Is 14 days a month average?
- Thread starter Starman
- Start date
Capt. Slo-mo
Well-known member
Jacques: if these are all (or mostly) individual shoots, and not long term gigs where weeks of work at a time are booked, working at that rate of days looks pretty good. You have to make the calculus: is that making you enough money to buy and retire gear, cover taxes, and leave enough left over to enjoy life? Then you may be just fine.
One can always have more work, but a lot of it depends on how MUCH you want to work. The other caveat I'd have is how many clients those 14 days are spread across. If it's only one or two folks who are giving you the bulk of the work, widening the client base is not a bad idea. Because as we all know, there are only three kinds of clients: ones who hire you often, ones who will cut back randomly on the number of shoots they book, and ones who no longer do much shooting at all!
One can always have more work, but a lot of it depends on how MUCH you want to work. The other caveat I'd have is how many clients those 14 days are spread across. If it's only one or two folks who are giving you the bulk of the work, widening the client base is not a bad idea. Because as we all know, there are only three kinds of clients: ones who hire you often, ones who will cut back randomly on the number of shoots they book, and ones who no longer do much shooting at all!
If you're getting "normal to premium" rates for shooting with gear($1500-$1800/day), you are doing fine. That's $270K-$324K gross/year. My GF is a paramedic and their schedule is 14 days a month that they work, BUT I can tell you it's nowhere close to that. Just the taxes paid on that is close to double what they'll bring home working the same amount.
I've seen some of the real estate shows that occasionally shoot in TX, and a lot of areas seem to have similar property values to here in NC. I've done the basic math before, and you can actually live comfortably with only one to two days a week here(if you had to), presuming you're shooting with YOUR gear and getting 'the going rate'.
I've seen some of the real estate shows that occasionally shoot in TX, and a lot of areas seem to have similar property values to here in NC. I've done the basic math before, and you can actually live comfortably with only one to two days a week here(if you had to), presuming you're shooting with YOUR gear and getting 'the going rate'.
cameragod
Well-known member
I need 12 days a month to pay all the bills. Once I have them I breath a little easier.
Widening the client base is very good advice. Many agency's and corporates have left our city, 10 years ago I had 20 + regular clients now its more like 4. If one goes away I'll be in real trouble so I'm always looking for new clients
Widening the client base is very good advice. Many agency's and corporates have left our city, 10 years ago I had 20 + regular clients now its more like 4. If one goes away I'll be in real trouble so I'm always looking for new clients
TVmercenary
Member
Doing good
You should consider this a good number of days. If you were working full time (and taking a 2 week vacation) you would be working about 21 days a month. My goal is to work every other day. If I really had one up and one down that would be great. That would be about 15 days a month so you are on track. What usually happens is that I get swamped then need to hire help on days with more than one job then huge stretches of nothing.
Wisdom says no one client should be more than 20% of your business.
You should consider this a good number of days. If you were working full time (and taking a 2 week vacation) you would be working about 21 days a month. My goal is to work every other day. If I really had one up and one down that would be great. That would be about 15 days a month so you are on track. What usually happens is that I get swamped then need to hire help on days with more than one job then huge stretches of nothing.
Wisdom says no one client should be more than 20% of your business.
Sweet, got it! Thanks for the feedback. yeah, I'm pretty happy what I'm doing right now. I am going to stay in the Dallas market for at least another year. But, I want to eventually move back to where I can catch waves and go on a couple of dives as well. I've been exploring different markets vs. cost of living options, but it will be at least a year out until I decide where. I know a lot of the coastal markets are saturated with competition, but heck so is Dallas and Houston, so I'm used to it. For now, I'm happy where I am, but I will be back out there getting some surf in one day. Keeping in good with the crewing agencies is a good thing since they cover all the major markets nationwide.
Cameradude
Well-known member
First, let me say that I love my job and how I make my living. With that said, video production IS NOT my life. There are other things I enjoy and look forward to a lot more, including time with my family. I live well within my means, drive normal cars that are paid for, and live in a modest house that is paid for.
So for me, with my gear package and at market rates, 12 days per month / 12 months per year (the 12/12 plan as I call it) is my target. Some years are 130 shoot days, some are 150 shoot days. I can get by on far less than this, but I've been blessed so far in my business to "hit my marks" over the past 12 years since formalizing this plan.
If I am shooting three days a week and spending another day handling invoicing, checking gear, handling logistics, paying bills and vendors, then thats four days of "working" a week. Why in hell would you want to work more than that?????
Now, if I am working without my gear, or working on some bargain basement discount shoot, that number would shift.
So for me, with my gear package and at market rates, 12 days per month / 12 months per year (the 12/12 plan as I call it) is my target. Some years are 130 shoot days, some are 150 shoot days. I can get by on far less than this, but I've been blessed so far in my business to "hit my marks" over the past 12 years since formalizing this plan.
If I am shooting three days a week and spending another day handling invoicing, checking gear, handling logistics, paying bills and vendors, then thats four days of "working" a week. Why in hell would you want to work more than that?????
Now, if I am working without my gear, or working on some bargain basement discount shoot, that number would shift.