I went from empty calendar to Booked up Heres what I did

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]All right, let's get situated and talk.

[00:00:04]Complete work shift. Complete work shift. Wanted to give you guys an update because it's been almost a month, maybe about a month since the last video I did talking about. Nobody has booked me, right? People have been wondering what I did, if things have gotten better.

[00:00:17]Things have definitely gotten better.

[00:00:19]Definitely definitely gotten better. I only changed one thing and I was able to go from I think I was at like $4,000 just at the end of April and before the month ended went up to like $12,000 changing one thing. I'm going to save that though. So, as you can see, we are in the middle of moving. So, I this is the reason I haven't been on been moving a whole lot of boxes around. Uh we're packing slowly. We don't need to be out of this place to move to our Dallas home until the beginning of June. My wife is there now securing uh a couple of job options that she has as well as the place that we're going to stay. She just wanted to see it in person. And if I'm not looking here, it's just because I'm working. I got stuff to do. So, yeah, it's been a lot going on, man. And honestly, I had a feeling after like praying about it, I had a feeling that I was going to be tempted to stay because when I changed this one thing, it has brought in so much business to me that it's kind of making leaving a little bit challenging. Granted, I'm still going to go. It's not like it's keeping me here, but it is definitely making it hard thinking about how much I could be missing out on just leaving all this business behind me. Could I duplicate it? Of course. I have no doubt in my mind. Um, all right.

[00:01:42]So, enough baiting you guys. So, the thing that I changed was just making an alikart option and just making a price sheet. Like, super simple, right? It's nothing like groundbreaking or anything like that, but I didn't have one. So, basically, I broke down every single thing that I do for a client from the audio to the lighting options to the dual cameras to the scripting to the location options to the different outfits. like literally from top to bottom in different categories. I went from fitness, real estate, weddings, corporate events. Like I did it for everything because I was slow and I had nothing to do. And during that time going through my sphere of influence, literally just took that price menu sheet, sent it over to them in a message. I sent like my goal was sending it to 30 people per day and I did it for a week straight. Fast forward to now, I'm getting three or four calls every single day. Like just this last week, I probably was on 20 different shoots.

[00:02:44]Mind you, is more of like a volume option where money is great because I'm in and out of the door constantly. But it does remind me of when I first started because early 2022, 2023, this is how busy I was. I was constantly sitting in front of my computer, constantly out in the field, constantly shaking hands, constantly doing this, constantly doing this, answering text messages and emails. And I'm wiser now to the point to where I can feel when I'm overworking myself or when I'm getting to a point of the burnout.

[00:03:21]But when you are at zero jobs or very minimal jobs and then it just takes off, you're just absorbing all of it, especially with all of the expenses that come with moving. So, if I were you, if I were you right this second, I would take a look at what your client engagement is like or what systems you have or don't have when they're trying to book you. The first problem I came across, and I'll actually put this little screenshot on the screen, is I got a client just because I responded, they said that these other people that they're reaching out to don't even respond back. So, not only does that let me know that I wasn't their first choice when it came to looking around, but I was also the only person who engaged back. So, it doesn't actually matter if you're first on somebody's mind. It just matters that you're first to respond. So if you have a system where people have to reach out to you directly, whether that's through DMs, whether that's email, whether that's your actual cell phone and you don't respond, your system could be crashing and harming your business because you don't leave space for you to respond to people. They cannot book if you don't respond. Then you have to change that system. whether you give them access to your calendar, they can do it through Calendarly or maybe you have a CRM system, whatever, whatever.

[00:04:50]But you have to have some way to have a client be able to reach you. That's always number one. The second thing is make it very clear what you offer.

[00:05:01]There's so many people that when a client says, "Hey, I'm looking for this type of event. You know, what do you charge?" You just throw out a rate.

[00:05:10]You're just like, "Oh, $600, $800, 300, 3,000, 4,000, like whatever," without getting real details of what they're looking for. So, if somebody was like, "Hey, do you film events?" I would immediately start asking more questions.

[00:05:23]I wouldn't throw out numbers yet because I'm not clear on what they want. So, in my systems, I have different tiers. And through each tier, you are able to see each item that it offers. So I can eliminate certain choices for people, let them see what their money is going towards and then they choose. Just like a grocery store, like if somebody walks into your grocery store, they don't say, "What do you charge?" Cuz the full total is based on what they put in their cart.

[00:05:56]Yes, there's a cost for like eggs and milk and bread, right? That can be lighting, cameras, styles of editing, whatever the case is.

[00:06:06]But the total cost comes down to them.

[00:06:09]What do they want to put in their cart?

[00:06:12]And if they decide that what they're putting in their cart makes the total too expensive, then all they have to do is remove items and they can still afford you. So, you are taking it into your hands when it comes to like just allowing the customer client situation to um and the the wording I'm choosing is terrible right now, but my mind is so fried I can't think. But you're allowing the communication like barriers to just disappear because nobody can ever say now that I'm too expensive because whether they're paying $2,000 for a job or $500 for a job. It is all based on what they put in the cart. And obviously it's not a, like I said, it's not a groundbreaking idea.

[00:06:55]It's what you do almost every day.

[00:06:58]Whether you're ordering something on Amazon, B&H, uh, whatever, any site, you put things literally in a cart, if you don't like the total, you take some stuff out or you just don't get it right now. [snorts] But I'm telling you, ever since I changed this, I'm saying it has made such a difference. I've been booked every day. The most I've [clears throat] done it a day. I had four shoots in one day from sun up to sun down. Came home, sent stuff to my editor. I edited things that I could and then I was done for the day. And money has been great. I really needed this money to come through because the U-Haul driving it from here to there is like $2 to $3,000.

[00:07:40]So that money came in like right on time. And if you are in a space where you're just not getting business like you used to, there's a reason. Whether [clears throat] they're you're not first of their mind, you're not responding fast enough, or your pricing in your services that you offer just aren't clear, those things can definitely get in the way of giving you more business.

[00:08:04]And I'm a testament to that because it was me just a few weeks ago. So, you don't have to believe me because I know what has I'm just proof of it. I'm out in the field every single day. I had to shoot this morning and I had to say no to some stuff this afternoon so I can really focus on the jobs here, but now I'm starting to pass clients to other videographers since I'm leaving anyway.

[00:08:25]So, it all worked out. But if you are in a space where you just need something to change, try it out. Make sure that your system and your client system how they can book you is just super simple and easy. They shouldn't have to hunt you down to talk to you. They shouldn't be confused in what you offer. And when they ask about your rate, if you're just giving a flat number without any explanation of what that comes with, they're just going to run to the next person. And the last thing you want to hear after a a phone call is, "I'll think about it because they won't. They definitely won't and they're just going to move on to somebody else." So hopefully this helped. I'm going to get back to this. I haven't even touched my computer since I started talking to this, so I know I'm distracted. But like, subscribe, follow for more. I'll see you in the next one. in Dallas. I'm coming, so be ready for me.