The value of hard work in creative success
Summary
On Episode 7 of On the Flywheel we have an exciting guest, Barry Bierman of Lockstone Media. We dive into Barry's fascinating journey from his roots in Saskatchewan to founding his own video production company. Barry shares his unique path, from working on oil rigs to yachts, and eventually becoming a self-taught director of photography. Tune in to hear how he navigated these diverse experiences and built his career in media production.
In this episode, Barry and I discuss the importance of practical experience over formal education, the value of hard work, and how personal challenges can shape professional growth. We also touch on the significance of creating balance and harmony between work and life, especially when managing a demanding career. Barry's story is not only inspiring but also full of practical insights for anyone looking to forge their own path in the creative industry.
Topics
- Introduction and Barry's background
- Growing up in Saskatchewan and the influence of movies
- Working on oil rigs and learning the value of hard work
- Transitioning to yacht work and discovering a passion for video production
- Building a career in media and the importance of a strong portfolio
- The impact of formal education vs. practical experience in creative fields
- Balancing work and life and finding personal harmony
- Health challenges and maintaining physical well-being
- The importance of relationships and making clients feel valued
- Recommendations for aspiring creatives and business insights
Links & Resources
- Books mentioned on this episode
- Barry Bierman - Website, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Jonathan Mahrt - LinkedIn, Instagram, Website
Closing Remarks
Thank you for joining us on this insightful episode of On the Flywheel. If you enjoyed the episode, please remember to rate, follow, share, and review the podcast. Your support helps us bring more inspiring stories and valuable insights to our listeners.
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Jonathan Mahrt: This is on the Flywheel, a podcast where each week we talk to entrepreneurs and professionals about the practical things they do to build and keep momentum in their personal and professional lives. Hello, and welcome to on the Flywheel, episode seven. I am your host, Jonathan Mart of Flywheel Consulting. And today I'm excited to have on the podcast Barry Biermann of Lockstone Media.
Barry Bierman: Thanks for having me.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, thanks for coming on today. Excited to have you on. We already have had quite an extensive pre episode conversation, but, so I'm excited to kind of jump into it. I always like to start by having guests give a quick background on how they kind of got to their current career path and the journey that got them there.
Barry Bierman: Yeah. Okay. How far back you want to go?
Jonathan Mahrt: As relevant as you think it is to kind of the. That got you to the place you are today.
Barry Bierman: Yeah. Okay.
Jonathan Mahrt: If you worked at McDonald's and it didn't have that big of an impact on you, then we don't talk about it.
Barry Bierman: Definitely. Yeah. I think you know what it is probably. I was a big fan of movies growing up, and always it was a way of escaping, especially in Saskatchewan. It's really cold up there in Canada.
Jonathan Mahrt: Okay. Originally. Originally from Canada.
Barry Bierman: Okay, right. Yeah, yeah.
Jonathan Mahrt: Transplant.
Barry Bierman: Transplant. First generation, actually. Born in South Africa. My parents are South Africana.
Jonathan Mahrt: Oh, wow. I didn't know that.
Barry Bierman: Dad's a doc, mom's an artist, and so that has a little bit of an influence on. But I don't want to give you too much of my life story. But basically, I grew up in Saskatchewan. It was dark all the time, played a lot of hockey, but movies were my escape. So went to university, dropped out of university, eventually wanted to travel. Felt like I needed to go and develop a little bit as a person. My dad. I went to my dad. I said, dad, can I get some money? I want to go travel. He's like, no way. And I was like, okay, I guess I gotta do it myself.
Jonathan Mahrt: That's pretty much what my dad's response would be, like, what? I'm not giving you money to go goof off.
Barry Bierman: I was gonna, no way. You know? And so it's like, okay, so I got a job doing something really stupid for, like, $12 an hour and got my first paycheck, and I realized, shit, this isn't gonna work. I did the math. I was like, okay, it's gonna take.
Jonathan Mahrt: Me years to travel for a month.
Barry Bierman: And I'm like, this isn't gonna work. So I started. I went to my dad. I said, hey, I want to work on an oil rig to make as much money as I possibly can in the shortest amount of time. And the thing about that is that I was like, 130 pounds, glasses. I was a beanstalk dude. I was a tiny dude. So middle of winter, it's -40 fahrenheit. Now I'm getting out onto a rig, and the first thing that the tool push said to me, he's like, are you twelve years old? No, sir, I'm 18. Anyways, fast forward. Worked on rigs six months, traveled six months, and then eventually met a guy that worked on yachts. I was like, what do you do? He's like, oh, I work as a captain on a yacht. I was like, what do you mean? You get paid to travel, you get to live on this boat. Your rent is taken care of. How do I do that? Sold all my stuff, went out to Spain.
Jonathan Mahrt: So you did whatever. That tv show. There's a tv show about that, right?
Barry Bierman: Yeah. Below deck.
Jonathan Mahrt: Below deck, yeah.
Barry Bierman: Yeah.
Jonathan Mahrt: Okay, how accurate is that?
Barry Bierman: Oh, it's terribly inaccurate. But I mean, it's.
Jonathan Mahrt: Well, I mean, it's for entertainment, of course. But I was. Okay, I was curious how.
Barry Bierman: But that whole thing, I mean, it is kind of, you know, you go ashore, you are partying hard. You do have long hours. You do have a bunch of young, pretty people together. So it does happen like that. But you don't have the. The crazy drama that. Well, actually, that's not true. You do get drama, though.
Jonathan Mahrt: But of course, they're playing it up right?
Barry Bierman: And so I had this amazing chief officer who, the one day I went to him, I say, hey, listen, like, we're doing these. All these cool things, you know, this billionaire, like, we should be filming it, you know? And he said, that's your job now. So got me the cameras, got me the Gopros, and I just started creating guest videos. And then from there, things just. They escalated quickly. But the cool thing is that he gave me the opportunity to teach myself how to edit, teach myself how to run a camera. And then eventually, just over the course of time, I went back to Canada. After I met my wife, I got a job at an ad agency. I built up the ad agency's video production side of things and then got, you know. And things just escalated up till now. So now I've got my own video production company, am a director of photography, self taught, never went to university or anything like that. But when it comes to my career, the only thing that's valuable is your portfolio.
Jonathan Mahrt: That's so true. I think that's actually more true in general than people give credit for. We worry so much about having the right degree. But as someone who's hired people, I really could care less about your college degree. I mean, maybe if you went to one of the most prestigious colleges, like, that has some extra weight because at least you're smart. I. But at the end of the day, I care way more about the things that you've done.
Barry Bierman: Totally. And that's the problem, I think, with the education now, is that people feel like in order to even get their resume looked at, they need to have a bachelor's of x or whatever. And so the problem with that is like, okay, now you have to put in the go get your degree, but then after that, now you've got zero work experience and you need to go get work. And you're like, man, I'm 100k in debt, and I can't get a job. It's like, it's so unfair.
Jonathan Mahrt: Well, it's also like, don't sleep on community college, which is like a whole nother thing, like jcs and community college and in state schools, because you can get it, it is still possible to work part time and go to school part time and generally fund your way through it, but it is the harder, less exciting way to do it. I had counselors in high school tell me, oh, just get into the best school you can. I'm like, well, how do you pay for it? Oh, don't worry about that.
Barry Bierman: It'll figure itself out.
Jonathan Mahrt: I'm like, I think that's changed a little bit, but that's like an insane. Yeah, I don't want to get too political, but that's what, you know, that's why so many people ended up with student loan, massive student loan debt, is because they're like, oh, yeah. Just. It'll figure itself out. But anyway, totally.
Barry Bierman: And that's the thing I tell I've got a couple guys that reach out to me every once in a while from film school. They're like, hey, can I come and, you know, shadow, or can I come check out, or do you have work for me? And I said, I say to most of them, I said, listen, like, you can come and work, but I. Because you're unskilled labor. I mean, I can't pay you full rates. The only thing that you can do is, if you really want to stick out, is go and make movies. Go make films.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: Edit. You've got a phone, you've got a computer. Just cut stuff. Yeah, do stuff.
Jonathan Mahrt: Just make stuff.
Barry Bierman: Totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. I mean, that's what you see. Everyone's advice is just like, especially when you see people talking about the creative field. It's just like, just go make things. Who cares if they're good? Who cares? Who cares if they're bad? Just, like, I make stuff and get experience because, I mean, nothing. In lots of ways, the School of hard knocks does not. You can't replace it.
Barry Bierman: Totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: You know, I'm so curious about. I just want to touch on the. Working on an oil rig thing.
Barry Bierman: Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Mahrt: You know, that's a very unique experience. Like, I know there's other parts of the country here where people are doing that kind of stuff, but it's not common, at least in Calif. In California. How was that experience? So, you live on the rig, or do you, like, go out to the rig?
Barry Bierman: So, yeah, a lot of people think, when I say oil rig, they think immediately. Offshore oil rig. So, up where I lived in Saskatchewan, you had the Bakken oil field, which is inland, but it's a lot like Texas in the sense that you've got big, flat plains. The thing about it is that we would drive to the rig, it would be either an hour away or 2 hours away. So you'd be spending huge amounts of time in the vehicle during the wintertime. That could be tough on vehicles, and I, you know, diesel and all that stuff. But the experience itself, it's like, I've got. I've got really bad hearing loss because of my time on a rig from all the metal hitting itself. And so it's super physical. It's super dangerous. Guys die all the time. And it's not just overhead heavy metal, pinch points, stuff like that. It's literally, there's gas in the wells called h two s that is incredibly toxic. And if you get. If you get exposed to it at a high dose, it just. You pass out and you die.
Jonathan Mahrt: Wow.
Barry Bierman: It's instant. And so, like, we get. We got taught how to do self resuscitation or not self resuscitation, help resuscitate other people, how to dawn on, like, gas masks and go and fetch somebody. You know, if they're at a pump truck and they go down, you see shit. H two s monitors going off. You have to learn how to do that. And then you have to be strong enough to carry a guy like you, six five, who's a farm Boyden, eating corn his whole life. And now I'm eggs, actually.
Jonathan Mahrt: Eggs. Eggs, yeah.
Barry Bierman: You know, and I have to be strong enough to pull the guy off the pump truck or at least put a pack on him.
Jonathan Mahrt: Did you ever have to do that?
Barry Bierman: No. No. I got lucky in that.
Jonathan Mahrt: Okay.
Barry Bierman: I had. We had a blowout one time, but a blowout is basically when the pressure of the oil. How do I explain it?
Jonathan Mahrt: Like, pops the seams on the pipes and stuff like that?
