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Running a business is one thing. Building a business that pays you, funds your lifestyle, and creates real wealth? That’s different.
On ZFO Insider, we take you behind the scenes of how high-performing entrepreneurs turn their everyday operations into generational wealth machines; businesses that create real income, lasting freedom, and a legacy that actually matters.
This is your Masterclass in financial vision and business scaling.
Real Numbers. Real Stories. Real Strategies, that turn your cash flow into power.
See you on the inside.
Zokpia (00:00.194)
You can have the most innovative product or service, but if your message doesn't resonate, your audience won't engage. Today on the ZFO Insider, we're sitting down with Liz Thibodeau, founder and president of Thibodeau Media Group, to talk about how compelling storytelling and strategic media production can transform your brand's impact. The storytelling for me is, it happens in discovery and I have to first define the goal of what it is we're producing, right? Yeah.
and then humanize it. How is this going to be interesting to an audience? What you want is the audience to disconnect from where they are and connect to you and have an experience that they can identify with. If you don't put the human experience in it, no one's going to identify with it. With over 25 years in the industry, Liz and TMG has helped companies earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue and donations with simple video.
and all kinds of media assets. If you're looking to elevate your brand's message and story to connect more deeply with your audience, this episode is for you. Let's dive in.
Hey, Liz. Hey, Zo, how are you? I'm doing great. Doing so good. Thank you so much for agreeing to this and just coming on the podcast. It's I think this conversation is going to be so cool. So wonderful. So amazing. And it's it's just a pleasure to have you. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm looking forward to it as well. Yeah. So I really want to start this. Honestly, I am kind of serving myself. So you're in media production.
video production and doing a bunch of marketing in that ways. And I'm super interested in that. Like you can see we're in a podcast. I'm doing a podcast in a major studio. Like that's different. So my first question I want to talk about is how would you define brand? Okay. Well, I love that question. And I would like to say that I define brand
Zokpia (02:08.539)
as how a particular company or person identifies themselves. So it's how you believe you would like to identify yourself. And what the opposite side of that is, because I debated this yesterday when I was thinking about this question, is it how you identify yourself or how people perceive your identification?
It's different things. It's two different things, but they're both your brand. And I do believe that your brand is what you believe you stand for. And that could even relate to a person. Yeah. Not always a company. Yeah, honestly, because it's really an exchange of identity. who do you see yourself as? And truly, if you're trying to be in business, it's like, how do other people perceive that? And marketing is, and branding is,
creating a strategy to make sure that the perception of your brand is aligned with how you identify yourself and your brand. Now, it's through our conversation. we've been having we've met each other a few months ago and it's been wonderful. And I love your story. And I really love the story of how your organization kind of grew and where you're You're serving like you're not serving small businesses. No, you know, we really
serve anybody, you we have very large clients, but we have, you know, nonprofits, you know? that's true, yeah. What I mean is that, like, look behind you. There's a movie set behind you. Exactly. So it's not, when I say small, not small business, I mean, small minded business owners. Right. Right. Right. People who are really looking to do great things in video production, maybe shoot a movie, shoot a commercial, do large scale national.
marketing campaigns, would imagine that those are a type of, who would I come into your office, yeah? And also shooting training and demonstration. Yeah. Messages to shareholders, things like that. The video, I've been, it's funny, in your introduction, I think you said 25 years, and I thought, gosh, I have to really think about that math. I mean, it's closer to 40 at this point, and I probably have to update that on our website, but.
Zokpia (04:30.223)
I have been in media or some kind of media production for more than 40 years. that watching where video has really, really grown. We're in this place, this amazing place that I could only wish for back in the early 2000s where the gurus were saying, by 2020, everybody, every business will need
video and we'd be like, we sure hope so, you know? And now that's like, it's a ridiculous statement, of course. Yeah, it's like, it's no questions asked. You have to. In this day and age, so my audience knows me as a CFO. We just exchange information primarily, right? In this day and age where information becomes so much, it's cheaper, information is cheap. What becomes more valuable is actually people.
and their brands. So this is a great industry to be in this time because when everyone is trying to fix it with AI, you can't fix your person, who you are, your value and your brand with just a click of a button. I'm really glad you brought up AI because that's really something our industry has had their eyes on and there's a lot of conversation about is this going to make us irrelevant? Will AI take over video production? And I had a client of mine
I'll say two months ago, their marketing team, they have a private marketing agency, told them to, and they do video with me regularly, like at the end of a quarter or something, and told them to up it and create more video and be authentic because AI can, you know, there are a lot of tools to make AI videos and they can even be humans, you know, but they're not you.
