Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi guys, My name is Michael. I'm a photographer,
cinematographer, and a physicist. And in discourse today
I'll be sharing with you guys some lessons that I've learned about how to
make it as a freelancer. I've been freelancing for the
last over five years now. And as you do this for awhile there a couple
of tips and tricks that you learn in order
to hopefully help you start off into your
freelancing venture. Perhaps it is photography, perhaps it's cooking or
film-making or anything genuinely that you feel like
you're venturing out and then you might not be
your two convergent. Just how it should
actually go about. This course is intended
primarily for beginners. This is for genuinely,
like I said, anybody who's just venturing out into the unknown
for the first time. And I hope that you
will enjoy it and gain as much valuable content
from this as possible. See you in the next lesson. Cheers.
2. The Journey Of Starting A Creative Project: Alright, thank you. I'm glad that you
could join my cost. And as I said, my Jenny stepping out into videography and photography
is quite a long one. But in a nutshell, I'm going to simplify
it like this. This is the year 2016. And I remember at this
point in time I had just missed out on a
scholarship to study abroad. I've just been admitted in some top 20 best
university in the world. And just at the
very last moment, I find out that
unfortunately I don't have a scholarship
and I can not go. Quite a bummer, right? And so I thought, but then what happened
was I started just exploring all options that could that I could
possibly do with the full year that
I had ahead of me. And lo and behold, there was this opportunity
to be an intern as a graphics designer in a
particular company, right? In the software reside. At the first glance
of this opportunity, I interrupted and was allowed to be part
of that community of I would say a
community of creators, I'd say because the space
was a space in which we had like filmmakers,
photographers, end. Mike is a graphics designer. I was able to do this
for a couple of months. And I remember so
clearly that this one particular time
we had a workshop and during our workshop we had this photograph are
from Switzerland come over and he will just sharing some ideas and just
inspiring ideas. And there was something
about the way that he was so passionate about his craft that spoke to me and, you know, coming from a third
world country like this show to, you know, we don't really fancy
ourselves as people who could actually get successful. And some skill sets such as
photography or videography, we normally go for things
that are way more secure, like being a pilot, like being a doctor,
like an accountant. You see that? So the way that this
man from Switzerland, he was so passionate
aware that he was so good at his craft and he was actually making
a genuine living out of it. It shook something within me. And I knew that in that
very moment that this is something this kind of lifestyle is something that I
would like to live. A lifestyle that
allows me to be free, lifestyle that allows me to travel where I want to travel, when I want to travel
and do what I love. You see that? Granted at this point in time, I wouldn't necessarily say that. I knew that I was passionate
about photography. I knew I was passionate about
videography, not hostile. Exploring that time went by
literally two years later. I am now in a different
country in Algeria. I'm still studying physics. And as I'm still
studying, again, I joined the summer holidays because they're
really, really long. And Algeria, I have this long
period where I'm able to reflect upon what
actually matters to me. What do I really want to do? Lo and behold, a passion for
photography, sophist again. And I took all my savings. One of the biggest
risks that I had to take when you're a student and
you have all your savings, you definitely don't want to be spreading them on
something like a camera. That's genuinely something
that I did in that moment. So I invested in a camera, which for some of you guys
might not be a lot of money. But for me this was
all my savings. And I was just genuinely
just jumping out and hoping that something amazing what happened along the way? I did. And of course I was inspired
by the likes of people like Peter McKinnon and a lot more
other create a solid layer. I made my I got a camera
and from then started exploring the options and just I was so
engrossed in it in, in shooting, in capturing your learning as
much as I could, which is generally what happens with anybody
who finds a hobby. We get so absorbed
in the hobby and just lost and the wonder of learning and
learning in London, which is ultimately the
most important thing. If you ever come to a place
where you stop learning, there is a problem. We live is such that we will
forever coupon learning. But life is also such
that as we're learning, as we're having fun, as we are raveling, as we're getting to meet people we never thought
would ever need. There are still some
things to consider. There are still some expenses
to take care of them, bills to be paid. During this time for me. There were quite a
number of bills. Right. So you know how I told
you that I'd just taken all my savings and just
put them towards giver. This meant that when other kids were buying
clothes, I could not. When other kids
were able to travel around different
parts of the country, I did not have that liberty. All I had was my camera and
my knowledge about camera. And that's how my
mind that's how the mindset of being an intrapreneur on top of being a photographer
came about. I knew that I had to many's
highest cruft that I had. And I know that there are a lot of differing
opinions about this, that some of us who believed
that mixing your passion for something with our
money is never a good idea because you end up doing it ultimately
just for the money. But I beg to disagree, I beg to disagree out. Definitely stand by the
side that says that. If you don't want to
