What is Repelling Potential Clients?

basspig

basspig

Veteran
I think it has to be my web site. Even though I thought it through pretty carefully, I don't know what's going on the minds of potential clients.
I'll get a call once every 6 months or so, usually someone asking around about what I'd charge to do some type of video production project. Then I never hear from them again. I'm thinking it must be the web site.
So I was wondering if anyone would care to look at my site and see if anything strikes you as grossly wrong with it, a turn-off, etc. Here 'tis: http://www.mwhdvideo.com/
I look at my web stats weekly and it gets 1-3 hits per day, most of them from Eastern Europe, India, France, Canada, and occasionally from inside the US. So I'm not getting much good traffic. Twice a year, someone will call because they found it via a Google search.
I've really got to get this resolved. I'm sitting on beacoup bucks worth of gear, software and hardware and I can't support a 4:1 ratio of property taxes to gross income any longer.
Help!
 
Most business normally doesn't come through a website. In this business it's all on who you know. Networking is key.
 
If you are only getting a couple of hits a day; then the content of your website isn't a problem: no one is seeing it.

But, as Matt says above; you have to push your name out there.

- Mikko
 
nothing upsetting with the website really, my main issue with anything is the variance in text and text color in the intro and the main page (the "we bring....high definition" being in that orange color, text in gray and other text in bold and neon green), as well as the 4 different text colors on your portfolio page (blue, green, orange, gray) - this is visually something that you want to keep from doing - a monochromatic color scheme works well and adds cohesion to your page and you can add emphasis with bold or italic lettering. in looking at one of your videos the intro graphics are done the same way, 2 different font families used (one with serifs and the other without), 3 different styles (2 plain of each different font and then an italicized one), and that is just with your logo. for branding purposes you should decide on one and stick with it - the same with the color scheme. The Candlewood Videography wedding page is great with a crisp gold/yellow color scheme - why is that page different than your main one? the wedding video page, in my opinion, is far better and more attractive than the one you linked. just my opinion, I'm sure others have input to consider as well.

in all honesty like the two above said you need to network, I purchased a domain name last year and have yet to even set the thing up - but at this time I don't need to and haven't had the time because I've been too busy working - I make sure every single friend, colleague, co-worker, classmate, family member, mailman, milkman, etc etc knows that I do video and we get gigs by word of mouth. my business partner and I just finished up a gig that brought in over $3k in one month, our largest to date. that might be small time for a lot of people, but for a couple of kids who have only been out of college a few years (and I'm actually still in school), that's decent money. granted we've been working on landing that for several months, but we really wowed the company, and are working on 2 more videos for them right now, have shot a few events for them and I am pretty sure we will have another one to do before the end of the year. all this because one of our friends works in their PR department and when the word video got mentioned she told them about us. same goes for weddings, etc. you need to be "the video guy" or the "sound guy" that comes up as a synonym in people's minds when they hear those words - I don't think those things I mentioned about the website are driving clients away, but odds are the website isn't attracting them either - network, chat with strangers, talk to everyone, drive it into people's heads that you are in this line of work and you can kick ass at it so your name pops up first in their cerebral search engines. sorry for the long-winded answer, hope there is a least a smidgeon of help in there somewhere.

Best,
Adam
 
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Content is key to getting properly indexed by google bot.
google bot can't read content in a flash presentation.

Your open flash looks cheap.
I think you'd be better off with a well crafted html page with written content that is relevant to the key aspects ( anticipate what your clients will search for ) of your business.
 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Well... everyone I know, knows that I do video. Almost to the point of annoyance--I am constantly talking to friends about new tools and capabilities I have, or linking to new video clips that I produced online. So everyone that has even a remote connection to me, knows what I do for a living. It appears that none of my friends and associates are in the market for video services, however, so I have to look outside this circle, to get the corporate jobs.

Interesting point on the fonts/colors. I was specifically intending to make those stand out against the all-gray background to emphasize certain points.
The portfolio videos are done in Flash, and so the text associated with each is fixed in the Flash source code. Since they were done at vastly different times, I didn't have a template for consistency.

The wedding site was an idea that someone had given me.. she thought that I'd be better off marketing to that crowd by having a dedicated site. So I put together a template for it, and my wife took over maintenance and has enhanced it quite a bit and refined the look and feel. It's her baby, pretty much. Still, when someone calls (about twice a year we get phoned inquiries) and I refer them to the web site for pricing, I never hear from them again. So I'm always left wondering 'what did the web site do to drive them away?'

