Matt Thomas and Lee Meyer with The Highlight Reel

Intro: [00:00:07] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:17] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I am your host, Sharon Cline. And today in the studio I’ve got the Creative Director and the Creative Strategist, which I love these names, of The Highlight Reel and I’m so excited to talk to both of you. We’ve got Matt Thomas and Lee Meyer. Thank you for coming in.

Matt Thomas: [00:00:41] Thank you for having us.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:42] Sure.

Lee Meyer: [00:00:43] I’m so excited.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:44] I know. And you know what? I’ve seen so many good things that you’ve been doing in the community with the highlight reel, and it’s not even been in business that long. So I see such huge growth. Matt, why don’t you tell me a little bit about the history of getting started?

Matt Thomas: [00:00:57] Yeah. So that’s actually kind of funny. Um, excuse me, I was still working my full time IT job early 2022, and I can’t remember where I was, but I got a random call from Lee re, came out of a meeting and had this inspiration and she’s like, I’m not telling me or I’m not telling you that you have to start a business with me, but you got to start a business with me. We got to make some videos.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:22] Well, you had done a little bit of work with her previously, correct? Yes. I remember seeing you at one of the social events with a camera. So. Yeah, I.

Matt Thomas: [00:01:31] Was just I was just out just capturing photos and, you know, that was kind of like my go to disconnect.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:38] Yeah. Like, it’s like creative fun things like no.

Matt Thomas: [00:01:41] Stress all day working it. And it’s like I’m going to get out and take some photos and just have fun with it.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:46] So and so you all work together a little bit already.

Matt Thomas: [00:01:49] Yeah. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:50] So I love that you, you had had your it’s sort of like your side project, your thing that you really enjoyed. You had your one thing that you were making, you know, your basic. Right. And then now look how it’s kind of grown and become something that you can do all the time.

Matt Thomas: [00:02:04] It’s pretty amazing to be able to take a passion and make it your full time gig.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:10] Leave. What was it that you saw in Matt that sort of made you have that moment of calling him?

Speaker4: [00:02:14] Well, Matt and I had we had developed a really good friendship first and foremost. Um, for people that don’t know us really well, we’re also in a relationship, a dating relationship now. But it really started purely as a friendship, and it was because I was around him for other business matters. Um, and when we were developing that friendship, he would talk about his passions and the things that he loved to do. And, um, that mainly revolved around photography and videography. And he would be so excited, you know, for the year before we started our business, he would show me things that he had been working on, and I was just blown away by it, especially because he wasn’t a quote unquote, you know, professional. He wasn’t selling it. He wasn’t trying. He didn’t even want to monetize it. Which was the funny thing. I thought that, yeah, you fought.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:07] You fought the monetizing.

Matt Thomas: [00:03:09] Yeah, I fought it really hard.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:10] Why did you fight it, do you think?

Matt Thomas: [00:03:11] Well, um, so I have a past with audio engineering as well. Um, and. In the process of building up a recording studio and bringing in clients and working with music all day long. For some reason, it just it ruined it for me. Like I couldn’t listen to music the same. I didn’t see music the same anymore, and I was just afraid that that was going to happen to something else. So photography and videography for me, I was just holding on to so tightly like, no, you’re not going to, we’re not going to take this away from me.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:44] I’ve heard people say that if they have something as their hobby, you know, when they make it their full time thing, it’s not as enjoyable somehow or the pressure of it, it just feels different. So I can get I get why if you really loved it, you wouldn’t want to surrender that feeling for money, you know? Yeah, and.

Matt Thomas: [00:04:02] The process has not ruined video for me at all. I love it even more. It’s just something you just continue to grow at and, you know, learn from. And it’s just been amazing.

Speaker4: [00:04:12] That was my hope. And I didn’t want to ever push him or or push a boundary, because I don’t believe in pushing people to to do things that they really don’t want to do. But for me, knowing him so deeply and having such a deep relationship, I felt like that was based out of fear from what had happened previously. And I really wanted him to try to be open minded and and think just because this happened before doesn’t mean it has to happen again. I think as creatives, it’s really, really important to let yourself stay in that space. Um, yes, we run a business and our clients have needs and that is a huge priority. But there’s I believe there’s always a way to find some sort of balance, um, to where you can really have both and you can enjoy it and have it as a business as well.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:04] What were you doing, Lee, previous to this as well?

