#05: The Solo Path to Success: How Tony Smith Built a One-Man Video Powerhouse

Steve Gasser (00:01.898)
Welcome to the Remarkable Podcast. I’m Steve Gasser and today I’m sitting down with my friend and go-to video expert, Tony Smith. So here’s the question. What does success look like when you choose to go solo, stay solo, and do this on purpose? Tony is the founder of FRF Productions. He’s built a thriving one-man business that produces powerful, high-quality video content for brands that are both large and small. And I think what makes Tony remarkable isn’t just his talent.

It’s the way he shows up with his clients. He’s thoughtful, people first, and completely tuned in to his clients’ needs. So let’s jump in and learn more about Tony’s journey. Tony, welcome to the podcast.

Tony Smith (00:46.789)
Thank you, Steve. Thanks for having me. It’s good to see you again.

Steve Gasser (00:48.748)
Yeah, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.

Tony Smith (00:51.971)
It has been a minute.

Steve Gasser (00:54.094)
So, Tony, for people listening, tell us a little bit about you and kind of your journey with FRF Productions.

Tony Smith (01:00.943)
Yeah, 15th year in business now, I think. But, So yeah, I always grew up riding dirt bike snowmobiles and on the weekends we’d take the VHS tapes out and mix them together and add music. And I had a friend of mine that would make one and I’d try to make one better. so we were always kind of shooting videos on the weekends of just kind of doing our activities. And I never really took it seriously.

Steve Gasser (01:04.75)
15. wow.

Tony Smith (01:27.971)
Long story short there, just kind of playing around with video cameras my whole life, but a friend of mine, Adam Kaping, in town here at Landscape in Hutchinson, he asked if I could make a curbing video for him for his website. And I was like, yeah, that doesn’t sound too difficult. And so from there, the ball slowly kind of started rolling forward to doing more corporate style video production stuff and went back to school. I started Free Ride Films with a friend of mine, which was like an action sports DVD.

hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, stuff that we sold, but that was like a motorsports hour-long feature video. And I realized pretty quickly I couldn’t compete with the big boys in that industry, which, you know, they do million-dollar productions. Went back to school again. Thankfully, you offered me some space in the bottom of Vivid Image and kind of got my feet wet there 15 years ago. And so just making corporate marketing videos now.

Steve Gasser (02:21.889)
a long time ago.

So what do you love most about video production? In 15 years, you must love what you’re doing.

Tony Smith (02:32.985)
I do, you cut out there just a little bit. So I missed the first part of your question there, but yeah, super passionate about it. It’s just, mean, making videos was something I used to do for fun and now I get paid to do it. So it’s been a remarkable journey to say the least, because I think one of the keys to my success, I actually went to school for welding when I got done with high school. I went to welding school and I jumped around a bunch of different jobs. And my last job I was flying out to Idaho, welding up dairy plants.

Steve Gasser (02:47.405)
Yeah.

Tony Smith (03:00.185)
great money, great pay, great whatever, but like it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. So having the opportunity to go back to school and get this going every day just kind of feels like a little bit of a dream to some extent. And I credit a lot of my success actually to some of my early clients, RC Thomas and some of the clients that we share actually, cause when you’re in the role that I guess we are, we get to go into these companies, learn what makes them good, why are they successful? And

You know, I said coming from a welding background is because I didn’t have a business background. No one in my family owns a business. It was a lot of different hats to kind of figure out to, you know, make it work. But learning from my clients early on and kind of taking away some of their things that made them successful, I think in turn helped me kind of figure things out a lot faster, kind of ease that curve to jumping into wanting a business.

Steve Gasser (03:52.59)
So when you’re working with a new client, what is your creative process when you begin a new project?

Tony Smith (03:58.127)
funny thing is everyone thinks I’m super creative and I don’t think I’m that creative at all. You know, we’ve got like some of you design. I feel like it’s more of a process like understanding what their wants and needs are and then making that happen. And I’m sure there’s some creativity and stuff in there. But I mean, you know, when we look at some of the Red Bull videos or some of the high end stuff, it’s like, you know, those guys are on a different level with creativity. But again, to have a successful business, you got to wear all the hats and you know, so.

Steve Gasser (04:02.926)
I’ve seen your videos, man.

Tony Smith (04:27.065)
I think I’ve got a good blend somehow of just making everything work and meeting with the clients and kind of hopefully exceeding their expectations on the projects.

Steve Gasser (04:35.832)
And I some links to your demo reels and some of your videos in the show notes here. But how do you stay fresh and inspired? mean, it’s been 15 years. How do you stay fresh and inspired with everything that you do?

Tony Smith (04:47.161)
Yeah, everything changes all the time, right? There’s different trends and just watching other people’s work, trying to figure out what they’re doing. I love kind of like reverse engineering. You know, someone or a client or a friend shows me a video, it’s like, well, how did they do that? You know, and then figuring it out and playing with it. And I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of my short little stuff on Facebook. I’ll just get my drone out and go do these weird different angles because it looks, it’s different. you know, and then, so you kind of build up your little tool bag of all your little,

ways to capture things with camera gimbals or drones or sliders, dollies, gimbals, GoPros, time lapses. So I’ve kind of got all that in my back pocket. So it’s like, when you get to a shoot, know, what style of video are they kind of looking for? And then figuring out which of those tools are going to kind of be appropriate to make it work. Because anytime you make a camera movement, whether it’s a stationary, it creates an emotion and a feeling. So trying to emulate some type of style is important to make sure that it

Steve Gasser (05:23.822)
You got it all.

Tony Smith (05:45.295)
works with their brand message.

Steve Gasser (05:49.23)
So you’ve been intentional about staying as a solopreneur. What’s been some of the biggest rewards or challenges of being on your own rather than hiring a team behind you?

Tony Smith (06:01.711)
Yeah, few comments there. One, right, there’s the little guy on your shoulder saying, do more, hire a team, get bigger, America, like just build, build, build and grow, grow, grow. It may be at some point I will do that, but I’ve just really, really enjoyed the flexibility and freedom of my time. I’ve got younger kids now and an older one. but I mean, this morning I ran to Menards and grabbed stuff and I’ve been

Steve Gasser (06:08.024)
Yeah.

Tony Smith (06:26.073)
doing a lot of work in our garage and if you had a nine to five or was tied down with employees, I wouldn’t be able to do some of those things and it just, makes me happy for one to have my freedom and flexibility. If I want to go ride dirt bike on a Wednesday at noon, I pretty much can go do it right now. And I’m very fortunate for that, but yeah, it’s kind of a loaded question with a lot of different answers, but the flexibility and freedom has been good and it’s just.

not being tied down, not having to worry about the budget as much because I’ve got two employees that are counting on me and doing all that management. I need to, I’ll subcontract out someone, but for the most part, it’s been myself doing start to finish on projects.

Steve Gasser (07:06.552)
Kind of a lifestyle business too.

Tony Smith (07:08.719)
That’s what you called it a few years ago, I remember that, yeah, lifestyle business, cause get to do what I want, when I want, I guess.

Steve Gasser (07:16.334)
But what I know about you, so being a solopreneur, you got to have a high level of discipline too. I mean, there’s some crazy stuff that you do, riding dirt bikes and things like that. But what I know about you is you can’t go out have fun until the work’s done. You’re really good at getting things done and having that discipline.

Tony Smith (07:33.519)
Gotta have all the notes with all the things you gotta do each day on them. Yeah, I thought about this question actually when you mentioned having me on the podcast, how I would answer it. And I think I’m fortunate that for some reason my brain is wired to get the work done before I go do the play. That way I can enjoy the play. Yeah, I don’t know what to say about that. I can’t go ride dirt bike at noon unless I get all my work done. So I’m certainly…

wired some way that works for this situation.

Steve Gasser (08:05.58)
discipline. So, you know, we’ve shared some quite a few clients in the past. What makes a great client relationship in your eyes?

Tony Smith (08:16.133)
Yeah, I love clients that are kind of like, we’ve got a client, rural computer consultants and they’re just fantastic. They’re always on the ball. RC Thomas, they were always kind of like challenging us to what’s the next thing, what can we do and kind of keeping us on our toes, which is cool. And like I said, sort of that reverse engineering when a client comes to me with a new project and maybe it’s a tad out of my scope, but I’m like, I know we can accomplish that and try to figure out how to make it happen. just, love the challenges.

Steve Gasser (08:23.789)
Yes.

Tony Smith (08:44.231)
that come along with it. good clients are just ones that are mutually beneficial off of our work together. I want my clients to have success with their videos and they’re not just wasting marketing money and stuff like that. So being able to provide a good quality service to them that is beneficial and can help them either sell more, brand awareness, whatever, that’s a good client.

Steve Gasser (09:11.438)
always a purpose.

Tony Smith (09:12.696)
Yeah, there’s gotta be purpose to it.

Steve Gasser (09:14.542)
So what role does video play in building trust and visibility for small businesses?

Tony Smith (09:21.947)
Yeah, things have changed a little bit since COVID, I think. I mean, we’re literally sitting here doing a Zoom or, you know, an online podcast with each other. Prior to COVID, I would have probably not recommended this because, I don’t know, it’s just changed a little bit. So everything has gotten a little bit, I keep hitting my Siri button. That’s what’s happening there when I touch the headphone. But everything’s kind of gotten a little bit more accessible online and more people are doing videos, which is fantastic. I think.

you know, more video is better and it, it, can listen to this podcast, sure, or see it, but when you watch it, you get a better feel for the person. You kind of understand a little bit more. You can tell if they’re lying or tell if they’re telling the truth or tell if they’re excited or passionate. And, and with a brand seeing their employees, are they happy employees or are they just sitting there, you know, kind of saying, yeah, it’s a good place to work. You know, you can tell really quickly, you know, body language and everything. I think video is just better at that than.

just audio or reading something on the internet. So it definitely plays a big role in who is your company and what products do you have or whatever.

Steve Gasser (10:28.802)
Yeah, there’s some authenticity that comes out in the video.

Tony Smith (10:30.83)
authenticity.

Steve Gasser (10:34.542)
So in your experience, is there one thing that business owners often misunderstand about professional videos?

Tony Smith (10:42.489)
Good question Steve, what do think?

Tony Smith (10:46.894)
Tony Smith (10:50.713)
I can hit pause on that one. I don’t know. That’s a good question. I didn’t think that one out fully.

Steve Gasser (10:55.378)
We need to pause on that one. You know, I think of that, you know, some business, it worth the is it worth investing in a professional video? Why can’t we just go out and, you know, shoot with our cameras? With our phones.

Is there a direction there?

Tony Smith (11:10.501)
Yeah.

Tony Smith (11:14.469)
Yeah, there’s multiple ways of doing video. You could do none, or you could do some. You could hop out your cell phone. And I think that is an appropriate use in many situations now, especially since kind of COVID, and everyone’s gotten used to lower quality production, per se. But there’s something to be said about having a good produced high-end video done by a professional that just goes a lot further in

It’s a little more dynamic, I guess, and kind of just, yeah, than your typical cell phone video.

Steve Gasser (11:52.44)
Another question for you here along those same lines. The question is, how do you choose the projects or clients you work with? know, some entrepreneurs, you know, they take everything that comes in front of them because, you know, I need to put food on the table and we’re going to take these projects that maybe don’t fit. How do you choose which projects or clients you want to work on?

Tony Smith (12:12.879)
I certainly was that person at the beginning. was like, I have more time than money, so whatever you want to do, let’s try and do it. And then a few years in, I kind of started phasing out weddings because I had a family and I didn’t want to be working on a Saturday. And basically it’s a Friday Saturday. It’s like a whole weekend thing when you do a wedding. Love doing them, but it just didn’t fit my lifestyle anymore. And then even some clients too, I can tell if they’re going to be really difficult to work with or maybe

Steve Gasser (12:14.893)
Yeah.

