Turning Your Passion and Purpose…Into Profit! EP #356

What does it take to thrive in a male-dominated industry? 🎥

With only 4% of filmmakers being female, Alana Tompson knows the challenges firsthand. A talented DP, Alana shares her journey from working on Whale Wars to launching her all-woman production company, Said & Done Media. Often the only woman on set, those experiences fuelled her passion for creating inclusive spaces and driving change.

We explore her transition from dancer to filmmaker, balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship, and why failure and taking risks are key to success.

If you’re looking for inspiration and practical advice, this one’s for you!

TVM: Den Lennie, Alana Tompson

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Transcript

Hello, Alana Tompson. Hello, Den Lennie. I wanted to start really by just, asking the question, how did you find yourself being a DP? What was the story there? How did you find yourself doing that role of work? Because it's not that common for women to be working as DPs, which I know is something that we'll get onto.

Yeah, no, it's not. It was a very roundabout way that I got into this. So, from a young age, I've always been a dancer. I started doing ballet when I was five years old. Partly because of my ADHD, I was just uncontrollable and had so much energy and hyperactivity that my parents were like, We need to channel it into something so she's not just running around in circles.

And so they enrolled me in ballet. So I did that from five years old all the way through till I think I stopped dancing when I started doing film. So yeah, late twenties, early thirties even was when I stopped dancing. I did ballet all through growing up. So it was always a point of being on stage, performing, connecting with an audience, and telling a story.

So storytelling has always been a part of my life. It was just telling the story with my body back then. And it's essentially the same thing now. I've just got a camera on my shoulder and it feels like that when I'm filming and when I'm working with people, it's like I'm dancing with my subject and moving around them, anticipating their moves, particularly when it's more reality TV or documentary style. There's that real kind of interchange of energy and movement between you and the subject. So it's just been an evolution of that. And. I started my degree at uni as a dance degree. So studying contemporary dance and sub-minoring in photography, which I loved, and every time I'd present my photographs, I'd lay them all out for the class, I'd dim the lights, I'd put music on and make this kind of immersive experience for everyone. 

And my teachers were like, maybe you should try doing film because your work's cinematic and you're trying to add music and lighting and all these things. Why don't you just try doing a film? And I did and absolutely loved it, switched it over to my major, and then graduated with a Bachelor of Film and TV. 

Now,  that's a great story and so many things make a lot of sense.  What was your first paid job that made your paid job out of film school? How did you go from being a graduate to getting that first job?  It was very much a case of right place, right time. I was volunteering for Sea Shepherd at the time.

So if you're not familiar with them, they're an eco organization that go down to Antarctica and they get into massive high seas clashes with the Japanese whaling fleet and they get in the way and disrupt whaling. And so I was working on their stalls at the time selling merchandise because I loved what they were all about and I wanted to support them.

And through that, I got to meet some of the crew members and got to hear when there was a call out for camera operators on one of their campaigns. And that was for season seven of whale wars, which went out through animal planet. So they put me in contact with the producer over in the US and I had a little Skype session with her.

And cut together a showreel of all the things I had made in uni and things that I'd made like just on the side up until then, and just went in with utter confidence and got the job. Totally shocked. I couldn't believe it. Maybe there was no one else silly enough to go down to Antarctica under such crazy conditions.

It was literally a case of packing up all my belongings, putting them into storage and going down on a little tiny metal box in the middle of nowhere in the ocean for three months time. There was no contact with the outside world. You were allowed to send like very few emails that were security censored to your family, but essentially you had no contact with anyone.

So it's a pretty big commitment to pack up your whole life and just ship off down there. No insurance, nothing like that. The producer on the season before me shattered her pelvis in one of the small boats when they were doing one of the actions and people regularly hurt themselves. So yeah, it was a pretty risky job to do, but incredibly exciting for a first job and, came with a lot of clout being able to say that I filmed for Animal Planet. So yeah, it's the experience of a lifetime. And I do have a scar myself from it. You probably can't see it, but I did manage to crack it open. So it sounds like one of those projects that people go, Oh my God, like when I first heard it, I was like, Oh my God, that sounds amazing. 

We've subsequently spoken privately about some of the experiences and don't feel you have to go into any of them today, but I  think this leans nicely into  What people perceive on the outside, like running a business, right? Versus what's going on in the inside are two very different things.

Are there any anecdotes or examples from that time? What, I guess you were pretty excited getting that gig and it was something you were passionate about and it was very aligned with what you were doing.  But the reality was very different. I think when you got down there, it was pretty tough, which is like the analogy of running a business, right?

It's a lot harder than it looks. What were some of the things that happened that you had to dig in and find some resilience for that? Perhaps it was the reality was a lot less glossy than you perhaps had maybe dreamt off. It was one thing to sell the items at a stall and support Sea Shepherd and put a t-shirt on the next thing is you're on a boat being rammed by whaling ships. 

