Paul Schmidt uses Networking to WIN!

Paul Schmidt uses Networking to WIN!

When the world seemed to crumble on September 11, 2001, Paul Schmidt embarked on a venture that would prove his resilience in the face of adversity. Tune in to hear how Paul's Uno Deuce Multimedia carved a niche in Lansing's entrepreneurial landscape, transforming crisis into opportunity with adaptability and a robust network. You'll be riveted by his candid account of starting a business during one of history's most trying periods, his evolution from a one-man operation to a thriving multimedia team, and the personal health hurdles that could have halted his journey but instead fueled his innovative spirit.

Our discussion with Paul is an inspiration to anyone navigating the business realm's ebbs and flows. Discover the fortuitous twists that led to his success, the power of community connections in Lansing - a hidden gem for entrepreneurs - and how close collaborations can blossom into lasting friendships. Whether you're a budding business owner or a seasoned professional, Paul's story underscores the importance of a supportive network and the magic that happens when you step outside your comfort zone and embrace the unpredictable path of entrepreneurship.

Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?

Carrie helps businesses improve their sales and marketing teams.

Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.

Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com

Book time with them here: https://randr.consulting/connect

Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.

Transcript

Paul Schmidt Helps Non-Profits WIN!

[00:00:00] Carrie Richardson: Good afternoon, everybody.

[00:00:01] Carrie Richardson: Thank you for joining me today. My name is Carrie Richardson. I'm a partner at Richardson and Richardson, and I am your host for WIN. And today with me I have a local entrepreneur. His name is Paul Schmidt. He is from Uno Deuce Multimedia, and we've actually had the benefit of working with Paul Schmidt.

[00:00:18] Carrie Richardson: Paul. A couple of times you did the video. Storytelling for Red Nose Ruckus, which we sponsored a few years running now, and I thought this year's with the noses was brilliant. I enjoyed that very much. So thanks for joining us today. Welcome. 

[00:00:35] Paul Schmidt: Oh, thank you. Appreciate it. 

[00:00:38] Carrie Richardson: We don't know each other that well.

[00:00:39] Carrie Richardson: We see each other at networking functions and I've seen a lot of your work, but tell me a little bit about how you started your business and maybe why Lansing? How'd you end up here? 

[00:00:48] Paul Schmidt: I started this business for the simple fact that I didn't have a backup.

[00:00:55] Paul Schmidt: I wanted to move back to Michigan. I was in Seattle at the time I [00:01:00] was working for a. Nonprofit video production company there. But I wanted to come home and I just didn't have any prospects.

[00:01:09] Paul Schmidt: I was sending some stuff out, but I came home and so I figured, I'll search for a job, but in the meantime, while I'm doing that search, I'll just put myself out there and use the skills I have 

[00:01:24] Paul Schmidt: I'll get ready for that while I'm doing this thing as well. And and so I got up really early. I was really excited to do this. I was like, yeah, you know what? I'm, I feel good about this. I was excited to do it.

[00:01:37] Paul Schmidt: So I got up early, just started. Doing all the stuff with the website, the, sending out emails, developing the whole plan. And then before you know it, I got a phone call. They didn't even say hello.

[00:01:54] Paul Schmidt: They said. Where's your sister? Is she okay? I'm like my sister [00:02:00] doesn't even live in the state of Michigan. I like, I guess she's okay. I don't know. What are you getting at? And they're like, aren't you watching TV? And I said, no I'm working. Turn on the TV, turn on the TV. So I'm like, all so I turned on the TV and that's when I see the second plane hit the tower.

[00:02:21] Paul Schmidt: Yeah, I started my business. Bright and early on September 11th, 2001. And from that moment, it was like the day didn't go as I thought it would go, because like I said, my sister lived in New York city at the time. So I was grand central for that as well. I'm trying to start a business and, and from that moment, I learned that, what your days are never going to be the same.

[00:02:50] Paul Schmidt: There's always going to be something. That pulls you away, but it's about how you refocus yourself and refocus yourself in that moment to [00:03:00] tackle what's head on at that moment and then carry it over to the next day. Because you never know what's going to happen the next day. 

[00:03:09] Paul Schmidt: For the next decade , I was always working. To make sure that my skill set was in place for that next job. A decade, I worked doing this. I was what I call an accidental entrepreneur. This was not in my mindset at all to develop this business.

[00:03:30] Paul Schmidt: I was living at the time to the Detroit area. I was there for a while. I was freelancing with. Local television stations to cover high school sports. So I would be doing my business during the day and then at around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, I shipped over to cover high school sports as a sports videographer or sports producer, stuff like that. I covered, I don't know, 20 plus high schools at different points.[00:04:00] The Lansing area, you may have 10, maybe a little bit more if you go a little smaller, but it's just, wasn't the same.

[00:04:08] Paul Schmidt: And so that's when I chose to Actually make this the business. I was an LLC, I was all that stuff. I had an EIN all, I did all the things you were supposed to do.

[00:04:21] Paul Schmidt: And then, I had a moment. When, where I was like, okay these contracts that I'm working on now. And at some point, what do I do after that? And so that's when I looked up a meetup group in which local business owners. Went to it was like it cost a dollar to get in just to pay for your cup of coffee And I was like, okay, I will go to this networking thing.

[00:04:52] Paul Schmidt: So I did that. I did that. And probably the smartest thing I could have ever done [00:05:00] for my business, because it allowed me to be introduced to people that took my business to the level. It is now, in fact, my business coach at this point, who I really attribute a lot of my success to keeping me focused the last four years.

[00:05:17] Paul Schmidt: I met at this networking group that isn't around anymore, but it really introduced me or two people that introduced me to other people. And it just was like, it was my, an eyeopening experience and I really felt okay, maybe I can do this. So that's what I did. 

[00:05:38] Carrie Richardson: You're everywhere. I see you everywhere. I cannot go to a networking event or a social event or a charity event in Lansing without bumping into Paul, which is good because you're going to look amazing in all the pictures that they post online afterwards. 

[00:05:54] Paul Schmidt: I enjoy it. I gotta, I must say, I think networking [00:06:00] and really talking with people face to face really played to my extroverted nature. When the pandemic hit, and all of that was shut down, man, I was not in a good spot. 

[00:06:12] Paul Schmidt: I helped establish a very popular networking group at one point. I don't know if Ian ever mentioned that. Because he was there. He was a regular. He was there almost every week or every month. 

[00:06:22] Carrie Richardson: Was that the B& I group? 

[00:06:23] Carrie Richardson: No, it was called the drinking lunch. 

[00:06:25] Carrie Richardson: Oh, I went to drinking lunch. I went to the last two before they shut it down.

[00:06:29] Carrie Richardson: I thought that was a great event. I won something at that event. That was the first time I'd ever won a prize at any event that I'd been to.

[00:06:36] Carrie Richardson: I won a massage from one of the local wellness. Spas here in Lansing. And I now thinking about it, have no idea where that went. It might be in the glove box of my car. 

[00:06:49] Paul Schmidt: So it's funny how that works. 

[00:06:52] Carrie Richardson: We do a lot of the Lansing chamber events and you had mentioned that you were just rejoining the chamber.

[00:06:56] Carrie Richardson: So we'll look forward to seeing you there. I've been really [00:07:00] happy with how, the Lansing business community rallies around each other. It's like watching the MSU community, watching the leap. There is a lot of opportunities for small business owners here in Lansing and they all have stories to tell.

[00:07:16] Carrie Richardson: So can you share a few of your favorites? 

[00:07:19] Paul Schmidt: 

[00:07:20] Paul Schmidt: My main target market are nonprofit organizations. And it's always been that way.

[00:07:25] Paul Schmidt: The small businesses that we work with are folks that have very charitable spirit like we do very focused on the betterment of that community.

[00:07:35] Paul Schmidt: We work with child and family charities. Who's been a nonprofit that's really taken us under their wing and vice versa.

[00:07:43] Paul Schmidt: We've evolved and grown together and we work on an event called the red nose ruckus every year, and it's just gotten exponentially bigger since we've been a part, and we've been able to really be creative with what we can do with them.

[00:07:58] Paul Schmidt: It's just a joy. It's a great event that [00:08:00] happens at the tail end of the year. It's like almost let's celebrate the entire work, all the work that we've done all year for everybody. And it seems like that's where everybody likes to be. Is that event, just feeling good about going into the Christmas season and ending their year on a high note.

[00:08:16] Paul Schmidt: That's really been special for all of us, even though it is a lot of work and it's a culmination of six months worth of work for us on, on, on that project. So that's always. One of our favorites.

[00:08:28] Paul Schmidt: Just recently we finished a couple of videos for a small non profit that's always going to remain small. It's called the Danny Bath legacy awards. It's named after this young man who lost his life way too young I think he passed away when he was 19, 20, 21, something like that. But these awards go to specific areas, like ones for an EMT and ones for an auto mechanic out of Wilson talent center out in Mason and.

[00:08:57] Paul Schmidt: We just did the story about how these [00:09:00] awards came about and how the folks who win the awards, how they feel. And, just give a tribute to this young man that meant so much to so many people at such without very many years under his belt. That one was really great. There are so many, I don't even know how to narrow it down.

[00:09:19] Carrie Richardson: You started your business in 2001. You were in the Detroit area, you're filming sports in the evenings and the occasional gig during the day.

[00:09:30] Carrie Richardson: You have new equipment that you brought with you from Seattle. Tell me about the trajectory of your business. How did it go from just Paul to Paul and? 

[00:09:42] Paul Schmidt: It really started when, I talked about this networking group that I went to in the early in the mornings on Tuesdays.

[00:09:50] Paul Schmidt: I met an accountant there. I was finding out that I was spending three days, almost full three days just on administrative work. And [00:10:00] that left me two days and and the weekends to finish the work that I started, I contracted out to do.

[00:10:07] Paul Schmidt: And I was like, I need help. I can't do this by myself. And so the accountant restructured my business and then I hired a former intern and this was my first hire. And he was with me for a couple of years. I started this relationship with Lansing Community College.

[00:10:29] Paul Schmidt: To graduate with a degree, you have to have an internship. And so I, I got this intern from LCC.

[00:10:40] Paul Schmidt: Her name is Shereen and she was really amazing. Just got it. And when my first employee, Paul, decided to move on, I just moved her up. And from there I started doing the regular internships on every semester, [00:11:00] Shereen ended up leaving and I had somebody else come in and and then one of the interns , later on, he kept nudging me, like when I work here, when I have a job here, blah, blah, blah.

[00:11:11] Paul Schmidt: He kept talking about having a job here And so at some point he worked himself into a job. I brought him on as a part time person. I usually did the internship to freelance to part time to eventually full time. And so there was three of us I had a stroke, I had a stroke August of 2019 which put me out for about probably two months.

[00:11:47] Paul Schmidt: I was in the hospital for 10 days and then recovery for another month and a half. And so when I came back, I said, I sat both of [00:12:00] those two down and I said you held the ship together when I was out. I can't repay that, but I am going to give you both a raise. 

[00:12:16] Paul Schmidt: So now I had two full time people and that's where we're at right now. We're three people. And then my business coach came in. Right after I came back from the hospital and offered his services and, my focus was reined in and it just allowed me to really look at it from a different perspective, from hearing somebody that held me accountable.

[00:12:40] Paul Schmidt: And then the pandemic hit, and I was on vacation. The first vacation my wife and I had taken officially since 2012. We had not been taking care of ourselves, which is why I ended up in the hospital.

[00:12:53] Paul Schmidt: So I finally said, we're going to go away. We're going to take breaks. So we took our first vacation. We were in the [00:13:00] airport when Governor Whitmer mentioned about a state shutdown. I'm like, well, we're going to Florida anyway, whatever, we're not stopping this train, so we went to Florida.

[00:13:16] Paul Schmidt: And I remember sitting by a pool in Florida, gorgeous weather. And I had lost just over 60, 000 that week because of canceled contracts. And I'm like Hmm, not much I can do from here. I guess we're going to go to the beach. But when I got home, I went right to work.

[00:13:43] Paul Schmidt: I did not lay anybody off. We had a decent quarter, better than we'd ever done. And I said, here's what we're going to do. We're just going to plow through this . While they were working on stuff , I was working on another service.