Tony Smith (12:41.275)
we’re not seeing eye to eye or their expectations are different than what I can actually provide. I’ll just be upfront and be like, don’t think we’re fit to work on this together because I want to make sure they’re happy with my product at the end of the day and that it’s useful. So it’s kind of figuring out what you’re good at and just saying no sometimes, even if it might hurt the checkbook. I’d rather have happy clients than one unhappy client because you read the Google reviews, it’s really hard to get a good review.

It’s really easy to get a bad one, unfortunately, so you just don’t need those.

Steve Gasser (13:15.822)
Yeah, that takes lot of intentionality though to say no.

Tony Smith (13:16.589)
if you can weed model. Yeah, it certainly does.

Steve Gasser (13:22.808)
So how do you want to shift a little bit into personal growth? How do you, what are there any practices you use to stay kind of grounded, to stay, you know, creatively energized?

Tony Smith (13:34.555)
Well, I’m a risk taker. I mean, I broke my hand nine weeks ago racing snowmobiles at the Hutchinson Snowcross race. Had pins in it and all kinds of stuff. then while the pins were getting out, I’m like renovating our garage. I have a hard time saying no to a good time and jumping dirt bikes and snowmobiles and still racing and doing that stuff. I think I’m trying to stay away from turning 40 next month at the end of the day.

Steve Gasser (13:38.318)
Tell me more.

Tony Smith (14:04.475)
Yeah, I kind of mentioned that earlier. It’s like my motorsports background and riding and I just love jumping like going big and I’m older than a lot of the guys that I’m riding with and I, you know, I’m the first one to hit the jump because it’s, I got to be that guy for some reason. But that kind of translated always into the business aspect. I mean, I raced for years, actually raced snowmobiles for Polaris doing cross country racing five or six years ago. Kind of at a pro level actually.

And I just wanted to win. I had goals and I, you know, it was always like the process of like getting better and I kind of translated that over to business as well. You know, having that background, that winning mentality, I guess, has brought me a lot of confidence in this is scary for business, you know, but I can do this. can succeed. can figure it out along the way. And,

I don’t know, get chills thinking about because they to kind of cross over pretty, pretty easily for me. just kind of having that winning mentality and wanting to do better and training focus and then coming over to business. It’s kind of the same thing. You got to learn and be on your toes and be nimble and agile and the marketplace shifts. You better shift. mean, it’s kind of off topic here, but like I keep mentioning COVID a little bit. It’s because I lost 40 to 60 % of my business basically in that month that we shut down.

I had like, yeah, had one more, or one guy, stopped traveling, so we did some more in-house stuff, but that took a little while to get back. And then I had like three or four, maybe five marketing managers that had pivoted and moved their roles to somewhere else inside their company, or they went to a different company. And those were big clients of mine, and when they hired the new marketing person on, I didn’t get picked back up. So those were pretty sure accounts every single year that I was used to having that was kind of a…

Steve Gasser (15:29.614)
night almost.

Tony Smith (15:57.861)
complacently just enjoying, I guess to some extent. So it’s been hard to rebuild a little bit financially after that, but things are coming around and it’s good. So not afraid to fail, not afraid to take risks, fall down, get back up, and life’s gonna be all right.

Steve Gasser (16:15.992)
Yeah, I think that’s one of the tendencies that entrepreneurs need to have. And there’s not much you can’t figure out. Give you a challenge, I know you’re going to figure it out.

Tony Smith (16:27.769)
I appreciate that. my mom gave me a lot of freedom when I was younger, good or bad, but I mean, was the kid running around in the yard playing with stuff, getting the four-wheeler stuck, getting the mower stuck out in the field, it was, just, you know, whatever, but she never really got upset. It was just like, you failed, let’s fix it. And I think I’ve carried that through now because my wife’s a nurse. Everything is more.

She’s like, what are you doing? Like, you broke your hand. Why are you, you’re supposed to be resting. And I’m like, it feels fine. I’m gonna go out and do this. yeah, just, she’s very structured, which is great, because it’s grounded me a lot too. And it’s kind of made me realize, you know, some of the things I am doing, maybe I should slow down, but at the same time, it’s part of who I am.

Steve Gasser (17:13.742)
You know, I had a chance to meet Damon John. You ever watch Shark Tank?

Tony Smith (17:17.837)
I see you went down there. Yeah.

Steve Gasser (17:19.15)
Yeah, had a chance to meet him and one of the things he talked about He shared with his daughter when his daughter was eight is where did you fail today? And he really trying to normalize failure because failure is just the way we grow and it’s the way we learn And you know, just I love that advice and I see that in you, too You’re not afraid to fail because you’re gonna learn you’re gonna keep moving things forward

Tony Smith (17:42.619)
That’s a great life lesson. Our 10 year old daughter started playing basketball, but all the other kids have been playing for a year or two and she’s very smart, very good, and if she’s not good at something, she doesn’t want to do it. And it’s like, that’s not how the world works, hon. You gotta fall and get back up. You’re not gonna be the best every time, especially when you’re just starting out at something. And I think to instill that at a young age is important because it just sets you up to…

rebound quicker, know, and not have some of those, yeah, I don’t know, challenges as you fail.

Steve Gasser (18:20.056)
Some closing remarks here. What advice would you give someone thinking of starting their own business today?

Tony Smith (18:26.447)
Yeah, I’ve got a friend that’s actually opening up a coffee trailer. I know you like coffee, Steve. So maybe we’ll have to go check that out when she gets up and going here in town. Shout out to Heather. I hope you best of luck. But I, we talked a little bit about a month ago as she’s kind of figured everything out and it’s, I mentioned it before, it’s a lot of hats to wear. And I think what I learned early on was like the hats that you don’t know how to wear, you either better hire it out or find someone that can help you with it. Because if you fail at, you know, for me, it was kind of the accounting and QuickBooks and stuff.

Steve Gasser (18:32.831)
Yes, we will.

Tony Smith (18:54.733)
I had gotten a loan through the Southwest Initiative Foundation and they gave me a tutor, wrapped my head around all that and learned about it and now I can do it myself. But if I would have not paid my taxes per se, you know, I would have not been in business anymore. So it’s figuring out what you’re really good at and that’s great. But those other things that will probably make you fail or not do so well, you got to either really work on those. You’ve got your philosophy, right? You should focus on what you’re good at. But when you’re trying to own a business, I mean, it’s like you got to have

Steve Gasser (19:19.982)
That’s right.

Tony Smith (19:23.803)
There’s a little bit more to it, but yes, for video production, I stick to doing videos. I don’t try to do photography. I do it quite often just because clients ask me and I’m good at it too, but I really tried to niche myself into just making videos. yeah, business owners that are trying to start up a small business just know it’s gonna be hard. You’re gonna put in a lot of hours right away. You’re gonna have to learn a lot. Reach out to all of your contacts. Find a mentor. Steve, you were kind of my mentor early on for sure. We’d sit down and have coffee once a month and I…

I very much appreciate that because it was like all the things you just kind of ask a question that I hadn’t thought of, you know, and it would bring something to light that I didn’t know I didn’t know. And that’s what can hurt you, I think, when you’re starting out is the things you don’t know. Because you’re probably really good at doing one thing like making coffee, but it’s did I put gas in the generator? I? You know, all the other stuff that can hurt you. So

Steve Gasser (20:14.008)
Don’t know what you don’t know. Yeah. I think that’s great advice, finding a mentor.

Tony Smith (20:19.129)
I would agree, yeah, right? That’s probably the most important thing is one, two, if you can find five, find five, pick your friend’s brains. And a lot of people are gonna tell you you’re gonna fail. A lot of people are gonna doubt you. They’re gonna be like, what are you doing? You just had a nice cushy job and now you’re gonna start your own business? Like, and that happened to me. Like I said, I was flying out to Idaho and then just pretty much moved home with mom, you know, at 25 or whatever it was. And everyone’s like, what are you doing? I’m like, I don’t know, but that ain’t for me. I’m gonna go try something else. And this is, this is my shot, so.

Just be, yeah, don’t be afraid to take risks, but also if you fail, it’s on you. If you succeed, it’s on you. So,

Steve Gasser (20:59.982)
So Tony, what excites you about the future?