Tell me about some of those experiences and how did that, that, how did that kind of help you become the person you are today.  Look, I'd say the whole thing is like that. The entire experience from the moment I stepped foot on the ship to the moment I step off again. It's like when people hear about wildlife camera operators and they're like, Oh, that must be so exciting to be out there filming bears.

The reality is that they're, freezing cold, getting bitten by insects, hiding in a box for weeks on end to get that one shot, there's nothing glamorous about it. But yeah, certainly the first moment that I stepped on the ship and put my bags down, I thought to myself,  have I just made a really big mistake?

What am I doing? And I got really scared and I called my parents and I was like, Oh, I don't know about this.  And they're like, no, like you can do it. Just, go for it. I think the thing that gave me a lot of nerves about it was also like, I was so green. Like as far as filming goes, I remember calling up my lecturer, who was this incredible woman, Liz Bollock, and just saying, can you please just give me some training on how to change white balance on the fly and focus on the fly?

And Exposure on the fly and I'd never done run and gun before. So  I was just going in so cold and so green, but what a way to learn. Oh my gosh. Like literally filming. Every day for almost 24 hours a day. There were some nights where we would go to bed with an earpiece in with the camera next to the bed in case something happened.

So they could radio us and you just wake up, grab your camera and off you run. So it was the best way to learn. It's,  you would never get to learn under any situation like that,  but there were definitely some moments that were very challenging. As I said before, essentially you're in a little floating metal box, two weeks away from land at the bottom of the earth. 

You're around nobody, you're completely isolated, but you're floating in that box with 40 other housemates that you can't get away from.  And a lot of the,  some of the crew members that are with Sea Shepherd can tend to have hero complexes, let's say you are on board with a lot of complex personalities.

And one thing that I really observed is that when you're living in that kind of social microcosm, it really seems like everybody. Reverted straight back to their high school personalities. And so you could see the people that were bullying,  the people that were gossiping, and the people that were being bullied, was me,  exactly what high school was like for me.

And you could just see everyone reverting back to that kind of high school personality and all of those roles playing out, which was a bit triggering, as someone who was bullied in high school. And so I would, there was one place on the ship where I could go to cry and be alone and just let all the emotions out.

And I would just go there and it was the, yeah, the only time I could get away from someone.  The only time I could get away from everyone. I was living in a cabin with five other camera ops, so the whole film crew was in the one cabin and we were literally just in beds on top of each other. So the most privacy I had was a little sarong that I  strung up around my bunk and I was the only woman on the crew as well, except for the producer who brought his partner along.

Yeah, it was very challenging. I  think that really leans nicely into the fact that being the only woman on the crew,  that was the beginning, of your career as a DP, right? There was there's My career of being the only woman on the crew. Yeah. And it's fascinating.

I heard you on  another podcast talking about this. I was absolutely gobsmacked.  That I think you said it was like only 4 percent of camera crew worldwide are female or diverse. And that's now, in, yeah, that's now.  It seems crazy. But I guess that would have given you some really good grounding and  resilience and skills around processing the fact that you're the only woman on the crew, but you're still in a very physical career. 

But one that, that I know we've spoken about has such a benefit when there's female crew.  Talk to me a bit about that journey of, coming back from there, what happened next? How did you then navigate your career? Because I would imagine something like World Wars, it's a good thing to have on your CV, that regardless of how painful it is, it elevates your  position in  being hired because you've done a major TV show.

It's a hook, right?  It's a hook, everyone wants to hear the story. So you lead with that, except now it was 10 years ago. So it's getting a bit hard to lead with that now, it is, it's a great story and I used it to its full advantage, but yeah, that was my first experience of being on a crew.

And yeah, I was the only female camera operator and the other guys I worked with are lovely. They're amazing. But I did get physically assaulted by the first mate of the ship. And it didn't happen to any of the guys. It only happened to me. I was filming on the bridge and I was very respectful.

I'd asked him, is it okay if I stand in this position and film the waves as they're approaching? And he was like, yep, no worries. And so I jumped into position and started filming. And then out of nowhere, he just grabbed me by the skin around my ribs and pushed me, like threw me to the back of the bridge  and I was just shocked.

I started shaking straight away and I was I  didn't understand why it happened. It was just so aggressive and out of nowhere. And I reported it of course,  but you're two weeks from land, so nothing can really be done. They spoke to him and all they did was they put me on a different shift with a different person.

And that was that.  And that was the first kind of introduction of Oh, okay. That stuff can just happen. And it's okay. It was really weird. So that was my first experience. And then I came back to Melbourne and thought, all right, I'm going to get into the crewing scene. I'm going to work my way up.