Speaker4: [00:05:07] So I was running. I have another small business myself as well. It’s called go getter personal assistant services and um, it has obviously majorly taken a back seat. I do still run it on a very low level when I have some downtime with the highlight reel, because I just personally love helping people. Um, so I had been hired, um, to come into an office and do a design project, and that happens to be the office that Matt was working at. So before that, I did not know him, I did not know who he was, and I had to spend a few months in this office because we were doing, you know, painting and furniture and all of the things that go along with design. And Matt got stuck with me, and we always tell this story. It’s funny, when he met me, he didn’t actually even like me.

Lee Meyer: [00:05:58] What?

Sharon Cline: [00:05:59] How is that possible?

Matt Thomas: [00:06:00] I don’t know, I was yeah, I was just stuck in a computer screen and, you know, working all day.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:06] That’s a different energy.

Matt Thomas: [00:06:07] She comes in all bubbly and happy and I’m just like, loud, get out of my office.

Speaker4: [00:06:12] And now he’s stuck with me forever.

Matt Thomas: [00:06:16] I love it.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:18] So when you approached him about starting this company, did you have a vision of how you thought it would be Lee.

Speaker4: [00:06:23] I did, um, very loosely in the beginning. Um, very, very loosely. In fact, I didn’t even really know how I would be able to truly contribute, because everybody knows that Matt is the talent that you see on the screen, and I’m the business side of that. Um, but when I just didn’t know what that was going to look like or how I could really be valuable in a way to match his value. So that was a really big concern when we started. And luckily it’s just blossomed. And we we both know our roles now and we do have equal contributions. And it’s it’s been it’s been an amazing journey.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:05] What a leap of faith. Yeah. When you think about it, so many people talk about their dreams and you know, someday all this or that, but you actually did it, you know, you really did.

Speaker4: [00:07:16] It’s one of those things you look at and it’s honestly doesn’t feel real sometimes because you I think anybody that starts an entrepreneurial journey or any journey of growth or, or things where you want to develop your skill set, even if you’re in a corporate job or whatever it is, it it does feel terrifying. And you hear those stories of people that took the jump and they made it. And and you think to yourself, well, how do people actually do that? And going through that ourselves, to be honest, we look back and and we can tell the story and we we know truly we’ve made it because we’ve had a lot of support from our community and and people backing us up and all of these things. We wouldn’t be here without those folks. Well, you know, 100%. It’s just we look back and we’re like, how did we even go through this journey? How did we get here? It feels like a huge blessing.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:08] Well, a lot of people, the financial part of it so scary, right. And that stops so many people. Right. It’s the bottom line of everything. What was it about sort of that exact perfect alchemy of moments that made you not afraid? Like, what was it?

Lee Meyer: [00:08:24] We weren’t. Not afraid. You were afraid. You were.

Speaker4: [00:08:27] Terrified. Um. Terrifying. Terrifying. And to be honest, I feel like this isn’t something that’s talked about publicly and widely enough. You hear? Well, you got to take a risk and you got to give it your all. But you don’t necessarily know what that looks like in your life. And for me, I’ve decided that I want to be really vulnerable and authentic with this journey because I think it’s really important we can sit here all day and be like, business is great, community is great, like and it is. But there’s obviously a lot that goes into that. And um, prior to starting my second business with Matt, the highlight reel, you know, I was in a good financial spot and I did have savings and I did have all of those things going. But when you have to take time away to build up, you know, sales or build up your branding and all of those things, it doesn’t just happen instantaneously. And so we have taken financial hits, both of us, and we are in debt. And that’s because we have had to keep the faith and say, you know what? Right now we we are in this place, but it doesn’t feel like a bad place. It feels hopeful because we know that we are putting our all in and we are giving it our all. We’ve drained everything that we have to invest, everything that we have to create what it’s become, and we feel really hopeful where it’s at.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:58] So, Matt, it’s not about being afraid as much as it is about being afraid, but still moving forward because you trust in the product. You trust in what you’re doing.

Matt Thomas: [00:10:07] Right? Right. Um.

Speaker5: [00:10:11] Sorry. Blank.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:12] No that’s okay. It’s the. But that’s part of it is to me. I let fear make a lot of decisions for me. Like all day long. Yeah. And so but the moments that I decide to do something that I’m, you know, a trepidatious, trepidatious about where I will actually throw caution to the wind and say, well, I’m just going to go and we’ll see what happens. You know, there’s there’s always been a bit of a pride at the end of it. Like, look, I did something I was afraid of, but I’ve never had like a positive feeling when I’ve ever let fear make a decision for me. I’ve always just been like, yeah, that was yeah, well, maybe another opportunity will come. You know, like, I just try to tell myself it’ll be okay. But that’s different than what you all did 100%.

