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

Troy, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I’m completely thrilled to be a business owner. I couldn’t imagine working for someone at this point, some 10 years after I went out on my own, but that said you always have moments where you think of going back. That constant paycheck every 2 weeks. Health insurance, 401k, etc. all kind of taken care of in the background… it’s certainly “easier” in many ways to work for someone. Summers can be quiet in the video world and there are times after enjoying the inevitable downtime you can get bored and scared about the next gig. Will it come? When? There’s never a guarantee and that always keeps you motivated to do your best work and keep the clients as happy as you can. For me, it’s the service I give them and making them feel like a partner that gives me the most joy. It’s also why I couldn’t go back to working for someone. I like the responsibility of it all being on me. Nobody to blame. Do or die.

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 back background and context?

I’ve always been a TV/video freak, making movies with my VHS camera as a kid and watching anything and everything I could. My parents called me “Mike TV” from Willy Wonka. As far as the business, I started out very young as an “illegal intern” (no college credit in sight!) in the TV news business at age 18. I lucked out and met a local TV reporter and as a favor I was able to shadow him for a night and I basically never left the newsroom. Ha. That night I met the sports producer who was looking for some help over the summer logging things, doing some basic editing and I jumped at it. 32 years later I’m still in the video production world. I got my BA in journalism/broadcasting at Arizona State and worked for 15 years in TV news as a videographer, editor, producer, on air talent and helicopter camera man. I covered the Olympics, presidential campaigns, the Golden Globes as well as various huge national stories. From there, I went into marketing for the City of Glendale, AZ and worked there for 9 years as the city grew into one of the largest suburbs of Phoenix. In 2007, with my friend Nick Calderone, I started the side hustle of Reel Stories picking up various odd video jobs for fun. In 2013, after much deliberation with my wife, I went out on my own with the small boutique business and have been doing it ever since. We are a full service video production company that works with commercial, non-profits, and corporations to help tell their stories.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth. And with that, I guess, it’s how I treat my clients. A very good friend of mine, and my mentor, Cary Pfeffer, once told me to think of a client like a partner you are in a relationship with… not just a customer. Get to know them. Be NICE to them. LISTEN to them. Make them a part of the journey. Sounds easy, but it can be lost in the rush of business sometimes. I think being a boutique business it does help in getting to know my clients and treating them a partners compared to how larger shops work sometimes. We can pivot and be more intimate without layers and layers of people. With that strategy I’ve been very lucky to basically not have to cold call or do much in outreach for business. Most of my work has come thru word of mouth and it’s been humbling to have that be enough throughout the past few years. I’d MUCH rather do the work than network and chit chat prospective clients. That’s just not my thing anyway.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I realized that I never burned a single bridge being in tv news for 15 years and marketing for 9 in the same market. 24 years where I never held a grudge or talked behind people’s backs and just tried to treat people as I would like to be treated. Was I perfect? Nope. I made a ton of mistakes. Embarrassed myself many times. But, not having any (or at least very few!) enemies HELPS! As my mentor said to me: “you want them to think “Hey Troy” when they need a video and not have any other thoughts… by being nice and doing the job right they will”. His words have proven prophetic. I still have lost clients, for sure, but I have kept the good chunk of them for years and I’m forever grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: reelstoriesmedia.com

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