mix the two of them, if you have the privilege
to not mix the two of them, then don't mix the two of them. But I find that
many people are in a situation where they have
to mix the two of them. It's already something
that they love. And instead of just them listen themselves in a
place of passion for something and spending more time and more time with something
they're passionate about, but not making money from it. Most people choose
to monetize that. Most people choose to
make money out of that, which I generally think
it's a good idea. And such was my whole journey. I thought it was as simple as just metonym people
that Hey everybody, I take pictures, I take videos and people will
start plugging in. But that was not the case. That was definitely not the case as probably the reason
why you're watching this video is that you yourself have found
that out, right? It's not it's not that easy. And worry not as I mentioned, that throughout
this whole course, this is what we're
dealing with right now. We'll be dealing
with the very first. Our very first has got to do
with number one, learning. Yes, you know it. I cannot emphasize this enough. You can never come to a place
where you stop learning. We have to keep learning. One of the biggest
mistakes that I realized if a now
that people are venturing into in whatever
craft they're doing is they're high written notice to make profit before
developing themselves. And this was the
mistake that I had. I had I, and this was a mistake. And this has been the
mistake that I see so many people exercise to date. I couldn't not really
I didn't really have this privilege to do this because I didn't have
customers and all of that. And so I was forced to
continue developing my crust. I was forced to continue
learning and all of that. But there are some, some of us who might
find ourselves in a situation whereby we have to, you have the liberty to choose
whether or not you want to start working on your
craft already or learning. My advice, always
choose learning. Now, how much is
enough learning? Oh, that's a very
difficult question to ask. Great. Whenever I always model it
like this, I'm always start. Always start with the
people closest to you. Start practicing, run and
then put it into practice. Learning alone that is
absorbing and absorbing alone. It's not a complete
process of learning. A complete process of learning involves absorbing
and releasing. Absorbing and releasing. What does that look like?
It looks like this. It looks like if you are a cook, it looks like this. You have to firstly, after you learn whatever it is that you've
been learning about, whether it's on YouTube, whether it's from a book, whether somebody else told you a recipe for a particular
meal that you should make. What you should
do, first of all, is absorbed the recipe. Think it through. Think about replicating
the exact formula or the exact recipe
that was given to you after replicating that. Give it out to get feedback. Because how else will you know if you're making
progress or not? Now I know for some
of you might feel like I'm my best form of feedback will
not quite right? This might apply maybe
the first two times when you're practicing
yourself and all. I mean, you definitely want
to give people poison. You want to practice at all. But what's for sure
is eventually you need to come to a
point where you get confident enough brochure, whatever it is that you have done with the
people around you. My advice is start first
with venue or family. Start sharing this
meal with your sister, with your mother, with your
brothers, with your siblings, with your whole family, get their opinion about
where you could improve, how you could be better. My case, which was a case of photography and it's
going to do graphy. I genuinely would shoot pictures from my
friends for free. And just get their opinions. What do you think? And that's when I
started getting comments like this is amazing. This is stunning. And somehow that built an element of
confidence within me. I wanted to keep on impressing and impressing and impressing. And that built a certain
momentum within me that I just wanted to keep going and going and going
and going, right? So that's, that's the
ultimate beauty of learning. And again, as I said, remember that learning
is not complete until what do you have
absorbed comes up. What do you have
absorbed comes up? Second, I have right here on this aspect
of learning as this, as I mentioned that
for starting off, you could replicate
the ideas that is an exact copy of whatever it
is that you have learned. What a, in the case
of photography, you land up from
somebody from YouTube. Cool. Replicate that. That's part of the
learning process. But then the second part of
that is also make it better. How can you prove whatever it is that you have
received already? If it's a recipe,
what if you mix an additional space that was
not mentioned over there? If it's photography, what if you change it from a
different or at a, you take that shot from
a different angle, from a different perspective. What if you try
taking that portrait, for example, with
a different lens? What would that have
as an effect, right? And in some cases, yes, it's gonna be a disaster. But that's part of
the learning process. The learning process is not
just about success, success, success, it's about success and failure if they're package. Many times whenever we try to distinguish the two and
just have this success. That is, that is free from flaw, that is free from failures. We, we, we end up falling many, many times for PFOS games, we end up falling for things
that are not even real, because in this real-world
that we live in, there will be flaws, there will be false as well. Just embrace them
because of all of that is part of the
learning curve. The second that I would say is the second that I would
give you is do work for free. Yes, it sounds
counter productive. I mean, we're
talking about how to make a living out
of your out of, we're talking about