[00:13:59] Paul Schmidt: It was a live [00:14:00] streaming virtual service and it really eventually became a very pertinent service because of the world as it was. By December, it was 40 percent of what we did.

[00:14:12] Carrie Richardson: That's quite the pivot. 

[00:14:14] Paul Schmidt: It was huge. And it's been a mainstay. We have been recognized in the area as. A go to company to provide quality live stream and, event production, and broadcast television is in my background. So that's what we did.

[00:14:34] Carrie Richardson: I think the story is amazing. You've got like all the highs and low points there. The started the business on 9 11, take your first vacation ever, and the pandemic hits managed to pivot and rebuild 40 percent of your business within less than a year.

[00:14:52] Carrie Richardson: You've got all the makings of the perfect podcast story. 

[00:14:56] Paul Schmidt: In 2008, when the recession hit a [00:15:00] lot of my work in the nonprofit realm. When people's. livelihoods are in trouble, then they're less likely to give. So there was a lot of things that I wasn't able to do for the nonprofits because they didn't have the giving happening.

[00:15:17] Paul Schmidt: So that's when I pivoted to doing some small business work . I did some work with the airline and airline manufacturing industry. I've done, a massive t shirt printing business. 

[00:15:30] Paul Schmidt: Before the recession I purposely did not want to get involved with the automobile industry because of the simple fact that everybody's tied to the automobile industry.

[00:15:42] Paul Schmidt: Why don't I focus on the industries that get neglected? I had colleagues lose their jobs and livelihoods because of the fact that they were tied almost directly into the auto industry, but that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. And just ride that coattail [00:16:00] some point that unravels. Diversifying where you're getting your revenue streams is really key.

[00:16:08] Paul Schmidt: Did I have to work a lot of hours? I sure did. But the thing is I was young, I was single and I was just enjoying just being on my own and make these decisions. 

[00:16:23] Carrie Richardson: Sounds like you made some some good decisions. Accidentally. 

[00:16:30] Paul Schmidt: Like I said, I also call myself the accidental entrepreneur because number one, this wasn't a path that I ever thought would happen. I didn't take any business classes and I went to a school that had an exceptional business school.

[00:16:44] Paul Schmidt: And, but it was like, Oh, I'm going to be a filmmaker , or an actor or whatever. I was everything, anything but business owner. I'll work in television. My minor was in freaking history. It's where am I going to use that since I don't want to be a teacher.

[00:16:59] Paul Schmidt: [00:17:00] I refer to myself as a storyteller and that I run a storytelling agency and the biggest aspect to that was learning how to be a good listener, waiting for people to give you the nugget you're looking for instead of forcing it out of them.

[00:17:20] Paul Schmidt: Just by listening, just by asking a question and then shutting up. Sometimes it becomes instinctual and you don't interrupt people when you need to. So you wait for your turn when it's never going to be your turn, unless you interrupt somebody. During interviews, it's best to not hear you because it's not about us. It's not about us being part of the interview. It's about us documenting and capturing the essence of what somebody else has said, because it's their story. You're asking them a question and you're trying to get their reaction. We don't come up with a story that we want them to follow. We ask the questions. [00:18:00] To get the authentic answer out of their mouth under their comfort in talking with us. That the essence of how we do things, just letting people say what they need to say.

[00:18:13] Carrie Richardson: But secretly, when they say the thing you wanted them to say, are you like fist pumping in the background? 

[00:18:17] Paul Schmidt: Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because the simple fact is we go until we hear it. We don't stop. We make sure that we go through, but we know exactly when that is, what that, what is going to be the key message.

[00:18:34] Paul Schmidt: And sometimes we can get to a point where we interview and we have the whole video laid out right through their words. And it's okay, this is done. All we have to do is add footage to it. 

[00:18:47] Paul Schmidt: And that's the beauty of it. It doesn't always happen that way, but there are times when we get really lucky.

[00:18:53] Paul Schmidt: And so for the most part, and most of the time, it's just really [00:19:00] good stories that we're able to tell. 