And I sent, I reckon about  200 emails to production companies, producers showrunners, you name it, just introducing myself saying, I'll come and work for free so you can see what I'm about. And I would love to work with you. Got a couple of people that answered back. One put me on for a trial.  And then I got a job as a PA and it was just like a short running TV series.

I think I had a 2:30 AM call time every Monday. It was painful, but it was good. A good introduction to this is the film industry, you got to  really push yourself or else you won't survive. So it was a great job only female PA on that set. And I worked my butt off was doing all the heavy lifting, running around, just working nonstop.

But the show was about football,  and a lot of the male PAs were bro ing out with the male producers and they were all getting along really well, and then by the end of it, they all got offers and I didn't even though I worked really hard and had done my best, I hadn't clicked with them in the same way, so I didn't get hired on the next production. 

Hadn't done anything wrong, just worked hard. And I just realized, Oh, yeah, there's something going on in this industry.  Getting the sense that it's going to be really hard for me to get in and I'm not seeing a lot of women,  then I wasn't seeing any women doing what I wanted to do. So I thought, you know what, I'm just going to have to do it on my own. 

So I just went out,  invested in the camera gear, got better camera gear than what I had and just started offering myself to businesses to make cheap videos for them and started building my folio and just slowly did that one job. After another started reaching out to production companies, started getting entry-level jobs, freelancing, assisting, building my portfolio, building my skills, building my gear,  fast forward, 10 years time, and I'm doing the same thing, but I met you and essentially that was my journey through the industry. 

It would be easy  to give up for anybody under those circumstances. What do you think it is about.  It's anything from your childhood you can pinpoint and you go, that's when I learned resilience because I was also bullied at school and I, and for me being bullied at school made me very resilient that I had a lot of emotion around it and I was very sensitive and I guess I was being bullied for being sensitive.

But I don't think I'd be where I am today had I not had that experience. And I think in an actual fact, I had very entrepreneurial tendencies that nobody at school knew how to handle. What is it in your childhood or background that you can pinpoint as to being a pivotal point in helping you become the person you are today?

As you say, probably being bullied has something to do with it. I remember there was this one boy that would literally just come up and sucker punch me right in the gut on the bus every single day. And I remember I'd be doubled over crying and. Not being able to breathe and panicking.

And he would just do it every single day to me for no reason, probably cause I was neurodiverse and a bit weird. And I was just a bit different. Cause I had, full-on ADHD. So I think that's all that it was. I just stood out. And so he picked on me. And so I suppose. Going through that and feeling very much like you're the outsider and a bit different.

I think that probably builds character. Thank God it's a little bit more accepted these days.  I think the other thing is probably ballet, to be honest. Um, it's funny because you see ballet dances as these beautiful, graceful things, but they're incredibly tough. Ballet dances are some of the.

Most toughest people you'll ever meet on earth. The pain that you go through to be a ballet dancer is enormous. I remember I had to soak my feet in methylated spirits every night just to toughen up the skin so that it wouldn't bleed as much because you're on point shoes and it's just  absolute torture.

So painful. And you're dancing through this intense, stabbing pain in your toes, all whilst trying to look beautiful and elegant and have a smile on your face. It's. It's quite masochistic,  but I think that really taught me resilience and the power of working through the hard times and staying focused on a goal.

That discipline has definitely held me through my whole career for sure.  Yeah it's a great story. And I love that resilience aspect,  because that's really what's needed in business, right? We've known each other maybe three years now,  and, you know, let me take us back to where were you in your business when we first met and what was going on for you and what were you looking for? 

Yeah. So I was freelancing and doing, fairly well out of it, keeping myself afloat. But always having those moments where I was like, Oh, maybe I should just get a full-time job and in-house job somewhere. Even though anyone that knows me would know that  I wouldn't last two seconds because I'm just made to be a business owner.

That's.  I'm meant to be my own boss and do that. It's just in my nature. So I'm glad I didn't, and then I stuck with it, but I just knew that I needed,  I knew that I wasn't doing the business side, I'd spent a lot of time focusing on the craft and getting the right gear and learning how to use that gear properly and spending all this time just trying to get better at every aspect of audio and lighting and.

Editing and, camera operation and producing and all of the things that come together to form the running of a production company. But I never spent time thinking about the actual business and how to run the business. And. Market the business and grow the business.  And so I was really in that, as we call it, hamster wheel phase where I was just running, maybe I'll work on the website, maybe I'll do this.

Maybe I'll make a post on Instagram. I remember when I first spoke to you and you're like, so where are you posting? Where are you sharing your work? And I said, Instagram. And you were like, great. So all your peers know what you're doing, but you're not in any way reaching your clients. And I was like, Oh,  Yeah, good point, because I think I'd posted on LinkedIn once my entire life.

