Ep.48 / Building A Million-Dollar Business But Feeling Less Happy and Healthy: Rachel Dorsey of Bone + Gold
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On this episode we have Rachel Dorsey, Executive Producer at Bone & Gold. You're going to love hearing from her. She and I met on Clubhouse. Remember when the audio app was the biggest thing ever? She brings us tips on building a business, turning a profit, and why when she earned over a million dollars in profit, she was less happy and less healthy.
Plus Jodi Klaristenfeld, founder of Flrrish, shares a funny story about kids being very literal with their definitions.
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In this episode you will learn:
Advocating for the pay you deserve
The importance of networking to grow your business
Why making more money in your business means less time doing the things that make you happy
Tips for starting your business from scratch
Show Takeaways:
Do you think that making more money will bring you more happiness?
On this episode we have Rachel Dorsey, Executive Producer at Bone & Gold. You're going to love hearing from her. She and I met on Clubhouse. Remember when the audio app was the biggest thing ever? Realizing she was being grossly underpaid, Rachel struck out on her own to launch a production company and she's the breadwinner now. She'll share her story and her tips on how to build a business and what she would do differently.
She also brings us tips on building a business, turning a profit, and why when she earned over a million dollars in profit, she was less happy and less healthy.
Plus Jodi Klaristenfeld, founder of Flrrish, shares a funny story about kids being very literal with their definitions.“Start out really, really, really small and make something that is manageable. Test the waters. Do your market research. You don't want to spend two years on research and development and make a product and then realize nobody wants to buy it or nobody needs it.”
“If you're putting your heart and soul into things, you are evolving.”
“I was not showing up for my children. We were parking them in front of the iPad. We were parking them in front of the TV. We were hustling, my husband hustling, me hustling. I was far removed from my family and I was not present. I was a little bit present, but I was not present.”
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How To Be A Happier, Less Stressed & More Successful Parent: Click here!
EPISODE LINKS:
Connect with Rachel Dorsey Here
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Kim Rittberg (00:02):
Realizing she was being grossly underpaid. Rachel Dorsey struck out on her own to launch a production company and she's the breadwinner now. She'll share her story and her tips on how to build a business and what she do differently.
(00:16):
This is Mom's exit interview, the show for moms who want to craft the career and life they want. Each episode, you'll meet inspirational moms across various industries and levels who are working and living life on their own terms, and they'll bring you actionable tips from finance to business development to happiness, to crushing that imposter syndrome. I'm Kim Whitford. I was a burnt out media executive at Netflix, US Weekly and in TV news. I wanted a career where I was fulfilled at work but present at home with my kids. So I started working for myself and I love it, but not every day was easy or is easy. I wanted to explore with all of you how other moms were creating careers on their own terms. They're carving out flex jobs, starting their own businesses. They're taking back control. Join me and make work, work for you instead of the other way around.
(01:20):
Super important, but quick favor. If you're listening to the show, I think it means you like it. I know it means you do. Please tell two people to listen to the show. That is how these indie podcasts get growing and stay on the air to be honest. And if you could also drop a rating and a review. And right now I'm in the final weeks of teaching my video bootcamp, and it's been really fun. So fun. So much of my past few years has been figuring out how to do what I love, which is be creative, make content, and teach people, really see the strategy of how you actually make video. Not just like, here's a video, but how did it come to be? And I'm loving that. I'm getting to teach over the past few years, I guess, teach at Syracuse University, which is so fun because it's these undergrad kids who would bring the best Christians and they're so insightful.
(02:08):
And now I'm teaching business owners how to grow with video. And it's pretty amazing because I feel like it's been challenging, but really rewarding to start my own business, but definitely uncharted. And every year I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing, but somehow it's working. But I do know how to harness social media and video to market myself, and I've been successful doing it for myself and for my clients. So to be able to teach that to more people for me is really awesome. And five years ago, if you told me I'd be teaching people on Zoom about video, I'd be like, what is Zoom? No, but for real, I would not have expected this. And it's been such a cool turn for me, for my business to have this be a part of it. And it's been cool. I love that I can thrive without the nine to five and to be able to empower others to do the same has been really, really fun.
