. Why is it where we will do this?
Connor Lewis [00:16:25]:
You said it.
Nick Bennett [00:16:26]:
Yeah.
Connor Lewis [00:16:26]:
You gotta find your lunch table. Like, we're social beings. If you're going from full time to solopreneurship, like, that's one of the things that'll hit you the hardest, is that, like, you have no lunch table anymore. You have to create your own lunch table.
Nick Bennett [00:16:39]:
That's the perfect analogy.
Connor Lewis [00:16:40]:
It's a privilege to create your own lunch table too, but it can seem like a chore. But you actually get to choose the people who you hang around with. You're not stuck with your coworkers anymore.
Nick Bennett [00:16:47]:
Yeah. And you can pick people. You can pick aspirational friends and be like, I want to meet that person. I feel like they're doing a lot of stuff that I want to be doing. I want to be a part of that circle of thing or whatever, that caliber, that quality. I want to be associated with that. You can go get that.
Connor Lewis [00:17:01]:
And the other thing is too people who you think would be, like, maybe LinkedIn famous or, like, I don't know, YouTube famous, they're actually so much more down to earth than you would ever.
Nick Bennett [00:17:10]:
Believe, because most people are afraid to approach them.
Connor Lewis [00:17:12]:
I know, exactly. You're spot on.
Nick Bennett [00:17:15]:
I do a private podcast for our, our group coaching program, and one of the things that I shared was our conversation. I was like, I just saw you doing something and I was like, I'm just gonna hit this guy up and see what. Like, people are just afraid to have that. And like, you responded and you were like, cool. Sounds good. Like, yeah, of course you did a normal human thing. Because I feel like I, I reached out like a normal human.
Connor Lewis [00:17:39]:
You did. You did. I looked at your profile too. I was like, oh, this is like a real person. You know, that's a low bar, but you know, you have to check on.
Nick Bennett [00:17:48]:
Actually it is a very high bar, turns out.
Connor Lewis [00:17:52]:
And yeah, I, I don't even remember what you said or you just like.
Nick Bennett [00:17:55]:
I literally said the most. The dumbest thing you could possibly say to another person to start a normal human conversation. I said, yo, dude, been loving the content, especially the Wistia showdown.
Connor Lewis [00:18:07]:
Yeah, like, it was specific, it showed appreciation. I was like, and the way you typed it too. I was like, oh, this is like a person. Like, it's not like, hey, comma, like paragraph, paragraph. So nice to finally be acquaint. Like, I don't know.
Nick Bennett [00:18:20]:
Yeah. Best regards, Nick. Yeah, it's just like. But those are like the little things. And I was like, I don't know. I've been checking your stuff and this is a good. Because I want to talk about, like one day you just showed up in my feed and I even said this in one of my messages. He was like, the pattern interrupt.
Nick Bennett [00:18:34]:
Like, I love the video content that you do because one, it's just pattern interrupt. I'm guilty of talking head in my office on a podcast. Like, that's just the video content I create for better or for worse. But it is very ho hum. And then your stuff, you're outside, you're on the monkey bars. Like, it's such a fantastic patent interrupt and I greatly appreciate it. That was one of the things that I said to you in one of my messages. But like, I love understanding the creative style and I've heard it.
Nick Bennett [00:19:05]:
I think Jay Acunzo refers to them as like your creative fingerprints. Like, I can kind of tell now I've. I've watched enough of your videos. Like, oh, this is Connor's work. Even when you look at the videos that you did for whis. So I've just been enjoying all that. So talk me through a little bit of like, how you hit that 400k. Like, was it through this, like this LinkedIn content and showing off a little bit of that creative style? Like, what was your process there?
Connor Lewis [00:19:28]:
My journey into, into LinkedIn video started not even three or four weeks ago. And so cool to hear that it's working out. But it took me a long time to get there. Last year, most of my leads were word of mouth. It was like 85%. I think I got two clients through Google and two clients through LinkedIn, and the rest were word of mouth. It was hard. I had a lot of blockers to starting on LinkedIn because I didn't really know how to be in front of the camera.
