Now I have your attention and you are all thinking a million what, it probably is not going to be a million £.
I need some help to decide exactly what "million" I am going to have but i will go into that a little later.
WhatI thought I would start this blog to help me track my life for the next few months, give me some goals, targets and direction. Somewhere to use as a sounding board and for advice. This will have almost no relation to poker so if that's what your looking for look away now. There are a lot of very good and experienced minds on this forum and i thought this would be an interesting way of keeping a diary and for somewhere for me to look back on.
WhySince leaving University I have been working within my family company and things have been going incredible, in fact I am now 30 months in and we have just completed the end of our financial year where we had out 2nd best year ever (Net Fees/Turnover). We have been going for over 30 years and pre 2008 we had double the number of staff and surveyors. (The family firm is a commercial estate agency buying, selling, letting, managing and valuing commercial property). So things are gonig really well and better than I could have ever thought, BUT, im starting to lose the drive I had at the start and now asking what next. It is still my dad's company and although he lets me have a lot of leeway and ideas at the end of the day the big stuff I have to go through him.
I have always wanted my own baby project to look after and run with and learn from but have never had the right idea/time/funding etc but this week i feel i have had my epiphany moment.
The IdeaSo two weeks ago now i smashed my screen on my phone, after waiting a week for an appointment with apple i finally got into the shop to get my phone fixed. I had another phone to fix at the same time and the repair man did a good job of talking me into getting a new phone while we filled in the forms to fix my old phone. So on leaving the apple shop i was a bit less wealthier and now with a new Iphone 6 and 7 in my pocket. Anyway i digress, when speaking to the chap (over about 45 minutes!) he had a great love for photography and talked in depth about his love of drones etc etc but he did not have the £££ to be able to buy the best gear and be able to go out with it.
Up sprung my idea, the concept is to start a photography/videography company. Now i have very little experience in this world, i am more of a numbers man, but i can talk an ok photo and I think i am a good judge of a photo. I am a firm believer of getting your hands dirty in a company and learning from the bottom up so over the next few months I will teach myself more and more about photography and videography with the end goal being a licence in "having a drone and taking a video with it" (not sure the offical name for this yet!). Once I am at that point and I have all the gear and some idea, as i expand i plan to take on more "freelance" people who I can train up and provide with the equipment in return for them making video's/images for me.
What is my USP, well in my eyes that is just me. I have sold since i was about 8 years old in the playground at primary school and by creating a company set up that has not come from the photography/videography background I think i can provide something a little different. I also have a lot of links into the property world already and friends that have companies that I can walk into and do some "free" work for them in return for exposure.
The First StepsWell today, before drone work i thought i would investigate the world of 360 degree camera's. I did a load of research last night and I am going to go off and buy this,
http://www.johnlewis.com/pentax-ricoh-theta-s-action-camera-hd-1080p-14mp-360-recording-wi-fi-with-soft-case-black/p2757336?sku=235944515&s_kwcid=2dx92700012754367007&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=Cj0KEQjwqfvABRC6gJ3T_4mwspoBEiQAyoQPkUxFhTtbAuvQ7Wna1VMlvVWl3qrAyNrKJvbCAKoEhEIaAj4Q8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds unless someone warns me off and has a better idea in the next hour while I have breakfast.
I then plan to go off and practice while building my website/social media stuff in the background. Certainly in the early days i wont be charging but hoping to get my first enquirers for a paid job within a week or so. My plan this week is to get out to loads of local companies and offer my services for free.
Nought to a Million in Three Month'sA Million what?
Im not sure, open to suggestions.
A million "followers" on social media seems a little steep.
A million views on a video or an image also seems a little steep.
I am thinking a million total views across my images is a starting point but we will see how we progress within the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading and I am ready to field any questions / constructive critism. I have come to blonde for it to be a little out of the public eye and to get the good advice of the people of blonde and provide something a little different. I also know there are a lot of fans of photography on this site and I am hoping some of you may have drone experience / 360 camera experience.