Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Jones.
Ben, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Dahlonega, GA, and received my bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech in 2006 with Highest Honors (summa cum laude). While there, I did a little video side work through my start-up company AngelDown Studios, but it was nothing to speak of. After graduation, I initially worked as a demonstration specialist (a glorified salesman really) for BOSE Entertainment. In 2007, I discovered my niche in legal video services (all types of video work for the legal system), and flew out to Wyoming to get national certification in the industry. I then worked as an in-house videographer for one of the largest court reporting agencies in the nation.
The biggest decision of my life came in March of 2009. The economy was still in the recession, and I had a steady-paying $35-$40k/year salary job (even though this company’s atmosphere was very poor). I had always had the entrepreneurial spirit, and I wanted to start my own video company (abiding by the non-compete to the letter of course). Against all advice from others saying this was the worst time to do so, I quit my job and started AngelDown Legal Video Services (a d/b/a of AngelDown Studios) from scratch. I had saved up a small financial cushion just in case. It was a bit of a struggle, but I was free.
No more trading time for money, with someone dictating vacation days and every facet of your daily work, but instead investing my time for long-term income. I also knew that in the long run, it would allow me to do more mission trips, volunteer work, and pursue my Christian speaking ministry on the side. I also wanted to create a company very different from the one I had worked for. Company morale was extremely low because of how people were treated internally… I wanted to create a company and atmosphere where people were excited about their work and their salary, even if this came at the expense of the company’s bottom line.
I managed to pull in just under $25k in gross revenue my first year. Some of the worst months financially were the first few months of 2011. In January 2011, I made $335 for the entire month. Fast forward to 2018. I currently have 4 people who work for me. We hit a quarter million in annual gross revenue a couple years ago, and have grown exponentially in just the last two years (without going into too much financial detail). I also got married to my wife, Shannon, in Dec. 2014, and our first child, Bennett, was born in February of this year (2018).
Since I spent some time talking about humble beginnings, even though we are still not a large company, we are now the second largest stand-alone legal video company in Georgia.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, I feel like it was a smooth road, at least as starting a company goes. As mentioned previously, we had some very tough months in 2011 (making as low as $335 in a month), but this was due in part to a focus on my speaking ministry. Year over year, we have increased in revenue almost exponentially with a 75% increase from 2013 to 2014. Only one year did we have a 4% decrease in gross revenue.
One of the toughest challenges is investing much time and energy into new hires, and either they don’t work out or they quit for another opportunity. Another over-arching difficulty is being undercut by very poor quality legal videographers in the area who are not certified. Many times, court reporters and attorneys aren’t aware of the rules and laws surrounding our industry, and don’t realize that their videographers are not following them.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about AngelDown Studios – what should we know?
Although we do all types of event videography and promotional videos, our core source of income is legal videography, specifically video depositions. At this point, I send my four videographers out each day to cover these depositions, and I will only be in the field if we have more jobs than that, or if they require special attention or equipment. I have to specialize in almost every area of my business, so I would say my specialty is time-management and multi-tasking.
I personally do quality-checks on every single job we produce; I do all the scheduling; I do all the marketing and advertising; I do all the invoicing; I do the payroll; I do all the collections; I do all the logging and post-production of jobs; I do all the editing. Normally at this stage, a company owner would be outsourcing most of these responsibilities, however, by being good at time management and multi-tasking, and by doing all of this myself, it keeps the company very profitable and our rates very reasonable. And I still have plenty of time for my wife, son, volunteer work, speaking engagements, and hobbies like hiking, snow-skiing, and playing the piano.
I am most proud of our character and reliability as a company.
Character: The ‘bottom line’ is the sole concern of many business owners that I meet. While important, I believe investing in the people who work for me, developing relationships with clients, volunteering… these things are more important. Thus we are not propelled forward by greed. I would rather make less money personally and my videographers to be excited about their income. When a national reporting agency accidentally pays us too much, and we know that they would never catch it, I call them and let them know. When clients and contractors know that they can TRUST you, it makes all the difference in your company.
Reliability: Our clients know that we will be at our jobs on time every time. They know that we are certified (as opposed to most in the industry) and that their legal videos will not get thrown out of court. They know we will get their product to them quickly. And they also know they can contact me directly at any time with any special requests. They know that I will stay up all night editing video for trial the next day if needed. And they know we are honest with our invoicing.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I keep coming back to reliability because that encompasses so much. People can rely on our integrity in how we do business; they can rely on our professionalism, quality of product, punctuality, and honesty. They can also rely on me to be easy to contact personally and make sure that any special request is completed efficiently.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11905 Brisbane Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30009
- Website: www.angeldownlegal.com, www.angeldownstudios.com
- Phone: 706-344-2484
- Email: Ben@angeldownlegal.com
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