I do a lot of cold-calling, but score zero on that front, year after year. I've been calling the same local businesses multiple times now, having exhausted all the business listings within 30 miles radius. We're mostly in an area of farms, gas stations, drug stores and Wal-Marts.. not much industry left anymore. I've been pondering doing everything from voiceovers to 3D animation services, though my skillset is strongest in video acquisition/production.

The Flash animation replaces one that really DID look cheesy.. at least this one doesn't take minutes to load. But I'm always thinking about something better to put in place of it.

The couple of calls per year seem to be driven by Google searches, since I always ask 'how did you find our site?' when taking these calls. From Jan to end of July, I also ran an aggressive AdWords campaign, and spent over a thousand dollars on AdWords placements. It brought in one $1500 job by late May and a couple of VHS to DVD transfer jobs from general consumers.

One thing that I find frustrating is that, although my clients are ecstatic about the unusually high quality of what I provide them, I can never seem to get them to do a testimonial, or even write a testimonial to use on my web site. So visitors have no idea if the clients are satisfied or not. I also notice that most clients are one-shots... a legal firm that was stuck in a pinch and I was the only available videographer, so I did a panel discussion 2 years ago.. although I send out newsletters regularly to all past clients, I never hear from them for followup work. I need to break these patterns, somehow..

I've already resorted to running help wanted ads on Craigslist, seeking a marketing specialist for commission-based work. It's a bad business to be in, because video equipment is so easy to obtain nowadays, so the average consumer won't justify spending money when they can do it themselves.
 
basspig said:
Still, when someone calls (about twice a year we get phoned inquiries) and I refer them to the web site for pricing, I never hear from them again. So I'm always left wondering 'what did the web site do to drive them away?'
Click to expand...

Isn't getting a call and talking to a person the point at which we all want so we can hash out a sale? If they call use that time to see what they want, what their budget is, discuss with them your pricing/packages that might work for them, and make sure they know you are going to take the time to really treat them right and work hard to provide them with this service that they might be shelling thousands of dollars out for. Telling them to visit a website when you already have them on the phone seems like a step backwards to me. If you get emails or something then by all means tell them to visit a website (the MWHD site, your YouTube site, a Vimeo site, etc) that has good examples of your previous work on it - it might not hurt to have genre specific demo reels that you can link to as well (wedding reel, corporate reel, music video reel, performance reel, etc). But if they are calling you it seems that they might already have an idea of what you can do and this would be the perfect opportunity for you to see what they want/need and suggest packages, add-ons, etc. Unless you are out of this world lucky you are probably not going to find someone to drop a lot of money on a service if you have no prior experience to show them - reels are key for that market of people you don't already know, they are also key, although not as important as far as I'm concerned, for people who you know, have a mutual friend with, and so on since you already have your foot in the door.

Regarding the website texts/fonts: those things DO stand out, but not in a pleasing way. Pick up any web design book and by chapter 3 you're almost guaranteed to have the author talking about contrast, proximity, alignment, and repetition (or some variance of those words) - by adjusting little things here and there the text could still stand out and remain cohesive with the rest of the site/page. I can only speak to them being bothersome to me, since it's a matter of opinion.

My boss did freelance for nearly 25 years here in town, although he worked all over the Midwest. Besides cold calling he ran ads in the yellow pages in all the towns connected to here by interstate or highway within a few hundred miles (places he could easily get to and from). He also was persistent in maintaining relationships will ANY potential clients which has paid off immensely when their go-to guy cancels and he had to swoop in and sweep them off their feet.

While your website might not be driving clients away it might be time to re-think some branding for yourself. Take a step back and really scrutinize everything. Revamp your website/facebook/youtube, make some new flashy demo reels and really take the time to show off the skills you have in the videos. Make a big deal about all of this on your social networks, and then send out newsletters/emails when you're done and see if anything changes. If you are in a rut it makes absolutely no sense for you to continue what you've been doing that perhaps got you there in the first place. Change something, change everything, just try something new. Anything. It's obvious from many of the threads/posts that you're a part of that you have the drive and ambition to do stuff, you just need to keep working out the kinks until it all falls into place - in the meantime if you are short on funds get a PT job somewhere - this will help pay bills AND open up a huge network of people who probably don't know that you're into video production. Two birds with one stone!

Cheers,
Adam
 
basspig said:
Still, when someone calls (about twice a year we get phoned inquiries) and I refer them to the web site for pricing, I never hear from them again. So I'm always left wondering 'what did the web site do to drive them away?'
Click to expand...

What you are essentially doing by telling them to look at your pricing on your website is "F off I don't want to talk to you and do business with you". I'm sure that is not your intention, but it is the end effect.

