So I guess I'm just looking to see how I am fairing here...been in business for roughly 3 months, part 107 for less then a month however I have been emailing numerous businesses and such trying to drum up work. I guess what I'm wondering is if this is normal? Any suggestions to finding work?
USA Struggling For Work
- Thread starter LevitatedMedia
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I've always generated more business with face to face contact taking business cards and fliers with as opposed to emailing. Most businesses get so many emails daily the likely hood is they are deleting anything that doesn't catch their attention
Are these face to face meetings setup or are they on a whim you drop by a business?
I don't particularly have a niche yet, I enjoy doing landscape photography and more action work such as shooting motorcycles, boats, jetskis and cars. I have done a few roof inspections for a home inspector (those were free jobs). I was under the impression to avoid real estate like the plague due to the cheap realtors who don't want to pay what it's worth.
I have been doing 90% real estate only because I have an in with my wife being a real estate broker. It was still tough for me to get going at first because even though I had all the credentials and insurance to be legal people were still weary since they hadn't seen any of my work. I finally went out and bought a bunch of cheap thumb drives and created a two min video of samples of my work and dropped those off to certain companies I was trying to build a relationship with. It was pretty effective. I have also done a few different car show and shines/cruises by finding out the main sponsor of the event offering to work at my regular rate but donating half the proceeds back to whatever charity they are attempting to raise money for. It's just about trying to get creative to get your name out there without spending a ton of money on advertising and even donating half your wages to a charity in some cases is still cheaper than other routes of advertising and at the same time your helping a good cause!
The car show idea is a great one, I actually was considering doing something similar in regards to a charity walk for a cure for liver cancer. Was going to offer a quick one minute or so video to capture the event.
Good luck on your venture you will get there but this business is definitely frustrating at times.
Thank you for the kind words, I am always open to advice from those who are successfully doing it. I am currently working a full time job and doing this as a fun side job however ideally I'd like to get it to become my full time position.
I started up about 2 and a half years ago.. Did a lot of free work, just to get some material. Charities are a great way to spread the word, and also, join your local Chamber of Commerce. It's been a great way to get jobs. I also have a full time job, but my 2 days off a week are filled with Commercial work. Just locally...., but I also have been working with PBS on a documentary that is due out in April 18.. you just never know where things will lead you. Keep pushing! Opportunities are out there!
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The best way to sell is show your work if you don't have anything yet do a few shoots of anything you have access to and make a show reel if your work is good and you show it to a potential client your work will sell its self.
As @Highrpm955 said, join your local Chamber of Commerce. Find a favorite image of yours that fits the area and maybe a local landmark that you live in/near and have it printed on a nice sized canvas (20X30 is a good size), if the image works portrait and landscape all the better, do one of each as some people need a taller image vs wider image. Pay attention to the local COC or Kiwanis and other charities that have live, silent or drawing type auctions for their happenings and if they do offer your images for charity. They will most likely give you inlieu of cash, a membership which opens the door to lots of oportunities. I have gained a lot of work by doing this. Good Luck!
To add to what everyone has already said,another thing to look at is honing your skills as a pilot if you are doing video. You want to leave the client on the edge of their seat the whole time they are watching it so they watch it to the end and want more when it's done. Motions must be smooth and precise and intricate all at the same time. Anyone can fly a drone around but how well you can fly is what makes for great footage . The quality of your work will sell itself if it's there. An easy way to find out what people like best is to just make a bunch of videos using different techniques in your shooting and post them to YouTube or Facebook and see the reaction you get from each. A lot of shooting photos and videos for that matter is catching the light at the right time of day and how good you are with a photo editor. Where you live is another factor that comes into play on who you should be looking for work from. Sorry for the long post but I felt it should be added to the topic. The ideas in the previous posts are great ones and should be taken into consideration for sure. Don't get discouraged you'll find your niche and it'll be smooth sailing from there.
Just look around... What @Scoobywrx05 is true. There are terrible pilots everywhere.. just look at this dizzying example from what an "Agency" posted... I almost threw up. Terrible shots, no interior, confusing and distracting graphics..etc. What a mess.
I'm not one to bash other people's work but I definitely would not try selling a half a million home with that footage. Good lord.
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What beautiful cinematic moves.
For the first minute I thought they were just selling the driveway for $475k
This is what happens when these agencies give it a go for themselves. They just don't have the skill, experience, equipment, software to pull it off properly........ It was a nice driveway tho LOL!
It's obvious the person making these videos for this place is not very skilled in the being smooth department. I figured maybe it was just this video but all of them they have are that way. Someone needs to point out there are functions like waypoints and point of interest they can use to make things a little smoother for them instead of looking like some drunken person going down a driveway.
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