Intro

Welcome to The Corvus Effect, where we take you behind the scenes to explore integrated self leadership and help ambitious family men build lasting legacies for themselves, their tribe, and their community. I'm Scott Raven, and together we'll discover how successful leaders master a delicate balance of career advancement, personal health, financial growth, and meaningful relationships. Get ready to soar.

Meet Mike Perlow: The Unintentional Entrepreneur

And hello everyone. Welcome to this episode of The Corvus Effect. I'm Scott. I am thrilled today to be joined by Mike Perlow, the unintentional entrepreneur who leverages his storytelling expertise from TV Sportscasting to help businesses create videos that deliver real ROI. As President of Perlo Productions, Mike has discovered that success isn't just about great content. It's about building the right networks and asking the right questions. He's come a long way from starting with his son's Bar Mitzvah videos to working today with global technology leaders and demonstrating how authentic storytelling. And strategic relationships can drive business growth. He also does this as head of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Connective of which I'm a part of, and I'm very grateful to be under his tutelage. And he also has a very diehard love of the Red Sox, which always goes well on this podcast. So Mike, welcome to the podcast. And.

Mike's Journey with the Red Sox

Just to kick it off with a question before the main set of questions, think a lot of people are gonna be envious of you if they're a diehard fan of the Red Sox because you worked for Nessen as a broadcaster during the 2004 season,

Correct.

was a phenomenal season

Right. Mm-hmm.

many reasons. was it being in the throes working for Neston during that time?

So that was like right in the middle of the roughly four year stint I had at Nessen as a fill and anchor on a show called Sports Desk and a reporter. And I mean, let's be honest, gosh, nobody thought they were gonna win the World Series. I mean, they been six years.

not going down. Three, nothing. I'll put it that way, so.

Right. it wasn't like there was a certain point where we said, this is it.

This is the year. Right. I guess technically after they came back from down oh three against the Yankees, that was a nice sign. But we've had so many times over this decades where things have fallen apart. So I think really to answer your question, the best way would be what it was like when it finally happened.

So I was actually tasked with being at the CAS and Flag, which is a bar literally right next door to Fenway Park. At that time, Nessins offices were actually in the structure of Fenway Park in the back. You wouldn't know they were there. So I was there with one of our cameramen ready to get post-game interviews, assuming they won the World Series.

Well, they obviously did. It was so loud in there that literally we could not use a single soundbite from any interview we got with fans afterwards because it was, like everything was blown out. It was insane. But being there as a fan, having grown up as a fan of the Red Sox and being there to see that happen was cool.

Tom Warner, who's one of the owners of Nessen, actually gave playoff and World Series tickets to employees. So I got to take my dad to one of the World Series games, which was a really. Cool memory. and just being there for the aftermath. I didn't cover the parade, but being there during the season and then being able to look back and, um, you know, it was, I mean, something nobody could take from you when you're with covering a team such a once in a, hopefully, well, it wasn't once in a lifetime, but to that point it was once in a lifetime or something.

Right, right.

in a lifetime at that point.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it's, something, you know, first off as a sports fan and a Red Sox fan, to be able to say that I was there for that season and covered it and part of it and all that. I mean, it's just a really cool thing. I mean, I've had the opportunity when I worked as a broadcaster to cover so many amazing sports moments.

life moments for people. running parallel production is obviously very different, but it's an awesome memory. I have some cool, I didn't get a ring, but I got some other cool memorabilia. I got a cool actually bottle of wine that has all the players' names on the back and I got a watch.

I have some other stuff, but anyhow, yeah. Amazing, amazing moment. Personally, profess.

I, I, you know what? I had to bring that up as context to the start of the meat of it, selfishly because I am a diehard Red Sox fan.

The Birth of Perlo Productions

But really where your story begins in earnest is the transition from being a TV sportscast. A business owner and the creation of Perlo Productions, and I'm curious, what was the catalyst?

What was the spark behind making that shift?

Well, as you referenced, I always joke if I ever wrote a, book about my career, which I don't know who would read it, but, uh, my family, but if I did, I would name it the Unintentioned Entrepreneur, because I really ne, first of all, I never thought of myself as one. Secondly, I never set out to be one.

I never set out to own or start a production company. It kind of happened out of, I mean, I left Nessen in late 2006, was looking for other broadcasting jobs, was doing some freelance consulting, producing whatever, and had started the website called Get a Tv, job.com years prior, which was helping young people find jobs in television.

And, occasionally we produce content for businesses. And I was like, I need somewhere to put that on our website. So I literally created a section on the get a TV job website called Perlo Productions after figured good alliteration, sounds cool, whatever. And then relocated for family reasons from Boston to South Jersey in 2007, continu to look for other broadcasting jobs, but then kind of at the same time.

Started slowly but surely building up Perlow productions. I mean, it was in 2007 when the economy was in the tank. So every networking event I'd go to, people were like, you know, the Walking Dead. But I was like, Hey, I just got $500 of business. That's more than I had last year. so for me it wasn't a, downturn in the economy.

It was everything was new and, positive.

Building a Business from Scratch

I, I'm, I'm curious, going a little bit further into that, so you've moved the family from Boston, south Jersey, you have this startup that in its infancy, did you develop. The people around you, the who's the networking groups that have turned it into the success that it is today, because that must have been a little bit of a harrowing journey in terms of, well, who do I talk to first?

Right. Well, and, and certainly, and I went from living in Boston where I have a lot of family, so. You know, the Perlow name. Most people know somebody in my family or knew my dad or my uncle or whatever, you know. whereas moving to South Jersey where nobody knew me. And so it was really forced upon me to get to know people and go out and network and, talk to people, introduce myself, figure out how to position my company.

and so that was a big part of it. And then in terms of even finding people to work with us. it was literally, I mean, I knew nobody, so starting from scratch, I think back in the day I started on Craigslist, that's where I started looking for videographers and editors. not my main source of it now, but like at the time.

A, that's where you could find people working the business. And b, it was the best resource at the time. and there's still, honestly, there are still men and women working with us today that I found that way 18 years ago. So, it was that. I think a lot of it though, honestly, Scott, was, I. I didn't know.

I still don't, but like, I didn't know what I don't know. So to me it was like I'm starting my business. I'm looking for more clients, I'm looking for good people to work with us. I mean, I worked out of my home for a number of years when my son was a baby and then we had a second child. And so when my kids were little, I eventually moved into the offices I'm in now about, I dunno, about 10 years ago, in Marlton, New Jersey.

but, one of the funny stories I'll have to tell that business owner will relate to is this is probably at least five years into Perlo Production's existing, and I met with a buddy of mine who sold insurance and he asked me if we had business liability insurance, and I didn't even know what it was.

We spent the next hour educating me on what business liability insurance was and why businesses needed.

Right.

And I walked out with like, wow, that's probably something I should get. And no joke. The next day without a policy in place, we had a video shoot at a riflery range walking around armed with this new business knowledge.

Completely freaked out, paranoid, oh my God, what if something goes wrong? Thankfully nothing did. But, it was just funny because like I literally all of a sudden went into the shoot like, oh my God, like, could I be in a worse place? It's just, you know, a good example of the things you don't know if, you know, I, I didn't go somewhere to get an an MBA, I had no formal business training.

I just kinda learned on the fly. I mean, my original CRM was a bunch of spiral ring notebooks that I still have in my, in a cabinet behind me.

Sometimes old school is best school

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Excel was my QuickBooks for years, you know, probably Word document first. But, so all those things that I just didn't understand or know, are things I learned along the way.

even learning how to price the work you do and, so it really, there wasn't, I can't say Scott, there was like one moment where the light went on and I was like, business is open. It just kind of evolved, and I'm not gonna lie, the first few years I was still hoping I would find another broadcasting job.

But I certainly got to a point after like four or five years of kind of like that point of no return where I said, Hey, listen, if an opportunity comes my way, great, but shy of that, this is where I'm focusing. And, 18 years in, I mean, I've occasionally done a little bit of freelance work, but I'm not looking forward anymore.

And honestly, it's been a while. Occasionally we've had some nonprofit clients that have asked me to be the voiceover talent for their videos, which I'm happy to do.

The Importance of Storytelling in Business

but I love everything else that we do when we produce videos for businesses and organizations, and it's all the interviewing and storytelling and crafting messages and targeting the right audience and all those things that are part of what I did as a sportscaster and now do with Prolo Productions and.

the old career was more of a entertainment, focus. Now it's more on a business strategy and helping companies improve their sales and marketing efforts with, great video. but it's still great storytelling. At the end of the day, sales and marketing is telling great stories about your product or service and explaining people why they should work with you.

You know, one of the things in terms of great storytelling that I think has made you so successful over the years is clearly the adaptability that you've had over the course of the years. If you think back to 2007, is not invented yet. is barely in its infancy. Facebook is just starting to take off from the college days.

Right. you know, we're not talking about Instagram that much in this, time period.

Right,

Uh, and all of these emerging technologies that have made their way into the converse between these last 18 years. You have found a way to keep the core of the storytelling is the main element across all the mediums and all the delivery mechanisms that have come up.

right.

How have you done that?

Adapting to Technological Changes

I'm just a magician. No, I wouldn't say it's been a straight line upwards all the time. it's funny, my personality is such that I love to embrace technology, but I am, I have sometimes over the years been a bit slow to adopt it in certain areas. So like I remember when we could transition from standard definition, particularly shot on mini DV tapes to.

HD and memory cards. And to me the concept back then of like putting everything on a card was just terrifying. And it took me a while to take that step and then once I did it was a no-brainer. Um, conversely, you know, a year before the pandemic, we started, uh, getting involved in augmented reality and virtual reality and would've really taken in the big direction had the pandemic not come 'cause it.

Knocked out so many events, but so many times I've tried new things and we actually just this week, uh, invested in a 360 video camera that we tried out for the first time on a client production that I am so excited to see what it can bring to our, videos. 'cause I think it's gonna bring some really super cool perspectives.

so we're, always trying to look for new things, but to answer your question, I think that. People ask me all the time now, what was, what's, what's ai? How is AI impacting your business? Is it, Is it, are you scared about, are you scared of ai? Is it gonna put you outta business? And I say, absolutely not, because at the end of the day, human storytelling is still at the core of what we do.

Whether we're talking about a manufacturing company, uh, uh, uh, cancer nonprofit fighting cancer, uh, a business coach, uh, a hotel, whatever it is, it's still about human storytelling. And whether it's old school standard definition videos to HD to 4K, to social media, to YouTube, you know, wherever it is, it's still that same thing.

And

And in your case,

yeah,

that part of what you have extended in terms of the Ough Productions offering.

Animation and Complex Storytelling

Is offering specifically in animation as well.

absolutely.

it's not just capturing things live and in person, it's also the constructed visuals that go along with that storytelling.

Absolutely because, and you and I have even seen this, Scott, in some of the networking events we meetings we've been in, where business owners and businesses in general struggle to simply explain what they do and who they do it for. And even more so for companies that have very technical offerings or just very complex offerings.

So the analogy I like to use is. If you were trying to explain somebody how an iPhone works, you could just show them the iPhone and hey, you can make calls, you can record video, you could surf the web, whatever. But if you were trying to explain to somebody how the iPhone works on the inside. How do you do that?

Right? A, it's super complicated, and B, you can't shoot video in the inside of an iPhone and make any sense of it, right? So that's a great example of where animation would work because we can literally show the insides of an iPhone in that case, and both show what happens, but also we help our clients scripted in a way that will make sense and be quickly and easily understood by the viewer.

Whereas a lot of us, no matter what, our industry are guilty of using a lot of acronyms, a lot of complex terminology that makes sense to us, but is Greek to everybody else.

I was gonna ask

Common Mistakes in Business Storytelling

you about that in terms of what does the industry still get wrong? Because I know in recent, you know what examples, you've worked with an aviation company, you've worked with a credit union company. You brought different stories from different industries to life

Right,

ways. it's obvious that it's not. Industry specific in terms of well work better here than others. Right.

right.

more generalized in terms of what do we get wrong when we tell our story?

Absolutely. And I think also, you know, the big question that I think businesses misstep with their sales and marketing strategy is they're answering why you need what they do.

Mm-hmm.

And that's the wrong question to answer because then you're essentially doing sales and marketing for your competition.

If I do the and we do these, if we do videos about the impact of video on sales and marketing for businesses. It's good, but it's also saying like, well, you could just as well work with somebody else on your videos to to deliver that success. When we do videos that say, when companies and organizations want well-produced, highly strategized videos.

This is why they work with Perlo Productions. So really answering that question of not why somebody needs what you do, but why when they know they need what you do, they should work with you or your company. That's really where we try to focus for most video. I mean, some have other goals.

Sometimes it's building the brand name, sometimes it's the training or information, but usually it's sales and marketing content, and that's where people often don't realize that they're answering the wrong question and thus kind of sending out the wrong message. And often surprised why they're not getting more leads out of it because you haven't given the viewer any reason to contract you.

Do you find in talking with these companies sometimes that you're amazed that they don't even understand who their true target audience is and who they should be talking to in terms of saying, Hey, you should work with us because

I don't think it's that they don't understand their target audience. I think it's more they don't understand how to speak to them. that's fair. That's I think that's more it, because again, like there's a lot of terminology we use in our world that I would never use if I was talking about a video project with you. Not because you're not a bright person, but it wouldn't mean anything to you.

