For several years now I’ve made it a habit to read business periodicals as well as business books. As a business owner I feel it’s imperative to learn from those with more experience than myself, and I have to say I enjoy it more then I would have ever imagined. I keep up to date with Inc. Magazine and read between 4 and 10 business books a year. Some are good, some not so good, but I always seem to walk away with something of value.

It’s been quite some time since I was really excited about a business book, but I just finished reading one that I thought I would share. The book is called “The Knack:How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up“, and is written by Norm Brodsky, Bo Burlingham, both writers at Inc. Magazine.

The book is written in an interesting way. Throughout the book, between different topics/chapters, questions from business owners are read and answered by Norm. By writing the book in this way a diverse number of topics and questions are covered that are not necessarily covered in the book otherwise.

Topics covered include how to decide if a new business is worth pursuing, how to raise capital to start a business, non-traditional ways to compensate your sales people, ways to detect unhappy customers and make sure you don’t lose them, the decision to grow or not to grow your business and when to ask for help from other business professionals.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when Norm discusses business plans, and says that before you put any effort into a business plan you need to first come up with a life plan. Ask yourself what you want out of your life in the next 5 or 10 years, and be very detailed. Maybe it’s more money, more time for vacation, the ability to travel with your family, or maybe it’s to reach a certain milestone in your company. The point is, you can’t decide what you want out of your business until you know what you want out of life. By planning one without looking at the other you run the risk of moving further and further away from the things that actually make you happy in life. I found this especially powerful and I reflected on it for several days.

While nothing in this book is specific to the media industry, like many business books the lessons learned can easily be applied to any business. And even if you’re not a typical “business owner”, you are still in business for yourself in one way or another. Even if you have a staff position, you are still the President of your own personal company. You still need to market yourself, continue to grow and improve yourself, and at some point move onto another staff position and sell yourself again.

If you are a freelance editor, this is even more true. You don’t need to have your own facility and staff to learn and apply valuable lessons from a book like this. As a freelancer you really are out there selling yourself and your skill set everyday. Books like this one can give you an edge over your competitors.

If you’re like me and have a hard time keeping up with reading, this book is also available as an audio download from Audible.com. If it wasn’t for my iPod and Audible, I would not be able to consume as many books as I do now.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, and look forward to your comments and emails.

Ten years ago starting your own post production business was a pretty big undertaking. Just the initial investment in equipment alone could set you back over $100K for a very modest setup. Add to that the cost of office space, the build out, office furniture and equipment and business insurance, and it was out of reach for all but the most well funded entrepreneurs.

But due to the progression in technology and the drastic drop in prices, nearly anybody can open a little boutique of their own. And in fact, more and more editors are opting to leave their full time job to pursue freelance editing, while also having their own system setup in an extra room or their basement. For many post houses, filling a senior editor job has become a difficult task, with so many of the talented editors deciding to make their own path.

Have you been tempted to go this route? Have you been tempted to start your own production or post production company? It’s not for everybody, that’s for sure. Chances are you know in your gut if it’s not for you already. While on the surface it sounds great and you have visions of building your own room and keeping all of that hourly rate for yourself, there’s so much more to running a good (and profitable) business. If you want to set something up in your house and just work the room yourself, maybe there’s not much more to it, but I’m talking about the editor that wants to get an office, have more then one room, maybe a VO booth, graphics work station and so on.

Here are just a few things to consider.

• You’ll need to secure office space. Location is key, but so is the monthly rent. Will you need to sign a lease (probably) and if so for how long?
• Will you need to build out the office at all to fit your needs? Painting? Will you have to pay for this or will the landlord?
• How much furniture and office equipment will you need? What will that cost, especially if you like those Herman Miller chairs.
• You’ll need at least one phone line, two or more is better.
• How much cash will you actually need to lay out for all of the necessary gear? Sure, you can get a mac and Final Cut Pro for around 6K, but add to that a capture card, tape deck(s), audio board, speakers, lots of cables, edit monitor, client monitor, machine room rack and some really fast hard drives and suddenly you’re more around 25-100K.
• Do you have that kind of cash, or will you need to buy on credit? If credit, where will you get it? