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After several years of college, one year of grad-school, and several hard years of working, I found myself in the field of media production, making money using the current technology to produce content for my clients.

Even in college I went through a few years working with tape-to-tape editing systems.  Video editing  thenwas limited, time consuming and unforgiving.  During my senior year of college technology began to change – and  changed quickly .  Near the end of the year we were being cross trained on ‘non-linear’ video editors , a radical and exciting shift in concept when it came to editing video .  Only two years later when I went to grad school , they had done away with all linear tape-to-tape editing systems and replaced them with the newest technology in video editing .

So  began a process that seemed like it had no end .   The technology changes and advancements  are so wide-ranging and so rapid that even we professionals in the world of media have a stressful  time keeping up. Even after choosing a specific platform and software , the upgrades  to the software  are enough to keep us in constant ‘training’ mode. 

For small business owners, this can be a difficult undertaking . We find ourselves in a sort of “catch 22″.   If we put in the focus, money and training necessary to become a guru  of a certain  field, we have  to let go of other areas where growth is as steady  and unrelenting.  Eventually we get left behind and before long we cannot  give  our clients the level of quality that they rightfully require .  The second option  is equally as problematic .   By spacing  our time out we risk becoming a jack of all trades, but expert  of none.

The work I do for my clients is exacting and precise. They come to me when they need high quality video or media production that is on the cutting edge in every area.  The clients want our content to keep up with the trends of a media-savvy world. The latest trends in Hollywood and on the major networks rapidly  become the trends our clients expect to see being developed by  small video production businesses  all over America where one person is doing the work  of twenty at the big networks.  In order to get top clients , I have to be at the top of my game in graphic design, in HD Video Acquisition, in the creative  editing of their production , and in the presentation  of their finished work.

It’s an almost  impossible feat  to finish , not to mention a very costly  process to keep up with purchasing all the most recent technology .  Only a short time ago  I could easily budget  for expenses in hardware and software upgrades once a year or every two years. Today  if I waited two years I would be starting from ground zero .  As soon as  I purchased the fastest, most impressive computer for  video editing  than the giants in media content creation come up with the newest  in video acquisition, which requires a better , quicker  computer to manage  it. It’s an unending, unrelenting, and completely frustrating  circle of change that doesn’t seem to end  .

So in such dire  circumstances, what is the best case solution ?  The answer is not a solution by any stretch .  It’s a matter of making a choice, and then learning to make that choice work.  In my situation  I felt the decision  was – stay relevant or die.  The process  of course would be more difficult.

For a long time I pretty much worked solely by myself . Most of the work  I did I could finish  almost entirely by myself . The projects  may have taken a little longer, but from start to finish  I was completely  responsible for the finished  product. When it became evident  that would no longer work I made some difficult  choices.  Keeping in mind  it would affect  my income for a time, I decided to hire  professionals to manage  different areas of content development .  I no longer had the time to create  original content in graphic design – so I found  someone better than me in the first place.  It was more costly , but I also began creating  higher quality  graphic design content than before.  I started  renting the high quality  equipment on video shoots instead of just using the old paid off equipment .  It was more  costly , but in no time  I was giving  products to my clients captured with the best technology available (reasonably speaking ).   My decision basically came down to Hiring UP.  Anything I didn’t do, I hired someone better than me to do it.  There were times I had to swallow my pride to do it, but I reminded myself that I was in reality  becoming a producer – and that the final product ultimately reflected back on me – and so a high quality  product would only make the company look better.

Did it work?  It did.  It’s still an expensive process – more than I’d like to mention , but that process is also bringing in bigger clients with deeper pockets.  I’m dedicating myself to continual  and consistent training in all areas of production. I have to be careful not to let new technology slip by me  to the point where I cannot  maintain a creative control or lack the knowledge to understand my creative options.  But I know now that I cannot  manage all areas of production with the know how  that my clients should expect .  The technology growth  is simply too quick .  If my Nashville video production company doesn’t grow equally with these changes, I risk being left behind, selling typewriters in an time  of laptops.

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