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

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

As you can imagine there are many risks in starting a business and even more that you have to take as you progress down the entrepreneur journey. In the last quarter of 2023 I had made a decision to try and hire out a sales rep that would do cold LinkedIn outreach in order to schedule calls with potential clients. I knew it would stretch me financially but we had 2 90% closed incoming clients that would cover the additional costs.

I was in for a surprise!

Both those clients for various reasons decided not to move forward with ANY marketing which of course included me. At this point I had determined to move forward with the sales process.

Here’s what I learned.

All business has risk but you can be well prepared for that risk and create opportunities that can soften the blow if they fail. I had not done that. I had no financial backup plan.

Within 3 months I had ran out of my cash reserves and had to let the sales rep go as well as the 2 contractors who were video editing for me. The mistake cost me everything and I decided to take a break from growing my business, potentially forever.

During my break I couldn’t stop thinking about shooting more, building my business more, and reflecting on the mistakes I had made and how I would move forward differently. I decided in January 2024 to reopen my business and aggressively build relationships.

My biggest takeaway was that I wasn’t fast enough in pulling the plug on something that wasn’t working. Not only that but I wasn’t financially prepared for it not working out. Now as I move forward whether it’s a big or small change I’m implementing I’m thinking proactively about how I can best prepare for the worst while still hoping for the best. I don’t stick with things that are failing, I shut them down.

Living in reality is something we all need to do as business owners because life happens. Employees leave, people cheat you, markets change, something personal happens in your life and now the game has changed. How are you prepared for the risks that inevitably plague a business owner?

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

I’ve had a rather varied creative journey that started with over a decade of piano lessons. I moved to playing guitar and then eventually running live sound as a FOH audio engineer. As soon as I discovered I loved being creative through technology I picked up a camera and haven’t looked back since.

My video journey started 12 years ago when I shot my first wedding film (spoiler, it went horribly). I learned by trial and error, building up my skills and gear into something I was proud of and could perform at a high level. 5 years ago I decided to expand into the commercial side of video and began to create video content for small businesses. Not only were the skills and gear I acquired able to help me in this expansion but the ability to see and create a story with images, lighting, editing, and script was a secret weapon forged from over a decade of creating.

Historically, Burkhart Creative Agency has created video content for websites, social media, and general promotion. As of 2024 we are moving into the video ad space, creating 15-30 second punchy, dynamic videos that in combination with a well-dialed ad campaign can increase conversions rates, build serious sales, and increase brand awareness for a variety of business, especially ecomm. After all, you have to have someones attention before you can try and sell them!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’ve ran into so many business owners and operators that really struggle to talk about their business in a logical way and/or in a way that resonates with customers. Us business owners nerd out on what we do but the customer doesn’t care. They only care on how we are going to make THEIR life better. Few books help people articulate their businesses impact like “Building a Storybrand” by Donald Miller.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One thing I’ve heard a few time from business owners who are hiring a creative for the first time is that they can’t explain what they want but they will “know it when they see it.” This is unacceptable in a professional environment. Just because I’m a creative, specifically videographer, doesn’t mean I speak or understand the language of a graphic designer or an app developer, etc.

There are so many incredible resources that can help demonstrate elements of what we like and are looking for someone in the creative field to make. Whether it’s creating a Pinterest board, grabbing screen shots of apps we like the look of, or finding a video that has a feel like one we are wanting, there are so many ways to show a creative what we are wanting rather than entrusting ALL of the creative control to someone else. Often this leads to results that weren’t what we were hoping for and everyone gets frustrated and the projects becomes longer and costlier than anticipated.

One of the ways we’ve worked through this is making a Creative Brief, a document that has mood boards, examples, deliverable and turnout time explanation and more so that everyone is on the same page creatively. If your hiring a creative that’s a great thing to ask if they do or at least ask if they do something similar so that everyone feels confident that where your headed is where you want to be!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.burkhartcreativeagency.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/burkhartcreativeagency/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenburkhart/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/_stevenburkhart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@burkhartcreativeagency