11 min read
Cofounder of EOS Worldwide Don Tinney once linked chaos to creativity, stating, "Tension exists today between the promoters of creativity/innovation and the promoters of process." This is especially true for video production studios, whether you are based in Hollywood or Michigan. In 2018, during an interview with Sundance, director Craig William Macneil commented, "Making a film is always a chaotic experience; chaos is inherently just part of the process."
But it doesn't have to be. Our team knows firsthand the necessity of a stable foundation for successful video productions. Structure does not have to inhibit creativity; often, it enables it. And what better structure to run your business from than EOS?
Today, we'll be breaking down 730 Eddy's journey with EOS - what it is, why we run on it, and what it's done for our team.
EOS, short for Entrepreneurial Operating System, is a "complete set of timeless concepts and practical, proven tools for getting more of what you want from your entrepreneurial business." This system can be self-implemented and/or with the help of an EOS Implementer. The overall goals of EOS are to clarify your company vision, gain traction in key areas of your business, and create a healthy team.
EOS is designed for companies with 10 - 250 employees and is designed to help them achieve rapid growth and balanced lives. Solving issues, delegating responsibilities, and building a culture of accountability are just a few of the ways EOS puts your business on the right track.
From Haberdashery to EOS
From Minnesota college campuses to Michigan corporate offices, 730 Eddy's journey has been a wild one. But from the beginning, the intention has been to be a business first, and a creative studio second.
"And not in a bad way," Andy clarifies. "The very first day I started the company, I got an Exchange server... That very beginning of our business was always, 'We need to serve enterprise customers...' And it wasn't until a few years that I realized, 'Oh, haberdashery isn't a way to run a business.'"
Before EOS, 730 Eddy was a team of four people. Sue Straw, occupying the Integrator role to Andy's Visionary role, describes this period of time as the Wild West. "We'd take on as many projects as we could, and we'd sort of figure it out," says Sue.
"It was when we got Sue and Kevin and our team being like, 'Andy, we're dying here. You're crazy. We need something to run on,'" Andy says.
Andy learned about EOS from a client. After reading through Traction in one sitting, he was hooked. Our team self-implemented the system for two years before meeting Barb Reimbold, our EOS Implementer today.
To learn more about our journey through EOS, watch this video:
Today, EOS is the integral foundation on which 730 Eddy Studios runs. Each department has a weekly L10 Meeting, we all follow designated scorecard measurables, we're constantly perfecting our progress, and Andy has hung up our Vision Board on a massive wall in our office. So, yeah, you could say we're kind of obsessed.
The true strength of EOS is not only how much it's helped us achieve, but also how it helps us work through conflict.
"[Andy] comes to our quarterly sessions and he'll go, 'You know what we should do?'" Barb says. "And he has these crazy big ideas... It's been pleasantly surprising to watch the leadership team, healthily challenge each other to come up with a robust solution."
A healthy team is one where everyone's voice feels heard, and that's exactly what EOS has offered us.
"The team needs something to power them so that they know the system is there, then they can go out and be creative. It is kind of a unique world where creatives still need structure, and EOS has been that structure for us."
EOS for Video Production
"One of the biggest things that you do right away when you're starting your EOS journey," Andy says, "is you've built your target market. You build your niche, and you build that vision in your VTO. And that gives you direction to then go find what's your best in the world at."
EOS's Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO) is an excellent tool for getting specific about what your business does and where it's headed. Our team has found it especially beneficial for finding our niche and broadcasting it to our clients.
"That alone," Andy says," "has created for us a way more focused ability to say, 'Hey, we're a video production company...we build enterprise, emerging brands, focused in the US."
"I do think that [creative businesses] can be more resistant," says Barb, "because a lot of groups will see [EOS] as a structure, and it is, right? It's discipline and accountability, and it helps us solve issues together."
Barb works with 18 clients total - 18 different businesses in all sorts of different industries. While creative industries tend to be more resistant to EOS, how they solve problems really isn't any more different than, say, manufacturing or engineering industries. "It's just one of those, 'How do I apply it to my world?" situations," she says.
Sometimes applying EOS to your world involves adaptation. In the film industry, we rely on rapidly changing technology. Thanks to EOS's timelessness, that isn't a problem.
"We run a pretty verbose tech stack," Andy says. "EOS is a really good system, and so it can be tech-agnostic. It can be you can run it on ClickUp. You can run it on Ninety... You can run it on Google Sheets, whatever... So it can be dropped into anything."
While some creatives may see structure as a bad thing, it's quite the opposite. That's why EOS is set up from the top with two heads in mind: The Visionary and the Integrator.
"A lot of business owners are that creative big-picture thinker, right?" Barb says. "They were willing to take the risk to start a business, and so they're gonna be more of that right-brain creative... But in order to run a business, you gotta have somebody that's gonna be more of that logical, "let's get it done" type of person, right? EOS... allows us to split that."
The Visionary acts as the creative and innovative thrust that brings a business to life. The Integrator handles the day-to-day tasks that keep the business running. With Andy as our Visionary and Sue as our Integrator, 730 Eddy moves forward with passion and precision.
"Wild moments of just creative fire and awesomeness are great... You're not in the flow all the time," Andy says. "You need to be able to build systems and spaces to then be able to create that sort of collision of inspiration, creativity, and opportunity that then that's where teams can be creative."
Final Thoughts
"[EOS has] gotten us through the crazy shit," Andy says. "When I started, it was the backend of a recession. We got through that on our own, sort of just grit and determination got you through it... We got into that swing of things. We just started dabbling in EOS."
"We wouldn't have gotten through COVID without EOS. And then took off like a rocket, and now we're in this world of what the hell do we do? And I go back to our VTO once a day.
"We've had clients drop off. We've had projects drop. We've had people leave. We've had all these things that happen in the business when uncertainty comes along. But because of structures and systems and a solid VTO and solid values and a team that understands that the goal is bigger than what's happening right now, that all comes from the EOS. And because of that, we'll be fine."
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Check out EOS's website if you wanna learn more about this awesome system, and how it can level up your business!