how to make a living out of your craft and how to make a living out of whatever it is that
you're passionate about. How is doing things for free, going to help you out? Well, take this from
somebody who genuinely was struggling financially to even put a meal on the
table for themselves. I assure you that the last
thing that I wanted to do was to do things
for people for free. But what you don't realize about doing things
for free for people is this. It's that it's beyond
the money that you get. Before the money comes in. Network has got to be created. People need to know
that you are reliable. People need to know that
they can count on you. People need to see the
quality of your work. If you don't have a portfolio that can show
just how good you are, then you have nothing to
validate your quality with. You have nothing to put value or a price tag to your work. If you already have a portfolio, you have proofs
that you are good, then you have every
reason to give a price. But if you don't, my
advisers, to work for free, if you're really good, if you really good, it means that your work
itself becomes a trap. It becomes a trap for whatever client or
whoever you are shooting the UN doing the project for what it was cooking while
it was playing a piano, whether it was photography,
whatever it is. If you are good for sure, whoever is experiencing whatever you've created will want
you to do it again. And then that's when you can start negotiating some prizes. And again, be realistic
with yourself. You don't want to be
setting prices of that crazy high that are way beyond your standard or way beyond what you can
actually deliver. You need to be realistic
with yourself. You need to make sure
that you are studying the overall pricing that's
going on around your area. That's a really good idea
in a very, very smart one, there are some clients
that actually gets turned off just by you
mentioning your finger. That's definitely not what you are actually
delivering, right? So if you are on this learning
curve in the beginning of your whatever craft that you are trying to make it
out or to sell out. I'll definitely say to you
that subtle, firstly free, and then gradually go up
financially and prioritize, above all else, just
building a network. Because when you
tell this person, you never know what does this
person will move toward? Who they will tell, an intern, who that
other person will tell. And before you know it, the
whole town knows about you. This genuinely is
what had happened to me when I started shooting. I was just taking my friends
and then beyond my friends, I started posting
on social media. I got legs, I got people
wanting to see me. I got people saying I wanted
you to do this for me. And what was interesting was that before I myself
could have been set prices for things people
were actually willing to pay before I told him that I
wanted I wanted them to pay. That is, I'd get
messages from via Instagram for pupils
saying how much your prices I wanted to shoot, how much would you
be willing to do? How much should I
give you rather that you that I can get
a shoot with you? That's exactly what you want. You want declined, seeing
how much they need, you know how much you need them. This is a problem. Sometimes that happens well as creators in the sense
that sometimes we are showing declines and we get desperately
looking for them. But if whatever it is that
you are producing is so good, what you're
producing, your craft itself has got to
be the one to pull. The client's not so much you the craft itself
does the work for you. That's how you know that you are delivering
exceptional results.
3. Reaching Out: And the third thing that I
want to talk to you about is definitely reaching out. Now this might sound
counterproductive to what I just shared with you about being
desperate for your client. But then consider this scenario, which is a scenario that many, many people fall victim to. Consider the scenario where you have somebody super talented. He's a football player,
super-talented. Maybe let's say it's
Leonardo Messi, for example. Super talented. Always plays in his house, always kicks are on the ball. His craft is exceptional, yeah. But people to know him, unless he has an outlet, even if it's just one outlet. And this is where
the measure of how desperate you are comes in, in the outlets that you use. And if Missy is good, but he's always in his house, has no outlet for his craft. There's no way people
are going to know Him. That's the beauty about doing
things for free for people. Because the more
you're interacting with people when you're
doing things for free, you're interacting with people. Guess what? You are creating outlets. You're creating outlets
for your craft to be sin. You're creating outlets. Your work to sell itself. You're creating outlets for
your work to market itself. That's the beauty of it. Right? Now. There are some extra
things that you could do on top of that as well, which is something that myself has allowed me to have some of the most influential reaches in the industry of
photography in South Africa. When I first got into, back into South
Africa, you know, for me it was like a whole new environment and I didn't know how
the whole space was. I remember trying to join photographic groups
or this genuinely trying to get back into shooting and I desperately
needed the money. But then what happened was with all the groups I
was trying to draw and I was really,
really struggling. I feel like the whole
photography group thing and some of it isn't too strong. So I learned the
value of Instagram, direct messaging via Instagram. Why they I did was
I put up a list, I was searching on Instagram, the top photographers
in South Africa in the sentence and have found them that were listed
going down like that. And I took all their names down. And then for each and
every single one of them, I think I reached out to
more than 30 photographers. I just simply told
them that, Hey, I would like to, hey, I
appreciate your work. It's always good to study there, a complement so that
