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Don’t Undersell Yourself.

Hawke Taylore

If you own, or are thinking of owning, a video production studio, there are a few things you should keep in mind when presenting rates to your clients. So many people today believe it is easy to have a video studio and become a weekend artist. The fact is it can start off easy, but it gets harder and more expensive as time goes on. If you constantly underbid your services, you will quickly go by way of the dodo bird. (Extinct)

I own Taylore Studios here in Tucson, AZ. I have worked in visual production for 20+ years. I have worked for large companies like ABC and some smaller local companies as well. Like many of you, I started off small and made some mistakes when bidding a job. A few times, we almost lost everything just to get the project done. I am going to share a few things to keep in mind when presenting your bid. This is for those of you who intend to stay in business for five years or longer.

Keep in mind your expenses.

Starting a video studio appears to be inexpensive. I mean, all you need is a camcorder and computer right? Those who think that is true; get out now. We all hear about the weekend warrior who did their cousins wedding video on $50.00 and a six pack. Sure the couple seems to be happy with the video and uncle Bob just made 50 bucks right. Well let’s check that out shall we? Here is what Bob spent to get that $50.00

o $10.00 for a 3 pack of DV tapes. (that is the cheap stuff that we as professionals don’t use)

o $5.00 for gas to get to and from the wedding

o $10.00 for electricity to run the computer and charge the batteries for the camera

o $10.00 for a small pack of DVD’s to give to the bride and groom.

o $5.00 for gas to get supplies for the wedding video.

So, keeping in mind that this is just a general possibility for Uncle Bob’s wedding video production, Bob spent $40.00 and made $10.00. Now, doesn’t that sound like a great deal to you? Realistically, if Bob spent 5 hours at the wedding and 5 hours at the computer editing. He made $1.00 per hour. Fun huh?

Well, how about the costs for the professionals? There are many obvious costs for the professional studios, initial software, multiple cameras, high grade computer, etc. but some of the things that businesses forget to factor in are the little things that add up quick. And the little things can bankrupt a business in a very short time.

1. Always factor in your utility costs for a job. It’s not enough to just keep the lights on; you have to include the phone bill, water, rent, insurance, etc.

2. There is wear and tear on all your equipment. All machines have a limited life before they need to be fixed or replaced. We have a saying here at TS, “It’s $50.00 just to open the camera case.” We understand that every time the camera is used we lose money. Batteries wear out, a camera light might blow, and we may have to upgrade a microphone. Etc.

3. Upgrades are a necessary evil. All software needs to be upgraded at sometime or another, you can factor between 8 and 18 months your current software should be upgraded to the latest release. That can cost between $ 1,000.00 and $ 10,000.00 depending on what products and how many you run on a computer. (and how many computers you run)

4. That camera doesn’t drive itself. Unless you use a bicycle, and I doubt that, it costs money to go to and from a production. Its not just gas which is ever increasing but the insurance and maintenance of a vehicle as well.

5. One-third for the crap. On some of the larger jobs like big corporation productions, you will want to keep in mind that things happen that are not foreseen. You will want to figure in approximately one-third for the insanity that will probably creep up. I.e. ten more edit sessions than what was originally budgeted. This will keep you from going broke before the job is done.

I am not telling you to overcompensate and price yourself right out of the community. But keep these things in mind when you work on projects. You still want to be close to the same price as your competition.

How to Go Green without Spending All of Yours.

Hawke Taylore

Today everyone is either doing the earth-friendly program or is looking to see if you are doing your part. Sometimes, going green can be costly. Here at Taylore Studios we have made some of those changes and we have actually saved some money doing it. Here are a few tips on how we did it. Maybe you can benefit from it as well.

Those crazy swirly bulbs. At some point I noticed that we were using a lot of incandescent light bulbs. 100, 60 & 40 watt varieties were all over the studio for just the general lighting. I decided that it is time to change all those out to the fluorescent swirly style and see if they will work here. I went to the local store and found not only low wattage bulbs (10 watt replacements for 40 watt) but also I found them in 5600k sunlight correction as well. I decided to change all of the bulbs at one time. And as a pleasant surprise, the electric bill went down $50.00. So within two months, the bulbs paid for themselves. As a result of the bulb color; the clients seem to be more contented during their stay. I don’t know if it is supposed to have that effect. But here it does.
Let that tree keep growing. I am a bit of a tree hugger so we have always tries to conserve paper whenever possible. Much of our business is phone calls and email based. We send emails with contracts attached so there is only one document printed at the time of signing. By the way, shredded documents make great cat litter.
Paper or plastic? When possible, we will minimize us of paper documents and have items on web viewing only. Our plastic discs for CD’s or DVD’s that are no longer useable can be recycled here locally. My wife makes sure that all other plastic and aluminum cans get recycled as well. Simple and at no cost to us. (I think my wife is cashing in on the aluminum cans for shopping money)
Got Gas? Fuel prices are down right now this has given us the opportunity to get the vehicles tuned to maximize gas mileage. Simple things can make a difference for you as well: Fuel up first thing in the morning, and always use the slowest setting on the nozzle. Both of these together reduce how much gas turns to vapor before it hits your gas tank. Also, keep your tires inflated to proper levels I’ve gained about 5% in mileage since I keep up on tire pressure. Empty out all that junk in your car. The more your vehicle has to carry, the worse mileage you get.
Let the river flow not your faucet. All of our fixtures are water saving devices. We have come a long way since the first years of water saving toilets that you have to flush twice. An investment in washers and proper plumbing goes a long way to save you money with the water bill.

These are just a few ideas to get you started turning company into a green company. Without spending all of your green (Money that is).

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