|
Home |
Free Library |
Forums |
Site Search |
Email |
Store |
RSS Feed |
|
Finding the Right Video Businessby Hal LandenOK, you love video, but like most of us, you've concluded it's too expensive to pursue as a hobby. So let's explore how you can turn an expensive hobby into a profitable business which will help you buy all that gear on your wish list. But which way to turn? Good question. What I'll try to do in this article is to outline some of the possible avenues you can pursue. But first you'll need to take a hard look at yourself, your goals, strengths and weaknesses. This is an important first step in making any business decision. And even though you may be considering just a small part-time business, it is still a BUSINESS. All businesses require an investment of time and money. In a moment we'll get into some of the different kinds of video businesses and how they may fit your personality and circumstances, but first I suggest that you read and print the Small Business Administration's Winning Ideas For Small Business Success. This extensive article will be invaluable to anyone serious about starting a business even though some of the information may not pertain to the video business you have in mind. After you've gone through the article, then return to this article. Now that you've had a glimpse at the realities of running a business, let's take a look at some of the types of video businesses available to you. We'll break them into categories: consumer, special interest, business, freelance, and television. Consumer Video Service BusinessesThese businesses serve consumers in a wide variety of ways. One of the most popular and successful types of consumer video business is the wedding and event business. The average wedding video costs $1000 and for many people this is an ideal sideline business because it can be done on weekends. For more information on this type of business see our book Wedding Video For Profit.There are many other examples of consumer retail video businesses. Some are quite unusual. For example a friend of mine made quite a good living producing vacation videos for passengers aboard a cruise line. As much fun as that sounds, he had an inside connection in the business and warns that it's pretty tough to start such a business without a good connection to a cruise line. In the Wedding and Events business some people specialize in dance recitals or sports events. In the transfer business some videographers specialize in producing family histories from photo albums. While it is certainly possible to succeed in one of these niche areas, most people start in one of the two broader categories: Wedding and Events or The Transfer Business. If you're serving consumers you should also consider offering them video duplication. While the biggest market for video duplication is in the area of business videos described below, video duplication is a profitable sideline for any type of video business. My own modest dupe system has probably grossed over $10,000 in the last couple years. And I've never promoted my duplication business aside from one newspaper ad years ago. Most of the dupe work I do is a result of videos I produce for others. For some of the bigger jobs like hundreds of copies of a 90 minute video I usually subcontract the duplication to a larger dupe house and still make a great profit just for making a few phone calls. So whichever video business you start, I would definitely consider offering video duplication as part of your services. Even a small dupe system with little or no promotion can be a profitable sideline. Just offer it to your existing customers, friends and neighbors. Starting a duplication service is not necessarily the first thing to do. In fact it may make more sense to launch one of the other businesses first so you will have a stream of customers some of whom will need video duplication. For more information on starting a duplication service, see Video Duplication Business In A Box. Special Interest Video BusinessDespite what some may tell you, the special interest video business is not a get-rich-quick business. It can, nevertheless, be a very interesting video business that you can grow into something significant. My new book gives the inside information you need to build a very good business. Below are some excerpts from our new book Secrets of Producing and Selling Successful Videos.Let's start with some facts about this business: 1. It is POSSIBLE to make a great deal of money in this business. In the book you will hear from producers who have sold more than a million dollars worth of their videos. Many of them are not that different from you and me, but they will be the first to tell you this is not a get-rich-quick business. The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as get-rich-quick. Any business that's worth doing is worth doing right and this will take some time. Do your home work and make steady progress and you will reach your goal. 2. Getting your non-fiction video title into a place like WalMart or Blockbuster is highly unlikely. The smart way is to create a web site devoted to the topic of your video and from this web site sell the video directly to your niche audience. Why split the profits with anyone else? The big distributors will take up to 60% of the price and pay you when they feel like it. You will probably want to sell to them, but you will find that in most situations selling directly to your customers is more profitable. You'll learn how to put your video on the web for pennies a day or for free. Selling the video on your web site means that your customers will pay full price and they will pay before you send the product. 3. Why does one video succeed and another one flop? The main reason is lack of marketing and promotion. One of the best ways to promote a book or a video is to get it reviewed in all the right places. We'll show you how and where to get your video reviewed. This one of the most important parts of producing a video. 4. To succeed you will need to study the most successful video genres. Why produce videos for markets that are too small or are simply not profitable? You can't afford to re-invent the wheel. Even if you produce a very good video, some genres encourage low-priced products and many competitors. Once you know what the most profitable genres are, you'll want to find a topic you enjoy and go to town.