Connor Lewis [00:19:55]:
I knew how to be behind it, but not how to be in front of it. And so I just. I delayed actually putting myself out there. I hid behind this, like, format that I still use and I still think is very valuable, where I just break down big ads.
Nick Bennett [00:20:08]:
First of all, I love that style.
Connor Lewis [00:20:10]:
I love that, too. It's not going anywhere. I think it's still fantastic.
Nick Bennett [00:20:14]:
It will take off, like, 100%. I don't know if you're familiar with the guys at Fletch.
Connor Lewis [00:20:19]:
Oh, yeah, yeah. Love Fletch.
Nick Bennett [00:20:20]:
So the way that they break down homepages with their, like, it's a similar. I. I like. I love the sentiment that you've brought that style, or at least I associate that style and that sentiment with the way that they break stuff down and love so much that you've brought it to video and, like, video ads or any type of video.
Connor Lewis [00:20:38]:
That's so nice to hear because they're my inspiration 100%. When it comes to content, I think Fletch is, bar none. And so I was like, how can I do this for video that still breaks it down, but it's a different format, so you can't stylize it the same way. And what's weird is that I started to do that breakdown. I just, like, gave my POV on the ad. I didn't know how it was going to perform. I just knew that I had strong points of view on it so I could say something about it and break it out into sections that was helpful for people. And then I did that so much that it actually became my point of view, where now when I walk clients through workshops to make their own video ads, we're looking at different breakdowns that I've done and being like, oh, we want to incorporate some of this in this ad.
Connor Lewis [00:21:21]:
Like, eventually your content informs your process, and then your process gets refined and informs your content, and it creates this really nice flywheel that I didn't even expect to happen, but now it's. It has become. My point of view is it starts in that breakdown.
Nick Bennett [00:21:35]:
I mean, you found a way to make a highly visual thing even more visual because you've utilized the layering aspect of what makes up a video. But it's like you dumbed it down for the way a marketer would think about it. Like, Feature benefit cta. Like, I don't know, there was just something about it that I was like, this is so much more engaging. Like, I would never watch a canva ad. Yeah, but the way you broke it down, I was like, that's actually kind of interesting. And then you can see the formula that they use over and over again. And then you can start basically packaging or productizing the formula of how to use.
Nick Bennett [00:22:13]:
I'm assuming that's what. When you were talking about workshops, you present that and you go, here's the whole framework.
Connor Lewis [00:22:18]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:22:19]:
To make an ad in a video and it looks like this. And then when you produce it, you say you. We followed the same beats.
Connor Lewis [00:22:25]:
Exactly. Yeah. The ad breakdowns I've done created prototypes. Essentially there's like between 12 and 15 different kind of 30 second ads that you can make out of different building blocks. Which one do we want to use for this campaign? Oh, well, based on your market position, we can pull this one in. It's just created so much like predictability for people who come in too. They like know what to expect already. It's not a question of trust anymore.
Connor Lewis [00:22:47]:
It's like a question of do you buy into the system or not? Which is like a much more logical decision. And weirdly has created a lot less friction in the sales cycle, I should say.
Nick Bennett [00:22:56]:
I don't think it's weird at all. I think it makes total logical sense. And I tell this to every single solo that the same thing, which is like, how would they know to pick you over anybody else? Well, they have to understand, like, how you think, what's your unique approach here it is, is right here. Like, if you want this, you need me. If you don't want this, then you probably need somebody else.
Connor Lewis [00:23:16]:
Exactly. Yeah, you're right. And I used to think that my differentiator was that I cared. I used to think my differentiator was that I try to tell the best story I can. But it turns out everyone else is saying that. And so you really do need to like, stand on a pedestal of your own that you built yourself. That it has frameworks and logic and strategy to it. So, yeah, I'm happy to hear that.
Nick Bennett [00:23:38]:
I tell people it doesn't have to be sensational, it just has to be demonstrably true.