Barry Bierman: That's kind of like that. Yeah. I mean, it basically, the. The pressure of the oil gets coming out of the top of the tubing, and so it's like. It's kind of a dangerous situation. You have to put the. Basically have to put a plug in and cap it. Exactly. And then close it. But, I mean, it was a really cool learning experience for me. It taught me a lot about hard work, taught me about the value of a dollar. I mean, I. When I got my first paycheck, did.
Jonathan Mahrt: You immediately go buy a car?
Barry Bierman: No, dude. I was like, wow, I want to go buy a video game. Oh, it's $68 for this video game. I'm like, so that was like 3 hours on the rig. I'm like, no.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. Not worth it.
Barry Bierman: No, no.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, yeah. It's amazing how compelling it is to, like, when you try to decide to buy something if you're on an hourly wage and you translate that, how many hours you have to work to pay for your thing. Like, I'm literally exchanging hours of my life for this thing. Is it worth. Is it worth that?
Barry Bierman: You know, and so I think that's really important for a lot of people to. To actually go and do something, manual labor like that, because otherwise, you can. The value of money and work, they don't really correlate. And so sometimes, you know, there's this kind of. I can notice a discrepancy when people haven't done anything like that or haven't really had to do manual labor. Don't really know what it means to put in, like, a really hard day's work. It's like you can kind of see it, you know? It's not that I judge them in that way, but you notice when there's a guy that's like, no, I know what exactly it's like to wake up before sun, go out, work 14 hours, come home, not have time for anything other than eating and sleeping.
Jonathan Mahrt: No. Hard physical labor teaches you a lot of lessons that's not replaceable. And I think it's too bad that kids don't get more of those opportunities these days. It's just the nature of things. If you're a parent, you'd have to really be intentional now about giving your kids opportunities to work hard. I think that's why it's so. It can be so valuable for kids to also have, like, jobs in high school, part time jobs, at least. At least you're, like, having to go out and understand the value of it, of working hard and stuff. Because I think people end up really entitled.
Barry Bierman: Totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: You know, and I don't know if.
Barry Bierman: It'S, you know, times have changed, but the ability to. Or let's just say you grow up on a farm kind of like you. You have to go and do chores as a kid, and maybe you have to feed the cattle, or I, in my case, up in Saskatchewan, it was like cattle and chickens and all that stuff, and you were exposed to the elements. You develop a tenacity and a resilience to adversity. And as a kid, that can almost equate to maturity. Because when you have a young person, 11, 12, 13 years old, who has worked on a farm his whole life, has had to handle cattle, you look at him versus a 13 year old who didn't do that or grew up on an iPad, they're like, one's a man, one's a boy.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: You know, no, it's true.
Jonathan Mahrt: I mean, the thing is, is like, it's so easy to go through your own child, how your entire childhood without, like, having had any kind of real adversity. But if you're growing up on a farm or an agriculture, like, adversity happens all the time, right? Things break. If you're. If you have a dairy, you have cows. Like, cows get out, you gotta catch them, you gotta help. You gotta help birth them. I mean, like, just, things go wrong all the time. Problems happen all the time, and the only solution is just, like, to grind it out and deal with it. And lots of kids don't have those kinds of experiences growing up, you know? And I think it's really easy, as someone who now has young children, I think it's really easy to want to, like, protect your kids from all the bad things. And that's like a balance. Even with my kids being young, especially my three year old now, I'm like, okay, how do I. How do I let him fail and struggle enough that he's learning, but at the same time, not, like, I also don't want to be masochistic with him and make him suffer just for the sake of suffering or make things harder than they need to be. But I think there's an element of, no, you climbed up there. I'm not going to take. This is a very simple example you got up there. I know you're perfectly capable of getting down. I am not going to bring you down, you know, and letting them figure those things out.
Barry Bierman: I mean, we were talking about this before the podcast, but I'll make sure that I give a little context for the viewers. So, like, that whole thing about creating kind of difficulty in your life or creating kind of resistance. So, like, there's elements of. That's why I think cold plunging is such a big deal right now. It's like, other than the health benefits, like, what's better than a cup of coffee and all that? But it's the fact that you go get naked, get into a tub and have to sit there that's freezing cold. You're putting yourself in a mental place of having to endure something that's incredibly uncomfortable. That muscle needs to be massaged in order for you to feel good about everything else in your life. And so the problem is, we've got it so comfortable. My floor is heated so my feet don't get cold. You know what I mean? Okay. Now I've got all these comforts, but I'm going to go sit it into an ice bath so that I can kind of get back to like the raw root of what it means to be human.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yes. I mean, I think there's some truth to that. I mean, I think if you can sit, it's like one of those things. If you do the hardest thing first in the day, then everything else the rest of the day that you have to do feels easier than that. I mean, and I would say, like, on average, probably most of the time, if you can sit in the cold, do a cold plunge for a few minutes, that's probably the hardest thing you're going to do that day. And everything feels easier after that.
Barry Bierman: Totally. 100%.
Jonathan Mahrt: Not that I've personally tried it, you know, which maybe now I got. Now I gotta go do it.
Barry Bierman: It's not overrated, I don't think. It just depends. As long as you can find something that is in your. If it's something that you're resistant to, whether it be running or working out or ice bath or whatever, there should be a moment every day where you have to do something like that. And then if you can find spirituality somewhere in there as well, like sprinkle that in with, amongst all.
Jonathan Mahrt: Put that little dust on it.
Barry Bierman: Exactly. Then it makes sense.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. Well, I think we're kind of into some of the. We're talking a little bit about kind of the personal things that you do to be successful. And so I'd like to kind of dig into that a little bit more. So are you ice plunging every single day?
Barry Bierman: No, dude. No. I'm like, I've done it. I enjoy surfing.
Jonathan Mahrt: So, like, well, in northern California, that's a nice plunge, the cold plunge.
Barry Bierman: But ultimately, for me, it's about finding, just like, I don't believe in work life balance because I don't think it's possible. Meaning that you can't have 4 hours of work, 4 hours of regular life. It's like, it's work life harmony for me, it's like finding.
Jonathan Mahrt: That's a good way of putting it.
Barry Bierman: You know, where it's. It's a. And I don't think I even came up with that. I think it was.
Jonathan Mahrt: I mean, it's talked about endlessly. I've talked about it on already, like, almost every episode of the podcast. Yeah. Because it's what everyone's trying to figure out, right.
Barry Bierman: Totally suffer from it, man. I make 14 hours days or, you know, twelve hour days, or it's like, for example, today, luckily, I didn't have something booked right after this because we're already over time. But, you know, I've got my whole calendars booked all the way until 09:00 p.m. tonight. Just stacked.
Jonathan Mahrt: It's a long day.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, that's a long day. Tomorrow's the same. Saturday's the same. I've got all day Sunday off. So it's cool to try and find that harmonious balance. For me to do that, I need to carve out little times for myself, whether that be going to gym or going surfing or trying to find time with friends and family, but all those things. But I'm not really great at it, and I'd love tips, if you've got any.
Jonathan Mahrt: Well, we've talked about it extensively. I think that the biggest. Not that I'm perfect at it, but it's something I've worked pretty aggressively at over the last few years because, you know, having worked on a farm for last. For the last ten years, it's. The farm is like a demanding, like a demanding mistress. It wants as much time as you can give it, as much time, energy, and money. There's always work to be done. You could work 24 hours a day and never finish working. It's just the nature of it. I think what it comes down to is you have to. It's about managing priorities. Right. And I think a big part of it, where people struggle is especially well, there's two areas I see people struggle. One is in like their personal life in terms of health, and the other is in their personal life in terms of relationships. Right. So I think it's different depending on the stage of life you're in. Like, are you in a relationship, right. Married or not married or long term relationship. And then do you have kids? Right. I think those two things greatly affect what you need to do to achieve work life harmony. Because there are stages of your life where it's fine to work twelve or 14 hours, days or whatever. You don't have any other obligations. Yeah. Grind it out. Then it is harmonious for you to just bust your butt to try and get ahead and make progress. But then as life changes and you have more obligations, then you either sometimes you may end up with a partner that's totally fine with you making that sacrifice for a, a period of time. And I think that's the other thing to consider is like, everything is how long you're going to do that, right. Working twelve to 14 hours days is not sustainable forever unless you only want your life to be about work. Right. And so you have to decide, especially, like, I know you're married, so my recommendation would be the first place to start is like, you and your partner, like, what works, what is important to you guys to make sure your relationship is good? Because I think the conversation I have with so many people is that, and I keep coming back to is if I'm on my deathbed, right. Or let's not even go that dark. But just like 60 years from now, I'm hanging, hopefully still with my wife and we're reflecting on our lives. I will not remember why I missed some special event with her because I had to work. I will not remember what that work event was or what that work reason was. I will remember, and she will too, that we missed this, doing this special thing together because I had to work. Right. And that is what's going to stick with me. And I, so I think ultimately that's what stays with you are the moments that you spend with friends and family. And so you always have to consider that what your sacrifice, like in the moment, is the sacrifice worth it, because those are the things you care about at the end of your life. It's not. No one is thinking about like, oh, I wish I worked more, you know? And so then I think it's about finding, I always talk about it being a seesaw. Like, you know, there's moments of life where you're going to swing more towards work and then there's moments of your life where you're going to swing more towards personal time and it's about just managing it with the people that are important in your life and having, and communicating clearly, setting boundaries and guide rails and then managing it as much as you can within that.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, no, I totally agree with you on that. I mean, one, having a partner that is on board and has the same common goal is incredibly important. But I think also not having extra, like, right now, I don't have kids. Yeah, we want to have kids. So I'm like, costs associated with that. So I'm like, you know, grinding, trying to get some stuff set up first. And so, like, I'm pulling these long hours, long days. They feel good, but the minute you put in another element there, it's like, kiddos, kids.
Jonathan Mahrt: Kids change everything. Yeah, they're awesome, but they're one of the hardest things you'll ever do. And so. Yeah, do you will. I do not think it's sustainable to work like that and have a healthy family life with children.
Barry Bierman: No way.
Jonathan Mahrt: So it is. Now is the time. Yeah, now is the time. I also. My thing to people, I hear a lot of people, like, worried about being able to afford children. And like, if you're, like, barely getting by now, I get that. But I also think, like, I would not let, if that's your only reason to not have kids, I would tell people, like, don't let that deter you.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: You know, and I'm not saying that is. I'm just saying, you know, think about.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, it's not really, you know, I use the cost, the cost example, but that's just because I have these, like, financial goals I want to have.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: And then, yeah, from there, then I'll be like, okay, now I can put it on cruise control, you know, because, like, right now I'm putting in 14 hours, days and I'm like, okay, I'm doing this for specific reasons. And then, like, once I get to that, then I'm like, okay, you know, throttle back a bit. Cruise control, have the basics.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, you know, there's an element of that where it's like building your business to getting into a place you need it to be before you. So you have then the time to be able to focus on having kids. That's kind of a different equation. So I think that makes a lot of sense. So how are you trying to, like, the other component we didn't talk about is health. Right. This is something I'm currently. I currently struggle with, you know, having young children and trying to get a, you know, and working on starting a business and stuff is finding is lots of times people sacrifice working a lot, sacrifice their health in order to work more and don't carve out those times for themselves. How are you doing that in your own life?