(02:57):
So if you want to learn how to use video for your business, check out kim rifer.com or click in the show notes to sign up for my newsletter, grab my free video tips how you can always follow me on Instagram. Kim r i t t b e r g. I'm also on LinkedIn, yo, because I was a professional. And on this episode today we have Rachel Dorsey. You're going to love hearing from her crazy. She and I met on Clubhouse. Remember when the audio app was the biggest thing ever? She and I actually met in one of those rooms chatting and she just had really cool energy. She just seemed like a really nice and normal person. And that probably seems like a weird compliment to give, but when you're meeting people on social media, it's always like, I don't know who this person is, but she just seemed really real, very genuine and authentic, and she had such amazing knowledge. And from connecting with her a few years ago, she and I stayed in touch. We chat on Instagram sometimes, and the more she told me about her business, I was like, wow, she definitely needs to be on mom's exit interview. So on this interview, she brings us tips on building a business, turning a profit, and why When she earned over a million dollars in profit, she was less happy and less healthy. So talk to me a little bit about where you're from, your path to getting to where you were and your children as well.
Rachel Dorsey (04:19):
Yeah, so I mean, I'll start with them because this is mom's exit interview and we are moms. So I've got two little boys, they're six years old and nine years old, and they're just bundles of fun. I'm from San Diego originally, and I went up to the San Francisco Bay area for college and then stayed for another decade or so and started my career in marketing and nonprofit, community engagement and community building and leadership development. And just sort of the next door that opened, I walked through it and then the next door opened and I walked through it. And I sometimes have thought like, well, how did I end up as a producer? How did I end up making content, making commercials? But I realized that I've been doing it my whole entire career. So I was doing it, making little promo videos for the nonprofit, and then I was doing it, making commercials for the bank that I directed marketing for. But when I look back, there's a really clear through line where it's like I've been building my skills, building my expertise, building my relationships, building my talents, and then now I'm able to put them all to play.
Kim Rittberg (05:28):
I do laugh whenever I talk to somebody who's also in media basically. I like to remind people that basically in the s, everything that was digital was like, you'd work on something for tv. And then they'd say, well, what's content that's not as good that we can put on the web? It was like, yeah, extra content and everything was web content, but it was basically considered less than and nobody cared about. And then very, very quickly it became actually if you have good content, you make sure to put that on social because that's where people are seeing it maybe more than on tv. And so it became this very, and even if it's not the same content for a TV show, promoting the TV show, but just the idea that social media content on its own can really drive loyalty and fandom and money. And anyway, I always like to point that out to people that it's a very funny world we live in. Talk to me about where you were working before you decided to go out on your own. What was your aha moment to say, let me do this on my own?
Rachel Dorsey (06:29):
Yeah. So my last job, real, real job. I was directing marketing for a bank and it was a very strange set of circumstances that found me directing marketing for a bank. Banks, there's all these rules, there's regulations. You cannot be creative in your marketing. It's very cut and dry. Here's the playbook, go and run with it. I did get that up again, door opened. I had been working for a nonprofit. They changed their operating model and myself and all my colleagues across the country got canned and we were found with no job. And it had been so much a community building work that I didn't have anything outside of. It was from when I woke up until when I went to sleep. And then when I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, that was all I thought about. That was what all my friends were wrapped up in that everything.
(07:21):
So I found myself at the bank because the owner of the bank had been a donor to the nonprofit. I say that just because I do think that as we're building our careers and as we're building our businesses, there is a healthy dose of who the healthiest of doses, who is what gets your foot in the door. It's what gets you the opportunities. So I found myself at this bank. I was there doing a job that I was more than capable of but didn't really love, didn't really like, but I had that relationship there. So I was really trying to stick it out, really trying to do a good job. And I knew it wasn't right for me. But once you say yes and you take an opportunity, I felt like I needed to see it through. So I had a mentor who was a consultant at the bank and she came in and we were having our lunch or whatever it was, and she said, Rachel, you're making really huge impacts here.
(08:17):
You're doing way more than your predecessor. How much are you paid? And I told her and she was like, oh, you need to go advocate for a raise. And I was like, no, no. They matched my nonprofit salary. I'm just happy to have a job. I don't want to make waves. And she told me at that point that my predecessor was making $30,000 more than me. You can only measure marketing so much, but for a bank, you run an ad, people come in holding the ad saying, give me this rate. You really can measure impact when you're talking about bank marketing. I was outperforming my predecessor in every single category. There's no way that I should have been paid as little as I was. And so I went in, I put my big girl pants on and I went in and I said, I made my case.
