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Poker Forums => Diaries and Blogs => Topic started by: BorntoBubble on November 06, 2016, 12:44:11 PM



Title: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 06, 2016, 12:44:11 PM
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.

What

I 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.

Why

Since 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 Idea

So 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 Steps

Well 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 (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's


A 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.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 06, 2016, 12:45:07 PM
Breakfast will be a Bacon Barm for those wondering sat at my friends beautiful fishing lake, of which sometime this week i hope to post a 360 degree photo of where i sat and had breakfast.

I am sure you will all agree it is a great spot.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: strak33 on November 06, 2016, 01:50:11 PM
Excellent , already looking forward to more posts.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 06, 2016, 04:38:11 PM
Went off to the Trafford Centre to purchase the camera from John Lewis, but they do not stock them in store. Great.

Have ordered of Amazon Prime Now, should be here within 2 hours. How ridiculous is that?

My company name is going to be Morgan360i or Morgan360eye. I dont know which one to go for. I have bought both domains for .co.uk and .com just in case.

Any thoughts?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: EvilPie on November 06, 2016, 05:26:07 PM
I can see the 360 camera being more of a 'thing' than the drone which you're perhaps two or three years too late for. There's obviously a market for drone activities but plenty of people out there are already doing it and have a head start.

In the property world a 360 video approaching the house/unit to show the surrounding area could be fantastic. Everybody obviously uses google earth when searching for property but an 'up to the minute' video would be brilliant.

You say you're offering your services for free but what are your services? You need to be specific and have a target market with property being the obvious choice initially offering the free service to your old man.

How difficult do you think is going to be? One concern would be that if you go out to loads of places offering to do it for free they might take you up on it and then go out and do it themselves once they have to pay. I would imagine the technology does a lot of the work for you doesn't it?

360eye by the way. The other one sounds like a car.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: moustache on November 07, 2016, 12:49:27 PM
+1 for 360eye, that kind of video is still growing rapidly, I saw a major perfume company (Chanel?) using one last week so it's gonna be huge, any type of advertising that cars, beer, perfume/makeup use will be big business imo. Great for estate agents too. if you can do some demos and try to get  a bit of work with some smaller local firms to build a portfolio that would be good.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: moustache on November 07, 2016, 12:50:53 PM
Oh and don't do it free, even at the start. you get a better reception from overcharging than undercharging because people are conditioned to think expensive is better.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: dakky on November 07, 2016, 01:53:39 PM
I can only echo the above advice.

Don't work for free

Also agreed about being a bit late to the drone party. 360 and VR could probably be more of a growth market for you.

I'm still not convinced about VR but everyone else seems to be...


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 07, 2016, 04:16:57 PM
I'm an NDEA (level 4) based in the north west and am very interested - been looking into similar with drones myself.
Any opportunities please feel free to contact me.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: horseplayer on November 07, 2016, 04:28:17 PM
Good luck callum


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 07, 2016, 06:44:31 PM
Cheers for all the messages.

On the 360i/eye thing for some reason 360i just looks better to me in logo's, writing etc but i am saying it as 360eye.

I have bought both domains anyway so am happy to flip flop around with the idea for the next week or so.

The drone work is interesting, i want to at some point train in that anyway for the estate agency stuff, whether i make a business out of it or not we will see. I thought that the setup would be this as small time stuff and drones as big time stuff but the feedback seems to be visa versa at the moment.

I have been out taking photos in my "proper" job today, so offices, industrial units and the like. I also am going to take some photos for a friend's retail unit later this week. I am going to start getting these out there, i have beeen approached by an estate agent already asking me to take some photos. Apparently Google charge £75 for one photo done inside a building and uploaded to Google Maps which gives me a good starting point for images. Most of the work is pretty straight forward although where i am going to hopfully specialise is being able to link this image into what i can do with it. Putting it on website's, google maps, social media and then getting it seen i believe will be my best selling point as i have done this thousands of times already across my business and other business its just using a different and interesting tool.

I took this photo at the pub last night just to give you some scope. I will be uploading the photos i took today later once i have cleared the paperwork of real life.

https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2 (https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2)

It wont let me embed the picture, any bright sparks able to do that it would add some spice to the diary!

