Video production is a craft. Hours of planning and execution go into the visioning, filming, and editing. It takes a team of people, a truck full of equipment, and a detailed plan to produce a high-quality video.
Visioning is the hard part. When I read a book, I get a clear vision of the story in my head. Characters and settings take a defined form and color in my imagination. When I go to the movie based on the book, my vision is almost always uncomfortably different from the one portrayed in the film.
When you’re making a video for someone else, you’re responsible for leading them to clearly communicate their vision to you. If you don’t understand the vision, you will be unable to create a video that captures it, and your client will get the same feeling I get from movie remakes.
On top of the vision, you have to schedule the filming, get quality shots, edit them, etc. There is A LOT that goes into this process, but it is only one tiny part of the business as a whole.
Just like video production is a craft, building a business is a craft. You have to understand the craft and why it is valuable. You have to locate people who find it valuable and articulate it to them in a way that convinces them to pay you money for it. Then, you deliver.
This entire process is a lot of work for one person. When you are building a business, you become a generalist by necessity. Your ability to figure out how to do anything overshadows your focused ability in one thing.
You might have to figure out how to set up company emails or how to build the website. You might have to build a marketing funnel. You might have to write and film and build content. You might have to edit a video for a client. You might have to hire and teach employees how to do one of these things in particular.
Earlier today we took a look at everything Bonanza needs and planned out the upcoming week. Here’s some of what was on the list:
- Calling several leads (sales)
- Delegate editing (production management)
- Content creation (marketing)
- Set the tone and priorities with employees (leadership)
This list is all over the place. I’m diving into sales, marketing, leadership, production, and more.
My willingness and ability to figure anything out is the most valuable skill I bring to the table. I’m not an expert video producer. I’m not great at marketing. I’m still learning how to become a better leader. By finding people who specialize in those things, my time is freed up to utilize my most valuable skill: figuring things out.