(09:00):
And my boss said, you know what? You're right. You should get paid more. I'm going to go talk to the CEO and see what we can do. And I said, okay, fantastic. So a week goes by, two weeks go by, a month goes by, and the CEO of the bank is now in the conference room. And I go in there and I have regular meetings with him. It's not like he's this scary person on a hill. I know who he is, I know him, I have a relationship with him. I go in there and I say, oh, hey, by the way, if at any point you want to sit down while you're in town and talk about my case for my raise, I'd love to get a time on your calendar. And he said, what? Raise?
Kim Rittberg (09:35):
No one ever even brought it up to him,
Rachel Dorsey (09:38):
Never even brought it up to him. And that was when I was like, this is not cool. This is not okay. There is no good faith here. There is no intention of compensating me. We don't work just for funsies, right? We work because it's a job, because it pays us money because that affords us to have a life. So as soon as I realized that I wasn't going to get that raise, I started reaching back out to my network, the relationships that I had at my nonprofit, and I let them know that I was taking on some consulting clients to do marketing strategy. And I got some clients and as soon as I had three or four clients, I left the bank. And the funny part is that within three months of leaving the bank, the owner of the bank brought me into consult across his entire multi-billion dollar portfolio. And that replaced my income. That more than doubled what I was making at the bank. And then a year after that, the bank hired me for a three week engagement to write them a strategic plan for their marketing, and then they paid me exactly what my predecessor had been. So I made the money, it's all good. But it was quite a journey to get there.
Kim Rittberg (10:48):
So at that point though, when were you like, this is it forever. I'm not going to have another job. I'm going to be my own boss. What's that process in your head?
Rachel Dorsey (10:57):
That took more time? Because all these contracts that I had, I was my own boss at that point. I had sort of hung a shingle. I've got my business license. I was Rachel Dorsey, l l c, which is what I still am consultant some of my clients. It became kind of like Hybridy. I was almost an employee, so I was functioning as their marketing director, but I could make my own hours on my own schedule and I was paid on a retainer. So it was a very slow journey. It was about a year of consulting before I started Bone and Gold, which is my production company. And I never intended for that to be my full-time gig. I was really just thinking, well, I know how to build a business cause I had built this nonprofit and I know how to market and I know how to run the back end, so why don't I just do this for my husband and our friends. Over the course of many, many years, I started doing more hands-on, more writing, more producing all the stuff. And it wasn't until, I mean two times more at Gold than I made in my contracts. And the that's the point at which I released all my contracts and I went a hundred percent for boning Gold.
Kim Rittberg (12:08):
And so explain to people who aren't familiar with how a production company works. So releasing contracts and then taking on projects, can you explain to the listeners how that's different?
Rachel Dorsey (12:18):
The work product is different, first of all. So with contracts it was like, I'm going to build your marketing plan and then I'm going to execute it or I'm going to lead your team in executing it or train your people in executing it. That's what the contracts were. So the work product was a marketing campaign, whereas with bone and gold, with producing the work product is a video or a set of photos or a suite of videos and a campaign. It's almost like you can think of me as going from being an in-house marketing director to being a full-time producer.
Kim Rittberg (12:54):
I obviously know a lot about production cause I come from the production world. I started in TV as a news producer and then switched to longform tv producing. Anyway, all to say I know about production. Production can be tough because you could be working on a lot of projects at the same time and it can be very grueling. You're juggling a hundred different things with clients, giving notes and that you have to respond to. How did you get yourself into that upper echelon of work where it's really bigger projects like lower quantity, higher quality, lower quantity, higher quality. How did you get into that sort of work?
Rachel Dorsey (13:28):
It's the multimillion dollar question, how do I stop doing pedaling really fast for the small jobs and working really hard and go into the big ones? I will say that the big jobs, it's like when a client trusts you with a really big budget, they really let you do your thing. When a client is putting all of their money together to make their one $10,000 video, that's like the hardest video you're ever going to make in your life because it is so high stakes
Kim Rittberg (13:55):
Because each dollar to them means so much.
Rachel Dorsey (13:58):
Yes, each thousand dollars of a $10,000 job is like a hundred thousand dollars for a small business. So it is important as a production company to find a way if you can, to serve this little guy and to serve the big guy. And that's part of why I offer my consulting still. It's like that's my way of still helping the little guy, even though I am making the bulk of my money and spending the bulk of my time on the big guy. So how did we get there? That's the question. We started out making content. We sort of got our group, got our friends together, we offered a really nice finder's fee. So instead of paying myself any of the leftover budget, we earmarked that so that I could pay it back to the people who found the job. That's how we built a presence, that that's how we built the portfolio.
(14:43):
That's how we built the look and the feel that people know of us today. The way that we got the big clients was a hundred percent. We had a core member of the initial group who also had a day job working in a big corporation, and they had relationships in with former colleagues who were now at Meta or Facebook at the time. So when that person said, who do you know that can make this thing for us? They said, call Rachel. And so they called Rachel. And so that job actually never didn't even pan out. I'm good friends with the woman who got us into the Facebook network and the Facebook system. That job never even happened, but she got us onboarded and once we were onboarded, once we had that relationship and our foot was in the door, then we were part of the ecosystem and people started seeing that we existed in their little backend world and then opportunities started coming in for us to bid after that. Then word started getting out. So who made that video for you? Oh, call Rachel, who made, oh, call Bone and Gold. And so that is how we've been able to build from there. So for us it was getting that first relationship, getting the foot in the door and then just networking, crazy networking like mommies.
Kim Rittberg (16:00):
I think a lot of us have that experience. When you're starting to build your business, you really have to put your best foot forward even when you're not, and there's not as much profit at the beginning because you're really wanting to show your absolute best work. And I definitely agree with you so much about networking. I mean, I've had people come to me and well, of course it makes sense that I would know people. I worked in TV for a while. I worked in corporate, I went to, so a lot of people I know are in law or engineering or whatever, professional industries. But it's interesting what you were just saying about that idea of how do you get those things? People come because they knew you from maybe 10 years ago or they met you 15 years ago or five years ago. And that's something I've actually been focusing on in the classes and the client work I've been doing is reminding people the power of staying in touch, both in person networking and social media. Because I've had new opportunities through LinkedIn because I'll write, I'll put a post up of me with an award and be like, wow, look at this award. I'm proud of our whole team. Someone who hasn't seen me in 15 years is like, Hey, it says award-winning video strategist want to come work with me? I'm like, yes, I do. I think it's a helpful reminder to people as they're building their business for listeners that networking is both that in-person. Get coffee, let's get a drink.
(17:15):
I liked that you said networking. Mommy's using our very beneficial soft skills, which are sometimes penalized, but using those in the ways that it's not penalized and it's actually business development. I saw somebody, Naja Rio's mother entitled, posted something about for men, it's called a work luncheon for women. It's called tennis. No, that's still networking. That's still networking. I have several moms at my kids' school who we refer each other for stuff and we give each other advice and help. So I had a question for you because I struggle with this. So I'm using you as my mentor right now, Rachel, have you balanced the hours? Yeah. I have found sometimes that now that I'm venturing into new streams, I'm starting to coach classes, I'm starting to do speaking engagements. I am finding it would be harder for me to take on a consulting client because I don't have as many consistent hours to give them. When you have a consulting project, do you promise them a certain amount of hours or a certain amount of days a week? How do you balance it all?
Rachel Dorsey (18:10):
I'm taking fewer and fewer corporate consulting projects because it is hard and they expect an exchange of hours for money. I don't like pricing myself by hours anymore. I'm extremely efficient as I know you are as well. We shouldn't be penalized. It took me 25 years to get as fast as I am, but I got paid trash for many of those years. I don't really love the idea of exchanging hours for money, although a lot of industry use, that is how they price, that is how they budget. For me, I try to offer a scope of work. Everything that I do now, every consulting engagement that I do is under the Bone and gold umbrella. So it's under the Bone and gold letterhead. It's a formal statement of work. So for example, I did a project where Meta hired me as a consultant to build their strategic design process.
(19:02):
So for their team of designers and creatives, when they're writing a creative brief, how are they going to do it? So I didn't budget that by, it's going to take me 20 hours and this is what it's going to take. I said, here's going to be your deliverable set. I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this. This is how we're going to do it. These are the materials that I need. You're going to get us an executive producer, you're going to get a strategist, you're going to get a whatever it was, you're going to get a designer. And then I bundled it all together and I said, this is a three month engagement. This is how it's going to go. And then they said yes, and then we did it. So sometimes when you're building a project like that, you end up working for pennies on the dollar because you didn't scope it.
(19:41):
And that's going to happen. And I always recommend building in a contingency budget so that if that is the case, you have a pot that you've already pre-approved so you can pull from it. And I think transparency, flexibility and just getting really, really clear on what is it going to really take and then writing it all out and not being ashamed of it. Not being afraid to say, I'm also going to need a S this support person, and I'm also going to need this additional whatever to come in, know what you need, and then ask for it.
