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Recession and Video Production
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[walter biscardi] “All three of those things, with low overhead being the most important in my book, are the three keys to running a successful business no matter what the economic climate is like.”
That and working 18 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week. Remember Walter, I saw the industrial-strength coffeemaker just ten or so steps from your edit suite.
In all seriousness, I see this constantly in companies of all sizes, in good times and bad. The guy who comes in before 7 in the morning, eats lunch at his desk most days, and goes home after 6 at night gets one hell of a lot more done that someone who does 9 to 5, spends half the day on Facebook, only learns new tools when forced, and wonders why the other guy and not him is getting ahead.
As [Mick Haensler] said: “relax, take things in stride, do some extra marketing, learn some new revenue generating skills, do some pro bono work, and most of all keep a level head.”
If you have extra time on your hands, put it to good use.
Back to the original intent of the thread. Our business has been slower than we would have liked, but by no means awful. I attribute this to a momentum built up over several years, specialization within a limited number of industries and the many great relationships we’ve built — otherwise known as the basics.
I’ve written in earlier posts that, in many cases, we’re seeing evidence of a “delay economy.” Few projects get outright killed, just postponed. My irrational fear is that everything comes back to life at once along with the new stuff we’ve been pitching getting approved, giving us more than we can handle. I know it’s an irrational fear because in 30+ years of ups and downs that’s never happened.
Business will be back to normal levels soon enough for the healthy among us. The sun will come out tomorrow. Those heavily in debt, with crushing overheads and minimal work ethics, may not make it. But that’s usually the way it works out anyway.
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[Nick Griffin] “That and working 18 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week. Remember Walter, I saw the industrial-strength coffeemaker just ten or so steps from your edit suite. “
Not to mention the espresso maker right next to it and of course the coffee grinder. What’s the point of coffeemakers if you don’t have fresh ground beans right?
Funny you should mention Facebook in your post. Recently we had a thread about Social websites and whether you could use them for marketing. The overwhelming consensus (including mine) was no, you’re not going to get anything useful off of them.
Well recently I discovered a Facebook Group made up of alumni from a network I used to work for. Unlike most of the Groups on that site, this one is a closed one and you have to prove you worked there in order to join because it’s supposed to allow us alumni to network with each other.
Not even two weeks after joining, I was contacted by a Producer I used to work with and we’re working up a contract on a one year project. He had heard from someone else that I was doing “something with post production” in the Atlanta area, but didn’t know what. After I joined the group, he went to the website and saw exactly what we have going on up here.
I’ve also been contacted by other alumni asking to visit the facility since HD Post houses are in demand these days and they’re impressed we’re set up so well at a very reasonable cost to the end user.
So as unorthodox as it sounds, I found another revenue generating opportunity in the most unlikely of places by just digging around to see what else was there besides reconnecting with my old friends from High School and College. (which has been absolutely wonderful too!)
It goes back to what you say Nick, good relationships. He already knew good things about me and the company through friends of friends and when my name popped up as a new member, it spurred action.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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In my opinion, social marketing is a very real and increasingly vital part of an overall marketing plan. It does take an immense amount of time and diligence to keep up with it all. Overall it will add to your google rankings, and put your name in front of more potential customers. Even frequent posts on this site help that. When you are blogging and posting in social arenas, do what we (that’s we, all of us here) instruct our clients to do – “make the ask”. You have to tell people what they are to do next. Make it easy by having a purposeful signature on emails, a byline of services – “When you’re ready to jump into using video on your website, call us first!” The job of the web, emails, mailers, etc. is simply to get the phone to ring. You have to make the sale.
Even when I’m selling on ebay I tell them to look at my other auctions – people just don’t do that automatically. I even booked a job from an ebay sale because I made them aware we are a production company.
It’s more profitable to provide services to an existing customer than to attract a new one. Do you know your cost to attract a new client? Keep in touch with them. Ask them for referrals too.
Steve
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Walter Biscardi
Not even two weeks after joining [Facebook], I was contacted by a Producer I used to work with and we’re working up a contract on a one year project. He had heard from someone else that I was doing “something with post production” in the Atlanta area, but didn’t know what.We struggle with this issue internally all the time. We have a couple of people on staff that think social networking sites are a waste of time. For that matter they even thick our website is a waste of time! A common refrain is: “Nobody is going to go to our website after an initial visit.”
I couldn’t disagree more with both opinions. While I dislike Facebook immensely on a personal level. From a pure marketing and communications standpoint, it has amazing potential. I’m sure Facebook purists hate it when people slant their profile towards their professional world, but nowadays you take any edge you can get. I have to admit I only joined about 2 weeks ago and haven’t had any time to devote to it, but I’ve heard dozens of stories like Walter’s in the last 6 months; people connecting with old friends and colleagues and business relationships blossoming from it.
The BEST thing about it? It’s free…except for the time commitment of course. The same thing can be said of YouTube. Whether you hate it or love it…it’s a great place to create a portal for people to view your work.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Jeez, guys. Didn’t mean to start a debate on the merits of Facebook. Just trying to make the point that whether employee or employer how you spend your day can have an obviously enormous influence on success versus failure. AT least when we’re spending time on the COW we’re learning something… usually.
