July 9, 2025 • 28 mins
What does it mean to be a "river person" in business? Bobby Reed’s entrepreneurial journey shows how following your passion with determination can lead to success.
Bobby's path to founding Loaded Pixel began with a high school teacher handing him a camera, sparking a lifelong passion for video production. From Super Bowl broadcasts to the Olympics, Bobby built his career by doing what he loved. But the turning point came when NBC Sports relocated, and Bobby chose entrepreneurship over a corporate path. With mentorship and a leap of faith, he founded his own company, facing the typical startup challenges.
One of Bobby's key insights is the importance of building a strong company culture, even with a mostly freelance team. By paying contractors before the usual net-30 terms, he fostered loyalty and collaboration, which became essential for his business’s success.
Key Takeaways:
- From Passion to Business: Bobby turned his passion for video production into a thriving business.
- Facing Challenges: He navigated common entrepreneurial hurdles, including cash flow and client expectations.
- Building Loyalty: Prompt payments created a culture of trust among freelancers.
- Sustainable Growth: Bobby’s vision focuses on growth that supports a balanced life for his team.
About Bobby Reed:
Bobby Reed is the founder and executive producer of Loaded Pixel, a full-service video production company based in Philadelphia. With over 20 years of experience in live sports, branded content, and commercial campaigns, Bobby has worked on everything from Super Bowl broadcasts to food spots for beloved brands like Wawa.
Known for combining creative instinct with production savvy, he has built a company that moves fast, thinks big, and skips the unnecessary layers. Whether he's directing behind the camera or guiding clients through the creative process, Bobby is all about turning ideas into visuals that hit.
Connect:
Website www.loadedpixelcreative.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bobby-reed
Instagram instagram.com/bobbyreedtv/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
The following programming is sponsored by Marc
J Bernstein.
The views expressed do notnecessarily reflect the views of
this station, its management orBeasley Media Group.
Entrepreneur, founder, authorand financial advisor, Marc
Bernstein helps high-performingbusiness owners turn their
visions into reality.
Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus.
(00:20):
Forums, Marc connectsentrepreneurs to resources that
fuel their success.
Forums Marc connectsentrepreneurs to resources that
fuel their success.
Founders Forum is a radio showand podcast where entrepreneurs
share their journeys, revealingthe lessons they've learned and
the stories behind their success.
Join Marc and his guests for amix of inspiration, valuable
insights and a little fun.
Now let's dive in.
Marc Bernstein (00:41):
Good morning America.
How are you?
I thought I'd shake up the wayI say that today a little bit.
It was like good morningAmerica.
How are you?
I'm good, how are you?
It's always sunny inPhiladelphia.
Well, today it's sunny inPhiladelphia.
Anyway, it's a beautiful day,right, right, Bobby.
Bobby's my guy Beautiful.
So I'll introduce Bobby in alittle bit, but we're going to
(01:02):
start, as we always do, with alittle informal conversation
about.
You know, it was a beautifulmorning and I always think of
this topic of the day.
I can never decide on it untilthe day of, because it depends
what's going on around me,what's going on in the world,
etc.
But this morning, because itwas a beautiful, sunny day, I
was thinking about mornings andI was thinking about people's
(01:23):
morning routines day.
I was thinking about morningsand I was thinking about
people's morning routines,because everybody, I always find
out that entrepreneurs inparticular seem to have morning
routines.
Bobby's got an interestingstory about that.
So I'll just tell you that I dothings like exercise, stretch,
meditate, try to do my littlenutritional routine in the
morning.
You know, try to do my littlenutritional routine in the
morning, and but I'm lessinterested in mine.
(01:46):
Let's talk about yours, Bobby.
I know you had one.
We're going to talk about whatit is today.
Bobby Reed (01:53):
Yeah, that's really what it is is.
I'm still trying to figure outmy morning routine.
I have a.
I used to have a very robustmorning routine and now, since
I've had two children, thatmorning routine has changed to
whatever it is that happens inthe morning, whether that be my
son wakes up at 6 am and hewants to eat chocolate chips and
(02:15):
watch cartoons, or he wants toplay something, or if we all
want to sleep in and have acrazy morning trying to get out
the door, which happened thismorning.
Marc Bernstein (02:25):
So I can relate to those times because I know
that was the time that mymorning routine was the most
changed.
So it's not really a routine,it's kind of like whatever
happens.
So I know you used to do thingslike exercise and read the
paper.
Bobby Reed (02:41):
Oh yeah, yeah.
I used to wake up every morning, I read the New York Times, I'd
go work out, ride the Peloton,or before that it was Flywheel,
it's just no longer in businessbut I would ride the stationary
bike 45 minutes, watch the news,different channels, whatever it
was, and then have my favoritebreakfast in all of America and
all of the world Cafe Le Monde.
I would go there.
(03:01):
It's in Northern Liberties so Iwould sit there and talk with
the owner, gabby, and just someother friends there, and then
I'd be in the office by 9,sometimes 9.30 if I got to
Yappin at the cafe.
But yeah, work out, read andthen look at the weather, see
what other meetings I have, kindof create a plan for for the
(03:22):
day and then go eat a greatbreakfast.
Marc Bernstein (03:28):
So do you have an alternative?
Since you can't do it firstthing in the morning, do you
find a way to get exercise in?
Do you find a way to plan yourday otherwise, or is it all just
as it comes?
Bobby Reed (03:35):
Yeah, I mean the working out thing is definitely
it's more going than coming atthis point.
So hopefully, I mean my son is.
I have two sons, one is sevenmonths, the other is three and a
half.
So the seven month old,hopefully in another few months
he can start sleeping throughthe night and then I can get
back to waking up early andworking out at least.
(03:57):
But I definitely still pick andchoose.
I mean I take time to read asmuch as I can in the morning,
maybe five or 10 minutes, and itcomes in little spurts and then
definitely or now my routine isbefore bed, which is not maybe
the best thing, but I definitelygo to bed and, you know, go to
bed early and I'll read, youknow, as much as I can you do.
Marc Bernstein (04:17):
Squeeze that in squeeze when you can, yeah
exactly, but now I'm likefalling asleep.
It's like I'm back in college,like trying to cram for the test
that you know I'm laughingbecause, you know, I remember
those days well and I rememberwhen I was so happy when I could
get back into my routine.
Yeah, and, as I shared with you, you get older, some.
There are other things now,including my dog, that disrupt
(04:37):
my routine now.
So so, so arlo, who I love verymuch, and he's some of the
inspiration between good morningamerica, since Arlo Guthrie
sang the song.
Bobby Reed (04:47):
City of New Orleans.
I was this actually, I just hadthis thought talking about
routines and morning routines,and this maybe has something to
do one of my main clients, wawa,we just did a commercial about.
It's called Mornings and it'sabout your morning routine going
to Wawa, getting your cup ofcoffee and doing all that stuff.
So, yeah, sorry, harmless plug,but you're saying this.
Marc Bernstein (05:06):
Well, that's actually a great way to work
right into your introduction,because we mentioned Wawa in
there.
And in Philadelphia everyoneknows what Wawa is, but not
everybody listening may knowthat, so I'll explain that in a
second.
But Bobby Reed is the founderand executive producer of Loaded
Pixel.
