I find it imperative to keep a well-managed “to-do” list with me at all time. There are two key reasons for this, if you have a busy schedule it is hard to remember everything and by writing things into place on the list it allows you to think clearly and make sure all tasks, whether they are big or small, get completed in a timely manner. The second reason is I believe there are some days, and weeks for that matter where you go hard and feel like you are just running in sand but you can get a real sense of accomplishment when you look back over that list, whether it’s at the end of the day or week and see all that you have taken care of.
Scott Jones established Brides Entertainment in 2013 to serve as a hub for wedding entertainment, information and planning tools. After building a strong reputation for distributing feature files and documentaries, Scott, wanted to expand into selling and producing television series. The wedding industry lends itself to many different types of lifestyle programming. With that in mind, Scott dove into the niche business and Weddings Media was born.
Scott is also the President/CEO and Founder of Artist View Entertainment Inc., a world class multimedia sales and marketing corporation. Scott oversees the distribution of over $125 million of programming assets including over 300 feature length motion pictures, series and special interest programming. Since the start of his international sales career in 1988, Scott has been an executive producer of 14 feature films and has been directly involved in acquiring, marketing and distributing over 500 independently produced films.
Where did the idea for Brides Entertainment come from?
The initial idea came when I was at a TV conference four years ago. I had a close friend who was working on an interactive website concept and the idea of combining television and an interactive website came to me. After attending an OTT conference in San Jose and listening to the technical side of how things were going to evolve I married (no pun intended) the ideas. I brought on a team of close friends who were involved in the technology, finance, and the wedding industry. The team was set and with our vast and various backgrounds we were ready to move forward.
What does your typical day look like?
I spend a good part of my day communicating with my partners and overseeing their individual departments. It is both exciting and challenging to move from technology, into production and development, followed by marketing strategies, advertising, and finance. The key for me is to be the glue. I need to make sure that at the end of the day everyone has the same overall corporate vision and that each department has a clear understanding of what the other pieces of the puzzle are up to.
How do you bring ideas to life?
You can have all the best ideas in the world but if you’re not surrounded by the best people your ideas won’t come to life. Our group in mature, well-educated, and has the ability to feed off of each other’s ideas to make them better. If the vision and communication is clear, the ideas will grow.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
I believe that if the consumer enjoys their experience whether it is from watching one of our shows, entering one of our contests, or using our planning and budgeting tools, they will spread the word, they will give us their feedback and make us better; they will invest in our success by using social media to spread the word. That type of consumer acceptance is very exciting to me because that spells major success in today’s world.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I find it imperative to keep a well-managed “to-do” list with me at all time. There are two key reasons for this, if you have a busy schedule it is hard to remember everything and by writing things into place on the list it allows you to think clearly and make sure all tasks, whether they are big or small, get completed in a timely manner. The second reason is I believe there are some days, and weeks for that matter where you go hard and feel like you are just running in sand but you can get a real sense of accomplishment when you look back over that list, whether it’s at the end of the day or week and see all that you have taken care of.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I grew up in a part of Canada where oil was the number one industry. I had a job working for a steel fabrication company that made parts for oil rigs and it was the only job I was ever fired from. What I learned from that experience was that I was not meant to work with power tools.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I’m not sure I’d do anything differently. I have made countless mistakes, but no matter how hard the lesson was, I learned from it. I believe if you don’t take risks and fall down once and a while it means you’re not trying hard enough. I will always embrace my mistakes and believe they were meant to happen, because of the lesson I learned. Just get up afterwards, dust yourself off and moved forward.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Believe in “momentum”. If you are putting yourself out there and are truly working hard good things will happen and when you hit a flat spot or lull you have to believe that you have planted enough seeds, and made enough of an impression on the people that you have contacted that good will come of it… you never know who is out there talking about you at any given time.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
From the day I started my own business I promised myself that I would always treat people the same way I’d want them to treat me. It’s sad that “respect” is such a forgotten word in our society today and I have proven time and time again that if you treat people properly your business and those relationship will continue to grow for the “long-term” and that to me is the ultimate goal.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I have had a few situations where I just simply trusted the wrong people. In those cases I did my best to minimize the damages and hoped like hell that I’d make better choices as I moved forward. It’s tricky because you need to depend on other people to succeed and unfortunately there are some folks out there that only worry about themselves and don’t care who get hurt along the way. It’s just part of life.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think there is still room in the market for a chain of small video rental stores. They would not be expensive to set up and there are still a huge number of DVD renters out there that would love to get in their cars and go peruse the shelves of a rental store. The locations would have to be small and the pricing would have to be competitive with Red Box. Everyone is depending on Netflix and their service is exceptional but people still like to shop and get new release quickly.
Tell us something about you that very few people know?
From a young age I was always interest in entertainment, I wrote a Christmas play in 6th grade and my teacher had the class perform it. I excelled in drama class right through high school and played Brad in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (our senior class play). I guess it a roundabout way it’s always been in my blood but as for my career in the “Entertainment Business” I chose to focus more on the second word.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
I have always enjoyed books that I believe can “Coach” you along. I have benefited from books by the likes of Antony Robins and Wayne Dyer. These books help me focus on my personal and business goals. Some ideas I buy into and some I don’t, but in every case these books make me really think about what I want out of life and remind to set my goals high and not to be afraid to reach for them.
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
The biggest influences on my life have been older, wiser professionals that have taken the time to teach me and mentor me on how the world really turns. I have a huge amount of respect for the technology moguls of our time; their visions astound and inspire me. I look up in admiration to those creative individuals who sit at the top of the entertainment industry food chain, these are hardworking, highly motivated individuals. However, the biggest influence of all has been my father, he is a self-made man who taught me the most important thing in business, which is, no matter how good or bad your day goes the three most important thing in life are “Your friends, your family and your word.”
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.