[Ned Miller]

Well, I’ve been the victim DOZENS of times, seems I never learn, of clients taking advantage of me, usually one offs, who say please help us with our low/no budget project this time and we’ll pay you back with bigger jobs next time. One of the first instances occurred when I was right out of film school working as a film AC:

Do the names Piven and Cusack mean anything to you? Dads of Jeremy and Joan? In the late 70’s those two Chicago area producers wanted to do a fund raising documentary for their new arts center. Got me to work for two days free with the promise of getting on a “real” job soon. So after I did that I would call Dick Cusack and he would say in a befuddled manner, “Ned who?” I swear to God. Did I learn? Not for many years because I was, and I say was, a trustworthy sap. 2015? No way. That’s one of the oldest tricks in the book in terms of getting a vendor (hate that word) down in price. It’s a cliche. “Work with us on this one please and we’ll pass your name around”, etc.

Getting back to the OP, since I am a freelance cameraman, and I see what happens to young freelance cameramen, I think I am highly qualified, especially as a dad to two millennials who can’t seem to make good, steady money, to say that you’d have to have a HOLE IN YOUR HEAD to embark on a career as a freelance videographer. Perhaps as a producer/shooter/editor type but to rely solely on shooting, no way. There’s No Money In It, especially Steady Money. Hey, I should know right? I hire them all the time. I send my scraps their way that I can’t afford to shoot as a favor to some clients. I compete against them on the crowd sourcing sites and….lose.

There comes a time, usually in the late twenties, where they will be tired of eating ramen noodles and having just a bike for transport. They need a profession, an occupation or trade they can ply. They can’t follow their dreams or passion, they can’t make a hobby into a living. That’s only for kids from families with money.

There’s a new economic term I’m learning from the project I’m on about Sharing Economies and that’s called the Gig Economy. It’s not pretty. It means that these young people have to cobble together a bunch of low paying things to do, almost as if they had 4 or 5 part time jobs, just to “make it”. So they’ll do a little Uber driving, work at Starbucks a couple of days, do some tutoring, various manual labors or piece work, and hey! A little shooting here and there. Bummer. Is that any way to live? Can’t save up for an engagement ring. Can’t get a place without roommates. And that is what has happened to the young peeps entering the video biz the last few years: They can’t make much money. Some exceptions, like people who know how to hustle or have “connections”.

This si the same mantra as the thread the other week about commencement addresses at film school graduation but those implied working in various areas. This OP said full time videographer. Would you want your daughter to marry one?

Oh well, that’s it! Tomorrow is suppose to be beautiful weather and the kayak is on top of my new 2015 Pilot.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Yeah I know. About ten years ago I started to refine how I describe what “I do” to strangers. Often I would BS and say I did something else so I wouldn’t get the same 10 questions, so at a party or bar, etc. I’d say I was “in construction” or something. That would end that chit chat thread. However, at a social function with the wife, etc. I would say I “produce video”, or something similar, but in the last ten years I’d get a response similar to: “My kid (or nephew, neighbor, cousin…) does that.” Meaning, every mother’s son is now in video and it’s seen as “nothing unique” anymore, meaning a commodity.

So…when I want to differentiate myself in a social situation, because I am now too embarrassed to just say I “do video” or something similar to that, I say, “I’m a Cameraman on TV shows such as National Geographic, Discovery, History Channel, etc.” because if I say I produce corporate videos that is viewed as nothing special anymore. Even documentaries, which used to have a cache, are considered DIY. Half the time if I am talking to anyone under 30 they will tell me about the documentaries they were involved in even if they are now in healthcare, finance, engineering…something sensible where they will have a realistic financial future and chance for a middle class existence.

That’s why my dander gets up when a young person thinks they can make a “real” living doing this now. Mark S. seems to me to have this glass half full outlook but I do not know what end of the biz he is in and if he has to fight for his next project like we do? This is definitely a commodity business now.

Every now and then when I run out of my A, B and C list of crew members I have to post anonymously on Craigslist and I get this flood of desperation in response. Sometimes I get a great new crew member addition but if you want to see what the real price structure in your area is, post a CL ad for the typical project you do, especially your specialty, and you will see the competition, some rookies, inepts, but also quality providers who are temporarily desperate, and you will get an idea of what the prices are in your zone. Add to that the video virgins who are needing a video but yet have no idea as to what one costs, and they see “halfway decent” samples, wow, us old pros are now screwed, no?

So in sum I am targeting industries I know which are flush with dough, last week I did healthcare and mutual fund clients. They aren’t looking for the best guy in town or the cheapest kid (our OP), rather, no one wants to be the guy who hires the guy “who “f’d” up” and that’s my specialty. I am targeting the ones with money who have a LOT to lose if the guy they hire F’s it up. I now have this technique down, I just need to find more clients like this so I am not competing on Thumbtack or feeling the need to sneak a peek at CL, which gets me depressed.

Hey, don’t ruin my birthday weekend!

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

I come from a long line on my father’s side of small business owners in a service sector. In fact, no one on my father’s side has had a “job”, they always had a small service business. So I have absorbed through osmosis this axiom of cost charging:

All clients may be divided into one of two categories: Those who are using their own money and those who are using the company’s money. You ALWAYS want to work for the latter.

And I always follow that rule.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Thanks for the elaboration Walt. I have a home office, all gear is now paid for so I only have minimal expenses like insurance, advertising, repairs, etc. yet I can’t accept making $300 a day. I’d soon go broke. Plus from my experience with the kind of prospects who use Thumbtack I wouldn’t assume they represent future biz, after all, why did they use Thumbtack? My track record of doing a great job cheaply as an entre for better future work has been very eye opening, it hasn’t worked well.

Every now and then when biz is dead I will peruse those sites and I find the posters to be incredibly cheap. Mark S. doesn’t think video has become a commodity but I see otherwise, every day. Think of what you’d have charged ten years ago. Twenty years ago.

Well, I don’t want to get the blues on such a great weekend. My fault for visiting CC lately, usually when I get my tires rotated or waiting for a plane. If the OP is offering to shoot for free, and you are editing for $300 a day, and people are asking me to shoot for about half of what I charged in 1993, what kind of business is this? How can the OP make a real living as a full time videographer?

I have a gaggle of clients who pay very well but they don’t have the demand I need. I just have to find more of them because 70% of the market has plummeted, based on what they want to pay or expect a video to cost, to cheapskates or freebies. Thumbtack is for finding plumbers. How did we end up on it? We used to be a highly respected occupation that people were envious of and now everyone’s nephew is doing videos for free or slave wages. Go figure…

One of my few super well paying clients, a giant consulting firm, has been flying me around the country interviewing CEOs about how “disruptive economies” are effecting their industry. Airbnb vs. Hyatt, Uber vs the cab companies, etc. BTW, the only reason I am flying around is for the videos to look the same. We were totally disrupted by the DSLR movement and prices have never been the same, also with iMovie. A client called the other day and asked me about changing duration in FCP Express, as a favor.

We are in a biz where prices have actually declined. How did we get into a position where we even need to look at the postings from these crowd sourcing sites? Circumstances largely out of our control but they are there. And that’s why I told the OP to forget full time shooting, unless he’s from a wealthy family?

Enjoy the weekend!

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Please elaborate. How can you shoot and edit, something that lasts 30 minutes, and includes graphics for $300? Especially you, Walt B., who has massive overhead. Dying to know. Also, why would you want to?

Thanks.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Walt, you’re joking right? I can’t even get a good grip for $300. I just have to make it two more years!!!

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

A Bucket of Cold Water from a Wise Uncle Here:

Some Real World Advice from someone who has worked as a freelance videographer for 36 years: You’re Nuts to Think It Is a Possibility (now). Why? Because there’s a tidal wave of fairly qualified people (like you) who will work for free thus bringing everyone’s prices down. I have witnessed this with my own eyes. The equipment has now gotten so cheap and easy to use that anybody with a modicum of technical skills (the geeks) and are somewhat creative can at least enter the biz. 99% can’t make it after a few years due to non-sustainable revenue, but they are in the biz compteing against us, lowering prices.

The gigs that come in through the crowd sourcing sites like CL, Thumbtack, Gig Salad, Gig Masters, E Lance, Staff Me Up, etc. are paying peanuts. I’ve gotten their alerts and bid on them so I know. Why? Because it’s a competitive bidding situation and the video buying public now sees production as a commodity so they won’t pay much.

Recently for a client I had to find DPs in Buffalo, Indianapolis, Garden Grove & Cleveland so I posted on Production Hub which draws the professional class compared to the above mentioned low pay crowd sourcing sites. My conclusion: Guys working 100% as videographers are starving. Their rates are lower than anytime since the 70’s. Many of the responses I got were from young guys begging to do it for super cheap or free to build their reels, there’s no money in just being a videographer. Naturally I was afraid to hire them.

Just a few years ago when a local retail owner or service like a chiropractor wanted a 3-4 minute website video, you could get $900-$1400. Now they call me and expect to pay no more than $300-$500. There’s guys at my local chamber of commerce who will do it for FREE for the experience or as a side biz. Do you realize how many of these types of videos you’d have to do in a week to survive? Do you want to compete against guys doing it for free? Guys like you who are so hungry to start they will give away what rightfully should be a decent paying gig?

I assume you went to college and had some biz courses? Sit down with someone 10 years older and figure out a realistic personal budget for middle class survival (rent/mortgage, utilities, phone, car payment, health insurance, groceries, etc. etc.). This is your PERSONAL budget, not your biz budget. Do you think you will have enough profit left over after your biz expenses to survive if you go into Videography? No way. I know this because I have two kids in their late twenties and have been through these realistic budget exercises. Life is expensive and gets more so every year that goes by. And you’re considering a career path where people will compete against you for free to a target base that sees no difference in the services rendered? Eeeesh…

So in sum, going into shooting full time you will not be able to achieve a decent lifestyle in terms of financial security. You are considering entering into a career plan that pays no money. The only way you could possibly survive is if you produce the whole thing and be servicing large clients. There is absolutely no way to make it as a 100% videographer now. It’s chump change. You won’t be able to afford the 20% down payment for a house, buy a nice car, engagement ring, foreign vacations, afford good health insurance, start a retirement fund, etc. etc. Every cent left over you’d have to put into equipment to keep up with the Joneses and the first time you get stiffed on a big job you’d have to leave the biz.