Great producer of Loaded Pixel,great name, a full-service
video production company basedin Philadelphia With over 20
years of experience in livesports, branded content and
(05:30):
commercial campaigns.
Bobby has worked acrosseverything from Super Bowl
broadcast to food spots and thenalso for beloved brands such as
Wawa.
So Wawa is like a conveniencestore that in Philadelphia,
everybody knows it.
Now Philadelphia, everybodyknows it.
Now Florida, everybody knows it.
And along the East Coastthey're starting to know it and
(05:50):
pretty soon they'll be national.
So if you don't know Wawa, it'scoming to your town soon, most
likely.
And, by the way, sorry, Ihaven't finished.
So Bobby is known for combiningcreative instincts with
production savvy.
He's built a company that movesfast, thinks big and skips the
unnecessary layers.
I love that.
Whether he's directing behindthe camera or guiding clients
(06:13):
through the creative process,Bobby's all about turning ideas
into visuals that hit.
What a great, exciting kind ofbusiness.
So, Bobby, I don't want to giveit away because I but I know
you were sort of meant to dowhat you're doing.
So you tell, tell us how thatall started and how you got to
(06:34):
where you are today with yourpretty successful business.
Bobby Reed (06:36):
Thanks, yeah, I had a.
I had a teacher an Englishteacher, no less and I was never
, was never, still not a greatwriter who wanted to get me into
.
He was starting a audio visualclass in high school and he said
as a junior, you can get intothis senior only program.
And I said that sounds good tome.
And then, from that moment, hehanded me a camera and I fell in
(06:59):
love with you know, makingstuff, and I played sports my
whole life and I knew I had tocombine sports and video
production and that was that wasit.
There was no other option forme, really, and so my uh entire
focus from the age of 15, uh, bythe way, I still talk to my
this um high school professor,uh teacher that I have is, um,
(07:20):
he's like 80 some years old now.
Marc Bernstein (07:25):
He's awesome.
Um, yeah, he's awesome.
Yeah, it's cool.
He's really great, so he'sdefinitely a mentor in your life
.
Bobby Reed (07:27):
yeah, mentorship is definitely something that
everyone should have.
So, yeah, it took me years totrack him down, by the way, but
anyway, yeah, so it was my solefocus from 15 to get into video
and film production and if Icould somehow, you know, marry
that with sports, that was theonly option.
I didn't know, I didn't have it.
There was no other plan Ididn't like.
(07:47):
There was, you know, businessschool.
No, nothing, it was just makestuff in sports.
That's really it.
Marc Bernstein (07:53):
So two quick comments.
One is mention Super Bowlbroadcasts.
So Bobby's worked at multipleSuper Bowls Olympics, wimbledon,
us Opens, nba Finals, all-starGames Very, very cool and
exciting.
I think people love to hearabout that.
Bobby Reed (08:11):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (08:11):
I'm fun at parties.
Announcer (08:12):
Usually with the guys right.
The girls don't really care.
Marc Bernstein (08:14):
Could, care less .
Bobby Reed (08:17):
Exactly Without stereotyping of course.
I will say there are plenty ofwomen who find it interesting
and ask me more questions thanthe guys.
The guys sometimes get shy.
They're like they don't knowhow to sometimes ask me because
they think it's too scary.
Marc Bernstein (08:32):
By the way, I said this this morning to you in
prep You're what I call a riverperson.
Yeah, and the great broadcasterEarl Nightingale, who did a lot
of kind of self-improvementgrowth things later in his life.
I used to listen to a lot ofhis tapes this tells you how old
they were.
We used to listen to tapes inthe car but I remember one very
(08:53):
specifically, and I've neverforgotten this, that he said
there's basically, when it comesto motivation, there's two
types of people.
One are river people, likeyou're drawn to the river, like
you're drawn to something andyou're going to do that, no
(09:13):
matter what.
There's nothing stopping you,Um.
And the other is, um, a goalsperson.
So you're a river person andI'm a goals person, um, I used
the example I was telling Bobbyabout it of Bruce Springsteen,
who actually has an album calledthe width of the river.
But lately he's been talking alot about his life and his
career and he talked about therewas no other option, like I was
going to be this or I was goingto die, because I had no other
skills, I had no other interests.
(09:34):
That was going to be it, right.
So that's a river person, soyou're a river person.
Bobby Reed (09:39):
That is me.
Marc Bernstein (09:39):
Yeah, the Mississippi, whatever the
Schuylkill, whatever you want tocall me, and Mississippi
whatever the school goal,whatever you want to call me,
and I, on the other hand, I wentto college for music just
because I loved music, and Iwent to law school and became a
lawyer for a while, and then Iwas drawn eventually to
financial planning, which meansI could have been happy doing a
lot of things, but I foundsomething I really liked and I
had a vision about it.
So I was driven by the goalsmore so than the particular
(10:02):
thing I was doing, and now it'sgotten to be really a mission as
to what I'm building for,probably the final time, and
that's what motivates me.
So in the end, we kind of aredriven by some of the same
things, but how we got there isdifferent, which I think is an
interesting way to think aboutthat whole topic.
Yeah sure, so okay, so now weknow why you got into what you
(10:26):
did, when did how and when didyou start the business?
And tell me about that.
Bobby Reed (10:30):
Yeah, so when I moved to Philadelphia in 2009,
I'm from Colorado, so you know Ihave I don't have the accent.
I guess that most people wouldassume I do, except that you say
Colorado.
Marc Bernstein (10:42):
Right, they usually say Colorado.
Bobby Reed (10:44):
Right, but my wife, plenty of other people say,
think I have an accent.
Marc Bernstein (10:48):
Anyway, my son lives in Colorado Colorado, I
should say.
Bobby Reed (10:52):
There you go, right.
Yeah, it's a beautiful place?
Marc Bernstein (10:54):
Yeah, it sure is , I love it.
Bobby Reed (10:56):
So when I moved here , I knew no one, I didn't know
anybody and I I I had, I wasjust hustling for work and I had
, and I signed up for this tutorwebsite where I was going to
tutor kids or young people invideo film production.
That's again.
That's all I know and knew.
So I got one phone call and itwas from my, this beautiful
(11:17):
family, the West Falls, and theydecided to trust me with their
kids to teach them stuff.
And then eventually, the father, jeff, was like what are you
doing with your life?
And I was like you know, atthat time I had eventually
worked my way up at NBC Sportsand I was a national editor
there and I was loving life.
It was the best job I'd everhad.
And I was like my life's greatI've, you know, I'm doing all
(11:39):
the things I thought I would do.
I'm this national editor, Ihave this great family, you know
.
You know this great little lifeI have.
And he said do you ever thinkabout starting a company?
And I said, no, I don't knowanything about that.
And why would I do it?
And he said, no, don't worryabout it, I'll help you get
there.
And I said, um, at first I saidI'm fine, and then two, two or
(12:06):
three months later, nbc gave usthe news that they were moving
their whole operation up toConnecticut and they offered us
less money to go work up thereif we wanted to.
And I said, well, it doesn'tsound like fun, so I went back.
Marc Bernstein (12:15):
You were working out of New York at the time.
No, we were in Philly, you wereso okay, yeah yeah, nbc Sports.
Bobby Reed (12:19):
So at the time NBC had their own, had a New York
office, for sure, right, I wasworking at Versus, the Versus
Network, as an editor, and thenComcast bought NBC and then that
swallowed up Versus and then webecame the NBC Sports.
Marc Bernstein (12:31):
Network, so you were post-Comcast Got it.
Bobby Reed (12:34):
Yeah, had this decision to make that I want to
move to Connecticut to make lessmoney and do this whole you
know song and dance with a bunchof you know in a big corporate,
you know conglomerate, or Icould go talk to this guy, jeff,
about maybe starting a company,and I, you know, had dinner
with him one night and he waslike, yeah, let's do it.
(12:55):
And so that was the, that wasthe genesis.
He, you know, he kind of gaveme the stepping stones on how to
do it.
Marc Bernstein (12:58):
So that's interesting Again, this river
goals thing, because a lot ofpeople on the show they say, you
know?
I say, well, how you know?
How did you become anentrepreneur?
And they say, oh well, you know, my parents were, my
grandparents were, and I just,or I've I've met especially
women that like they didn'treally have it in their family
but they just like they juststart setting up shop.
(13:20):
I had a woman on recently thatwhen she was like five years old
she decided to go in the hangerbusiness.
She took all the hangers out ofher house and she, she put it
out on the street and she wasselling them for a nickel a
piece.
And her grandparents found outand like, better tell, better,
tell parents what she did.
So they called her father andher father father, like, who
(13:41):
admired the fact that she'sbeing entrepreneurial, said I'll
tell you what, I'll buy all thehangers and that if you'll put
them all away back where you gotthem.
So I said how brilliant she.
She got him to pay forsomething he already owned.
You know so, and she's verysuccessful serial entrepreneur.
Nice, you know.
But so so a lot of these peopleare goals people because
(14:03):
they're going to be anentrepreneur in something and
they don't know what.
Bobby Reed (14:06):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (14:07):
You were drawn to something you were going to
do no matter what, but you were,pretty up to a point, perfectly
happy doing it as an employee,and then an opportunity
presented itself.
So all different ways to becomean entrepreneur, which I find
is really interesting.
Bobby Reed (14:18):
Yeah, for sure.
And I say that, like, if I cando it, I'm not that smart, I
just again, I'm this river guythat just wants to make, you
know, make cool stuff, and youknow, and, and it just so
happened, I had this, you know,great opportunity and and if I
again, if I can do it, you cando it too.
Really it's like how I telleveryone you know, I don't think
I'm anything special, I justreally enjoy what I'm doing and
(14:42):
I've been very fortunate andvery lucky to have the
opportunities that I've had.
Marc Bernstein (14:45):
That's great.
This is a perfect opportunityto take a quick commercial break
.
We'll be right back on FoundersForum.
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Everyone has a story.
We want to hear yours.
Marc Bernstein (15:34):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, Bobby Reed, reallyenjoying the story so far.
Bobby, tell us about how you soyou started the business.
Everybody, all business owners,have some challenges in the
beginning as they start.
Did you have any of those?
Did you have any stumblingblocks as you came out of the
(15:57):
yeah, I mean, the hardest thingis always clients, right?
Bobby Reed (15:58):
I mean, that's what everyone?
I don't think there's anysecret there.
So I told you, nbc left andmoved to Connecticut.
We started the company and wekept NBC as a client.
But I learned a valuable lesson, because they pay on a.
I mean, I don't want toprobably not breaking any big
news here, but they don't paytheir vendors.
They pay their vendors on a net120.
So what that means is that youdon't get paid for four months.
(16:23):
And so we did work for them.
And then and I have again, I'mjust a guy.
I'm with my life savings of youknow, a couple grand.
There's not.
I don't have any money.
And now I'm shelling out stuffon credit cards and trying to
borrow money.
I'm working gigs Because you'reout trying to hire cameramen and
rent equipment, so I have topay them because they're paid on
(16:43):
net 30 and I'm not going to getmy money for three more months
after that.
So there was some strugglesthere.
There was just a learning curveon getting upfront.
Hey look, if you're not goingto pay me for 120 days, that's
fine, but here's how we're goingto do it structurally, so I
don't have to front the money.
Marc Bernstein (17:02):
And then you mentioned getting clients as
well.
Bobby Reed (17:04):
Yeah, and getting clients is tough, right.
So NBC, there was a wholesituation that I would not have
to really talk about, but it wasup and down, right.
I mean, we had clients and thenwe would go cold.
We wouldn't have a project forsix months or eight months, and
so what do you do?
And fortunately, that's where Ileaned on my sports experience.
So I started working more liveevent games and it was a
brilliant schedule in the sensethat games happen on nights and
(17:27):
weekends when people are notworking.
So I was able to wake up earlyand hit the pavement calling
folks working on projects,trying to get the business going
, and then I would go work aPhillies game at night, I'd go
work flyers, and then sometimesI would, you know.
Then I got asked to work biggergames, Olympics and different
things, and that helps only inthe sense that, yeah, my
(17:50):
schedule was 18 hours a day orwhatever it was.
But when I started sitting inon meetings and saying, oh yeah,
guys, either I can't do yourshoot next week because I'm
going to be at the Olympics, or,hey, I just got back from the
Super Bowl, it held a little bitmore gravitas than oh yeah, I'm
a guy from Colorado.
Marc Bernstein (18:09):
It was like a blessing and a curse in a way,
because, like a lot of businessowners, you had to get the work
and also do the work which is mybusiness as well when I started
out.
Which is complicated, it makesthings complex, yeah, but at the
same time that helped you in away because you could say, hey,
you just got back from Wimbledon, or whatever.
Bobby Reed (18:28):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm unavailable for twoweeks.
I'm going to be in the UK doingWimbledon and it's shocking and
people, I guess, don't realizewhat I didn't realize.
What I learned was, well,saying no to a client sometimes
isn't a bad thing.
Like hey, I'm not able to dothis for you right now, but I
can do it for you in two weeks,is almost just as good.
(18:48):
As you know, it makes them wantyou more.
Right, yeah, like saying oh yeah, let me do it right now.
You know, it's like dating in away.
You know.
If you seem desperate, you knoweverybody's like yeah, maybe I
don't want this guy.
Marc Bernstein (18:58):
That's true, that's true.
So, from these kind ofchallenges that you had, what
did you learn?
What strengths did you developas a result of, you know, having
of having to wait to get paid,having to balance all the
different activities, having tolearn how to acquire clients,
because that's something youdidn't have to do before?
What were sort of the lessonsfrom that?
Bobby Reed (19:18):
Yeah, well, I always had to acquire clients in the
sense that I was a freelancer,but my client, it was different.
I was applying to a company,multiple companies, or I had to
work with different producers.
Marc Bernstein (19:31):
And I assume, once you have a regular customer
and, like when you were at NBCSports, it just becomes.
It's not as tough of a clientacquisition process, right?
They?
Bobby Reed (19:40):
refer you to other people and it's a little easier.
But it's a smaller network andyou only have so much time in
the day and you're running yourown business.
But you're everything.
You can only make as much moneyas you have time in the day and
as many days there are in theyear.
So there's no passive incomereally.
Right, right so yeah, so Ialways had that salesman
(20:06):
mentality of client service.
I mean, I was a caddy growingup and that's really all Caddies
are just client service.
Marc Bernstein (20:13):
They don't know anything about it.
We didn't talk about that.