I don't even want to know how you handle other sales situations.

Nevermind your website, work on your sales and interpersonal skills.
 
basspig said:
I've been calling the same local businesses multiple times now, having exhausted all the business listings within 30 miles radius. We're mostly in an area of farms, gas stations, drug stores and Wal-Marts.. not much industry left anymore. I've been pondering doing everything from voiceovers to 3D animation services, though my skillset is strongest in video acquisition/production.
Click to expand...

Another thing... you've got to move closer to a city with more SME opportunities.
 
Agree with some of the others. If you have a client on the phone and you tell them to go look at the website? Bad bad bad. You have them on the phone!!! Use that to get into a room with them. Not send them backwards to a LESS personal communications medium.

Also, cannot say it enough. Networking is key key key. I am in software business, and basically 100% of my clients for the past DECADE have come through relationships. ALL OF THEM. I go to meet-ups, I go to parties, I blog for sites like www.workbookproject.com. Also put some work out there. The web is the ultimate promotional tool. Make some kick-assed videos to put on YouTube or something.

But you have to have to have to get out and meet people.

Another thing is location. I love being in the City because there is always opportunity. I might run into someone at a bar, get to know them, and they turn into a client. And like I said, there are always a million networking events here, parties, etc.

On websites in general. I think brochure sites are worthless. A good, healthy blog, with continuously updating content showing you know what you're talking about, is worth soooo much more.
 
Part of my point is that I only get two calls a year.. I think it should be more like 2 calls an hour, if I'm going to score a reasonable amount of conversions to sales.

Sometimes, about as often as phone calls, I get e-mails from prospects asking for pricing.. that's usually the first and often the only question that is asked..

One excerpt:
"I wanted to check your availability for our wedding. If you are available, I would like more information about your videography pricing and services. Also, do you send demo DVD's through the mail? We would love to see a complete set of your work!!" In this case, I e-mailed her PDFs with our price list and told her we could book the date (May of this past year), but we never heard back from her.

Here's the other e-mail I got this year:
"I am shopping around. Looking to make a video as part of a press kit for my band. We want to film in the Hartford area in a rehearsal studio. The final video should be about 15 minutes long that includes brief interviews with all the members, and clips of a few songs played live in the studio. About how much would something like this cost?" In this case, I quoted $1200-1500 (it was a gig that would include 4 hours round trip commute). The person was never heard from again after that.

The most frequent kind of e-mail I receive (behind spam) is folks looking for work or looking for a job with my company. Apparently our site looks 'corporate' enough to make people think that it's a big, successful production firm that has job openings. Of course that's not the case, but that doesn't stop the 3-4 inquiries per month from coming in. I get camera ops, editors, musicians, voice over folks, and more, asking for job openings and full time positions. I wish I could hire them!

As I'm looking back through my Inbox, I'm stunned at the shear number of job applicants. Very few client prospects, but lots of people looking for work.

Getting work in areas I've not yet been given an opportunity to work in is the Catch 22 of this business.. in many areas, I'm still trying to build a portfolio. The challenge is to get those corporations to let me in the door. I've been trying since 1988, but back then all I had was a couple of Newvicon tube cameras which were awful by today's standards.

To put this all in perspective, after my retirement in 1984, I started a computer consulting business in '86, which got me a couple of small jobs through an agency, but they weren't what I billed myself as, and quickly, we ran into friction.. I was a WordPerfect trainer, not a computer repair/troubleshooter. They kept sending me to places that had malfunctioning software. After that, I went into business as a typesetter, 2 years later. When I got the tax bill on capital equipment, I had to sell everything and close the business. I had also worked as a printing press operator, for a town hall that a friend of mine worked for the mayor in for about a year at menial wages.
I opened a color prepress business in 1990, which struggled until 1997, when the last client went 'in-house', buying a bunch of Macs and hiring college students at minimum wage to do their package designs. I also had one good gig in 1995 with a now-defunct company, designing faceplates and coupons for kiosk marketing. I was cranking out, single-handedly and at better quality, almost as many faceplates/coupons as their staff of 3-4 designers in their office. I was doing 8-10 plates a day and their entire staff was doing about 13-14 combined. Pay was $50 per plate, so I was billing about $2200-2500/week.. all was well for five weeks, then one day the checks stopped coming. One day, while waiting in the reception area for my manager to drop off my next assignment, I see a sheriff serve papers to the CEO. I learned that he was getting a divorce, so I assumed it was related to that. I kept asking their comptroller about my checks, but kept getting stonewalled.. I worked another week and then decided to put things on hold until the paychecks were flowing again. Then I got the dreaded notice from the court that the company was in liquidation.. the bastards didn't tell me the truth, they just kept me working.. I ended up $6400 in the hole and their creditors (banks) got everything and I got nothing.
After 1997, I started doing engineering work and worked for various radio stations. In the next couple of years I would put 200,000 miles on my car, commuting to tower sites all over the northeast. As station ownership changed with new regulatory changes, demand for engineering services dropped off. Plus I was having trouble collecting my pay from several of them.. by 2003, I realized I'm better off doing video. By 2008, I was slowing down and completely done with broadcasting and devoted full time to HD video production, spending $23,000 on cameras and lenses and even more of software and editing/sound equipment for my studio.
My brain is well-wrapped around the technical aspects of this field, but throughout life, I've always been a social misfit (which affected my employed life decades ago in a negative way) as well as my ability to sell my services to others. In other words, to use modern terms, I'm a 'nerd' for lack of a better word. At one time I thought I could teach this stuff, but I found out I can't get any teaching position without a masters degree, and since volunteer work conflicted with my intention to earn a living, that never materialized.

