13
13
RON LAKER AND THE TEAM AT
NCS.TV TUNE IN TO WEB VIDEO TO TURN ON BUSINESS GROWTH.
Most entrepreneurs would be satisfied with rising through the ranks to become the CEO of a multi-million dollar giant in its respective industry. After all, the goal for most of us is getting to the top and enjoying the benefits of a long tenure there. And that is a perfectly acceptable career path for most. Then there are those people who view life as an opportunity for growth and change. Ron Laker, President and CEO of Next Century Studios (
www.NCS.tv) in St. Petersburg, is that kind of person.
According to Raymond Lindquist, former pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, and author of the book, Notes for Living, “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” Although he may not see himself this way, Laker is a courageous man. One would have to be to leave the comfort and safety of 32 years as the President and CEO of Trademark Metals Recycling. After having built a company from a few doodles on a placemat into a $700 million revenue corporation, one that was at the time the largest metals recycler in the Southeast, Laker decided that he wanted to do something different, something…unfamiliar. “I am a person that moves to my gut instinct,” he says.
At the time, his gut told him to take the experience and knowledge he had garnered as a CEO and begin a new career as a motivational speaker specializing on the topic of values, both personal and corporate. Little did he realize his next career change was going to come from a member of his audience. “After giving a speech on corporate values, one of the attendees, Dan Auito, contacted me and asked me to look into Internet video. The opportunity presented by video production, along with the value we can offer someone through professional video tools, including the ability to allow clients to host their own shows, seemed to me like the future of web tv.” From that conversation, Next Century Studios was created and Dan Auito became COO.
The name was picked for two reasons: first, it had that television network ring to it; and second, it spoke to the future of the industry. According to Laker, “We wanted something that described a bit of what we do. Also,
NCS.tv
had a nice ring to it as we developed the television network. Our clients, particularly those with their own shows, become branded as Subject Matter Experts in their respective fields. And the more niche specific they are, the better. We create a show around their content, integrate niche-related article writing, podcasts and web tv distribution. Using this process, we can take a client global or drop that same client into two zip codes in Tampa or any other city anywhere in the world. We believe we have created an excellent format that benefits our clients immensely. Our process systemizes the program production and highlights the uniqueness of the content.”
Of course, the challenge for Laker was that he knew nothing about his new career. “Coming from a totally different industry I needed to learn from the ground up, so to speak,” he says. “We had a great idea and no customer base.” Recognizing his shortcomings, he set himself on a crash course in video production. “My daily routine was learn, learn, and then learn some more,” he recalls. “I got up every morning at 4 a.m. for months to listen to recordings, and read about web tv, video production, and Internet marketing.
He was also savvy enough to surround himself with a talented team. “Our base of business and creative experience is extraordinary,” Laker says. “Our staff includes multiple Emmy award winner Dave Herring, our Director of Creative & Production, as well as Patrick Anderson, who is in charge of our back-end web distribution, a key component of what we do. The rest of the staff is just as talented and knowledgeable as these two. In fact, our creative strategy session with a client is like getting free consulting for that business. And that input is easily as valuable as the work we do.”
Exactly what does
NCS.tv do for its clients? “We produce, edit and distribute web-based television,” says Ron. “We also produce a line of video marketing tools to assist in telling the client’s story. These include branding, testimonials, lead generation, web commercials and attraction marketing. We can do a complete turn-key
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52