I am certainly thinking my main target audience is shops and estate agents at the minute with shops being one of work for website/google images and estate agents being repeat business.

Now i need to hit the right price point. One of photos in a shop and uploaded to various SM streams £75-£100 feels right. Possibly as i hope to grow and have more following i can offer exposure through my own page for an increased price not sure yet.

Estate agents maybe £25 per photo uploaded with a minimum of £50.

My issue is in my most recent world i have got used to working for big one of fee's so going "down" to small numbers but volume is something i need to get my head around. I am not sure what "hourly" i need to make this work for me on a commercial level, which is all things i need to decide. Taking a toy from a hobby to an income stream though so all ££ is nice.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 07, 2016, 06:51:16 PM
I'm an NDEA (level 4) based in the north west and am very interested - been looking into similar with drones myself.
Any opportunities please feel free to contact me.

Hi Fidget,

What is NDEA (level 4)?

Feel free to drop me a message where abouts in the north west are you?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 07, 2016, 07:18:48 PM
I can see the 360 camera being more of a 'thing' than the drone which you're perhaps two or three years too late for. There's obviously a market for drone activities but plenty of people out there are already doing it and have a head start.

In the property world a 360 video approaching the house/unit to show the surrounding area could be fantastic. Everybody obviously uses google earth when searching for property but an 'up to the minute' video would be brilliant.

You say you're offering your services for free but what are your services? You need to be specific and have a target market with property being the obvious choice initially offering the free service to your old man.

How difficult do you think is going to be? One concern would be that if you go out to loads of places offering to do it for free they might take you up on it and then go out and do it themselves once they have to pay. I would imagine the technology does a lot of the work for you doesn't it?

360eye by the way. The other one sounds like a car.


I think i would be attaching the camera to a drone though long term especially for video tours etc.

Anyone any tips on getting into drones how to get the right licences etc to do it commercially? Or any good courses/youtube videos.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 08, 2016, 02:32:12 AM
I'm an NDEA (level 4) based in the north west and am very interested - been looking into similar with drones myself.
Any opportunities please feel free to contact me.

Hi Fidget,

What is NDEA (level 4)?

Feel free to drop me a message where abouts in the north west are you?
Non Domestic energy Assessor
Among other things I produce Energy Performance Certificates for commercial property.
Based in merseyside


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 08, 2016, 02:48:55 AM
I'm an NDEA (level 4) based in the north west and am very interested - been looking into similar with drones myself.
Any opportunities please feel free to contact me.

Hi Fidget,

What is NDEA (level 4)?

Feel free to drop me a message where abouts in the north west are you?
Non Domestic energy Assessor
Among other things I produce Energy Performance Certificates for commercial property.
Based in merseyside


Got you now, all these acronyms.

Great stuff happy to send some work your way for quoting, drop me a message when you get to 10 posts and i will send you my email address.

So took some photos today, just trying to work out the best way to post these....

This is one photo from inside an office. https://theta360.com/s/qtk1bVV8YrCT5Lc49ccvjGtpg

Not sure now how best to embed things. I have put it on my company website, and social media streams but its how best to get things out there.

On my company website it does not look as good as on Theta Website so will work that through, and hopefully find a solution.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 08, 2016, 10:46:14 AM
Will do


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: moustache on November 08, 2016, 01:42:42 PM
Cheers for all the messages.

On the 360i/eye thing for some reason 360i just looks better to me in logo's, writing etc but i am saying it as 360eye.

I have bought both domains anyway so am happy to flip flop around with the idea for the next week or so.

The drone work is interesting, i want to at some point train in that anyway for the estate agency stuff, whether i make a business out of it or not we will see. I thought that the setup would be this as small time stuff and drones as big time stuff but the feedback seems to be visa versa at the moment.

I have been out taking photos in my "proper" job today, so offices, industrial units and the like. I also am going to take some photos for a friend's retail unit later this week. I am going to start getting these out there, i have beeen approached by an estate agent already asking me to take some photos. Apparently Google charge £75 for one photo done inside a building and uploaded to Google Maps which gives me a good starting point for images. Most of the work is pretty straight forward although where i am going to hopfully specialise is being able to link this image into what i can do with it. Putting it on website's, google maps, social media and then getting it seen i believe will be my best selling point as i have done this thousands of times already across my business and other business its just using a different and interesting tool.

I took this photo at the pub last night just to give you some scope. I will be uploading the photos i took today later once i have cleared the paperwork of real life.

https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2 (https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2)

It wont let me embed the picture, any bright sparks able to do that it would add some spice to the diary!

I am certainly thinking my main target audience is shops and estate agents at the minute with shops being one of work for website/google images and estate agents being repeat business.

Now i need to hit the right price point. One of photos in a shop and uploaded to various SM streams £75-£100 feels right. Possibly as i hope to grow and have more following i can offer exposure through my own page for an increased price not sure yet.

Estate agents maybe £25 per photo uploaded with a minimum of £50.

My issue is in my most recent world i have got used to working for big one of fee's so going "down" to small numbers but volume is something i need to get my head around. I am not sure what "hourly" i need to make this work for me on a commercial level, which is all things i need to decide. Taking a toy from a hobby to an income stream though so all ££ is nice.

What is the difference in the pronunciation between 360i and 360eye?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 10, 2016, 11:42:38 PM
Cheers for all the messages.

On the 360i/eye thing for some reason 360i just looks better to me in logo's, writing etc but i am saying it as 360eye.

I have bought both domains anyway so am happy to flip flop around with the idea for the next week or so.

The drone work is interesting, i want to at some point train in that anyway for the estate agency stuff, whether i make a business out of it or not we will see. I thought that the setup would be this as small time stuff and drones as big time stuff but the feedback seems to be visa versa at the moment.

I have been out taking photos in my "proper" job today, so offices, industrial units and the like. I also am going to take some photos for a friend's retail unit later this week. I am going to start getting these out there, i have beeen approached by an estate agent already asking me to take some photos. Apparently Google charge £75 for one photo done inside a building and uploaded to Google Maps which gives me a good starting point for images. Most of the work is pretty straight forward although where i am going to hopfully specialise is being able to link this image into what i can do with it. Putting it on website's, google maps, social media and then getting it seen i believe will be my best selling point as i have done this thousands of times already across my business and other business its just using a different and interesting tool.

I took this photo at the pub last night just to give you some scope. I will be uploading the photos i took today later once i have cleared the paperwork of real life.

https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2 (https://theta360.com/s/bFLELMoRHH8noWjOeP5VDqIb2)

It wont let me embed the picture, any bright sparks able to do that it would add some spice to the diary!

I am certainly thinking my main target audience is shops and estate agents at the minute with shops being one of work for website/google images and estate agents being repeat business.

Now i need to hit the right price point. One of photos in a shop and uploaded to various SM streams £75-£100 feels right. Possibly as i hope to grow and have more following i can offer exposure through my own page for an increased price not sure yet.

Estate agents maybe £25 per photo uploaded with a minimum of £50.

My issue is in my most recent world i have got used to working for big one of fee's so going "down" to small numbers but volume is something i need to get my head around. I am not sure what "hourly" i need to make this work for me on a commercial level, which is all things i need to decide. Taking a toy from a hobby to an income stream though so all ££ is nice.

What is the difference in the pronunciation between 360i and 360eye?

Very subtle!


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: EvilPie on November 11, 2016, 12:02:30 AM
I can see the 360 camera being more of a 'thing' than the drone which you're perhaps two or three years too late for. There's obviously a market for drone activities but plenty of people out there are already doing it and have a head start.

In the property world a 360 video approaching the house/unit to show the surrounding area could be fantastic. Everybody obviously uses google earth when searching for property but an 'up to the minute' video would be brilliant.

You say you're offering your services for free but what are your services? You need to be specific and have a target market with property being the obvious choice initially offering the free service to your old man.

How difficult do you think is going to be? One concern would be that if you go out to loads of places offering to do it for free they might take you up on it and then go out and do it themselves once they have to pay. I would imagine the technology does a lot of the work for you doesn't it?

360eye by the way. The other one sounds like a car.


I think i would be attaching the camera to a drone though long term especially for video tours etc.

Anyone any tips on getting into drones how to get the right licences etc to do it commercially? Or any good courses/youtube videos.

Can't see how that 360 camera will work on a drone.

