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

Jacob, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

When I first started to catch-a-fire my business was going to be successful is when feedback September 2021, my business was found on google. I started thinking of how I would manage multiple jobs, should the opportunity come up, I needed to start thinking of who would be my #2 on productions.

My plan was to train and hire someone so that by in Spring 2022 I could be in two places in one time. I knew I could train someone, but they needed to be patient because I’m still growing my business. (I started it in November 2020). I got this young man onboard, put on as an employee, but I was limited in what I could provide in compensation. What ended up happening is I spent a lot of money to train someone whom I thought would be essential part of my business.

What I’ve learned now is it is best to set up relationships to hire contractors until the business is fully paid off and self-running. I hope someone reads this and sees, “yes, as entrepreneurs our vision is far sighted for our endeavors, but don’t be afraid to throw shit at the wall.”

All in all, I am happy with the unexpected problem because its allowed a stronger foundation leading the charge into 2023.

Jacob, 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?

Hi, my name is Jacob Perkins, I am the owner of Austin based production Company Hen’s Bread Productions. We are a video production company that focuses on telling the story of your brand, with our talents. I like to work more in the profession commercial space, but right now we stick around mid range budgets of 4-10k.

I started the business in the tail end of the Pandemic. I was working my work from home job, doing video on the side, I started making some money on the side, I decided to cash out my pension with the city and invest my business, alas Hen’s Bread Productions.

Hen’s Bread Productions comes from a story my grandma would read me titled, “The Little Red Hen”, it’s about a hen making bread. What makes the story so memorable is it’s about teamwork and the more you put in, the more you get out. I would tell that story to talent prior to starting my business. One day it just clicked, “Hen’s Bread” sounds good. I’ve been rockin’ with it since.

My history with video production goes all the way back to highschool. Video Production with Mr. Walsh at Trabuco Hills High School was the only class I gave a shit about, besides history and math. As an elective we worked in a professional broadcast environment, I learned to edit on Final Cut Pro back in 07′. I was going to go to Saddleback community college for video editing, but I didn’t want to work in a dungeon all day editing. I dropped it and life took me on a wild journey. Through being poor in east Austin from ages 19-25 I learned a lot about audio mixing. I wanted to be an audio engineer, and I spent a lot of time trying to understand sound. After I made a little cheddar I bought an a6000 and my love for video came right back. A whole lot in between we land to the pandemic and I’m working from home, but I’m shackled to a desk. I just always knew there was another way to live and be happy.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It’s funny because everyone loves the camera man. I get offered more drinks now, then ever in my life, and I don’t drink. I was an alcoholic, I couldn’t moderate. 1 beer was 3, ya know?

Something happened, nobody hurt, nothing to write home about. But it dawned on me my problem was much worse then I thought it was. On March 13th, 2019, reddit suggested I look into r/stopdrinking and I’ve dropped it ever since.

It wasn’t easy, but I did it.

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

Online search engines. Invest in understanding how SEO works to apply it to your business. I spent 1 week completely revamping our website with key phrases and tricks, 8 months later it seems like I get a call or email every day for business.

Once I get their email or phone number I talk to them like I would with anyone and it seems to work out.

Contact Info:

• Website: hensbreadproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hensbread/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HensBread
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hensbreadproductions/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HensBread
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRGhbvu0u8mCHq4wbVJg_lw
• Other: https://vimeo.com/hensbread

Image Credits
Ming Chen