somebody actually sees that you value what
they are doing. So I'll send messages
as simple as, Hey, I really love your work and I'm keen on learning from you. So I'm ready to do anything, even if it's just
behind the scenes, I'd love to do that for you as part of my way of
learning from you. And lo and behold, I got so many, so
many responses. I still get some of those
responses have been to date. And I forged as well
during that very time, some of the strongest
connections with some of the
photographers in that space. Definitely reaching out to
photographers is one of the most ideal ways
or other meeting. Now, reaching out to whoever is better than you
in your craft, you cannot comprehend
the value of that. It's just mind-blowing
me helpful. Alright, so let's say
you're into cooking. My advice is look for people
who are already good cooks. Wherever you stay. Reach out to them, just told them that you want
to learn from them. You'd be surprised
how many people would be willing to just impart knowledge and give you knowledge just
like that for free. You think that some
of those people would actually make you pay? Yes, granted, there are
some who will make you pay, but there's way more for show who just want to share
knowledge with you. Yeah. As simple as that. I know it might seem
a bit nerve wracking. You might feel like it, but I don't want to intrude
into their privacy. I don't want to disturb
them analogue that. But then hey, how well, how else are you going to learn? And actually, you don't have
to assume for them as far as they're concerned because
once upon a time they were in your shoes so they
understand the journey. And as far as they're
concerned for some of them, I've noticed personally
that they actually value, that they love the
fact that they can actually contribute
to somebody else, which is generally
something that's happening to me now that quite a number of photographers who now come to me and are hoping
to learn from me. And that generally
makes me happy. I cannot just shrug them
off and say our way up. I'm just way too busy for
you to retrieve and create. And granted, I have
things to do with a proper scheduling and a proper arrangement of
time and a random rule. It's very, very simple and
something that I love and still am passionate
to do to date. So don't limit your options.
Don't limit yourself. Reach out to people who
are already experts in your field that you
are trying to muster. Don't underestimate
the power of that.
4. Keeping It Simple: The next point that I'd
like to share with you is keep it simple. It's not so much about the money as it is
about your attitude. I wish somebody had told
me this point where, you know, the saying that
says gear does not matter. Well, I yeah, I know it's very controversial because many times people will usually
say this usually have extremely good gear, right? Yes, we can argue about
it from that perspective. But then if truth be told, many times, we love
giving excuses. We give excuses to not doing
things that we want to do. This is just the
general effect of life. One of the leading excuses into why we don't do whatever it is that we want to do is
when I have the following, if you're a
photographer, you're so when I have this camera, then I will do that. When I have this lens
there and I'll do that. If you're a cook, probably
you'd want to say that when I have
this ingredient, then I'll do that. When I have this type
of a cooking utensil, then I will do that. Even though this raisins or there's nice that you have
might be justifiable. That does not stop you
from developing yourself. Don't ever put any barrier or an excuse to why you
should not grow. I have a friend, one of my friends who's an
exceptional photographer. One of my friends
who genuinely got me into the whole space actually off shooting
celebrities. In South Africa. One of the things that he, one of our first encounters
rather that we met up on. By the way, he was one
of the people whom I reached out to by Instagram. And it just so happened that literally 30 minutes
after I texted him, he was like, Hey, by the way, I'm literally not
too far from you. So come over, let's have a
meal together. Let's talk. Or so. Happy. Grab my bag, got my guy,
grabbed everything, took my portfolio, and I
went to impress the guy. And literally when we met, he was genuinely from a shoot and he came with
some of his clients. And I think there we're
just going to greet me, an amazing guy. We had a really good time. He was inspiring me and talking a lot about some things that are yet to share
with you shortly. And it was just amazing, right? So I looked at the guy's work. Obviously I'd done my
research on him and he was taking a
phenomenal on photos. Photos that which is beyond my comprehension as to how
that even compose that. He took out his camera and
when it took out his camera and notice that his camera well, let's just say that it was
about five to six years old. There was an old old model
and our shook to the call. I asked them broke. Is this like your extra
camera or is this your main camera that you do all those celebrity shoots with? And he told me that this is
the only camera that I have. All the pictures that you see. I genuinely shoot
them right here. Bear in mind that
this guy is one of the leading photographers in
the country, South Africa. But he's using a camera that's
more than five years old. The people that
photographers who are using way more recent
cameras and all of that. But the store, don't they still don't stem
the match against them. I asked them generally the
how how do you even do this? And then he he he he
genuinely just told me that I didn't put excuses. When it comes to excellence. Wherever I touch a truce
to make that thing, my craft to be excellent. So that's what I want us
as well to have, right? That's the kind of attitude that you need to have if you're going to be one of the
best in your craft, what a cooking, whatever it is. Don't make up excuses why you just cannot
develop your craft. You might be limited.
