Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kayla O’Brien. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

In the local news business I learned that it’s okay to cut out things you may think are important in order to keep people’s attention. Most newscast stories are 30 to 60 seconds max. When creating a marketing video for a business, owners often want to list every accolade they’ve ever accomplished. Save it for your resume. A good engaging video that is going to attract the right clients is about them not about you. Keeping things simple and straightforward is almost always the right way to move forward.

Kayla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been making videos since my parents brought home our first camcorder. Short films, skits, mini documentaries; you name it I’ve been making it for years. I went to the University of Central Florida and got my degree in Broadcast Journalism with a concentration in digital media. After graduating I worked in the local new industry first in television, then at a newspaper and then for a digital media startup. Since 2019 I started to work for clients as a side hustle producing marketing videos, online course material and social media content. In February 2020 I was laid off from my job at the startup and decided to take the leap from side hustle into full time business owner. It was difficult at first because everything was shutdown but I started offering free online workshops about how to make better video content at home. That’s been the best and most revenue driving lead generator for me. Speaking to business owners about how they can leverage their knowledge into engaging content led many of them to hire me to help them do just that. That first year I produced many videos about businesses’ new covid policies as well as live-streaming college graduations where audiences weren’t allowed. Slowly I grew my client list by displaying my client’s videos as examples and things really picked up in 2022. I don’t think I would have jumped when I did if it wasn’t for my lay off but sometimes a sink or swim scenario is not so bad after all.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

My first investment was in production gear. I purchased a Sony camera, a professional microphone, tripod and lights. It was several thousand dollars upfront. My business started as a side hustle so I was able to make these purchases from my full-time income. I had been working my business on the side for about a year when I became a full time entrepreneur. By this point, I had most of the equipment I would need to get started bringing in more clients. I upgraded all my equipment and added new gadgets like a drone and a sound board recently.

When I started full time I got a Novo business banking account which has been wonderful and I started using Wave Money for my invoicing and bookkeeping, My partner has worked full time while I made the transition into full-time entrepreneur which helped ease my mind about coming up short on living expenses. Having my partner also allowed me to reinvest my profits into my business. I don’t plan to seek investments or bring on business partners anytime soon. I prefer the idea of slow and steady growth.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The number one way I’ve found and retained amazing and loyal clients is through speaking at events both online and in person. I’ve offered to speak and teach at a variety of workshops and events that may not even be directly related to my business. For example I taught a “Why Your Business Should Consider Tik Tok” workshop in 2020. I create Tik Tok content for my clients and I saw the value it was bringing them so I broke down how we did it. I got so many calls from that event from business owners wanting to discuss marketing plans and their ideas for videos. I think if you can give someone a spark or plant a new seed in someone’s mind about their business, they’ll come to you for more of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.storyfirstvideo.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-o-brien-63a04949/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kaylaobrien1689

Image Credits
The one of me with my camera (Arlene LaBoy)