None of my (few) friends are in a position to recommend me, as they are either retired or in jobs that don't use video at all.

I looked again at MW HD's site and aside from the green type in the main page, I don't see where that is abrasive or annoying. The motto in orange is like a brand recognition thing.. it appears that way in my video productions too. I think it's pretty low-key compared to many of the video production sites in my local area.

Demo reels.. all I can really do there is rearrange the same old footage from the few jobs I've actually been hired for. A lot of the stuff I shoot I am not allowed to use at all, due to union rules. So that leaves my best material out of my demo reel.

I have a six year old daughter with autism and my wife works 12 hour shifts in manufacturing, which means I have to take her wherever I go. Many jobs don't let you bring your kid to work. And there's long waiting lines for jobs at the fast food chains, Wal-Mart, etc. It isn't the 1960s anymore, where I could find an electronics firm to work for. Now there's only gas stations, fast food (dominated by Hispanic staff) and big box stores. A few years back, I applied for number jobs, ranging from car sales to retail. I didn't have any retail experience, so I wasn't hired. Temp agencies had low-payed entry jobs, but they were out of state and a 2 hour commute, one-way, which, with the price of gas where it is, would be a zero sum gain. I have grown to hate commuting in the past 25 years. Having been rear-ended five times in four recent years, I now have a strong desire to stay out of congested areas and generally avoid driving whenever possible. I've saved thousands on repairs and fuel, so it's got some benefits.


When client prospect calls, I always make a big thing out of emphasizing how they made the right choice and that I am better qualified than anyone else in the NE for that type of project (especially if the client raises the Blu-ray issue, or is critical of audio) and I always tell them about the state of the art tapeless technology and better quality and lower costs that I offer because of this tech. The prospect always seems to respond in a positive way on the phone. No, I don't blow them off with "oh, just go to our web site for pricing".. but when they ask if I have a price list, I have to tell them it's available as a downloadable PDF on our web site. I suspect they see the prices and decide to go somewhere cheaper.

Moving is out of the question. I've been in the same house for the past 44 years. Taxes have risen enormously, but if I were to move closer to a city, the cost of housing would skyrocket and I wouldn't be able to have my studio. Plus there's traffic congestion and crime and big government, which I detest and part of the reason I moved up here in '66 from a more crime-infested area.
 
Have you looked into this kind of thing? http://www.demandstudios.com/

Sales doesn't come natural to all of us, but that's what it takes. Like others have said, networking is THE best advertising.
Handling a customer on the phone is very important, always make sure to get names and phone numbers so you can follow-up
if you didn't close the deal. I understand how you can have a price list for weddings, but in my experience, all the corporate work
I've done had to be quoted as each job is different.

Take your time to get as much information as possible on the initial call, LISTEN (carefully) to the potential customer and see if there's a way
to 'connect' (I find the daughters or kids in general works great!). Don't ramble on about yourself, but ask questions. You are in the service business
and people like to think THEY are king (The customer is always right).

It also sounds like you might want to look into a marketing/sales person, because in this day & age, there are no geographical limits...the world is your oyster!

...and either way...you have a kickass home theatre.:laugh:
 
if people run away after you show them your price 9 times of 10, then your price is too high for your target group. You MUST take a guess at your prospect's ability to pay and price your quote accordingly. You are desparate, so get what you can get and make some cash and build your portfolio. Don't be stubborn and give an indie band a quote that they will never afford.

