Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in content creation but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Tim Schmoyer, Founder of Video Creators, located in Hebron, KY, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Video Creators have been featured by FOX, Forbes, BBC even YouTube themselves, as my team trains other creators and business leaders to master the YouTube platform and use it as a place to spread messages that change lives. Our clients have organically grown by over 20 billion views and 100 million subscribers under our guidance.

On September 1, 2022, Video Creators was acquired by vidIQ, giving us an opportunity to coach millions of creators on YouTube and spread even more messages that change lives. Today I work as the Chief Creator Coach for vidIQ and live in Cincinnati, Ohio, with my wife and seven children.

Tell us about yourself

In 2006 I was in graduate school and wanted to introduce my girlfriend to my family across the country, so I uploaded videos on YouTube of us hanging out together. Others started watching, which freaked me out a bit, so I started digging into YouTube to figure out how it worked. In 2011 I became the first creator to start training YouTube creators and haven't stopped since.

I am motivated by the mission of my company: To reach more people and change more lives. There's really a ripple effect. If we help one client grow on YouTube, their message spreads, and more lives are changed, and then those people can feel empowered to share their message and change more lives. It's not about the money and popularity, etc. Those things eventually can ruin your life. But with the motivation of serving people, everyone wins, and it's way more fulfilling.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Some people would say that the greatest accomplishment is growing the business and selling it to another company that finds enough value in it to purchase. Others would say that growing a profitable business for 10 years is a huge accomplishment, and really it is. But for me, it's more than that. I was able to create a sellable, profitable business that embodied my own personal mission of reaching more people and changing more lives. And along the way, developing a team that I genuinely enjoy working with. We also have put good filters in place to find good clients as well who have a message that we want to see spread in the world. With a lot of jobs, you love the work but hate the people you work with. Or you love the people, but the job is grueling. I was able to accomplish both, and this is a huge accomplishment for me.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

I think the hardest thing is finding the skills to take your business to the next level. You usually get into the business, and you have the skills to get to a certain point, but once you press against that point, you have a whole new set of challenges that require a new set of skill sets. How do I scale this and hire people? How do I develop leaders and spread out the work, etc.? So developing these skills and continuing to grow is one of the hardest things. There are always new challenges, and that provides a level of stress that always weighs on your shoulders that becomes harder and harder to deal with over time.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Have a very clear mission for what you want to accomplish (that's not about money). Running your own business gets challenging, and if money is your goal, you'll quickly realize there are easier ways to make money. But a mission that is core to who you are will push you to persevere through hardships.
  2. Always be learning. I try to go through 1 business book a month on Audible. It's a really inexpensive way to get world-class coaching in a way that couldn't do otherwise.
  3. When you start growing a team, establishing a culture is vital. To do this well, don't hire simply based on skill. You can train just about anyone to do anything. Hire based on your shared core values. This can't be taught. A lot of people just focus on dollar signs, but those dollar signs come a lot more enjoyably if you enjoy the people you are working with. And if you are in the service space, don't just take money from anyone who would give it to you. Do business with those whose mission overlaps with yours.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://videocreators.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videocreators/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/videocreators/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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