Videographers are in great demand right now, and this is a great time to start a video production business. You could work on special events like weddings or shows, but you could also create short films, interviews, or even commercials. Companies call on some videographers to make corporate videos, while others might be asked to record seminars for gurus and organizations. No matter what niche you have your eye on, there are some things you’ll have to do if you want to start operating as a professional videographer. Here’s how you can start a video production business in four steps.
Start Looking at Costs
The first thing you have to do is look at your costs. You can start at the bare minimum with a DSLR camera, but you will need a better camera, tripods, lighting equipment, and external microphones if you want to get serious. You will also need to invest in video editing software and hardware, a gimbal, professional-grade storage cards, and dummy batteries.
It would be best if you also started looking at things like insurance. If you want to know more about video production insurance, we suggest you find a company that has various insurance packages for videographers that will cover things like lost or damaged equipment. You’ll also want to look at getting business and personal liability experience and workers’ compensation insurance if you decide to hire people. This means you don’t start paying for things you don’t need yet but also have the ability to add on more as your business grows.
Choose a Business Structure
If you decide to work as a freelancer, you could get away with starting as a sole proprietorship, but you’ll still be asking for trouble. If something terrible happens during a shoot or someone decides to sue you for some reason, your personal assets will be exposed. So it’s always better to go for an LLC to make sure. You’ll have the ease of management of a sole proprietorship, but your assets will be protected.
Start Working for Free
We would also suggest that you start doing some pro-bono work at the beginning. This will allow you to earn your chops and begin gathering material for your portfolio and a few references. References will be essential at the beginning, so treat your first clients like gold. One of the simplest ways to get pro-bono work would be to approach a few small businesses and ask if they’d like a short promo video that they could use on their website, social media, or YouTube. If you ask enough people, some of them will accept, and you’ll be able to use the work you did for them as an example.
Build a Website and Start Selling Your Services
Once you have some work under your belt, you can build an excellent website. In the beginning, you can get away with something like a Wix or Squarespace website, but you’ll have to invest in something better later if you want to have more control over the site.
Next, you will need to advertise your services. One of the best places to do this would be LinkedIn. First, open an account, then start releasing content on video production and marketing. Try to showcase the benefits of videography whenever you can. You can also use LinkedIn’s various ad formats to get more attention.
This is all you need to do to get a video production business started. Learn about the business side of video production, and don’t hesitate to ask people who’ve been in the business for their opinions.
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