[Foleyvideo]

I’ve videotaped money before — in fact, a bank let me use THEIR money for the shoot! We did it at the bank with security guards standing by and of course a full count of the cash before and after the shoot.

Why not invest in some “movie money” — the kind of stuff you see on TV all the time. It looks convincing from a distance but wouldn’t stand up to close inspection — unless your audience thinks Bill Gates has his picture on a hundred dollar bill.

Steve

[Foleyvideo]

Hi

Yep this happens from time to time. How much real estate does the project take up on your drives? Would it be possible to move it over to a tape drive or some other archive device? You could do that then offer to sell that to your client ALONG with your bill for services performed up til this time.

Whenever I have encountered the rare “impossible” client, I usually am only too glad to wash my hands of him. And I am happy to do it in the most professional way I can — that is — you pay me for what I’ve done and I’ll give you the material you want. Pay me enough and I’ll yank loose the hard drive and hand that to you also. Whatever it takes to get rid of ya. Perhaps I’m too easy on some people, but I’d rather just cut my losses and move on with as little stink as possible.

Legally, the client DOES owe you for time spent. As for the master tapes and files — well — if that wasn’t part of the original deal, then do some bargaining.

Steve Foley

[Foleyvideo]

My two cents worth on this:

In the early days of my business I did a number of wedding vids just to put bread on the table while the real focus of my company heated up. What I learned is that people who are going to get married (specifically brides — as un “PC” as that sounds) will watch, listen to or read ANYTHING regarding weddings. It’s a ebola-strength fever that sweeps over them for a few months. In the case of my own wife, this quest for wedding knowledge became an obsession. Ahem — but I digress.

My point — if advertising on that wedding show is reasonable — do it. Brides will watch it. Grooms will probably watch it too if it doesn’t conflict with the game. And remember — you will NEVER know exactly how many folks tune in to that program. Ratings just can’t give you an accurate head count. The sampling might be the wrong demographic for you, but I know for a fact SOMEBODY will watch that show and see your business advertised.

STeve

[Foleyvideo]

Ya know — there IS another option — at least in my town. In addition to the Chamber, we have a number of business associations. I am a member of the Northeast Business Assoc. because that’s the side of town where I’m located. This Association is totally made up of business owners and I am “one of them”. So whenever I go to a meeting I’m not viewed as being there just to network and scrounge for work. I HAVE had some success getting new clients from this group — much more so than from the Chamber of Commerce.

Steve

[Foleyvideo]

I preface this by telling you that I run a videoproduction company in the Sunshine State.

So many grey areas on the tax matter. After a couple of lengthy (and not inexpensive) sessions with my CPA I was still confused about some of the ins and outs of Florida tax law — but what it finally comes down to is that I charge EVERYBODY sales tax unless they are an out-of-state client or they have proof of tax exemption.

The biggest rift came up between me and some local ad agencies who didn’t want to pay tax because they aren’t the “end user”. But when questioned closely, most of them tried to claim that their services weren’t taxable either — so NOBODY would end up paying tax. Well — we know how Uncle Sam feels about that, don’t we?

These days my rule is — if you are in-state, you are GOING to pay tax unless you can show me written proof why you shouldn’t. It’s just CYA.

[Foleyvideo]

I have to agree with most of what I’ve read on this thread. You have to protect your rep, so if they don’t pay for a day of training, bite the bullet and play it their way. At least that way you’ll hit the ground running when you get the call to work.

And — if you never get called again — so what. You made a few bucks that otherwise would have gone to a competitor. Production houses / people are so plentiful these days — take the money and run!

Steve

[Foleyvideo]

OK I’ll weigh in again —

It does, to some extent, depend on the community and the makeup of the chamber — I’m sure of that. I suppose some chambers are freer of the politics that smother my local group. So — yep — I suppose a business owner should give it a look and see if there is any potential there.

RE: yellow page ads being for wedding and event guys. Well — I do primarily government, corporate and broadcast stuff. No weddings or things of that nature. But what I have found is that MOST of my new clients find me through those big yellow page ads and I’ll tell you why….

First, let me qualify this by stating that I live in a government town. A state capitol. When some department head in one of the govt. buildings decides to do some video, they generally tell somebody else to call around and find qualified vendors. There is a state-run online vendor system (website) that is supposed to be for the purpose of listing everyone qualified to offer services in any given field — but the website is such a mess that whoever has to run the search just automatically turns to the phone book. I’ve heard this first-hand over and over. When they open the phone book — boom — there’s my big ole ad. It explicitly states “government, corporate and broadcast”. I get a call. I bid. Sometimes I get the job, sometimes I don’t — but I certainly stack the odds in my favor by being so visible.

There are a few cool things I have learned about being a long-time phone book advertiser. One is that if you buy a decent size ad and stick with it — you will year by year be promoted to a progressively better spot on the page. Your wedding and event guys will come along and buy a huge ad — within a couple of years they are out of business — you are still there — and you move up the food chain into spaces they previously held. Longevity really counts for a lot with the phone book people — and they reward that with good placement. On the other hand, they will constantly try to upsell you — and if your ad is clean and professional, you don’t need to go to half-page or add color or whatever. Just stay the course and you’ll be fine. I’ve actually seen my competitors go to two extremes — buying a gigantic ad they have trouble paying for — or reducing the size of their ad thinking that “everybody knows them”. Both tactics usually fail in the long run. Get something like a quarter page black and white and stick with it.

Sorry — got way off the beaten path there — I could write a book about this stuff — but it wouldn’t be telling most Cow readers anything they don’t already know.

My last word on this — check out the Chamber — if it doesn’t feel good, plow your money into the yellow pages. Oh, and DON’T fall for their “internet yellow pages” scam — that’s a buncha crap. People still reach for the big thick book.

Well — that’s what works round here. But I do know that every town is different — so keep an open mind and do what seems to produce the best results for ya. It might take a bit of expensive trial and error — but it’s worth the headache overall.

Steve

[Foleyvideo]

OK I’m going to be the spoiler here. I am willing to be the messenger everyone is going to want to kill — but I will give you my pithy wisdom — take it or leave it.

Joining the Chamber of Commerce is NOT worth it. I’ve been in business over 10 years — and before that I spent 17 years in broadcasting — knew every business owner in town, etc. — I joined the Chamber — went to their events — mixed and mingled and handed out tons of business cards. The result? ZIP. Time wasted. Money out the door. Same story for many of my competitors. Who knows why? I used to wonder, but finally gave up and invested that Chamber dues money into a better yellow pages ad. THAT worked.

Flame me all you want — but in my humble experience a good yellow page ad is MUCH more valuable than shaking hands at the chamber. Maybe it’s because the REAL movers and shakers don’t have TIME to mess around with the chamber?? Most of my biggest clients are not and will never be chamber members. They don’t see the value in it either.

Those are my sour grapes. Fire away.

[Foleyvideo]

Hi

I’ve done exactly what is being recommended here — using photoshop to set up the text. Works very well — but as for the jitters — put the flicker filter on it at max. Smooths it out pretty good.

Steve

[Foleyvideo]

I say go after the money — but don’t ever expect to actually see it. It is too little to sue over, but you can irritate the daylights out of a deadbeat client by sending them invoices every month with more and more “late fee” applied. After a while it will get to be sort of a game and who knows? Someday you might win.

Chances are you will never see that client again anyway — and why would you want to?

One of the best parts of being in business for yourself is the ability to FIRE the client if you so desire. I’ve done it a time or two over my ten years of being in business for myself — it does the heart good.

Steve Foley
Foley Video Productions, Inc.