While we all know there’s no formula or secret for success, it has become quite clear to us here at Chrome Unboxed that there are factors that play a significant role in a publisher’s ability to generate revenue and grow a business from making quality content for the web.
First and foremost, that last sentence can’t be overstated: as a publisher, your first and most important goal is the creation of quality content on a regular basis. No scheme, no team, no business model can get you to a successful place without having a plan in place to create great content, often. It’s our internal mantra, and we’ve made sure to keep that in place regardless of any changes we’ve gone through over the years.
That being said, we’ve also noticed patterns that have emerged organically for us as a team as we’ve put things in place to continue making better quality content over the years. While we won’t get into everything we’ve discovered, we wanted to cover the power in having a diverse team and why we feel it has been so vital to our success and ability to continue creating great content, often.
A quick caveat is needed, however, because our team wasn’t necessarily assembled in the most conventional way. In fact, there was no master plan in place at all. It just so happened that we knew one another in an organic fashion and things just fell into place for us. While our meeting and eventual business foundation grew from those pre-existing relationships, we’ve had many conversations about the fact that this is all working partially because we have such a diverse skill set amongst the partnership.
Finding the Right Mix
While it would take me thousands of words to explain all the hats we each wear, I can sum up our roles in much less time and make it clear that we each approach running Chrome Unboxed from very different perspectives, and that is a very good thing.
We understand that each business is different and there’s no one recipe for success, and our mix might be different than yours. However, knowing your strengths and understanding what you need to meet your goals is a perfect place to start.
If I could summarize our “departments,” in no particular order, I would say we focus heavily on:
- Business and Financial Goals
- Video Content Production
- Marketing and Advertising
- Design and Technical Needs
- Written Content Production
That is in no means a comprehensive list of all the ins-and-outs of our business, but to give you an idea, our team works a little bit like this: Joe is business-minded, financial-focused, and loves video production. Apart from talking to the camera, I don’t find much interest in any of those things. Gabriel is great with finding and digging into highly technical subjects and enjoys handling licensing and advertising deals. Again, I have zero interest in these things.
I tend to find my groove writing about Chromebook hardware, designing websites, graphic work, and talking on camera. However good I am at those things isn’t enough to sustain a complex business and I figured this out very early on. While I didn’t go out and solicit help, I did ask those near me to get involved, knowing that their skills would compliment my own. It wasn’t until a few years in that we realized just how diverse our personalities and skills were, and I’m extremely grateful for that fact.
But I also realize that isn’t going to be a reality for most publishers. You likely don’t have eager video producers, business-minded people, or technical individuals just sitting around and waiting to get involved in a project that might not be generating much revenue at this point. That’s OK. There are those people out there if you are willing to look for them.
Outsourcing Talent When You Need It
Since forming the business, we’ve hired or contracted four writers that are each unique and bring their own skills to the table. They aren’t local and as crazy as it sounds, we’ve never met three of the four of them face-to-face, but their contributions have already reaped the benefits of reaching out and getting them acclimated to our business.
Where did we find them? On the internet in places where people have the same sorts of interests as we do. After seeing their content on various platforms, we decided — one at a time — to reach out and start the conversation. We made the decision to invest some money into the idea of having more writers with a wider scope of talent than we have as three individuals, and so far it’s been awesome.
Don’t Try to Be An Expert at Everything
Building out a team of individuals with different skill sets affirms the fact that as you go to get people on board with what you are doing, it is absolutely worth finding people that see things a bit differently than you do and who may be experts in an area where you feel inadequate. You can’t be an expert at everything, but you sure can surround yourself with people who are. And that mentality is what got us where we are and what we feel will continue pushing us forward in the future.