Speaker4: [00:10:50] Yeah. That fear, um, I, I guess, have let fear control a lot of my life. And I think that before starting my business, I spent years getting inspired by people, um, you know, their stories and following their companies. And just because I wanted to be that person that could make a jump and that could be brave and all of these things that I saw all these people doing and I just, I, I guess just submersing yourself in people that are doing that constantly and also not being irrational about it either. I think that there’s a difference. You mentioned feeling secure in the product, and it’s not just about the product necessarily. Obviously, I think that we do deliver a good product because that is really important. People don’t want a video that makes them look in a bad light or their company or their product quality, and that’s all so, so important. Um. And I just had a blank.

Lee Meyer: [00:11:58] But it’s not.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:59] Just so much about the product. There’s other sides to it too.

Lee Meyer: [00:12:02] Right.

Speaker4: [00:12:03] And the passion and we know kind of our hearts and we know the connection. It’s deeper than a video. We know the connections we have with the people when we’re working with them. And we’ve seen the impact that the video does for people. And we kind of have a motto that’s a core value in our company and that’s use video for good. And we really believe that video has a strong purpose in helping people. And that’s kind of where our heart is. It’s not about the money, it’s not about the product. It’s about what it’s doing for people, for their lives, for their business, whatever, for their mission.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:40] I love that it’s similar to the way I look at voiceover, because it’s not just me saying here by this solo cup, it’s what will this solo cup do for your life? You would posted something on Facebook because I did a little cyberstalking you. You posted something on Facebook about how important it is to highlight what your videos make people feel. And I love that because that’s ultimately what we’re talking about is the emotion behind the product, which is, you know, when I’m trying to sell something, I want someone to feel like, oh my gosh, this is going to really help me. I’m going to have peace because of this, where I imagine you all think, look at what somebody is doing and how they’re helping the community or look at look at this company. Um, it’s not just what they’re doing, but it’s why they’re doing what they’re doing. So you get to do similar things that I do. You’re using communication just a little different medium to get people to see the truth about who people are 100%. But I also think that when you’re in that vein, when you know that you are doing something like with that energy behind it, it’s got integrity, you believe it 100%. It lands where it’s supposed to land. Things work out the way they’re supposed to because you know, you’re doing your true north, I guess.

Lee Meyer: [00:13:50] Absolutely.

Speaker4: [00:13:51] And, um, I also am a very big, faith based person, and I don’t believe that Jesus is going to make my business successful or give me all of these things. But I do have faith, and that carries you a long way. Faith goes a long way. And and feedback from people that we we’ve gotten enough of the vibes to know that we need to stay committed and keep going. And if there’s problems along the way, we’re learning, you know, as this goes on to, to be better and to communicate better as partners and to be able to support each other. You know, maybe we both have different fears about different things. So it’s just really important to have people in your corner. And it’s not just Matt. We have a whole community and friends in our corner as well. You got to keep that present and if you’re doing the right thing and you’re not being negligent, keep pushing past the fear.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:49] A lot of companies that I’ve had in here have talked about how important it is to surround you with yourself, with the right people, and also how important it is to work on your strengths. So, Matt, what would you say your strengths are? And then, Lee, what would you say yours are? Because the both of you makes kind of the perfect team, right? The dream team strengths wise?

Matt Thomas: [00:15:10] Um, I would say. Man, it’s really hard to talk about myself.

Lee Meyer: [00:15:17] He does not like.

Matt Thomas: [00:15:19] We’re.

Lee Meyer: [00:15:19] Working on that.

Matt Thomas: [00:15:20] So working on that one. Um, strength wise, I don’t really know. I mean, I know that.

Speaker4: [00:15:26] Maybe I could tell your strengths.

Lee Meyer: [00:15:28] Oh, that’s.

Speaker4: [00:15:28] You could tell mine.

Matt Thomas: [00:15:29] There we go. We’ll do.

Lee Meyer: [00:15:30] That. Okay. So Matt’s.