Yeah right, I was a failedcaddy.
I did it for a year.
I was at a tough club.
I won't go into that, but I wastough about it.
Bobby Reed (20:24):
It was like the best two, three summers of my life
it could be.
Yeah, yeah, it was the best.
Are you a golfer still today?
That's another thing you wouldbe.
I used to golf all the time andnow I golf three times a year,
twice a year maybe if I'm lucky.
Yeah, I mean now I lost mytrain of thought.
I'm sorry.
Marc Bernstein (20:43):
Well, we were talking about the lessons
learned from basically balancingall these different balls in
the air.
Bobby Reed (20:46):
Yeah, yeah, I think, just having the confidence of
knowing we have the ability tomake money, I can pay the bills
and I can have the confidence tosit in with clients in a very
stressful situation and give,you know, maybe not honest
feedback but an honestevaluation of where the project
is and who's doing what, andwork with them on their goals
(21:10):
and what they want to see andand have a better outcome with
with their video projects,marketing.
You know, whatever it would beBecause I, you know again, it's
the kid from Colorado walkinginto Wawa or whatever you know
and then this big board meeting,or you know it's a big, you
know it's very stressfulenvironment.
You know I just had to sitthere and I was scared.
(21:30):
I mean, there's no doubt I was.
You know I just had to sitthere and you know I was scared.
I mean there's no doubt I was.
You know I had no idea what Iwas doing and and some of that's
maybe imposter syndrome, somewould say, but I don't, I was
making it up as I was goingalong.
So now, again, I think I'm very, a lot more confident on
knowing how to solve problemswith the client, how to solve
problems with the company andwith people, and and how do we
create buy-in with everyone andthen move forward efficiently
(21:54):
and fast and in a fun way?
Marc Bernstein (21:56):
So, speaking of which, so we haven't gotten to
the part of the story yet wheresome people know it's not you
alone.
Now you have a company, youhave employees, so describe that
.
So I know you have someemployees, and then you have a
lot of freelancers that work foryou, or contractors, I guess
independent contractors, yeah,so describe that.
(22:17):
How many do you have?
And I'm interested in how youbuild, because I know you have a
company culture.
How do you build that,considering that a lot of your
people are external independents?
Bobby Reed (22:27):
Sure, like you used to be Right, exactly.
Yeah, I think our company isagain.
We're still really small.
We have a production manager onstaff, an editor animator on
staff.
We have a permalancer, as theycall him out in LA editor, my
partner Tim.
I should have probably startedwith him.
He's writer-director.
(22:49):
And then we have a sound designmixer on retainer.
He's also just a creative ninja.
I don't know what we would dowithout him, honestly.
Marc Bernstein (22:56):
And then we have a colorist on retainer as well,
it sounds like you have aboutseven people and then something
like that.
Bobby Reed (23:03):
Yeah, like five, six , and then we have again
probably 70 freelancers and weeven have kind of a core group
in Florida where you go down andshoot there that we have, that
we know.
And then to talk about culture,I think there's a couple of
things there.
One I used to do all these jobs.
I used to do that.
I also was a guy working forthe man, as they say right, so I
(23:26):
knew what it was like to betreated certain ways and not
certain ways, and one of thosethings was just being paid
quickly.
So I could tell you this rightnow.
So that lesson I learned fromNBC being paid on a net 120,
some of the best things I everdid was when freelancers would
work for me and they would sendme their invoice.
We would pay them before net 30.
(23:49):
It would be net seven, net 15.
And we're still I mean now thatwe've gotten bigger I've had to
hire, you know, bookkeepers andthings and accounting firms.
We're trying to work towardsthat and I always tell them, my
accounting people, we need topay these people before net 30,
even if it's 29 days, I don'tcare, it's gotta be before net
30.
And that that alone I'm not.
I could have done nothing else.
(24:10):
I could have been the biggestjerk in the world, but I was
paying people on net 15.
That did more for our companyculture than anything else.
Guys were wanting to work forus and they were going above and
beyond whatever we asked themto do.
Just because of that fact aloneand word got out on the street
that we were doing that.
And I'm telling you just thatalone.
(24:31):
And there's 50 other things Icould tell you, but that one
thing I get.
Marc Bernstein (24:34):
I've been involved in the music business
and the video business to acertain extent and in the past,
and I know that that's a rarity.
You know it's not, it's notpart of the regular culture.
So yeah that makes you standout and, as a result, I'm sure
you have people that if they saythey're going to do something
for you, they do it and they'reright on it.
And, yeah, I'm sure you havepeople that if they say they're
going to do something for you,they do it and they're right on
it.
Bobby Reed (24:52):
Yeah, I'm telling you, and we, you know, with my
sports background, what we'vetried to do which I think helps
our clients is we work, we tryto work faster.
You know, kind of in that sportsworld we try to work faster
than a normal film commercialcrew works.
And I think that you know thatpresents challenges to guys who
(25:17):
have been doing it the same way,for guys and girls who have
been doing it the same way for10, 20 years, and you try to get
them to go faster, do things alittle differently.
But if you're again you'repaying them on time or quicker
and you're having conversationsabout meaningful like what we're
doing is meaningful and whythose two things again you get
the buy-in from the crew andthey're going is meaningful and
why those two things?
They—again you get the buy-infrom the crew and they're going
above and beyond what they wouldnormally do.
They're coming with ideas.
(25:37):
They're calling me, saying, hey, what if we did this?
It's not me coming to themsaying, guys, I want to try this
, it's they're saying hey, ifthis is the goal, why don't we
do it like this?
Marc Bernstein (25:46):
So they feel like they're part of the company
, yeah, which they're investedin it, which is great.
Yes, that's really wonderful.
By the way, time always flieswhen we're having fun here.
We have two minutes left.
Okay, two minutes.
I want to ask you quickly aboutyour future vision.
Your three-year vision is whatyou chose to talk about.
Announcer (26:02):
Okay, yeah.
Marc Bernstein (26:03):
Tell me about that.
And then I have one lastquestion, if we can get it in.
Bobby Reed (26:05):
Terrific.
Yeah, my three-year vision isI'd like to get three to five
more kind of bell cow clientsand we work.
I mean whether it's a big adagency or whether it's just
direct to brand either one wouldbe great, and so I'm spending a
lot of my time trying to tacklethat.
And then I'd like to get Idon't want to grow crazy big
(26:29):
maybe three to five morefull-time employees, and it's
really only so me and all of ouremployees can have time off.
If we need to take time off, wehave the redundancy there to
keep the machine rolling.
And then, yeah, I mean therevenue.
I mean everyone talks aboutrevenue goals.
Sure, I could give you a numbera million, 10, 100, whatever.
It doesn't matter to me.
What I want is just thecomfortability of knowing that
(26:58):
we're taking care of our clientsand everyone's again bought in,
there's meaning in the work andwe can take a vacation and
nobody is worried about that.
Marc Bernstein (27:02):
But growth is obviously as part of the plan.
You're just not fixed on thenumbers as such.
Bobby Reed (27:08):
No, yeah, the number to me is the game, it's like
the score.
So again, whether we double inrevenue or triple, I mean that
stuff comes.
That's another thing I learned.
That will come.
It's the doing of the work,it's the product that matters
the most, right?
Marc Bernstein (27:23):
right Focused on delivering quality work.
