If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed for me over the past year, it’s my admiration and love of ShootQ! If you have heard me speak you know how much of an evangelist I am for this amazing and indispensable piece of online software.

The reason I love it so much is because as a creative professional and small business owner, my customer service and my time are the most important things to me. ShootQ gives me both! Sometimes, words are cheap, so I just wanted to show everyone out there first hand, whether you already use ShootQ or not, how ShootQ can help your business organize your leads and clients, your packages and your contracts, financials and forecasts, and how it creates “workflows” for you so you are always on top of the tasks that need attention now.

I’ve even heard from some of you, saying you have ShootQ, you can see the potential, you just don’t know where to start. This video shows you the “backend” of Life Stage Films. I hope it helps you understand the power of this amazing software. Let me know if it helps you!

“Head Coach”
Matt Davis

Here at IN[FOCUS], a part of our mission is to empower filmmakers in order that they may “survive, thrive, and serve.”  In order to survive, we are [focused] on simplicity and efficiency, most notably by offering our workflow training, as well as promoting streamlined business systems and coaching offered by Matt Davis.

By implementing such training, we expect you to survive, thrive, and to also have the opportunity to serve, whether it be by giving back and mentoring other filmmakers or by serving others through the use of your talents and time.

One non-profit that really excites us and encourages creatives to be of service is Thirst Relief International. Thirst Relief provides water filters to those without clean drinking water in order to prevent water-born illnesses which claim the lives of thousands worldwide every week.  For only $5, one person can provide another with years of clean drinking water through Thirst Relief.

Thirst Relief is founded and operated by event photographer Jim Davis Hicks, so he understands the power of solid visuals in order to inspire others toward action.  In order that photographers may be freed up from the work of their businesses to go out and serve with their free time, Jim has developed Action Runner to automate many of the steps in the post-production process.

Action Runner is currently on tour with Showit, another business dedicated to helping creatives find more freedom through the use of their easy-to-design website services.  You can catch them in Washington D.C. (6.28), New York City (6.29), Chicago (7.1), and Nashville (7.2) to get hands on with their software and to hear from such inspiring presenters as David Jay, Promise Tangeman, Bob Davis, The Boudoir Divas, Sarah Barlow, Zach and Jody Gray, and Jessica Claire.

Many filmmakers are also using Showit for their web presence, most notably Ron Dawson of Dare Dreamer Media who spoke on behalf of Showit on the Austin/Atlanta stops of the tour.  So for all the filmmakers in the surrounding areas of the cities mentioned earlier, and for those filmmakers taking on photography as well, go check out Showit and Action Runner, and begin to think about the ways in which these tools can simplify your life, free up your time, and allow you to serve.

Cheers!
jones

For the past 25 years. He has been able to stay relevant, fresh, and influential when most videographers who have been around for that long become stale and lose their reativity.

In this interview between me and Steve, you’ll learn practical ways to stay ahead of your competition, stay in love with what you do for a living, and most importantly, MAKE MONEY and profit. Take a listen, my hope is that the next hour you invest by listening in will be one of the best investments in time you have made for your business.

Steve Moses Interview

“Head Coach” Matt Davis

Let me see a show of hands from those of you who meet your clients at a local coffee shop, or deli? Now let me see a show of hands that have a quiet place like your studio, home, or rented meeting space? I am going to share with you our experience with both and how each location affected our meetings.

When we first started our company we had a space set up in our basement that had our “office”. It worked for us at the time as we both were working other jobs full time and this gave a way for us to work from home and still spend time with our family. Our first 2 years we spend meeting clients at area coffee shops, deli’s, bookstores, etc… We knew where all the Starbucks were in the Indianapolis Metro area.

To be honest, we hated ever minute of having to meet clients this way. It is very difficult to talk and listen as these places can get quite loud. I remember one time the mother of the bride got pretty upset as they couldn’t hear the video we were trying to show them on our laptop. I don’t think we ever booked a job on the spot in those situations.

You are probably asking why we didn’t set something up at our home to meet with clients. Partly because we live a good distance out in the country and our house is hard to find. The other part was we didn’t want a bunch of strangers in our home. We do know some in the industry locally that do have clients come to their home. Some have a space set up just for that reason, while others just meet at their kitchen table or living room. If you meet your clients in your home and have a nice place set up just for your client meetings, that is great! If you don’t have a designated place set up I encourage you to make a specific room your client meeting space – it will make you look that much more professional.

I have heard from clients that have met others at their homes and they said they didn’t seem very professional as they met in the living room and there were kids toys around and dinner cooking and they felt like they were intruding.

We found our current space a full year before we actually took the plunge and rented it. We knew it was the direction we wanted to go. Why you ask? Yearger Properties, who owns/manages the building, has several buildings around the Indianapolis Metro area. The rent for spaces starts at $300 and goes up depending on the size of the space. The cool thing, and what drew us in, was that we can reserve the conference room in any of the buildings 24/7. We inquired about just renting the conference rooms on an as needed basis, but it would be cheaper in the long run to just rent an office space and have the option to use the conference room in any of their 5 locations (soon to be 7).

Conference Room at Noblesville Office Suites

With our initial space in the building, we always met with clients in the conference room first. Then, if things were progressing to a potential booking, we would ask them if they would like to come see our “Studio” and view our work. We would then invite them in, put in some sample dvds and chat.

After moving into the space and meeting clients in the building we saw an increase in our bookings 500% in 1 year. After adding another work station, our little space became more and more cramped, so w moved into another space within the same building. This space is about double what we had, and we created an actual “client meeting area” within the office space.

part of our “Studio” where we meet clients and show our work

We don’t use the conference room very much anymore. We realized that our initial reason for picking this space was the convenience of multiple locations to meet, but to be honest, we have only used that option a few times. We meet with clients in our “Studio” 99% of the time.

We just recently learned of another option in our area for event professionals to meet their clients. It is called L’Evento. They have a library of event professionals and brides can meet with them, view their work, and get their contact info. As an event professional you pay a monthly fee, $85. -$162.

Some friends of ours, SB Childs Photography, belong to L’Evento and it is working well for them. Stefanie told me, “We feel like our clients trust us more. We used to feel like we had to sell ourselves in spite of our meeting location, but now, the building gives that trust, and the clients are sold as soon as they step in the door.” This is a great option if you want to save some money on space and still work from home, and many cities have similar arrangements. Ask around with other wedding professionals in your market to see if they’ve heard of one local to you.

Another option is to see if there are any local event professionals that would like to go in on a space together.

As wedding professionals, we need to portray and convey that we are professionals. If you invest in a great client meeting area, you will see an increase in bookings, and more bookings on the spot. We now close 95% of our deals after the first meeting in the studio versus 0% instantly in coffee shops. Overall, our percentage of bookings went from 50% to 95% after acquiring our current location.

Meeting with clients over coffee a the local coffee shop is fine after you have booked them. :->

Wishing you a great 2010 for your business. Hope to see you at the IN[FOCUS] Event January 18-20 in Austin.

Jennifer Moon
Northernlight Filmworks

Eric has been with Epic Motion since May 2009 and has been kicking some major butt! Here he goes over his top 5 list of how to get the most out of any workshops, seminars, conferences, etc. that you’re investing a lot of time and money into. I encourage you to take some notes – these are some very practical tips that could change your life forever… somethin’ like that.

Also – if you’re going to IN[FOCUS], make sure you meet him and another Epic Motion stud – Stewart…

Okay – I’m off to have a baby… errrr…

Koral – Epic Motion

Mistakes to Avoid to Succeed in Wedding Video

Matt Davis with you. As “The Head Coach of Wedding Videography,” I was privileged last month to be joined with Chris Jones of Mason Jar Films, and co-founder of IN[FOCUS] on a conference call with almost 500 videographers providing them free information on some trade secrets and lessons that we have learned over the years. We had such a great response from that.

With the new year approaching, some of us need to ask our selves if what we are doing isn’t working. Some of us need to write down the things that did work for us in 2009 so that we can emulate that success in the coming years. But regardless of whether you are a seasoned veteran or just starting out, I believe we can all appreciate some tips that make such a hectic situation as a wedding day that much easier.  Above you’ll find a segment from our webinar “Mistakes to Avoid in Order to Succeed in Wedding Video”.  This 10 minute audio clip covers some tips and techniques that you can begin using on your next wedding that will not only make you more profitable, but will save your sanity. Here are some things you’ll learn in the audio.

• How To Create Immediate Synergy with a Photographer
• Getting the best audio from a wedding (non hardware specific)
• Multiple Shooter Communication
• Making the edit more simplified and profitable by doing things on the wedding day
• A very necessary tip to help you with your post production ideas

Enjoy! Also, for those interested in further help, more details and strategies on how to grow your business, we are now enrolling for a very unique opportunity for event videographers. You can sign up for our 2010 coaching online webinar entitled “Sales & Marketing 101: What Most Videographers Don’t Know About Making Money”. Check it out. First session starts January 27th,2010.

See you in Austin!
Matt Davis, Lifestage

What an interesting year 2009 was been, huh?! Some of us had a great year, and some of us are ready to forget already. Either way, 2010 is almost here, so what are you going to do about it?

For the past 3 years at Life Stage Films, we have put strict emphasis on knowing exactly what works and what doesn’t work in our business every year before the next year begins. I think it’s so incredibly cleansing to take a retrospective look at your business as the year is about to end. If you don’t, you get stale. You might become irrelevant. Or even worse, you might get “comfortable”. Being comfortable is no place to be for not only a business owner, but a creative artist. But let’s say you do take some time ( just one day) before the busy-ness of the January-March time period of getting as many 2009 edits out the door as you can. If you really care about your business, you’ll enjoy looking back and not only praising yourself for a job well done, but you’ll ask those tough questions that get you moving in the right direction if you weren’t before.

It’s kind of like journaling. It’s fun and incredibly addicting. We enjoy looking back at our success list from a few years ago to see how far we have come. It inspires us to create a plan for the next year that will influence our decisions even more. But it starts with a plan. At the beginning of 2009, and every business quarter there after, our entire staff takes an entire day to come up with our next 90-Day plan. We come up with goals that are hard, but attainable. It keeps our larger goals that we made at the beginning of the year easier to get to. So, back to the bigger picture, I want to help you start 2010 with a bang and inspire you to improve your business and take it to another level. Let’s get started.

*** Before you do this, make yourself a promise to isolate yourself from distractions. Go to a coffee shop, a bookstore, just get away from the office, and from family. The follow exercise shouldn’t take longer than a few hours, but its so important to do it with a clear head, and BEFORE your work gets hectic again for 2010. I always do it the day after New Years.

1. Get a piece of paper, or create a Word document.

2. Answer the following questions.

• What Were My Biggest Challenges/Problems for 2009?
  
• What Were My Top 5 Lessons Learned This Year?
  
• What Were My Top 5 Success Stories This Year? (Brag on yourself, what things were you proud to accomplish in ‘09?)
• What was my favorite project I shot/edited this year, and why?
• What was the biggest thing that moved my business forward in 2009?
  

For 2010

• How much (%) do I want to increase my revenue for 2010?
• What are 10 ways I will be able to attain that goal. Be specific.
  
• What are 3 major things on my perpetual to-do list that I’d like to see accomplished for my business in 2010? (things you never make time to get to, but are important)
  
• What are 5 things I can do for my business in 2010 that will set me more apart from my competition.
  
• What are 5 goals I’d like to see met in December of 2010.
• What are 5 things that I can implement now that will improve my personal life in 2010. (There is a direct correlation to the success of your business)

In the spirit of community and inspiring each other, if you chose to do this important exercise, leave a comment on this post by telling us all your 5 biggest success stories of 2009. It’s ok to brag when someone gives you permission! Cheers to making it through 2009 alive and well. You also got to work in a job that you love. That’s a great thing. Here’s to a successful 2010!

Matt D., Lifestage

I would be silly to think that I don’t have blind spots in my life – what I mean is that there are plenty of areas of my business where I’m not very good at identifying things that need to happen or not happen. So, one of the most important things that I’ve added to my business is a board of advisors – a group of wise souls who are able to speak honestly about me and my business to encourage the success of my business.

There are a total of six guys that are a part of my board.

What I do at a board meeting

I limit my meetings to 2 hours and I also buy dinner from PF Changs for everyone… I review the business since we last met, discuss the present situation, and reveal goals for the next few months or year. I hold nothing back… if there’s a weakness in my business that I’m aware of – I let them know. Likewise, if they see a weakness in my business – they let me know. If they don’t know everything I know, they can’t help.

We meet at my house, so it’s not overly formal, and it matches my personality/business model (although for all client meetings, etc., we meet at our office – NOT at my house!). We hang out for a few minutes as each board member shows up, then we eat and catch up for about 30 minutes.

Prior to the meeting, I will have already emailed out some basic thoughts on what I want to present to the group, and if I am super-organized, I will have emailed them a more specific agenda for that evening. If they don’t have a copy of the agenda, I’ll pass it out along w/ pens and encourage them to take notes. They let me have their sheets at the end of the evening so I can refer back to their notes later.

I then perform a Keynote presentation (kind of like Powerpoint, but WAYYY cooler. Sorry Microsoft). I also make sure to have a pen and paper nearby to write down any ideas they have as we chat. The idea is that it’s pretty informal – anyone can speak up as ideas come…

(One idea I just realized as I am typing all of this out – it would be AWESOME to record the conversation… so much good stuff is said, it would make sense for me to go back and take another listen rather than try and scribble as thoughts are exchanged.  I can put that Zoom H4n to even more good use!)

Anyway – I try really hard to respect their time and so I try to excuse everyone when we’ve reached our time limit. I will then follow up with everyone the next day and see if there were any other thoughts that came up on their drive home.

Who should you choose?

1. Choose people that have different strengths – especially different from your own. You know what you’re good at doing, you need to make sure there are people on your board that will be able to help you where you don’t care to spend your time and brain power.

2. Make sure they are for you. Being married and having a kiddo are more important than my business… knowing that my board wants me to succeed at being a great husband and a great dad – above being a great business owner is a necessity. If there’s anything for them to gain other than the satisfaction of helping you succeed, be wary… In this situation, you want your board’s focus to be YOU – period.

3. Give them a clear idea of what the commitment consists.  I meet with my board two times a year. I also will send emails to the board throughout the year. Also, ask for a year’s commitment and reevaluate at the year marker. If it doesn’t make sense for you or for them to continue, be forthright and let them go.

4. Choose people that have more life experience than yourself… which is a nice way of saying: Get people on your board who are older than you. It’s foolish of us to think we have nothing to gain from those who have gone before us.. older/wiser people are just WAITING to be tapped for their knowledge.

5. If you have a spouse or significant other, have him/her to evalute board choices.  Typically your better half will know if the person(s) you are considering will be a good addition. And if she/he doesn’t know the person(s), make sure they meet before you make any final decisions.

Final Tips

Don’t forget to show your appreciation; dinner – or some sort of a meal – is almost a must.  Show your gratefulness with small Christmas gifts, cards, and hugs.  It’s a small price to pay for those who are showing commitment to you, your business, and your family.

Make sure your expectations for everyone are clear. If conflict ever arises, DO NOT try to fix it over email. One-on-one and face-to-face will be the hardest to do, but will be the most rewarding.

My last piece of advice: as business owners, it’s very easy to think, “I’ve brought my company this far without any help…” or “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” Well, I would just say that something “magical” happens when you get in a room with people who are older and wiser than yourself.

Thanks for reading… now start brainstorming – who would be a great fit for your advisory board?

Koral. Out.

Ahhhh, Murphy’s Law…it gets us when we least expect it.

Here’s one way in which I avoid it in one aspect of my business.

Interested to know how Murphy creeps in on you!