Connor Lewis [00:23:43]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:23:43]:
Like, is it true? Like, if you were to show this to another video studio, they go, now we don't do that. Like, that's the type of response that you want.
Connor Lewis [00:23:55]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:23:56]:
Because if you want this, you need us. That's it. If you don't want this. If we need to convince you of this, then you probably just need somebody else. And it's so powerful, it makes the sales process so easy because now you're not sitting there convincing people with pitch decks. You're just like, how big you want to go.
Connor Lewis [00:24:13]:
Yeah. And people come on the call excited too, which is like a new thing. So you, you referenced me on monkey bars and like that style of video that's all new to me. I actually got Inspired by this LinkedIn creator called Louis Butterfield, who has a big beard and always shoots outside. And I ended up chatting with him and he's helping me develop these different types of styles of videos where basically I'm outdoors, which is a pattern interrupt. You're totally right. I do think LinkedIn has a lot of talking head. I don't knock on talking head, but sometimes it can blend in when you see too many of them on the feed.
Connor Lewis [00:24:47]:
So the setting, I always say that the setting is a character as well. It's not just you. So how can you change that character from scene to scene is kind of a fun way to think about it. But more, more importantly, my hooks have just. I've been working on my hooks a lot and like I used to feel so self conscious about being cringe and using like here are five B2B SaaS ad formulas that you can steal or if your ads are flopping, like, this could be one of the core reasons. I always felt like that was super sales pitchy. But the truth of the matter is like you are really hitting people in fast scroll speed mode. Like you have to give them something.
Connor Lewis [00:25:28]:
That's. What are you talking about? Why is it relevant for me or are they not going to stay? And so I leaned into those hooks a lot more in the past three weeks and so far it's been working even better than my ad breakdowns. So I've gotten seven, seven warm leads in three weeks from just posting my face. I never got leads whenever I did ad breakdowns, but for some reason, when people can see my personality, when they can see my way of thinking and they understand my storytelling a little more, I don't know what it is, but they'll actually book a call. So that was like finally a conversion unlock, dude.
Nick Bennett [00:26:01]:
It's called affinity.
Connor Lewis [00:26:02]:
Affinity, Interesting. What's that?
Nick Bennett [00:26:04]:
They have an affinity towards you now that they know who you are, like, they can see you. It's hard to know like, or trust anyone that you can't see. So I think this level of affinity for you has been created because you're showing your face in that way. Ann Handley has an interesting concept, but she's like, you're from name matters more than your subject line.
Connor Lewis [00:26:26]:
I agree 100%. I've heard that said before. I love that quote. I didn't know it was from her.
Nick Bennett [00:26:30]:
I attribute it to her. I'm 99% sure it came from her. I could be totally wrong on this one, but I'm going to give her credit for it, so. But the point remains, which is like, like, they recognize your headshot, they recognize your face. Like, you become a character in their life and then they scroll your feed and see the ad breakdowns and they go, I like this. This narrative is getting deeper. Like, the concepts are getting more tangible. Like, all the things build up over time.
Nick Bennett [00:26:59]:
One of the things is like, I don't necessarily have, like, a highly visual medium. Like, my path is not to create videos on the monkey bars, but one of the things you can do, which I have found is really effective, is like, hey, also, like, talk to people who other people really know and you can use their face to stop the scroll.
Connor Lewis [00:27:16]:
Yeah. Borrow their audience. That's a huge good strategy. I agree.
Nick Bennett [00:27:20]:
I mean, even just like, I had Tas Bober on recently in my conversation with her in that the clips that I shared of that were some of the most viewed of any of the podcast promotional stuff that I've ever done. Just because she's a very well known face on LinkedIn.
Connor Lewis [00:27:38]:
I love Tas.
Nick Bennett [00:27:39]:
Yeah, she's dope. She's also absolutely hilarious. But, like, the point is, is that she posts a lot of video content and then so a lot of people know her face. So you like, this is a lever to pull and it sounds so like, like, using people. Well, like, no, this is just part of the process, which is like, how does anyone become known? It's like associations and things like that are super powerful.
