Meet Ben and Rachael: the Bubble and Squeak behind Your Video Team
Ben and Rachael Bryant are the husband and wife team behind Your Video Team. They're affectionately known to each other at home as Bubble and Squeak. Yes, they've heard every leftovers joke going.
They live in Ashford, Kent, and run the YVT studios in Tenterden. They also have a mobile studio that heads out up and down the country, filming at events and on site wherever their partners need them. We sat them down and asked them the questions people always want to know.
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Meet Ben and Rachael
Meet Ben
Ben: "I'm the videographer and editor, so I'm kind of the creative director. Pretty much anything techy with cameras and equipment, that's me. That might be directing podcasts, or helping people in front of the camera with a bit of coaching and support."
Meet Rachael
Rachael: "My superpower is that I'm the conversationalist. I'm really good at drawing out people's expertise, getting them to talk about themselves and feel natural, until they forget there's even a camera there. I also make sure our partners (we call our clients partners) are looked after. If they're coming to the studio, there are always drinks and snacks on hand. I'm their main point of contact the whole way through their journey with YVT."
And then there are their two boys, Logan and Parker (named after Wolverine and Spider-man), who love being part of it all. They often come along to events and networking, chatting to people and getting a behind-the-scenes look at the family business.
How Bubble met Squeak
Every good hero has an origin story, and theirs starts in a Pizza Hut in 2007.
Ben was the manager. Rachael was the new waitress. Somewhere between the pizzas and the shift rotas, something clicked, and it clicked fast. Within a couple of weeks Ben had moved in with Rachael and her family.
Within 10 months they were engaged. Around the same time, Rachael's parents politely suggested the young couple might like to start paying rent. Ben and Rachael looked at each other and decided that if they were paying rent, it might as well be on a place of their own. So off they went.
Ben stayed at Pizza Hut for years, eventually training restaurant managers right across Kent. Rachael took a very different path and joined the police. They married while she was in the job, and before long their family arrived.
With two boys at home, Ben became a stay-at-home dad, working part time and running the house. It was during those years that he picked up a camera and fell in love with photography.
How Your Video Team began
From weddings to Your Video Team
Ben's photography grew into weddings, then corporate events and Christmas parties. Rachael left the police and started her own events company, and the pair ran a cleaning company alongside both. Everything fed into everything else. Rachael would plan an event, hire Ben to photograph or film it, then send in the cleaners to tidy up at the end.
Then COVID arrived, and the weddings stopped overnight.
Out of nowhere, Coca-Cola got in touch. They needed a training video to help their factories run COVID-safe. That one project grew into health and safety films and internal podcasts, so one consistent message reached every team in the business at the same time. Next, cyber security company Cyberfort asked for training, onboarding and culture videos. Something had clicked.
The big decision happened around the dining room table at Ben's mum's. One business. All in on video. But what to call it?
They just wanted something that said "we're your video team". So that's exactly what they called it: Your Video Team.
They deliberately left their own names out of it. Ben Bryant Film and Photography had taught them that a business named after one person only ever expects that one person to turn up. They wanted to build something that could grow beyond the two of them.
Rachael: "People do forget the name sometimes, but in a nice way. It's not 'My Video Team', it's 'Our Video Team'. They play with it a lot, and honestly, that's the whole point."
What's a mistake you made early on?
Ben: "Trying to do every job ourselves. We both contacted clients, we both filmed, we both went to every job and every networking event. Now I do the filming, editing and technical side, and Rachael does the interviews, the conversations and the networking."
Rachael: "We also outsource the bits we don't enjoy, like bookkeeping, to experts we like working with. Delegate, and crack on."
Life as a husband and wife team
What surprises people about you?
Rachael: "That we actually like each other, and we really enjoy working together!"
Ben: "We did try working separately once. It definitely didn't work. We were both miserable and lonely."
Rachael: "And we missed each other."
What's it really like running a business as a married couple?
Ben: "There are stresses, especially financially. We're both working on the business with no other income, and that can be scary."
Rachael: "But we're very good at knowing our roles at home, at work and in life. We can see when the other one needs picking up, supporting or motivating, and we're good at celebrating each other too."
Ben: "It's not hard, because we enjoy it so much. To be honest, Rachael's very good at coming up with ideas, and I'm good at working out how to make them happen."
Rachael: "I can be really creative, but I need the structures and processes in place to make it viable. Once they're there, I'll follow them. Ben has the patience, and he's brilliant at seeing how all the pieces fit together."
How do you switch off, especially with the boys?
Ben: "I don't think we ever fully switch off. Our work life and home life blend together, and that helps. The boys come to events with us and help out when we need some cheap labour. But we always make time for everything they do, whether that's playing in the band or playing football. Those times are fixed, and we don't move them unless we really have to.
We've seen every sports day and every nativity. That's a big part of why we started working for ourselves. Now the boys are at an age where they either want to get more involved in the business or be off with their friends, so it's our time to grow."
Rachael: "We've turned a love and a passion into our everyday job. Why would you want to switch off from something you chose to create? It's not like I'm stuck in a 9 to 5 role I don't enjoy and need to escape from at the end of the day."