Yes, guesswork. It happens to all of us. Guess what? It's part of the process. Guess what, how you respond to that limitation
will determine how far you will go in
your crops excellence, how far you go in the whole industry that it is
that you're interested in. It's not the indicator
of how far you go. It's not gonna be seen in the
type of gear that you get. Granted. That is important
and I assure you that once things can, you know, things are doors open if we are definitely recommend that
you improve your gear and all of that just for the sake of your productivity
maybe or speed. But your creativity is mostly seen in the way you respond to the limitations
that face you.
5. Your Mindset: The next point, which follows
up on my previous point, has got to do with your mindset. If you're going to be one
of the best in your field, then you need to be
the best in your mind. Many of the problems that
we face in our crusts have got absolutely
nothing to do with the external
environment that we're in and everything to do
with what's going on up here as all sitting
and having a meal with this photographer
friend of mine also generally asking the
question because by the way, he's his bio on Instagram students who use
a celebrity photographer. Quite frankly, yes, he is. He just shoots celebrities. That's how he is. Just influencers with more
than a 100 thousand followers and all that's his zone. I remember asking him How
did you even achieved that? And he sat me down and
just told me that. Michael it's all
about your mindset. If you believe that up here, if you believe that
you're not good enough, results will display or whatever is going
on in your brain. Hormone. That from the very beginning
when I got into this space, I told myself that I'm just going to be
shooting celebrities. And even though this was
very risky and then shooting celebrity use it
means if celebrated or Mu1 due to ship them, you have no clients. And that's generally
what happened with them. But what did that do
that push them further. Push them further to keep
developing his craft, keep on being better and better, and better and better. And that's exactly
what he has been. Dorian is excelling so well. How far will you go? Ultimately comes
back to what do you envision in your mind? Yeah. You said that you
want to get into the cooking world
and all of that. But for what goal? What do you see about yourself? Do you see and do you
believe that you are great? Did you see and do
you believe that you are one of the best cooks? Now? Granted, maybe your skill level might not yet reflect that now. But if you keep on filling it in your mind and you
don't stop there, you don't stop being, you don't stop just
visualizing in there, you put action to that mindset. You will get there. Might not be in one day. Definitely not
maybe not one week? Yes. Even not one month. In some cases, maybe
not even one year. But you will get there. Because whenever
action meets flawed, It's always amazing results. So work on that, work
on your mindset. One of the things
that I love doing actually is something
called visualization, which is, I have an idea. I just would be truly see
whatever it is that I desire. If I see myself, for example, as a celebrity photographer, just take a moment, maybe just two seconds. I close my eyes and I see myself shooting pictures
of celebrities. I see myself doing that
and see myself doing that. Why keep on doing that? The mom getting
comfortable with the idea that I am going to
be one of the best. I am going to be
one of the best. And if I put my accent and I start training like
one of the best, I started behaving
like one of the best. I said are using homes
that one of the best use. That's one of the
most effective, one of the most powerful ways in which you can
develop your craft.