Connor Lewis [00:28:01]:
Yeah, I. I love that. I'm doing it with Rayna a little bit too.
Nick Bennett [00:28:05]:
I was just going to bring this up.
Connor Lewis [00:28:06]:
We're both building each other's audiences up because there are people who follow me that don't follow Rayna, and there are people that follow Rayna that don't follow me. But overlapping expertise and so, yeah, I believe in collaborations is kind of what I call them or, you know, podcast interviews. Like, these are just such good levers. And at the end of the day, even if nobody watches it, like, you met another person and got to chat with them, that's a huge networking tool. Too.
Nick Bennett [00:28:31]:
This show has been the best, like, force multiplier on my life because I get to meet more people and just like, build more relationships in a much more intentional way. I mean, it's done a lot for the business, but it's also like, I've met some of my newest and best of friends just from doing this show. Like, I created a whole new product offering with Erica Schneider because I met her through doing an interview with her on the show, and we ended up in the same community together and we just ended up becoming great friends and then building a program together. So, like, yeah, this show's changed my life. But I was going to talk to you about this collaboration with Rana. So she is also a great example of this because she's done work with Will Aiken and he brought her on. He was like, hey, I do work with this amazing video producer. And then so I got introduced to her content and then I think probably she posted something and then that's probably how I got to you, if I had to guess.
Connor Lewis [00:29:22]:
Yeah, that's how you found me, probably.
Nick Bennett [00:29:23]:
I'm curious about, like, how did you build this relationship with her and get this thing going with Wistia? Because I think a lot of people might see that and go, well, of course it's easy for Connor. He has Wistia promoting him and it's like, well, hold on a second there. Like, I don't think it's that simple.
Connor Lewis [00:29:38]:
I started hanging out with Rayna about a year ago where I just hopped in Rayna's DMS and was like, hey, you're making awesome videos. I don't see a ton of video producers making content for LinkedIn, let's link up kind of thing. And she was immediately like, yeah, absolutely. Here's my calendly. And then we just hit it off of her coffee chat and then we were staying in touch over the year. She was curious about some kind of, like, freelancing thing. And also I was curious about, like, how would people receive my offer? Could you shop this around to people internally? So we were just kind of helping out each other from, like, a career standpoint. And then we had this idea back in last summer.
Connor Lewis [00:30:15]:
We were like, oh, my God, like, we want a little more life on the feed. I want shows that aren't, like, just talking head. I want shows that are, like, weird game show formats and, like, these other things. What if we made one where, like, you and I had to challenge each other against videos? People love good. Even if it's fake conflict. People love to see the behind the scenes stuff, it just kind of combines both of those and we can invite guests on to increase our reach through their audience and stuff like that. And she was all for it. And so we made the show with the first three guests and we had three episodes just sitting in the bank for a while.
Connor Lewis [00:30:49]:
And we were like, how do we want to launch this? I don't know. Do we want to try to find a sponsor? Yeah, kind of. Okay, let's try to find a sponsor. And we poured a lot of. I poured like $2,000 into building the show because we wanted to have it really stand out. We had it animated. It was also a lot of manual labor of, like, we actually had to record that stuff and then we also had to edit that stuff. So it's a ton of work that went into it.
Connor Lewis [00:31:12]:
And so it looked really premium and packaged. And so we approached Wistia in like, November and we're like, hey, there's amazing overlap between this content and your audience. And we don't really see you partnering with influencers in the space. Is this something you're even interested in? Because we have something cool to show you? And that was like our outreach to them. And Sam Balter, the best human on Earth, was immediately like, hell, yeah, we're all in. We love the energy of this. It matches Wistia's brand. We also have been meaning to test the influencers in the space, so your timing's good.
