Grow Your Video Business with Ryan Koral

We might not realize it, but a lot of us waste a huge amount of our client's time - and money - on set by being impractical in the way we approach our gigs. Dennis Abad is a Manila, Philippines based filmmaker, educator, and co-founder of Shoot Practical Videography. He and his partner founded the school after witnessing novice videographers botch jobs again and again, and deciding to do something about it. They place a heavy emphasis on the practical, what new filmmakers need to know to get started in the world of video and run a profitable business. A past student of our own, with our Selling Like A Sherpa Course, Dennis has seen how defining processes and systems have affected both his shooting and sales results, and heavily preaches the same approach to his own students. Today he shares some of the biggest mistakes he sees beginning filmmakers making, and gives us some tips on how to be more practical when it comes to our own work. When you look back at your own progression as a filmmaker, what were some aspects of your process that were impractical when you started out? Let us know in the comments! In this episode: • How to allow yourself to focus on what you're best at during a shoot • The 3 selling points that are most attractive to corporate clients • Why being the best filmmaker doesn't equate to running a successful business, and what you need to focus on instead. • Some common mistakes Dennis sees from novice filmmakers Tips on how to be more practical with your videography Quotes: "For corporate, you really want to be able to focus on what you're best at...I think it's more important when you're doing a corporate gig [than at a wedding]." [22:07] "You want to be able to have a complete package. You want to be efficient and you want to create content for your client that they can be proud of." [35:06] Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

So many of us work primarily as corporate or wedding filmmakers - and love what we do - but have dreams of doing more. Of pursuing passion projects and making a living from them. It can be hard to know where to start, however. How can we set up our businesses in a way that allows us to expand and grow beyond our current client base? Abraham Joffe is an incredibly talented wildlife and travel filmmaker based in Sydney, Australia whose work you may have seen on a little network called Netflix with his show, Tales By Light. He's traveled all over the world and filmed some of the most incredible cultures and creatures to be found on Earth. But Abraham didn't start out this way. In fact, he had an established wedding and corporate film business before he was presented with the opportunity to pursue something bigger. Today he shares with us how he had already set up his business to allow him the flexibility to take his chance and run with it when it came. He also talks about how pursuing unpaid passion projects allowed him to gain skills and make connections that ultimately resulted with him traveling the world and filming exotic sights for a living. What's your dream film gig? What steps could you take to prepare yourself to take a smart risk on that dream when an opportunity presents itself? In this episode: - How Abraham set himself and his business up to allow for smart risks - How he took an opportunity presented to him, and then through his own initiative turned it into something way bigger for both himself, and his client - Some of the practical benefits to having a series picked up by Netflix - Tips to streamline your experience when traveling with a lot of gear - Some of Abe's most insane wildlife experiences! Quotes: "No matter how good you think you are, it's just so hard to capture spontaneous moments. You're trying to be cinematic, but when sh*t goes down it's often the time that you don't have the camera up, or you can't have the camera up." [10:04] "I feel like every good thing I've ever done, in my personal life and my professional life has always taken a bit of a step into the unknown. I think if you're comfortable, you'll just swim in the same pool forever." [17:52] "I think if I'd purely made financial decisions then I'd probably just still be doing weddings, and probably doing fine - I mean we were running a successful studio - but you know, I'm in a much happier place now, and I think you've got to give yourself those opportunities." [28:32] Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