Right. And, and so to me, I so many times people will be speaking to me about their business and I will politely pause, stop them and say. does that mean? I have no idea what you're referring to here, or what does that acronym mean? Or, you know, and, and a lot of times we're nervous to say that to somebody, right?

They start using acronyms or, or fancy words. We, we just kind of, oh, okay. Okay. Sure. Okay. You know, so, so I think, um, that's where businesses fall short. and when I pose that question to them, they usually say, wow, I didn't really think about it that way. Right. So It's not that they don't understand who their audience is, it's they don't understand the right message to send to them.

let me go deeper on that a little bit because I'm eventually gonna tie it to two other groups. We're a part of the outlier project and the connective, but through the work in the connective, I've had the privilege of being able to speak with you and so poignant questions that you've given me. In terms of how I'm thinking about it and prepping before production, right. How important is the prep work to do the refinement before anybody sees anything or any portion of, uh, something is filmed in order for the end product to be outstanding?

The Value of Preparation and Collaboration

Well, I mean, it's a fairly broad question, but I guess what I would say is I believe preparation in general is important. I, I dunno if you've ever heard of like the five Ps, it was something, one of my college professors taught me proper preparation prevents poor performance. So, you know, we don't ever go into a shoot without having had conversations about, with both the client and our team of like, what are our objectives here?

What are we capturing today? You know, we just did a third shoot day at a client location yesterday. We went into the day saying, okay, here are eight things we need to capture, and then here are the six interviews we need and here are the things we need them to speak about. And at the end of the day we said, okay, looking ahead to our final day, here are the things we still haven't gotten and how do we, you know, how do we best capture those?

and so across your client base, right? Every client's gonna be a little different, everybody is gonna be a little bit unique, but have you found a way to standardize that process a little bit so that over time, the cognitive load that you and the team are doing? I mean, it's like old hat at some point, you know what the definition of good is for you.

I would say yes and no because I don't. I don't ever wanna feel like we're going into a client production saying, eh, been there, done this a million times. We know what we're doing. Right. I, I really think that our approach to every production is, yes, we draw on experiences we've had working with others in the same industry or in related industries, but at the same time, I mean, we just finished a production for a company in the sterilization arena for, for pharmaceuticals.

We did a similar video for their previous company about nine years ago. And they loved it. And while there are elements of what we did there that came into this new video, it's nine years later. So how we go about things is different. The equipment we use is different. So we really said how can we do it bigger, better, different, so I think.

think it's more the planning, the strategy, the, teamwork that we put to our productions also with our clients. I love it when clients have input. I'm not one of those people that says, you know, you hired us. Just let us do our, our job and leave us alone. I love it when clients share ideas.

I'm a very, you know, uh, collaborative person both with our clients and my teammates. so I think that, we try to each time do something bigger and better than we did last time. So if we've worked with three clients in the same industry over a course of six months or a year, we're not saying Let's make this one as good as the last one.

We're saying, how can we make it even better than the last one? Right? Even if it's for the same client, okay, we did a video for them two years ago, how are we gonna make this one even better than last time, even though we know they loved it? now the challenge comes sometimes, particularly with some nonprofits we've worked with, where we've done like.

Important fundraising videos for like their annual gala and some big event. And we've done, and we've done a video for them at their previous events and I come to them with new ideas and sometimes they're like, we really like what you did last time, so let's just kind of keep it that way. Which is fine, it works, that's great.

But to me, like I always wanna try to up it another level and sometimes they want that. Sometimes it's, I think it's compliment to us they love what we did previously so much, they just wanna replicate that maybe with new stories or new.

know, it's a, it's a whole comfort and growth thing, right?

Right.

you to your own vision may have been so good that they are so comfortable with what you've done, that that's all they want. But I know that you're much more on the growth train via your affiliation with the outlier project, with the connective, and really at their core, both of those groups that I'm also a part of are about. Impact at the end of the day, what is the impact that you are driving?

Reflecting on Impact and Achievements

If you were to look back and say, what is the impact that I am most proud of driving through my professional career? What would you say?

It's funny at the end of 2020, of course the first first year of the pandemic, we did a video, that was a takeoff on, I dunno if you're familiar with Spotify wrapped where Spotify, at the end of the year we'll do this like thing that says like, here are the different songs you listen to the number of times.

So we did one called Perlo Wrapped that look back on different statistics from our year and particularly 'cause it was during the pandemic, but just in general. The coolest thing that came outta that was the number of people that we gave work to.

Nice,

to me, I, when I, when we put the numbers on, I was like, wow, they're not all, they're not all full-time employees, but they're working with us regularly.