Connor Lewis [00:31:42]:
We don't know what we're doing, so we're just going to try this. And Rayna and I were both. Both like, we don't know what we're doing. So it seems like a great partnership. And then we were just prepping for the launch in January and then launched it in Feb. So it's been a long time in the making. What might look and show up on the feed as, like, a few weeks work is actually like months and months. And we probably could do it faster if we did it the second time, but it was a culmination of a lot of effort.
Nick Bennett [00:32:09]:
These are all the little things that I don't think anybody gives enough, but they don't weigh this as heavily as they should when they think about, like, what the hell should I do in order to build my business? And the first thing was be a human and go reach out to people the same way that we just talked about how I hit you up because I thought you were doing something cool, like, you hit her up and you were like, can you also do something? Like, are you also Doing something cool.
Connor Lewis [00:32:38]:
You want to do something cool together.
Nick Bennett [00:32:39]:
Like, I see you doing this thing. Like, I'm interested in that thing. I think there's some overlap here. Like, I think this might be good for us to jam.
Connor Lewis [00:32:45]:
You know what I think I forgot when I'm doom scrolling on LinkedIn. This is me last year is that LinkedIn is a networking site first. It's not like other social medias where you're blasting your best, you know, life highlights all the time. Yes, that does happen on LinkedIn, but less so. And I would say, like, the actual value of LinkedIn is that it's a networking event that's going on 247 and you can hop in whenever you want. You can talk to people one on one. You can hop on your own stage and say, proclaim something as a post. Like, people are here to network.
Connor Lewis [00:33:15]:
Everyone has the same goal. And so if you don't come off as sales pitchy, if you just actually want to connect with people, majority of people, unless they're slammed busy, are very open to it.
Nick Bennett [00:33:24]:
This is like such a hilarious concept. But I've had to like, teach people how to human. They're like, what am I supposed to say to this person? I'm like, what would you say to, like, any friend that you saw walking down the street?
Connor Lewis [00:33:37]:
Yeah. How would you introduce yourself? Hey, I love your shirt. That's a really dope shirt. How are you doing today? Like, okay, don't give me for advice. I'm awkward as hell. But in your case, you just, you're just like, I like your videos. What's up, man?
Nick Bennett [00:33:50]:
Yeah. And, and people are like, oh. So just like, lie to them and say, I like your videos. I'm like, well, like, watch the. If you don't like the video, why.
Connor Lewis [00:33:58]:
You reach out to them.
Nick Bennett [00:33:59]:
Like, don't. Yeah. Wait, what? Like, just, just do a normal human thing. So you did a human thing, you reached out to somebody and you got, you got a positive response. You built a relationship with that person. Like, I just want to like, spell this thing out because I think the steps, I don't want it to get lost in the sauce here. Like, you build a relationship with someone, and that was a long time ago, before it became a thing where you're like, hey, let's like show up in public together.
Connor Lewis [00:34:22]:
Yeah, long time a year. It's like any relationship, it needs its own time to build trust and to learn how each other work. And like, you can't shortcut trust. You know, If I could tell myself something, two Years ago to Connor just starting his business out. Like, reach out to people in a similar boat to you and just start building relationships without the expectation of sales. Like, put in the extra work to reach out to, like, two or three people a day. That doesn't sound so hard that you would actually genuinely like to build a relationship with that you're not just doing for your own personal gain.
Nick Bennett [00:34:52]:
Everyone will tell you when you're like a kid, they'll be like, your network is your net worth. And you're like, shut the fuck up. Like, what is that mean? And then you build. Then you go out on your own and you try to build a business and you go, oh, your network is your net worth. Like, the more people I know, the easier it is for me to make money.
Connor Lewis [00:35:17]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:35:18]:
Like, straight up. And there's a disconnect between people who are trying to, like, do the inbound thing and also not build relationships. Like, one of the things that Erica Schneider told me when we had first met, and she's got like 40 something thousand followers on LinkedIn and she was like, I did five networking calls a week for three years.
Connor Lewis [00:35:40]:
That's hustle. That's.
Nick Bennett [00:35:41]:
She wanted to. She was like, I wanted to meet as many people. And this was when she was, like, still in house mostly.