Tony Smith (21:04.92)
Yeah, lot of things at the moment. We just moved houses in January, so a lot of projects around here that I’ve been up to and financially we’re in a better spot too, which is great because it just gives us more time and energy and money to go do things with the kids for work. Once I get all these little house projects done here, some are usually ramped up for me and then I can kind of focus on it a tad more, but the AI stuff coming out is fantastic. I don’t feel threatened by it necessarily. It’s a great tool.

very helpful. I use chat GPT every day just about for different stuff. So the AI stuff is exciting to see where that will go and it’s videos one of the last things I think it’s going to really help out with as far as like creation. It’s not really it’s yeah it’s kind of weird it’s a long conversation to go down but yeah that’s a lot of exciting stuff coming up. It’s a good industry to be in. The economy seems alright.

How about you, Steve? What excites you about the future for your business?

Steve Gasser (22:06.798)
I’d be right in there with you with AI. think AI really accentuates some of the things that you do really, really well. And because you’re good at, because you’re amazing at video, I think AI is just going to take video production even further for you.

Tony Smith (22:22.363)
Everyone’s worried about it taking away jobs. I don’t have any employees, but it allows me to do script writing better, know, come up with content ideas. It allows me to produce a better product by essentially having extra help and it’s fantastic for my end.

Steve Gasser (22:36.012)
Absolutely.

Yeah. So if people want to connect with you, where can they find out more about you, Tony?

Tony Smith (22:44.219)
Yeah, FRFproductions.com, FRFproductions on Facebook. My website, yeah, Facebook. Give me a call, shoot me an email. Happy to help. I’m not a big salesy guy. I love to just sit down and figure out what your needs are and kind of help you. And if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. If it does, great. I hope we have a long relationship together and we can make a lot of content and make everyone happy and help you.

build your brand or sell your product or whatever your need is. I really try to tailor my stuff to my clients needs and stay on budget. Yeah, it’s important.

Steve Gasser (23:21.25)
I guess what people love about you too, you’re not salesy. You’ve had clients for 15 years. I mean, there’s been a lot of great relationships you’ve built.

Tony Smith (23:31.599)
think you can agree. Yeah, relationships is probably the most important part to working with someone because I want them to text me at 9 o’clock on a Friday if they need something. You I don’t feel like they should wait till Monday and if I’m available I’ll get back to them. But I guess, yeah, I treat it pretty personal and it’s not, you know, like going to Best Buy or I shouldn’t say that. But I’m just saying it’s home business with home roots that try to take care of my people and they take care of me.

Steve Gasser (24:00.206)
Relationships are important, but also the responsiveness. I love hearing that. A lot of people think that, I’ll get back to you when I feel like it. You really take that relationship serious and being responsive to your clients.

Tony Smith (24:11.845)
Well, another piece of advice to people starting up a business possibly is you better be available. You don’t get to be done at five o’clock on a Friday just because that’s when you used to be done if you worked at nine to five. It’s 24-seven kind of thing. You text me at six o’clock this morning, I was sitting at my computer and I responded right away. But you can also sleep in, I guess, if you want to. You can do whatever you want, depending on your schedule, it’s good.

Steve Gasser (24:40.981)
There’s a lot of attentionality that comes with that too, because some people think as an entrepreneur, you can work whenever you want. I often tell people, yeah, you can pick whatever 100 hours during the week you want to work.

Tony Smith (24:51.61)
Exactly.

Steve Gasser (24:53.678)
But yeah, what I love about, what’s that?

Tony Smith (24:54.617)
It does get easier over time. It gets a little easier, think. You learn how to do some time management and all that. Yeah, early on it’s rough.

Steve Gasser (25:02.592)
It gets easier.

Yeah, starting out it’s really tough, but it does get easier. You become much more intentional with your time. But Tony, thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast. I’ll put a lot of what we talked about in the show notes so people can link out and learn more about you.

Tony Smith (25:20.923)
Believe it or not, it was my first podcast, so I appreciate it very much, Steve. And yeah, it was a good time.

Steve Gasser (25:23.918)
Really?

All right, have a remarkable day.

Tony Smith (25:29.017)
You too, thank you.