Also, even if you don't have work to show people, go shoot something good on your own and build your port that way.

Why would you want to keep your studio when you are not even using it. Move CLOSER to the city. You don't actually have to live in it.
 
Well, you are not going to get more work by just having a website. Period. It simply will not happen.

Frankly, I don't know how you guys live in these places. If I looked around and all I saw were Walmarts and gas stations, I'd go suck a tail-pipe.

These days though, people all over are using the web. I've said this already, and it didn't sink in, but I will say it again. If there are no opportunities where you live, make some in the virtual world. That guy from Uruguay, or Paraguay, or wherever made that giant robot thing. People are making stuff all the time and it gains attention. If you don't want to or cannot leave where you are, then that is another option.

But you have to look for it. Hell, you said your daughter has autism. If you're not working anyway, why not find foundations and organizations involved in that and offer to produce something that might help them? Do it for free. It can mean exposure. It can mean contact with business people on boards of directors. And it can mean something to your daughter in the bargain. In fact, you don't even need a foundation. Produce something to raise awareness or to say what you want to say about the subject, and throw it on YouTube. You have to know there are thousands of people, support groups, etc out there who would LOVE to point people at something nicely produced, which helps other people, connects other people. That's exposure by making something meaningful to you. You cannot ask for a better deal than that.

So go do that. In the time it took you to write that long list of bummers above, you could have found 25 places online. Or roughed out half a treatment for a video, or brainstormed 10 ideas for a treatment.

All right, that's all I got. I think it's pretty good. Take it if you want.
 
I looked again at MW HD's site and aside from the green type in the main page, I don't see where that is abrasive or annoying. The motto in orange is like a brand recognition thing.. it appears that way in my video productions too. I think it's pretty low-key compared to many of the video production sites in my local area.

-Just my opinion that it didn't fit together - not sure I mentioned abrasive or annoying. I definitely like the look of the wedding site better.

Going back to what Mark said - do something on your own that YOU are passionate about - if you took a day off and wrote out ideas, made phonecalls, etc, you could have something to shoot within a week or so - yeah, it might be free, but it will give you a great new piece to put online and plug for what you're capable of. Also, if you don't want to live in the city or travel to it regularly then you can't really complain about there not being a ton of work - if you wanna catch fish you gotta live by the sea. Yeah, cities suck, not only are they hubs for all the bad stuff that comes along with humans, society, and so on, but they are hubs of work, talent, creativity and art too. I am a firm believer that the only person standing in my way is my own shadow.

You're a lion, take what's yours.

Best,
Adam
 
Mark is giving some awesome advice above.


This would concern me:

" I also notice that most clients are one-shots... a legal firm that was stuck in a pinch and I was the only available videographer, so I did a panel discussion 2 years ago.. although I send out newsletters regularly to all past clients, I never hear from them for followup work."

I think it's important to be brutally honest with yourself and your work. This is an incredibly competitive field. You have to ask yourself "is my work at the level of my competitors". I've found that very few clients will ever say you suck, but they do vote with their wallet.

I checked out your website and the only video I saw was a classical concert in a small web window. Did I miss something?

If your looking to improve your web site check out Phil Blooms site: http://philipbloom.net/

This guy is really nailing it from my perspective. In my opinion there is no point in talking about HD and how high end your work is if you don't show it to them on your web site. Also I really like the way Phil Bloom has his work as Vimeo embeds. Vimeo seems to be emerging as the "pro" web hosting site.
 
Three questions every single client asks (rarely outloud) when considering any purchase:
1. Do I need or want what you have to offer?
2. Are you the best one to provide what I need or want (or...can you actually deliver what I need or want)?
3. Can I afford it?

If the answer to those three questions isn't a resounding "Yes," no sale. Even if it is a "Yes" you still might not get the sale.

Now...in light of these three questions, examine the things (I'll call them "factors" in your sales equation) you and others have highlighted above: your website, your portfolio (or lack thereof), your location, your pricing, your communication style. Which among them are likely impacting your ability to get potential clients to say "Yes" to you?

1. Do I need or want what you have to offer (video services)?

The only factor influencing this decision:
* Your location or market. Wal-Mart and other "Big Boxes" won't buy from you. Local businesses might but it doesn't sound like there are many local businesses around. Sounds like your potential market is too small so there is no doubt that this could be a problem. If there isn't anyone in the your immediate location looking for a video, you won't sell a video to anyone in your immediate location even if you are the best video producer in the world. People will not buy what they do not want or need (with some irrational exceptions). You have to find a way to expand your market -- physically, virtually or both. Nothing else matters if there is no market for your products/services. Period. Find one or create one.