Business VideosBusiness videos (formerly called industrials) cover a broad area. They boil down to a client e.g. a corporation, business or non-profit agency paying you to produce a video. Typically this video is for promotional or training purposes, and since your client is paying for it, the video belongs to the client.I've been producing business videos for others for nearly twenty years now. And as I write this article I have two five-figure contracts for business videos and 90% of that money stays right here. The interesting thing is that I have not promoted my "corporate video" business in many years. At this point the work just comes to me, but this is no accident. And to be honest I've paid my dues and spent lots of time promoting my corporate business. Like any business it's not all roses. There are ups and downs, but this business has been supporting me for many years and it's a lot of fun. I enjoy having the "toys," but I enjoy the creative work even more. Just remember these are all BUSINESSES and even if your goal is simply to generate enough money to pay for the "toys", you must focus on the business and your customers because that's where the money is. Just owning the toys isn't enough. For more information on starting this kind of business see the free article 50 Ways To Dramatically Improve Your Video Business. This free report is excerpted from my course Professional Video Producer which shows you step-by-step how to start and expand a successful business producing videos for corporations, small businesses and non-profits. Producing videos for clients is a lot less risky than producing a special interest video because your client pays for all the expenses of producing the video(s). You get paid in stages and if you use the contracts I provide in the Professional Video Producer course, your risks are minimal. The primary risk you face in this type of business is in marketing your services to those clients. You may not be able to sell enough production contracts to make a profitable business. That's why I wrote the Professional Video Producer - to help you market and sell your services to corporations, small businesses and non-profits. There's another risk in this type of business and that is that in video production you can easily do more work than you are compensated for e.g spending 100 hours producing a video for $4000 when you should have spent 50 hours producing the video for same $4000. This risk, however, is easily fixed by having an iron-clad contract which clearly defines the work you will do, how much and when you are paid, and all other responsibilities between you and your client. For more information on contracts see Letters of Agreement for Ambitious Video Producers. This decision as to which type of business to pursue does not have to be an either/or choice. Many people start in one type of video business and then expand to another. After you get the first one going, expanding to another type of video business is RELATIVELY easy because you now have most of the equipment and skills, not to mention CASH FLOW. Unless you're willing to gamble on a relatively high risk business, I advise you NOT to begin by producing special interest videos. Instead start by producing videos for others, either in the consumer or business market. Then after you've created a business with dependable cash flow, you are in a much better position to pursue the special interest video business. The cash flow from video production contracts gives you the freedom to do this. Legal Video SpecialistThe video taping of legal depositions is not creative work, but it can be quite lucrative as well as interesting. One requirement is a very flexible schedule since the depositions can arise quickly and be cancelled just as quickly. Since editing of depositions is rarely permitted, the equipment required is quite basic. This can be a full time or part time business if you have a flexible schedule. For more information see The Legal Video Specialist Business Kit.Freelance Technician/ArtistThis is an entirely different category of video (and film) business. Freelancing is a career choice that takes a major lifestyle commitment. There are a great many possibilities for freelancing as you can see just by reading all the credits in a feature film. The vast majority of those people in the credits are freelance artists and technicians. Even though that's the film business rather than the video business, you will find that a good number of those freelancers work in both film and video. Just a few years ago film and video were very different worlds. They still are, but today there is more cross-over between film and video than there was in the past. A few feature films are even being produced in video, but most of them are aimed at the home video and foreign markets rather than theatrical release.Budgets for films tends to be larger than budgets for videos so there are more many more categories of freelancers in film than there are in video. In video some of the more common freelancers are directors, cameramen (and women), editors, sound technicians, and animators. Many people start their freelancing careers as Production Assistants (PAs) working for a production company or established freelancer. Typically PAs are not paid much and often perform lowly work like sweeping floors and carrying camera cases, but the ambitious 1. Get to learn how the real business works, 2. Meet and work with successful freelancers and 3. Hopefully, establish a reputation as a dependable worker with a great attitude. All of these advantages are invaluable in establishing a successful freelance career. To Succeed As A Freelancer, Here Are Some Tips: 1. Learn where the business is. If you want to freelance in movies, consider moving to New York or Los Angeles. 2. Educate yourself by reading everything you can get your hands on. Attend workshops, take courses, and investigate training programs like those offered by the Directors Guild and the International Film & Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine. 3. Network with freelancers who are in the business. Investigate the different unions which may apply. 4. A great ATTITUDE can make all the difference in your success because the film and video business is a collaborative business. Producers and others who may hire you will rate you by both your technical competence and attitude. 5. ALWAYS be on time or 15 minutes early for a freelance job. This is a cardinal rule of freelancing because in this business time is money. Freelancing requires a very adventurous personality and is a major lifestyle . To succeed you may need to move to another city as I did when I began my freelance career some 20 years ago. TelevisionA good portion of the television shows on the air are produced by people who on staff at a production company or network, but a number of slots are filled by freelancers. My own career began as a staff PA for ABC Sports. I was paid the princely sum of $100 a week, but in return I accomplished the three goals listed above. I was also paid to travel around the world and work with "stars." Before I left ABC to freelance I was given a 50% raise which brought my salary up to $150 a week!Why, you may ask, would a big network pay so little? Even back in the late 70's, that wasn't much money. The reason it paid so little was that a million people wanted the job I had. And believe me, that job wasn't easy to get. I spent six months full-time knocking on doors in New York City. But I was determined and would let nothing stop me. After a couple of years I left ABC to become a freelance assistant cameraman and my income shot up like a rocket. Most years in the high five figures. The amazing thing about my freelance work was that I worked fewer hours a week and yet made five to ten times more than I did on staff.Then I joined the camera union and eventually became a cameraman and Director of Photography. My primary clients were the network magazine shows like 60 Minutes, 20/20 and others. But I also worked on commercials, feature films and what in those days were called industrials. The bottom line is that if you want to work in big time television, you have to live where TV shows are produced. When I started, that meant New York or L.A. So I moved from Vermont to New York City. But these days more TV shows, especially cable shows, are produced from many more locations than used to be the case. Another way in is through local TV. You could start by producing a Public Service Announcement (PSA) for a local non-profit agency. When you're starting out you'll want to do this for free, but nevertheless, you should treat it as if this were a very important high-paying client and do a knock out job. For more information see my book Marketing With Digital Video: How To Create A Winning Video For Your Small Business or Non-Profit. You could also produce your own show. Public Access TV makes it possible to learn the ropes of producing a show on little or no budget. From there you might lease air time and syndicate your show. For a list of public access stations where you can explore this possibility see Our Video Links Page for the list of 1200 Public Access Stations in the U.S. I hope this article has helped you. The bottom line is that if you want it enough, you can get it. Do your homework thoroughly and never stop believing in your self. One thing I haven't mentioned is the most important part of any business - your customers. You've heard the old saying "The customer is always right even when the customer is wrong." Well it goes way beyond that. The customer, and by this I mean anyone who pays you, is everything to your business. Learn who they are and what they want. Give them what they want and more than they expect. Always treat them fairly. Take this to heart and you will succeed regardless of your type of business, the equipment you own or anything else. It's up to you. Now, go make it happen! To order any of the items mentioned above, go on our Online Booktore. Or contact us at Oak Tree Press 9 King Philip Ave Bristol, RI 02809 VOICE (401) 253-2800 FAX (401) 396-9132 EMAIL Send Email Need more advice? See our Video Forums. |
|
Home | Free Library | Store | Forums | Privacy Policy | Search | Top of Page RSS Feed | Advertise | Email | Free Catalog | Produce Special Interest Videos © 1997-2008 Oak Tree Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