Yeah, one quick thing.
You have a few closingquestions, but we may only have
time for one.
You're a video guy.
What are you watching thesedays, because I know you don't
have much time to read.
Bobby Reed (27:35):
Yeah, I'm telling you right now, the studio on
Apple TV is maybe the best showI've ever seen.
I've been in tears, crying.
The second episode, called theOne-er, will give you Of which
show.
Marc Bernstein (27:49):
Of the studio.
Oh, which show Of the studio.
Oh the studio.
I'm watching that too.
It's great, especially in yourbusiness.
Bobby Reed (27:53):
It is.
I mean, I feel like some ofit's too inside baseball
sometimes, but it's, yeah, it'sa great show.
Marc Bernstein (27:59):
Thanks, that's one of my favorites as well, and
we didn't talk about thatbefore.
Anyway, I think that's all thetime we have today, so we
appreciate you all being here onFounders Forum today and we
look forward to speaking withyou again next week.
Thanks, Bobby, for being here.
Bobby Reed (28:15):
Hey, great to be here.
Thanks for having me.
The following programming is sponsored by Marc
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Entrepreneur, founder, authorand financial advisor, Marc
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Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus.
(00:20):
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Founders Forum is a radio showand podcast where entrepreneurs
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Join Marc and his guests for amix of inspiration, valuable
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Now let's dive in.
Marc Bernstein (00:41):
Good morning America.
How are you?
I thought I'd shake up the wayI say that today a little bit.
It was like good morningAmerica.
How are you?
I'm good, how are you?
It's always sunny inPhiladelphia.
Well, today it's sunny inPhiladelphia.
Anyway, it's a beautiful day,right, right, Bobby.
Bobby's my guy Beautiful.
So I'll introduce Bobby in alittle bit, but we're going to
(01:02):
start, as we always do, with alittle informal conversation
about.
You know, it was a beautifulmorning and I always think of
this topic of the day.
I can never decide on it untilthe day of, because it depends
what's going on around me,what's going on in the world,
etc.
But this morning, because itwas a beautiful, sunny day, I
was thinking about mornings andI was thinking about people's
(01:23):
morning routines day.
I was thinking about morningsand I was thinking about
people's morning routines,because everybody, I always find
out that entrepreneurs inparticular seem to have morning
routines.
Bobby's got an interestingstory about that.
So I'll just tell you that I dothings like exercise, stretch,
meditate, try to do my littlenutritional routine in the
morning.
You know, try to do my littlenutritional routine in the
morning, and but I'm lessinterested in mine.
(01:46):
Let's talk about yours, Bobby.
I know you had one.
We're going to talk about whatit is today.
Bobby Reed (01:53):
Yeah, that's really what it is is.
I'm still trying to figure outmy morning routine.
I have a.
I used to have a very robustmorning routine and now, since
I've had two children, thatmorning routine has changed to
whatever it is that happens inthe morning, whether that be my
son wakes up at 6 am and hewants to eat chocolate chips and
(02:15):
watch cartoons, or he wants toplay something, or if we all
want to sleep in and have acrazy morning trying to get out
the door, which happened thismorning.
Marc Bernstein (02:25):
So I can relate to those times because I know
that was the time that mymorning routine was the most
changed.
So it's not really a routine,it's kind of like whatever
happens.
So I know you used to do thingslike exercise and read the
paper.
Bobby Reed (02:41):
Oh yeah, yeah.
I used to wake up every morning, I read the New York Times, I'd
go work out, ride the Peloton,or before that it was Flywheel,
it's just no longer in businessbut I would ride the stationary
bike 45 minutes, watch the news,different channels, whatever it
was, and then have my favoritebreakfast in all of America and
all of the world Cafe Le Monde.
I would go there.
(03:01):
It's in Northern Liberties so Iwould sit there and talk with
the owner, gabby, and just someother friends there, and then
I'd be in the office by 9,sometimes 9.30 if I got to
Yappin at the cafe.
But yeah, work out, read andthen look at the weather, see
what other meetings I have, kindof create a plan for for the
(03:22):
day and then go eat a greatbreakfast.
Marc Bernstein (03:28):
So do you have an alternative?
Since you can't do it firstthing in the morning, do you
find a way to get exercise in?
Do you find a way to plan yourday otherwise, or is it all just
as it comes?
Bobby Reed (03:35):
Yeah, I mean the working out thing is definitely
it's more going than coming atthis point.
So hopefully, I mean my son is.
I have two sons, one is sevenmonths, the other is three and a
half.
So the seven month old,hopefully in another few months
he can start sleeping throughthe night and then I can get
back to waking up early andworking out at least.
(03:57):
But I definitely still pick andchoose.
I mean I take time to read asmuch as I can in the morning,
maybe five or 10 minutes, and itcomes in little spurts and then
definitely or now my routine isbefore bed, which is not maybe
the best thing, but I definitelygo to bed and, you know, go to
bed early and I'll read, youknow, as much as I can you do.
Marc Bernstein (04:17):
Squeeze that in squeeze when you can, yeah
exactly, but now I'm likefalling asleep.
It's like I'm back in college,like trying to cram for the test
that you know I'm laughingbecause, you know, I remember
those days well and I rememberwhen I was so happy when I could
get back into my routine.
Yeah, and, as I shared with you, you get older, some.
There are other things now,including my dog, that disrupt
(04:37):
my routine now.
So so, so arlo, who I love verymuch, and he's some of the
inspiration between good morningamerica, since Arlo Guthrie
sang the song.
Bobby Reed (04:47):
City of New Orleans.
I was this actually, I just hadthis thought talking about
routines and morning routines,and this maybe has something to
do one of my main clients, wawa,we just did a commercial about.
It's called Mornings and it'sabout your morning routine going
to Wawa, getting your cup ofcoffee and doing all that stuff.
So, yeah, sorry, harmless plug,but you're saying this.
Marc Bernstein (05:06):
Well, that's actually a great way to work
right into your introduction,because we mentioned Wawa in
there.
And in Philadelphia everyoneknows what Wawa is, but not
everybody listening may knowthat, so I'll explain that in a
second.
But Bobby Reed is the founderand executive producer of Loaded
Pixel.
Great producer of Loaded Pixel,great name, a full-service
video production company basedin Philadelphia With over 20
years of experience in livesports, branded content and
(05:30):
commercial campaigns.
Bobby has worked acrosseverything from Super Bowl
broadcast to food spots and thenalso for beloved brands such as
Wawa.
So Wawa is like a conveniencestore that in Philadelphia,
everybody knows it.
Now Philadelphia, everybodyknows it.
Now Florida, everybody knows it.
And along the East Coastthey're starting to know it and
(05:50):
pretty soon they'll be national.
So if you don't know Wawa, it'scoming to your town soon, most
likely.
And, by the way, sorry, Ihaven't finished.
So Bobby is known for combiningcreative instincts with
production savvy.
He's built a company that movesfast, thinks big and skips the
unnecessary layers.
I love that.
Whether he's directing behindthe camera or guiding clients
(06:13):
through the creative process,Bobby's all about turning ideas
into visuals that hit.
What a great, exciting kind ofbusiness.
So, Bobby, I don't want to giveit away because I but I know
you were sort of meant to dowhat you're doing.
