30,000 views for a paper store

They got 30,000 people to watch a video about…paper?

Here's what you need to know about business school students: within thirty seconds of walking into a classroom, you can predict who will actually start a business and who will end up as a bureaucrat in corporate finance.

Chris and I recently spoke to a class of local business students at the University of Victoria. As we spoke, I looked out at a sea of faces, most staring blankly—the telltale sign of kids who are there because their parents pressured them into it or because "business" looks respectable on a resume. I felt a bit let down.

But afterwards, two students walked up to me and started peppering me with questions—the kind that immediately told me they were entrepreneurs. Their names were Aiden and Hiroko.

They told me that as a side hustle, they had started doing social media for local businesses and had recently landed a contract with The Papery, one of my favorite local shops. It sells ornate letterpress cards, beautiful wrapping paper, and Japanese fountain pens that cost a small fortune. It's the sort of place that shouldn't survive in the Amazon era, but whose cult following keeps it alive. It turned out that these two had played a part in that, and were now promoting it on Instagram.

I was even more impressed when they told me that one of the video reels they made got over 30,000 views.

Think about that for a moment: for a small local store with zero ad budget in a city with 250,000 people, that's the equivalent of getting one in eight residents to stop scrolling and watch your content. The video was a behind-the-scenes look at the store, exploring its history and operations. This piqued my interest.

So, when they asked me to grab coffee later that week, I said yes immediately.

At coffee, they showed me their work—clean, professional photography, copywriting, and design with an eye for detail that most agencies lack, plus a solid grasp of business fundamentals that's rare for students. They knew their numbers and were opinionated. Both were obviously driven and hardworking. But they had something that is rare and impossible to teach: great taste.

What really won me over was their pace. Within a few hours of brainstorming, they started emailing me ideas and proposals. There's a particular type of person who operates like this and I've learned to pay attention to this signal. There's a saying in carpentry: measure twice, cut once. Most people just never stop measuring. They cut.

I told them that I owned a bunch of local businesses that needed help, and knew of dozens more. The agencies I'd used in the past either want you to dump huge sums into Facebook ads (not feasible for small businesses) or produce content that makes you cringe (embarrassing!). There was, I told them, a big opportunity for someone to build an agency that could build legions of fans around local businesses by telling their stories.

Stories that explain how that amazing corner bakery makes their extra crunchy double-baked almond croissants. Or how much effort goes into sourcing the incredible ingredients from local farms. Or the history of the business—what went into building what customers see today.

We started brainstorming, and a partnership structure came together over the course of the week: they bring the creative talent and execution, while I help them scale, provide financial backing, and open doors to bigger clients. A perfect match. I get to turn what used to be a business expense into a revenue stream, while helping two hungry entrepreneurs move faster than they could alone.

And just like that, we started an agency together.

It's called download, and we're helping independent businesses get the attention they deserve by telling their unique stories.

Think tasteful posts, reels and TikToks showcasing what makes each business special: behind the scenes looks. A day in the life. The special care they put into their products.

The Papery's followers are up over 25% over the last month. If your small business needs help getting the word out in the same way, get in touch.

Originally published in the She pushed the needle into my arm... issue of Never Enough.