Josh Hester -The Storyteller Studios
What inspired you to launch your business?
I wanted to create more opportunities to do my best work. I saw potential demand in the market, to combine my experience in documentary video and corporate video, to offer clients authentic and effective video marketing for their business or cause.
What is your passion?
Telling stories. Or, more specifically, allowing others to tell their own stories. Our Mission at The Storyteller Studios is to connect people through the power of story. We believe good storytelling moves people more deeply than any other way and that everyone and every endeavor has one.
How do you start your day?
Coffee. I make it for my wife and me every morning at home. We work to get ourselves and our two young kids ready for the day. I take my son to his daycare and head into the office. Usually, the first thing I do is some light reading of any news I might have missed overnight or the day before. I also like to check in with the Storyteller team and make sure I'm doing everything I can to make their jobs easier.
Favorite local businesses?
My wife and I love La Piazza, Three Twigs Bakery, Biscuits & Brunch, The Salted Lemon Market & Creamery. I have also been helped immensely by friends in business at INB, O'Shea Builders, Zara's Collision Center, and Troxell Insurance. We admire our friends at First Impressions Daycare (they are wonderful), Cherry Hills Church, and Springfield Christian School. We're proud to support effective causes like Contact Ministries, Hope School, Young Philanthropists. And we never want to take our incredible medical community for granted here, especially St. John's Children's Hospital and SIU School of Medicine.
What do you deem as success in business?
Doing effective high-quality work, that matters, with people you admire.
What is your number one piece of advice for business owners?
Business is about people and relationships. Focus on people, and the other important stuff will follow. Know your values and stick to them. Be paranoid about mediocrity. Listen to your clients and customers. Surround yourself with people who are better and smarter than you are. Trust your team. Remember that your business is about serving others.
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