Ian MacDonald: [00:00:00] All right, welcome to Best in the Biz, College of the North Atlantic's entrepreneurship podcast. This is the first episode and we're extremely excited to be sitting here with Mr. Lucas Hillier, owner and operator of LH Media. Originally from Grand Falls, Windsor, Lucas journeyed to St. John's where he went on to study business management with a focus on marketing at the College of the North Atlantic.
After schooling, Lucas founded LH Media, a digital marketing company. Thanks, Lucas, for taking the time to be with us today.
Lucas Hillier: How are you doing? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to dig into it and get
Ian MacDonald: going here. I appreciate you being here. So, tell us a little bit about your [00:01:00] business and how
Lucas Hillier: it all came about.
Okay, so LH Media is a digital marketing company, like you said. We focus on video production and small business ads. Um, recently... Kind of dove into weddings this past summer, which has been going great. And, uh, yeah, it's just been awesome working for myself and, you know, getting to meet new people and use my talents to help, uh, small businesses and other entrepreneurs around the island.
That's
Ian MacDonald: fantastic. What kind of role did CNA play with respect to
Lucas Hillier: your business? Uh, so the role CNA probably played in my business was just, uh, you know, mainly learning how to run a business, uh, keep everything organized with regards to finances, stuff like that. Um, the marketing side of it, I would say not too much in the digital side, but definitely, um, you know, helped me with my interpersonal.
skills and stuff like that, being able to talk to people, uh, probably did [00:02:00] over a hundred, uh, presentations going to school and stuff, which definitely built up my confidence and stuff. So now talking to people is pretty easy. And, uh, Here in Newfoundland, that goes a long way, so, uh, yeah, that's probably the main benefits of the program I went to.
Um, yeah, that's pretty much it. Good
Ian MacDonald: stuff. Those soft skills are so important. Yeah, big time. It's great to see that you came out with those. Yeah. So what made you really become an entrepreneur? Where did that
Lucas Hillier: drive really come from? Um, the main drive probably came from, you know, my pap and my dad. So, my pap was an accountant growing up and he owned one of the only accounting firms on the Bering Peninsula, out in Fortune, Newfoundland.
Um, and you know, seeing him work hard throughout my life anyways, um, and his really good success kind of pushed me. And then my dad, he, uh, he done sales jobs his entire life. And then finally ventured into insurance and, [00:03:00] uh, after probably five or six years being in the insurance industry, he started up his own company, Pro Insurance Solutions.
And, uh, yeah, just seeing him go at it and get after it and be his own boss kind of made me want to do it. And obviously COVID was a big, uh, Big pusher for me after the program I worked at Jumping Bean Coffee for probably around like eight to nine months doing their website maintenance and their marketing taking photos videos stuff like that and got laid out during COVID because of everything going on and you know, just decided let's try this out and It's been going good ever since.
Ian MacDonald: Good stuff. It seems like, uh, business really runs in the family entrepreneurship especially. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. It's been a couple generations. Good stuff. Good stuff.
Samantha Fitzpatrick: CNAs Entrepreneurship Hub is your one-stop shop for entrepreneurial support, looking for business guidance, workshops, mentorship, or other services to take your business to the next level, [00:04:00] check us out@www.cna.nl.ca.
Entrepreneurship. Now back to our
Ian MacDonald: episode. So you mentioned that, uh, you really got started during COVID. So what kind of supports were of help to you during the process of starting and also just kind of maintaining your business
Lucas Hillier: right now? Uh, yeah, well, like, as most people know, starting a business in COVID probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.
So, you know, that first year and a half was pretty slow trying to find new clients and just get my name out there and stuff. Um, but with regards to supports and stuff, just mainly my parents, you know, um. Um, coming into school and stuff, I didn't really have that much money in the bank account to go fund my business and get new equipment.
But, you know, they helped me out. Um, didn't go through any programs or anything like that for funding yet. But, um, yeah, just my parents and my support from my friends and stuff, you know. [00:05:00] A lot of people don't realize getting your stuff shared on social media by your friends and family and your name getting out there is like the biggest thing here in Newfoundland because word of mouth just is crazy here in this province compared to other provinces.
Most definitely.
Ian MacDonald: Newfoundland's definitely known for the word of mouth. Yeah, for sure. And, uh, I guess that's one of the ups of starting a business in Newfoundland and Labrador too because the word of mouth is so good. That's, that's spreading here. Um, so we really like to focus on, you know, The successful moments of a small business.
Uh, of course there are tons of ups and downs, but what would you say your most successful small business moment actually
Lucas Hillier: is? Um, I've had, you know, a lot of pretty successful moments and moments I'm proud of, but this past summer, actually, I was, um, contacted by the History Channel to do, to film a show in Bain Harbor, I believe, over by Marystown, and I was the second camera operator on that show.
