Video marketers will find success in a well-planned production that boasts the same behind-the-scenes organization as a Hollywood production. The pre-production stage of your video is just as important as the filming stage. The more organized you are, the fewer blunders you will encounter on the days you shoot. A solid pre-production plan—crew requirements, location specifics and prop sources—will greatly influence the quality of your final product. Here are some essential pre-production filmmaking tips and techniques from which you can benefit:

Hire a Crew

Firstly, hire an assistant producer who will organize the small, but important, details that are necessary measures for a successful production. The assistant producer can help you assess which crew members are key — as an example, how many cameramen, gaffers and grips are necessary and whether or not it is imperative that you have a director. If you can utilize your assistant producer as a director, that would be ideal, as it would reduce labor costs. If the assistant producer cannot direct, find a cinematographer who has an intuitive eye and won’t need ample direction. Speak with your assistant producer about the vision you have for the film and iron out what the production schedule will look like. The assistant producer can create a succinct schedule and detail-oriented call sheets for the project, while you focus on the vision and creative content for the shoot.

Location Scouting

Decide what sort of site will work best for your script and visit the site at the time of day you will shoot your video. Assess the various factors that lie within the environment, like variance of light, volume of traffic noise, the volume and frequency of people who pass by and the amount of businesses and residential structures that are nearby. If there are nearby businesses or homes, make sure you have an official handout that will explain the site and times of your production so they can prepare. Assess how accommodating your site will be for your power supplies and where the nearest power source lies. Also evaluate the area for cell phone reception, parking, and the nearest electronic store in case you need an emergency cable or adapter. Make sure the location won’t require a permit or legal permission for a video shoot. Take photos of the location, with accompanying notes, and share them with your assistant producer, director and cinematographer.

Props

Enliven your set through the use of props. Arrange with your director or assistant producer what props you will need and how accessible they are. For a smaller budget production, utilize props that you already own. You can also find affordable props at a second hand store or may obtain permission to borrow merchandise from a local shop. If a retail vendor loans you their merchandise, make sure you have a contract that entails the ramifications if the item becomes damaged and an agreed lease period. If you require any food props, visit local businesses and see if they will donate their food for the project. Utilize the Internet for prop order, as it will be the most convenient method for your prop accrual. For example, if you must incorporate flowers, browse flower arrangements online and have them delivered. Etsy is another wonderful online resource, as you can communicate and work with talented artists for custom prop design.

If you run your small business out of your house, you are probably used to wearing many hats. To keep your home-based business afloat, you are a combination of chief executive officer, human resources manager, accountant and overall organization expert. You might also juggle other responsibilities related to your home office, like general cleaning and outdoor maintenance.

While you like being involved in every aspect of your home business, there are days when you struggle to get everything done. In addition, some tasks are not in your proverbial wheelhouse, which means you spend too much time trying to master these important jobs when you should be tackling other projects.

In cases like these, it definitely pays to outsource. In addition to being a cost-effective way to get everything done, it’s also a terrific way to ensure that you do not stretch yourself too thin and that all tasks are completed in a competent and timely manner. For example, check out the following four suggestions:

Accounting, Bookkeeping and Finances

As The Self Employed notes, accounting, bookkeeping and related tasks tend to be very detailed and time-consuming projects. As a work-at-home professional, you also have to keep very detailed records to complete your taxes. Rather than tearing your hair out trying to keep tabs on all of your finances, it makes sense to hire an accountant who can help with this important area of your business, and also complete your typically-complicated tax returns for you. In order to make sure your sensitive financial information is not being compromised, you may also wish to enlist the help of a monitoring service. Instead of spending tons of time watching your accounts looking for possible problems, a monitoring service constantly watches your business checking, savings and credit card accounts and will alert you if anything is amiss.

Website Design

In order to reach as many customers as possible, you should definitely have a snazzy-looking website. While your local bookstore probably has plenty of books that will teach the average Jo or Joe how to make a website in one weekend, in reality it’s a pretty challenging task. Consider hiring a website designer who can create an eye-catching site for your business, and also provide ongoing support services. This way, if a customer calls in and says she cannot place an order because the site has crashed, you don’t have to drop everything you are working on to fix it — the website designer will handle it.

Virtual Assistant

If you find that you are spending hours a day answering emails, preparing and sending out invoices and other necessary but time consuming tasks, it may be time to hire a virtual assistant. As Kashoo notes, virtual assistants can handle these necessary “time suck” tasks with ease, leaving you free to tackle work projects, client meetings and business proposals. Most virtual assistants are independent contractors who work from their homes for a variety of clients; if you wish to have in-person contact, you might find a local assistant who will come to your home office and tackle time consuming tasks in person.

Housekeeping and Yard Work

If you have clients coming to your home office on a regular basis, you want to be sure your home’s exterior is well-manicured and you don’t have stacks of dishes in the sink. In order to make sure your home is looking clean and clutter free — which will also help to keep you feeling calm and relaxed — consider hiring housekeeping and landscaping services. This will free up some much needed time in your schedule and help you to spend your downtime relaxing and not feeling the need to de-clutter the coffee table or mow the lawn.

Employees are the lifeblood of a company, and a few bad hires can make or break a small business.  Hiring is a hard problem.  Even Google admits that they haven’t found a single best predictor for hiring the right person.   The normal approach companies take to deal with the problem is to try to attract the highest quality applicants in the first place so they have a higher probability of finding a good employee.  For this reason, companies have been showering their employees with perks: Cisco Systems offers free physical therapy and acupuncture, Southwest Airlines provides free flights for all employees and their families, and Yahoo gives discounts to ski resorts and amusement parks for their employees.

But what makes hiring such a difficult problem in the first place?  Neither parties on either side of the interview table have perfect, or even good information!  Hiring managers find it difficult to isolate qualities that tell them a candidate would be a great employee.  Applicants find it difficult to know whether or not they would be a good fit at and enjoy working for the company they’re applying to.  As Paul Oyer and Scott Schaefer put it in “Personnel Economics,” “the fundamental economic problem in hiring is one of matching with costly search and bilateral asymmetric information.”  Basically, the process is expensive and uncertain.

The goal for hiring becomes where can you find good employees as well as how to identify metrics that accurately predict the success of an employee.

Using Personal Networks

Networking, especially for startups and small companies, is often the most effective way to find qualified candidates for open job positions.  Networking presupposes a familiarity with the candidate in question, giving the interviewer more insight on them.  Implementing an employee referral program, where employees are rewarded for bringing successful job candidates to the company, is a fantastic way to improve the quality of your hiring practices.  Studies have shown that referred candidates outperform normal candidates at every stage of the hiring process and experience better cultural fits at companies once hired, setting the stage for future success at the company.  In fact, referrals now result in more than a quarter of all hires at large companies, a startling number when you consider that referrals compose only 6% of nationwide job applicants, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and MIT

Turning to Online Resources

Once a company’s personal networks have been combed through for applicants, it may be necessary to find other sources of applicants.  One of the most common solutions is to turn to a job board, such as HotJobs.com or Monster.com, to expand your company’s outreach.  Job boards can advertise your company to a lot of different candidates at once.  More sophisticated ones help you implement screening questions that will automatically filter unqualified candidates from your posting.  There is also less of a chance for discrimination when compared to networking; job boards are available worldwide 24 hours a day whereas personal networks have a tendency to attract similarly thinking people to certain companies and reduce diversity.  However, job boards flood a company with potential candidates, and if you don’t have a recruitment department or enough time and resources to evaluate all the candidates the process quickly becomes unmanageable.

Is this a “job”?

Finally, think critically about the job position you are looking to fill.  Is this an integral part of the companies mission?  Would this position fit well into the company’s structure and culture?  Building a department or new team can be expensive and difficult.  Before you choose to hire an employee, determine whether or not it may be better to outsource the work.  Lots of roles can be easily outsourced: marketing, manufacturing, digital marketing, advertising, and more.  Although there is risk associated with the lack of control, outsourcing can be a quick and cheap option for accomplishing a company’s tasks.  

Who is a good candidate?

Although it’s difficult to isolate specific qualities that indicate who is and is not qualified, remember that good employees exhibit several key traits.  The first is a strong work ethic.  You want employees that take pride in their work and perform at a high level, putting forth their best effort.  Also look for a positive attitude and exceptional communication skills.  Work is a collaborative environment where all employees work together to serve their market.  Employees that can interact easily and positively magnify their efficiency and create a more satisfying work environment.  Additionally, previous experience and a demonstrated expertise in the skillset you need is often the most valuable characteristic of a qualified candidate.  Experience is very valuable as it saves your company money during training and increases the value a candidate can bring to their department.  Finally, loyal and reliable candidates often become the best employees.  They are consistent, stable, and show an interest in developing a long-term career with your company.

Hiring practices are often the most important processes at a company.  Who you hire affects your company culture and the productivity of your departments.   It sets the future course of the business and can often be the difference between success and failure.  For this reason its important to have a robust process in place that effectively screens candidates and makes sure you have the right people walking in the door.

The Entrepreneur Authority is a group of franchise consultants dedicated to helping you own and operate your own franchise.  There are a lot of perks that come from becoming an entrepreneur and engaging in the franchise business model.  If you would like to explore opportunities in franchising and know more about the possibilities, contact the Entrepreneur Authority today for a no-cost, no-obligation, no-pressure consultation or call 866.246.2884 to speak with one of our FRANtastic consultants.  You can also attend our free monthly webinar, “Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.” Just click on the link to register!

The food industry is in a state of rapid change, with the rise of fast casual dining leading the way.  Fast casual restaurants are the most rapidly expanding sector of the restaurant industry, and chains make up 95% of all establishments according to Technomic .  There are a lot of opportunities for franchisees to jump into a dynamic industry, but it’s important to stay on top of the top restaurant trends in 2016.  Customers are changing they way they eat more frenetically than ever, and businesses will have to work hard to keep up.