So yeah, I was really in that stage, I think it was post, just post-pandemic. So I had two really young babies as well. And I was like, it's like now or never, really, like I've got to make this work  in order to be able to keep, doing it as a mom of young kids. And I came across you and I was like this guy seems interesting.

What's he all about?  And one of the, one of my students, cause I got a job lecturing at university during the pandemic. And one of my students actually works for one of your elite members. And I reached out to her and I'm like, who's this Den Lenny guy? Is he the real deal? Is he legit? And she was like, yeah, he's legit. 

You should definitely talk to him. And then I had my sales call with you and you were just yeah, holistic about it. And I could see that you were the sort of person that would really value all parts of life, not just the growth at all costs. I could tell that you were really focused on, but are you growing your spirituality and are you seeing your friends and are you being, living a healthy, happy life while you're also growing this business and that. 

Really appealed to me, especially with where I'm at, where I was at that point in time with kids.  It's funny, isn't it? Because it's not the sexy end of time when it comes to business coaching, all of those things, because it takes a certain. Maturity in yourself to recognize those things are important.

 And it's funny, I've just been recording some new marketing material and it's like, I want to lean on that holistic approach because it's so important. But we out, we have to, it's a weird sort of dichotomy because what people want is the common thing, I want to help with getting more leads.

From my video business,  if I go too far down the let's start looking at this holistically, they go, Oh, but I just need leads. So it's one of those things. It's almost like the holistic approach is exactly what we do,  but it's not really what we sell because I don't think anyone would come because everyone understood the leads and then they realized. 

And that's what made me skeptical. And I was like, you don't really, there's not many women in the program and I needed to hear that you could, work with a mother and someone that looked a bit different to a majority of the people that worked with you. And obviously, you've been amazing. 

I think we're actually at 10 percent of the VBE are now women which it's still pretty shonky, but at least it's two and a half times more than on a camera cruise. So I feel like maybe we're making some inroads, but that's why I wanted to do this interview with you because I think that a lot of women, I've been married for, I don't know how many years, but with Sam for 19 years.

So I've seen her go through motherhood and come out of a relationship well before we met, obviously, and then into our relationship and I think as women you carry around so much responsibility and guilt about not being enough for anyone who's in your life.  And so I think when it comes to running a business, you have to understand that women are juggling a lot of plates, but I think in many ways do it a lot better than men.

Because the one thing I've always admired about you Alana is that you just take the information and you run with it and you implement it and you ask questions.  And that's really, I think the secret to, if you're going to, if you're going to invest in coaching, makes sense to listen to the coach.

And I think you do that very well, but also you've come such a long way that you're now a mentor.  And I hope that women who are watching this, you perhaps are juggling small children feel they don't have time can be inspired by you because, you still have two, two young children you're a single parent, you're juggling a lot of different things. 

What are some of the things that? You can look back on as actions you've taken, despite all of those things. Cause I think there is definitely a, and I think it's a societal conditioning where women feel like they can't step out and do this because they've got to be at home with the kids.

And you've found a different way. And I just would love to hear more about that because I think that's really impactful.  Yeah, look, there's always going to be mum guilt. I feel like there's mum guilt no matter what you're doing, it's always going to be there. And for me, I feel like I'm, I've got a three and a four-year-old boy, both boys.

And I feel like I'm showing them what a woman in leadership looks like. And I think that is great for them to see that and to see their mother being a provider as I'm now a single mum.  And I also feel that I'm a better mum when I'm out there doing my own thing as well and running my business and having my creative outlet.

It means when I can come back with them, I'm a better mum because I'm also fulfilling these other parts of myself. So I learned to come to terms with that guilt early on.  And I'm glad that I have, because now I have a vehicle to build a future for them. And as my goal currently is to get them into a house within three to five years,  and to be able to do that on my own through a creative business is pretty incredible.

It's not lost on me how amazing that is. And I'm so proud of myself for getting to that stage. And so thankful to you for helping me to do that. So much so that I've forgotten what your question was.  More just that, I think that mum guilt is, you're right, it's like my wife has mum guilt and she was there for the kids, but she went to work because she was a single mum and she went to work. 

I think the mum guilt's always there, but I think you raise a good point, which is, you just do it anyway, because the immediate guilt is offset by the fact that you are, you are single-handedly creating a new generation of men. And I think that is very powerful. I'm trying it's a constant battle against society.

They come home with some things from daycare and you're just like but yeah, definitely trying to raise good men. And I think having, a strong working mom is probably going to help with that, but yeah, life throws a lot of crazy shit at you and you've just got to, I think you've just got to keep your eyes on the big picture, really, I've through all of this, I've had two babies back to back through the pandemic and then started the business coaching with you or all the while whilst going through a relationship breakdown  Dealing with, perimenopause and all these other things going on and the whole time working through all this and trying to be a mom and trying to be a business owner and keep the business afloat.