No matter how advanced it gets, and I know there's deep fake and all of that, it can't be truly the person. Like this conversation you and I are having are really authentic. Yeah. Is really authentic. And you can't recreate that. So if you want to combat that, just be yourself. Yeah. know, represent authentically. Absolutely. So when you're in the business of solving problems from a video perspective,
Zokpia (06:50.339)
When clients come to you, they may come to you in different stages. Some already know what they want, and some probably are like, make it for me and then I'll tell you if I like it. Which one do you prefer? Wow, that's a really good question because sometimes a marketing agency will come to me and they already have the creative done. They branded them, they're on brand, all of that script is written and they just need me to produce it.
That's like a hot knife through butter for me because then all I need to do is bring in the visuals and create it. I like that, but I also love the challenge of we know we need to do this and we don't even know where to begin. So that's kind of fun to become partners with that type of a client and really watch it grow and blossom. And develop honestly, because once you start moving, it becomes more clear.
Like where are you gonna go, where are you gonna end up? That's honestly one of our principles or things that I teach as well. Action is going to create understanding. There's this concept, I call it the transformation process. And it's like, you start off with the things that you're exposed to. That's like your source of inspiration. You gather truths and facts from all that exposure.
And then you start putting that into action before you actually can understand what's going on. So it's the same process in video. We turn on the camera. I don't know what's going to happen on the podcast. Literally just said, all right, have I ever produced something? No, but I'm just going to do it and we're going to see what happens. And as I'm doing it, I'm learning more things. I get to sit down with Liz and her team and they tell me, you know, a 50 millimeter is probably a little bit more.
than a 35. So I love that exploration process. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, no, I love it too. And when those challenging projects come across our desks, like we know we need to do something, we don't know where to begin. It's really fascinating to go through the discovery process with them where we just go back down to zero and tell me about
Zokpia (09:07.505)
company and the goal of this particular project. What are you trying to do? Do you identify with your brand and how so? Maybe it's time for a realignment of the voice of their brand. Yeah, yeah. So we're in your studio, right? How big is it? Oh, 5,000 square feet. is Studio 97, which is... We moved in here April...
2024. And it was a former mechanics. Oh yeah. And we have been, can't tell anymore. we've been building it out. It's taken a year with my whole team. They're amazing. And we built a place that we wanted to be, that we wanted to produce in that kind of ticked all the boxes of what we're always looking for. The reason there's a doctor's exam room behind me, if that is what it is, right?
We do lot of medical training and medical device marketing and things like that. And it's been very difficult over the course of my career to shoot medical in real clinical environments because their goal is patient care.
to help me be a set, you know? And I can't have complete control of the environment with sound and all of that. Wait, so you tell me in your early careers, you rented out hospital spaces? Sure, yeah. And we still have to sometimes because sometimes it has to actually be an accurate type of place. yeah. Okay, all you hospitals and doctor's offices, you have another revenue stream. But it's really difficult. they tend to be reluctant.
I would have success with hospitals or long-term care nursing facilities that maybe had a wing that was under renovation and there were no patients in it. Yeah, yeah, sorry. You can go in. Yeah, yeah. But or if the client is a hospital, they'll make room for us. know, we we did some work for Luminous. OK. And a medical center. know, they they accommodated us to shoot in their facility. Sure. Sure. We were shooting their topic. Yeah. Yeah, of course.
Zokpia (11:18.041)
So we're in your studio. Sounds like you might have a lot of medical shooting experience, but I want to ask you this question. What is one of the wildest shoots you've had in this studio that just blew your mind? Easy, easy. It was. you know, my business model here is twofold. I built the studio for myself. Of course. But we also make it available to other producers that need a location.
So this was for another producer who's also on our team and a friend of ours and built out a lot of the studio and everything. And he, we reenacted a prison in here. So to, this side of you, and I'll send you some pictures if you want to edit it in, there were cells. This was a commissary where you and I are sitting. It was like the lunch room that they had a big fight in. And then over that way we had a shower scene.
A shower scene. it was a whole prison. It was a whole prison. have guards and yeah, I'll send you some pictures. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. That's why did any, were there any crimes committed? Not that I know of. There better not be. There was just an act. Now that's really cool. And that's really cool. So you do, there's a lot of large budget productions that happen here. You were telling me even.
that a church has shot something here. you tell me more about that? The Union Church, and they came to rent the White Psych area, which is like an infinity set right over there. And they had us paint the other side of it completely black. So it was half white, half black. And they came and shot some footage to open their Easter mass with. And it was super cool. Yeah. Yeah. I saw some of it. It was like...
One, they have some very creative people. They really do. And I'm sure you get to rub bump elbows with very creative people coming through the studios. And so that's awesome. Now, let's shift back into brand, right? From a business standpoint. So we have owners who don't understand brand, don't care about brand, some who care a lot about brand, right? How should CEOs and owners think about how brand drives their business forward?
Zokpia (13:34.641)
That's a good question. I think that your brand is a living thing. It has to grow with times and change, but it can still be committed to your basic principles. But I think it's important for CEOs to constantly check in with their brand and make sure that their
their voice is correct, know, is still committed to, or, you know, check in with, are these still aligned with our principles and is this really who we still believe we are? And more importantly, I think that they should continually check in with the voice of customer. Yeah. You know, when I think about the, that question, even branding, like there might be a different style of brand from a large organization and a smaller one. Usually in this day and age,
Brand is usually personal brands. Well, there is always the corporate brand, but the personal brand has really made a rise in our time. When you have a larger organization, like you're a CEO, is the brand really you or is the brand everyone? Is the brand your clients? How do you maintain a consistent brand when there's so many cooks in the kitchen, if you will?
I think it's really important that a company brand is not tied too much to who the CEO is. The principles can be, because that's the leader. I'll use TMG as an example. I started this company by myself and I obviously have principles that I operate with. And then I surrounded myself by people who also have the same principles, but also challenge me and have different opinions and things like that.
It's interesting, we're in this rebrand right now because I named the company Tibbido Media Group, my last name, right? And then I wondered if I should have done that because I don't want the company to be me, I want the company to be us in what we're doing. Yeah, that is an important distinction. And sometimes when we're starting our companies, we don't see that far ahead. It's like, I didn't know that we will be in this 5,000 square foot studio.
Zokpia (16:02.051)
I just thought we're just gonna wake up and do it again the next day. And so, yeah, it's cool to look back and just say, if I had to start all over, if I was starting this from the beginning, this is how I would build it. Yeah, we're now just trying to more often use TMG instead of Tibbetto Media Group. I can't separate myself from it because it's a large part of my identity. But I think that sometimes CEOs have to...
The narrative should not be about them. It should be about what the company is doing and moving forward and how they act. And be adaptable to change. Think about Tesla. When Tesla was founded and started, what do you think their brand represented back when it started? One person? I don't know.
Green energy. yeah. All right. Let's talk about that. Right. Yeah. Sustainability. And who do you think that appealed to? Who do you think they were speaking to? What type of buyer? The buyer that was environmentally conscious. They got annoyed when they saw big pickup trucks drive by them and pushed them off the side of the road. They wanted to save the environment and save money and gas. Has that flipped recently?
I mean, I would think so. Yeah, because this the and I don't know if don't know if Elon says, you know, is he I think I don't even know, but he's clearly like the character that represents Tesla. And he now the way he's aligned what he's doing in the current administration, Tesla is now appealing to people that would never have bought an electronic.
and that's the shift of the brand essentially. And now the original people are like fighting, they're burning their Teslas, all of these things. Like they could never have imagined this. Yeah. So I think Tesla needs to make some strategy changes. But sure, because that shows the power of your brand and how it can shift.
Zokpia (18:18.575)
based off of leadership and decisions and how the public might see you. Now, I have a selfish question. All right, so I'm into video now and production. If you didn't know, I produced this podcast. I kind of produced it, what is the word, supported by TMG. But I wanted to learn a bit more specifics, like around storytelling. I'm sure you do that a lot. You're telling stories through commercials, through what?
Everything. Tell us, is a framework or principle you follow to tell a proper story and maybe a story that impacts our brand? First, I want to say that storytelling has been a foundational principle that I have worked on and off of since the beginning of my career. And it's turned into like a real big buzzword in the last few years. I've always been a storyteller.