6. Making The Most Of Each Client-The Retainer Method: Now with proper application of all that I've shared
with you so far, you definitely ready
definitely ready for you to take your
first official client. Now, over the years, what I'll do whenever
I have a client does this move from client to
client to client to client. And unfortunately, this
is one of the ways in which most people still
do their businesses, freelancers or conduct there. Something that
they're passionate about and I'm making
money out of it. They still move from client to client to client to client. But I later learned that that was not a
very smart approach. The smartest approaches we
can have when you do it if clients is rather not focusing on your next client and then the next client
and then the next client. Rather focusing on one
client that you have. What does that mean? I know mindful like, Hey, if I focus on
just one client, I'll make less money. Not quite. This technique is called
a retain a system. Retainer system works is
like this subtle view, moving from one
plant to the next. Next, you focus on one client. You work out an agreement
between you and the client such that it's
more like contract honestly. Such that the this one client that you've received
keeps coming back for you or other keeps
coming back to you and keeps coming back
to you for your services, obviously, at a
discounted price. Example. Let's say that you into
the catering business, you cook and events
and all of that. And let's say, after
doing things for people, number of times for free, one of the people call
you back and I like, Hey, I'm interested in this. I'm interested in
you cooking for us. We're having an
event at a wedding or something like that. And then what do you do? And you ask them the price and
then they're like, Okay, we'll give you say for
example, $500. Cool. No problem. Now, what most people would do is take my $500 and
then it's over. I can focus on another thing, but rather they retain a system, says this, work out, an agreement with that client, call them, talk to them, get their opinion as well
into the whole agreement. What God, something around
this lines that, Hey, I genuinely loved
working with you and I can give you a
10% discounted rate. If you can sign an agreement or a contract with me that
for the next six months. Whenever you have weddings or
whenever you have any wind, whenever you have an event, you are going to call
to me, strictly me. Now, what does that give you? That gives you one, The one thing that
most freelancers are seeking for button
never find security. You actually know that for the next six months you have this amount of money
that's going to come. You know that for
the next six months, you don't need to be jumping from client to client to client. You know that for sure
there is money coming. There's nothing more frustrating
when you're a freelancer than the unknowing off. There's nothing more
frustrating as a videographer than not knowing
if money WorldCom, or will not come that month. But with a retainer system, it gives you exactly that, the security of knowledge. Now, the second is it gives you the ability to
develop even your gear. Well, you know how I spoke just a few minutes ago about
the security of knowledge. Well, with the
security of knowledge, you can have the security
of a healthy budget. Healthy budget
referring to a budget that does not have
many expenses, simply, it has saved expenses
and assets for the company. What this means is this, if you know for sure that the
next month I'll be making, for example, $2 thousand from just my cooking
and all of that. It means what can you do? You can actually even invest
in some cooking utensils. If you're a photographer,
you can invest in some even more powerful lenses, some more powerful
cameras, for example. Because you know for sure that this is going to
happen at this point. And that way. Now bear in mind that you're
still doing all of this with the help and
assistance of one client. Imagine if you could just have ten clients with whom we
have very Tina system with. Imagine the impact that
would have on your business. What skin it per levels
that are definitely unseen. In the beginning, myself,
being a freelancer, I would go from client
to client to client to client was very frustrating. Every month felt like
a new beginning. If and if I'd had an amazing
month where the client had just been willing to pay
crazy amount of money. That was so short-lived
because as soon as the client is gone,
so it's the money. But then the retainer system
changed everything for me. And I was able to move from
making just a couple of $100 to hundreds of thousands. Doubtless, genuinely.
All because of what? All because of simply using
this retain a method.
7. The Value Of Your Time: Now the next thing
as well that you definitely want to address is gonna be the value of your time. And this again has got to do as well as
personal experience in this field that when I was starting off everything for me, I never saw the
value of my time. I always felt that as long as I'm doing
what I'm what I love, which is shooting videos,
shooting pictures. I'm happy. And I'll do it for an infinite
amount of times. In fact, we even have
a saying that says that if you do what you love, you will never work as single day in your
life, meaning time. You lose track of time because you're
doing what you love. But then I might not agree
with too much with this. I think that is some
element of truth in it. But then to some extent as well, It's not that true in the sense that when you're doing it from a place of also making money
and you have bills to pay. There are times when generally speaking, it's raining outside, you are tired, you are ill, but you still have
to do it. Why? Because if you don't do
it, you will make money. There in lies the problem. Your business needs to
be separate from you. Your business needs operate
independently of your time. You need to realize
that your time is the most valuable
asset that you can ever have on planet F. I don't
know if I'm planet mass, that will be different, but while we're still
on planet Earth, Your time is the
most valuable asset. Not money. No, no, no, no, not many. And never, ever trading
your money for your time. It's never a good deal. If you were to lose a
thousand dollars right now. In a few years, maybe
in a few months, maybe even a few days as well. It's still possible, but
with the right idea, the right implementation
and dedication, you can make back the $1000. But if you were to lose a thousand dates to
lie flat on your bed, sick and hospital
with thousand days. Those days can never come back. No amount of money can buy
bag event a single minute. Yeah. Let that sink in for a while. What does this mean? It
means the way that you treat your time has got to change. What makes a difference
between an average somebody to somebody who is an
expert in their field, ultimately comes down to the
how they use their time, how they cherish their time, how they value their time. Because the thing
about people as this pupil will value
what you value. If you as a service deliverer, do not value your time. Your customers, your clients themselves will not
