How To Get Started and Stay In The Business

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Well I have a ton of credit, fortunately, they either love me or hate me. They love me because I'm reliable and use the cards a lot, which helps merchants. But they hate me because I would never even think about carrying a balance. It's a ridiculous idea to me, carrying debt at those stupid interest rates when I have plenty of cash on hand. I just use the cards to get cash back and for convenience. So for me, credit cards save a lot of money.

I think 2010 is going to be a ridiculously busy year, but that can be fun too, better to be busy than to be sitting around doing nothing. This big corporate project will book me about two full months I am sure. Then besides that we have a few other contracts pending that if they are done would fill up the rest of the first part of the year. Pre-production on my first feature needs to start part-time at least in April, and will be more or less full time by June, for filming in July. I'll bring on a producer to help but it's still my baby. I'm sure after that I'll be trying to fit post production into a ton of corporate work that I'll be doing I hope too (if the sales lady keeps bringing in the business). So I'm not sure where sleep fits into all that, haha. But it'll be fun. It's probably not the best year to shoot my feature considering that I hope to be fairly busy with corporate work, but I'll just have to make do and plan around the feature basically. I don't want to be turning down paying projects for a pet project, though.

But if all goes well next year I will at least double my portfolio of work done just on the corporate side, actually probably more like triple it, because this one contract already doubles it and more. Then the feature will be larger in scale than all of the music videos and shorts I've done put together, in budget, length, time spent, etc. So I see 2010 being a banner year. I always knew, from the start of this year in January, that 2010 would be the make-or-break year. My dad has been helping me out as my Angel Investor and he told me basically, son, I'll help you through 2010, then you're on your own. If it's not working out you're going to have to figure out what you're going to do next. So that pretty much guaranteed already that 2010 would either be the best year of my life or the worst year, and at various times I thought it was headed to being the worst. Now I really am getting optimistic that it'll be the best year for me, when I finally am starting to realize goals and dreams that I have had for about ten years now.
 
Well that's good that you have some capital behind you. All my ancestors have been dead for decades, so I'm like the shipwreck survivor still clinging to flotsom in the middle of the ocean, with sharks circling around me (tax collector) ready for the kill. I'm infuriated that it is a crime to be poor in America and that the government has the nerve to use terms like 'tax delinquent' to label those who are of insufficient income to pay their randsoms.

I'm in a crabby mood tonight because a big gig I was supposed to have with a regional symphony on the 14th is being ruined by union politics. They blindsided me with a new contract, making me liable for any unauthorized distribution of the recording, saddled my client with a neutered set of rights, stating that no use other than family use would be permitted, and now the client doesn't want to pay $2500 to have the recording made, as it will be useless for promoting her prodigal son's performance and she needs a recording so she can enter him in two major competitions. I'm so mad because I cancelled another event I was putting together, with numerous attendees, so that I could accept the orchestra gig, which is a paid gig and thrown at me at the last minute.

It's just amazing how everything I work for lately has an uncanny ability to be undone by politics and the economy.
 
I look forward to having a strong sales and marketing team. For now, I have done the majority of closing. Though my personality may have elements of charisma, I would much rather focus on the creative and let someone else bring in the work. However, I am learning some very important things by being the one who wears many hats.

Robert and Ginner, you are right. There aren't any short cuts (but even when its a hard road, there are valuable lessons to be learned). 2009 started out painfully slow for us, but things have changed. I have changed. Through it all, I am learning a thing or two about closing deals and building my business. The opportunities are getting bigger and I am becoming more able to take full advantage of them.

As for the social networking, I have been testing the waters with Linkedin. So far, I have made lots of connections and have even met a few people/businesses in person through these connections. I have yet to directly connect a sale to web based social networking. I cannot, however, comment on its effectiveness as yet; Awakened Films only took the plunge about 7 months ago.

My experience confirms again and again - it is all about who you know (and who knows you). A demo reel, business card and website really helps when opportunity strikes, but getting out and meeting people is the key to finding (and creating opportunities). Networking events, talking to people in elevators, sharing fresh work with previous clients, visiting other businesses in the same field...etc. I always wear a shirt with my logo to every meeting, no matter how insignificant. I make it a point to listen to owners and managers and employees. At some point, they usually solicit feedback or ask about my business at which point I offer suggestions on potential symbiosis. Some meetings end with a deal. Others are simply 'data gathering'. Still others are a seemingly waste of time, but you really never know who they know or what they may need in the future.

I can't tell you how many sales dollars are directly related to relationship. Probably about 90%. Why does someone call on me, rather than another business? Its usually because of a warm referral or a connection that we made weeks, months or sometimes years ago. Why do they come back? They liked our previous interaction. Yes, a business needs a strong product/service to sell and it need to be concious of the market value of that salable item. But for a small business, those things do not in and of themselves create income.

Mark, I hear your frustration and wish you the best. Don't give up. Complaining, however, is not going to solve your problem. Have you tried any of Robert's advice from Page 1? Have you pursued relationships with local businesses? Have you talked with other production companies in your area about location specific business advice?

I took the liberty of browsing your website. A few points that stood out
- the CG intro does not add to the site experience
- there is a large list of corporate services, no examples
- there is a large list of television services, no examples
- I could not find a client list or recommendations from previous clients
- the wedding video site is good, but navigates away from your mother-site rather than opening a new window.
- dates listed at the bottom of the videos outdates them before their time.
- portfolio page is well laid out but lacks any real variety (and what about a 30 sec overview?).
- text content could be better polished

If you are not busy at all, would you ever consider a season of giving away your services to a variety of causes? In a matter of months, you could really build up your 'reel', build up your client base, build multiple levels of relationships, not to mention, create massive amounts of good will toward your company.

Just my 2cents.
 
Mark, I hear your frustration and wish you the best. Don't give up. Complaining, however, is not going to solve your problem. Have you tried any of Robert's advice from Page 1? Have you pursued relationships with local businesses? Have you talked with other production companies in your area about location specific business advice?
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Other businesses, yes. The general response is that my services are irrelevant to their work.
Other production companies? What sort of companies?


I took the liberty of browsing your website. A few points that stood out
- the CG intro does not add to the site experience
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Agreed. This is something I need to work on when I can figure out something effective. It loads much too slowly.


- there is a large list of corporate services, no examples
- there is a large list of television services, no examples
- I could not find a client list or recommendations from previous clients
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That is because I have not been granted the privilage to do those types of videos yet, but I'm listing them as part of the services that I'm equipped and willing to offer.
Again, no television gigs were yet granted, but I'm offering this as part of my services.
The few clients I have are private folks--mostly classical musicians. And the orchestra that I worked with several times really screwed the pooch, upsetting both my client and me, by neutering the client's use of any video I shoot for the client. I suspect my classical recording career may be over, unless I bypass the regional orchestras and go right to the NY Philharmonic and Boston Symphony with my orchestra reels, which I don't have permission to use for my own promotional purposes!



- the wedding video site is good, but navigates away from your mother-site rather than opening a new window.
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My wife designed that site, so she gets all the credit there. Good point about opening a new window. I'll fix that.


- dates listed at the bottom of the videos outdates them before their time.
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Good point. Ugh.. the text is in the Flash files and a pita to edit.


- portfolio page is well laid out but lacks any real variety (and what about a 30 sec overview?).
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The page pretty much covers everything that I've done as a professional, which is not much in the last nine years. Often years pass between paid gigs--I kid you not!


- text content could be better polished
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In what way? Can you cite some concrete examples?


If you are not busy at all, would you ever consider a season of giving away your services to a variety of causes? In a matter of months, you could really build up your 'reel', build up your client base, build multiple levels of relationships, not to mention, create massive amounts of good will toward your company.

Just my 2cents.
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Actually, I spent the first four years of getting up to speed on DV cameras by shooting non-profit events. I was the official video guy for my wife's Filipino organization, covering their cultural dance events and making DVDs for the members and the dancers. Four years of that got me a cheap 'award' plaque from the president of the organization. Out of those four years, I got ONE wedding gig. When I get involved in these kinds of causes, I find that the officials of such causes begin to count on me, as if I were a paid employee and come to expect me to always be available to do this and that (for free naturally). But the paid gigs seldom come.