Barry Bierman: Oh, man. It is a constant struggle for me because my work can change. I can be gone for two or three days, or I can be gone for a week, or I can be pulling a morning shoot or an afternoon shoot. Dude. I just try to make it a priority. And I have this two day rule where it's like, I don't let myself miss more than two days. So I missed yesterday, and I was supposed to go to work, go here at twelve, and if I can't make it, I'm going to just put on my running shoes and run as hard as I can for 30 minutes. That's it. Like, I just need that 30 minutes to do something. And so there's these, like, non negotiables that I try to set with myself. And obviously, I'm not perfect and I mess up. But when it comes to, when it comes to, like, being consistent with it, the only thing that helped me actually do that in the last six months was I had, like, kind of a little bit of a health scare with the dog. The doc told me I have super high cholesterol and blood pressure, and I was like, 32 years old. I'm like, what?
Jonathan Mahrt: Gotta walk in, dude.
Barry Bierman: What is this? I'm like, I can't just eat fried food and steak. Are you telling me something? Damn, I really like my beer. And so that helped kind of shake me out of my. Oh, wow. Okay. I've been putting it, not prioritizing. And so nowadays become work life harmony and working out are in the top bracket there.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, that's a good insight to just kind of set some. The idea of non negotiables or setting like, a framework for yourself, not just like, hey, I'm gonna try and work out today, but no, every two days I gotta try and do something. And so having a concrete kind of target, I do think helps, as opposed to just kind of this amorphous, like, I need to work out more.
Barry Bierman: Yeah. And what I also enjoy, too, is like, you know, I'm not a bodybuilder, obviously, but you look great.
Jonathan Mahrt: Thanks. Great.
Barry Bierman: But I'm not like, I'm not here to, like to, you know, go in all hulk mode. I. What I like is to go to do something that's within a group setting. So there's this joke about, how do you know someone does Crossfit? They'll tell you, I go to CrossFit and there's.
Jonathan Mahrt: Crossfit is its own kind of religion.
Barry Bierman: It's a cult.
Jonathan Mahrt: Orange theory is another one that's kind of like that.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, I did orange theory for a little while. It's great, it's fun. But the thing that I like is the group setting, the fact that I don't have to come prepped the workouts there for me, all the equipment's there, and then all I do is I pick one of the guys in the class, I'm like, I'm going to try and beat him. And so that helps me. I'm a competitive guy. And then I also get that camaraderie of like twelve of us. At the end of it, we're totally gassed and we're like, for fist bumps and stuff like that. That for me is really good. That's how I can stay at least way more consistent, too. And there's a little bit of an accountability because, you know, if you're going to this. Going to this class and you're there frequently and you don't go, and then someone's like, hey, I didn't see you.
Jonathan Mahrt: Plus you're paying money for it and not going, you know?
Barry Bierman: Totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, no, I should revisit that because I. That was kind of my thing. Is that trying to go to some sort of fitness classes because it's scheduled, like, you put something on the calendar, you schedule it and you feel obligated to go, as opposed to just going to the gym, you're like, yeah, you. Maybe you put it on your calendar, but no one's expecting you to be there. You're not, like, you could just cancel. There's no repercussions. There's no, like, there's no pressure to go.
Barry Bierman: Right.
Jonathan Mahrt: You know, so I should. I should definitely revisit that.
Barry Bierman: And, like, when I worked at nine to five, you know, when I was at the ad agency back in the day, was. It was so much easier to find time to go. I would just clock off at five and I'd be at the gym at 05:05.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: You know, bang. But now, because business owner, I don't work eight to nine to five, I work 24/7 it's so easy for me to go, like, in the afternoon, I'm like, we've got too many things on the plate. Gotta get this out. Gotta go do this. I'll just be like, I'm not going, you know, and then I'll feel good about it and then half a tip of ice cream later. I think routine is like so much more important for guys, like where we put it in the calendar, non negotiable, time blocked.
Jonathan Mahrt: And you make that happen 100%. Definitely. You need to get better about that because I do do it with other stuff, like podcasting.
Barry Bierman: Totally.
Jonathan Mahrt: So let's talk a little bit, because we've talked a lot about the personal stuff. Let's talk a little bit about business and your approach to business. I kind of want to start with, you're going out, you're filming content. Talk a little bit more about what you're doing on a day to day for people.
Barry Bierman: My day to day video production company. So what we do is we go out, we help businesses and brands create the content for their marketing material or for their social medias, which is all marketing material. Ultimately, what my day looks like is 90% coming up with ideas and managing all the pre production, and then 10% is actually the filming part, which is like, I wish it was the other way around because love being on set, love running the camera, love directing and having all the crew and the talent and all that stuff. That's so much more fun for me than sitting in a desk and doing an edit or whatever.