value your time. You need to think from
that perspective, even the way that you
set up your prices, you should sit them up from
the perspective of yes, there's the aspect of the
gear that you are using. All of that, but above all else, the value of your
time. Think about it. If I were to bring an expert
and the camera world, put them right here,
and then I bring somebody who's an amateur,
complete amateur. Put them right here,
put them side-by-side, give them the same
equipment, right? Who do you think
people will go to? The expert or the amateur? They have same levels of get the expert. Why are the expert? It's actually because of
the amount of time that the expert has invested
in the camera. Therefore, the value of time
invested in their expert. That's why he's pricing
will still be higher. That's why people
will trust him. Same thing that happens
in hospitals where, you know, a story goals of
a surgeon who to surgeons. One was an expert. The ad I just
graduated and a man was about to be cut
open and his body. And he was asked,
which one do you want? Somebody who's been in this
field for the past 50 years, been cutting people out. And then there's another
one who just graduated. Yeah. He was good at this
stuff is very, very good. Who do you want to
operate on you? And what did when experienced. No doubt why. Time. It's got to do with time. So cherish your time, use your time wisely and
people will value your time. The second part about
valuing your time has got to do with mustering. The second part of valuing
your time has got to do with making sure that
your business is able to function on its
own separate from you. That is, automation. Automation is simply a process that would see your company keep on working without you keep him on having
to push and push, and push and push. What I mean by that is this. Let's say, for example, that you're into the whole space of videography, for example, you definitely might
want to consider things like streaming services, like, for example, YouTube
going on YouTube, as well as a way of making even more money from
what you already love. Something that can
keep on generating money even when you are asleep. Because strip, should
there ever come a day where you are
definitely not able to go for issued that should not affect overall your
financial ability. Your business has got to
be separate from, you. Don't ever tie your business. Don't ever tie your business. Your time. There are many things
that can happen in life that are beyond
your control. Some of these things will
definitely take your time. And what happens bend to your
business in that moment. Does it all come tumbling down? Something that you've
been building for the past maybe 510 years now. All tumbling down simply
because you have to tie the business to use this digital
age that we live in now, there are so many, so many ways in which you can definitely think about
or wipe out your craft, such that you see to it that your craft still
generates income for you, even though you are not directly involved in
the day-to-day of it. Example, as I've
said in the case of videography,
probably be YouTube. If for example, you, I've vocalist or maybe you love conversations made you
considering making a podcast. If you're a cook, maybe are considering making anything that can be sold
online and just keep ones. It would it would
keep on marketing for you doing some of
those Facebook ads or any of that
without you having to keep on telling people all
the time that I can cook, I can go, I can
go, I can do that. You are allowing the
whole process of automation to do all
of that for you. So this is another very crucial point that
I'll definitely give you to hold
onto and to cherish.
8. Getting Regular Feedback: Now the other thing is, well that I'll
definitely say it's so important for you to note and to hold onto is getting
regular feedback. Yes, yes, yes. I might sound like a broken
record here because I mentioned about getting
feedback really, really early on when you got into your career
or what do you got into this whole aspect
of making money? Through your craft,
through your family, through your friends
and all of that. But then what I've noticed as, as time progresses, as we continue developing
in our crafts, as we get Klein's and more kind and bigger projects
and bigger projects, very few of us continue to be consistent in
getting feedback. Now here, maybe I might not advice too
much for you to get, to be getting feedback from
your friends and your family. Rather, I'd advise
you to be getting feedback from experts
in the field. By now. You know people in
the whole game. If you're a cook, you know people in your world of cooking. If you're a
photographer, you know people in the world
of photography. So get in touch with them. Let them criticize your work. Let them interpret
your work for you. Let them just to see the
world through their lens. You never know just how
much that can shape you and help you understand
your craft much better. As saying goes that a person
who lives in one village, that person who has never
gotten to travel the world. That person is the one who knows the least about the
village in which they state. The point being that
when you travel, when you see different
parts of the world, and then you come back to the same village where
you grew up from. You are able to know that
village way better. Why? Because you have
traveled, because you've seen different
perspectives. And when you come back you
have a reference point. So that's what happens as well. When you ask feedback, It's
almost as if you're wearing somebody else's I, I
spectacles, eyeglasses. And you're able to see from
a different angle that, oh, Swami photographer who is more of a portrait photographer. What type of portrait
photography? Maybe a bit moody. That's my style,
That's what I love. Why moody? And then it gets even
more foundational, more fundamental because of something that happened
vessels growing up. Because I'm longing
for this in the world, because there's a
sense of justice that I'm trying to portray. All these things. Some of them you cannot
learn all on your own. Yes. It's nearly impossible
for you to succeed as a loner in the whole world. For sure you definitely need
somebody to help you out. That's for sure. So find such an individual,
don't flock alone. We usually say that
there's a saying that says Basil,
the same feather. Flock together. Yeah, flock together. Even if you're cooking,
flock, find your flock. It's not everybody
who you should be flocking width, that's for sure. But if there are people for
whom, if you interact with, you will learn things from and all accelerate
your growth. Waymo and the kind of criticism
that they can give you. If the kind of criticism
that's healthy, it's not to put you down, It's not to take you down on, I'll just see you knock succeed. It's rather to push
you to be better. It's rather to point out things to take you
to another level, help you understand
your craft even better. And I want to assume
that you also get the privilege to do
that for them as well. And that's how we grow together.