Since the orchestra showed their contempt for both myself and the prodigal boy genius pianist this weekend, the boy's mother, piano teacher and myself are making private arrangements to make the boy's demo for his entry into two very prestigeous music competitions. The piano teacher is quite influential in the classical music community, and is impressed with the work I did for her daughter last year. No doubt she is feeling badly about tearing me away from a prior commitment to do this concert and having the orch committee make a contract surprise that nullifies the value of the recording to my client, thus causing the client to cancel recording for lack of useability due to absurd legal restrictions (specifically, recording NOT to be used for anything but private family viewing and a line that the orchestra will seek legal action in the event that distribution of any kind is detected).

You'll have to pardon me, because I'm still rather upset about this incident. I'm losing money in the deal, I've lost time, planning and preparations that went to waste.. thank goodness I didn't rent equipment for the date and lose THAT money too! :kali: I may never see ANY work again from this orchestra, or any affiliated orchestras in the region. They 'stuck it to me' and I returned in kind with a nice modification to their contract, with a buyout fee for my recording. Their contract essentially says "we don't care if you can even use the recording you make" and my version basically said "fine, just pay me to make a useless recording, here's the cost of transfer of copyright" along with a five-figure number. I do have to pat myself on the back for coming up with that retort via contract writeup though--it's the most brilliant piece of thinking I've done in forty years!
 
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I just wanted to poke in and say this is a great thread with tons of information. It's great reading the good news stories. For those on down times please keep your heads up. Times are rough, but we have to constantly stay out there and keep a business mind.


Here's a little about me and what my story is so far. I'm currently 24, but had a desire to be in the media field since I was young. I attended a magnet high school in the inner city of Dallas that offered Radio, Television, Journalism, and Humanities. My family didn't have a dime so even through high school we made it through church charity, work (3 jobs at once while in high school), and family scraping together what we had to make whatever we could. Alot of people believed in me, but I had no real direction. I had an internship in a recording studio, love music, but no money and poor communication skills. I could sale things though and had some of the top scores in my school. I was popular because I was smart and I helped out others around me. We my high school counselor would always bring me scholarships to fill out. (Usually tons of paperwork, which I hated) It became almost like a game for me. I would do tons every week on top of all my regular work, which included a college course I was taking, all the advanced classes, my internship, and he 3 jobs I had. I would do everything that came in that week. Sometimes 1 or 2 sometimes 10. It always required alot too. A written paper, filled out applications, copies of transcripts and test scores, interviews, ect. It was a tedious process, but it was my only choice to get out of my situation.

Anyway, I must've filled out over a hundred scholarship applications and I got 3, but it was enough to get me to college. I got one scholarship because I ran all the way home in the rain to get a book from a school I wanted to attend. I came back soaked and told them everything I wanted to do and learn, and how I would succeed. There were people more qualified than me, higher grades, better speaking skills, etc.

The point is, anything you do will take alot of hard work that doesn't seem to pay off and lots of no's and disappointment, but you have to keep your drive.




Now let me bring you to my current situation, I graduated in Dec. 2008. At about the same time tons of people were getting laid of thier jobs. I have work experience from gigs in Houston, an ESPN gig being the biggest, but still there are no real jobs out there. I didn't stop though. I kept learning. I learned to design and code websites. Sold one site and have a great relationship there, which has the potential for me to get a complete media production gig out of the country. This one gig can cover me for a few years and launch my company. We've all had hard times, but don't give up. I'm not even putting all my eggs in one basket with this gig. I am still out marketing, networking, and trying to get other gigs. I hope my story can inspire others.
 
