by Zack Williams
Look that’s me! I’m older than I look, I promise.
Venturing out into the independent world of freelancing can be an intimidating, but liberating, experience. Working on your own terms can seem ideal, but when there’s no work at all, that’s when things get scary. When you’re working, specifically in the world of video production, that risk can be higher. Chances are you’ve invested thousands of dollars in equipment to even do the work to begin with.
It’s a lifestyle with many pitfalls as well as opportunities. If you don’t keep on your toes at all times, things can come apart quickly and leave you without a steady living. As our marketplace is evolving to form a more “gig” oriented economy, the freelancing approach is becoming increasingly commonplace and practical.
Without further rambling, I came up with some tips I've found useful to help you navigate the world of freelance videography.
1. Crunch the Numbers
Making that leap into the freelancing world is inherently a risky decision. You’re relying completely on your own devices and leaving yourself more vulnerable than those operating on a payroll income. Before you commit your time to this career path, make sure you have a firm grasp on your financial situation. Being aware of the cost of equipment, industry rates, and the specific marketplace of your area will help you develop a secure plan to make sure you don’t bottom out. It can also clarify what your financial goals are and help refine your business approach. For example, you could want to develop your reputation as a low price, run and gun videographer who isn’t picky about the type of work they accept. Or maybe you can afford to be more selective, and vie for a smaller amount of higher scale clients that fit within your ideal template of work.
This, of course, is very specific to the individual and their current situation. In my case, I was fortunate enough to have a solid amount of money saved up and a decent level of equipment, so there wasn’t too much of an immediate risk pursuing this direction in my career. What you have to realize is this: No matter what, you will find times when you’re short of work. This is a reality, especially when you’re starting out. The key is to prepare for those times when they come. For example, when I’m mapping out my wedding videography work, I’m mindful that in Pittsburgh, PA, the number of gigs I’ll land will decrease considerably in the winter months. That’s a truth of that line of work, and that’s okay. Now I can plan ahead of it in the preceding and succeeding months of that dead time.
And hey, maybe you do the math and see that you are simply not going to be able to make ends meet doing only video production. In that case, it’s a great thing that you found that out ahead of time, as you can now look into extra sources of income. While I’ve been fortunate to get enough work so far, I’m always keeping my server friends in mind in case my savings start to dwindle. Navigating this extremely fast-paced market, especially when you’re new, is very tricky and we sometimes can’t afford to have tunnel vision with the sources of our income.
The key is to be a step ahead of any financial struggles you might go through. Be your own weatherman and do the necessary analysis to prepare for any storm that might be approaching.
2. Know Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Scenario: You’re damn good at what you do. You’ve spent endless hours late at night looking at YouTube tutorials and camera reviews intaking all the info you need to get better. You know your stuff, and your work shows. You get done exporting that perfect and polished cut and can’t wait to show the world. You, or your client, post it on Youtube and Facebook. You get a couple of likes and an enthusiastic compliment from a dude you went to high school with. Two days later, you watch your views plateau and now your precious video is a thing of the past. What was the point?
The distribution and exposure of your content is vital. It’s what brings in the clients and your livelihood. Executing on the delivery and promotion of your content is equally as important as the content itself, and I don’t say that lightly. It requires a different set of skills you may find yourself to be lacking. Luckily, there are a ton of resources online that can help you get better acquainted in this specialty.
You’re providing a digital service, and chances are your clients will find your work online. Your focus for this should be two-fold: 1.) How can prospective clients find my work? And 2.) When they do, what do they see? Your answer to the latter might be a bit more formulated, as you should be confident in the work you’re showing off. The former is a bit trickier, and while there is no right answer, it’s crucial that you do your research so that have you have a constructed pipeline to expose yourself to the right prospects.
There is a huge range of social media platforms that cater to different types of content. It is up to you to determine what to focus on. In any case, know what your strategy is going forward and implement it in a calculated way so that you know what works and what doesn’t. Experiment with it. Are the videos you’re posting at 10:00 AM on Facebook getting double the engagement as the videos you’re posting on Instagram at 3:00 PM? You should be able to answer this type of question. Luckily this information is accessible through most of the platforms you’d be posting on. When you’re starting out, it will be a lot of trial and error, and that’s necessary. The capabilities of information systems such as Google Analytics and Facebook Insights are only getting more comprehensive as time goes on, and you’re missing out by not taking advantage of them.
Social Media is Crucial to Effective Digital Marketing
In the social media realm, a big part of that game is consistency, and while your plan might seem simple enough, you’ll be surprised how easily that can fall through the cracks if it’s not planned out ahead of time. There are plenty of automation systems to help you with this, but providing the content is up to you. I plan out my social media strategy in chunks, taking a couple of hours one day to flesh out my posts for the entire month. You know how you work best. Come up with an approach that works for you and gets results.
You should commit to providing constant content for anyone approaching your profile. Ideally, most of it would be your own material to show off, but that can be difficult to maintain, and if you’re starting your career, you probably don’t have the portfolio to provide that. Content is still content, and as long as it’s relevant, it’s useful to your marketing strategy. One day’s post could be something as simple as showing off a cool video someone else made or sharing a useful article related to your field (kinda like this one, ay ay).
Once more, a collateral benefit of an engaging marketing strategy can serve as proof to your clients that you can do the same for them. If a prospect finds your Facebook page liked by mostly your friends and family with your videos having a small amount of exposure, it discourages them to pursue inquiring about your services any further. I find this to be a common soft spot for many videographers and even bigger production companies. They may have all the talent in the world and create some amazing material, but their outreach strategy is half-baked, and the content that would knock a prospect off their feet is never seen. What a shame.