So you tell, tell us how thatall started and how you got to
(06:34):
where you are today with yourpretty successful business.
Bobby Reed (06:36):
Thanks, yeah, I had a.
I had a teacher an Englishteacher, no less and I was never
, was never, still not a greatwriter who wanted to get me into
.
He was starting a audio visualclass in high school and he said
as a junior, you can get intothis senior only program.
And I said that sounds good tome.
And then, from that moment, hehanded me a camera and I fell in
(06:59):
love with you know, makingstuff, and I played sports my
whole life and I knew I had tocombine sports and video
production and that was that wasit.
There was no other option forme, really, and so my uh entire
focus from the age of 15, uh, bythe way, I still talk to my
this um high school professor,uh teacher that I have is, um,
(07:20):
he's like 80 some years old now.
Marc Bernstein (07:25):
He's awesome.
Um, yeah, he's awesome.
Yeah, it's cool.
He's really great, so he'sdefinitely a mentor in your life
.
Bobby Reed (07:27):
yeah, mentorship is definitely something that
everyone should have.
So, yeah, it took me years totrack him down, by the way, but
anyway, yeah, so it was my solefocus from 15 to get into video
and film production and if Icould somehow, you know, marry
that with sports, that was theonly option.
I didn't know, I didn't have it.
There was no other plan Ididn't like.
(07:47):
There was, you know, businessschool.
No, nothing, it was just makestuff in sports.
That's really it.
Marc Bernstein (07:53):
So two quick comments.
One is mention Super Bowlbroadcasts.
So Bobby's worked at multipleSuper Bowls Olympics, wimbledon,
us Opens, nba Finals, all-starGames Very, very cool and
exciting.
I think people love to hearabout that.
Bobby Reed (08:11):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (08:11):
I'm fun at parties.
Announcer (08:12):
Usually with the guys right.
The girls don't really care.
Marc Bernstein (08:14):
Could, care less .
Bobby Reed (08:17):
Exactly Without stereotyping of course.
I will say there are plenty ofwomen who find it interesting
and ask me more questions thanthe guys.
The guys sometimes get shy.
They're like they don't knowhow to sometimes ask me because
they think it's too scary.
Marc Bernstein (08:32):
By the way, I said this this morning to you in
prep You're what I call a riverperson.
Yeah, and the great broadcasterEarl Nightingale, who did a lot
of kind of self-improvementgrowth things later in his life.
I used to listen to a lot ofhis tapes this tells you how old
they were.
We used to listen to tapes inthe car but I remember one very
(08:53):
specifically, and I've neverforgotten this, that he said
there's basically, when it comesto motivation, there's two
types of people.
One are river people, likeyou're drawn to the river, like
you're drawn to something andyou're going to do that, no
(09:13):
matter what.
There's nothing stopping you,Um.
And the other is, um, a goalsperson.
So you're a river person andI'm a goals person, um, I used
the example I was telling Bobbyabout it of Bruce Springsteen,
who actually has an album calledthe width of the river.
But lately he's been talking alot about his life and his
career and he talked about therewas no other option, like I was
going to be this or I was goingto die, because I had no other
skills, I had no other interests.
(09:34):
That was going to be it, right.
So that's a river person, soyou're a river person.
Bobby Reed (09:39):
That is me.
Marc Bernstein (09:39):
Yeah, the Mississippi, whatever the
Schuylkill, whatever you want tocall me, and Mississippi
whatever the school goal,whatever you want to call me,
and I, on the other hand, I wentto college for music just
because I loved music, and Iwent to law school and became a
lawyer for a while, and then Iwas drawn eventually to
financial planning, which meansI could have been happy doing a
lot of things, but I foundsomething I really liked and I
had a vision about it.
So I was driven by the goalsmore so than the particular
(10:02):
thing I was doing, and now it'sgotten to be really a mission as
to what I'm building for,probably the final time, and
that's what motivates me.
So in the end, we kind of aredriven by some of the same
things, but how we got there isdifferent, which I think is an
interesting way to think aboutthat whole topic.
Yeah sure, so okay, so now weknow why you got into what you
(10:26):
did, when did how and when didyou start the business?
And tell me about that.
Bobby Reed (10:30):
Yeah, so when I moved to Philadelphia in 2009,
I'm from Colorado, so you know Ihave I don't have the accent.
I guess that most people wouldassume I do, except that you say
Colorado.
Marc Bernstein (10:42):
Right, they usually say Colorado.
Bobby Reed (10:44):
Right, but my wife, plenty of other people say,
think I have an accent.
Marc Bernstein (10:48):
Anyway, my son lives in Colorado Colorado, I
should say.
Bobby Reed (10:52):
There you go, right.
Yeah, it's a beautiful place?
Marc Bernstein (10:54):
Yeah, it sure is , I love it.
Bobby Reed (10:56):
So when I moved here , I knew no one, I didn't know
anybody and I I I had, I wasjust hustling for work and I had
, and I signed up for this tutorwebsite where I was going to
tutor kids or young people invideo film production.
That's again.
That's all I know and knew.
So I got one phone call and itwas from my, this beautiful
(11:17):
family, the West Falls, and theydecided to trust me with their
kids to teach them stuff.
And then eventually, the father, jeff, was like what are you
doing with your life?
And I was like you know, atthat time I had eventually
worked my way up at NBC Sportsand I was a national editor
there and I was loving life.
It was the best job I'd everhad.
And I was like my life's greatI've, you know, I'm doing all
(11:39):
the things I thought I would do.
I'm this national editor, Ihave this great family, you know
.
You know this great little lifeI have.
And he said do you ever thinkabout starting a company?
And I said, no, I don't knowanything about that.
And why would I do it?
And he said, no, don't worryabout it, I'll help you get
there.
And I said, um, at first I saidI'm fine, and then two, two or
(12:06):
three months later, nbc gave usthe news that they were moving
their whole operation up toConnecticut and they offered us
less money to go work up thereif we wanted to.
And I said, well, it doesn'tsound like fun, so I went back.
Marc Bernstein (12:15):
You were working out of New York at the time.
No, we were in Philly, you wereso okay, yeah yeah, nbc Sports.
Bobby Reed (12:19):
So at the time NBC had their own, had a New York
office, for sure, right, I wasworking at Versus, the Versus
Network, as an editor, and thenComcast bought NBC and then that
swallowed up Versus and then webecame the NBC Sports.
Marc Bernstein (12:31):
Network, so you were post-Comcast Got it.
Bobby Reed (12:34):
Yeah, had this decision to make that I want to
move to Connecticut to make lessmoney and do this whole you
know song and dance with a bunchof you know in a big corporate,
you know conglomerate, or Icould go talk to this guy, jeff,
about maybe starting a company,and I, you know, had dinner
with him one night and he waslike, yeah, let's do it.
(12:55):
And so that was the, that wasthe genesis.
He, you know, he kind of gaveme the stepping stones on how to
do it.
Marc Bernstein (12:58):
So that's interesting Again, this river
goals thing, because a lot ofpeople on the show they say, you
know?
I say, well, how you know?
How did you become anentrepreneur?
And they say, oh well, you know, my parents were, my
grandparents were, and I just,or I've I've met especially
women that like they didn'treally have it in their family
but they just like they juststart setting up shop.
(13:20):
I had a woman on recently thatwhen she was like five years old
she decided to go in the hangerbusiness.