Kind of the nature of the industry. And I was like, wow, look at all the people, particularly at such an awful time in, in the world that I helped keep employed, put food on, not to be, you know, dramatic, but like put food on their table, help, you know, whatever. And to me that was like an amazing feeling. so I think that's one thing I think about is all the amazing people that I've had the opportunity to work with and who have worked with us and have been amazing.

and then, I mean, listen, the reality is that. When we do work for, corporate clients, they're amazing projects and they're helping them grow their business. When we work with nonprofits, we're helping a cause, so, I mean, they're both wonderful to work with.

Impact of Fundraising and Team Collaboration

There is something nice about when we, number of years ago we did a lot of work with the juvenile, diabetes research foundation, like seeing those children and seeing how money's being raised and the video we're creating is helping that.

Like, that's an amazing feeling to have, even if it's not the biggest budget production. So I think ultimately just like the feeling of our collective team being a resource for people to help them improve what they're doing, whether it's fundraising, fighting some cause, growing a business, you know, whatever it may be.

I think all of that is just kind of an, you know, an awesome feeling and doing it, doing something that I love doing. So it's all pretty cool.

Transactional vs. Relational Work Approaches

and I mean it speaks to your very relational nature in terms of everything that you have accomplished and done. And I'm curious to get your thoughts in terms of those that may be in a spot of bother in this world, maybe that they look at these engagements. Too transactionally oriented or too much in a way of, well, I can't be the one who has to learn something from this relationship.

I have to have all of the answers coming in. Instead of the work with atmosphere that you've spoken about number of times in this, episode.

But yeah, I have always been a big believer that people work with me, not for me. it was funny, I was actually interviewed on another podcast recently. It's all about the concept of the boss. And I joke that like, I never think of myself as the boss, maybe with my kids, but, you know, good luck without kids.

yeah.

but no, so like. I don't know. I've just never looked at myself that way. It's rare that I have to make a decision that's so critical that it's like, you know, my way or the highway. 'cause I don't really approach it that way. but I think if whatever you're doing and if, listen. Have there been productions over the years that have been more of a, I don't wanna say transactional, but you know, like we've gone and done, you know, shooting a speaker presentation at a conference, and literally what we're doing is bringing a videographer with a camera, lights, microphones, shooting a speaker presentation for a couple hours editing a video.

There you go. Not the most exciting, creative project we've ever done, we've ever done. But it fills a need for somebody that needs that done well and professionally. So that's a bit more, a little less exciting, a little bit more transactional. But I would say that a large percent of the projects we've worked on a, have begun or grown relationships we've had with people or companies, and so.

I, I joke with our clients, like my least favorite part of working with anybody is the quoting and the tion agreement. Like, once we get past that, that's my favorite part because I mean, I learned the hard way once, many years ago about, you know, never letting an invoice have surprises for a client.

And it wasn't my fault, but ultimately it was my fault 'cause it happened. but I learned like, you know. To me, I don't wanna ever want a client saying, you know, you said it was gonna be X and it was two times X. So I am crazy about if there's ever even a, a tiny chance of a project going out of scope. I am extremely clear with our clients before that, but on the other end, sometimes things go a little off scope and I just let it go because it's just in the, in the name of, what we wanna do.

so I think, feel like my relationships with our clients are what is so huge.

Yeah.

Delegation and Trust in Leadership

It's actually a beautiful segue into, a question that I would ask you now in 2025. If you could go back and talk to yourself in 2 0 0 7 with all of the wisdom that you've learned along the way, what would you have told yourself in 2 0 0 7?

get some business liability insurance in place quickly.

That's one thing. Yeah. you know, I think, and it's something I did learn along the way, but I still struggle with at times, is being better about delegating, particularly tasks that you can do. Your time maybe is better spent on other things. Right? And it's not about it being beneath you. It's about when you are the main person growing, and running a business, you start off doing everything, but hopefully as it grows, you are able to delegate some of those things.

Sometimes they're big things, sometimes they're small things. But I think learning and the comfort to know, having somebody else do it might mean it won't be done exactly the way you would've done it, but that doesn't mean it's not gonna be done well. Right. And I mean, if you were on our production shoots in like 2007, 2008, 2009, I was like crazy control freak.

I would literally. Like standing over my videographer's shoulders, looking into the viewfinder to see what they were shooting. 'cause I was just, so part of it was there were a lot of new people working with me at the time, but part of it was just like, I just wanna make sure everything was done right. And because I also shot and edited video for years before that, now I've gone like to the opposite end of the world extreme on that.