And what I like about it is regardless of what story you're telling and it doesn't have to always be some emotional thing. know, it's not, you know, I've done nonprofits for cancer support organizations and that's an easy story because it's easy to connect with. Sometimes it's a, you know, we're talking about a medical device or something. So the storytelling for me is it happens in discovery and I have to first
define the goal of what it is we're producing, right? And then humanize it. how is this gonna be interesting to an audience? So for example, if it's a medical device, sometimes the founder of a medical device is an entrepreneur, an innovator, a scientist, and an inventor, very scientific, but not a storyteller. And they're like telling me all about
The specs. The science of it. All of that. But what I'll tease out of them is how will it change someone's life? Yeah. And then that's the story. And then you go that angle so that someone like you who knows nothing about the medical device can be identified somehow. Oh, I have an aunt with COPD or whatever it is we're talking about. connect with them. Yeah. Yeah, I've been learning a lot.
Zokpia (20:45.043)
about the storytelling because storytelling is effective communication. Honestly, you're telling stories like all the time. it's just a matter of learning like the certain pillars of the story. What was the problem? What was the solution? What was the result? know, were you a part of that result or were you not? And then adding elements of visual imagery that somebody can even think in their mind. So I think of video.
as just taking what we would imagine in our mind based off of what was written and just putting it in front of our eyes. So if you have a good copy and someone's like, yeah, yesterday, yesterday around 2 p.m. I woke up from a great nap. And as I walked out the door, a red blue, a blue blue J.
landed on my car and started tweeting. So you're visualizing it all. Yeah, exactly. So adding those visuals, adding those those, what is it, automata-pia, is that what they call it? Those sounds. Like, I just started learning a bit more about storytelling, being descriptive. And as you're more descriptive, it connects to the video. It gives context to the video. Well, what you want is the audience to disconnect from where they are and connect to you.
So the thread in your script that you've already written is finding a way for the person listening or viewing to identify with it. So they have to be like all in. I feel this, I hear this, I see this and have an experience that they can identify with. If you don't put the human experience in it, no one's gonna identify with it. What's the story of TMG?
Wow.
Zokpia (22:38.097)
know, through this rebrand that we're doing, we've thought a lot about this. the story of TMG to me is we're a company that's based on visuals and showing people, helping people visualize what they're trying to say. And I love that we came to it.
as video producers. you know, in the early days, and I've been a video producer forever, so when I was a producer for other companies and all of that, it would just be, here's this, produce this for me. And so all I, like I focused on, did it look good? Did it sound good? Are we in the right place? Is the wardrobe right? You know, all of that, like just all the little elements. So I was trained early on about having a good eye for something.
continuity in shots and cuts and things like that. And as a sidebar, I'm really annoying to watch a movie with or a TV show, because I'll see any like break in continuity because I can't stand it. actually would love that experience. I think for me, I'm a self-proclaimed movie critic. Yeah. And before I knew what it looked like to be behind the camera, I was always thinking about myself behind the camera. I like how they cut the pacing of the shot.
Why did they add that scene? That was unnecessary. So yeah, I would like to experience that. Or like I'm, you know, you can build suspense with, you know, what a reverse is. I don't know, teach us. So, you know, the camera's on you, right? Well, the camera's on me right now because I'm talking. The reverse is on you nodding and saying, yeah, you know, that's the reverse, right? So sometimes...
An editor or a director will add suspense by delaying seeing the reverse. Okay. And I feel, I really feel that in, in, in programs and movies where it's like, I'm dying to see the other side of it. Like the, reaction that's happening when the person is saying these things, you know? Like if they're saying something so moving that should elicit an emotion, but they delay when you actually see the other person responding to it. Right. Yeah.
Zokpia (25:00.725)
We see that on it. So I see some of those elements, they're subtle, but you see them, people applying them in social media. Like some of those subtle elements, which just increases the storytelling. Like things that you don't really realize, I noticed them. Like what you said, you called it a reverse. You see the person nodding while the audio of the other person is going.
I found like to be so tasteful. just makes it. Well, it's also part of the story because if I'm telling you something, your response to it is part of the story. Yeah. So that's good. That's good. Now, the type of people that may be listening to this podcast are business owners who have some type of success. They may be trying to find ways to enhance their brand.
