Hey Reader,
Today, I want to show you how one mindset shift helped me stop being the bottleneck, and start building a creative team that could actually scale.
I was a few years into building Blacksmith.
Running projects.
Pitching clients.
Doing the work.
It was all moving—but I was maxed out.
Then one afternoon, my neighbour, where I lived in LA, Ray (a retired real estate guy) said:
“The reason you’re not doing as well as you could is because you’re only focused on one part of your business.”
That one line rewired everything.
I realised I wasn’t running a studio. I was just running around.
So I made a shift:
→ Built a lean core team with an extended global network
→ Designed our pipeline to flex up or down without bottlenecks
→ Got myself out of the weeds so I could think longer-term
Today, that structure lets us support basically any creative style and massive content needs without losing our edge.
Whether we’re building a hero film, 30 cutdowns, or both.
Clients don’t feel the chaos.
They just get great work, on time, without dragging their team through the mud.
Takeaway:
If you’re a creative lead managing in-house + agency teams, you already juggle enough.
The right outside partner should lighten the lift, not add to it.
⇨ Curious how we make that happen?
Just hit reply. Always happy to swap notes.