Surely it's filming 360 in the horizontal plane so when your drone flies upwards you've just got 360 degrees of sky?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 11, 2016, 12:52:58 AM
Right this week has been hectic and I have not taken as many photos as i would have liked but the ones I have taken have gone down a dream.

I went to some of our best clients and friends on Monday/Tuesday and got some images. One image on Facebook has had 40 odd likes (the image from inside the shop at the fishing lakes) and potentially been viewed by thousands so thats a good start.

I also went to a concert last night, i took a selfie stick which i can attach my camera to, and i had my selfie stick confiscated! Damn, never thought that would happen to me at 25, anyway.

Below is a link to all my photos so far that I have uploaded, I think my goal is going to be 1 million views on here in 3 months.  I reckon i will upload around 200 pictures so i need to start averaging 5,000 views per photo. Heres to the challenge!

Tomorrow morning i am meeting with a local garden centre, when i say garden centre, i mean department store. Bents is the shop, its huge. They have just done a Christmas Television advert airing on ITV Granda at the moment. My girlfriend works/worked there and I am meeting with the marketing manager at 8am. Santa is arriving on Saturday so I am hopefully getting involved in that on some level. My tactic tomorrow as the "santa's arrival" is very much charity based, is to push for a donation for the cricket club that I am chairman off it is also the cricket club in the village that the garden centre is located in. This may set the price point for my work though. So I am thinking around 10 Photos and a video and pushing for £500 for the club. We will see!

Any advice on taking pictures on private property with kids present? What regulations do i need to conform to, do i just need signs that clearly mark that photos will be taken?

Below is a link to all my photos so far that I have uploaded, I think my goal is going to be 1 million views on here in 3 months.  I reckon i will upload around 200 pictures so i need to start averaging 5,000 views per photo. Heres to the challenge!
https://theta360.com/users/162925#

Here is bents christmas advert, it has 300 odd likes on Facebook, need to compete with that!

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-0z-MmSqDI

Any tips for me in the morning?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: dakky on November 12, 2016, 01:15:01 AM
That advert is shocking


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 12, 2016, 01:52:10 PM
One of the images on their page has had 25,000 views :O

loads of likes and they are dead happy with it, putting some videos up today so fingers crossed I get some work off the back of it


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 15, 2016, 04:06:32 PM
Did you get my pm mate?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 22, 2016, 11:11:38 PM
I don't seem to be able to pm yet mate


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: Ironside on November 23, 2016, 03:13:39 AM
I don't seem to be able to pm yet mate


you should be able to send and receive a PM after 10 posts


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on November 24, 2016, 04:58:57 PM
Thanks Al - I sent one but it doesn't appear in my sent items?
How you doing anyway? Been along time since the PSO days.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on January 26, 2017, 06:58:54 PM
Can you pm me please mate?
Could anyone please pm me as i don't think mine are working - thanks


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: celtic on January 26, 2017, 08:12:56 PM
Can you pm me please mate?
Could anyone please pm me as i don't think mine are working - thanks

I've sent you one.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: fidget1 on January 26, 2017, 11:02:45 PM
Received and thanks - did you get the reply?


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: celtic on January 26, 2017, 11:18:30 PM
Received and thanks - did you get the reply?

Just replied.


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: verndog158 on January 27, 2017, 03:11:28 PM
Received and thanks - did you get the reply?

Just replied.

i wish i got PMs from celtic :(


Title: Re: Nought to a Million in Three Month's
Post by: BorntoBubble on November 19, 2022, 01:48:01 AM
Just been sorting through old emails, and found some blonde emails thought I would take a look around and remember this blog!

Funnily enough start my business "Morgan Branding Limited" in April 2017. I still have a 360 Camera that was being discussed at these points.

Have 8 Staff now, have had up to 13 at points, don't play much poker anymore but was considering SPT this weekend until I realised I cannot do sunday, although that would not be a problem likely!

Trying to get a trip to vegas sorted and considering it for the grand prix as a bit of a goal.

Funnily enough we regularly get "a million of things". We have turned over over a million now, we have 31,000 followers on our company TikTok and look after client accounts that get millions of views a month!

Exciting times, and have loved having my own business and can only but be grateful of communities like blonde that I became a part of, I don't miss poker much but I do miss the people!

Do still keep following many blonde people whether that be on facebook or insta etc, hope everyone is well!