2. Are you the best one to provide what I need or want (or...can you actually deliver what I need or want)?

Factors influencing this decision include:
* Your communication style. People do not care about your cool toys; nor do they buy technical specifications. Proving to your clients that you know all the jargon is not only confusing, they just don't care so you are wasting their time. Focus on talking about what they do care about (that is, of course, after asking them lots of questions to find out what it is that they actually care about).
* Your portfolio. You have to prove to a client that you can do the job. That does not mean that you already did that job for someone else. It does mean that you have to demonstrate the skills necessary to pull off the specific job. Does the job require a jib? If so, prove you can do it. Does it require on-location shooting? Show 'em that you've done it. Does it require tight editing? Show 'em something from your personal work. Does it require script writing? Write something and show 'em. Hopefully, you get the point.
* Your website. I include this only because it does lend some legitimacy to your business and it might be the way they actually find you. But it's not as big of a factor as you seem to emphasize. If you have a great portfolio on Vimeo or YouTube (as others have suggested), you might not even need a website. NOTE: You have one and it's OK so leave it but don't spend your time on your website.

3. Can I afford it?
* Your pricing. You may be the best one for the job but if your potential client can't afford you, they'll pick the kid with a handicam who will do it for $50 everytime. When pricing comes up, instead of telling them outright what your pricing is, ask them what kind of budget they have in mind. When they give you a # ($500, for example), let them know what they could expect to get for that kind of money and offer them a couple of options. eg. "For $500, I could film a five minute interview with one person and edit it into a 3 minute promotional video. But if you want to add a second and third person [which they told you when you asked them what they are looking for] and could get them at the same location and the same time, I could include their interview footage for an additional $200."
* Your communication style. Do you sound like you're worth an extra $200 vs. the other guy or kid? Are you someone who is easy to work with, who is committed to getting it right? Do you listen to me when I talk to you? etc.
 
I never hear of DemandStudios, but I am studying their web site under Filmmakers, to find out what they do and how I might fit into that puzzle..
Yep, I suck at interpersonal relations.. that's why I was single all the way into my fifties and finally did what other middle aged farts do, which is to find a wife overseas. I've gotten somewhat better, socially (I no longer stutter when I order a hamburger at McD's--forty years ago I would just lock up whenever I had to talk to a stranger), but I need another 150 years to reach a level that successful people are at, given my rate of growth in the social spheres.
I only have the price list for weddings. Everything else is a rough estimate by my hourly rate.
I do usually ask about budget. Often times the answer is absurd like $100 for a production that's going to take me a full day shooting and another whole day editing.
Since 2001, I have done a LOT of non-profit video.. in fact that's how I got started. Four years of doing non-profits landed me two weddings at $1500 each.
I did land a one-time concert recording for a local rock band, by just showing up at three of their free concerts outdoors. Eventually, I got to know the members of the band (who were very compassionate, decent people), and one day they told me they had a concert at a theater, opening for a national act, so we negotiated a $500 price to do a basic 2 camera shoot for them, which they were very happy with. To get that job, I had to hang around for months, chasing outdoor activities downtown in various towns.
I am presently advertising on Craigslist for a marketing specialist. I can't pay a salary, so I was up front to point out that it's a commission only position until my business reaches a profitable level.
Not sure how I can do video around the world though.. I once did some 3D animation for a small firm in Germany, and got paid in US$ cash in a FedEx envelope, which was nice, but that's only happened once, about 17 years ago.
Thank you. I built that for $2500, including projector, AT screen, curtains and seating. I got the PJ for 17 cents on the dollar, open box, the curtains we made with my wife's sewing machine, and the AT screen material was bought from a DIY supplier--I built all the framework with lumber from Home Depot and funded it with the sales of some of my no longer needed vintage audio gear.