Looks like this year is closing out as a real bust for me... just received e-mail from the concert client... it seems she lacks the funds to do the private recording session I promised her, since the orchestra won't let her use a concert recording and she backed out of that as a result. So now the followup is a bust, too, and I haven't been able to line up any prospects for the winter.
I've got back taxes due on my home, an auto insurance renewal coming up in 14 days, have to order heating oil, and haven't the funds now for ANY of these essentials. I can't even take a temp job at Wal-Mart because the daycare costs for my daughter would be more than my earnings.
On top of that, my wife's employer just switched the company healthcare from major medical to 'wellness' insurance, which means if I have a heart attack or the doc discovers cancer, insurance won't cover any of the expenses.
It looks like liquidation is coming, just to keep a roof over our heads for a few more months while we wait for a turnaround in the economy.
 
Mark, I'm very sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances; it's hard to spot a ray of sunshine in such a cloudy report.

By the same token, I have to say that your posts in general have been far from positive; focused more on why you can't than how you can.

In short, you need to give yourself a check-up from the neck-up and fight your way back to a more positive frame of mind. Not easy when you can't see the forest for the trees but frankly you don't have a choice but to change your mindset. Your mindset whether it is positive or negative, regardless of your real world circumstances will determine whether people / clients are attracted to do business with you. It's a difficult cycle to break but only you can do that and YOU have to man-up and make that happen.

I commend you on discussing the difficult details and challenges of your business with us here on the forum; we can ALL learn from this in some way and you will learn too. Countless successful entrepreneurs were on their last dollar and last bit of strength before they broke through it, but out of failure they became stronger. You will too and your time will come.

For now, we need to focus this thread back onto the original title "How To Get Started and Stay In The Business" !!!

Let's hear some success stories from others that came out of growth and challenge.

Meanwhile Mark, keep the faith and know that most of us have been right there in your shoes and have survived just like you will!

Robert Starling, SOC
 
I've been having a hard time, too. I'm not giving up. I worked as an MRI/xray tech for 15 years and quit because I had to make my film. I've had to REALLY cut back but had a little cash stashed away. I kept my tech license and even worked a temp xray job this summer for extra income. So far my film's not done but if I hadn't quit that imaging job making doctors rich I never could have come this far. I've learned and done things there's NO way I could have accomplished if I had stayed on that healthcare career course.

My father died when he was 46. I'm 45 now and living a much more conservative lifestyle than he ever did but if I die today it will have been worth it. I don't have health insurance right now. I don't need it as badly now that I'm not working at a job that is slowly killing me. I'm not a millionaire but am happier than I've ever been in my entire life. Regrets? None. Excited? Yes.

Now...I've got a killer Nazi frog film to complete! I'll keep you updated.
 
robstar1 said:
How many of you are active in the various social networking sites and use them to any degree as either a direct or indirect form of marketing / keeping in touch with your peers, prospects and clients? Are your efforts planned and intentional or simply random?

Tell me you stories of success and even challenges as it relates to social networking.

Rewards await those who share their stories...

Thanks!

Robert
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Meetup.com is my number one source of new prospects. I'm new to the business and I've been building my portfolio and slowly building my client base at the below $600 range. Take a look at my website for my level of work and please let me know if I'm under charging. I'm only armed with a DVX right now and have been seriously thinking about upgrading to a HD.

I also network in other free business gathering events ie seminars etc. A lot of people I meet have expressed interests in working with me, and some have actually hired me. I recently was asked to submit a bid on a Kinetic Typography (After Effects) project for just sub $1000. I made them a demo and offered to have pro-audio studio usage but unfortunately lost the bid.

Things are slowly getting better (emphasis on slowly) but I'm committed to meeting 8 new prospects a week through networking. I have a few target professions that I now want to get my hands on. Which leads me to a question:

Should I branch out into different sectors or should I choose a sector and specialize it in? Or am I asking this question pre-maturely?

I feel that right now I should still get whatever business I can get until I'm sure there will be a point in time when I say to myself "hmm... I like this and this industries, let's stick to those two."

Thanks
 
Rob, I would like to have something positive to report, but the news is all negative.. the latest surprise comes from a building inspector, who's visit is going to cost me the loss of my electric service until a repair, costing about $7400, can be made. I'm scrambling to find electricians who will do the work on a barter for video services basis, but this exercise is really demonstrating to me that the world thinks my line of work is WORTHLESS.

