We recently connected with Matthew Moore and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Scaling is not something I was really interested in. I probably waited a little too long before making the hires I needed to, but I feel like it’s better to error on that side of the business than to hire too soon and not be able to retain my employees.

I started my business in 2012 as a side hustle, never really knowing if it would take off. I’ve always been about slow, steady, predictable growth. I’m not a risk taker, and I certainly don’t try to bite off more than I can chew. The side hustle became big enough to be a full-time gig in 2015 and stayed that way for a few more years. Shortly after going full-time in the freelance video space, I hired my first part time administrator. I knew I needed to hand off the administrative duties because I wasn’t good at them and I didn’t enjoy them. I needed to free my time up to focus on filmmaking and getting new clients.

The next step for me was to hire a full-time employee who could shoot and edit. Basically, replicate myself so we could take on more work. I strategically saved up 6 months worth of runway so I could ramp up the business. In 2019, I made my first full-time hire. It’s been a slow burn since then as well but now we are at 3 full-time and 2 part-time employees and I feel confident we can sustain this size for another year or two.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Matthew Moore and I’m the Founder and Creative Director at Future Fox Media. We create digital content (photo and video) for businesses all over the world. We started off making videos for websites and social media, dabbled in TV commercials, and have recently shifted to doing more social media content for businesses. We love helping brands take the next step in their business. Whether it’s helping a brand new company launch their site and socials, or helping an established brand get to the next level with their sales, we pride ourselves in what we offer to our clients.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

In 2022, I took on a business parter in an effort to grow the business and move into more of a management role. We merged our businesses believing our complimentary skills were going to help catapult us into even more success. This turned out to be a big mistake for both of us. In hindsight, neither one of us wanted a big production company with several employees. We enjoyed the slower pace of life of working from home and not being responsible for several employees. Realizing we had bit off more than we wanted to chew, we mutually decided to split after only 6 months. I was left with no money and almost had to fire our employees. It was a dark time for Future Fox Media. But, we stuck with it and I committed to keeping everyone on staff and getting back to a healthy place. A year late, after lots of hard work from my team, we’re healthier and doing better financially than we ever have been.
I learned a lot about what I want (and don’t) for myself and my business. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I think persevering through that has made me a better entrepreneur, boss, husband and father.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up very poor in a small town in Texas. I had a great childhood, but money was always an issue. I believe this gave me a poor person’s mindset that translated to how I run my business. It’s taken me several years to realize this and learn that not everyone is concerned about the dollar amount. Every time I send out a proposal to a client, I have this fear that they will reject it because it’s too much. Even though I know that’s a fair rate for our services, I still cringe at how much we have to charge for some projects. It’s been a very slow unlearning process for me. But, I’ve realized over time that not everyone thinks that way. Most of my clients are willing to pay a premium for our services because they believe in us, appreciate what we do, and understand the value we bring.
I still have to remind myself “I’m not selling this to myself. I’m selling this to a big company who needs what we offer and has a budget set aside for this. Don’t undersell your services or you’re doing a disservice to everyone involved.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.futurefoxmedia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/futurefoxmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewleemoore/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@futurefoxmedia

Image Credits
@FutureFoxMedia ;)