Because now sometimes, not to my detriment, but like I'm so. Trusting in my team that sometimes they'll actually to me like, Mike, why don't you take a look at this shot and make sure you're happy with it. Right. and so I've really gone in the other direction with that and, with a lot of other things.

so I think that's, it's a long answer to your question, which is we open to.

a, it's a great answer. So, you know, one of the models that we love here in the Corvus world is the situational leadership model. To move people to a point where you can delegate with trust and just say, you got this, for lack of a better term. If you had to look back and say, what was the thing that you did? That really developed that trust the team with you the most. What would you say, because this is something that a lot of business leaders struggle with in terms of developing a unbreakable trust with their team.

I think it was a hundred percent me, right? It was my own insecurity over. Whether I knew that these people could do the job as well as I wanted them to. Right. and maybe insecurity isn't the right word, but I guess just thinking like I have very high standards and particularly in a creative world, like you can even look at somebody's real of their past work.

And yes, it's absolutely indicative of what they can do, but not always. And so for me, the proof was truly in that first project we did together and seeing how the sh, I mean, a project we did in the last year, I brought on a new guy for the first time and honestly kind of rolled the dice. I don't usually do that.

It just happened to time out. He was available, I liked him, whatever. He did an amazing job and he is working with us. He works a lot of right. But I, I went with my gut that he would do a great job and he did. and, and he is a great guy who's worked with a number of projects now, but. I don't know that I would've had that same confidence to do that 10 years ago.

I think I would've been a nervous wreck, whereas on this, I was, I could just tell quickly he got it. He had that same level of attention to de uh, to detail on everything from how we shot interviews, to how we got different shots, to the lighting, to all these different things that are so important to me.

And clients often don't understand until they see us doing it. So I think, that inner confidence that I've developed of, there's lots of great people out there that have that same work ethic and commitment to what they do, that I do. and being confident that the people I bring along do have that, has allowed me to, to, you know, better.

give more leash to my team. And, know, nobody wants to be micromanaged when they're doing any work they're doing. Right. so to me, now find myself in a role where when I'm on a production shoot, I'm throwing out lots of ideas and sometimes it's, Hey, let's get that.

Sometimes it's, Hey, how about we go about, we set this up and do this this way, or, you know, whatever. And my guys love it. They always say to me like, keep bringing more like, 'cause they're, they're so focused on the actual shoot that sometimes they can't see what's happening over to the right. or think of that idea.

So, I think it's all part of that. and just, you know, and this is for any business, finding people that. You work well with that can handle criticism when needed, but also, aren't too full of themselves that they can't admit when they make a mistake. that is absolutely where I lead from the top because

I love humility

as a trait

I mean, I've,

You got, yeah. You gotta be confident that you can get your shit done

right.

But I love humility as a trait. Yeah.

Yeah. and I've, listen, I've apologized to. A number of members on my team over the years if whether I, got stressed out and overreacted to something or didn't handle a situation right, or whatever. Like, I've never been too proud to admit that. And and here's the other thing, I also make a big point of like praising my guys and, and even like, this sounds silly, but like maybe if we've been away on a three, four day production shoot, taking them out to like a nice dinner the last night just to say thanks.

Right. Or even just making sure that their meals aren't, no offense, McDonald's, like they're actually getting meals of things they want to eat. Right. It means lot to them. And what I've learned is when you treat people genuinely and well out of your own human nature, when you push them or put them in situations that are a little less appealing, they're much more likely to go that extra mile for you.

And I see that all the time where I'll tell my crew, this happened a couple years ago. We were shooting something, it was a brutally cold week. We were shooting almost everything outdoors. And I said to my guys, we had two different camera operators that, you know, we got enough. And they turned to me, they're like, no, Mike, we need some different shots.

We need still need more.

Right.

I mean, I literally said, come on in, like, let's go in. And they, they gained nothing. They weren't getting paid more by shooting longer, but it was their own commitment to the project that they said, no, we're gonna stay out here and we're gonna get these other shots. 'cause we really need those.

So.

So I alluded earlier to the fact that. Way, way back, right. That you had shot, uh, max and Jeremy's Bat Mitzvahs. Right. And I always do a tip of the cap two. Randy Posh is the last lecture book where he closed the book by saying that this book was written for his kids.

Right. If you are, if Max and Jeremy were listening to this podcast right now, what would you hope? Would be the lessons you've instilled in them that they've heard repeated in this podcast episode?

Hard work.

Mm-hmm.

Hard work. I think that's it more than anything, right? Hard work in treating people the way you wanna be treated. Really. I mean, my boys know. That I put a lot of time and energy into my business. They've seen me go through some highs and lows over the years. and I think, as their father do I always handle every situation, right?

