As ‘about us’ pages go, this will be a little different to what you might normally see on an agency about us page. This one goes pretty in-depth.
Buckle up!
To give you a little back story about myself and then go into what this agency is about and how it can help you (cue the nostalgic music…), it all started when I was about 4 or 5 years old…
I remember watching the old TV hit series Dallas, and being amazed how J.R Ewing could do business without actually lifting a physical finger.
Apart from all the extramarital affairs, breaking Sue Ellen’s heart numerous times, sticking it to Barns and all the other shenanigans, what amazed me was when J.R would have a business meeting and cut a deal with another businessman, shake hands and money would be made.
I honestly thought they were doing magic!
I mean, how could they talk business and it just be so?
I would look at my dad asleep on the sofa shattered from a hard days work doing carpentry and then I looked back at the T.V at J.R swigging some brandy smiling as if he mentally saw an extra 6 zeros come his way.
Seeing this on several occasions, I decided that business or being a businessman was something I wanted to do.
Growing up with limited resources, I’ve always been entrepreneurial and resourceful.
From getting one of my sisters to make me friendship bracelets so that I could sell them in the school playground…
…to convincing a local mini-cab driver into paying me to deliver his business cards and flyers through peoples letterboxes.
I’ve always had my hand in one thing or another.
Fast forward a decade or two after getting “released” from a couple of jobs after leaving school, I’ve had the experience of being involved with quite a few ventures.
From co-owning a record label, a radio station, a publishing company, organising numerous live music events and selling merchandise.
To say that it was a ride is an understatement!
Over time and from going to one too many industry events, I wanted to slow down from the entertainment industry’s fast-paced lifestyle and did a 180 to try my luck at creating an internet-based business.
The idea started when a friend of mine gave me Seth Godin’s CD audiobook ‘Permission Marketing’ to listen to.
I’m not even sure if I’ve given it back to him… it’s probably cracked or something (sorry, mate 😉 ), however, what I learned from that book changed my whole view about marketing.
In our attempt to implement what we learnt, we tried to bring our record sales online.
At the time the technology either wasn’t available, or we didn’t know what it was, or it was just too expensive for us to automate in the way we wanted.
Eventually, we managed to patch-up some sort of workaround and ended building a database of emails and started generating sales from our website to people who live around the U.K.
To make a long story short and a short story long, this massive learning curve eventually led me to sell my own digital info-product teaching people how to sell music and also selling a landing page software before land page software’s were popular.
The info-product still sells to this day, even though I basically forget about it until I get my one customary sale every year!
The landing page software got discontinued (basically, the tech support I was licensing the product from was lousy and refunding peoples money wasn’t my idea of growing that business).
I continued to do one thing or another that was orientated around the internet. I even turned my hand at social media and SEO marketing to local businesses.
Trying to sell to local businesses was difficult for me. I was trying to convince businesses on the benefits of social media at a time when they thought social media was something college kids did.
Looking back, I was ahead of certain trends before they got popular and just didn’t see it through.
One thing I have always revisited was video. But, it kind of happened by accident…
Around 2006/2007, I was part of a team that interviewed music artists. We a had a couple of guys who were doing the filming, but for some reason never got any of the editing done.
Between myself and another team member, we decided to have a crack at it to get the ball rolling and to stop the stockpiling.
The process of editing was enjoyable to me. I could get into a zone where I never had a thought about what was going on in the outside world. It’s still the same today.
I learned and studied and created all kinds of video. From producing a documentary, interviewing, creating a weekly news round-up show to animation,
However, I found my little pocket in creating short promo videos and video adverts.
Might be the [so-called] ADHD.
I developed it further in creating stop motion videos for eCommerce businesses.
Why eCom? Because I also sold physical products. Not drop shipping, but my own branded products which I sold in the U.S and across Europe.
It was very much a hands-on experience having to learn all the different elements of trying to start, run and grow a business that deals with international logistics.
I’ve moved on from that business but remain in the physical products space with what I do now.
I have a team of great people who work with me to serve the cool clients who we create videos for.
And I can say that I’ve found a really good balance by combining the love I have for business and the passion I have for creating videos.
Basically, I’ve found my way of triggering both hemispheres of my brain and that gave birth to Dusty Circuit an info-agency.
What the eff is an “info-agency?”
I know. It sounds cool and geeky at the same time! Hehe!
We offer a service, but we also teach what we do.
Why? Because we have a philosophy that is about always putting others first.
Before we get into all that, I just want to be a little transparent.
In case you haven’t noticed, but we do things a little differently around here and what you’re about to read isn’t something that you would usually see.
However, we are all adults here and I’m going to be totally upfront.
If you do decide to move forward and do business with us, we will view you a bit differently from the usual web browser.
…And that is whether you pull out your credit card right now or not.
You’d have noticed that this website is presented in a particular way. It isn’t all fancy looking like most agencies who create social media video ads and stop motion videos.
It won’t attract everyone.
Who we attract is very particular as with our approach.
By the time you get to the bottom of this page, you will have very little doubt in knowing what Dusty Circuit is about.
Then one out of two things will happen…
With that said, here’s the transparency part…
Eh hem!… We like making money and if you’re in business or are just starting out on your journey, you do too.
We know that it isn’t all about money. Money is a tool that allows us to have choices.
Choices to create the kind of life we want, to do the things we want and to affect peoples lives in ideally a positive way.
Whatever your reasons are for getting into business, the money-making activities is a very important part of it.
Activities like these bode well when you do it with people you get along with, are decent human beings and who are fun go-getters.
But, here’s the thing. You can’t break bread with folk unless you have something of value that people want and will pay you for as a result.
To put it another way, you can’t break bread unless you are of service to others.
Of course, there is a bunch of other stuff that goes into it like understanding your market, knowing your numbers, having systems, etc.
However…
Having a great team is essential. Being an all-round good person is a plus.
Understanding that people aren’t just traffic or hits to a website.
People are you and I. We have needs, wants and desires (go figure!).
As people, we do things like look after our children or bake cakes or whatever and we also run businesses.
At the end of the day, we like what we do and we’re pretty good at it.
We here at Dusty Circuit will take care of you… or we could show you how to do it for yourself.
One thing is for sure and this is something that we live by.
And we do that. We’re very big on this.
We know the world is messed up enough as it is luckily enough it’s not all doom and gloom. For every bad thing that happens there is something good.
…And we like to think we are on the side of the good with what we offer.
Hopefully, you know what we stand for and that you have similar views yourself.
This is when you will either exit this page or if you’re intrigued enough you’ll want to take the next step…
I’d suggest you start here. You’ll get more of an insight into what we do and how we can best serve you.
For those of you who skipped straight to the bottom, here’s the skinny…
You’re welcome! 🙂
Trevor Thompson