Gear Selection, Invoice Payment Options, On Set Apparel [Ep206]
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On this episode of the mammy video podcast, we're talking about the apparel that I wear on set the equipment that I need, even if my client doesn't have information, giving footage to my client before receiving payment and how I manage my time between building my company and social media and personal life.
Here we go.
Welcome back to another episode of the maam video podcast. My name's Ariel Martinez, and we're just answering your questions on this one. Hopefully. Uh, you guys are submitting more questions. So I appreciate that you can contact me through social media, through Instagram, uh, on Facebook, we're all over the place and send in your questions.
Let me know what you guys want me to answer. I am very, pretty much open about the business of video production and I just love helping people and having them, uh, find their way. So here we go. Let's get to the first question for the today's episode. What apparel do you normally wear on set? Well, really, I don't have a set apparel.
Uh, I, since I rebranded the business, I like to now start branding things. So I like to have my logo summer on the shirt or on the polo, but generally I wear whatever's comfortable. Um, unless the client or the director of whatever, I'm shooting requests, something specific. I know that a lot of people. Uh, they'll, they'll wear black because that's normally onset etiquette.
Uh, you know, to not be seen in the background. You not be a distraction to the people in front of the cameras, so you can never go wrong with that. But you know, me in Miami, I, I tend to try to dress somewhat, uh, with breathable clothing. Um, especially if it's outdoors, it it'd be a bad day. Uh, you start sweating all over the.
uh, because Miami is very, very hot, but really, you know, UN unless your client is requesting something specific. I would just dress appropriate for the production, a, a standard t-shirt standard pants or shorts, whatever is appropriate. Obviously, if it's a conference, you know, you wanna dress the part. You don't want to show up to a conference where these business people are dressed in suits in polos, and you're wearing short and tank top.
That is not gonna look good at all. I generally like to sort of dress the part. So if it's a conference I'm wearing pillows with my shirt tucked in, um, and slacks and, you know, dress shoes that are comfortable to walk around in. Uh, but if it's anything else, a, a sit down interview or whatever it is, uh, something much more casual I'll wear generally wear jeans.
Um, and a t-shirt and that's kind of what I'm comfortable with, but definitely use your judgment dressed appropriately. In my opinion, I know I've seen a lot of people wear like ripped jeans and it's a style generally. That's I mean, my outlook is that's way too casual. I would be a little more professional than that in my opinion.
Um, So just comfortable, but don't try to make, be too much of a distraction, like make you're making a fashion statement. So, uh, that is my advice when choosing the proper apparel. Oh, shoes, make sure your shoes don't squeak when you walk. Um, because oftentimes I will do one man band stuff or I have to move around on set to check out all the other cameras I'm moving around.
So I gotta make sure that my shoes are not making any noise when I'm doing that. uh, use your judgment on that one as well, make sure that you're not being noisy. The pants sometimes I, I have these other pants that, that kind of make kind of like windbreaker pants that make a lot of, of that noise as I'm, as I'm walking and moving around.
I make sure I don't wear those when audio is a factor. Uh, so be conscious of that chains, anything like that. So be weary of the kind of, uh, apparel that you wear.
All right. How do you select the necessary equipment? If a client is vague with information? So that's an interesting one. You have to be good at getting this information out of your client. So if your client really doesn't know, like I had a client that wanted to do a sit down interview and, uh, you know, there's things that I need to know regarding how they want this to be shot.
And to know this, you need to know the different options that you have. For example, do you want multiple cameras? Do you want one angle, two angles, three angles. How many people are going to be in this interview? Is it going to be one person that's being interviewed or is it two or three people? Are they gonna be interviewed at the same time?
Right? So the client sometimes doesn't even know, are they gonna be on the, in camera? That that makes a big difference. If they're going to be in camera at the same time, or if it's just three interviews separately, individually, where you can stop, reset, change the microphone, et cetera. So you need to know all that information.
You need to get that from your client. Um, Is the interviewer going to be in the shot? Are they going to be heard? So we need to get 'em in front of the camera, framed up and we need to get audio for them. So that all that plays into a factor of the equipment that I take. So if the, if the client doesn't know too much, you have to get all that out of.
What I generally do. What I generally do is I charge up for everything. So for example, they, they want three people. We don't know if they're gonna be on camera or not. Uh, they might be, we want three different camera angles. You know what, they, they have no idea. They might even decide when we get there.
Right. I'm charging as if they're all gonna, everybody's gonna be on camera all at once. So I'm gonna take charge for four cameras. I'm gonna take four or five labs to have one as a backup. Uh I'm and, and again, I'm putting all that into pricing, all that out. if they come back and say, Hey, this is too high.
