It was March 2014 when I set some money aside to start my business and that’s when Above The Norm Productions, LLC was born. I had no clue what I was doing but that didn’t stop me and neither did any of my previous ordeals but I kept pushing. I
I had my first client and it was a bit intimidating but we executed that project with excellence. There wasn’t a lot of work flooding in so it was hard to get funds to register the logo and other things that were needed. It took a year for everything to be completed and I was still living with my brother at that time. I was meeting people to build connections and get some business to come in.
I eventually got reacquainted with a friend from middle school and his business partner that started their business around the same time as me. I didn’t think this partnership would go anywhere but I was wrong. Still till this day we work on projects together and we have built so much trust its not even funny.
We worked on some video projects just to get content from some friends of theirs that owned restaurants. Eventually more work was coming in but my mistake was I was sitting back depending on them. I did have a few clients of my own but it wasn’t a lot.
I did some weddings and it wasn’t long before I got sick of it and decided to stick to commercials. As an entrepreneur you will make a lot of dumb mistakes. Business isn’t easy and its a constant hustle that isn’t meant for the weak. I was building up enough money to get some new gear and have a nice looking website.
My problem was I knew nothing about marketing and was getting frustrated because I wasn’t getting phone calls. Nobody knew who I was and I didn’t have a trusted name or build my brand. I didn’t understand any of that stuff so I kept going to meetups. My prices were “too high” some said but it was far less than what I charge now.
However thanks to my friends Danny and Fred we kept getting work which was nice because there were some interesting projects we filmed. I tried to focus on my social media presence but mainly instagram and even with that I was getting lazy.
It wasn’t until I started connecting with more people outside of my friends where I saw more work coming in. To anyone reading this my best advice is meet and connect with people because word of mouth helps you get business. It shouldn’t be the only way you get business but it definitely is one of the sources. Build your brand and work on marketing and make sure you get some SEO going on your website because if not you won’t be found on the internet.