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From Filmmaker to Founder: Christopher Weiher on Building a Creative Business That Cuts Through the Noise

  1. From Filmmaker to Founder: Christopher Weiher on Building a Creative Business That Cuts Through the Noise Mike Konrad 1:03:04

What if the very thing you Love doing creatively is the one thing standing between you and building a scalable business?

A lot of creatives wrestle with that tension. They love the craft. They love the art. But the idea of turning that art into a company, managing clients, building systems, pricing services, hiring people, that is a completely different skill set.

Today’s guest has lived at that intersection.

My guest today is Christopher Weiher, founder of CLEAVER Creative, a video production and animation agency that helps companies transform complex ideas into compelling visual stories. Chris has spent more than two decades in filmmaking and video production, and over that time he made the leap from creative professional to business owner.

In the first segment of today’s conversation, we will explore Chris’s entrepreneurial journey. What prompted him to start his own company? What surprised him about running a business? And what did he have to learn the hard way about turning creativity into revenue?

In the second segment, we shift gears and talk about what he does best: storytelling through video. In a world drowning in content, how do you actually create video that drives engagement, builds authority, and produces measurable business results? And how should entrepreneurs be thinking about video today, especially in the age of AI and short attention spans?

If you are a creative professional, a founder trying to build authority, or someone wondering how to use storytelling more strategically in your business, this episode is for you.

Cleaver Creates website:
https://www.cleavercreates.com

Mike Konrad Podcast Host

Mike Konrad entered the electronics manufacturing industry in 1985. Four decades later, he continues to dedicate his career to advancing reliability within the industry. In 1992, he founded Aqueous Technologies, an equipment manufacturer serving the electronics sector. Becoming an entrepreneur was never part of his plan, he simply had a passion for a product he designed. When his employer declined to build it, he realized the only way forward was to create it himself.

Mike entered business with strong technical skills but no business acumen. His early assets were ego, passion, arrogance, ignorance, and above all, a poor assessment of risk. Ironically, those traits proved useful in the beginning, ignorance really was bliss. But as his company grew, Mike recognized that those same traits could lead to its downfall. To survive, he had to transform himself, developing business acumen, adopting sustainable strategies, and evolving from reckless enthusiasm into purposeful leadership.

Today, with 40 years of industry experience, Mike shares both his technical expertise and his entrepreneurial journey, offering lessons from personal and professional growth, the near-misses that almost derailed him, and the strategies that carried him forward. He is also a strong advocate of “conscious marketing”, moving beyond traditional chest-thumping advertising toward education-driven authority building. By offering value through knowledge rather than hype, Mike helps organizations connect with a new generation of decision-makers who prefer independent research over bold claims.