![[Fully Managed] Michael O’Sullivan from Motivation Media Inc. Ep. 123](https://penji.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/BLOG-IMAGE-Michael-OSullivan.jpg)
Shannon Donnelly (SD): Alrighty. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Fully Managed Podcast, the podcast where we discuss marketing and business tips to help assist you on your business journey. I’m your host, Shannon, Penji’s Partnership Coordinator, and I’m joined here today with a very special guest, Michael O’Sullivan from Motivation Media Inc. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Michael O’Sullivan (MO): Thanks for having me.
SD: Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself, anything that you think would be relevant for the crowd and how you kind of got to this point in your professional career?
MO: Absolutely. And feel free to cut me off in case I go too deep into the rabbit hole here, but in February of this year, we’ll be celebrating ten years as a full-service production company.
SD: Thank you.
MO: The short way of telling the story is that after college, I went to school on a Fulbright scholarship, which is not me bragging, but that is part of the reason why I ended up where I ended up. I knew after college, I wanted to give back in some way. So I went out to South Dakota, became a radio host at a mission in South Dakota on a reservation, and kind of started this media journey. I was already dabbling a little bit in college and through a friend who had a production company back in Chicago. The mission that I was working for, they saw me taking pictures one day and they said, hey, can you do this for us? Hey, social media, can you do this for us? Nobody was doing any of this in the middle of rural South Dakota at the time. They needed a way to reach their donors or just anybody who didn’t know about this place, which was pretty much the world. I had this playground to play with cameras and to play with marketing and fundraising. After traveling for a couple of years after that, the cool thing is I met my wife through this process also. We met as volunteers, but then we ended up fundraising together, traveling the country. When we decided that we had enough of that—we weren’t necessarily fans of the fundraising, there were a lot of things we enjoyed—but for me, I wanted to combine these talents and tools that we had, storytelling being a key thing that this nonprofit wasn’t using, and apply that to nonprofits at the time. So marketing, fundraising, all of these things—it’s just storytelling. I wanted to combine that with doing something that I had a love for, which was photography at the time and video, and founded my company. I kicked off the business saying, I’m going to build capital with social media marketing. I moved to Mobile, Alabama. Ten years ago, unless you had a Facebook page, you were kind of an exception. I was trying to convince people in a town where my wife was from—but I knew nobody outside of my in-laws—that, hey, this is a good idea and this is the future. After about six months of that, I’m like, you know what I can market? Video. I started the video component of the business and went really deep into that and said, this is the way forward for us, because we can apply this as things like social media become adopted in places where it hadn’t yet. So it’s a long way to say now we’re a full-service video production company. We create marketing videos, a lot of short-form content, but I would say between that and storytelling—those are our niches. We believe that not just video, but story, works in every industry. We’ve seen that from the nonprofit space to manufacturing to medical. If you’re trying to tell a story, it works.
SD: Yeah, no, I definitely agree with that. When you were starting out in a new space, how were you able to market yourself to people that you were trying to look for for clients?
MO: It started off with a lot of hoping and praying and crossing my fingers. Mobile is not an exception—there are a lot of cities where your name matters. I didn’t marry into a family where the last name mattered. It took a lot of hustle, connecting with my wife’s family and friends, which opened me up to networking and telling my own story and taking lots of meetings. I had to be very persistent to get to the point where, ten years in, we really don’t market ourselves. This tenth year, we’re changing that for the first time ever, but we really haven’t marketed ourselves. It’s all been word of mouth and referrals from previous business. That didn’t come without making those relationships. By the time COVID hit, I’d been out in this market and had made enough connections and had been preaching about storytelling and video long enough that people were ready—and they were kind of forced into it—but all of a sudden it was that aha: this makes sense.
SD: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. You’re doing great, and I think that that is a testament to community and making sure that you have connections there because referrals are everything in this kind of business—agency, business, media—really for business in general. To have a good reputation is the most important in that area. You need people to enjoy your service and like working with you, but also have good results. Once you get that, you have your foot in the door to talk to more people who are related to those people and so on.
Building Client Trust Through Storytelling
MO: You nailed it. And I think what’s worked for us is that we’re not just a video company. We are consultants. A lot of times, we’re walking into a room and it’s not a, “Hey, we’re here to pitch you this video idea,” it’s, “What are you trying to accomplish?” Then we get into the weeds of what they’ve tried, what has failed, what they wish they could do. Often we find ourselves problem-solving beyond the video side of things.
SD: Right. That’s such a good way to approach it because I think people who are in creative industries especially can sometimes be focused on just the service or the deliverable. But when you approach it from a more consultative point of view, you’re building trust. You’re telling them, “Hey, I’m not just here to take your money and go. I want to make sure that you’re actually getting what you need.” That goes a long way.
Adapting to Clients’ Evolving Needs
MO: It really does. And I’ll tell you, there’s been several times where we’ve had clients say, “That’s not what we need right now,” or we helped them uncover a different solution that wasn’t even video. We’ve told people before, “Hey, you don’t need to spend that money. Try this other thing first.” And a year later, they’ll come back and say, “Now we’re ready for that video. Thanks for being honest with us.” That kind of trust is hard to build, but once you have it, it’s incredibly valuable.
SD: Exactly. So with that in mind, what advice would you give to someone who’s just starting a creative business—whether it’s in media, marketing, or even freelance design—and wants to grow a loyal client base?
Advice for Creative Entrepreneurs
MO: I would say, lead with value and authenticity. Everyone talks about “being authentic,” but what it really means is showing up consistently, being honest, and not trying to oversell. Also—listen. Truly listen to what people need. Sometimes what they say they need and what they actually need are two different things. The more you can clarify their goals and connect the dots for them, the more indispensable you become.
SD: That’s so true. I love that you brought up listening because that’s underrated in business. People think talking is the most important skill, but really, the best communicators are great listeners.
MO: Absolutely. And especially in video, people will tell you, “We want a cool video,” and it’s like, okay—but what’s the end goal? Are you trying to generate leads, build brand awareness, increase conversions? The goal should dictate the strategy. That’s when the creativity can shine in a way that’s actually effective.
How Video Shapes Business Growth
SD: Speaking of effectiveness, how do you measure success for the videos you create? Is it purely about views and likes, or do you focus on other metrics?
MO: Good question. Views and engagement matter, of course, but we always ask, “Did this move the needle for your business?” That might mean more leads, more conversions, better customer understanding, or even internal wins like team alignment. Sometimes a brand video isn’t for the public—it’s for the team. And when that team feels united and inspired, that has real business value too.
SD: I love that. It’s such a holistic way of looking at content. Not every video needs to go viral to be successful.
Final Thoughts and Where to Find Michael
SD: I could talk about this all day, but to wrap up, where can our listeners find you if they want to learn more about what you do or see some of your work?
MO: Thanks! You can visit our website at motivationmedia.net, and we’re also on Instagram and LinkedIn under Motivation Media Inc. We share our projects, behind-the-scenes content, and a lot of our thinking around storytelling and brand development.
SD: Perfect. Be sure to check them out. Michael, thank you so much for being on the Fully Managed Podcast. Your story is amazing and I’m sure our listeners got a ton of value out of it.
MO: Thanks again. I appreciate the opportunity.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljosullivan
