We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scott Roseboro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Scott , appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate it if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Coming from the city of brotherly love Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where my parents spent most of their lives we had a spirit of drive and innovation that not many had at the time. My parents decided to take on being business owners which has now spanned to 27 years. From this choice they picked up and moved to New Jersey to further me and one of my sisters of 6, education and build a foundation for us. This was my introduction to being a business owner and seeing the everyday trials and tribulations of being one. Breathing in the hard work, from that point I knew business ownership was the only way for me. The origination of Scott Roseboro the artist and boss started in the instrumental years between sophomore and senior year of high school. I lived in a small town and attended a small high school which only allowed limited options but within those options I found art. Loving to dance I chose to pick my high school’s dance academy to begin my dive into the arts. Ms. Jordan, my dance teacher at the time, played a pivotal part in making those days of dancing enjoyable, translating to everything I am now. I still remember to this day, show dates, rehearsals, and the small promo videos we would do to broadcast to the school that our show was coming up. Those promo videos were my first time appearing on camera, I knew then I loved being on camera and the art that followed to tell a story. I furthered that interest with a teacher called Mr. Kruzan for my free elective media class. You would think that’s the direction I kept? Wrong. Fast forward to college my major was marketing with a background in psychology, completely opposite of my interest. I figured the marketing degree would be useful regardless of what path I chose. During this time I barely touched a camera unless it involved fraternity related projects on campus, this is when I engaged in video editing once more. Honestly, I just felt I was the best person for the job, even then. My senior year approached the home stretch with an abrupt halt; my only brother was shot and killed by his roommate of a couple years; he then shot and killed himself. My brother’s name was Walter Scott Roseboro III, he attended Full Sail University to become a director. We talked vividly about working together and creating our art to showcase to the world. Unfortunately, those dreams were cut short. Later in college I decided that law school was my path, I spent months preparing to take my LSATs, took them and decided that would be the first and last time. I submitted my application in the midst of Covid 19 and was not accepted to any of my top schools. After that I immediately made the switch, I set my sights on Full Sail. I reached out to see how much it would be to get my masters in film and production and was accepted almost on the spot. I packed a car with as much as possible, found a couple roommates and took the drive from New Jersey to Florida. From there, business has been on my mind, I wanted to build from the ground up. This journey has surely been a struggle but this is the first year I’ve truly been able to focus on the growth of the business, managing marketing, communications with clients, and so much more.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
The arts have always been a part of Scott Roseboro. I started dancing early in middle school and moved on to playing instruments and singing in the choir. My love for being my own boss stemmed from my parents who have been in business for 27 years in the car maintenance industry. I spent summers and weekends with them checking tire pressures, cleaning windows, vacuuming, adding oil to hot engines and a frequent tire rotation. We have been a family that wasn’t afraid to work 7 days a week. I realized early, mechanics were not in my line of work. I had to find a way to merge my art and love of creating into business. I found videography for my love of having an idea and putting it in motion. Finding out how to bring a vision from your head to the camera is a skill not a lot of us are blessed to have, I personally have decided to make a career out of it which is the epitome of HardPlaceVisuals, HPVisuals for short. We hear your ideas and bring them to life to communicate to your specific audience a message. From my years of idea creation from middle school to my masters at Full Sail in film & production I believe there’s no one better that can visualize your idea and put a face to it. That’s the problem we solve, putting your ideas down on paper and executing them into an interesting and creative visual story. I believe that what sets us apart from everyone else, we have a background in script writing, character development, production, and post production, we cover all the bases in tandem with marketing, advertising, and business degrees amongst the crew. Our focus has been communication via social media so our clients have coined us the social media experts. We care about the story and have a keen eye for quality. We’re not afraid to say, “Hey, that may not be communicated the way you think it will.” We have a diverse crew that want to tell the narrative and tell the stories of businesses and individuals alike across the nation. We’ve worked with Honda, National American Miss, to star studded celebrities such as Rick Ross and DJ Khaled, we believe we can tell the story anyway you see fit.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
This is not so much a lesson but a mindset revolving around money as a whole. Not every opportunity is a good one, and not all money is worth it. Being paid what you’re worth is bigger than just the principle, it aligns your entire brand and attracts the correct clients. While I understand that starting a business is difficult monetarily, it’s important that if you have the skills to back up the quality of work that you’re compensated correctly. Once I began moving away from low paying work, the bigger budgets, and people who had the money to support the budget began to funnel my way and I was able to support my freelance employees.
We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.
My parents owned and operated a Grease Monkey for 27 years, whilst you would believe they were business owners, in pure definition they were truly self employed which is a huge difference. They were there everyday and they felt that that was required for the business to continue to run on its own, but it was really because they didn’t trust anyone to run it for them (not even me). So after selling the business for them and making them realize that there are different fields that they can move their money into and not have to do virtually anything, I preach to people that it’s important to realize this crucial lesson, time vs. money vs. ROI. What’s more important to you? How much sweat equity do you want to put in for your return? How much time are you willing to invest? Once you finally sell the business, will it be worth the time that you put in? Are you relying on selling the business to retire? The taxes you are going to have to pay once you sell the business. All important questions that need to be answered before venturing into the realm of business ownership, especially when it comes to a physical location.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hardplacevisuals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hpvisuals_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hardplacevisuals/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hard-place-visuals-productions-616621229/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/HPVISUALS_