We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dawson Putthoff . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dawson below.

Dawson , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I’ll let you know when I get there.

Success is a term that we like to throw around to highlight someones achievement but rarely do we define it for ourselves. For the business, success might be a certain profit margin or number of clients acquired, but for me, it is more than that. Success is living up to your fullest potential in every aspect of life. Whether that is being the best father, husband, friend, you can be. Success could be in the work place and striving to be the best you can be in your role. Then, the questions is how do we accomplish our definition of success. For me, that’s honest evaluation of myself followed by a plan of action. If I don’t like the habits or routines I have, I replace them with better ones. Easier said than done.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Dawson Putthoff, I am the owner of Black Banner Productions in Kansas City with a combined experience of a decade in the creative space. We specialize in video and photo content creation for small to medium sized business that need to grow on social media, run ads and or capture other marketing content.

First, I started out as a photographer taking photos of nature and landscapes. Then as my skills improved, I adopted videography and began shooting small projects for business owners. This was the foundation that Black Banner was built on. Now, we have a 3,000 Sqft studio and office space and a creative team.
Our mission is to ‘confidently add value to our clients through high quality content.’
We have worked with a range of different clientele from NFL/NBA athletes to serviced based businesses to products. Anything photo or video, that’s our game.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I started in photography while I was in college learning how to become a physical therapist assistant. After school, I would watch YouTube videos on how to further my photo skills. I remember while my professor was giving a lecture, I was creating my own website and planning out how I was going to make this new skill and make it profitable. Once I graduated, I was forced into a crossroad decision where I could work as a PTA for 40-50 a week and make decent money or go all in on my photography business. I took the leap and went all in. From there, I was able to work every waking hour on my passion. When I wasn’t shooting photos I was learning on Youtube. Then I started to add more skills to my business. I added video creation and editing which opened up new opportunities for my business to increase revenue. Now, after 3 years, I have finally learned how to run and manage Facebook and Instagram ads.

The best advise in this to constantly reinvest into yourself. Learn more skills and you will become more valuable to your clients.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I love this question because I served 6 years in the Army National Guard. Leadership is one of the pillars of any military core value. There are many aspects when it comes to managing a team. The best advice I can give is to cultivate an environment where employees and team members can speak freely and provide feedback. One of the biggest mistakes that individuals in management roles make is that they will lord over their inferiors and disregard their teams knowledge and perspective.

As leaders, we have to put our pride and ego away so that our organization can thrive. Without honest communication and feedback between leaders and team members, you will never know where the issues are within your teams operation. In summary, double down on communication and your team will thrive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackbannerproductions.com
• Instagram: @Dawsonputthoff