- Everyone, it's me Hallease, endeavoring to Persevere.
As always, if you're new here, I make videos
about my chaotic good life.
Subscribe, follow social media,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
All the things, do it, do it, do it.
I will wait, do it.
So last year, I went to freelance full time
as a digital storyteller and video producer
from the video agency that I used to work for,
and have been doing my own thing
and owning my own production company
for the past year and a half, for almost two years.
And I would say this year in 2019,
I've learned a lot about just
what kind of production company I wanna run,
who am I as this owner, runner person,
all that kind of crazy stuff.
The biggest thing though, has been
when to say yes to projects.
I think as freelancers we're all kind of like,
woo, woo, woo, woo, woo woo,
but this year I've really learned and kind of honed in
on what my processes for saying yes to a project.
I learned this from a mentor of mine this year
and every time I've considered it and used it
when saying yes or no to projects,
it has really helped, it just keep me grounded and motivated
and just knowing my motivation and why I'm doing the work,
and I want to share it with you,
'cause maybe it'll help you out,
if you're starting out
or if you're kind of gotten a few years in the game,
so skin in the game, and you just need that pep talk,
if you will, I'm here to help so let's get into it.
(upbeat music)
So when you're thinking about saying yes to a project,
think about it in terms of a triangle.
Or if you want, you can think of it as a checklist,
but I like the triangle metaphor more
because I'm more visual
and it just a triangle, super sturdy, you know, sturdy.
Anyway, triangle, the first thing
that you want to make sure a project has
if you're gonna say yes to it is budget.
Now, depending on where you are in your freelancing journey,
the word budget can mean a lot of different things.
But ideally, I'm going to speak it for you,
I hope you are receiving financial compensation
for your creative skill set, I'm gonna go and speak that,
speak it for you.
You want to make sure that the project has a decent budget.
And if it has a lower budget,
then hopefully it can make up for that
in the other two categories
or two checklists of your triangle.
I personally I am not a big fan of the whole like
this will give you exposure or experience,
but I just feel like it pay people something you know.
The second thing is creativity.
So maybe the budget is low,
but creatively is it fulfilling something within you?
I know for me, I'm constantly battling
between the practical pragmatic side,
the business owner side of myself,
and the sort of artist creative side,
you just wants to work on something cool with people
and meet new people and all that kind of stuff.
Maybe if you're a filmmaker, for example,
the project will help you practice your cinematography,
or it'll give you a chance to use a piece of equipment
that you've purchased
but you haven't really had the opportunity to use yet.
Or maybe if you're a photographer,
this project will help you think about composition,
think about framing,
maybe you've never gotten to work with a model.
But this project will finally
let you get to work with models
'cause before you were just doing
sort of more abstract photography,
or you're working with just product photography
or something like that.
So creativity, as long as the project is giving you
some type of new challenge or allowing you to flex
and grow a skill set that you already have,
that's another reason to maybe
consider saying yes to the project.
And the third part of your triangle,
the reason to say yes is for your network.
Now as a freelancer, you're always looking for opportunities
to expand your network.
I know me, I'm an introvert.
I'm not fitting to go, you know, networking event
or anything like that.
And what I've learned so far is that
word of mouth has really helped me a lot
in my production company and in my business,
letting my work speak for itself,
letting my customer service speak for itself
when working with clients and all of that.
So the third thing is the potential
of a project being able to expand your network
and get you in front of people
who could potentially hire you again for future work,
or collaborating with new people that expand your network
so that way, maybe if you do something specific,
like illustrations, and they're a producer,
you get to work with them,
and the next time they hear about a good illustration job
before the person to you, et cetera.
So, keeping those three things in mind
a prime example of this for me this year,
I got to see this in practice quite a bit.
As a freelancer, you're always scared to say no
because you don't know what could lead to what
but at the end of the day,
I think it's really important to not
undersell yourself too much,
and to try to find projects
that at least check two of these three boxes
or if you like the triangle that I said,
has at least two sides of your triangle
because potentially if it has two,
then it'll probably get you the third one eventually.
So earlier this year, we produced,
what do they call now?
Branded storytelling?
I think it's what they're calling it now.
Earlier this year, my production company produced
a branded storytelling video
for a nonprofit after-school program
that focuses on cultivating creativity within kids.
It was a really fun video to do because
I personally have a soft spot for education
and kids in general.
So if it's anything with that,
I'm going to be a little like, okay, let's do it.
So at that point, even though it was a lower budget project,
it was the pricing of the video
was just enough for me to cover some of the overhead costs
of running the production company
and sort of keep the lights on, if you will,
we kind of figured out what that number was
for where we were at that time,
and allowed them to have that be the budget.
So for where we were at the time,
it checked that side of our triangle.
The second thing though, and what was the main reason
for as to why I really wanted to do the project
was because at that point,
I had just upgraded my main camera, the a seven, three,
and I had purchased a new Tamron lens as well.
And I really wanted to get back
into practicing my cinematography, and my lighting skills.
And I really also wanted to get back into directing
and interviewing people
and getting them to feel comfortable in front of the camera
so they can tell their story of their business,
of their nonprofit well.
So I really just wanted to make sure
I didn't get rusty on those skills.
And this gave me a great opportunity to do that.
The other reason creatively why I wanted to do the project
was because the year before
I had purchased the Ronin S for the company,
and while had gotten to use it on a few gigs,
I really hadn't gotten to use it as much as I would like.
And so I saw the content of this video
lending itself really well to filming with the Ronin S,
and so that was another reason why creatively
I was very excited about this project.
What ended up happening though,
because it checked at least two of the sides of my triangle,
what inadvertently ended up happening was that
it ended up being a really great networking piece.
So after we completed the video, it did really well.
And it ended up opening and expanding our network
so much so that by the end of the Summer
we had produced for three other education nonprofits,
and essentially had quadrupled our income
based on the budget for that one directly
because of that video, getting an email saying,
we watch this video, can you make one for us now.
(laughs)
And it was with that, we were able to up the budget, right?
So ideally, you know, projects in general
will check all three sides of your triangle.
But I think realistically, you can expect at least two,
if you start looking at projects in your inbox,
and they're not even checking one side of your triangle,
then it's really going to be hard to find your motivation
to do the project well,
and that will end up being a reflection on your work ethic
and also your reputation
within the broader community as a freelancer,
the last thing you want is to be known within your network
as someone who's not putting their best foot forward
and giving things they're all.
And I know as freelancers it's really hard
to not think of projects from a scarcity mindset
and to think abundantly.
But I would really stress that you try to think abundantly
about anything that you're gonna work on,
so that way you know your motivation behind doing a project
and you give your best work
regardless of what the budget is,
or if it's as creative as you'd like
or if it's expanding your network or not.
So keep that in mind as you move forward freelancing,
I'm assuming you know type of creative field
if you're watching this video, if you're new here again
I am Hallease, please subscribe, follow social media,
obviously there's something you're driving with,
you made it this far in the video.
Big shout out to my Patreon producers
for sponsoring this video
because you've already seen this content,
and this is like the more snazzy version,
if you're interested, there, I answer questions
about being a full time creative
and everything I'm working on with the production company.
And I also give early access to videos
and private weekly blogs as well.
So patreon.com slash hallease.
Check out this video because YouTube thinks you'll like it
for whatever reason, and check out this one
because I think you'll like this one,
'cause I like this one.
(laughs)
I'm Hallease and I'll see you when I see you.