Absolutely not. Um, as a business owner, do I always handle every situation, right? Absolutely not. But I think that they see in the big picture that I've built a reputation for myself and my company. When they've met men and women who work with me, they can tell like they're the good kind of people that I surround myself with.

And I think just seeing my persistence through the tough times and kind of like what I taught my younger son who was the athlete of the family when he was playing sports. Like, you know, if you get a hit or you score a touchdown. Act like you've been there. Don't, don't be so proud of yourself that, you know, and I, same way, like when I have huge success with something, I keep a level head and I'm, I'm obviously incredibly proud, but I don't walk around bragging about it.

and I joke to my, I say to my boys all the time, my big belief in kind of the outward, image of Perlo Productions is from like a social media, but just general messaging and marketing standpoint is you're never gonna know whether we're killing it in business or maybe getting killed for a while.

'cause I always believe in putting a, the best fit forward and projecting with a positive attitude. Uh, and as one of my sons turned to me after I said that, he said, but, but Dad, you're doing well. Right? I said Exactly my point. Exactly my point. And because nobody wants to work with a Debbie Downer and every business, I don't care what it is, goes through ups and downs.

And while it's okay to be frustrated and and upset if you're in a downturn. Sharing that with the world does not make people wanna work with you. People wanna work with positive people. And if you're walking around whining and complaining about how business is slow or tough or this or that, that's just an approach that I've never wanted to exhibit no more than when we're doing incredibly well.

Do I walk around bragging about all the new videos we're doing, all new clients, like, I talk about it matter of factly. I talk about the opportunities we've had, and I, I just think that that's, I hope a big message that my, boys have learned.

Balancing Work and Family Life

You know, one thing that I would love to close out in terms of a lesson two, some. People listening to this, right? If they fall into this category of a business owner who's consistently successful but unhappy, the people who have those boundaries, who get broken up in terms of the six 30 urgent call that has them step away from the dinner table, or in your case, missing your son, you know, having a base hit or whatnot, right? How do you, to the best degree possible, 'cause nobody ever gets it perfect. Right? How do you find that way to have proper work life integration and harmony in your life?

Well, I've never been, and I know many people that are. I've never been one who's, you know, up at 4:00 AM working all day, eating lunch, coming home, having dinner, and going back to work till midnight. It's just never been how I wanted to live my life. I know many people that are like that have hugely successful businesses.

That has never been a life I want to live. Do I have days like that? Occasionally, but not most of the time. to me, like one of the most amazing things about owning my own business is I've been able to make the choice over the years to, whether it's a field trip, a Halloween parade, he has a half day, so he comes home early.

I could spend some time with them. when my kids were little. As I mentioned, I worked from home and so we had what we called Max and Jeremy and Daddy gaze, like when they were little, you know, and all that time that you never get back once they, they're grown and as I'm learning more now as they're teenagers in high school and college.

so I would say it has been extremely rare. My older son's now, 19, my younger son's almost 16, been extremely rare over the last 18 years that I have missed something significant of either of them because of work. It's not never. But

say that that's a commitment to a boundary that you made that boundary, you've adhered to that boundary and that has led to this.

yeah, I mean, I listen, I mean, when he was playing, my younger son was playing baseball this past season. All of his games were at like 3, 3 30. So I had to leave the office by like three to make the games. And I remember saying many times, like, and, and for the first part of the season he wasn't playing much.

So I would go there, lose like two, three hours of my workday to sit and watch him ride the bench. That was still important to me. I wanted to be there to support him, even if he was like, dad, you don't need your comment if I'm not playing. But I, you know, I knew it was important to me, and so I was there when he got in the games and started playing more.

So I think it's just been, I made the decision to prioritize that and have I ever had client productions that kept me away from something? Absolutely, it happens, but it's been rare. and it's because, you know, that's always been a really important thing to me and it's something I learned from, you know, my parents is prioritizing family and, and make, you know, those things being so important, so.

It's, and it's such an important lesson that, you know, unfortunately, some folks need to hear and hear and hear again in order to instill it into. Their pursuit of freedom.

YouTube Channel Review Offer

And as we close this episode, I know one of the things that you and I talked about is that you would like to be able to help people, where appropriate in terms of a YouTube channel review offer that you have.

Is that correct?

Yeah, sure. So if any business organization or even person either has their own YouTube channel, but they're like, okay, I have it literally, but what do I do with it? Or they have one with some videos, but they're like, nobody's watching 'em. I dunno what to do. Or if you are a, a business organization looking to create a YouTube channel, you have some video assets you would like to put them there, happy to offer a courtesy, a YouTube channel review to any of your listeners.

you can just, email me at mike@perlowproductions.com, mention The Corvus Effect and that you heard me on here, and happy to spend some time. I'll, you can send me your YouTube link. I'll go through it. Then we'll set up some time for a call to go through what you have, or if you have nothing, help explain to you and help you create a YouTube channel and, it's not just create the channel, upload the videos.

The magic happens. There's more involved than that. So, happy to, to provide that service to anybody who's, who's listening and, and looking for some of that guidance.

Fantastic.

The Connective: B2B Networking

And you know, one other thing that I would be happy to let you, plug is you also are the, uh, leader of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Connective, which I'm very proud member of and wanna give you the opportunity to help explain this so that others who are listening who might be good fits for this group can consider it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, you know, be like Scott and join the connective. Um, so I, I joined the connective in early 2024, and then in July of 2024, I, took over as the head of the Philadelphia chapter. We currently, as of, July, 2025, we had, roughly 20 chapters across the country. Each chapter has a mix of members from all over the country and internationally.

Our Philadelphia chapter does have people from the Philadelphia area, New Jersey, New York. but also members from Maine, from Texas, from Florida, from Croatia. So every chapter is made up of members all over the country, and our focus is B2B business networking. So if you run a company or work for a company that has a large B2B focus and you're looking to develop relationships with.

Experienced business professionals who are always looking to help each other, make introductions for each other, refer business to each other, who, who are intentional about thinking about each other when they hear, Hey, I'm rolling out a new website, but I don't have a good video for it. They think of us, hopefully.

so you can, again, best way to learn more is just email me mike@perlowproductions.com. You can also see our work at, just perlow productions.com. but if you email me, happy to tell you more about it, they can speak to you, Scott. You can tell 'em about it. But we're always happy to have people come visit a chapter meeting.

All of our meetings are on Zoom. Our Philadelphia chapter meets every other Thursday morning at 8:00 AM Eastern. It's a one hour zoom meeting every other week, and so each week. Half of the chapters, roughly 10 meet that week and the other half meet the following week. It's amazing. It has become hands down in 18 years of business networking, the single best, source of introductions to people and referrals to new business opportunities that I have found anywhere.

And I've done a ton of business networking. Nothing has come close to the connective and it's made a big difference. For Perlo Productions, putting us in front of people and opportunities that honestly, had we reached out on our own, probably would've, not been responded to. So,

I can't add anything beyond that. I mean, you spoke truth and I certainly have the same, uh, experience with the connective, so you're spot on. Any final. Little words before we, uh, close this episode out.

Final Thoughts and Encouragement

no, I would just say to anybody out there, if you are, you know. Just the starting phase of, of your business, or if you've been in business for years or decades, it's never too late. There's never a wrong time to revisit how you're presenting yourself from a, sales and marketing perspective in general.

We often are guilty of doing a lot of the same things over and over, and it's not just technology changing. It's not just the times changing, it's just, Finding new and different ways to put your company out there and explain it. And I'm always happy to have conversations with any of your listeners, just about their business or organization, what the key offerings are, how they're presenting it, where they're presenting it.

And one of the things I love doing with our clients once we've produced videos or animated explainer videos is talk to 'em about how they can use the video, make the most of it, beyond just putting it on their website or beyond just showing it at a trade show. So that's another piece of just giving businesses.

Guidance on how to maximize this investment. Whether you spend $5,000, a hundred thousand dollars, or anywhere in between. How to get the most out of that investment and use it in all the amazing places that social media technology, the web in general, have allowed for video in, 2027.

love how giving you are of your gift in this world, right? And yeah, you, I mean, you run a for-profit business, don't get me wrong, right? But the fact that it all comes. From a core of giving of your gift and creating impact, it's so incredible. And Mike, I've been so honored to have you on this podcast today.

So thank you so much

Thank you.

on.

It's been great.

Yeah. audience, thank you guys as well, so much for taking the time to listen to this. Please subscribe and comment, let us know what you like. Also share this with people in your circle who could use the wisdom that was portrayed here. I will see you next time on The Corvus Effect. Take care.

Outro

Thank you for joining me on The Corvus Effect. To access today's show notes, resources, and links mentioned in this episode, visit www.thecorvuseffect.com While you're there, you'll find links to our free tools and resources to evaluate where you currently stand versus your aspirations with personalized recommendations for action. If you found value in today's episode, Please take a moment to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and share with those who may benefit from it. You won't want to miss future conversations that could transform your approach to leadership and life. Join me next episode as we continue our journey towards building lasting legacies that matter. Remember, it's time to soar towards your legacy.