9. Choosing Your Friends Carefully: And that brings me to
the next part which is choosing carefully
who your friends are. Yes, as I was just saying you now and talking about
the value of criticism. Truth is we live
in a world that is so full of all types of people. There are some who definitely would want to be
pulling you down, would just genuinely just
love to see you fail. But then there are some
who genuinely would just love to see you succeed. How will you know
the difference? Well, if genuinely in
the way that they are willing to communicate to you that a lot of hinders there, a lot of pointers. Now we'll show you
which people are definitely for you and which
people lie against you. It does pay for you to take the time to study that
a lot of people have been cut shot in their passions are in the
hobbyist or whatever it is that we're passionate
about and we're trying to genuinely
make a business out of. They were cut off from that because of this
one simple thing, because they were not able to
distinguish who were there, real friends and who
were not deference. So take time to study that, take time to find out
who are really for you. And that's the beauty right
there about networking. When you network with people, you're able to know them, but you're able to
know what they're for, what are their values? What do they believe in a loyal people or
can I trust them? I've had people in
my career where I didn't really know that
this person is talented. I can learn from them, but I do not want to
be associated with this person when it comes
to any business whatsoever. Why? Because they, they're
just not loyal people. And you need to be, as
it's not being rude. It's just you being
frank with yourself. Because many people have
been hurt in the process of just wanting to
deny the facts. The facts are not all
people are loyal. And if you find yourself associated with somebody
who's not loyal, you're in big trouble
because it means that one, there'll be sharing the things that they shouldn't be sharing. Maybe you're planning
on making a project. And they could potentially
didn't ruin some sponsorships, rent some big, big
projects for you. Because there'll be
sharing them with people whom they should not
be showing it with. Secondly, it's also just about the safety
of your own work. For some people, they might
have instill your work, the might've been
steal your ideas. It does matter. The kind of people
really associate with it does matter that kind of interaction that
you have around you wanted to be a
healthy environment. An environment
that pushes you to propel environment or pushes
you to the next stage. And all.
10. Be Free To Express Yourself: And another point that you
definitely want to consider is being free from people's
opinions about you. Now if you're stepping
out and you're willing to do whatever craft that
you're passionate about. This is definitely something
that you're going to encounter and you need
to be free from this. Many people never get to fully express the creative
that's inside of them. Because what other people are, because what other people
think of them is way too valuable to them than what
they think of themselves. As long as you adopt
to this mindset, you will never reach
the fullness of your potential.
Because guess what? There will always be people
looking at your work. There will always be
there such people. What matters is your
attitude in front of this pupil unit to
know that ultimately, you owe it to yourself to
fully express yourself. Nobody else but you
do that for yourself. First. Forget about the pupil. The always be naysayers, to always be people who
just want to take you down, which just want to speak bad up on your work
or any of that, but they don't define you. You get to decide how
far you want to go. Don't give up. Don't give them the power. Don't really give
the power to them. You are in control. Use the power, use your
power. Use your control.
11. Conclusion & Class Project: So thank you guys so much
for watching this course. I hope that you've learned some valuable things that are definitely going to help you in your field and help you develop it and help you take
it to the next level. For your class project, I want you to just apply all these techniques are all the steps that
I've mentioned. And I'd love to get your
reviews about them. I'd love to get from you guys what are the things that
you guys have begun? And what are you doing? What are some projects
that you're working on? A genuinely love to get
your feedback on that. And all the best. Cheers.
Michael Tsehlo, Entrepreneur & Programmer