Nutrition

2016 may be the tipping point in the fight against American’s unhealthy lifestyles.  The World Economic Forum has previously rated the United States 43rd in the Health and Wellness of its citizens, the worst among all major (and many minor) industrialized nations.  Americans have known for a long time they were promulgating unhealthy eating habits, and the lesson seems to slowly be sinking in.  Researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health recently created a healthy eating scorecard evaluating the quality of Americans’ diet over the past two decades.  The country’s score has improved 10 points, moving from 39.9 to 48.2 (with 100 being a perfect score).  Restaurants are adapting to this trend: 65% of chefs said nutrition was hot trend in 2016.

Local Sourcing of Ingredients

Along with the health eating trend comes an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients.  Customers are starting to decide where to eat based on where the food came from, and local is king.  44% of chefs say that local sourcing is the food trend that has grown the most this last decade, and even national brands are making this a selling point.  Chipotle’s brand image is built on its “Food with Integrity” commitment, where it sources the majority of their ingredients through their local grower initiative.  Even brands like Subway, Taco Bell, and Noodles and Co. are eschewing artificial flavorings for naturally raised ingredients, while providing healthier options on their menus.

A More Adventurous Palate Means More Opportunities

Americans are losing their picky eating habits.  Ethnic flavors and cuisine have seen an explosion in popularity these recent years, with customers dining on chili spices, fermented ingredients, vegetarian spreads, and more.  While this is good for variety, it is sure to put pressure on larger restaurants to constantly innovate and source new ingredients to keep up with changing trends.

Future Trends

An emphasis on the environmental sustainability of a restaurant’s ingredients and operations is expected to be a big issue in coming years.  Already, 41% of chefs say that it is the trend that will grow the most in the next 10 years.  Restaurants will be looking to reduce water use, food waste, and encourage responsible ingredient production.  In addition to an environmental focus, expect global flavors arriving on your dinner plate as African and Middle Eastern staples become mainstream in America.

2016 is a great year for variety in restaurants: both in the food they serve and the way they serve it.  If you’re interested in operating a restaurant, consider becoming a franchisee of a successful brand.  There are a lot of perks that come from becoming an entrepreneur and engaging in the franchising business model.  If you would like to explore opportunities in franchising and know more about the possibilities, contact the Entrepreneur Authority today for a no-cost, no-obligation, no-pressure consultation or call 866.246.2884 to speak with one of our FRANtastic consultants.
You can also attend our free monthly webinar, “Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.” Just click on the link to register!

 

Networking is an integral part of any business endeavor.  Building a strong network means making connections with a group of people that can provide you with advice, opportunities, social capital, and most importantly, business for both you and your contact.  Unfortunately, many people don’t network effectively or have reservations approaching peers; in fact, a ComRes poll has shown that 62% of British adults have never attended a networking event, and 51% of those that have report feeling uncomfortable while networking.

Although understandable, there’s no reason why you should be nervous or tense at a networking event.  Remember, networking should ideally be a mutually beneficial activity, a “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” relationship.  With that said, let’s take a look at some principles to keep in mind while networking.

Have a goal in mind

Ask yourself why you’re reaching out and trying to create new business contacts.  Perhaps you’re trying to build a new client base, or exploring an industry you aren’t familiar with.  You could be new to an area and seeking employment or partnership opportunities.  It might be as simple as looking for advice from experienced peers for your business endeavor.  The key is to enter into a networking event with a clear goal of what you want.  That way, you don’t find yourself lacking purpose and therefore drive to connect with others.

Build a Target List of Contacts

It isn’t feasible to network with everyone in your industry, so you have to be discriminating in which relationships you invest time.  Using your goal as a guide, create a list of people you feel it would be valuable to reach out to.  A valuable contact is someone who is interested in helping others solve a problem, and who you can provide help as well.  Remember, the goal is not to have the largest stack of business cards possible at the end of the night.  It is much more important to have a number of smart, helpful people who you can engage in a mutually beneficial partnership with.

Build Candid, Reciprocal Relationships

Networking is supposed to build give and take relationships so both sides feel like they are gaining from the encounter.  This requires that you be a good listener, and a good sharer.  First of all, ask your contact about the basics to get the conversation started: What does your company do? What is your customer base?  What sets you apart from the competition?  Don’t hesitate to discuss aspects of and issues with your business as your candor is generally rewarded.  Try not to keep it all business and connect with the other person in a more personal way: discuss your kids, hobbies, or your terrible jump shot.  This makes you memorable and more than just a number in a contact book.

Maintain Your Relationships

The most important part of networking is to maintain those relationships you’ve spent so much time developing.  After connecting with someone, send them a thank-you note, set up a meeting, forward them interesting information, or bring them new business.  If you have high-quality contacts they will respond in kind, and this back and forth forms the fundament of a strong, profitable relationship.  This is the part of networking most people don’t pay attention to.  For the same reason you have to regularly tend to your garden, you must tend to your business contacts to keep them healthy.  Don’t spam them though!  Be useful, not unhelpful.  It’s important to not burn any bridges, as you never know when somebody will be able to help you, or you to help them.  Remember the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”