That aside, I'm publishing newsletters to my former clients again this week, have a letter drafted that is going out to all the print ad agencies in the region, stating why they should team up with me to make the leap from print advertising to television and internet video, I also took a maintenance job at a university in the south end of the state, which is about 2 hours per month, but will provide a few dollars' income. I've joined every film, video and camera group I could find on Facebook, and have posted my availability there.

Now if I can just convince people that hiring me to do their video will save the planet, I may have a winning streak.........
 
I think the toughest thing I'm finding right now besides just finding clients in this economic environment is trying to strike a Golden Mean balance between customer service and keeping my sanity, basically. Or maybe I should say between offering the client everything and standardizing my operations.

I personally feel that if you hire me to do a job as the director-producer on your project, you have an implicit understanding that you are hiring my style, my taste, and my creative preferences. To me, this is obvious. To the clients, it is apparent that's not obvious. I think most of them feel that they paid for this, therefore they get to dictate everything exactly as they want it. That is wrong. If they want that I highly suggest they just hire a videographer and an editor and direct the project themselves, or I would be happy to make available my contractors to do that for them and then just step aside as director. But if you do want to hire me to direct, then you need to understand that is what I will do. I'm an award-winning director, I have very high standards for my work, but I am not your puppet. I am also not a mind reader, I really do my best to tailor what I'm doing to your business and make you happy, that's what makes me happy! But at the same time I need to have the latitude to do a great job.

There's probably no nice way to say that because clients are not versed in what we do, they really don't know what they need or what they want. They have a general idea, they have the best intentions, but that's where I come in -- I know how this stuff edits together, I know what you need to make it look great, so to a certain extent please let me do my job and make you a great product.

I think I'm going to need to standardize the operations a bit more or perhaps simply demand more creative control and the clients who don't like that, basically tell them to get lost, because when I'm thinking about it I don't care. Even if it means I'm out of business, if that means not having to deal with nightmare clients, you know what? Excellent! I only want to do this work on my terms, I don't want to be miserable just do video work. I really can find other things to do! So I need to continue on my terms and make sure I'm enjoying what I do, because that's the key to staying in business over the long haul. If a client dictates the shooting schedule completely, without the leeway to get the shots you know you need, and then you have to go and do reshoots on your dime because they didn't listen to what you wanted, then during editing they want to micromanage everything, why do they need me as the director? Just being realistic here. My position is useless, a waste of time and space, basically. It'd be far easier to just set them up with a DP and a few grips and say hey go wild, tell those guys to get whatever YOU want, and then you take ownership of the project, if it doesn't turn out well it's all on you now, because you directed it.

But I think I'm in the rare position of being guilty of being pushed over. I'm usually very assertive but when it comes to clients I'm also a pleaser, I want to make them happy, obviously. They are the client. And what I have learned the hard way is I can't do both. Sometimes I need to say, no, sorry this doesn't work, we're not going to be filming that, because I need these shots. In other words, I have to be willing to say no to the client and tell them I'm not going to make you happy right now, because doing so will make you unhappy in the future. It's awkward as heck, but it has to be done. I'd rather they were a bit confused and displeased with the shoot day and then they love the finished product than do everything they want on the day of the shoot, knowing good and well that it won't lead to a good project when it is edited, then they say when it's done, "Ok but how come we don't have this or that?" or "This looks awkward without such and such footage, sure is too bad we didn't film that." Because then of course it's YOUR fault, somehow you should have gotten that, forget the fact you paid your crew overtime because you were there 14 hours the day of the shoot, no it's definitely not their fault, that's your fault. So if it's going to be my fault, then I'm just going to start ignoring the client when I think they're wrong. I'll deliver better projects because of it and in the end I think they'll be happier.

I know one thing, I can live with either situation, I don't care. If someone said, "Ok but if you do that your clients won't like you because blah blah you're not agreeable enough, nobody will want to work with you if you don't jump when they say jump." Alright. I can live with that. I love filmmaking -- I don't love it that much. I'd rather find something else to do. I have my high standards, I'd rather do it my way and if it doesn't work I'd rather not do it at all. That's just my personality, though.
 
basspig said:
I've joined every film, video and camera group I could find on Facebook, and have posted my availability there.

Now if I can just convince people that hiring me to do their video will save the planet, I may have a winning streak.........
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I still don't understand why you are joining filmmakers/videomakers groups. They are useless. Go to where your clients are. Lawyers, doctors, athletes etc.

No one wants to save the planet. Everyone wants to save and make money.
 
chromeboy007 said:
I still don't understand why you are joining filmmakers/videomakers groups. They are useless. Go to where your clients are. Lawyers, doctors, athletes etc.

No one wants to save the planet. Everyone wants to save and make money.
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Exactly, amen!

Yeah I don't go to networking events with filmmakers, that's completely worthless, haha, who cares about that if you need work? They won't give you work, you need to go to where the clients are, business networking events.
 
But guys, I thought everyone was worried about the planet and if I could convince them that hiring me would prevent the oceans from rising and swallowing up small islands and wiping out whole ancient civilizations, wouldn't they want to hire me? :engel017:

Seriously, I know most people don't give a rat's ass about any of this.. I was just being facetious.. but the point is, put the fear of God in the client--"if you don't hire me, you will lose all your clients 'cause they'll be turned off by the unprofessional presentation that other videographer will do for you!"

That said, I am on musicians groups all over Facebook, too. When I joined some of the video groups, I started getting a lot of friend requests from Muslim and Arabic members. But I figure it's good to be networked with fellow users of the hardware that I use, although the Facebook groups seem to consist of clueless folks for the most part.

I'm just starting to make some headway, doing music sessions... recital demos for competition entries by young musicians. My name is being passed around now in a very wealthy community of musicians.. many of these kids live in homes costing $3-6M.. last week I did a session at one that looked like a setting for a James Bond film, complete with courtyard and massive fountains on acres of beautifully-manicured land. I just hope this blossoms into something before the tax man takes my own home. Kinda' hard to run a business from a sidewalk..
 
JonathanLB said:
Exactly, amen!

Yeah I don't go to networking events with filmmakers, that's completely worthless, haha, who cares about that if you need work? They won't give you work, you need to go to where the clients are, business networking events.
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I wouldn't say networking with film-makers etc is worthless, i mean i did used to think that but if you are in a situation like me where you run a prod' company AND promote yourself as a freelancer, then it can be very useful having local people in the industry know who you are and what you do. I think that anyway of getting you name out and promoting yourself important because somewhere down the line, someone will remember you or your company and give you a call... even if it for one of their friends companies or whatever.
Yes you certainly do need to go where the clients are, but on top of that, get a good reputation with the local film/video/tv community and i don't doubt that further along the line it will produce something for you or your business.

Tom
 
Sometimes when you need a little help because you don't have something in your portfolio, a fellow filmmaker can partner with you to get the gig, or at least have a shot at it.

Can't sell hotdogs on the street without a permit. And you can't get a permit without a permanent (legal) street address. ;)
 
JonathanLB said:
Exactly, amen!

Yeah I don't go to networking events with filmmakers, that's completely worthless, haha, who cares about that if you need work? They won't give you work, you need to go to where the clients are, business networking events.
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Bullshit. I have gotten plenty of work from networking events like ITVA and such.
 
Uhh yeah, good for you, I've never heard of anything like that. Filmmakers are your competition when it comes to similar-type work. You don't go to places with the competition to find work, that's just retarded, you go to where the clients are -- networking events for small business owners, for instance, where you can offer your video services as marketing. Only a fool spends his time going to networking events with direct competitors.

It's different if you want to find people to work on a feature film with, great, but not if you're serious about your business.
 
I'm going to surprise all of you then, when I say that I've met a "competitor" in my area and we've teamed up together several times already to handle larger jobs that neither of us could alone handle. There are times when teamwork turns competitors into allies. Of course, it depends on the sensibilities of the parties involved. We have enough professional courtesey not to try to annihilate eachother, because we are true capitalists, not the 'capitalists' the way the news media makes us out to be. ;)
 
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