Sum up your business in one sentence.
The Film Farmers Ltd is an international video production company with expertise in producing brand, commercial, documentary and travel projects across the globe.

What are your top tips for business success?
Tip 1: The internet is king. If you want to establish a business today it’s essential that you can be found easily online. How many times do you scroll past page 1 of Google search results when looking for something? The stats are alarming and something close to 90% of internet users don’t bother. Make sure your SEO is as good as it can be. Personally I wouldn’t advise investing in things like Google Ads as so many people run ad blockers anyway.

Tip 2: Separate work from personal life: It might sound overly simplistic, but one of the biggest factors in the acceleration of my business growth was becoming much stricter about when and where I was working. I personally hate sitting on my sofa or in bed and working on my laptop. I found doing this increasingly encroached in to my own time, made me less productive and ultimately demotivated. A home office is a great alternative but even better is joining a co-working space. These are often full of weird and wonderful businesses and also great places to network/win business. I would personally recommend CoTribe in Horley as it’s incredible value for money and has a really unique atmosphere.

Tip 3: Don’t be afraid to say no: When you are freelance there is always the temptation to say yes to every job because there is the underlying worry that you never know when your next job is going to come in. However, if you overload your schedule you’ll simply end up “dropping the ball” and making silly mistakes. Overworking yourself is no good for anyone, especially for your own well-being. It’s far better do to a brilliant job then an OK job! The likelihood is that you’ll find you’ll get repeat business from clients that were super impressed with the time, care and attention that you were able to give them which they probably didn’t get elsewhere.

How did you come up with your idea and turn it into an actual business?

I studied Television Production at Bournemouth University and was determined to pursue a career in the industry. After graduating I worked full-time at a local production company in Dorset and then subsequently freelanced as a camera operator at the London Olympics. Both experiences were incredible! I caught the London bug and got a junior camera operator role in a marketing agency. It was here that I really got an insight in to how to manage clients, deadlines, travel and budgets. After 6 months I decided it was time to take a risk and went freelance. A few years later I launched The Film Farmers right here in Surrey.

What has been your biggest achievement with your business so far?

My business has continued to grow each year at a rapid pace. In 2017 the turnover increased by approximately 350% on the previous year. We have continued to grow at a great pace this year too. Numbers aside, I’m most proud of how quickly individuals within the business have progressed in such a short period of time. I have videographers who have only been out of university for a year but I can trust them to go and film a project solo anywhere in the world!

What has been the biggest challenge so far?
Without a doubt my biggest challenge has been knowing when to hire more team members. I launched a Limited company because I was in a very fortunate position of having too much work and couldn’t keep up with the demand. Taking on a skilled producer freed up so much of my time and within eighteen months I had a team of seven people! October 2018 has seen our workload increase exponentially again and right now we are looking for more camera operators, editors and producers.

My team are a really close bunch, we travel all over the world together and are fortunate that we get to film some incredible events in stunning destinations. They are all passionate about producing captivating films and anybody who joins the team has to have the same drive. Finding new team members who love to travel at short notice, are technically gifted, ultra personable and confident in their own abilities is probably my biggest challenge right now, but to date I’ve been very lucky!

What do you want to achieve next?

My next challenge is launching our first international office in New York. The Film Farmers Inc is now a registered company and I’m going through the visa process now. My business has a wonderful selection of US clients that we create content for across the EMEA regions and being able to work with them more locally would be great for everyone involved.

What do you think will be your biggest challenge getting there?
In some ways, opening an office overseas sort of feels like starting over again. On the other hand I already have some great clients in the US so this makes the prospect feel considerably less daunting.The challenge of positioning The Film Farmers Inc as a leading production company in the US is too good an opportunity to miss.  I also want to make sure I recruit some brilliant local talent in the US and build a solid team there too.

How has Reigate & Banstead Council helped your business?
In 2014 I was the recipient of a £1,000 grant from Reigate & Banstead Council's Economic Prosperity team. At this point in time I was fairly new in the world of freelance videography and this money enabled me to purchase some much needed equipment to help me raise the standard of my work. In particular, this helped me purchase some new audio equipment which meant I could get far better sound quality for any interviews I was filming.