[00:19:03] Carrie Richardson: Where do you see yourself in the next five years? What's next for Uno Deuce? 

[00:19:09] Paul Schmidt: The pandemic really put us on a different path because we had to, like you said, we had to pivot into something we didn't do and from there it added an avenue that we had to flesh out.

[00:19:24] Paul Schmidt: And now this is four years later and it's time for us to branch out a little bit more intentionally into more of the Detroit area, Grand Rapids area. We like the Lansing area a lot, there's more, we always say there's always another story to tell. And so we are being intentional in trying to find those stories.

[00:19:46] Paul Schmidt: The other aspect is figuring out our growth plan internally. Number one is do we bring on someone else? We want to stay intentionally small because our clients like that. They [00:20:00] like the fact that we don't bring a huge crew. And that's also purposeful because there are times when which we have to be discreet.

[00:20:07] Paul Schmidt: There's a lot of situations in which People are really super uncomfortable and, or there's legal reasons that we've got to be very discreet with what we do. So when we can reduce our teams to no more than three people, that's the most ideal. Plus it gets intimate and that's really the essence of what we're trying to get is these intimate stories.

[00:20:31] Paul Schmidt: And lastly, I can't do this forever. What is the succession plan? There's something that I started a couple years back, That got put off to the side. I want to get back to that and figuring out that succession plan, because my wife is not someone that wants to take over or be part of this business.

[00:20:53] Paul Schmidt: So what does that look like for handoff? Those are the things that we're going to really [00:21:00] have established going forward. 

[00:21:04] Carrie Richardson: Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate. 

[00:21:09] Paul Schmidt: Yes, 

[00:21:11] Carrie Richardson: is there a a time in your entrepreneurial journey where you were able to say okay, I'm not going to work weekends anymore.

[00:21:17] Carrie Richardson: I'm not going to work in the evenings. Family time will be family time. Like, when did that happen for you? 

[00:21:24] Paul Schmidt: That happened just after we got officially, officially married. I said, and she never pushed this on me at all. I said, my work day will go nowhere past 7 p. m. It's done. Obviously there's exceptions because there's events and such that happen later. I'm pretty sure 

[00:21:48] Carrie Richardson: I've seen you out at 11.

[00:21:51] Paul Schmidt: Yes, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, on a regular basis, there's My day is done by seven.[00:22:00] It was good. It was healthy for me. And I've stuck to that. I shut it down. I don't do any work after seven. Is it detrimental? Maybe.

[00:22:13] Carrie Richardson: So final question, dream client. You work with non profits. If you were going to do like a moonshot pitch to somebody that you would love to work with, who would that client be?

[00:22:28] Paul Schmidt: A moonshot pitch to a client. You know, I have never really thought about that. I have been so pleased with the clients we've had. I know that's a cop out answer. 

[00:22:40] Carrie Richardson: Now you got to go home and make a list. We call it the warm 250, but we make a list of the 250 companies that we know that we want to do business with and we know that we'd be a good fit for.

[00:22:53] Carrie Richardson: And then we plan how we're going to make that happen. And even if we get 10 percent of that list, then we've got [00:23:00] 10 percent of our dream client roster. 

[00:23:02] Paul Schmidt: That is a pretty flippin cool idea. 

[00:23:05] Carrie Richardson: You can thank Gary Pica. 

[00:23:07] Paul Schmidt: I don't think I've framed things like that.

[00:23:09] Paul Schmidt: I've framed things like that in a more localized way. But I know there's one and 

[00:23:23] Carrie Richardson: gotta manifest, 

[00:23:24] Carrie Richardson: Paul. 

[00:23:25] Paul Schmidt: No kidding. That is amazing. 

[00:23:30] Carrie Richardson: Or put another way, if all of a sudden tomorrow you won the lottery, And you didn't have to charge for work anymore. And there was one nonprofit that you could say, Hey, I got all this time now, and I got all this money. So I'm going to give my time to this organization, but you can't choose a current client.

[00:23:48] Carrie Richardson: You have to choose one that you're not working with.

[00:23:50] Paul Schmidt: I would most likely work with the Cherokee Nation. I've had the opportunity to be In their space. And [00:24:00] that's what I would like to make work videos for, or tell the stories of is either the, yeah, the Cherokee nation or the Navajo nation.