Unfortunately, you were born 30 years too late. Go into producing and only for large clients who respect quality and won’t stiff you and they are as hard to find as hen’s teeth. I know. Forget Videography…

The above advice is from a Freelance perspective. If you can find and put up with a staff gig, ignore the above advice.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

I think video production is now a commodity in most prospects’ minds. Unless there’s a highly specific style/skill needed, such as food, fashion, etc. the public sees us similar to hiring a tradesman like a carpenter, etc., meaning: Is he/she “good enough”, reliable and affordable?

I know this because I do between 10-20 cost estimates per month, both as a micro prod co or as a shooter. I see them going to the lowest quote, especially on the crowd sourcing sites that have become so popular. We are now a commodity although our egos want to think otherwise.

And now that I have re-read my previous post I need to make this clearer: Direct Mail is highly effective in getting new clients, since it keeps you top of mind which digital can’t, it’s just that I’m too cheap/poor to continue using it because each piece is now around $1.11 with the postage.

I’m a filer. Our AC is on the wane so now I keep all the postcards from the HVAC companies. And that’s how I got requests for estimates- the receiver kept my brochure and BC around knowing that sooner or later they were going to have a video need. That’s because I sent it to only execs whose title indicated they were in need of video from time to time.

No one needs us till the need us.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Yes I bet the poster is not in our biz but here’s my take. Until recently DM was very effective for me but the last year not one nibble, so I am not re-ordering. I get how it will work for the name recognition of a politician and that’s all they want for when the voter enters the booth. Our problem is: TIMING.

After many years of success I recently stopped getting reprints of my slick brochure. The postage was killing me. On a slow day I may have collected 10-40 names of local execs on LinkedIn and local association directories, high up in marketing, sales, HR, corp comm, PR, etc. and I would send my tri-fold, slim jim brochure with a biz card.

Over the years I’ve gotten many jobs by doing that and they usually started with: “I’ve had your brochure on my desk (in my pile, in our files) and now we need a video and I’d like an estimate.” So there is a stickiness with printed promotional material that digital advertising can’t compete with. But with postage now at .49¢, and it’s crucial you keep it under one ounce, I was spending $20-$40 a day and in the last CY I received no bites. Thus I decided to not do the minimum 500 copies run for another box of brochures.

My conclusion based on doing this a long, long time is no one considers us (video vendors) until they NEED us, then they often go into panic mode if there’s a tight deadline. Often someone totally outside the communications sphere is tasked with “finding somebody” quick, such as an admin. They turn to the internet. This is unfortunate because it’s so hard and expensive to get great SEO, our biz is now so overcrowded.

My remedy to this is to work my referrals and there are some great books at B&N about this. It’s the best way to get new biz because it’s free. I’ve filmed many sales trainers and picked up nuggets. Try Bob Burg’s Endless Referrals. Also, Marketing to the Affluent.

So in sum, the chance of your printed material arriving at the exact, right time, when they have gone into the panic mode of “Who should we call for this new video????” is very small, although I have gotten new clients by my brochure arriving, coincidentally, at the exact right time.People don’t keep files like they used to, they have become digital data geeks. Many have flex offices so they don’t have the old system of file cabinets, many millennials don’t even have a traditional desk.

My diagnosis: Don’t do direct mail advertising anymore and put that portion of your marketing budget into attending networking meetings and other techniques of meeting new clients. Join LinkedIn Groups (it’s free!). Without being obnoxious prime your client base for leads to others within their sphere who have a track record of using video.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com

[Ned Miller]

I also shoot and produce quite a few trade show videos every year since I am based in Chicago. When I am not actively shooting and have a break, I wander the aisles looking for prospective clients plus I love swag: keychains, pens, free snacks. So I always look at the booths’ videos to spot trends.

Also, I get several free marketing and sales mags and have seen studies that people flowing down an aisle will make a decision within 6 seconds whether to continue watching your video. Here’s what I have concluded and learned from my clients, many of whom are marketing agencies:

• The video can not be dependent on it’s audio, since the noise level of the hall my be too high. Also, booth attendants tend to go nuts listening to it over and over and often turn the audio off, even though it’s their own video.

• Due to the above point I have seen a trend over the last few years for trade show videos to be very text/graphic/factoid dependent, tailoring it’s message (cheaply) to the particular audience of that show. By doing this the video becomes even more audio independent.

• The video needs to have a Call to Action that preferably results in them talking to the booth personnel.

• The video can not be over 2:30 or so, no way.

So in sum, I have seen a trend away from mainly live action trade show loops which is a bad sign for me, a live action cameraman. Even talking heads are irrelevant in a noisy environment. I suggest a total re-edit with heavy reliance on interesting, moving text. It’s OK to have a music track to draw attention to the video but beware that it may be turned off. You’ll have to lose Bradshaw.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com