Connor Lewis [00:35:47]:
Wow.
Nick Bennett [00:35:48]:
She's like, I. I networked like crazy. I wanted to meet everybody. I wanted to be friends with other people. She's like, I was so invested in this. And she's still. I mean, not five a week, but she's still really. She's still doing.
Nick Bennett [00:36:00]:
I was like, oh, that's what it takes.
Connor Lewis [00:36:01]:
That's incredible, the Hustle. But the introvert part of me is.
Nick Bennett [00:36:04]:
Like, I mean, that' that's like an extreme example. But it put into perspective, like, hey, you want to put up those kinds of Numbers. You want 40,000 on LinkedIn and you want the inbound and you want, like, all this stuff. Like, there's also the part that people don't see, which is how much time she spent getting to know people and understanding them and, like, hearing out their problems and trying to find ways to solve it for them and serve these people. Like, there's so much more to it. And then one day she launches a service and she, like, instantly sells out. And it's like, well, how does that happen?
Connor Lewis [00:36:34]:
She built the audience first.
Nick Bennett [00:36:35]:
She was like, dude, the people that I was networking with, like, two years ago are all my first customers. She's like, it's all the people who I just had, like, good working Relationships with. And those relationships became business opportunities. It's like, oh, well, all right, that's how this goes. Like, so get going. Like, this is. Start meeting people. That's like the aha for me on all of this.
Nick Bennett [00:36:54]:
And it's like, hey, it creates crazy opportunities. Like, now this one, DM Triana became.
Connor Lewis [00:36:59]:
Like sponsor revenue turned into sponsored content. That's also getting me leads. And like an underrated part of building out a lunch table or a network or however you want to see it is that they'll also be some of the first people to support you whenever you post. Because, like, that matters. It really does. Like getting that early traction on a post and commenting and that gives you confidence to keep posting. So build up that friendship with people.
Nick Bennett [00:37:26]:
So looking back, what's something you would have done differently?
Connor Lewis [00:37:29]:
I would have niched down a lot sooner. I'm curious if that's one of the number one answers on this. But yeah, it's true.
Nick Bennett [00:37:35]:
No one has has said it straight up.
Connor Lewis [00:37:38]:
Okay.
Nick Bennett [00:37:38]:
Like, you know, I probably would have done, like, they would. They allude to it, but no one has ever really said it in that way. Just straight up.
Connor Lewis [00:37:45]:
The friction furnishing down too early is that you do need, like some momentum so that you're getting leads in the door so that you can feel comfortable to disqualify some because they're not falling in your niche, so they're not falling in your qualifiers. So for the first two years, I, like, was so scared of niching down because, like, I literally just needed money. Like, I couldn't say no to anyone because that was money and, you know, I need to live. But what I didn't realize was that your message becomes so muddled when you do that that people in your sales calls, people in your marketing funnel, people on LinkedIn who are reading your stuff, they have no clue what to make of you. For me, video is so huge. Like, I can't be all of video and talk about it in a specific way. All my posts are general and, you know, like, use correct lighting and make sure that your face is right here. Like, that's not insightful, that's not new.
Connor Lewis [00:38:36]:
And so this is so recent for me, so I'm still discovering it. But the actual posts that are insightful and new and are resonating are because I'm only talking about ads. And I actually have a refined perspective on it because I have the time to build that, because I'm not trying to do it for ads and customer stories and brand videos and all these Other things, I just have to focus on ads and I just have to focus on making it relevant for B2B SaaS companies, Series A and Series B. And if I can do those two things, that content's going to stand out without much original thought for me because I'm already just connecting these two unique things. The original thought is just like the cherry on top that I'm hoping that I'm putting out there in the world. But like, if I were to make customer stories for healthcare companies, that content would look so different but also so specialized and unique and it would stand out because it's just so specific. So everything becomes easier. Marketing becomes easier, sales becomes easier, your process in the back end becomes easier.