Most of us didn't get into filmmaking in the first place to take on clients and run businesses. When we picked up a camera for the first time and were captivated by what we could do with it, it was because we ourselves had something to say. Our own story to share. The deeper into the world of film we dove however, the more we realized that it seems all but impossible to bring our passion projects to life in a sustainable way. Sure, we could invest thousands of hours and vast amounts of money to complete a project, but most of us will never see enough return on that investment to justify ever undertaking another one. This sucks. For all of us. Patrick Moreau is racking up his Studio Sherpas frequent flyer miles and returning to the podcast to share how he and his team are bringing their new original content series The Remarkable Ones to life. Patrick knows a thing or two about heartbreak and failure when it comes to creating original content and putting it out there. His feature documentary Stand With Me - despite touching deeply pretty much everyone who viewed it - was a commercial failure for the team and made them question whether there was a way to create original content that they were passionate about in a sustainable way. Today Patrick shares what they learned from the failure of their last project, and what they're doing differently this time to make the most of the series. Do you have a passion project that you've released or are wanting to create? What are the biggest obstacles in your way? In this episode: - The 80/20 rule applied to content production, and how most of us get it backwards - How a project can be incredibly powerful and moving to viewers, but still be a failure - How The Creative Bias keeps us from making the most of our creations - The specific budget and scheduling details behind The Remarkable Ones Quotes: "If you keep the dream, and you always say 'I'll do it tomorrow' then the dream can never die. Actually putting the skin in the game and going out there and doing it is the moment you can truly fail. And that causes so much paralysis for so many people." [28:43] Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

As filmmakers, most of us spend the majority of our time thinking about how we can best tell the stories of our clients. When it comes to our own businesses however, we often neglect to think about the stories that make us unique and might help us connect with new prospects. Bill Baker is the Founder and Principal of BB & Co. Storytelling, a company that helps brands—and the leaders, teams, and organizations behind them—work smarter by leveraging the timeless power of strategic storytelling. Bill encourages brand leaders to look inward, defining their vision for the world, their point of view, and the story that brought them to where they are today to help them introduce more meaning to them, their workforce and ultimately, their customers. This episode is chock full of actionable steps you can implement today to help clarify and convey to clients who you are as a brand and what you stand for. From website tips, to how to boost your sales process, to how to use story to move your own business forward, Bill shares some crazy valuable wisdom with us on the podcast. In this episode: - How to use strategic storytelling to improve your sales process - Why you need to define and be proud of your unique point of view as a brand - The most important element of your website (Hint: It's not what you think) - SO many valuable tidbits. You really just need to listen. Quotes: "We have found that when properly practiced and strategically used, storytelling is one of the best ways to bring meaning to work and to a workforce." [5:30] "Storytelling used in a sales process is going to be used in the same way for a small studio versus someone for a big pharmaceutical company… The fundamentals of sales I think are relatively the same regardless of what category you're working in and how big your business is." [18:47] Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

A few years into my video career I got a big time scare. Not one, but two filmmaker friends of mine were sued by big record labels for using unlicensed music on a couple of videos that happened to go viral. I'm ashamed to admit it now, but during my first few years making videos, I didn't even know what music licensing was, let alone pay for it. I wanted to support artists, but I couldn't afford to license mainstream bands like Coldplay or the Black Eyed Peas and the royalty free music that was available… Well, let's just say it was less than inspiring. Artlist is one of the most exciting of a number of music licensing companies that have sprung up in the wake of a spate of lawsuits against filmmakers in recent years. They feature incredibly high-quality music at a seriously insane price, and their interface is designed entirely with creatives in mind. My companies and I use them constantly and they've been a godsend for our business. Artist Manager for Artlist Jeremiah Benzion is on the podcast today to talk about how Artlist is able to benefit both filmmakers and musicians and offer such value to everyone. We talk about how to best go about selecting music for your projects, the film and music pedigree of the company, and how they're hoping to make life even easier for us as video producers in the future. Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

Have you ever come across a tool that makes you business run so much more smoothly that you would gladly pay 5x the price for it and still feel like it's a steal? Yeah, me too, and for me, Wipster is one of those tools. Wipster is something of a "Google Docs for video", allowing for commenting and collaborating right on top of the video, where it makes sense. You can even export those comments into your Premiere timeline to keep them front of mind when doing a round of revisions. It makes collaborating with clients and other members of my team SO much easier than it was in the past. Seriously, this tool couldn't have come around sooner for me and my business, it's that good. Not only does the Wipster team have an amazing product (they actually don't feel like they even need to sell to customers), they are deeply in tune with the pulse of the industry and where it's headed. Content Marketing Manager Hayley Jordan and Partnership Marketing Manager Andre Van Den Assum join me on the podcast today to talk about what trends they're seeing in the world of video, where we're headed, and how Wipster can make your life easier. Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

