Pushing to the next level

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

No matter what level you are at with your stock footage business, if you are reading this blog you probably have the desire to push to the next level.

It is true of many things in life, and it has been very true in my experience with stock footage, that growth never happens in a straight line.  You will make progress, then you will plateau, then something will cause you to push through that plateau and on to the next level.  It can be extremely frustrating to be stuck at a plateau.  I will share some experiences from my personal stock footage business, and how I have broken through plateaus in the past.  I am confident that you will find something in my experience that will help you to push to the next level.


In 2007 I met a photography student who had some frustrating experiences with trying to sell stock photos on iStockphoto.com.  When he found out that I shot a lot of video, he said I should give it a shot, that they had just started excepting video and it payed way better.  That year, I decided to give it a shot and I posted a couple dozen shots of random things:

Let's call this  - Stage 1) GROWTH - I was hard at work shooting, processing, and posting.  I was putting time and effort into expanding my Stock Footage Library with no immediate rewards.  No one pays you to go out and shoot stock footage for your own stock footage business.  My rational was, "Well, if nothing else, it is good practice for my videography and I enjoy being outdoors and shooting things." however, after a couple months of this, I had pretty much fizzled out.


Stage 2) PLATEAU - I wasn't giving up, I just didn't have the energy to shoot anything new, and I wanted to see if there would be any payoff to all the work that I had put in. Even if it was a Dollar!  Then, in the beginning of June, I made my first sale for 23 cents profit.  It happened to be a still image of my Wife's Feet at the tide-pools (she was a girlfriend back then, so contrary to popular belief, shooting stock footage does not ruin your chance of having a successful relationship)...

It wasn't until August that I sold my first video clip, for a whopping profit of $2.00. These small deposits to my iStockphoto account meant nothing to my financial situation, however, they were the catalyst that helped me into Stage 3.

Stage 3) THE PUSH - With a new energy generated by a few dollars that materialized out of thin air and the hope and possibility they represented, I expanded my clip library from around 25 to 85 in a couple months. In the month of October, 2007 I earned $47.  All of a sudden, there was an amount of money each month that was measurable in real terms... $47 a month was about what my cable bill was.  So, I figured, well at least I'm getting free cable out of this deal.  What would it take for me to pay my rent??

This is a section of my crude google spreadsheet that I use for keeping track of my monthly stock footage sales. Notice that the monthly sales numbers aren't growing in a straight line, but they are obviously going up rapidly over time. 

"What If" thinking has really propelled me through some stock footage barriers and helped me come up with some creative ways to push to higher levels. After my push through the initial Plateau it was much easier to find energy to shoot, and I could see my sales going up each month.  I started the cycle again...

This 3 stage cycle will happen over and over again in your stock footage adventure.  You have to just accept it, enjoy the Growth, wade through the Plateaus, and look for the catalyst to create the Push to the next level.

The Catalyst is really the key to pushing your stock footage business to the next level.  The catalyst is the thing that gets you re-energized about your stock footage business. Below are some catalysts I used to break through the plateau:

• Expanding to Multipul Outlets - I got to a point where I was working full time and didn't want to spend my weekends shooting new stuff.  It was the source of a major plateau for me in my stock footage business.  I finally figured out that if I expanded my stock footage sales to a lot more outlets (rather than just using iStockphoto), I could grow rapidly without going out to shoot a lot of new footage.  And the work I had to do to grow this way fit better with my schedule, I had to spend more time keywording, and I had to do a lot mor uploading.  I was able to leave my computer to upload before I left for work, or over night and I was able to do some keywording in between other activities.
  
  For me, each stock footage site is like a retail outlet.  I want my product in as many retail stores as possible, although non performing outlets will not get as much service as performing outlets.  Below are the outlets I choose to use for my stock footage business. It's a no-brainer to sign up, it's free, and only takes a few minutes.
  
  iStockphoto, Pond5, Shutterstock, Clipcanvas, Revostock, Canstockphoto, Fotolia, 123RF

• Recording Audio - In order to mix things up a bit, I took a few months off of shooting video and bought a professional digital audio recorder to start recording audio sound effects.  It was refreshing to work with audio, I had a new curiosity and new subjects to start capturing in a brand new way.  The great thing about sound effects is that because they are inexpensive and there is high demand they sell more frequently than video.  It turned into a great catalyst because every time I logged into iStockphoto, I had a new sale.  Even if it is a small amount, that is energizing.  So if you are stuck, try mixing it up and shoot some stills, or record audio, or make some illustrations, whatever it takes to keep it fresh and keep you excited.

• New camera - One big catalyst for me was buying a new camera. I shot with the Panasonic HVX200 for a long time (a fantastic camera), but I felt like technology was passing me up.  I loved the shallow depth-of-field look of the 5D and 7D cameras. Also, for brining the camera with me all the time, the size of a DSLR camera was much more convenient.  I feel that the most important part of your camera set-up is the lens so I chose the Canon t2i because it has the same image sensor and video functionality as the popular 7D, but it's half the price, that way I could couple it with my dream lens, the Canon 70-200mm f2.8, since then my collection of glass has grown.  But looking through that lens, the world looked so cinematic I wanted to shoot all the time, just to look through the lens.

Another great camera for shooting stock footage would be the Canon Cameras 5169B003 EOS Rebel T3i Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55 Lens the main difference with the t3i is the nice flip out screen, it's particularly handy when shooting video.  But I don't mind crawling on the ground or laying on my back to get the shot I want.

• Mathematics - Scaling up. Another very important catalyst for my stock footage business has been theoretical Math.  I keep close track of my monthly sales and if you like to write down numbers it is easy to sit with a calculator and get excited about the future prospects of your stock footage business.  Stock footage sales are consistant enough that you can do projections.  In 2009 I remember thinking, if I can consistently earn $500/month with about 400 clips, theoretically I could expand my clip library to 800 clips and consistently earn $1000/month.
  

  

  My actual stock footage earnings and 2012 estimated income.  Based on the size of your library and your average monthly sales you can figure out (on average) what your sales/clip should be. If I do $500/month in sales with 400 clips then my sales/clip each month is $1.25. That is a fun number to play with because it allows you to do predictions based on how many clips you think you can grow your portfolio to.

  Theoretically, if I shoot/upload 20 clips per day for a year, I will have 7,700 clips in my library. Which means I would be able to earn $9,625/month or $115,500/year.  That would replace many people's household income.  The obvious benefit of stock footage income over traditional income is that stock footage income is relatively passive.  Once your stock footage library is set up you earn money with very little work, you only have to put in significant time if you want to GROW your income.  Imagine a $115,000/year passive income... what kind of freedom would that give you in your personal life? or in your professional life? It is easy to get motivated if you are creative with a calculator.  Could you realistically shoot and upload 20 clips per day?  Probably not, but if you shoot for that, how far COULD you get?  Anyways, that kind of creativity with the calculator has helped me break through plateaus on more than one occasion.

Whether you are just starting out, or you are earning $10,000 a month, I hope this adds a few tools to your repertoire that will help push your stock footage business to the next level whatever that means for you.

Happy Shooting!
HDCineman