A friend of mine, who's a businessman, always tells me not to lower my price because it cheapens the market and the buyer's perception of who I am and once you work cheap, you develop a reputation as 'the cheap video guy' and you'll have a very difficult time trying to adjust your prices to a profitable level. I could work for $2/hr and maybe get a few gigs, but that wouldn't pay for the electricity to run my workstations. Gosh, we had a $610 electric bill in August. It's usually around $505-516. I have to charge enough to at least pay the electric bill. I didn't even mention the property taxes, which is my #1 expense above all else. A break even point would be at least $500/week to meet these expenses. That still puts profits on the Sched C at zero, because of amortized costs of equipment and utility costs. Last year, I grossed $3,080. Half of that was doing web maintenance for a client who has just this spring pulled their webmastering in-house, leaving me short one more client who's been with me since 1997.
Do you think doing a concert like the one I linked to above for $500 is too much? Yeah, most of the bands I've talked to can't even afford that.
I'm pondering what to do to make at least a 'mock' portfolio.. mock TV commercials and stuff like that.. but I don't have any friends who are willing to act on-camera, so that idea keeps getting put on hold. What would you suggest I shoot? I was toying with killing two birds with one stone (gee, as a parrot owner, I really have to find a new cliche that doesn't involve the killing of birds) and produce a really sophisticated commercial about my own company.
My studio has been here long before the business. I have been an audiophile since the early sixties and I spent the last 38 years building the sound system that occupies this house. It's been an obsession.. in fact, it was my first wife. You can't have that where there are neighbors within a few hundred yards. When I'm crankin' down here, a friend of mine on the next mountain can hear the thump at his house, several miles away. Lucky for me, I was here before any development, so I'm a 'preexisting nuisance'. :) I'd never move, because I'd lose my ability to enjoy music at the levels I like.

I don't know how people can live in cities like LA and NY. The laws are so insane, the taxes are rapacious and it's impossible to breathe the air or sleep at night because of the pollution and noise. They won't let you have a gun, yet you need it there because crime is over the top and the police don't care and there are so many drug wars going on that innocent people get caught in the crossfire. I lived in an urban area in the 60s and after one robbery, I decided to move way the hell away from that ****. Anyway, I lost that house due to a sewer assessment that put me in foreclosure. Took my last $1850 and bought a swamp on a mountaintop and bought some used barn lumber from a demolition and trucked it up here on my '48 Dodge pickup. Spent a summer pulling out the old nails and stacking the wood.. spent the rest of the fall and winter mixing concrete and pouring a foundation. Spent the next 44 years finishing the house on weekly paychecks, then no paychecks. I'm not going anywhere. Too much invested. Many folks don't have their heads into the 'put down roots' mentality, as a lot of folks seem to move every year or two. I'm not like that. I like this spot, even though the market is terrible. When I visit the cities, I have to bring an oxygen tank to assist breathing.. I went to Jersey once to attend a computer fest and I nearly couldn't catch my breathe. Almost had to go to a hospital. I don't know how anyone can breathe that kind of air. Here in the mountains, it's fresh and I don't feel like I'm choking.

Wal-Marts, gast stations and a lot of farms. That's what we have here. I happen to live near a golf course and country club, overlooking a large lake. Crime is nonexistent here, as the median income is $150K.. mostly bankers, doctors, lawyers, land developers and politicians.. also this area is home to several actors and famous musicians.. Skitch Henderson, Leroy Anderson, etc.

I'm not sure how I can shoot video for a client in Paraguay or elsewhere in the world. If I were writing software code, I could see how that could work, but how many companies in Paraguay need a commercial shot in a rural US town?

I find the thing with non-profits is that they don't reciprocate in any meaningful way. Sure, I got a nice plaque hanging on the wall, thanking me for my video services for many years, but awards don't pay my property taxes. I have many YouTube videos, but since Google toom them over, my videos get no traffic. It can be days before a video gets one view now. Prior to Jan 2007, I could put any video on YT and within the hour, it has 600 views. That's because all new videos rotated through the front page of YT. When Google bought them, this changed abrutly. My very next upload got about a dozen views after a month online. And I got curious as to why. I tried copying and pasting the title of the video into YT's search window and it came up 'not found'. So Google is suppressing non-partner videos from, or excluding content from their search engine within YT. I don't know why I bother uploading stuff there anymore, since no one looks at it. About the only thing that views the videos are the copyright bots.. my Christmas video got taken offline because while we were decorating the tree, the television was on and some movie was playing.. it caused a content match on the audio track. Just last week, an African Grey parrot got 'busted' for singing a copyrighted song. I couldn't believe it!

To rough out a treatment for a video means you have to have ideas. My brain is filled with technical information, but I don't have ideas until a client presents me with a project. I just don't have the sort of talent to come up with something without a motivation and produce it. I did make a new animated logo treatment, but the motivation was that a video I'd produced for a client last spring was going to be commercially replicated and mass marketed. So I wanted my logo to be up to date and pretty slick. That got me going and I spent 18 hours designing a new animation opening sequence.

