SSP 031: How To Build A Successful Creative Team w/ David Aguilar of Archaius Creative

Have you ever thought about moving past the solopreneur, one person band, or maybe husband/wife duo business model and build up a team around you? Those of us who have made the leap to hiring a team often only realized that we needed one after nearly working ourselves to death trying to do it all ourselves. Part of the reason is that most of us have absolutely no idea what makes a creative team click or how to hire a team where each member complements the skills and personalities of the others. David Aguilar of Archaius Creative, a SoCal post-productions house, started in the same place as many of us, wearing a ton of hats working first as a filmmaker before moving to a freelance editing role. He quickly realized however the drawbacks of doing it all himself, including backlog, stress, and a resentment of the work he once loved. Since then, David’s put a lot of thought into how to structure and hire a successful creative team, and the post-production house now has a staff of 11. Today he shares with us how he thinks about hiring, his “less is more” approach to both editing and shooting, the test he gives all of his new hires on day one, and a TON more! Are you currently operating as a solopreneur or freelancer, or as a part of a team, including running one yourself? Leave a comment and let us know! In this episode: How to hire to ensure your team works well together as a creative group The importance of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your team members The “less is more” approach to shooting and how it can benefit your films How to determine which tasks you should be outsourcing, and how to take the leap into hiring someone on Quotes: “One of the best things we’ve done has been to build people from the ground up. A lot of my first hires had very little to no experience, and now they’re the project managers and really honing in the final product. Really what was more important than editing skill, were some of the intrinsic traits of being humble, moldable, open to critique, and just hungry for always knowing that there’s a better tier of their skill set that they could get to. [7:17] “It’s not about promoting me or my successes. It’s about the team and what we do collectively. My role here is not for the team to push me up, but for me to really elevate them, and provide them resources for how they can best execute their job.” [23:04] Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts