-
How do I get started working from my home?
Hey guys,
I was wondering if you guys had any opinions about how to get the first couple of free lance clients. I have an AVID Xpress Pro HD and have been editing on it for about 5 years now (school included) and I’m looking to start using it for freelance work. Ive heard sometimes you have to offer to do jobs for little or nothing, but as far as getting those jobs, do you rely soley on networking to find work, do you offer your services to businesses owned by people you know? Cold Call and hope you get lucky? I feel I could make some money with my skills, but I’m not sure where to start- Thanks for any info I appreciate it!
-
3 Replies
-
If you don’t already have one, build a reel. No one that is not a close friend or relative will probably hire you for good money without seeing examples of work you have done. If you don’t have a reel because you haven’t been hired to do anything (the classic catch 22), I’d recommend creating some fictious examples (commercials, promos, corporate talking heads, etc…) along with a disclaimer that this is promo to showcase your abilities. The idea is to sell a potential client on what you are capable of not who you’ve worked for in the past.
Don’t sell yourself short. Many folks think it a great idea to do stuff for next to nothing, and you might gain a few clients at first. Problems come later when you discover that you can’t eat, can’t sleep, put a roof over your head, and pay off equipment with your rates. When you raise your rates to what they need to be your client base will balk and run to the next guy who’s cheaper. Also, these kinds of bottom feeder clients are usually the worst to work for, often wanting the most without wanting to pay for much. Expect long hours, short deadlines and a lot of nitpicking from your client…all for your extremely cheap rate.
Networking is a fine way to find clients…Cold calls are tricky. Be extremely polite and be patient. You might approach a business and ask to make an appointment to speak to whoever is in charge of video related services. Leave a business card and a DVD with your reel. Do NOT call or visit everyday asking if they’ve looked at your reel, if you can have that appointment now, etc… you’ll just piss them off. Things like that just take time, often businesses already have production houses they may already be working with, have their own in house production department, etc…
The company I work for has their own in house and a good percentage of work is done totally in house. But occasionally when the workload deems it we’ll farm out jobs to local production houses, and we’ll look to our rolodex…Erik
-
I am now working from home. My overhead is my Adrenaline payment. I sent out a postcard to all the studios that use to be my competition offering my services for half of what they’d bill for. I am marketing myself as their overflow house, picking up the gigs they may not have the man power/drive space/time for. This is valuable to them becuase it allows them to bill 185ish an hour for paying 100 an hour and more importantly, it allows them to not have to say no to a client when swamped… something that can be quite costly.
Did I sell myself short at 100 an hour? I don’t think so. I realize I am setting myself up to become known as the cheapest suite in town, not the best. I think it could be viewed as that if I were still in a boutique kind of setting. I’m not though. You have to step over a trike to get in the door and pet the dog to get to the suite… which is not a suite at all, it’s our family room with an Avid in it. That’s basicly a high freelance rate with an anty for an Avid payment. Fine by me. I sit unsupervised in my skibbies pettin’ that dog much of the time. I’ve averaged 30 hours of billing a week so far. The peaks and vallies are what’ll kill a brother. Living week to week, I just can’t afford those vallies anymore. We chose a peak and valley industry. This is not going to change. When I’m swamped I’ll be too swamped and and when I’m not booked I’ll be waaaaaay not booked. I have to be prepaired for when I’m booked like crazy. I have to keep what I meantioned earlier in mind…. to never say no to a gig. To find a way to shoehorn it in at 3am after one gig is done and before another starts at 7. I have to understand thats a temporary wave I will treasure when I’m lookin at a blank schedule book.
Also, I have to know how to go with those vallies. Not to stress but to savor. To know when to walk around the block without my cell phone and to know when not to freak out, depart with my overhead and get a real job.
Throw yourself in, man. It’s a much more feasible thing to do if you make yourself require it. If you have a day job to rely on while taking steps towards this, you may never step far or wild enough.
-
you are basically asking “how do I start a small business”? You go out there, and sell yourself. You contact everyone, you get rejected over and over and over and over and over. You feel like crap. And then someone will call you, and say “can you come in next Thursday to do a job for us”. This is what business people do their entire careers – get rejected by soliciting for work. You keep doing this – even after you are big – keep looking for more work – you do this for the rest of your life. That’s why big companies advertise – even though they already have clients. Get the local Film Directory or Television Video directory from your state government office, and contact EVERYONE in there, and tell them what you do. 99% of the people will ignore you – 1% won’t. That’s your start. Getting rejected builds character.
Bob Zelin
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up