Speaker4: [00:15:33] You know, he’s just, um, like, our powerhouse and our backbone. Um, obviously anything creatively that gets done, he’s just got a really good eye. And when we started this, I didn’t just want anybody that had a camera. I wanted somebody that would deliver people things that were very beautiful and very meaningful and really evoke emotion. I think that’s really important. He just has that natural eye and he’s just a really honest, solid person. You know, people don’t realize that when you’re doing work with video, we’re in the weeds with a lot of of delicate information. And when you’re hiring somebody and you’re partnering with somebody, it’s really important to have somebody that you can trust and that has a lot of integrity and not, you know, just is that through and through? Um, not to mention his extremely strong, you know, 15 year background in it. He is our guru for, you know, our back end, all of our setup, all of the technology. Um, you know, he has led a very diverse life. So it it leads to him having a lot of talents. Um, he mentioned that he opened a recording studio many years ago. So he’s got a lot of audio engineering capabilities that really go a long way for our clients and help be able to deliver them extra value, because we don’t have to hire an extra audio person. Matt honestly gives away a lot of those talents for free because we do love being able to add extra. Um, I could honestly go on and on, but he’s our tech. He’s our our strong one. He’s I tell him this like he’s the calm. I’m the I feel like every partnership kind of usually has a crazy one and the voice of reason. And he’s our voice of reason.

Lee Meyer: [00:17:25] Ah.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:26] What do you think about Lee?

Matt Thomas: [00:17:27] So Lee is our crazy one. Yeah. She’s the the perfect complement in business that I could ever ask for. Like. Everything that I can’t do like that well, or I’m not confident in. She has that confidence. You know, when it comes to business sense. Like, you know, I came from the perspective of, you know, working for people. Now, I did open a studio and I had no idea what I was doing when it came to business. Um, so on the business side, she definitely comes in, you know, with that knowledge. Um, the, um, just she’s very, very detail oriented, um, helps keep me in line a lot. Uh, not in a bad way, but, you know, you know, very, you know, processes and procedures and things like that, that just keep things running as smooth as possible. She can literally talk to anybody. And I think that’s amazing because I struggle with that so much. Um. She’s just has such a big heart for everything that we do. And like, you know, again, going back to the emotion part of it, like the emotion comes from both of us. Like, yes, I’ll be working on the video, but the final result is both of us putting our hearts and souls into whatever project we’re working on to get that message across.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:50] This is so sweet. Just stay.

Lee Meyer: [00:18:53] Stay in here. Got me a little misty.

Matt Thomas: [00:18:55] So, did you get a little misty eyed?

Sharon Cline: [00:18:56] I got a little misty eyed, too.

Lee Meyer: [00:18:58] It’s so sweet.

Speaker4: [00:18:58] We’re not making you throw up.

Lee Meyer: [00:18:59] That’s fine. Quite the opposite.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:02] I actually think that it’s. What you’re talking about is ultimately at the end is storytelling, and that you each bring a strength to storytelling. And I think that it does seem so important to be able to have someone who’s really great at the communication side with the outside world, and then someone who can kind of shut everything down and really focus on what needs to be done. So it seems like that’s the perfect little setup for what it really is.

Matt Thomas: [00:19:29] It’s worked really, really well.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:30] You know, are there things that you now that you’ve gotten further into the company, things that you wish you had known before you got started? Are there sort of like hard lessons that you learned?

Speaker4: [00:19:42] Oh, yeah. I mean.

Lee Meyer: [00:19:43] How much time.

Speaker4: [00:19:44] Do we have?

Lee Meyer: [00:19:46] Hard lesson. I mean.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:48] What would you wish you had known beforehand? I mean, one of the things that I do talk about to just to give you an example of what I’m asking about, is just the struggle of of being business owners, but then putting limits about how much you put into the business with your time.

Lee Meyer: [00:20:03] Oh, yeah.

Speaker4: [00:20:04] I think anybody that you talk to, anybody that’s ever been in this realm at all, they know that being in business super difficult just in that on its own. Then you add a partner. We knew what we were. We didn’t know what we were getting into, but we knew that we were going to be embarking on a really difficult journey. Um, just because it is, you know, when you have a, yeah, you have another person that you’re you’re doing so much big stuff with. There’s a lot to communicate about. And I think that’s probably one of the biggest lessons we’ve learned. Everybody anybody you talk to will say communication is king. Um, but you don’t really know what that means until you learn how to effectively do it. So I would say for us, the biggest lesson we’ve learned is even when you think you’re communicating well, you’re not. Yeah.

Lee Meyer: [00:20:59] No way. You’re not. Um.