3. Project Management: Learn it and Live by It
You might consider yourself to be a pretty organized person. Throughout your life, you’ve perhaps been able to handle your responsibilities without many hiccups. When you’re on your own, it’s easy to assume this natural flow will translate smoothly into your profession, but things can unravel very easily.
This is especially the case for video production, as there are so many assets to handle at once. You might be in the quoting stage with a prospect while you’re simultaneously almost done with a video and only need to tack on some lower thirds. Both have deadlines, and both can get lost in the mix. You could be drafting an email with that prospect to finalize pricing details and you get distracted with another email from a marketing agency you’re working for with revisions that you are expected to deliver by tomorrow. You work hard to get them the final product and completely forget about that email in your Drafts bin. A couple weeks go by and that prospect willing to work with you moves onto another professional, who gets back to them immediately. This happens a lot more often than you think, especially if your incoming work is increasing at faster paced than you anticipated. Those little things that you forget can be detrimental to your reputation and your career if not attended to.
This is where effective project management comes in. Find a way to keep things organized so you can keep delivering your work on time and up to par. There are a myriad of resources for this, including programs like Asana, Basecamp, and the video-based Frame.io. You know what works best for you, so do your research and go through some trial and error to find that ideal workflow.
Don’t you love those moments in the office where four people all high five each other simultaneously? Be sure not to miss out!
3. Find a Nurturing Workspace
Everyone has their own preferences for their work environment. Some find that editing video in their living room at 1:00 in the morning results in the most productive process, and others need to be around other working people to get them motivated and focused.
This is something you will realize through experience, and it will likely change throughout your career. For me and many others, I find a lot of value in being around people in a workplace separate from my home. My go-to is a nearby coffee shop with a lot of natural light that gets me into an upbeat and productive mood.
A sense of community is viewed in high esteem by most successful workplaces. If you like the people you’re with, it fosters a positive and effective environment. Unfortunately, as freelancers, we aren’t given those dynamics. You’re working with different companies at different times, and if you’re editing, most of your work hours will be spent on a computer. You don’t have Marsha from Payroll bringing in homemade brownies to liven up the office or those water cooler breaks. This can lead you to feel isolated, lonely, and unmotivated. Your personal well-being goes hand in hand with your professional well-being (more on that later!) and you need to make sure you find yourself content with where you go to work.
There are plenty of co-working spaces for remote workers with the rise of our digital economy, and chances there are a couple places in reasonable proximity to you. Once again, do your research and see what options are out there. It can also help you get acquainted with the area you’re working in. For example, a space I worked in for several months exposed me to a neighborhood in my city that I fell in love with and now visit all the time, even though I’m not stationed there anymore. You’d be surprised at the positive externalities that can emerge.
4. Keep Learning
This is a quickly developing field. Every day, new equipment and software updates come out. Ask anyone who used Final Cut before FCP X or learned to shoot on film, and they’ll express how much their skillset had to adjust with the new changes thrusted upon them.
Our business goes hand in hand with technology. It IS technology, which is moving at a rapid rate. If you find success with your work, it is easy to nail down a formula for your material that is consistent from client to client. While this can be very efficient in the short term for your ease of workflow, you can find yourself falling behind as the inevitable shifts in the industry occur. Plus, even if you’ve grown fond of something that works, you can always do better!
Keep looking at tutorials online, take some classes. Continue updating your Creative Cloud apps and learning the new enhancements for each one. This curiosity and foresight will keep you on the cutting edge of your occupation. You could even get ahead of the curve and master something specific before most of us catch on. The people who nailed down 360 video are now making careers out of offering that service.
Entrepreneurship is a big part of being a freelancer. Having that innovative and frontiersman-like spirit will give you all the more opportunities for success.
5. Take Care of Yourself
This one seems like an obvious cop-out, but it’s truly not, at least in this case. When you take that risk to be a freelance videographer, you put yourself in a sink or swim situation. You need to work hard and stay focused every day if you don’t want to drown under the pressure. We often work all day on set or all night staring at Adobe Premiere. It can be exhausting, and if it’s not kept in check, it can sneak up to hurt your professional career.
There are obvious principles of maintaining your wellness: getting enough sleep, eating well, etc., but there are endless ways you can maintain your stability. A big one is to keep doing creative work on the side. Starting out, it’s likely you will not be helping create the most enthralling content, and that can wear down your passion for video. If you make the time to continue creating material that fulfills you, you’re more likely to stay enthused about the industry as a whole. I recently started a daily exercise where I make a short 5x5 video. It allows me to free my creativity in a low-stakes environment while learning new techniques in the process.
I also rejuvenate my energy by working part-time at an after school program for an elementary school. While I love videography and living that life, this side job lets me step away a bit and nurture other aspects of my passions and enjoyments. Sometimes it’s nice to push a three-year-old on a swing on a sunny day instead of emailing a client that you went over the projected hours in your quote.
Find whatever fits your desires and priorities, because if you want to provide the best service to your clients, you need to be honest with yourself and what you can handle at a given time.
That’s it for now!
Are you still reading? Wow, I'm amazed. I myself can barely get through my rants. I can’t help it. For more tips on video production and content, keep checking in to my website at zackwilliamspgh.com. I hope you found this worth your time and I wish you luck with your future!