It's a lot to handle, but I think if you can really,  you got to look after yourself. That's the number one thing. But I think if you can really hold onto your big picture of what you want and why you're doing it. And for me, it's for my boys and to build a future for them. And I think you can get through anything if you just hold on to that image and that goal. 

I'm curious, this is going to seem like a weird question cause I know the answer and we've spoken about as many times, but I think for those listening to this, perhaps haven't had a speak about it, which is probably mostly everyone, what was going on?  Cause I'm fascinated by this.

We work with so many different people and there are those that just absolutely fly like yourself who double your business year on year and just go higher and higher. Yeah. And then there's those who've got exact access to exact same content, exact same resources, exact same support who don't. 

What do you think it was about you? Why did you go seeking Hoche?  What were you looking for that you couldn't, I think one of the things we've often spoken about the mentors is there's a degree of delusion we have as filmmakers where we we have to have this sort of element of delusion to get through it. 

I think that's a prerequisite for the position. Yeah but  there are so many people who are literally struggling to make even five figures a year and they will not come near us. They just think we're a scam. They think we're just bullshitters. It's like, why would you invest money in coaching? 

And I'm a sensitive guy, right? So I find it quite hurtful because it's we really give a shit. We really care. Yeah. I think a lot of coaching has blurred the landscapes. There's a lot of BS out there, a lot of scams out there at the moment. Yeah. Everyone is very cautious of everything these days.

Yeah. Rightly rightly but what was it that you were looking for and what was your process of trying to find someone to help?  So for me, with anything that I do, any decision that I make, I go into a deep dive on the research. Like I'm on the websites and I will go through every single review and read what everyone has had to say.

And so I do, I tend to be quite thorough even just before buying a toaster, let alone signing up with a business coach. Which sucks. I essentially did that with you and for me, I think the biggest thing is firsthand experiences. I love hearing firsthand from people who have worked with you. So hearing from Matt and I think I might've spoken to someone else.

Those were the things that really made me take the leap and I just got a good feeling about you in general. But yeah, I just was really in a place where I knew I needed guidance.  I needed someone to hold my hand.  And just tell me it's going to be okay, you can do this because it's so lonely and you're doing it on your own and you have your peers that are also doing it.

But I, I do find that in this industry, and when I say in this industry, amongst freelancers, particularly those that are trying to scale into a video production company, there's a lot of negativity. I think we all get caught up on Oh, things are shit and this client's just being shit. And I'm having a really hard time.

And there can tend to be this kind of self-perpetuating negativity that happens.  And so the biggest thing for me was moving from that space that I had with some of my peers into a much more positive space of people that instead of complaining, they're doing. And so I think that was the difference.

Instead of complaining about things and going, ah, things are so quiet. There's no money coming in. What am I going to do?  It's things are so quiet, I'm going to get on, I'm going to do more marketing, I'm going to reach out to people, I'm going to ask clients for coffees. It's basically going from complaining to taking action.

And that is the biggest shift, I think.  Someone just a couple of weeks ago said on a call,  who just joined the program, he said, Oh, I've been doing this for five of the last seven years.  And he said, It's I've been driving this car on my own, trying to figure out where I'm going to go.

And there's lots of junctions and I just potluck, take a turn. And I said, now I feel like I've got multiple people in the driving seat who have driven this road before, who know the routes and can give me advice on which is the best route, depending on what's going on. And I think, yeah, my constant, I wake up every day going, how can I,  Convince, help someone lower a piece of friction towards leaning into this process because  I see, I've seen such success with you and so many people who we work with. 

And I find that the trust thing is the hardest thing to overcome is this skepticism that, somehow case studies are bullshit. Like we've made them up.  Sorry. Yeah, no, go on. I was just going to say people are very risk-averse. And I think. You have to take risks to succeed. I do think risk is an important part of growing a business, but it's really scary.

And I think the problem probably lies in the fact that our brands are essentially just us. We're so intimately linked to our brands when we're freelancers. Yeah. So I think that's why there's a real resistance and I felt that resistance to you when you were doing things and I'm like, Oh, I don't really want to do that.

You'd be like, you need to niche. And I was like still haven't,  but I'm thinking about it. Yeah, you don't have to, you don't want to, you don't have to do anything. I'm sure. Of all the people I know, you will be the least likely to do something I tell you to do if you don't want to do it.

But there is resistance and it's funny. And I think it's just because we're so used to doing things a certain way. It's uncomfortable. And it's because we're so in intimately linked to our brand as well. But when anyone joins, I do say just do it.  Trust the process,  do the work. And if you do those two things, then it works.

Doing the work is the biggest one, actually getting out there, implementing everything and following through and being consistent. But I do say to them, just listen to Den and do what he says. He knows what he's talking about and he's there to help you. So just listen, it's, what are you paying him for?