Speaker4: [00:21:01] And we’ve we’ve grown and we’ve gotten a lot better. I will say, um, this is another thing I firmly believe in. Matt and I both really prioritize self care, and we are both in therapy separately so that we continue to work on our best selves and learn how to work on communication. There’s nothing wrong. It’s just constantly putting in that effort because we don’t want, you know, when we’re off and we’ve been off. You know, anybody that’s in a relationship or in business has those moments. Um, we come out stronger because we look for the problems to create opportunities to grow from.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:42] So you have a proper perspective on what the problems are. It’s not like you did this or you did this, but you’re actually looking at the problem to solve together.

Speaker4: [00:21:50] Sometimes when the.

Lee Meyer: [00:21:51] Argument first starts, you know, the day one, it might be a little bit like that, but.

Speaker4: [00:21:57] We do. That’s one thing I, you know, I love about my partner is that we have that respect and we can come there. And that’s really important for anybody, um, to, to try to just really see that other person and communicate well solves a lot of problems.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:11] So that’s huge communication. And that’s in you’re in that industry, right. But you also have a relationship on top of that. So I can see how it can get kind of I don’t know complicated.

Lee Meyer: [00:22:22] Yeah. It can get hairy.

Matt Thomas: [00:22:23] Yeah. Just assuming that somebody knows this or that, you know, I have a bad habit of talking in my head a lot. And so I’ve already had the conversation in my head. I’m thinking, oh, everything’s good. No, I haven’t actually said it yet.

Lee Meyer: [00:22:35] You didn’t tell me that.

Matt Thomas: [00:22:37] So just trying to remember to just communicate. Communicate and then communicate again.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:42] Gotcha.

Matt Thomas: [00:22:43] That just helps.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:45] Do you have to put limits on the amount of time that you invest in, in the company? Like, you know, it’s 5:00 on a Friday. Do you kind of shut things down, or do you always feel like you have to be putting effort into growing the business?

Matt Thomas: [00:22:57] I think there’s the the that constant drive of, you know, we have to keep going. We have to, you know, a lot of work to do. So we could just keep going all the time. But we do regularly communicate. Hey. You want to, like, take some time for us this afternoon and then maybe pick back up a little bit tonight or, you know, we’ll change the schedule around to make it work for us.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:20] That’s wonderful that you can.

Speaker4: [00:23:21] And it’s still a balance. You know, we’re doing these things, but we’re constantly not constantly, consistently. We have to keep ourselves in check. And um, when I talked about that years of research of just trying to be inspired by people, that was another thing I saw was I noticed that there’s this huge problem with burnout and just severe stress and anxiety and, um, not managing your life to, to where you just don’t have a life anymore. Your life is your business. Your identity is your business. Your kids have grown up and all they saw was you running your business. And I very strongly I started my business so that I could have a life that I wanted for my children. So keeping that in the forefront of our minds, it’s important and we try to do that again. It’s not perfect. You’re always going to have to keep yourself in check, and it’s just that constant check in. What am I doing? How have I structured my day, my week, my time? It’s very tempting to work all the time, but you can’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:28] How do you advertise? Do you advertise?

Lee Meyer: [00:24:32] No, we don’t advertise.

Speaker4: [00:24:34] We are making a commitment this year. Our third year in business, to finally pull. Our problem is, since we’ve started, we’ve just been okay, let’s work, work, work. And we just we work a lot and we don’t prioritize that back end enough. And I think we’re finally catching our breath this year. And we’re telling ourselves, hey, let’s get serious. We have social media and we have a website, and you have.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:04] Products that you can refer to, like people can see what you’ve.

Lee Meyer: [00:25:07] Done.

Speaker4: [00:25:07] Yeah, absolutely. It’s it’s all out there. But a, a true a true strategic marketing advertising. We have not yet and we’re, it’s on the list.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:17] But what I love is that so far you really haven’t had to because word of mouth is, is sometimes more powerful than anything.

Speaker4: [00:25:23] It is. And we feel really blessed. I mean, we talk about our community all the time. We literally love our community, and we try to be as supportive and involved as we can because we know that we were given that, and we have had so many people from the community and businesses and just I’ve never seen anything like where we live.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:46] I haven’t special, it is special. A lot of people say that that, you know, you go a little bit farther south, Marietta or whatever, and there’s just a totally different feel to what this community is, is like. And it’s um, it’s something that like, makes you want to protect it a little bit.

Speaker4: [00:26:01] It’s a little piece.

Lee Meyer: [00:26:02] Of.

Speaker4: [00:26:03] A little.