[00:24:11] Carrie Richardson: One of those large organizations and have it trickle down. 

[00:24:16] Carrie Richardson: Capturing their history, for future generations?

[00:24:20] Paul Schmidt: Absolutely. So that's, that was probably, that would probably be. The key client, I would say, the number one organization that I can think of right off the bat 

[00:24:32] Carrie Richardson: I can't think of a better place to wind up than that.

[00:24:35] Carrie Richardson: And it's so beautiful out today. 

[00:24:37] Carrie Richardson: I have to go enjoy that a little bit before it goes back to Michigan winter. 

[00:24:43] Paul Schmidt: I can't complain. Today is like perfect spring day. It's not going to last because spring is spring and Michigan is Michigan. 

[00:24:52] Carrie Richardson: Thank you very much for joining us today, Paul. It's been a pleasure learning a little bit more about you and I know I'll see you about town.[00:25:00] 

[00:25:00] Paul Schmidt: Yeah, absolutely. It's always great to run into you and Ian.

[00:25:04] Carrie Richardson: I think the only people that dress better than Ian and I at events are the people that own the go kart place. Nobody can top them. They're always just kitted out to the nines. They look amazing. And their social media right now. I am loving. 

[00:25:19] Paul Schmidt: Yeah. Jackie does a great job over there. She really does. And I enjoy seeing their stuff all the time and because they know what they're doing.

[00:25:27] Paul Schmidt: They know their brand and it's really exciting to see, um, them play that out in an inadvertently or indirectly teaching people about how they can show and share their brand because they're not doing anything out of the ordinary. It's just that what they do is extraordinary, but it's ordinary to them.

[00:25:50] Paul Schmidt: And so It's just amazing. It's just, it's really nice to see. There's a lot of businesses that do that here in Lansing. You just, you got [00:26:00] Cravings, Popcorn. He's out there. 

[00:26:02] Carrie Richardson: He did an amazing job during the pandemic. I, you know what, I was thinking about that when you were talking about your COVID pivot.

[00:26:09] Carrie Richardson: We were living on Washington square and we would walk down onto the Riverwalk, go into old town, buy our big bags of popcorn, go home, watch Netflix marathons and eat them. But he had a whole studio set up in the popcorn store.

[00:26:27] Carrie Richardson: I was like, how much content can you make about popcorn? It turns out a lot of 

[00:26:31] Paul Schmidt: it. Oh, and I have a story about him as well,

[00:26:35] Carrie Richardson: I know Ian said that he used to show up at BNI groups with little bags of popcorn to hand out 

[00:26:43] Paul Schmidt: and he's a notoriously unnetworker.

[00:26:45] Paul Schmidt: He hates network. Really? Yep. Nicest guy you'll ever meet. Nicest guy, very cordial, very personable, hates the network. 

[00:26:56] He's always been comfortable on camera. 

[00:26:58] Paul Schmidt: I remember pitching to [00:27:00] him about doing videos for him. I remember sitting and talking to him about video and what we could do. He's yeah I think I can do all he's I have all this to do to build my store.

[00:27:12] Paul Schmidt: But then I'll be able to do all the videos too. I'm like, really? Okay. That's fine. If you ever run into a bind just give me a shout. I can help, cause I personally don't think you have the time to do both. So when I think it was 24 hours later, 48 tops, he calls, 

[00:27:36] Paul Schmidt: he goes, dude, you are so right. Can I give you some videos? I'm like, sure. Give me some videos. I'll help with that. And so yeah, and as they say in Casablanca, this is, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

[00:27:54] Carrie Richardson: I really like the Lansing business community, right? Everybody knows somebody who knew that [00:28:00] guy who knows that story.

[00:28:02] Paul Schmidt: Absolutely. I wouldn't have survived without the Lansing business community, most underrated business community in Michigan. 

[00:28:13] Carrie Richardson: All right. Until we meet again in some cocktail attire or business casual, depending on where you may be, keep winning, Paul. 

[00:28:22] Paul Schmidt: Oh, I try. I try. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. It's a pleasure.