COVID Crisis Forces Everyone Into New Ways of Working

Image courtesy of @fusion_medical_animation via Unsplash.

The COVID-19 outbreak has left many workers reeling. Small businesses are on their heels. The service industry is struggling. It’s an incredibly tough time for many right now, including independent creatives. Many have been forced to find ways to pivot their business model so they can continue to serve their clientele. Restaurants are providing customers with grab-and-go orders. Art studios are providing their students with take-home art kits. So, how can the video production professional pivot during this time and maintain cash flow? Here are a few ideas, but feel free to add yours in the Comments section.

Live Streaming

Do you shoot wedding videos? Some couples who haven’t postponed their weddings have turned to live streaming solutions. Does your clientele include places of worship? Churches who have never streamed their worship services before are now being forced to. Can you offer up your services to your existing clients and help them pivot to live streaming?

Internal Corporate Communications

C-Suite executives are now giving their employees regular updates during the crisis as more and more people work from home. These internal communications are vital for corporations as they strive to maintain business continuity and employee morale. If you’ve produced videos for larger corporations, perhaps you can offer up your services to help them with all of their internal communications needs.

Stock Footage

Since everyone is maintaining a social distancing policy right now, you can use this time to go out on your own and gather stock footage that you can then sell on sites like Shutterstock, Pond5, Envato, Motion Array, and many more. If you’ve never joined one of these sites as a contributor, now may be the time to do it. Many offer non-exclusive deals, so you are free to sell your footage on other sites as well.

Edit user-made content

Many have shifted to a work-from-home model right now, so it may be difficult (if not impossible) to actually shoot with clients on location. However, you may still be able to edit user-generated content. More small business owners may have to shoot their own video while at home, either on their phones or DSLR’s. You can offer up your editing services for these clients. Have them share the footage via FTP, you edit and polish on your end, then send it back for approval, upload, and distribution.

Start a YouTube channel

You’ve probably collected a wealth of knowledge and experience in your time as a video production professional. And maybe you’ve considered starting a YouTube channel in the past. Now you have an opportunity to finally make that YouTube channel happen. Share your tips, tricks, and advice via YouTube and start building an audience. Take it a step further and consider producing an online course that you can sell to users.

During this crisis it can be easy to give in to discouragement and allow all of your anxieties to overwhelm you. But that will only deplete your energy. Instead, try and focus your efforts into staying as productive as possible. Use social media as a way to lean on others in the industry for ideas and support. Mine is only a short list of possible solutions to help during this time. I know there are plenty more that I haven’t even thought of. So, what solutions have worked for you during this time? Share your experiences in the Comments section.