The Truth About Keeping Clients (Nobody Told You Until Now) | Freelance & Creative Growth

0:00 Welcome back to the Create Podcast. I am the Jumpcut King. We're here. I am not using my iPhone, praise God, an upgrade. I decided to use a alpha sensor. It is a little bit of a cropped sensor, but it does shoot log and it should work great in this podcast environment. And of course, I had to opt for a very, very good lens. Very, very good lens. I do have some frequency issues with some of my lights, which I was very astonished with.

1:01 epic, you know, because I do this professionally and it made sense for my podcast quality to be updated. So it looks professional. Praise God, professional. Now I had a different, I have a 24 or 33 or something like that that turns into whatever because crop sensor, there's crop sensor math and I'm not mathing at the moment. But in today's podcast, we're going to talk about not just finding clients, but today we're going to talk about keeping clients.

2:02 After interviewing a lot of my clients, I discovered that a lot of them don't get the same experience. In fact, a lot of clients have hired people to do specific jobs and they just seem to fall short. Now I'm not going to rag on anyone who's freelancing, anyone that's building a company and doing this on your own. Congratulations. I'm rooting for you. I understand that it's difficult. I understand that sometimes it can be a seemingly impossible feat to try to find clients and all those kinds of things.

3:05 were doing pre-production work and we're entering production. I'm very excited. And they told me that they had hired a team to do a video. This was a year or two ago. And that team didn't involve them at all. Just kind of show up on shoot day. They shoot it. And then here's your final product. There was no pre-production work. There was no script approval, storyboard approval. There was no conversations. I mean, I've done meetings.

4:08 production. But that being said, they're getting something that they can now expect and they can now inspect. And I worked for someone for a very, very long time. And he always says, you know, you don't get what you expect, you get what you inspect. Meaning if you expect something to be done right, it's going to be done wrong unless you check in on it. Now I'm not for micromanagement, but I am saying if you don't check on something, you're not going to be able to get the most optimum experience.

5:10 a creative professional, sometimes your insights, they hire you for your insights, they hire you for some consulting work and your advice and your opinions and your experience. But sometimes you have to exchange that for the client and sometimes you have to, you know, stand your ground and consult with the client and encourage them to make wiser decisions. But at the end of the day, they're paying you, not the other way around.

6:12 worked with at that time. Not saying anything, not pointing any names, but I just know that I picked up things a little bit faster than most people just because I take things more to heart than I probably should. Not saying you should do that and go home saying you're a failure and talking to the Holy Spirit and having him encourage you. But I do say that you should definitely take people's feedback, whether it's critical feedback, which we had a great podcast on that, and I encourage you to go look at that.

7:14 but if you're an American, you're dealing with emotions and you're not dealing with logical consumers. And you can say facts and figures all you want. The facts and figures are going to help push that extra line. But if they're not comfortable with you, if they don't feel like you know what you're doing, if they don't feel like they're involved in the process, you're going to get an experience that's akin to, they might accept your work and then have it redone.

8:18 to be able to say, Hey, let's use this LUT file. We're going to use these lights. We're going to record it this way. I'm going to bring in a Hays machine and it's going to, you know, add to the cinematic flair when recording a testimonial. Okay. Not many clients are going to understand that. What they will understand is pictures. And so when I give them a storyboard, I give them a script and they're like, I don't know what the EXT is.

9:22 I generate a storyboard, which is phenomenal, phenomenal. I can't describe to you how beautiful it is for a client to look at something and understand it as opposed to, well, we could do this. We could try this and we might do this. And like, no, I also firmly believe that no amount of, uh, preparation is going to hurt you. I will say in this particular project, um, it's very condensed and I have to do a lot of late nights.

10:29 Yes. I could light it better. Yes. I could have a professional camera and you know, I'll be honest. One of the more difficult things for you as a freelancer or as someone who's a creative artist is not so much doing work for other clients. It's doing work for you. And why is that? Well, because you feel okay with taking corners, cutting corners and, you know, making different decisions that you usually wouldn't make for a client a, because the client has those extra zeros at the end of that invoice and they pay more for that involvement.