Kim Rittberg (20:09):
I love that. And I'd love to get some of your tips as someone who am I understanding? So your business brings in at least a million dollars in revenue. Congratulations. I feel like the seven figure mark is, it's a benchmark, so it's exciting. And how many years have you been in business?
Rachel Dorsey (20:25):
So I got my business license 10 years ago and I've been doing bone and gold for nine years. It's like every year the revenue's doubled. It's been a fast growth. I think we've hit our first million dollars in revenue in the third year of business.
(20:42):
And we started really lean. Kim, I also want to say we started really, really lean because didn't make money for the first bit, but we also weren't losing it. We didn't keep in office. I did not keep employees. There's nothing that kills a business faster than having way too much overhead. If you're too busy worrying, am I even going to be able to feed myself today because I have to make sure my employees make their paycheck, then it's hard to be thinking about how do I grow, how do I scale, how do I network? So anyway, start Liam.
Kim Rittberg (21:13):
And I know you have some great tips about starting from scratch. So speaking of that, what are your tips for starting a company from scratch?
Rachel Dorsey (21:20):
Have a really good idea. Know for sure that there is a need for it. Start out really, really, really small and make something that is manageable. Test the waters. Do your market research. You don't want to spend two years on research and development and make a product and then realize nobody wants to buy it or nobody needs it. Do your research, do your homework, test it really small. Find people who are interested in doing the same thing as if you can bring them together. Find a way to build a platform. When you are trying to start something, make sure that you're shining the light on other people and that you're giving other people a platform and other people opportunities because that comes back around.
Kim Rittberg (21:59):
And when you were saying build a platform, what do you mean?
Rachel Dorsey (22:02):
What I did with Bone and Gold is I created a metaphorical surface, right? Here's this container, here's this platform. We have a website, we have branding, we have a name, we have a mission, we have a formula and a template and a way to pitch our business and a way to budget. We have this platform and creatives. I invited really talented creatives who I personally loved. I invited them, them in to use that platform. Cool, you're a camera operator, come and use my platform. We will be the business and I will support you. I will help you grow as a person. I will help you grow as a person who pitches business, we will do this together, but I'm going to give you the roadmap and I'm going to give you the platform and I'm going to give you the support. That's what I mean by platform.
Kim Rittberg (22:48):
Got it. I have a question for you. I would argue, you know were saying start with a good idea. I would argue production companies is crowded. Yeah, it's a crowded field. What did you feel that you had was different to offer to people as a unique selling proposition?
Rachel Dorsey (23:01):
If I'm being a hundred percent honest, I have to say that I didn't know that it was a crowded space when I got into it.
Kim Rittberg (23:08):
So your big tip is ignorance is bliss at the beginning. Yeah, yeah.
Rachel Dorsey (23:12):
Hundred percent. A hundred percent. Just blinders. I didn't know, I didn't know. But I do know now that what sets us apart is the quality of the work. Our work is really, really good. And I know a lot of people have really good quality work. So beyond that is we're really easy to work with. We're really good people. We're really kind people. We're extremely thorough, extremely organized. We're really quick thinkers. What sets us apart from every other production company that is just a straight up production company is that our value prop is that we serve our customers from concept to delivery strategy through implementation. So a lot of big business has to go to an agency first who comes up with the creative and then goes down to a production company. And so there's all these fat margins that are being added. There's all this overhead that's being added at every step of the journey with us, you can come straight to us and we're going to come up with the creative, we're going to support you through your casting, whether you're doing a real people storytelling piece. So we need to know who are your clients? We'll talk to them, we'll get the story. So for us, what sets us apart is the quality of the work. We always stay on time and on budget. We're really easy to work with and you can get the full service from us.
Kim Rittberg (24:27):
I always apply what I know of an industry to I think about where is it crowded, what is unique? And I do that with both my own company but also with my clients. So I have thought about that for myself. And there are certain areas that I'm like, I don't want to compete in that I feel like that area is crowded and I think of what is unique about me. I'm like, what is unique about me is that I've done digital video and TV and podcasts. So having that multi-platform understanding. So I like to help people become thought leaders through the multiple ways. It's not just like people, oh, how do I make a video? I'm like, you can make a video, but a video is not going to turn you into a thought leader. It's totally a suite of videos with strategy of also building up your blog and your seo and then also trying to get press at the same time. It's a whole thing. So for me, I've thought about it, it is unique that I was a journalist for nine years before switching over to digital video and podcast. So you
Rachel Dorsey (25:20):
Know how to pull out the story.
Kim Rittberg (25:22):
Yeah, it's pulling out the story and it's also, I think it's about what I like to say what I do. I'm like, I don't help you tell one story. I help you tell your story across all of these different places where your ideal clients might find you. And I'm seeing that happen for myself. I'm actually this year, in the past 18 months, been actually practicing what I preach. I've been showing up, I have my podcast and now I'm getting paid speaking gigs and I'm getting invitations for things and I'm having a lot of inbound client calls and it's like, wow, wow, it works. I just like your point of making sure you feel like you have something different because I think it's actually helped me fine tune my business in saying there are certain things I don't want to do and can't do. And you're about balancing the hours.
(26:02):
I've realized some of the projects that have kept me afloat in the beginning that made me really realize I could run my own business. They were such a blessing to have those, but I really don't have the bandwidth to give any business two or three days a week anymore. I don't have that bandwidth and don't, not that I don't want to. I like those. I love those companies, those clients. I love that work I did, but I don't have that bandwidth anymore. So it has been an interesting evolution for me in terms of figuring out what my superpowers are and how I can help more people. And now I'm scaling more to small business owners, but at scale, because obviously a small business owner does not have the money that a people magazine has that it gets better, has their nonprofit, but it's just different. And so then I have to put those together and do group courses, which is also great. I get to teach more people. But it's been, as you have seen, an evolution from where you are at the beginning to where you're going.
Rachel Dorsey (26:50):
Well, and it continues to be
Kim Rittberg (26:52):
Yes.
Rachel Dorsey (26:53):
If you're putting your heart and soul into things, you are evolving. We have to evolve. Yeah, because conditions change, the market changes, the economy changes For people who are listening, who are following you online, Kim, it's so important that they do hear your message, which is is many more things. But the thing that I listen to that that I'm reminded of when I watch your content, it's like just make the video, just make the video, make it, put it out.
Kim Rittberg (27:19):
It's in some ways can be a great thing. We all really take pride in what we do and we all want to put content out there that is perfect and I hate that word, but the truth is there's nothing perfect. 10th video will be better than your first video. Your 20th will be better than your 10th and on and on and on. And it's the same way for me. I actually trained people to be on camera and my first social videos, while obviously I'm starting from a different point, but they're much worse than they are now. I wasn't doing a lot of video and now I'm podcasting every week, so I'm obviously talking more and I'm more comfortable. But I think the idea is don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. There's a point at which you just got to start moving one foot in front of another.
(27:57):
And that's one of the biggest things I think we all think, everyone's looking at us all the time and they're really not. And the truth is, if you're out there and putting your voice out there, no one is sitting there being like, oh my God, her hair looks crazy. Or Oh, she does this weird thing with her mouth. No, they're not thinking that. I honestly had one of my students who I love, she was like gets up in one of our coaching sessions, she says, I have a question for y'all. She goes, can anyone else see my mouth doing this weird thing sometimes where it shifts to the left? And we all started laughing, we're like, you're awesome, you're great. No one sees that and we all have that thing. I actually posted a funny reel of me responding in a really funny way, A podcast guest basically unlocked my true purpose in life.
(28:38):
And I was so surprised. I really felt like she really hit it on the mark. She's like, Kim are an electr. And my mouth and face was like, I look like a cartoon character. And it's so funny that I actually made a reel out of it because I look so insane. But whatever, it doesn't matter. Okay, we're all real people. Nothing's perfect. We sometimes look silly, we sometimes look weird. But generally we are who we are. And I think as we get older, that understanding of, we all hate our own voice. We all hate how we look on camera, but we are who we are and we have friends and we have family who love us from clients that respect us. So we must be doing something as a lean into the fact that, hey, all these people don't go running out of a supermarket when you speak and you're fine. You're good. So anyway, that was my little rant. I have a question for you, Rachel. I wanted to hear another one of your tips because I know that you're able to talk to people and teach them about how to budget to build a profit
Rachel Dorsey (29:28):
When it comes to budgeting, there's so many things I want to talk about when it comes to money, and I'm just going to rattle off a few thing. Number one is find people that you can be transparent with. Find people that you can talk about how much you're earning, much you're keeping, how much it's costing you to do X, y, and Z thing. And that extends to every area of your life. If you're seeing friends who are buying houses and you're like, how the heck am I supposed to buy a house? Ask them, fair chance. They're going to tell you, oh, my parent gave me some money, or I've been saving since I was 15 years old. They're going to tell you how and how else are we supposed to know if we don't ask? So thing number one is find people that you can talk with transparently about money when it comes to building in a margin, the wisdom of good old Suez Orman, like OG Financial Godmother. Oh yeah, I think it's Suez. Maybe it's Suzi, but I
Kim Rittberg (30:16):
Don't know.
