Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Wiltsey.
Hi Rob, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The main bullet points:
– Since I was a kid, I loved making videos. I always had my parent’s camcorder in my hand and would drag my friends into making goofy videos. This was in the 90s so this was before YouTube. We were the only audience.
– In high school, I had a few opportunities to make videos for local businesses. I realized this is something I could get paid to do, and I really loved it. Back in these days, I was handing the final video to my clients on DVDs.
– I debated going to film school for college, but for a number of reasons decided to get a degree in Industrial Engineering instead. Throughout my college experience, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I continued paying the bills by producing video content along the way for businesses and nonprofits.
– During college, I started a marketing company with a business partner and we produced video content (among other things) for larger corporate clients. This is where I really learned how to package & price video services effectively and sell larger contracts. I totally fell in love with the business, sales and customer service aspects of our company.
– After college, around 26 I decided to press a big reset button in my life. I had a stumbled on a number of skills: I knew how to produce video content, I knew how to sell, and I knew how to make business systems more efficient through my Industrial Engineering degree. I also knew a lot of the common frustrations that clients experienced when hiring video production companies. Putting these ideas together, I realized that I could scale a video production service that solves these problems by combining great customer service with a thoughtfully engineered system that could save clients a lot of time and guarantee that they love the videos that we make.
– So in 2016 I left that company and started VideoFresh (then called RWCP). Today VideoFresh has around 30 amazing employees, a studio in Pasadena, and produces hundreds of pieces of video content a year for eCommerce, corporate, and nonprofit clients.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been smooth, but it has been worth it every day. For me, there is nothing more gratifying than continuing to struggle through challenges and ultimately find a way through. Through college, I struggled with knowing what direction to go in. I knew I had potential in different areas, but didn’t have a clear path. After I started VideoFresh and the team was just 2 or 3 of us, the biggest struggle was just figuring out how to stay in business and just make it another day. That lasted for years. Today the company has much more stability, and we face bigger struggles around things like hiring, training, customer service, accounting, HR, legal and marketing. I love puzzles, and business is just an endless series of them.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about VideoFresh?
Today, video content is essential for businesses and their marketing efforts. VideoFresh makes it easier than ever for businesses to get the video content they need to reach their goals. Our “VideoFresh Production System” is the process we use to guide every project to success, and the results speak for themselves.
There are many classic frustrations that clients experience when hiring other video production companies (e.g. poor communication, creative stubbornness, forgetting details and missing deadlines). VideoFresh takes a different approach, and we have solved these chronic problems with our clients.
We also have a simple flat-rate pricing model that our clients love. We charge by the filming day, and for anything we can capture on that day, all of the editing is included. Sometimes we are producing 20+ handcrafted pieces of content from a single filming day.
Today our biggest focus is in producing video content for eCommerce brands across the entire customer’s journey. These include paid video ads, instructional videos, social media videos, and TV commercials.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
For me, there are two types of networking. The first is where you identify the kinds of people you are trying to meet (e.g. people in your industry, potential clients, potential colleagues). In this case, it’s all about being choosy and targeting the right kinds of rooms to be in. The second is what I call “stirring the pot”, where you just want to be in new kinds of places with new kinds of people so that you don’t pigeonhole yourself into only being around a certain group of people. I think a blend of both is where the magic happens. Some of the most important relationships I’ve made in my life were from attending random events for no particular reason. Follow your curiosity.
For mentoring, look for people that are 3-5 steps ahead of you in life, rather than 20 (there are a number of reasons for this). Let them know that you look up to them and that you are looking for people just like them to help you on your journey. In my experience, people are flattered that you would want them as a mentor and will take time out of their day to chat.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.videofresh.co
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/videofresh-video-production-services
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClw5c8PSSvxzqn2HB0T04YA