A lot of times consistency is our bane of existence. We think that starting a brand is just by posting on Instagram. And yeah, that helps. But what advice would you give to small business owners simply trying to keep the momentum growing with their brand? Do you do short form? Sure. Yeah. For clients as well? Yeah. Tell me about that. Generally,
Our clients, of a couple of interesting things. You made me do some homework yesterday about like a statistic I'm proud of. And one of them was my retention rate, right? Oh yes, talk about that. And a lot of my clients, they come and they stay and they might come for a little tiny one-off thing, know, a little short form thing. But then we work as partners together and it's a good feeling and they all come back if, if...
video production or the needs they have, we can fulfill. I'm not gonna say every single person. I mean, obviously things time out where that was their only project or something like that. So a lot of our clients for short form are just clients that have been with us forever. And then they come and they're like, we did a product demo with you, we're launching on Amazon now, and now we need a bunch of little snippets for Amazon, and then we wanna post on social.
Zokpia (27:24.619)
I wouldn't say we're the ideal company and my team will probably get mad at me for saying this, like, I'm not the right person to follow someone around and do their social media. Like, you know, with a phone, cause I don't want to do that. So, okay. So I think that sometimes there's a disconnect to where video is placed. And a lot of us,
are exposed mostly to just social media. if we, before social media, it was simply just TV. Talk to us about where these assets are placed that you essentially create so we can open our minds of how impactful production is. I'm gonna use a client of ours, Nasaclip, as an example. So it's a class one medical device that stops nosebleeds. It was invented by an ER doctor.
Dr. Liz Claiborne, and it's a very simple device, but as an ER doc, she saw a lot of ER time wasted stopping nosebleeds. And so she invented this device that's pretty cool. It sponges and it, I know way too much about too much. It puts pressure on Kesselbeck's process right here, know, where a bunch of nerves are, you know. And so she came to us a few years back when she first was getting it going because she needed investors.
So we helped her create a couple of videos about her, why she's the right founder for this and everything, and about the product and how to use it in a product demo of how to use it. And those were like three minute videos, and they were placed on their beginning website and then in their pitches, in their pitch decks when they were trying to get investors. So she gets investment and it...
goes to the next level, and then comes back to us and we created a bunch of social media videos for her, vertical social media videos, based on video we shot already, know, re-edited, with motion graphics and some voiceovers and music and things like that, with just short little things explaining the product. And those are placed on social media, Instagram, Facebook.
Zokpia (29:43.381)
LinkedIn, they had a different flavor and they'd be a little bit more pointed maybe towards investment. And those were 16 by nine or horizontal, they weren't vertical videos. And YouTube. And then she came back this year and she just went live on Amazon, they're selling on Amazon now. So she has funnels like trying to get them in healthcare facilities. But she also wants it in everybody's bathroom cabinet where your band-aids are.
So now Amazon, so she came back to us for snippets for Amazon because Amazon has very specific requirements. don't notice the next time you're shopping about the pictures they show of products and little videos and they have very set specs of sizes and all of that. So we did all of those for her. Yeah, so it's very expansive where you can find the videos at.
One of the things that I was, I didn't realize, like when you were telling us about the church that came and did a production, like those videos were actually made for the large screen at the actual live events. And so even when you, have you ever been to a concert, right? And you see the production of what's actually happening behind the, like all those stuff are subtle. Those are where video is important.
is placed, but we may not even notice it. We just think, it just happened. But no, there's a studio behind it that actually created those effects, those lighting. And so I really love how AV production can show itself up live in the physical world and then also show up off, obviously, in the digital world online and things like that. That is cool. You mentioned how you delivering on the video in those different mediums affected
the sales funnel of that client. You were telling me about how you worked with a nonprofit, that you produced something. You you're telling me when it produced a direct effect on their revenue. And I want to focus in on that and how directly impactful production is towards the revenue. I have a concept that I teach, which is just a model of every business.
Zokpia (32:09.599)
And it's this formula that if you solve this simple formula, you would essentially essentially scale your business. starts off. This is what it is. So it's the offer minus fulfillment minus management equals profit. And in every one of those elements, there's a department head and we usually know them CEO, COO and the CFO. Now I see video being an enhancement to that that CEO. So what are some, how has your production
directly impacted the top line of your clients and do you even know that? So again, when you asked this yesterday, you're prepping me for this.