Thank you because it is it is tough. There are days when I think I just, Don't have to go to the stomach for this anymore, because I put so much into it and like I did, can I just go and get that job with the council cutting the grass, which is something we've spoken about before.

So what are some practical tips? Let's you have a particular,  particularly strong desire to support  Underrepresented communities, what why did you decide you want to become a video mentor because you have quite a lot on your plate. I do. I do, but there are certain things that I do because they make me happy and they make me feel good.

And one of those is running my podcast or then mind you, I haven't put out an episode in quite a while because.  Things have been crazy, but there is one in the works. But on that podcast, I talk with people from underrepresented groups that are really moving change in the industry and trying to shake things up. 

And I just love talking to trailblazers and people that are like driven and doing things differently, going against the grain, like that just really excites me. And so alongside doing that, I also go with, for coffee with people who are new to the industry, or just. Basically anyone in the industry that is underrepresented or different.

And I just love like networking with them, hearing their stories, hearing about their challenges. And, there's a lot of the folks and just finding, solidarity together, talking about our experiences, but then also finding ways that we can then open the industry up and make it more diverse and more beautiful.

And yeah, that's a real passion of mine because.  There was never anyone for me to look to that looked like me doing what I want to do. The saying, if you can't see it, you can't be it. And it's definitely true. I really wanted, especially when I was looking for you, I was like, I just want to see a woman who has young kids, who's running a production company on her own and is killing it and is just doing a really good job.

I just need to see it. I just need to, I think I said it once. In the group when I was just new and just starting and just having a really hard time. And I was like, I just need to know that it's possible.  I just need to see someone that's doing it on their own to know that it's possible. But.  I didn't get that.

And so I just really want to be you, that you're leading the way, in a way, if there's not someone there.  Yeah. I want them to know that it's possible and you can do it. It's going to be damn hard, but you can do it. You can do it. You're just going to have to be really disciplined. You're going to have to figure out what your why is, figure out your big picture and just really stay true to it.

And then get creative. You're going to have to work babysitting costs into your line items and things that, the client that I should, we shouldn't be saying this on a podcast, but, there's creative ways to get around. Or a production fee, there's, the fact is, you can't provide the service if the kids aren't being looked after.

That's just we do it with our pets, so we can't do what we do if the pets are needing help or we need to go and run an event. The pets need to go into daycare, and if you want to work as a mom, yes, some workplaces aren't mom-friendly. So create a workplace that is mom-friendly, connect with other moms, get on shoots where you're working with moms, clients that are moms, and marketing managers that are moms.

I, hired one of my friends who's got a young baby and we just scheduled, breastfeeding breaks in, one of my clients, David hired me for fashion week when I was breastfeeding and he got his. Producer Martine, who you know, to ferry my milk back and forth between the fridge and me pumping in between shows and in between shoots.

And he's also hired me when I was heavily pregnant.  How amazing is that? It should be so normal. It should be so normal. It's not because and I'm talking about David Finnegan, I'll give him a shout-out because he's incredible. He runs Scent6. He's been an incredible mentor for me and he's always hired me.

No question, no matter how heavily pregnant or breastfeeding or whatever I was, he's always hired me. Whereas I remember one client when I was breastfeeding, calling me up for the job and I said, no worries, I'm all good to go. I just need to take a break every four to five hours to just quickly pump for 20 minutes, but I'm good to go.

I'm good. And he got back to me and said, Oh, don't worry. We're going to go with a man. It's going to be easier.  And that right there. If you work for four or five hours, you probably should have a four, a 20 minute break anyway. And you know what? If people were smoking, they'd be off of smoking breaks every couple of hours for five minutes.

Exactly. And that's what drives me is those kinds of things where I'm up against there's that friction and I'm up against something, or, recently when I was on a shoot running the whole shoot. And we were interviewing someone out in the field, a farmer, and the farmer couldn't think of what to say next.

And he said, Oh, I just, I can't think straight. I can't get my words straight. And the client looked at me and looked at him and said, Oh, so you're just like a woman. Not much going on up here, huh?  And so it's moments like when those things are said to me and when I'm, not given a job because I'm breastfeeding because a man will be easier.

It's those things that make me.  Want to rally together with the other women and the other mothers and help them. And so most of my crews are mothers that funnily enough, they're usually mothers of two. I love hiring women, gender diverse people from diverse backgrounds and abilities, and I just think it makes for beautiful crews and I just want to bring all the underdogs together And for all the times that we've had shitty experiences like that, we can make beautiful, supportive, safe sets where those things don't happen and we can all just work together.

Sounds to me like there's a niche lurking in there somewhere.  I call it a USP. A USP. Same. Didn't you do a big project recently for, was it the Melbourne Open? The Australian Open or something? There was a project you did where it was an all Air Canada, all-female crew. And tell me about that because that was really fascinating, the feedback you got. 

