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I wanted to make this video to hopefully help anyone that’s struggling as a videographer or filmmaker.
For some reason, no one makes this kind of video and this is exactly what I wish I had 10 years ago.
Let me start by giving you a quick back story.
I graduated from film school way back in 2007 and had no idea how to make money with what I learned. The first thing I did was start making a feature-length documentary. I thought I would go to Sundance with this and I’m set from there. But I also needed to make money in the meantime.
So for a couple of years, I tried networking, going on different forums and websites, and finding whatever job I could, which was mostly PA work.
A couple of years later, I decided to create a video production company. Because the most successful people in Chicago in this industry had their own companies.
But I basically was doing exactly the same thing as before.
At this point though, I bought a nicer camera and start shooting more. But my company was basically me, doing whatever jobs I could find as a videographer.
I couldn’t figure out how anyone was getting clients. I thought if I bought more gear, it would help. So every dollar I made, I bought more gear and more gear and more gear.
And it did help me get more freelance work. But I wasn’t making much more than before. I was even more broke now because gear costs took everything I made.
A couple of more years passed and I was barely getting by. I remember a client not paying me once for a lot of work and I couldn’t pay my rent. I was freaking out. And I was doing anything and everything in the video. Weddings, events, conferences, and slideshow edits. And I didn’t like any of it.
So I knew I had to make a change. I was also running out of favors with people helping me with my documentary for free. So I needed to make a lot more money and I knew odd jobs here and there weren’t going to cut it.
So I started doing some research. Luckily, I took some marketing classes in college and had a based-line understanding. I looked into all kinds of marketing techniques. I just started Googling how to get clients as a small business and just kept researching.
I would work a 12-hour day and then research and research until I fell asleep.
Then, and this is back in 2012, I came across Search Engine Optimization. I already had a website, but no one was coming to my website unless I directly gave them the web URL.
After some more search, I saw so many companies from video production or marketing and PR firms that we’re getting almost all their work because of SEO.
Basically, you optimized your website for search engines using tons of different techniques and you did everything you could to get your website to rank on the first page of Google for a specific keyword.
I was going after keywords like “video production” and “video production company”.
For months, this became my main focus. And nothing was working for a while. But finally, at the end of 2012, I finally started to get on the first page of Google and eventually got the #1 spot.
Suddenly, I was getting emails and calls from all kinds of companies asking about my services.
The funny part was I had about 5 other marketing strategies I was about to start because I thought this wasn’t working.
The main problem was, that I really didn’t know how to produce good videos from start to finish. I knew how to shoot and edit, but didn’t really know much about producing a commercial. I didn’t know about proposals or how to handle a call or meeting. And I had to learn fast.
Within 6 months, I went from barely paying rent and doing random jobs to sending out 7 figures in proposals and closing deals every week.
I probably left a lot of money on the table that year, because I had to learn on the go.
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