She took all the hangers out ofher house and she, she put it
out on the street and she wasselling them for a nickel a
piece.
And her grandparents found outand like, better tell, better,
tell parents what she did.
So they called her father andher father father, like, who
(13:41):
admired the fact that she'sbeing entrepreneurial, said I'll
tell you what, I'll buy all thehangers and that if you'll put
them all away back where you gotthem.
So I said how brilliant she.
She got him to pay forsomething he already owned.
You know so, and she's verysuccessful serial entrepreneur.
Nice, you know.
But so so a lot of these peopleare goals people because
(14:03):
they're going to be anentrepreneur in something and
they don't know what.
Bobby Reed (14:06):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (14:07):
You were drawn to something you were going to
do no matter what, but you were,pretty up to a point, perfectly
happy doing it as an employee,and then an opportunity
presented itself.
So all different ways to becomean entrepreneur, which I find
is really interesting.
Bobby Reed (14:18):
Yeah, for sure.
And I say that, like, if I cando it, I'm not that smart, I
just again, I'm this river guythat just wants to make, you
know, make cool stuff, and youknow, and, and it just so
happened, I had this, you know,great opportunity and and if I
again, if I can do it, you cando it too.
Really it's like how I telleveryone you know, I don't think
I'm anything special, I justreally enjoy what I'm doing and
(14:42):
I've been very fortunate andvery lucky to have the
opportunities that I've had.
Marc Bernstein (14:45):
That's great.
This is a perfect opportunityto take a quick commercial break
.
We'll be right back on FoundersForum.
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Everyone has a story.
We want to hear yours.
Marc Bernstein (15:34):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, Bobby Reed, reallyenjoying the story so far.
Bobby, tell us about how you soyou started the business.
Everybody, all business owners,have some challenges in the
beginning as they start.
Did you have any of those?
Did you have any stumblingblocks as you came out of the
(15:57):
yeah, I mean, the hardest thingis always clients, right?
Bobby Reed (15:58):
I mean, that's what everyone?
I don't think there's anysecret there.
So I told you, nbc left andmoved to Connecticut.
We started the company and wekept NBC as a client.
But I learned a valuable lesson, because they pay on a.
I mean, I don't want toprobably not breaking any big
news here, but they don't paytheir vendors.
They pay their vendors on a net120.
So what that means is that youdon't get paid for four months.
(16:23):
And so we did work for them.
And then and I have again, I'mjust a guy.
I'm with my life savings of youknow, a couple grand.
There's not.
I don't have any money.
And now I'm shelling out stuffon credit cards and trying to
borrow money.
I'm working gigs Because you'reout trying to hire cameramen and
rent equipment, so I have topay them because they're paid on
(16:43):
net 30 and I'm not going to getmy money for three more months
after that.
So there was some strugglesthere.
There was just a learning curveon getting upfront.
Hey look, if you're not goingto pay me for 120 days, that's
fine, but here's how we're goingto do it structurally, so I
don't have to front the money.
Marc Bernstein (17:02):
And then you mentioned getting clients as
well.
Bobby Reed (17:04):
Yeah, and getting clients is tough, right.
So NBC, there was a wholesituation that I would not have
to really talk about, but it wasup and down, right.
I mean, we had clients and thenwe would go cold.
We wouldn't have a project forsix months or eight months, and
so what do you do?
And fortunately, that's where Ileaned on my sports experience.
So I started working more liveevent games and it was a
brilliant schedule in the sensethat games happen on nights and
(17:27):
weekends when people are notworking.
So I was able to wake up earlyand hit the pavement calling
folks working on projects,trying to get the business going
, and then I would go work aPhillies game at night, I'd go
work flyers, and then sometimesI would, you know.
Then I got asked to work biggergames, Olympics and different
things, and that helps only inthe sense that, yeah, my
(17:50):
schedule was 18 hours a day orwhatever it was.
But when I started sitting inon meetings and saying, oh yeah,
guys, either I can't do yourshoot next week because I'm
going to be at the Olympics, or,hey, I just got back from the
Super Bowl, it held a little bitmore gravitas than oh yeah, I'm
a guy from Colorado.
Marc Bernstein (18:09):
It was like a blessing and a curse in a way,
because, like a lot of businessowners, you had to get the work
and also do the work which is mybusiness as well when I started
out.
Which is complicated, it makesthings complex, yeah, but at the
same time that helped you in away because you could say, hey,
you just got back from Wimbledon, or whatever.
Bobby Reed (18:28):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm unavailable for twoweeks.
I'm going to be in the UK doingWimbledon and it's shocking and
people, I guess, don't realizewhat I didn't realize.
What I learned was, well,saying no to a client sometimes
isn't a bad thing.
Like hey, I'm not able to dothis for you right now, but I
can do it for you in two weeks,is almost just as good.
(18:48):
As you know, it makes them wantyou more.
Right, yeah, like saying oh yeah, let me do it right now.
You know, it's like dating in away.
You know.
If you seem desperate, you knoweverybody's like yeah, maybe I
don't want this guy.
Marc Bernstein (18:58):
That's true, that's true.
So, from these kind ofchallenges that you had, what
did you learn?
What strengths did you developas a result of, you know, having
of having to wait to get paid,having to balance all the
different activities, having tolearn how to acquire clients,
because that's something youdidn't have to do before?
What were sort of the lessonsfrom that?
Bobby Reed (19:18):
Yeah, well, I always had to acquire clients in the
sense that I was a freelancer,but my client, it was different.
I was applying to a company,multiple companies, or I had to
work with different producers.
Marc Bernstein (19:31):
And I assume, once you have a regular customer
and, like when you were at NBCSports, it just becomes.
It's not as tough of a clientacquisition process, right?
They?
Bobby Reed (19:40):
refer you to other people and it's a little easier.
But it's a smaller network andyou only have so much time in
the day and you're running yourown business.
But you're everything.
You can only make as much moneyas you have time in the day and
as many days there are in theyear.
So there's no passive incomereally.
Right, right so yeah, so Ialways had that salesman
(20:06):
mentality of client service.
I mean, I was a caddy growingup and that's really all Caddies
are just client service.
Marc Bernstein (20:13):
They don't know anything about it.
We didn't talk about that.
Yeah right, I was a failedcaddy.
I did it for a year.
I was at a tough club.
I won't go into that, but I wastough about it.
Bobby Reed (20:24):
It was like the best two, three summers of my life
it could be.
Yeah, yeah, it was the best.
Are you a golfer still today?
That's another thing you wouldbe.
I used to golf all the time andnow I golf three times a year,
twice a year maybe if I'm lucky.
Yeah, I mean now I lost mytrain of thought.
I'm sorry.
Marc Bernstein (20:43):
Well, we were talking about the lessons
learned from basically balancingall these different balls in
the air.
Bobby Reed (20:46):
Yeah, yeah, I think, just having the confidence of
knowing we have the ability tomake money, I can pay the bills
and I can have the confidence tosit in with clients in a very
stressful situation and give,you know, maybe not honest
feedback but an honestevaluation of where the project
is and who's doing what, andwork with them on their goals
(21:10):
and what they want to see andand have a better outcome with
with their video projects,marketing.