Yeah, so Air Canada reached out and they were like, we're doing this project it's called Fan Flights and it's where they sponsor young fans and fly them out to a game and they get to meet their hero whatever type of sports game it would be. And yeah, they had the the Women's World Cup here in Australia and so they wanted to fly two young Canadian women out to meet the Canadian women's soccer, and football.

I think you call it soccer in these parts. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. So let's go with soccer. Be easier. And so they wanted a camera crew to record the whole thing, like run and gun reality TV style while they had them meet up with the Canadian women's team. And we had to also go along to a game with them and film all that and film the leading up to it, all the interviews when they landed on the ground and they were like, we want an all-woman crew.

So we want two female camera operators, a female producer, a female assistant, and a female soundie. Do you think in any way it's possible? And I was like, yeah, no worries. That's fine. And they're like, really? Even the camera operators? And I was like, yeah, it's fine. It's no problem. And they were a little bit shocked and taken aback by it.

But it was an incredible experience and the feedback we got from that job and the feedback that we get from a lot of jobs from people who are used to being on set and in front of cameras and things like that, they do say that it feels a lot more nurturing and supportive Maybe that's because a lot of the crews that I created were all mothers, so maybe we've just got that mothering energy, making sure everyone's hydrated and warm and taken care of. 

I don't know. But it is a different energy. There's a lot more listening as well, is the feedback that we get from clients as well. Less ego,  more listening, more collaboration. These are generalizations, but look, this is just the feedback that the clients give us, so  I'm going to go with that. It's great. I do think there's just a huge opportunity to really sing from the rooftops about that.

Yeah. Cause I think just not enough people know you even exist as a company that can do that. Yeah. That's always our business. That's always our business. The goal, right? It's the same for me. I've been in this industry nearly 30 years, but there's still thousands of people who don't know I exist and what we do here, the video mentors,  which is why we're doing these podcasts.

And for anyone who's listening or watching, we have a free community that you can get support and training and coaching for completely free with nothing, there's nothing to, there's no kind of like big sales pitch. The truth is many people, when they go into that free community, decide they want extra help.

And there's pathways to that. So if you are sitting, watching, lor istening to this, go to the video mentors. com it'll be obvious where you can click and join the free community,  but as we wrap this up, Alana what are some things that you wish you'd done sooner,  or you would say to someone who's perhaps in the position you were in three years ago, who's procrastinating or, worried about cost of investing in themselves I often think that The cost of investment is,  it's twofold.

One is the actual cost, but we buy camera gear without thinking twice about it. I think the second part is more the fear of investing in yourself and then not doing the work and then wasting the money.  And amongst that, there's probably a question somewhere. But I guess really what I'm looking for is what are your kind of reflections looking back that you think, Oh I wish I'd done that sooner.

Or I wish I'd done that differently. Or what would you say to someone who's perhaps sitting, Where you are three years ago with the kind of hamster wheel of a business. I love that analogy.  The most accurate description. So six, that's exactly how you feel. You're just putting out spot fires, but never actually going anywhere or making any progress. 

What I wish I had have done sooner is join the group. Or just get help in general. I spent way too many years going in alone and I wish I got that support and got that community earlier. And that's the thing that I hear people say the most about working with you is Den's great, don't get me wrong.

But the community is fantastic as well. It's the people that you get to meet. And I remember when I first started, and, cause I'm quite competitive by nature, which is also if you've got those It works really well for you in business. Cause I remember, I was in the VBA upload when I remember seeing the elite and being like, Ooh, I want to be one of those guys.

I want to be up with those boys in a year. And But I remember going for coffee with a whole lot of them and, asking them questions and getting advice. And it did, it felt like I had these big brothers helping me along. And then also going for coffee with all the other people in Melbourne and the BBA.

And we're all going through the same thing, and it's like the group expands so far beyond just the platform where the coaching exists. You just got the thumbs up there. I praise indeed. But it does, it extends so much further beyond that. And it's really, I guess it's as much as you want to make it, but I'm a connector.

I love connecting with people and you see me whenever you mention a person, I'm straight out there like adding them and reaching out, and yeah. So it was great, to catch up with all those elite guys and to get that kind of,  that goal of I want to be them in a year. That's right.

Yeah. And I, in no way thought that would happen. And then I did. I know you're a rockstar, you're absolutely, what I love about this whole process is that  I've not just made a client, but helped my client get some success. We've become friends and it's it's such, such a cliched thing to say,  but we speak often on and off the platform and I just really cherish having you in my life.

And I think that's a beautiful benefit to doing some business that happens to help your business as well. Thank you, Den. And you've changed my life irreparably. So  I guess we're stuck with each other now.  That's it. It's not just that when I am having a hard day and, I've gotten emotional on some of the calls lately because there's been a lot of things going on, but  I'll get off the call and I'll have a voice message from you asking if I'm okay.