It was like, well, yeah, I'm, I'm expecting this to be this many people in front of the camp. This is where they really start to narrow things down for you. Once you show them the price tag of what it would cost to get it all like the full package, what you'll be ready for, anything ex for example, um, they'll really narrow things down for you because they don't wanna pay the bigger price.
And sometimes they're okay with it. Sometimes they'll show them the price and say, all right, cool. Let's do it. You know? So I'll go prepared for everyth. For every scenario, basically, you don't want to be taken by surprise onset. Even if the client says they don't know if, um, they're gonna need audio. You know what I won't, I will show it in the estimate and I'll take my equipment, even if they're not sure that they're going to use it.
Uh, you always want to be prepared to not be caught off guard it doesn't cost more to, to take your equipment. Sure. You're, you're risking your stuff, I guess, but it really doesn't cost you much more than. So I would definitely be more on the prepared side than be picky with what you take now it's different when it becomes much bigger gear like lighting, right?
So I have a ton of lights. I generally don't like to take everything. I don't remember the last time I had to take every single one of my lights. but I like to be more prepared. I like to see the, the space to see what we can work with. If it's tight, if it's a lot of space, doesn't need light. Does it already have a lot of light coming in?
So things like that, uh, I like to be prepared for, but yeah, I mean, you charge, according you charge, according to what you take. If the client doesn't have an issue with. Just go with it, roll with it. If they have an issue, then you really have to ask them to sit down and figure out what exactly they need, so you can lower your price.
So, and just know the options that they have. So all that plays a factor into that. Do you hand the footage to your client before receiving payment? Ah, yes I do. And yes, I know it's risky. However, I don't just do it. Willy-nilly I don't do I do my research according to, you know, the client where they're coming from, how they operate.
Like, that's very important how to listen, how the, my client usually likes to operate. I generally like to make sure that they know what they're talking about. They've been here before. I like to see their credentials. If they have a website, I'd like to see what they're all about. Um, because that'll tell me if they have credibility, if I can trust them.
You know, um, and really they're kind of their, their demeanor. They're maneuvering how they talk to me. That's very important because you wanna make sure that there are no red, red flags being raised, be weary. If first of all, if the price is good, like they have no problem with the price. Great. That that works.
Um, if they really try to negotiate with you a. Maybe that's not a client that's worth risking giving them the stuff. And oftentimes, like I have clients where it's out of their controller saying, you know, we do need the footage, but our company that has a net 30 policy that is very standard. That's very standard.
And I'll tell you what I have never been burned. uh, I know it's, it's risky to say that, but it's the truth. It's the truth. I, I, you know, I'm working with professional companies here. I'm not working with. Individuals. This is another reason why I'm not, I'm not a fan of working with commercial, uh, residential clients.
I like to prof. I prefer to work with commercial clients because they're more professional. Um, they know that it's their reputation. They have nowhere to go. They're established, there is a physical building that I can go and visit if I needed to. I've never had any issues. The, I mean, the biggest issues that I've had is.
you know, I've sent the invoice. Accounting is taking forever to pay, et cetera, et cetera, things that are normal in operations of a business. It's not gonna be perfect. Uh, generally when I, when they've passed 30 days, I'll just remind them, Hey, it's been 30 days. Just wanna give you a heads up. Uh, and then usually my, the response is, you know, the, the contact that I had for the company.
The they'll get right on it because they feel bad. They know that's wrong. They're gonna go talk to accounting. And that's kind of, that's the normal human being thing to do, uh, is to, is to get your, your people paid. So nobody wants to be in that situation. So a friendly reminder, maybe a week or two before or a week after the net 30 thing is, is a big thing.
So, uh, they, they're pretty aware of that. Uh, you, you want to be. Um, uh, you wanna be, uh, be aware of that? Speaking of net 30, how do you request payment? Do you use net 30? Do you use net 60 or do you ask for payment right away? Um, I like to, you know, I mean, I typically, I, I, I mean, obviously I love payment right away, but I don't force my clients to pay me.
Right. I give them time. I give them their space. I know, I understand net 30. I understand how all this works. Sometimes my clients have clients that have to pay them first. So I'm actually currently waiting. It's past 30 days. I have a client that hasn't paid. I reached out to them. They were super respectful.
We're so sorry. Our client has yet to pay us da, da, da. It is a big client. Um, and you know what delays happen? It happens. I I'm not gonna get bitter bitter over it. Um, And as long as, you know, they were very sympathetic with the fact that they haven't, that I haven't been paid and you know what, they've, they've been on alert.
So they appreciate, uh, my patience and, you know, being patient like that, knowing that, you know what, they have a client that hasn't paid them. They really, you know, appreciate that. I'm not gonna give 'em any grief over that. I'm gonna let them know, Hey, not a problem. Just, just letting you know. I haven't been forgotten, not a problem.