Lee Meyer: [00:26:03] Bubble, a little bubble, a little.

Speaker4: [00:26:05] Special bubble.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:06] So I saw that you also on your website, you have different markets that you work with. It’s not just Atlanta, but they’re like different cities all over. So how did you get involved with different cities really?

Speaker4: [00:26:19] That’s just from people finding our products online. Or honestly, you talk about word of mouth that even goes across the US. We’ve just been really fortunate enough to have some really solid relationships with people that have referred us, and we love traveling.

Lee Meyer: [00:26:37] I was going to say.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:38] How does that feel? Like Miami? Let’s go. Yeah, I don’t know.

Lee Meyer: [00:26:41] No, we love it, love it.

Matt Thomas: [00:26:42] It’s exciting is what we want to do.

Lee Meyer: [00:26:45] Yes.

Speaker4: [00:26:46] Our plan, you know, now that we’re entering our third year because we want everything, we love our community and we want to travel. So strategically, we’re trying to base our time so that we’re about 50% in our, you know, here local and then 50% travel. And that works well because, you know, my kids will be with their dad. And it just gives us a lot of freedom to get to do all these wonderful things.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:11] You get paid to travel, right? Yes. That’s the best.

Lee Meyer: [00:27:14] It’s kind of the best of the dream. Yeah. For sure.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:17] Who is your ideal client?

Lee Meyer: [00:27:20] So you take that one, okay.

Speaker4: [00:27:23] So honestly, that is really tough to answer. But in a basic sense, it’s anybody who has something that they want to share with people and they want it to to be done in a way that makes them feel true and authentic to who they are and their mission and their product. Um, authenticity, I feel like is a buzzword for this year, and everybody is saying that, and I know that’s a thing, but that’s because it’s true. And people are really tired of the fake advertising and the commercials and the sales, and people are really invested in who businesses are and what they stand for and what their heart is. And for us, anybody that wants to show anything with authenticity, with with true heart, that really wants to be reflected in a great way. I mean, we work with small business owners a lot. We work with cities, we work with local governments, we work with corporations, we work with non-profits. That’s a huge part of our company. And our heart is again, that use video for good. Do you have, um, an event this year that you’re trying to raise a lot of money? Because maybe it’s cancer research, maybe it’s organ transplantation, maybe it, you know, it’s it’s big things. It’s saving people’s lives. Sometimes it’s a product that’s going to make your life easier. It’s in any facet, even personal. We work with a lot of folks that just want to tell personal stories, because maybe they want their family legacy captured, and they want their great grandchildren and their great great grandchildren to know who they are. There’s so many ways.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:04] My goodness, I never thought about that boy. I’d be so emotional in those, you know, because it does feel like what you’re doing is leaving a legacy, but not just for that family, but for the different companies that you’re representing or the different non-profits. You are making a piece of media that will live eternally.

Lee Meyer: [00:29:22] Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:23] The internet’s forever.

Speaker4: [00:29:24] And a lot of times what we have found is that we have a big heart for small business owners. And we we know ourselves, too. You don’t always see yourself the way that other people see you, and for us, it’s a huge gift to get to deliver a video to somebody and just make them feel really good about all the heart and soul and passion and financial, you know, all of these things that they’ve poured in. I had a I’ll make this really quick. I had a business owner in the community that I had been trying to work with for months, and I was stopping by her office and visiting her, which I normally I don’t do that, but I thought her story was so cool. And I told her, I said, I’m not here to try to sell you. Obviously I would be selling you a video.

Lee Meyer: [00:30:13] But but I really.

Speaker4: [00:30:16] Want to work with you because I love your story. And I don’t know if it was a question of like, why? It was, why do you love my story? Like, what is it about my story that makes you want to work with me? And I went off on a tangent for like 20 minutes, telling her all the things that I see in her and all the things that she’s done and all the the roadblocks she’s overcome and just the legacy that she really has truly created. And after I got done with my story, she just kind of looked at me wide eyed and she was like, I’ve never thought about myself like that. I, I’ve never seen myself like that. And I’m like, well, it’s very obvious to me and I just think it’s so beautiful. So it’s, you just really want to help people see themselves the way that you see them, too.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:05] That’s a gift. And, you know, to give someone that validation and to highlight things that when you’re in the weeds of everything, your every day routine, those moments or whatever it is that you see, they’re just part of your story. But it’s not that important. I got to do this. I got to do that all day long. But for someone to take a step back and see it from such a beautiful point of view of growth and positivity, that must have been like an emotional moment, too.