Jonathan Mahrt: So the conversation we need to have then outside the podcast is, how do we change that ratio?
Barry Bierman: I mean, tomorrow you're coming to a.
Jonathan Mahrt: Place so we could have that conversation. So I was about to ask you what's the best part and the worst part about what you do? But I think you just answered that question.
Barry Bierman: Yeah. You know, honestly, I love, I do really enjoy interacting with the client, coming up with really cool concepts and then making sure we can execute on that and plan that. So I love producing, but the funnest part for me is going out with the camera, setting up the lights, getting a beautiful shot. There's nothing better than, or whether that be getting a really well lit, interesting shot or interacting with an actor, or even climbing up the side of a mountain to get a really great shot. Like physically, I think my old manual labor days kind of in my work on the yachts and all that, kind of have parallels with, like, I do enjoy using my body to get shots.
Jonathan Mahrt: And do stuff like that. That's cool. There's an, you know, I was just thinking about, as you were saying, that there's an element of creating stuff like, you know, or being a creative. That's a lot like being in the trades. I mean, they're very, like, related in a way. People don't think about it, you know, in that one thing. The reason I enjoy working with my hands, and I think this is the reason a lot of guys like mowing the lawn. And when I say I like mowing the lawn, because as soon as I start mowing, something has been done. Like, I have evidence of work that I've done.
Barry Bierman: Check.
Jonathan Mahrt: The grass has gone from here to here, right. And I think that's what's so satisfying about being in the trades. And in somewhat way, what you're doing is a trade. You know, you have to practice at it, you have to be skilled at it. You are, like, there is a physical element of it and you're creating something in the same way that someone's, like someone building a house is creating a house from nothing. And there's something so satisfying about saying, hey, at the end of the day, like, there's something here and something exists that did not exist before.
Barry Bierman: And, yeah, you've absolutely nailed that. I mean, when it comes to pushing paper or doing, let's say, data entry or something like that, it's really, I mean, I would not be able to last very long doing that kind of thing. But that being said, there is an element of that in my gig where it's like, okay, there's a lot of moving parts and you might not see what's happening, but then there's that moment of whoop, everything comes up. Lights, creation. Then you get an end result. And so that is fulfilling in that component.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. There's nothing better than working hard at something, than creating something from nothing. So what makes you. You're chugging along. It seems like you're getting good momentum in your business. What do you feel like makes you different from the other guys?
Barry Bierman: Oh, Mandy. I think about this all the time. I genuinely wonder, like, talent is cheap. People are super, super good at what they. There are guys out there that are way, way, way better than me. I think the only thing that I try to do differently is I try to be a really, really good guy on set. Like, the only thing I want is people to feel like they've had a really great time with me. At the end of the day, the product. Yeah, it matters. And the results. Yeah, it matters. But, like, there's that old saying about, like, people. People won't remember what you did for them. They'll only remember what you. How you made them feel. And so, like, that is something that I try to absolutely put at the forefront of my mind. Because I can get, like, really serious about what I do. I could get like, okay, we gotta get the things done and the da da da. But at the end of the day, I mean, I don't want to make anyone feel rushed or not considered or like I brushed them off or anything. So my, that's kind of my ethos. It's my kind of my driving factor doesn't necessarily make me stand out. I don't think so. I think most people are really great, but when it comes to a director or a business owner, you don't want to be that, like, tortured artist that makes everyone feel like shit on set.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, it's great for movies and tv shows, but not great for everyday life.
Barry Bierman: No, I mean, even then. I mean, why be a dick?
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, well, no, I'm saying in the context of, like, us watching, watching it. Someone be like that in a movie, not actually in the actual making of the movie.
Barry Bierman: There are guys like, oh, yeah, yeah. You see it all the time. I mean, I've done. Dude. Yeah, you. I don't want to be like that at all. Yeah, yeah, it's cool to watch it.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. Well, I think. And that comes back there. It's so funny because there's already, even in, you know, only having done a handful of episodes, there's already, like, these trend lines I see in my conversations with people. One is, like, figuring out work life balance. The other one is relationships. Because that's really what you're telling me, is that what differentiates you is your relationships with people, whether it's the client or the people you're working with on set. It's your ability to collaborate with them to nurture the relationship. How you make them feel is so critical to having a successful business because ultimately, you're not on an island trying to build relationships with customers, and they're going to want to buy from you because of how that relationship makes them feel.
Barry Bierman: Totally. And in my industry, it's a funny thing. There's often you have people, they gatekeep, especially the older guys, because there's tricks of the trade and they don't want to collaborate. There's this new trend happening where there's a lot of YouTube. You watch it. You see the YouTube Peter McKinnons and all those guys that really share the inner workings, look under the hood type of situation. People love that. And so I don't want to be that guy. I want to be a guy that people can come and talk to, and I'll just give them all of everything I know why? Because it's all about the implementation of it. And with my stuff, with my career, with my industry, I could give six guys a creative brief, the footage and music, a selection of music, and all six of them would cut something different with all the same information. That means that from my perspective, we're all individuals, and there's no reason that we should not collaborate, because our individuality makes us unique.
Jonathan Mahrt: And each of those six different cuts may be different for six, maybe good for six different clients. Clients, totally. And not all the same client wouldn't like all of those products either.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, it could literally be the same footage for the same client, all with the same objective. Each person's different, and I would cut one thing differently on one day than on the next. And so, like, the way we film it, even all of this is just variables, you know? So at the end of the day, do you want to do it again?