Um, they're very appreciative of that. They're very happy about that. So they'll remember that the next time, the way you treat your clients is going to be remembered. the next time they consider you consider working with you. How do you manage to regulate your time between building your business and posting content on social media?
Like having a podcast, I've been trying to get my content up to date, but I find it difficult to manage consistently posting. This is a problem that a lot of people have. Listen. Nobody has asked me ever in my business to see my resume. I've never, I haven't updated my resume and I don't know how many years, because I never use it.
Nobody asks for. Your business is the work that you do. When I first started, I had no work to do so I created work to do, and it was just something that I just never stopped. If I'm crazy, crazy busy, meaning I can't barely think of anything else. You know what? My social media kind of suffers because that was the goal.
The goal was to get me busy doing work. If I have no more work to do. Like right now, summertime, it's actually kind of slow. It's not there. I'm, that's hence I'm here on the podcast, creating content. I'm trying to make stuff to do, just do stuff. Um, and that's kind of how I manage it. Really also consider this.
If you have, if you're running your business, I know. Just like anyone else, how distracting it can be, especially doing the freelancer stuff, especially if you're working from home. Um, I used to have my home office now have my normal office, but working from home, if you're married, you have a, you know, you have a wife or a husband.
Um, if you have kids, there's so much distraction. The best thing you can do is to really try to regulate your time. If you only have four hours to work per. Because that's all you can afford. You better make those four hours really worth it. If you're on social media for 35 minutes, now you have three hours and 25 minutes of actual work time.
That's not good. So really make use of the time that you have while you're working. And if you have the benefit of choosing your hours, that you can work, sometimes people work better at. I work way better at night, especially when it comes to editing. I edit way more focused at night with no distractions, nothing, and I can really get a lot of work done that way.
Um, consider that when, when considering, you know, how you want to regulate your time, the less amount of distractions you have, the better, what I would recommend is leave the phone outside of the office. You don't need it. If somebody texts me, I get it right on my computer. I use Mac. So I get my iMessages on my computer if they have an iPhone, actually.
But really my emails are on the computer. Like, everything I need is in the, is on the computer. There's so many things that you can make your time useful for. When you're sitting on your desk working, you could update the website. Have you posted the last several? Jobs that you've done. When I say post, I mean, behind the scenes, the final work, if you're allowed to things like that, like you want to continue to create content.
Um, that's really how we continue to update everybody that follow us, that we're still in the game that we're still in the business. This is what we do. Um, keep reminding people because every now and then somebody will recommend you to a client. Um, it might not be the people that follow. that will be hiring you, but they will get an inquiry.
Hey, do you know someone that does video? Hey, I know this person does video and, and that's how you make connections. You just keep reminding people of what you do. You don't wanna stop that if you have no work, if you have nothing, take a picture of your cameras, take a picture of anything. Post it, give a little description, anything.
It it's really not that hard. If you are intentional. Um, creating content and posting it. That's something you might wanna do. So that is my advice to you. If you need to manage your time and it's okay to split the time. If it's two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, three, four hours at night, split the time, but make sure it's intentional.
Make sure you have a plan. You have a plan of attack before going in there and sitting down and then trying to figure out, okay, what am I gonna do today? Make a list the night before think intentionally, what do I have to do the next day? Knock it out the next day. You'll, you'll feel so much more productive at the end of the day.
Once you're able to check all the, those things off, update the website, update social media. Go through all of your, uh, directories. See if everything is up to date, your phone number, your email address, see how the analytics are for each of those directories. Are you getting clicks? How can I optimize, uh, my presence online?
How can, um, you know, I get more clicks on. on, on Google, on SEO. Is it optimized? Uh, maybe I should ask clients to start re leaving me reviews who are my last 3, 4, 5 clients that I've had. I'm gonna send them a link to my Google reviews and ask if they could please send me, write me a review and. You know, and, and get that updated.
So there's so many different things that you can do that would improve your business that could, you could build upon, but make it intentional, make sure that you could make it a weekly thing every week. If you had a job that week, you're gonna, uh, send over the Google review for them to, uh, for them to leave your review for your business.
So that's what I would recommend make your time. Intentional social media is a big, uh, part of that. So. There you go. So there you have it. Those are my answers for these questions. I appreciate you all sending over questions. Don't forget if you like this video, leave us eight, thumbs up like this video, share it, subscribe, whatever it is, wherever you're consuming this podcast, whether it's on YouTube, iTune, Spotify, we're on every single platform.
I appreciate you guys listening in, send me your questions. I'll see you on the next episode of the Miami video podcast.