What we believe
What does "making you the hero of your brand" mean to you?
Ben: "It's about becoming what Daniel Priestley calls a Key Person of Influence: the expert people go to in your field. You say it once, clearly, and use it across everything you put out, so people really know you know what you're talking about."
Rachael: "It's also about leadership and support. A hero isn't someone standing there going 'ta-dah, look at me!' It's the person quietly making sure the foundations are right and everyone in the brand is supported. People understand the vision and where you're going, the communication's always open, and they want to surround themselves with you.
There isn't just one hero in a brand. Think of the Avengers or the Justice League: a team of heroes, each with their own expertise."
Ben: "Everyone who believes in your business deserves the chance to show it, as comfortably as they feel. We'll always champion video, but if a blog suits someone better, that's fine too."
Why do you believe in long-form video for small businesses?
Ben: "The biggest misconception is that long-form takes longer. Yes, one long video takes more time to plan, film and edit than one short clip. But if you need a short video every day, you need a new idea every day and a new edit every day. That's where the stress and anxiety around video comes from.
One long-form video can give you up to 50 pieces of content: short clips, blogs and posts. Sit down for a day and record four or five 30-minute videos, and you've fuelled a month of long-form and realistically a year of everything else. That's far more achievable than recording 100 thirty-second videos."
Rachael: "It's better for your audience too. Most businesses get stuck making short clips, so when someone likes what they see, there's nowhere for them to go. With long-form, people move from your posts and carousels to your short clips, your chapters and then the full episode. It feeds the 7-11-4 rule faster, so people get to know, like and trust you quicker, and become buyers sooner."
What do you love most about the people you work with?
Ben: "We always learn something from our partners, and we always make sure they enjoy the process."
Rachael: "Video usually isn't their expertise, or something they want to do. It's something they feel they have to do. So we take the weight off their shoulders and bring the fun back in."
Ben: "When we first meet people, they're often dreading it. A few months later they're saying 'we can't wait to come down and see you'. Going from 'I know I've got to do this' to 'I can't wait to do this' is why we love what we do."
Proudest moments and favourite shoots
What's the client moment you're proudest of?
Rachael: "The one I always go back to is Family Law Cafe. In the first year we worked with them, their views went from 1,800 to 18,000. Their turnover grew fivefold, and they took on eight new members of staff. We didn't fully see it until we sat down for the year-one review and looked at all the numbers."
Ben: "For me, it's getting people confident on camera. Last year alone we made over 500 individual videos, and so many of those people were nervous about showing up. I wasn't good on camera myself once, so I know the techniques that work. Plan it, have something written to come back to, and you're free to relax and move naturally. Turning timid people into confident experts on camera is what I'm proudest of."
What's the most memorable thing that's happened on a shoot?
Ben: "Going down a nuclear bunker was pretty cool. So was walking into Coca-Cola back in 2020 and seeing piles of empty cans, and their automated factory, about 100 metres high, long and wide, with robots collecting everything. And the comedy video we made with Rory, very early on, was a good one."
Rachael: "More recently, the Kent Business Awards. We filmed around 35 finalists, and on the day nearly every one of them apologised, convinced they were the only one fluffing their lines. On awards night we showed the outtakes. Watching the whole room realise they weren't alone, and seeing them laugh at themselves and each other, was a really special moment."
What's next, and our advice if you're nervous on camera
What's next for YVT?
Ben: "There's going to be a change. YVT as it is right now has to evolve, but it's too early to share exactly how."
Rachael: "Over the last six weeks we've really stepped back out of the business and looked at what's been working, what hasn't, and what we've been trying to make work because we felt we had to. There are some big, surprising moves about to happen that will let us grow in a completely different way. Watch this space."
What would you say to someone who's nervous about getting on camera?
Ben: "Get over yourself! But seriously, know that you're not the only one going through it. You know what you do and how you do it, and you've been doing it for years. You're the expert. Someone in your field might say it differently, but that's just their method. Your method and your opinion count too.
You don't sound wrong or look bad on camera. You're just not used to seeing and hearing yourself. Has anyone ever looked at you as you walked into a room and said 'don't like the look of you, don't like the sound of you, leave'? No. So nobody's going to judge you like that on screen, and you don't need to judge yourself like that either.
You're allowed to fidget and make mistakes. You don't need to say it all in one take. Pause, take a break, compose yourself and start again. You've got this."
Rachael: "What Ben said, and find a team that will support you through all of it. Someone once told us that even though we love getting people out there on video, we weren't doing it for ourselves. They said, 'How selfish are you for keeping your expertise quiet?' That hit hard. I thought, how dare you call us selfish? We're the least selfish people! But they were right, and it's a big part of why we're here now."
Ben: "So stop being selfish with what you know. If you want people to know how good you are, the only way is to tell them. Let's get your message out there and make you the hero of your brand."
Want to meet Ben and Rachael properly?
Pop into the studio in Tenterden, book the mobile studio for your event or office, or just drop them a message. The kettle's always on, and Rachael will have the snacks ready.