I'm actually down to the concept of making a short indie film now. Because I've run out of other ideas. I've been writing scripts. The problem I keep running into is that the stories evolve into big $$ productions needed lots of location shooting, FX, and travel, to do it right. I've got this terrific sci-fi plot going where a meteor crash lands on earth and within days, people just start dropping dead for no apparent reason, all over the planet. It's an Outer Limits kind of mystery/suspense plot that, if executed well, could be the foundation of a blockbuster film. But I need to scale waaaay back and write something more Agatha Christie style, that could be filmed in one room. Of course, there's the challenge of finding decent acting talent to make it happen.

Between handling home matters, family matters, and all sorts of other distractions, it's often difficult to sink into something of depth.

My work looks and sounds far better than what these clients called acceptable, prior to me. I'm sure it's not the quality that's keeping them from coming back. Many are just one-shots. The law firm in the next state hired me to do a panel discussion only because it came up on short notice and they couldn't find a video firm that had that day open. They told me they rarely need video, but this was a special event they wanted covered. They were impressed with how it looked and sounded when I got done.. I even went the extra mile and dropped in their slide presentation directly in the video, raising the production quality another notch.
Another client was a PBS editor from Pittsburg PA.. a close friend had passed away and the church service was in my coverage area, so I was called to do a 2 camera coverage of it. Shoot the whole thing and hand over the raw footage--for $1000. That was a nice job, but I know that's not going to happen again with that client. People die only once.

There are about ten videos on my portfolio page. The concert is the default clip, but if you scroll down, you should see the other 9 clips as thumbnails. I don't know why that wasn't spotted, but that's useful feedback. Maybe a problem with the site there!

Yeah, Phil's work is good and he's got moxy, so he gets into places and gets the jobs. It's nice to be young, healthy and energetic like that.

Those 3 questions are good. I have to think that through in-depth and try to play the devil's advocate by 'seeing' what the client would see. Yeah, many people don't need my services. Unlike medical, food and transportation, you won't die if you don't hire me.
I had the same problem trying to sell my typesetting services 23 years ago. The big box stores wouldn't buy from me. A supermarket chain wouldn't pay me $20 to make them business cards, because they could get full color business cards for $10 from some large printing outfit. I was doing a lot of $25 jobs, typesetting billing statements and flyers for area businesses.. I would work my ass off and then go to the printers and end up paying most of the gross income to the printers.. leaving me a profit of $2-3 for each job. And if you've ever done typesetting on a '286 at 8Mhz CPU speed, you can imagine how long that took..

A prospect called last summer.. she was having a Greek style wedding, which I'd never done before (she asked), but I thought I had a shot at it because her fiancee is a videophile and owns a Blu-ray player and a small home theater.. he wanted it on Blu-ray.. well, since I am one of the few production facilities that has successfully authored BDs, I was confident to talk about how superior the sound and picture are on my BDs and that it will recreate the sense of 'being there in the church' if watched on a high end HT, but alas, I never heard back from that prospect either.. and I was so certain my presentation was convincing.

I've had people give me low budgets and I of course explain to them what I would do at that level, but they want more. They want it without paying for it. People nowadays, especially with the high unemployment and uncertainty, are being very tight-fisted.. also the proliferation of decent consumer cameras is making it difficult to make a legitimate living on this. People often watch my productions on 17" black plastic Daewoo televisions.. all that effort is wasted on them. Fortunately for me last spring, one legendary Jazz musician decided that the NYC production house that did his first video was so awful that he decided to try me. He was thrilled with the quality of what I produced for him, right down to the cover design for the DVD itself. I did the video, sound editing, graphics and graphic design for the menu and the DVD disc/case art, a demonstration of amazing versatility. I only hope that I am called to do the other three videos soon..

My communication style is clean. I'm one of the few people left on the planet who actually can write or speak a grammatically correct sentence. I may not click well with people, especially on the phone and in a cold calling situation.. I feel very uncomfortable doing cold-calling, but when a client calls me, I am precise, to the point, honest and try to get all the pertinent facts across efficiently. I used to think that I was just cursed and no matter what, this was my fate. But that's irrational.
 
ZazaCast said:
Have you looked into this kind of thing? http://www.demandstudios.com/
Click to expand...

Spent some time on this site.. it's just the same thing as TurnHere Producers.. which I joined 2-1/2 years ago. The application form is exactly the same as TurnHere's form in fact. And they're paying half of what TH was, when I joined them. The killer is the line where you must link to a published production.. what if you have none? I think that's what killed me with TurnHere and why, after 2.5 years, they have never given my my first assignment.. oh, and they pay through PayPal? No can do. PayPal froze my account last month due to a bad eBay buyer filing a SNAD on me over some item he decided not to pay for. Why is it everyone pays through PayPal?? Ugh!
 
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