Rachel Dorsey (30:17):
I don't really know. But I always called her Suz. So good old Madame Orman, she talks about paying yourself first. And when she's talking about that, she's talking about put money in your savings before you figure out what your budget is going to be. But where I put that into play in my business is making sure that I'm getting paid for my work. And I didn't do that for the first couple of years. For the first couple of years I was just putting money into the business to get the website, to get the lawyers, to get the consultants, to get all that stuff set up. But at a certain point I realized I wasn't paying myself. I was supervising the edit, I was writing the stories, I was managing the budget, hiring the crew, and there was no line for producer. Now there is a line for producer, whether it's me or it's someone else, I make sure that there's a line for every single person.
(31:02):
And then on top of that, once you've figured out a way to make sure that you can bring in the type of work that will say yes to the budgets that you require to make sure you can pay all your people fair wages. That's the point at which you put in a production fee. It took me many, many years to figure this out. A lot of male owned production companies, that's just, they come out the gate, they talk, I don't know where they're having these conversations on the golf course or in the men's spa. I don't know. They know to put in a production fee. And now I know that too. So some budgets, it's a really tidy production fee. Some budgets, it's a really nice one, 25% or so, which 25% on a $500,000 budget is a very nice production fee. And that is all not just the money that I get to put in my bank account, it's what operates the business.
(31:51):
It's what pays for my pension plan, because I'm a self-employed person. I need to be thinking about my retirement. It's what allows me to take time out and mentor young women who are coming up in film. It's what allows me to take money and put money towards creative projects that I then get to executive produce. And that means sometimes you're just giving them money. Sometimes it means you're also giving them support and advice and help find a way, even if it's 2%. But find a way because that's also where you pull when you go over budget, then you can pull from their first. And your client always thinks that you're right on target and you never have to go back to them and say, Ooh, I'm sorry, I messed up. I need more money. Please.
Kim Rittberg (32:33):
Are you the breadwinner?
Rachel Dorsey (32:34):
Yeah. And I have been for our entire relationship, which is great. And it's worked really well for us because I really, really, when I wake my purpose, when I wake up in the morning, I'm like ready to get to it. And my husband would love to make breakfast and take the kids to school and do the things around the house that need doing. And ever since we first got together, he had just been laid off. He, he's a dp, he's a filmmaker. So we work together a ton. So it's not fair to say that I am the only breadwinner. He also brings in an income.
Kim Rittberg (33:11):
I also think breadwinner doesn't necessarily mean sole breadwinner. It just means you learn more than your partner. And I think when it's a woman, it's more notable because it's not the majority. So that's cool.
Rachel Dorsey (33:22):
I don't think that our relationship would work out any other way. If I had a partner who wanted to hustle as hard as I do, if I had a partner who was suit and tie in it and going into the finance department for 12 hours a day and then going out for cocktails to try to climb the corporate ladder, our relationship would not work.
Kim Rittberg (33:41):
Why
Rachel Dorsey (33:41):
Not? Because that's me. I want to do that. And we have children, you know, can't do that. If both of you are doing that, then who's raising your children? And if you can pay for care and you do pay for care, that's lovely, but also at what cost to the family? So we started out with very humble beginnings. We lived in a studio apartment when we first had children, we could not afford childcare. I was like strolling our firstborn. And when he'd fall asleep on the street, I'd sit or he fell asleep and I'd park him on the sidewalk and sit on the curb and pull up my computer. I'd work for an hour and then as soon as he, he'd wake up, I'd like take a conference call while I continue walking him or put him on the swing and I'm on a conference call pushing him at the park. The success that we're talking about today in terms of money and also I have a lot of time and freedom, it didn't start out that way. It was many, many years of really, really hard work and lots of time spent and lots of late nights and both of us trying to scrape together the pennies so that we could afford some childcare so that I could go out or figure out how to bring my family here so that we could both go out on a job. It was really hard at the beginning. It's still hard.
Kim Rittberg (34:58):
How many hours do you work typically each week?