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. And that's how I feel, too. Building my business. I mean, the whole premise of my business is that I'm helping people run their businesses better. Well, I'm not trying to gatekeep information behind a paywall. I'm not giving you any advice or any opinions about your business until you pay me money. Well, that's crazy. My feeling is, if I provide value to you, regardless of whether or not we're actually working together, and you feel like that's real value, then that's going to make you say, hey, he has good insights. If I actually pay him to really concentrate on my business, what can we actually come up with? What can he actually help me do?
Barry Bierman: Have you heard of a guy, Alex Ramosyn, read his books?
Jonathan Mahrt: No.
Barry Bierman: I'm going to have to give it to him. So he's got two books, $100 million lead and $100 million offer. There's a big backstory about who the guy is, but he's young, he's 33. Multi, multi, multi millionaires. Got a business called acquisition.com dot. Anyways, his idea is he gives away information free. His books are only a dollar on Amazon. That's the lowest you could literally, right?
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. Listen, price them.
Barry Bierman: And so he put in all this effort, all this time, and he's teaching people everything he knows. So what he's doing is once your company reaches, like 5 million in sales per year, you can go to acquisition.com and talk to him, or maybe not him direct, but talk to his company, and they will try and see if they can help you scale and help you grow and get you to your next stage of your business. The thing is, he basically gave away all of the tools that you would require to get you to 5 million. So I guess his selling point is, like, I'm going to give you tools to grow. And once you get to this point, we can help grow each other. We can help grow. But the point that I'm trying to make with that is he's his following in the last, I think it's three years, four years. He's got, like seven or 8 million subscribers now. From zero to 8 million.
Jonathan Mahrt: Wow.
Barry Bierman: Instantaneous overnight success for that. In that area.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: And it's just because he gives away everything.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: Everybody loves him.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think. And there's a lot of people, like, a lot of people out there, that's what they say. They talk about. And that's kind of what I'm trusting. And even us being in a and a b and I group together, I mean, that is kind of the givers gain thing. And it's not just b and I that talks about it. Lots of people talk about that, and I think it's true. Cause also, no one wants to work with someone that is like, just trying to sell them constantly. Right. It comes back to my perspective is also the relationship perspective. Right. I'm building a relationship with you by talking to you and providing value to you, regardless of you're gonna pay me, and because of the relationship we build, then you're like, okay, I wanna work with him because I know that he's gonna treat me right. I know that he's fair. And so that's kind of my philosophy and perspective on things. And I think so far it's working out, but we'll see.
Barry Bierman: It'll work.
Jonathan Mahrt: I think that transitions perfectly. Bringing up the book is that I like to ask every guest, what are some of the books that they gift most often to people or recommend most often to people?
Barry Bierman: Do you want. Oh, dude, I'm a big historical fiction reader. Do you want business books?
Jonathan Mahrt: Whatever. I mean, it's your. This is dealer's choice. What. What do you like to. What do you like to recommend to people?
Barry Bierman: You know, it depends on who I'm talking to, because I feel like a book can solve a lot of people's problems, and it's like, almost like giving unsolicited advice. I'm like, really careful not to.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, but in some ways, like, it's easier. Like, you know, like, you know, if you tell someone something, they're not going to receive it, but you can give them a book and maybe they'll read it. And that's what. And that's what you would have told them anyway.
Barry Bierman: Yeah. You know, honestly, if they're a smoker, Alan Carr's easy way to quit smoking. The first thing. No, that'll probably save someone's life. Oh, man, there's so many Tim Ferriss. Four hour workweek really opened up my eyes. Personal MBA is a good one as well. Alex Ramosis. $100 million offer. $100 million lead. That's a good one. Business related. I'm going a little nerdish now. I love the dune books. Read them all. Lord of the rings. Read them all. Any historical fiction book? Wilbur Smith, he's a big. I'm a massive fan of his stuff. That's because it's taking place in, like, southern Africa during all the major centuries, well, the last 300 years or so. And it's got all these amazing stories interwoven with historical events, and it's just like, just really entertaining reading. So I read that before going to bed. But if I were to give away a book to anybody. Buddy, dude. Shantaram is one of my favorites. Have you ever read that?
Jonathan Mahrt: No, I'm not familiar with Gregory.
Barry Bierman: Alan Roberts. I think this is Gregory Roberts. Yeah. It's basically, it's a story about a guy that went to India. He was on the run, and it's got one of the best, one of the most amazing reads ever. The guy that wrote the book was in prison, and he was writing his books in prison. He had to rewrite it three times because they, like, destroyed it. And so it just got better and better and better. It's fantastic. Okay, I will bring it. I think I actually lended it out to someone. I'll have to find my copy.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Barry Bierman: I'll get it.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. Well, so I have a running. There is a running list that's linked in the podcast description of all the books that people have recommended and who recommended them. You just grew that. I think you just double the length of list. So that's great. I love that. And I think it's interesting that you have so, of everyone that's been on so far, you're the only person that's given, like, fiction books. And I think that speaks to you as a creative right, is because you're storytelling, and so then you appreciate good stories.
Barry Bierman: Absolutely.
Jonathan Mahrt: Not that other people don't, but I think. I think that kind of is clear to me in the conversation.
