Lead Sheep Productions: Bringing stories to life

In 2014, Amanda opened Lead Sheep Productions, a custom video production business. Her clients range from families hoping to preserve and share their personal histories to businesses communicating their services and client testimonials to non-profits pre-recording emotional reflections to show during allotted times at events like galas.

Her business is set apart from the competition through her unique visual storytelling ability. She said, “We really focus on ‘what’s your story’ and ‘how do we get that to your audience.’ We also focus on the experience of filming. A lot of people are really nervous at the beginning, and then at the end they tell me it was actually fun.” Amanda’s degree in Psychology helps her to put people at ease and create a positive, relaxed environment to enable capturing who people truly are.

Amanda’s own business origin story is one heavily influenced by her grandma, who put herself through college later in life and inspired Amanda to start her own business. In 2013, excited about her new camera, Amanda recorded her grandparents during an anniversary celebration. The recording was shown at her grandma’s funeral five years later and people were so affected by the video they encouraged Amanda to record videos for others to share their family history with future generations.

The move to Wisconsin brought Amanda to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at University of Wisconsin-River Falls where she enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) led by Katherine Fossler, center director, and Maren Valentine, business consultant.

She said, “I was already working, but I wanted to move from the video creation being just a job to being more of a business. Working with Katherine and Maren both was really great. They both really want to help you and they both  have experience running their own businesses, so they really do know what they are talking about.” She highlighted the camaraderie of working with other small business owners in the ETP course, and the benefit of learning from each other.

THE OBSTACLES

As most small business owners know, entrepreneurship often comes with a host of obstacles. “My biggest challenge was me, to be honest, and staying self-motivated. I also struggled with explaining exactly what it is that I do and how what I do as a video producer is different than a traditional videographer’s work. When I moved to Wisconsin, trying to expand the business into new areas and to new clients brought hurdles as well. Of course, when the COVID pandemic hit, there was no ability to film in person. In August of 2020, I almost gave up, but then I had a client who really wanted to film and we figured out safe ways to film outside while wearing masks and social distancing.”

Amanda joked, “The best thing about being a solopreneur is that nobody tells you what to do, and the worst thing about being a solopreneur is that nobody tells you what to do.”

She noted that while it’s great to be completely in charge of your own business and offer services the way you want to offer them, it is also harder than you think it is going to be. She warned that in a world where we are inundated with marketing ads, it is difficult to stand out. She advised to network and get involved in your community to meet clients and make important connections for referrals.

Advice for Others Hoping to Become Entrepreneurs

Amanda said, “I truly love my clients and helping them. I now have lots of repeat clients – which was a surprise I didn’t expect. In the future, I would love to offer subscription packages for online channels and social media for these repeat clients.” We look forward to seeing Amanda continue to tell the all the meaningful stories that impress and delight her clients.