11:32 say that. However, I have looked at my own podcast and had other operators and cinematographers look at my podcast and honestly say, Hey, bruh, the lighting is terrible. What's going on here? You should buy yourself a camera. And so lo and behold, I'm here in Columbus. So I snuck over to Midwest where it's literally like, I feel like a kid in a candy shop. Like, Oh my God, I want to try everything.

12:38 cameras or low light lenses because almost everything is low light and you just, you know, add a few lights and the sensor seems to get more information. It's not always great, but if you're going to stick an F 4.0 stock lens on a camera, it's going to look like utter trash. And I will say this, um, the iPhone here, here's, here's your F 4.0 stock camera lens on any camera pretty much.

13:44 that same smartness when it comes to spending money or when it comes to building a client's, um, components you need to do on yourself. Because when I walk in now and I give a demo of my web design services, I pull up my website because a, sometimes I don't agree with clients design choices and I don't have to describe why they chose to do this. And sometimes, you know, the websites in different States, if, if, if they're editing it or they're in your control, or if it's in my control and they've asked me to do some things and it just, so I say things like it's covered by non-disclosure agreement, unless, you know, I really, really love it.

14:47 all social media to me is it's, it's interest-based media. It's content-based media. It has a purpose. I'm trying to funnel and build followers, build people. So when I launched my platform, you know, you can see it exists and you can hop onto it and enjoy the experience of The Universe, but it's not a portfolio and people are like, Oh, it's, you know, they believe in or looking at it and I have opinions and everyone can have their opinions.

15:52 stuff. And I get responses back that helps me engage in algorithm grows. And so now that I have the media, I'm like, okay, now I'm reviewing this. If a future client sees this, okay, they're going to want to know that I can film something that looks a little bit more cinematic. So I'm recording an S log and I'm going to throw it into DaVinci Resolve and do a few things and hit the export button and then match audios.

16:53 their business. And sometimes they just have a way of wanting to feel better. And sometimes you can't push back a lot. I actually worked for 15 years for people who believed in no pushback. And you're like, I'm trying to describe to you creatively. And they're like, well, I don't need your creative explanation. I just want you to do X. And I'm like, and eventually I got their respect enough to be able to say, Hey, this is why I did Y.

17:55 research. If you need to, if they're talking about some stuff, yeah, ask employees, consensuses as customers, do research. I believe in all of that. I believe in all of that. Like a full service agency of like literally one person. Now I hire cinematographers, designers, graphic artists, copywriters, blah, blah, blah, blah. But they're contractors. And so they're part of my team. But to be honest, it all starts with me and asking the right questions and kind of gaining some insight and then being able to dispatch tasks and being able to make wiser decisions because without listening to your client, just taking notes.

19:02 I did work for a client, you know, earlier this month or this year, and they loved it. They had a contract they signed and they wanted to add a few things afterwards that wasn't really going to cost me if I personally did it. But if I did it right, I'd have to bring someone in to do the specific task. And so I told them, hey, your contract says I can't do this.

20:06 less if I step in doing it, but I can step in and I don't have to charge you because it's only going to take me a couple hours. Okay. Came in, recorded, uh, VO, brought this podcast mic with me, recorded VO, put it on the track and we call it the day. And I, you know, called everyone for advice and all those kinds of things. At the end of the day, I felt the Holy Spirit lead me to do this.

21:09 all my inbox. And once a day, I go through all my spam just to make sure I'm not missing anything or anything happens. You know, God forbid, someone's like, Hey, we tried to send you the check and it wouldn't process. You're like, Oh, wait a second. Let me fix that. It went into your spam folder. So you didn't know for weeks and they're like, Hey, it's past it. Those kinds of things.

22:12 made is if I had pushed back and said, you had to pay for this, they would have felt hurt, uh, because it's an emotional response. They would have felt like I'm taking advantage of them, even though I wasn't contractually. I wasn't. And B, it wouldn't have opened up the door for this referral, which was three times, three to four times. I think it's four times what the other project was this time because of the products larger and different in the scope.

23:12 sue you, I do have that contract. I do have that ability to litigate and all kinds of things. And but if someone truly is asking for something, doesn't have the resources, doesn't have the finances, or perhaps it's just budgetary timeline restrictions and they have to get budget re-approved and stuff. You know, sometimes incorporate higher corporations and sometimes governments and, you know, they have this huge ordering process. And I'm like, it just seems simple.