Connor Lewis [00:39:28]:
Because I'm not juggling 50 different types of videos with 50 different freelancers. And I know if I were to listen to this show that I'm in right now two years ago, and I heard myself say niche down earlier, I'd be like, yeah, you've already made it easy for you to say, but like, niching is what makes you make it. It is everything. It is the way to stand out in this oversaturated market. I sound like ChatGPT there, but genuinely. So you have specific expertise in a niche? Most likely. What is it? That's what I would tell myself is like, you grew up in a software company that was Series B. You built a video program there, choose one of those use cases and just go nuts with it.
Connor Lewis [00:40:09]:
For software companies, I just could slap myself in the face, that's what I'd do.
Nick Bennett [00:40:12]:
Well, I think there's something to be said. Like you said, money's better than no money. But also you have to take on a bunch of bad fit clients to know what a good fit client looks like. So you gotta give yourself a little bit of grace there. But like, you also don't know what the niche is. But I think the way that you described it is perfect, which is niche. Down on the problem. You're like, if I can explain this problem better than anybody else in the world, the way that Series A and Series B SaaS companies struggle with paid ad, like video ads, then I am the only solution, period.
Nick Bennett [00:40:39]:
Full stop. That's it. That's the lens at which I look at this through. It's like, market the problem, become one with the problem. Niche on the problem. Like, that is the only thing that matters.
Connor Lewis [00:40:49]:
The problem.
Nick Bennett [00:40:50]:
Yeah, you are the problem. Dude, I love this. All right, man, let's end here. What is next for Studio Lewis? What do you want to Build that you haven't built yet.
Connor Lewis [00:40:59]:
I want to build a team. Is that weird to say on a solopreneurship podcast?
Nick Bennett [00:41:03]:
No. There are no rules. And you want to build. Build this thing out.
Connor Lewis [00:41:06]:
If you had asked me even a month ago if I wanted to build a team, I would have said no, because I just didn't think it was possible. It's too much randomness and creativity and everything in the process. But now that I'm productized and now that I'm niched, I can actually see how this thing could grow. And so I'm really excited for that. I just have to get enough momentum and enough clients and enough, like, growth this year to actually be able to do that. But eventually, I would love to be the leading video ad agency for software brands who aren't in, like, the billions of dollars, like the smaller software brands ad agency. That would be my dream. I would also love to work less.
Nick Bennett [00:41:47]:
Yeah, fair.
Connor Lewis [00:41:48]:
I work a lot right now. Probably like 50 to 60 hours a week. And for me, at least, like, I. I am a lifestyle solopreneur at the end of the day and maybe eventually entrepreneur. So I would want to take a step back and delegate a lot more. Those are the two goals. Is like, grow this thing now that I've actually figured out what it is, and then be able to step back from it so that I can spend more time with my fiance, my. My friends, and especially my family.
Nick Bennett [00:42:13]:
Well, and I think the. The ambition to build a team is. Is noble because it creates a ton of opportunity for a ton of other people. But the thing that gets us stuck is, like, being an operator versus being like a people manager. People operator.
Connor Lewis [00:42:29]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:42:30]:
Building a business, getting out of the work is like. Feels weird. Like, the thought of not doing the work for me feels super weird.
Connor Lewis [00:42:38]:
Yeah, it feels weird for me too. I agree.
Nick Bennett [00:42:39]:
I don't know how to reconcile that.
Connor Lewis [00:42:41]:
I'll have to come to terms with that, probably. The good news is, in house, I did manage a team, so I know what people leadership is like. And I also know you still want to do it.
Nick Bennett [00:42:51]:
Weird.
Connor Lewis [00:42:51]:
Yeah, actually, I do. I loved it. There were politics. Yes. And there are bad that come with it. But the part that I honed in on and loved is that, like, mentoring people and teaching people your craft, there's no joy like it, at least for me.
Nick Bennett [00:43:04]:
All right. Hey, I managed like two people ever. And I was like, oh, that. That's the wrong answer. That's not the thing for me. But hey, maybe I got lucky.