Speaker4: [00:31:33] It was. And that’s the moments we live for. We. We strive for true connectedness with our clients. Um, we we want to empower them. We want to help them feel just ready to represent themselves in the world digitally in the best way. And we are truly not happy if our clients aren’t happy and we stand by that.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:58] Are what good energy in the world you know, there’s a lot of negative there. There just is. And so it’s wonderful to see. Can I ask you briefly before we finish, what was the 2024 Cherokee Film Summit that you were associated with?

Matt Thomas: [00:32:14] Is it? That’s a just a giant group of area creatives coming together. They had panelists and different classes that were being taught on various different subjects. It’s just a really amazing gathering of all of these professionals in the movie industry and other, you know, videography companies, you know, production companies, things like that. Um, the one of the coolest parts about it for me was in the morning, they have a students section, like this whole session of, you know, a bunch of different schools coming together, and you just get to see these kids just absorbing this information like, oh my gosh, like, I want to do this and they get to play with the props or, you know, get to ask questions, play with, you know, equipment. Um, so yeah, that was, that was probably. It’s one of the coolest things to be involved in, for sure.

Sharon Cline: [00:33:09] It’s like you’re helping the future, you know, to do similar things to you. Like, wouldn’t it have been nice if someone had kind of come to you and said, here’s a way that you can get involved? A lot of times we’re just figuring it out ourselves, you know?

Speaker4: [00:33:21] Absolutely. And I know I had those moments as a kid. I have had adults pour into me, and I think it’s that full circle moment that also makes our business so special, is finding any ways that we can to get to be involved, you know, and in that experience. And the Film Summit is actually put on and run by the Cherokee County Office of Economic Development. And Molly Mercer and her team run that, and they just do a phenomenal job. Um, I don’t think a lot of people know about that organization in our community and all of the wonderful things they do for us and for small business owners. But, um, they bring a lot of revenue into our community, which is really good for everybody. Um, you know, you wouldn’t think that we would have major motion.

Lee Meyer: [00:34:10] Films right here, right here in Cherokee County.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:13] Yeah, yeah, I definitely don’t think that that’s highlighted so much. Many people think just Atlanta, but we’ve got, um, a talent agencies here. I was thinking about how the fact that you are on this panel, like you’ve only been in business a couple of years, look at how much you’ve been able to affect not just our community proper, but like the next generation of people that will come up.

Speaker4: [00:34:35] Just to clarify, we’re not on the panel.

Lee Meyer: [00:34:37] Giving expert advice.

Speaker4: [00:34:38] We’re filming it. We sponsor with with The Office because they’ve poured into us and we love what they do and we want to give back as well. And they’re just phenomenal. But we are there to create a story of what’s happened for the day. We do enjoy the panelists, though, and what they have to offer, and it’s it’s just really cool. Even though we’re not making movies. Um, it’s just really neat to connect with people in that area. And it’s just another way that Cherokee County stands out, um, just as an amazing place. And if anybody is listening to this and is intrigued by that, I highly encourage them to reach out to the coed office. That’s their acronym. Um, they help with even film scouting and just jobs for local. I mean, there’s just so many wonderful things they do.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:25] But how neat is it to see young students to or young people be so excited about something that you know so much about, you know, and that they genuinely have. And it’s not because of money, but it’s genuinely what they want to be involved in. You know, it’s like, um, I meet a lot of people who want to get involved in voiceovers all the time. I kind of sit down and explain kind of the basics of what I’ve done in the industry. It’s a very small amount, but you know, when you don’t know anything, it’s great to just have someone explain. So when you are talking to someone who really just wants to be like, loves the idea of voiceover and you’re just like, oh, I feed off that energy too. You know, it makes me excited for what I do. And then it’s almost like I get in my own weeds of, oh, I’ve got to do this. I got to edit that. Oh, you know, I sound horrible because of the allergies lately. Like, I just plain, you know. But the truth is it is a it is a change, a reframing of appreciation, you know? So and I love the idea of the fact that you are not just making you’re not just part of it in that you’re filming, but you’re giving students real time opportunity, real in that moment, to see what it’s like to actually use the equipment. It’s not just theory.

