 HistoryFour years ago I started what I thought would be my dream job… It wasn’t, as it turns out I hated it after only six months of being there. I even was so bold as to tell my boss how much I hated the job she gave me. Yes I know what you are thinking, how could I be so stupid, irresponsible, and ungrateful. It was a very conflicted time for me and I didn’t really know how to handle it all. Fast forward another year and nothing much had changed, I should have left but didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to go into another full time job, I didn’t know anything about owning a business and I don’t have a college degree. One day a friend told me about a book called The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. This book changed my life forever, I had never thought that I could be an entrepreneur before but this book was very insightful. It also wrecked me because I didn’t have the type of business that Mr. Ferriss had and unfortunately the book didn’t give you the idea just the follow through. I was missing half the puzzle. With this new found fire I started doing some research, a lot of research! I plotted my way out of the 9-5 hole that I felt I was in and finally my window opened a couple years later. I was free! After being laid off from a job I wasn’t fond of, I unlike everyone who was apologizing profusely for my new found unemployment, wasn’t afraid anymore. I had a plan, I walked out of the building for the last time and day one of my freedom had begun!
I dusted off my best suit, called my photographer friend Nina, it was time to get a good headshot photo! I found someone to help me update my work history, check out Fiverr they have all kinds of freelancers willing to do odd jobs for as little as $5, then made a list of all the production companies I knew in my local area. After the first couple of stops I felt entirely overdressed in my suit, but still made some traction and started to build relationships. I was able to get enough work to sustain myself for the first few months but let my emails laps and felt forgotten. I was chasing my tail, letting the relationships grow stagnant, I had been noticed but not being remembered! The following may not be everyone’s solutions on marketing emails but this is my self-taught method to professional looking emails. There are multiple services to utilize but I found MailChimp.com to be very easy in accomplishing my goals. Follow the link to sign up. After you have signed up follow the instructions to complete registration. For now the free version is more than adequate. By now you should have a contact list of Labor Coordinators and Production Companies.  Maybe you’re just starting out in the AVL production industry or maybe you are an old road dog needing to learn new things. Yes I am sure lots of people know about this but my hope is to help those who don’t. My other hope is that this blog will help you find new ways of expanding your freelance business and making the day rate you really deserve.
I, like some other folks, didn’t realize that some gear manufacturers provide FREE in-person classes and online learning sources. After doing a bit of research I found multiple places to take some classes on major industry gear. First let’s go through why you should take these classes. If you are a full time freelancer or your desire is to go full time as a freelancer maybe even your job will require you to learn this type of equipment. Please for those of us who want to get into these classes, which are sometimes limited, so for the rest of us don’t take up seats that the rest of us could really utilize. What else do you need to know? If you are just starting out in AVL please know that these classes generally require some basic knowledge. For example if you don’t know the basics of audio and audio consoles then you will probably struggle in an Avid or Digico console training or if you don’t know basic video signal and paths then. If this is you you’re asking yourself, “How do I get basic training in the three major areas of AVL?” For any beginner in this industry this can be a tough question but it’s actually an easy answer if you’re not afraid of a little hard work. |