And then later on in the day, Matt's called me and Tim's called me and they're all checking in on me and it's just so beautiful to have this community. People that like really care about you and are just as invested in you and their business as they are in theirs. It's really,  it's pretty special.

I think, my bigger mission is to change the way in which business coaching is done.  I've been in a lot of different masterminds and I've learned a lot of a lot of the egos and a lot of, big swinging around, revenue, and blah, blah, blah.  And I just think that there's more balance to be had and it's an unpopular opinion.

None of the people in this space that I know do it like this. And that can be weirdly lonely at times. Because I'm like, I'm not choosing the easy path of, Hey, I do, here's my plug and play system to make an extra 10 K a month in 30 days. And someone asked me about that at an event once, Oh, you're not doing anything like this.

I'm like, I just can't. Cause I, I'm not going to promise you something that I don't believe is true. Despite the fact that you are actually living proof of that. On a call one January it's looking a bit lean. What should I be doing? And the first 20 people you reached out to on LinkedIn, you made a bunch of money.

That's everything you said. That was the second part of that question. You said to me it was something along the lines of someone who's not wanting to invest money and they're scared.  That was, I also wanted to touch on that because I remember being the same. I took out a loan to get into the VBA.

I didn't have the money, but I was like, you know what, I'm just going to go for it. Cause it just felt right. My gut was just saying, do it.  And then, that same resistance came up every time I was like, I probably need project software, project management software. And then again, like sales navigator, all that's one 20 a month.

And I remember thinking, Oh, that's so much money. And it was so much money to me back then. It was a huge amount of money. And I was like,  you know what, I'll just trial it and I'll just go hell for leather and do exactly what Den says. And I'll just see what happens. And I did. And I started reaching out to  20 people a day, five days a week.

I think I even did more. I hit the limit pretty quickly. And within 10 days of doing that, I reached out to someone who was like, yeah, great. We need some editing work. Can you give us a quote? Da. And I did, and we've been working together ever since. And I think they've probably spent about 40, 000 with me by now.

And so was that 120 a big risk per month? Not really. This is it, isn't it? That's the one, all my growth has come from LinkedIn, from that process. It comes down to just, I think, trusting in yourself. I think when people don't trust us or the process it seems they don't trust themselves.

And the fact is none of us know what tomorrow holds. None of us know what we're doing. It sounds like a crazy thing to say as someone who runs a coaching business, but we've got processes, we've got systems, we've got playbooks, we've got methods that we know have worked in the past,  but none of us know it was going to work tomorrow, but we have to put the effort in to create momentum because oftentimes in the journey of discovering what doesn't work, you find out what does.

And if you hadn't started that journey and got the momentum. You wouldn't be where you are. I  think it's a fear of failure as well. I think people are so scared of what if something doesn't work. And I think one of the biggest learnings from being in the group is that failure is amazing because then, it doesn't work and you can move on to finding the thing that does work.

And we're always saying, get out there and test it. I will test different sales scripts. And you've seen me go through this process a few weeks from this one isn't quite landing. Can you guys give me some feedback? And I'll adjust it a little bit and try again. One person literally sent me a response with a laughing emoji to one of them.

Ouch, my heart. Okay,  great. That one's not working. Let's keep going and try something else. And then through all that failure, you finally hit something that does work. And it's okay. You got to go through that pain to, to get the success and to get it working. So you can sit there and do nothing and go nowhere, or you can have a little bit of pain, rejection, and a laughing emoji and then find something that does, but that's the difference I think, isn't it, is that you've got to be willing to fail and to stuff it up to find what works for you.

And that, that's hard for a lot of people, particularly creatives because we're, we feel so much, but you know what, someone sending a laughing emoji. They're having a terrible day and you've just triggered something in them and it's, they're never going to buy from you, but at the same time, there's this Sammy, he's in, in the elite program and he's had many people reject him on LinkedIn. 

Only to come back six months later with a tail between the legs going you know what, I actually I'm looking for some help now and I think you just have to develop a bit of a thick skin. Yeah, it is. It's a numbers game and you do, yeah, I've had a few negative interactions doing the cold calling, but overall it's doubling revenue.

But if you've got a big enough why, which is your kids and a house and security, then why not? What's the worst that can happen? Yeah, exactly. Great. Yeah. Alana, it's been really lovely to talk to you, it always is, but by this time we're sharing it on a podcast for other guys who, girls listening, just go to the video mentors, click on there, and join our free community.

You can interact with us all it is a free community, there are about 350 odd people in there now,  some great resources. Just lean in and reach out for some help because we're more than happy to help. It's our way of giving back. Come join the party. 

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