If you're anything like me, when you first started your creative business, literally the last thing you wanted to be spending your time on was selling. For me, it was all about creating emotional films that moved people, but as I took on more work and got busier and busier I ended up spending less time shooting and more time selling. Besides the fact that I wasn't spending as much time doing what I loved, the problem was that I had no idea what I was doing when it came to sales. No way to guide potential clients to the conclusion that my work was worth more than what somebody else down the street was charging. I had always assumed that my work would speak for itself, but was realizing that this was not the case. Matt and I (Ryan) got together this week to discuss how building out a defined sales process has changed our businesses, and how it can do the same for yours. For each of us, the moment when we actually put a sales process in place was a pivotal turning point for our businesses, freeing up our time to focus on other tasks, helping land bigger clients, and overall making life less stressful on us. I know you might think the term "Sales Process" sounds heartless, like it takes the personal touch out of your client interactions (I thought the same thing). In truth however, your process can be as simple or complex as you want it to be, and simply allows you to have something to fall back on when dealing with potential clients. This allows you to be more at ease, natural, and attentive to their needs. Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

When most of us think about making a career shooting films, we're only able to come up with a few routes to success. Sure there are the wedding and corporate/brand film industries, but they are often crowded markets with a ton of high-quality filmmakers vying for these jobs. A lot of us dream of landing high-end commercial clients, but have no idea how to even get started. So what do we do? Brad Walker is the Founder of Lighthouse Films, based in Wilmington, NC and has been thinking outside the box ever since getting out of film school. He got his start by becoming a specialist at making promo films for high-end summer camps before shaking up his business with a risky investment and making the jump into commercial work. He's worked with brands such as Ford, JP Morgan Chase, Red Bull, IBM and many, many more, always with the aim of humanizing these large brands with authentic storytelling. Brad shares with us how thinking outside the box and taking smart risks in your business can open up worlds of opportunities for you. Particularly, he discusses how we often spend too much time thinking about our gear and our product, neglecting one aspect of our business that is just as important if not more so. Find the original post at: https://studiosherpas.com/category/podcasts

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Let's face it, none of us are getting any younger. And one of the challenges that our ever increasing ages present to us in our industry is that it becomes harder and harder to keep up with what our clients expect when it comes to wedding and commercial video projects. Tastes change, and there's always some new piece of gear or software with which to acquaint ourselves. Jason Magbanua is a Philippines-based wedding and commercial filmmaker with more than 17 years of experience in the industry. He's realized how much harder he has to work these days to stay atop the latest trends and technology, but why that hard work is essential to continuing to grow his brand. His company now has 25 employees and he personally shoots over one hundred weddings every year. Amid this schedule, Jason still manages to find time to work with corporate and commercial clients and speak at wedding filmmaking events around the world. He reminds us that while your age may require you to work harder in some areas, those years of experience ultimately help us charge the prices we want, and work with clients who are truly excited to work with us.

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com When a lot of us start out in the wedding industry, whether it be as filmmakers, photographers, or coordinators, we have dreams of working with high-end luxury and celebrity clients. I know I did when I first started, but as most of us realize pretty quickly, it can be really hard to elevate your brand to a level that attracts that type of clientele. And even if you do, there are often a host of other challenges. Sasha Souza is the founder of Sasha Souza Events and has been planning and coordinating events of all kinds, including weddings for over 20 years. In that span, she's guided her company to becoming one of the top event, design, and wedding coordination companies in the US, the most awarded wedding design and event planning company in Napa and Sonoma, and now has offices in Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Over the years she's worked with a number of celebrity clients and shares with us today her mindset behind attracting those clients and working with them, including how to handle being asked to work for PR. With all the success of her own business, Sasha is now broadening her focus to include helping other creative professionals "who have no idea why their businesses suck." What's more, she's offering a $100 discount off of her 8-week coaching Masterplan to listeners of this episode!