Ultimately I think the more career-oriented sites like LinkedIn are of greater potential benefit and utility than Facebook, but these days most people are happy with business which comes from any direction.
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Nick Griffin:
The guy who comes in before 7 in the morning, eats lunch at his desk most days, and goes home after 6 at night gets one hell of a lot more done that someone who does 9 to 5, spends half the day on Facebook, only learns new tools when forced, and wonders why the other guy and not him is getting ahead.
Nick…we weren’t disagreeing with you! I’ve had employees who spend their “down-time” trolling the internet feeding their interests in hobbies, ordering personal products, reading up about the latest movie gossip, or listening to the latest cuts from P Diddy (or whatever his name is now).
It drives me crazy because they’re the ones that wonder why they’re not getting the “golden” projects, or getting big raises or getting opportunities to work with the best clients. When I’ve brought up their misuse of down-time in evaluations, to a man they act incredulous. It’s just never occurred to them to use that time in a way that might inprove their knowledge or skills. After 25 years in this business, I’ve come to the conclusion you either have that desire to always improve…or you don’t. Because I’ve yet to see one of those people ever change and start using their time wisely…even after repeated yearly evaluations that give them typed up suggestions and guides on how to better use their down-time to improve.
But your point, while seemingly a no-brainer, gets lost on many a starry-eyed employee…and probably a few employers as well. I’m sure that’s NOT what happened at The Orphanage, but I imagine complacency has certainly sunk a good number of people in our business over the years, and will certainly sink a good number more in the near future.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Well, as I sit here after a 12 hour day of shooting and transferring my P2 footage to my hard drives at 2:03am Paris time with a 7am call, I have to agree with Nick and Chris. It basically comes down to whether or not you really want it. Do you have the passion for the craft or are you looking for a paycheck? I can’t remember the last time I only worked an 8 hour day. Oh, except snowboarding 3 weeks ago for a few hours (I live in Denver). But something’s gotta give. Plus, I took a client and a contractor with me. I must admit, however, that business was not really the subject of our ski lift conversations.
I was actually talking with my client here in Paris tonight over dinner and we discussed this very fact. It’s across all industries. She is having the same problem with her employees. She is in a hiring freeze and is terrified of firing anyone yet she is constantly dealing with sub par work and taking more on herself to fill in the gaps. Maybe that’s where this post is leading. If you have the passion and desire to work in your given industry and are willing to commit to it maybe it’s possible to survive this economic climate. I say, “maybe” because I know there are a bunch of talented, committed (yet not quite institutionalized) people who are losing their jobs right now. But, I think those with drive and the power of innovation will survive.
I sure hope so, ’cause I’m banking on it (not with AIG though).
Best,
JoelJoel Jackson
http://www.creativebloc.com/port.html -
On the issue of “having a passion for the craft.” That’s the one issue we find most difficult to solve running a business from a city the size of Evansville, Indiana.
It’s nearly impossible to find employees that “love” what they do and get excited about it. I don’t expect people to work 60 hours a week and we almost never ask employees to work weekends or nights, long shifts or holidays. But in 13 years we’ve found exactly 1 employee who has the same “passion” as the owners do. Some employees spend more time on their fantasy football league picks or planning workouts during lunch than they do learning new skills or improving existing ones.
And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with either of those endeavors, but if you’re doing them at the expense of the quality of the work you’re being paid to do, then it IS a problem.
Most of the people we’ve hired over the years are what I call “list-checkers.” Their goal is to go down their “to do” list and check stuff off. The faster they do it, the better job they think they’re doing. They approach editing and design and lighting and shooting as if it were making cole slaw. They want a recipe for what they do because they don’t want to think…they just want to “do” and get paid for it. I want people that “think” and ask “why,” or better yet, ask “why not?”
If we could find several employees that get stoked like that…we’d blow the competition out of the water. But they are very hard to find and lure to a sleepy midwestern town!
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Well, you nailed it Chris. Those people that have that much passion are the sole proprietors/owners not because we hate bosses, but we just know how it should be done. The income level is not the driving factor- which is good because if you don’t find the “point of abandonment” on a project, you’ll never get done. I’ve always preached 3 things in every meeting – passion, value… and motivated edits! (Don’t make a cut just to make a cut, there should be a reason for every edit.)
Then you may consider joining forces with a ‘competitor’ (’cause they have the passion too) but, you’ll most likely hate each other because your both technicians and not business owners and have delineated roles.
Steve
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[Chris Blair] “But in 13 years we’ve found exactly 1 employee who has the same “passion” as the owners do.”
Please don’t take this the wrong way Chris, but why in the world would ANYONE have the same passion for your business as you do. That’s like a parent saying I can’t find a nanny that loves my children the way I do. Now having a passion for the work, that’s a different story. But there is a fine line between passion and obsession. My wife worked for hospice for many years and not once did someone who was dying declare that they wished they had worked harder and spent less time with family and friends.
This thread has officially been derailed
Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media
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