Rachel Dorsey (35:01):
So two years ago I was working a billion hours a week. I was not showing up for my children. We were parking them in front of the iPad. We were parking them in front of the tv, we were hustling, my husband hustling, me hustling. I was far removed from my family and I was not present. I was a little bit present, but I was not present. This was coming off of the main shutdown year if my numbers are right, and it was like any job that wanted me, I said yes to. And so I was working just, it was not okay. It was not okay. It was not healthy. It was not okay. I did not exercise once for an entire year. I did not drink enough water. I was not getting enough sleep. All my relationships were suffering. I do not recommend it. At the end of the day, yes, it was a lot of money, but it really, really affected my health.
(35:56):
Okay, baseline. Last year we moved to a new state. I committed to getting my health in order. I said no to half of the jobs that came in. And so last year, on average per week, I worked 30 hours a week, 24 hours a week, maybe not a lot. I went to Pilates every day except for Sundays. I picked my children up from school with my husband every day, took them to all their extracurriculars. We're still at the beginning, we're going to see what happened or what happens, right? When we're in crunch time and we're producing a Super Bowl, I'm working during the holiday break. I'm working every single day. I'm working 8, 9, 10 hours a day during the week, but then now I just wrapped a project with Square and I'm getting ready to start another project, but I have a little more space. I can come on your podcast, I can take a walk with my husband, I can pick up my kids. So I just want to be really transparent about all of that because there's a lot of people that we see online who are like, I'm a millionaire, or I run this super successful business and here I am doing all this stuff, but what does the behind the scenes look like? Right? And for me, my best year from a money perspective was my worst year from a relationship, emotional, mental health, family perspective. And I don't want that ever again.
Kim Rittberg (37:12):
Anything that you didn't share that you want to share with our listeners and how can they find you?
Rachel Dorsey (37:16):
Great. I mean, so find me on Instagram. I'm at Rachel Blair Dorsey on the Internets, and then I also, it's looking like I'm going to have a few more spots in my one-on-one mentorship work. So if people are trying to build really any kind of business start or scale, that is my area of expertise, and I always offer a first intro call for free. That way I can understand what exactly is it that you really need, whether or not you can articulate it right off the bat. What is it that you need and am I the right person to help you? Because that is one thing that I do want to leave people with is like when you're out there online and you're consuming content and you're being confronted by all these experts in the field, do your due diligence because it's really easy to actually say you're an expert and it's really hard to actually be one. Don't just take someone's word for it that they're an expert. Like actually make sure that there's a track record.
Kim Rittberg (38:13):
That's amazing advice. Rachel, this was so fun. Thank you so much for joining me. Here's when we feature a real mom life in its happiest, funny, or grossest moments. And if you want to submit yours, make sure to go to moms exit interview.com. This one is from Jodi Claris Feld. She's the founder of Flourish, F L R R I S H. She's the mom to an adorable little girl who was born at 28 weeks and after her daughter's early birth, she discovered premium moms and dads aren't always given the support they need. So she created Flourish and she shares a funny story about kids being very literal with their definitions.
Jodi Calris Feld (38:50):
Hi everyone. It's Jodi Claris Feld, the founder and creator of Flourish, a platform that supports preemie and NICU families on their journey through the NICU and beyond. I wanted to share a recent funny story with you. My husband and I were going out to dinner and we told our daughter who just turned four, that we were leaving her in the trusted hands of a babysitter. Now, usually we refer to the babysitter, someone by their name, never really by the word babysitter. While when the woman came over, Jenna said to me, but mommy, she's not a baby. I thought she's supposed to be a babysitter. And I said, well, babysitters actually are people who watch babies. And she goes, but I'm not a baby. And she's not a baby. I said to Jenna, you know what? You're absolutely right. You are a big girl. And that woman is a big woman. And from now on, we will refer to everyone by their name or just the word sitter.
Kim Rittberg (40:05):
Thank you so much for listening. Make sure to drop a review, and if you want to send in a real mom moment that we'll share on the air, check out moms exit interview.com. And if you're a professional or small business owner looking to grow your brand through amazing content with no silly dances and with no burnout, check out my website kim whitford.com and you can hit contact Chat with me. And thanks for listening. Like this is the most amazing community. You guys send in the best feedback. So share it with your friends. Let anyone know who you think would appreciate it. And this is Mom's Exit interview. I'm your host and executive producer Kim Rit Bird. The show is produced by Henry Street Media. Jillian Grover edited this episode, and Eliza Friedlander is our editorial producer and publicist. I'll see you next time.