Barry Bierman: Yeah, you nailed it. You know what I love to do? It's one of the exercises, like, I'll read a book, like a fiction book, and I'll go, how would I film it? You know? And so I'm doing these scenes in my head. I'm like, okay, yeah, okay. This is what I'm envisioning. But I'm like, is that even possible? Would I be able to do it practically without effects? Without or without VFX? Like, is it? And so, like, when you watch a movie like Dune two, for example, what Denis Villeneuve did, the director, he took the same way that Star wars was so great back in the seventies, or.
Jonathan Mahrt: Was that eighties 77?
Barry Bierman: Star wars came out, they were doing practical effects in that because there was no VFX. The same thing Denis did with Dune two and Dune one was that when the spaceship settles down on the cement slab, you're like, wow, that looks really real. And so they're doing these miniature. They create miniature things and they slot them down. And sound effects, it's just incredible. Incredible visual storytelling. They build out the ornithopter, you know? And obviously they're doing green screening for, like, the desert parts of it. But they went out and they filmed it in Jordan.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: Build these huge sets. It's awesome.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah. I haven't seen Dune two yet.
Barry Bierman: Oh, just.
Jonathan Mahrt: Which is what I loved. Dune one, I. And my takeaway from it was like, okay, story, whatever. But just the cinematic experience, like, just the audio and the visual, I was like. It was probably, from that perspective is one of my favorite movies ever because I. I was just, like, blown. And it's definitely a movie you got to, like, either if you're watching at home, you need to have, like, a good sound system and a good tv, or you gotta see it in the movie theater.
Barry Bierman: One or the other. Imax. Go to it. The only thing that I like is that I wish that they would. Maybe that'll be something that they can implement one day, is where they can have, like, you can put on glasses and you can have your subtitles on for the theater experience. It's like I can't always hear perfectly what the. What the dialogue is. And I know that they do it intentionally so that it doesn't seem like really heightened dialogue because they want it to sound natural in the space. There's moments in Dune one where he's, like, whispering and he's talking.
Jonathan Mahrt: It's hard. Yeah, probably. Yeah, I'll have to beep that out later, maybe. But also your hearing loss that you mentioned working on the rigs probably contributes to that little bit, you know? But, yeah, I agree with that. Sometimes you're watching stuff and you're like, I cannot understand what they're saying at all. So it's. I do turn subtitles on at home lots of times for that reason.
Barry Bierman: And also, you can just quickly, you know. Oh, yeah. Okay. Gotcha. And so, like, the thing about it is, for me, I really am story driven in that sense that I want to know what they're saying so that I can enjoy it even more. And that's from, I think, reading as well. I read really quick. I'll crush out a book, like a good book in a weekend if I get it, if my wife lets me.
Jonathan Mahrt: Fair enough. Care enough. Yeah, that's cool, man. So the last question I want to ask you is, if you could put one thing on a billboard that's advice for people that thousands of people every day are going to see driving by, what would you tell them? What would you put on there?
Barry Bierman: Wow, man. It's a good one. Good question. Oh, man. I'm so many cliche things popping in my head. Some, like, stoic cliches are stuff.
Jonathan Mahrt: They're cliches for a reason, because they're good advice most of the time.
Barry Bierman: You know, I think. You know, I think the problem that I'm suffering from right now is, like, the audience, it's like, who am I speaking to? What message would I want to give them? I think it might make sense.
Jonathan Mahrt: This is a general message for the world, right? It's not because it's just every random person driving by.
Barry Bierman: I think. I think the. I think something that I would write on a billboard, but it would be for the little version of me, maybe, is like, fair enough. Don't. Don't worry about what other people think.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah.
Barry Bierman: Do what you want to do and trust in the process. That's about it.
Jonathan Mahrt: I think that's universally good advice that everyone needs to hear. Yeah. Because I think it's. As a person who is a people pleaser, it's easy to end up in a situation where you're not doing what you want to do, you're doing things to make other people happy, and it's the wrong thing for you. Totally. So that's awesome.
Barry Bierman: It's tough, though, man, because you've got obligations and you want to make other people happy. And I grew up, it's for the service of others, but at the same time, it's okay to be a little selfish sometimes. Yeah.
Jonathan Mahrt: I mean, I think if. And this is a whole bigger conversation, but you have to set boundaries in your life. I mean, boundaries are healthy for everyone. And so if you don't, and I think there's a big part of that is like, it's just, that's part of growing up, too, especially with parents. You know, you grow, at least I think the average person who grows up, like, wanting to do things that please their parents, I mean, that's also how you raise your children is like, do what I tell you to. Listen to me, you know? And so that's a, that's a thing everyone's kind of got to figure out. And some people, it's easier, you know, it's easier for them than others.
Barry Bierman: I'm still figuring it out.
Jonathan Mahrt: Yeah, well, me, too. I don't, yeah. It's a lifelong, lifelong learning, right?
Barry Bierman: Totally. Yeah.
Jonathan Mahrt: Well, awesome, dude, thank you so much for being on. You've been a wonderful guest. Let's do it again. Where can, where can people find you?
Barry Bierman: Lockstonemedia.com or Barry Beerman on all the socials.
Jonathan Mahrt: How do you spell your last name?
Barry Bierman: Beermans Bierman. First name Barry. B A R R Y.
Jonathan Mahrt: Cool. And this has been another episode of on the Flywheel. You can find us at Flywheel Consulting. That's Flywheelconsulting Co. And flywheel consulting on all the social. Thank you again for being on the show.