You know, whatever it would beBecause I, you know again, it's
the kid from Colorado walkinginto Wawa or whatever you know
and then this big board meeting,or you know it's a big, you
know it's very stressfulenvironment.
You know I just had to sitthere and I was scared.
(21:30):
I mean, there's no doubt I was.
You know I just had to sitthere and you know I was scared.
I mean there's no doubt I was.
You know I had no idea what Iwas doing and and some of that's
maybe imposter syndrome, somewould say, but I don't, I was
making it up as I was goingalong.
So now, again, I think I'm very, a lot more confident on
knowing how to solve problemswith the client, how to solve
problems with the company andwith people, and and how do we
create buy-in with everyone andthen move forward efficiently
(21:54):
and fast and in a fun way?
Marc Bernstein (21:56):
So, speaking of which, so we haven't gotten to
the part of the story yet wheresome people know it's not you
alone.
Now you have a company, youhave employees, so describe that
.
So I know you have someemployees, and then you have a
lot of freelancers that work foryou, or contractors, I guess
independent contractors, yeah,so describe that.
(22:17):
How many do you have?
And I'm interested in how youbuild, because I know you have a
company culture.
How do you build that,considering that a lot of your
people are external independents?
Bobby Reed (22:27):
Sure, like you used to be Right, exactly.
Yeah, I think our company isagain.
We're still really small.
We have a production manager onstaff, an editor animator on
staff.
We have a permalancer, as theycall him out in LA editor, my
partner Tim.
I should have probably startedwith him.
He's writer-director.
(22:49):
And then we have a sound designmixer on retainer.
He's also just a creative ninja.
I don't know what we would dowithout him, honestly.
Marc Bernstein (22:56):
And then we have a colorist on retainer as well,
it sounds like you have aboutseven people and then something
like that.
Bobby Reed (23:03):
Yeah, like five, six , and then we have again
probably 70 freelancers and weeven have kind of a core group
in Florida where you go down andshoot there that we have, that
we know.
And then to talk about culture,I think there's a couple of
things there.
One I used to do all these jobs.
I used to do that.
I also was a guy working forthe man, as they say right, so I
(23:26):
knew what it was like to betreated certain ways and not
certain ways, and one of thosethings was just being paid
quickly.
So I could tell you this rightnow.
So that lesson I learned fromNBC being paid on a net 120,
some of the best things I everdid was when freelancers would
work for me and they would sendme their invoice.
We would pay them before net 30.
(23:49):
It would be net seven, net 15.
And we're still I mean now thatwe've gotten bigger I've had to
hire, you know, bookkeepers andthings and accounting firms.
We're trying to work towardsthat and I always tell them, my
accounting people, we need topay these people before net 30,
even if it's 29 days, I don'tcare, it's gotta be before net
30.
And that that alone I'm not.
I could have done nothing else.
(24:10):
I could have been the biggestjerk in the world, but I was
paying people on net 15.
That did more for our companyculture than anything else.
Guys were wanting to work forus and they were going above and
beyond whatever we asked themto do.
Just because of that fact aloneand word got out on the street
that we were doing that.
And I'm telling you just thatalone.
(24:31):
And there's 50 other things Icould tell you, but that one
thing I get.
Marc Bernstein (24:34):
I've been involved in the music business
and the video business to acertain extent and in the past,
and I know that that's a rarity.
You know it's not, it's notpart of the regular culture.
So yeah that makes you standout and, as a result, I'm sure
you have people that if they saythey're going to do something
for you, they do it and they'reright on it.
And, yeah, I'm sure you havepeople that if they say they're
going to do something for you,they do it and they're right on
it.
Bobby Reed (24:52):
Yeah, I'm telling you, and we, you know, with my
sports background, what we'vetried to do which I think helps
our clients is we work, we tryto work faster.
You know, kind of in that sportsworld we try to work faster
than a normal film commercialcrew works.
And I think that you know thatpresents challenges to guys who
(25:17):
have been doing it the same way,for guys and girls who have
been doing it the same way for10, 20 years, and you try to get
them to go faster, do things alittle differently.
But if you're again you'repaying them on time or quicker
and you're having conversationsabout meaningful like what we're
doing is meaningful and whythose two things again you get
the buy-in from the crew andthey're going is meaningful and
why those two things?
They—again you get the buy-infrom the crew and they're going
above and beyond what they wouldnormally do.
They're coming with ideas.
(25:37):
They're calling me, saying, hey, what if we did this?
It's not me coming to themsaying, guys, I want to try this
, it's they're saying hey, ifthis is the goal, why don't we
do it like this?
Marc Bernstein (25:46):
So they feel like they're part of the company
, yeah, which they're investedin it, which is great.
Yes, that's really wonderful.
By the way, time always flieswhen we're having fun here.
We have two minutes left.
Okay, two minutes.
I want to ask you quickly aboutyour future vision.
Your three-year vision is whatyou chose to talk about.
Announcer (26:02):
Okay, yeah.
Marc Bernstein (26:03):
Tell me about that.
And then I have one lastquestion, if we can get it in.
Bobby Reed (26:05):
Terrific.
Yeah, my three-year vision isI'd like to get three to five
more kind of bell cow clientsand we work.
I mean whether it's a big adagency or whether it's just
direct to brand either one wouldbe great, and so I'm spending a
lot of my time trying to tacklethat.
And then I'd like to get Idon't want to grow crazy big
(26:29):
maybe three to five morefull-time employees, and it's
really only so me and all of ouremployees can have time off.
If we need to take time off, wehave the redundancy there to
keep the machine rolling.
And then, yeah, I mean therevenue.
I mean everyone talks aboutrevenue goals.
Sure, I could give you a numbera million, 10, 100, whatever.
It doesn't matter to me.
What I want is just thecomfortability of knowing that
(26:58):
we're taking care of our clientsand everyone's again bought in,
there's meaning in the work andwe can take a vacation and
nobody is worried about that.
Marc Bernstein (27:02):
But growth is obviously as part of the plan.
You're just not fixed on thenumbers as such.
Bobby Reed (27:08):
No, yeah, the number to me is the game, it's like
the score.
So again, whether we double inrevenue or triple, I mean that
stuff comes.
That's another thing I learned.
That will come.
It's the doing of the work,it's the product that matters
the most, right?
Marc Bernstein (27:23):
right Focused on delivering quality work.
Yeah, one quick thing.
You have a few closingquestions, but we may only have
time for one.
You're a video guy.
What are you watching thesedays, because I know you don't
have much time to read.
Bobby Reed (27:35):
Yeah, I'm telling you right now, the studio on
Apple TV is maybe the best showI've ever seen.
I've been in tears, crying.
The second episode, called theOne-er, will give you Of which
show.
Marc Bernstein (27:49):
Of the studio.
Oh, which show Of the studio.
Oh the studio.
I'm watching that too.
It's great, especially in yourbusiness.
Bobby Reed (27:53):
It is.
I mean, I feel like some ofit's too inside baseball
sometimes, but it's, yeah, it'sa great show.
Marc Bernstein (27:59):
Thanks, that's one of my favorites as well, and
we didn't talk about thatbefore.
Anyway, I think that's all thetime we have today, so we
appreciate you all being here onFounders Forum today and we
look forward to speaking withyou again next week.
Thanks, Bobby, for being here.
Bobby Reed (28:15):
Hey, great to be here.
Thanks for having me.
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