Lee Meyer: [00:36:34] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:36:34] And we got to interview some of the students and that was that was probably some of my favorite parts of the day. Because you see the passion in their eyes and you see how excited they are. And just to have those opportunities, it’s really meaningful. And Matt and I talked about it after, uh, our day was done filming that day and I said, you know, we should really look into finding a way that we could help mentor some of these younger kids and possibly even pay them to intern. And so smart, you know, really be able to help them develop their skills and feel happy and excited about getting any way that we can help. We’re just now that we’ve got a little bit of feet under us. You know, we’re thinking about how can we do that and how can we expand that, because it is so cool. You want to help these kids? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:23] It’s giving back to directly to the community, which is wonderful. Yeah. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Matt Thomas: [00:37:30] Oh, man.

Lee Meyer: [00:37:31] We we ten years.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:34] Whatever. Whatever timeline you’d like. Where do you.

Lee Meyer: [00:37:36] See?

Speaker4: [00:37:36] What’s funny about us is we just. We are in a little bit of a transition right now. We thought we had an idea for what we wanted to do. And it it’s still very much, you know, our core values of creating video for people, you know, doing good work, creating great relationships, all of that basis. But we had thought that we were going to open a physical studio and as a five year plan, and we’re actually kind of thinking that we may not do that now. So that’s going to be a TBD. And normally I can answer this, but you literally caught us in the middle of a, a transitionary.

Lee Meyer: [00:38:15] Period.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:16] It’s what that’s it’s kind of unfolding the way it’s supposed to then, because you don’t need a physical brick and mortar store technically or studio, because so much can be done at home these days too, right? Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:38:29] And we love going to people, and we love seeing their space and traveling and and getting to connect with people all over. So it’s.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:38] It’s all unfolding. It’s like the journey.

Lee Meyer: [00:38:40] It’s still the.

Speaker4: [00:38:41] Journey we’re on. The journey.

Lee Meyer: [00:38:43] Continues.

Matt Thomas: [00:38:44] Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:44] Well, how can people get in touch with you if they would like to hear more about you or or use your services so.

Speaker4: [00:38:50] They can find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, we are the highlight reel ATL. You can also go to the Highlight Reel ATL comm. We always offer anybody that’s interested, even in chatting. Um, maybe you’re not ready to make the jump, but you just want to see, hey, what would this look like? And what do you think about my business or my product or my event? And what could you creatively, you know, spitball with me? I love spit balling. So give us a call like we’re happy to just chat. And we are bad business people because we will always find a way.

Lee Meyer: [00:39:23] To tell people.

Speaker4: [00:39:24] How they can do things themselves as much as possible as well. So we’re here to help.

Sharon Cline: [00:39:30] Sorry we’re bad business people. We are not. That’s not the tagline we want to leave you with.

Speaker4: [00:39:37] But I’m like, hey, you may not. Sometimes people don’t always need a super high end professional video. It’s not necessary and that’s a waste of their resources. So I’m never going to convince somebody to do video. You know, on this scale if it doesn’t make sense. So that’s why I joke and I’m like, we’re bad.

Lee Meyer: [00:39:56] But.

Speaker4: [00:39:57] It’s what’s best.

Sharon Cline: [00:39:58] So no, it’s honest and it’s and it’s looking out for what ultimately the, you know, is best for what the client needs. It’s not about what you need, but it’s about what the client needs. And that’s like having that reframe of what’s most important is making the client happy. Ultimately, you know, releases all of that kind of negative karma that comes when people are just like money driven all the time. I don’t know, I seem to find that a lot of people that have that energy of being truly in an almost an altruistic mindset, things just work out. Things are that that’s a beautiful energy to be in. Yeah. You know, and you can feel it. You can feel it too. So I feel it in here. Yay!

Lee Meyer: [00:40:37] She tells you people, it’s real, it’s real real.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:41] It’s real for the highlight reel. Um, well, I can’t thank you enough, Lee and Matt, for coming into the studio today and sharing your story. Um, and please come back again, because it’s just so fun to see how your journey is evolving. And it’s it’s inspiring for me to know that even if there are obviously fears, you still you manage them. And that’s the biggest thing to me is as a business owner, I mean, even you guys are talking about sort of at the end of the pandemic, starting this, you know, or sort of in the middle of the pandemic, you still did it. You know, so many businesses didn’t survive. And yours, you know, got started and is thriving. So yay.

Lee Meyer: [00:41:18] Well, I appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:41:19] I do a golf clap for you, some golf clapping for you here in the studio. So exciting.

Lee Meyer: [00:41:23] Thank you so much.

Sharon Cline: [00:41:24] You’re welcome. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day!