I loved, I don't want to flip this back on you. You have a numbers mind, accounting and all of that, So you like yearn for the number. Like how does this prove to me that this worked? And I thought, know, sometimes, very often, I don't know like a numbers effect. I know that, but I do have some examples. But one of my...
oldest and dearest clients is landmark roofing. Like my clients are all over the place, all different types of things, right? And they've been with me for years. We do a lot of their web work and we do all their video. They are growing and growing and growing and growing. But they have a lot of efforts out there. So I don't know if my media, I know it's impacted them in a positive way, but do I have a number for that? Is is it quantifiable because
what all their decisions are moving them in the right direction. And I don't know what part my little piece of it plays. But I do know that somewhere they believe it's working and it's important because they've been with me for nine years. And that's, what you're pointing out is a difficulty that many of us have. Like, and there's, mean, social media and some platforms give you data that's supported through impressions, through likes, comments, activity on a certain
Zokpia (34:18.109)
space, but when you have a video that's at a concert, what is the data other than how many people are attended? What actions did they take afterwards? What was the merch like? Did it sell or did it go down? Some of it is quantifiable. Landmark, for example, does a lot of OTT advertising, so over the top. So digital video buys on streaming channels.
through digital marketing agency, they'll make media buys. I make the media buys for them. So those are quantifiable because there'll be direct data about that spot aired and the phone rang. The phone number we put in that ad is tracked against other phone numbers. So there will be data. And what we do a lot with that is A-B tests like
I think we have four spots now running for landmark and some of them get more than others. that can be more quantifiable. the example I wanted to talk about with you is the work I do for Wellness House of Annapolis, which is a cancer support organization. And I'm also in full disclosure on the board. And for the past several years, I've been helping them produce a live event in the fall, their fall fundraiser.
And usually at a live event, there's a, you know, it's a fundraiser. So there'll be an auction, silent auction going on and all of that. And usually there'll be a part in the program where we'll stop and we'll show program. Like they'll give a couple of awards out and recognize somebody from the stage. And I usually play a video to kind of set it all up and everything. So this year was the third year I've done it. every year it's gotten better and better. Like we've brought the level of the event up.
And this year, the video I created focused on the children that are affected when cancer is in their family and one particular family, you know, mother and two daughters. And it was so emotional. And like I said, these stories are easy to tell because they're really gut punch stories. Video played. I mean, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. You could hear a pin drop and then we...
Zokpia (36:43.262)
move right over into a paddle raise, a very tasteful one. Like now you all know why we are here tonight. What's a paddle raise? Okay, so people have paddles with numbers on Oh, like an auction? It's like an auction, but not for anything. It's just like... We wanna donate? Does anybody in the room? $500. And it's like an auctioneer, $500 and people will raise their paddle. And then they moves up and moves up. And I'm gonna say...
Ten minutes? We raised $70,000 from a paddle raise, which is just people gave them money. Yeah. Right after the video played. Yeah, okay. So that's a direct connection for sure. Mary German, the executive director, told me and really firmly believes that that video really motivated that moment. And then the whole evening ended up raising $280,000, which was the most we'd ever raised. That's incredible.
So it was not just my video. don't want to say that, know, but it had a direct effect. did. And oftentimes when I, it, it, I'm learning that video and brand and in general, it's storytelling is a multiplying effect. A lot of times, whatever, for whatever objective it's trying to accomplish. So that means like, you can quantify, you know, what
you know, a direct effect and say, okay, this contributed to 70,000 at the time. But do you know what those people did after when they went home? Like the impact that story did like changed their lives and what that led to the other types of things that they did. And I think that that's what I like about the video and the branding. goes beyond what you can even quantify. Well, let's take it outside of money to the people in that room.
might have shared it, right? And we don't know a year later, you know, I'm sure someone in that room was affected by cancer since October. And now they're armed with information about this wonderful place too. Yeah. And that's the cool part. It's not just money. That's the cool part because as owners, you know, money allows us to serve the people in ways that you don't usually get the opportunity to.
Zokpia (39:06.73)
So literally being in business is the opportunity to serve people and it's an incredible experience. Yeah, I feel that all the time. Like when we're working with our clients, you know, we're not necessarily, we're telling the story of like, this is what could happen if you did the thing, but being able to walk them through and live out that experience and see the impact when their lives are changed, that they hit the dream that they were looking for, it's a different type of feeling for sure.
So there isn't much more. think we beat the, yeah, we talked a lot about brand. We talked a lot about marketing and we talked a lot about production. And so I really just want you to talk to our audience with a final message, essentially. Like they're looking to grow their brand, right? And maybe someone is starting their own business and they're you 40 years ago or whenever you started 25.