And that's called Beyond Oak Island, which is on History. And, uh, that experience [00:06:00] was pretty, pretty amazing. You know, I came out there usually using my own mirrorless camera setup, small camera rig to having a 50 pound camera on my shoulder for two straight days out on a boat. And, you know, doing a lot of different things.
Met a lot of great people, um, that gave me a lot of good advice. Yeah, I think that is definitely the proudest moment so far. Um, and like one thing I always look back at too that I'm really proud of is all the work I did in the music industry here in Newfoundland, so I've probably filmed over 30 to 40 music videos here in the province, and that's kind of where I got started was, you know, doing the skateboard, snowboarding, and music video stuff, but went on to do some YouTube.
Pretty successful music videos here in the province and got a, got a hell of a lot of views throughout the year. So, you know. I'm pretty proud of those moments as I could always go look back and look at 'em and stuff, you know, it's deadly. Of
Ian MacDonald: course. Yeah. It's nice to reminisce on, uh, those [00:07:00] successful moments.
Yeah, for sure. Especially with Discovery Channel. That's, that's phenomenal. Yeah.
Lucas Hillier: Yeah. I think the, um, I'm not sure if the episode, I filmed this a yet, but I know that season, I think it was season three I was on, um, yeah, so it was 12 hour days, two 12 hour days out in the boat. Climbing over hills with a camera rig and it was deadly because it was the first time I really experienced like a higher production setting I had a Mic in my ear like earpiece set up and I could hear the director who's seeing everything I'm seeing on my camera through a screen and she's calling shots and Tell me where to go and stuff like that.
Yeah, it was, it was deadly.
Ian MacDonald: Wow. That's quite the experience. Yeah. It was awesome. It's nice to get in there with some real industry experts from, I guess that was from across Canada, right? So yeah,
Lucas Hillier: yeah. I think they're actually based, the production crew and stuff is based in California, so yeah, they, uh, they were pretty amazed when they came to Newfoundland too, you know, it was the first time they seen a.
[00:08:00] spot like this and of course yeah yeah just talking to them about what I do and how I'm new in industry and yeah it was awesome some
Ian MacDonald: great uh connection building for sure yeah good stuff next question uh what advice would you really give an aspiring entrepreneur so I guess you got some great advice from the folks on discovery channel um so what kind of advice would you pass on to someone that is looking to start
Lucas Hillier: a business Yeah, um, well, starting a business is not easy, I'll tell you that right now.
Like, a lot of people, when they first start, they might be at it for a year, year and a half, and almost give up because they don't see things changing and a success. But, uh, the main thing is just not giving up, you know? Like, your two, your first two years in the industry, whatever you do, are probably not gonna go.
Um, 100 percent as you planned. Um, I know for me it was slow trying to build up clients and, you know, just get my name out there. But now, um, this year has been my best year so far and I've [00:09:00] seen amazing growth and it's just nonstop, you know, like it's just people need to realize that starting a business, especially if you're the only person in it, um, it's require a lot of time.
Um, you know, a lot of 12 hour days for sure. Even more sometimes working late at night, answering emails, taking calls. And yeah, main thing is just not giving up. Uh, yeah, that's what I would say. Yeah.
Ian MacDonald: Good stuff. So like you said, it's a, it's definitely quite a grind starting a business. So a lot of people oversee that.
And one of the huge topics in business right now is kind of that work life balance. So how do you kind of maintain
Lucas Hillier: that? Um, one of the main things I like doing is going to the gym, so before I even start working every day, I'll get up in the morning, go to the gym, come back, you know, start doing my work.
Um, but you definitely need to find different hobbies that you love doing. So since I've started my business, I've recently You know, start at golf. So in the summertime, I do golf a [00:10:00] lot, which, you know, sometimes does get in the way of getting productive work done, but you just got to find that balance and realize that your business does come first over anything else.
And, uh, you know, just try to enjoy life. Most of you might have bad days when I have good days, but you just got to try to. Enjoy life and seize the moment type thing. Good
Ian MacDonald: stuff. So, uh, that's it for our first episode. Uh, going forward, we're going to be hoping to hear from the audience. So you can send in questions to myself and, uh, you can reach us by cna entrepreneurship.
com and, uh, you can, you can find my email on there and you can send in any questions you have about the podcast. So, uh, thanks Lucas for being on here today. Yeah, I'm honored. Before we go, uh, would you like just to share your social media channels so you can get the word
Lucas Hillier: out about your business? So, you can find all my work and info at my website, that's www.
LHMultimedia. net, Instagram is Lucas Hillyer Media, Facebook LH Media, and yeah, that's pretty much it. You [00:11:00] find all my work there, info about my services I offer, and, uh. If you need any videos done or any marketing, just let me know. That's
Ian MacDonald: fantastic. Thank you, Lucas, for coming in once again. So that's a wrap for the first episode.
So I just wanted to thank everyone for tuning in to Best in the Biz, CNA's entrepreneurship podcast. So you can keep up to date with all new episodes on our website at www. cna. nl. ca slash entrepreneurship and also on Spotify at Best in the Biz CNA.