Speaker 1: So last week I got to go on this really fun shoot in Outback Australia where I got to travel around for 10 days, see some amazing scenery and film these cars driving on dirt roads. But during the trip I had some camera equipment stolen from my car including my backup camera, a few lenses and a bunch of other things. That got me thinking, if I genuinely lost everything, all my camera equipment, all the money in the business bank account and even potentially all the skills that I have, how would I go about rebuilding everything from scratch? And so this video is going to be my step-by-step guide on how I would go about building a videography business from scratch in 2022. No camera, no skills and no experience. I know a lot of you who watch this channel have a strong passion for videography but you may not know where to start when it comes to actually getting paid for your videos. And so in this video I'm going to be as transparent as possible with my journey and how we got started with videography and hopefully you can use it as a bit of a roadmap that you can follow. Now with this video bear in mind that I'm trying to be as specific as possible with my time frame from the moment I started learning videography in June 2019 up to the point where I started shooting videos professionally for money. Because I want to show you guys that it is actually very possible to start getting paid for your videos in a very short amount of time even if you're starting as a complete beginner. Come look, say hi to the camera. Look at what he's wearing. Okay that's going in the video. So step one is to learn your camera basics. So my videography journey started back in June 2019 when I offered to shoot one of my mates weddings for free because he didn't have any budget to hire a wedding videographer. At the time I didn't even have a camera that could shoot video so I actually asked Jason the week before if I could borrow his camera which was a beginner camera to shoot my friend's wedding. And a week beforehand I just asked Jason to take me through all my camera basics and I watched a bunch of YouTube videos before just rocking up and shooting my first ever wedding video. There's no better way to learn something than putting yourself in the deep end and filming once-in-a-lifetime memories for one of your best mates. And the reason why I mentioned this story is because I want to demonstrate to you how quickly you can actually grow as a videographer if you're willing to get out of your comfort zone and do shoots which you may not feel a hundred percent ready for. Was I skilled enough as a videographer to shoot a wedding at that moment? Hell no I didn't even know my camera basics the week before. Did I produce an amazing wedding film? No. Was I scared that I'd screw up on the day? Hell yes. I probably didn't sleep very well the week before the wedding but by getting out of my comfort zone and offering to shoot that wedding I grew so much more as a videographer compared to the average person who may have been learning videography at the same time as me. So is there an upcoming event with friends or family where you could get out your comfort zone and practice your skills by offering to shoot a video for them? That's a great way to get started and give you the confidence to know that you can start shooting videos professionally. Maybe a friend is getting married and hasn't hired a videographer or your aunt has that gender reveal party next weekend. Whatever it is don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone because after that shoot you'll be so much more confident as a videographer and you'll be in a far better position to start shooting videos professionally as soon as possible. On another note notice how step one is not to acquire all the gear that you need to start a videography business. The gear is something that you can actually build up over time and what stops a lot of people from actually getting started with shooting videos professionally is they don't think that they have all the gear necessary to get started. As I mentioned before when I started my videography journey back in June 2019 I didn't even own a camera. I was borrowing Jason's camera for the first few months as I learned the ropes. So maybe you might have a friend or a family member who has a camera that shoots video and then they're not using it. Just ask them if you could borrow it for a while so you can learn your craft. If not get a casual or part-time job, save enough money to purchase your first beginner camera. But by making these home videos I had a few extra videos that I could use for my portfolio and that prepared me for step number two which was to start offering my services to brands and businesses for free. I think it's the for free part here that's crucial because if I was just starting out with videography and I wasn't very good, I didn't have a portfolio, I wouldn't really be in a position to approach a business and ask them to actually pay me to make videos for them because why would they even take a chance on me? What I would do instead is approach local businesses in my area. I'd recommend doing this in person because this would be the most effective or you can send them an email or an Instagram DM offering to shoot a few videos for their business in exchange for you using those videos for your own portfolio. So going back to my own personal videography journey, I shot my first video which was the wedding video I mentioned earlier in June 2019. I purchased my first camera which was the Canon 200D in August 2019 and in that four-month period between August 2019 and December 2019, I would reach out to local businesses in my area every weekend and do a free shoot. And so Jason and I would do a shoot every weekend for about four months straight and after that period, we had a good library of videos that we could then use for our portfolio. Not to mention that three to four month period really allowed Jason and I to develop our videography skills without the pressure of feeling like we had to charge for our work. Doing these free shoots on the weekend also really helped us with our soft skills such as communicating with clients and learning actually how to run shoots from start to finish. You're getting more and more confident with your camera. After about two to three months of doing free shoots, you're gonna have a healthy library about 10 to 12 videos that you can then use for your portfolio. And that brings me to step number three which is to start promoting yourself as a videography business. During the period between August 2019 and December 2019 when we're doing all these free shoots, I was posting the portfolio videos we were creating on my personal Instagram page and adding hashtags such as Sydney videographer, Sydney videography. And by December 2019, I'd already started receiving inquiries for paid video gigs through Instagram DMs on my personal account. Our first paid video gig came in early December which was to create an event highlight film for a three-day Caribbean festival. Near the end of December, we also started doing a few video gigs for a marketing agency, shooting some social media content for local businesses. And in January 2020, Jason and I made the decision to start presenting ourselves as a videography business. This mainly involved four steps. The first step is to come up with a business name. I'd recommend just keeping it super simple. You don't need to spend too much time on it. We just used the first letter of both our last names and came up with RZmedia. The second step was to design a company logo using Canva. The third step was to create a business Instagram page. And the fourth step was to start uploading the portfolio videos we had done earlier onto the business Instagram page and start using relevant hashtags so that when people in our city were looking for a videographer, they would type in for example, hashtag Sydney videographer and our page would pop up. A fifth step would be to create a company website. I'd say that this step isn't too necessary especially when you're starting out and you're not earning too much money yet from making videos and you have all these other things to invest in such as equipment. We only created our company website about one year after starting our business. As you're starting to promote your business, I'd keep on doing those free shoots every week if you're still not getting any paid video gigs yet because this will give you time to keep developing your video skills and also your connections. Even after two years of starting our videography business, Jason and I are still strategically planning free portfolio shoots especially in areas where we want to get hired for or there might be certain connections that we want to make in a particular industry. Step four is to start packaging your services into a compelling offer that your clients actually want to buy so you can start getting paid for your videos. When it comes to videography services, it's important to remember that clients don't care how much time you spend in actually producing the videos for them. What they really want is the solution you're able to provide them. For example, a local business might hire a videographer because it needs video content to start promoting itself on social media. A couple might hire a wedding videographer because they want the memories from their wedding day to be captured in a timeless and beautiful way. So rather than charging an hourly rate, think about how you can package up your services to provide a solution to the problems that your client is facing. So when it comes to brainstorming the packages that you want to offer, I would ask the following questions. What type of clients do you want to work with? What issues or problems are these clients facing which you may be able to help with? And thirdly, what is a solution that you could offer to solve their issue or problem? And finally, step five is to get out there, meet more people and grow your network. As you do more video gigs, whether they're free portfolio shoots or paid work, you're going to start growing your connections over time, especially if you do good work and you're easy to work with. But if you're looking to exponentially grow your videography business, I'd recommend looking for ways to actively grow your network. Because the stronger your network, the better the opportunities that will start coming your way. Remember, your network is your net worth. From the start of early 2020 when we started our business to late 2021, we didn't really put too much effort into actively growing our network. It kind of grew organically as we started doing more and more video gigs. But this has been a part of our business that we've really tried to focus on in the last year. And so, here are a few methods that we're currently implementing to grow our network. Continuing to do free work in the niches that you want to get hired more for. And for us at the moment, that's doing a lot of sports related content and documentary work. Networking with people that share similar clients to you in the marketing industry. So these include, for example, digital marketing agencies, social media agencies, photographers, other freelance videographers and video production companies. Attending events held by your local chamber of commerce. Attending other business networking events and joining a business network such as BNI. I'm not used to sitting on the floor for so long. So tomorrow, if all my camera equipment got stolen and I somehow miraculously lost my ability to create videos, these would be the 5 steps I'd follow to start rebuilding my videography business from scratch. And above all else, I'd keep in mind the following principles as I went along my journey. Number one is to start when you don't feel ready. Because if you wait until you feel ready, you will never start. The quickest way to learn your craft is to get outside your comfort zone. Don't be afraid to do shoots which you may not feel ready for. Anyways, thank you so much for watching guys. I hope you found this video valuable. And if you like the video, make sure you give it a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to our channel if you're finding our content valuable. If interested, we also have an email newsletter link in the description box down below. In our newsletter, we share all aspects of our videography journey from going from complete beginners in 2019 to now running our own video production company full time. In our email newsletter, we go deep into all aspects of our journey from personal insights, stories, struggles, you name it, we would love to have you in our community. If you ever have any questions, feel free to just reach out to us at jonoandjasonatgmail.com. And yep, thanks for watching and we will see you in the next video. Bye guys.