Yeah, they're young. They're starting their business, right? But they don't have the vision to see, this is where it could go. But they know they have to start, they have to build an identity somewhere. Talk to them and tell them what is one, what's the first step in doing that? What can they do today to start that journey? I think I would tell somebody who's just starting to not rush, to give pause, to stop and...
listen and reflect on why they want to do this in the first place. And develop that why. Whether it's, and it can be in multi-levels. It's usually, I wanted to be my own boss. That was my first why. I wanted other people out of the way so I could do what I wanted to do. there's a greater good and a greater good.
So I would say to really stop and think about what you want to do and why you want to do it. And then how you want to be perceived as a company and then start there. But know that, you know, no one's taking a chisel and chiseling and granite what your tagline is. You you can grow. You can, you will, you should grow, learn, change, adapt and, and
Zokpia (41:27.742)
in this process you're defining your customer, listen to them. You may go out of the gate thinking, this is what my customer wants, and guess what? Six months later it's like, maybe that isn't what they wanted. You learn something along the way that actually they want this. So I would always be open-minded. Begin somewhere, start somewhere and define yourself. just like you...
when you decorate your living room, you're not nailing the couch down. You know, like, let's start here. Yeah, that's actually very true. You have to go somewhere, but you don't have to be married to that one direction. Right. Because as you grow, you can shift and change. And get out of your own way. It's not about you, and it shouldn't be about you. It should be about what you want to do. And then when you get to the next level, surround yourself with people that are aligned with what you want to do. Awesome.
That's what I would say. This is a good conversation. It was great. Liz, tell us where we can find you, where we can learn more about TMG. Is there something new that you're doing, you're offering? Let us know. OK, well, you can find us in our new studio right off Route 97 in Millersville. Maryland. Maryland, yeah. And you can also learn more about everything about us on our website at tibmedia.com.
and then all the information about Studio 97 is on our website as well. And I am always open to conversations and I don't have a perfect client. I like to solve problems. We're a group of doers, but we like to listen and we like to act as partners. So I'm open to anything. You can hit us up on the website, send us a little note and we would love to chat. That's awesome. And I also serve as clients all over the country.
other countries as well. So you take the studio on the road. we take the studio on the road all the time. That is honestly we can dive into it. But like I was I was talking to Andrew and I said, man, your checklist to travel has to be crazy. It is. It is. Because if you miss one little adapter, one little wire, it can undermine the whole production. There's a role, a team role on big productions called a fixer.
Zokpia (43:51.868)
And it's just somebody who comes to fix these things, you know, run to Home Depot and find a way to rig it. you know, they're really important. Wow. Yes, they are, man. Thank you. Thank you to your team for helping me. I've learned a lot, honestly. Like we can this this rival whole of production goes deep. Let me tell you, it goes deep. Learning lighting, learning video. And so that's not usually what what an accountant is interested in.
But I think it's just a cool quality. Can I ask you a question before you wrap it Yeah, let's do it. What's your brand? Ah, OK. What is my brand? You know, I've been workshopping a lot this year. I mean, I've really been working on it since I've started my business. it's been going through iterations. I would say that my brand is one that tries to inspire.
is based off of inspiration in a way that provides pressure to take action. Not because you're terrible and you can't do anything right, but because you can be more than where you are. And so I like to tell that story. I like to equip my clients, tell that story of where you are and trying to get to where you're going, and then do it in such a beautiful, crispy way.
Nice cameras with, you know, hopefully good audio. I think so. So yeah, I think that's my brand. It's like, it's an intelligent friend that wants you to be the best you can be. And knows numbers. yeah, yeah. The numbers are great. forget that. Yeah, honestly, because the reason I didn't forget it is just that sometimes if you dive too deeply into the numbers,
or overwhelmed with data. This what I'm understanding even in communication. Overwhelming with data analysis and stuff can paralyze the actual action that's taken. Sometimes the most effective thing to do is to do the very simple thing, which is like, okay, I know that all these KPIs and metrics say do all this stuff, but what is the one thing I need to do today, next week, and this month? Because all of that is irrelevant if you can't take the next step.
Zokpia (46:17.264)
So I like to use the data maybe to establish my authority. Yeah, we're not just winging it, but ultimately all this means is that you need to wake up and go knock on a door and get another lead. You need to go and stop wasting your money here. Go and sell that thing. You need to, you get what I'm saying? Like simplifying all of that into what is the next most important thing we got to do. And in that sense, both of us are aligned. We're both doing that.
for our clients. Yes, absolutely. Like helping them get better. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. So look, you'll be getting one call from me. I look forward to it. Awesome. Yeah. So this was great. Thanks, Liz. Thank you. I enjoyed it.