24:12 and probably a lot more. We want to connect to you. And I was like, no sales work, referral, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing is the best marketing guaranteed. I know usually in a structured podcast, you have points. And I think I've said the number one thing you can do like nine times, but the important part is deliver something your client can be proud of. It doesn't have to be perfect.

25:16 lights properly. Cause to be honest, recording and log and configuring the viewfinder and it's a new device and I'm going to have to discover all of it. And I was like, I literally bought it today. And I'm like, you know what? Let me upgrade my podcast. Upgrade the experience. Hey, perfect is the enemy of good. Meaning if everything has to be perfect, everything has to be pixel perfect. You don't, can't see a stand back here because you know, I didn't move it properly because it's a different lens as opposed to lenses you have on your phone and it's wider and blah, blah, blah, blah.

26:19 all the time. I am my worst tax taskmaster, not jokingly saying, you know, Hey, I serve a terrible boss and he won't let me do that. I have to work on this. It's like, well, who's your boss? Me? Well, technically God, the father, God, the son, God, the Holy spirit. And then me, I serve him as I'm building this thing that he has put into my heart to do and doing projects to the best of my ability serves him.

27:21 you know, as a minister of the gospel minister to people who need ministry too, but also, you know, A, the wealth of wicked, sort of the righteous. And so I'd love to tap into that wealth. And B, they're out there. I'm not going to, you know, stay in my home and try to build my own little micro church. I'm going to do what God's called me to do. And some of that is to work in a secular world and to help clients.

28:25 I'll be honest, all of my new contracts have the expectation of, and this is, you know, from years ago, all the revision contracts, the expectation of we bill you for everything. We bill you for changes. We have the ability to do if a change is more than 15 minutes, we bill you for it. Well, why do you do that? Well, because it's my time. You don't, you pay a fixed project cost.

29:28 bit of discount, it feels like you're going the extra mile and you're not overcharging. They don't feel taken advantage of. They'll come back. Or if they leave, they'll keep calling you for advice until you break that, burn that bridge. And I recommend you never burn that bridge, never burn a client's bridge. Never, never make a client feel like they need to find someone else. Let them know that you can take care of it.

30:29 I've learned a whole lot more, you know, just different people and different things and S-Log and HDR and super exciting, cool stuff. Um, I did something I never thought I'd do. I broke into DaVinci Resolve and I, I used to use Avid and then I used Premiere because it was faster and broadcast world speed is important. But, um, in the cinema world or commercials, you just want things to look the way you want them to look and Premiere's Lumetri colors and it just kind of flat.

31:32 that makes sense. Oh, now this makes, oh, that's an awful channel. Okay. And all the, you know, uh, things are clicking in my head and so I'm able to do some more cool creative things. I am super excited, super excited. I think S-Log is like the best thing since sliced bread 10 bit raw or S-Log or log in in general, do it for film, do it. Don't ever, don't ever limit yourself to Rec. 709.

32:32 someone else and I can go in and I can do color correction now and open DaVinci Resolve. And oh, it's mind-blowing. But anyway, I just want to encourage you, be proud of the work you submit. Don't send something to a client that you're not proud of. Be proud of your work. Take pride in what the Holy Spirit has empowered you to do. And if you don't believe in God, take pride in the talents that God himself has endowed you to have.

33:39 kingdom and his growth and your success and your growth. Because as much as God wants the kingdom succeed, he wants you to succeed. He's always said that. Look at John 10. Read that chapter. You'll understand a little bit more. You be blessed. You be at peace. And I pray, and above all things, don't be stressed. Be proud of your work. It may take research. It may take long nights. It's okay. That's the adventure of being a professional.

34:43 So I could use your prayer. Go ahead. Send me some prayer. Love you all. You'd be blessed. Share this. Go ahead. I know not many of you see these podcasts. I see the analytics and I'm not going to stop because it's going to help you. And it's going to encourage you. And I'm going to share some information and eventually someone's going to latch onto this and it's going to encourage them and inspire them to be better and build those gifts and talents that God has for you.