Connor Lewis [00:43:14]:
People.
Nick Bennett [00:43:15]:
I don't know, I. I mean, hey, more power to you if you want to manage people there. We need people in this world to do that. So I respect you for wanting to do it. But hey, hey, either way, it's like I just read the book Built to Sell and a lot of it is like, if you want to do this thing, you got to get out of the work.
Connor Lewis [00:43:29]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:43:29]:
And it doesn't matter if you want to sell it. Like, if. If you want to get to that next level, you got to build this thing.
Connor Lewis [00:43:35]:
Yeah. And it doesn't have to be built off of full time employees. But I love that book, by the way. I'm so glad you brought that book up because that book was a wake up call for me. By the way, if you're a solopreneur and you've never read Built to Sell, read it.
Nick Bennett [00:43:46]:
It's the easiest read in the world too. I wish every business book was written like that.
Connor Lewis [00:43:49]:
Yeah. It's not technical. It's just a story about a design agency that's custom and how they moved through being productized.
Nick Bennett [00:43:57]:
I just, I appreciate it because it was like a short story and it just drilled in all the lessons of like. Yep. Oh, yeah, that's the. I get that. Okay. And then by the time you're done, you're like, okay, fine. Yeah, I'll do it.
Connor Lewis [00:44:08]:
Fine. You're right. Okay. I guess you have to build a machine that runs by itself if you truly want to step back and not trade your hours for time. But if you love the work that you're doing, then why step? Bucket halls.
Nick Bennett [00:44:18]:
Yeah. I guess you could still build yourself into one function of the process, but either way, it's a noble goal. I excited to see where it goes and, and how you get there, man. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for watching your story with me. Dude. It. I know more people feel seen on their own route because of it, so I appreciate you, man.
Nick Bennett [00:44:35]:
This has been fun.
Connor Lewis [00:44:35]:
I hope so. And I hope I didn't come off as braggadocious because this journey has been tough and it's still tough and it's still rewarding the entire time. So ups and downs, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for being curious about me.
Nick Bennett [00:44:48]:
I'm glad you said that because I was going to name this episode Connor Lewis, the Braggadocious Soul. So, like, your clarification?
Connor Lewis [00:44:56]:
No, my worst nightmare. Your.
Nick Bennett [00:44:58]:
Yeah, your clarification. Sa. No, you're good, man. I appreciate you, dude.
Connor Lewis [00:45:01]:
Of course.
Nick Bennett [00:45:07]:
Hey Nick, again, and thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can sign up for the 1000 Routes newsletter where I press process the insights and stories you hear on this show into frameworks and lessons to help you build a new and different future for your own business. You can sign up@1000routes.com or check the link in the show notes. What would be your last meal on earth?
Connor Lewis [00:45:36]:
How could you do that to me?
Nick Bennett [00:45:38]:
I know. Put you on the spot.
Connor Lewis [00:45:40]:
I only get to have one more thing. I know my mom's lasagna. Yeah, I grew up. She made the best lasagna. It's just a very simple beef meat, ricotta, parsley, pasta. But it's just the best thing on earth. It's what brings me center. It's what centers me, you know, it's what brings me home.
Connor Lewis [00:45:59]:
So my mom's lasagna.
Nick Bennett [00:46:00]:
You know how I know the lasagna is good? Is the secret ingredient. It’s the parsley.
Connor Lewis [00:46:05]:
Parsley? Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:46:07]:
No one's putting parsley in their lasagna. Who doesn't know?
Connor Lewis [00:46:11]:
If you don't know, Whip it. Whip it into the ricotta. That's the secret. So, yeah, you. You chop it. Ricotta. Whip it and then spread as if it's like part of the ricotta. And then it's integrated.
Nick Bennett [00:46:22]:
Oh, yeah. But it like, it's infused. I'm telling. That's like the secret. If you don't. If you don't know true Italian lasagna, then you're not putting parsley in there. So that's how you know it's good.
Connor Lewis [00:46:33]:
Oh, hell yeah.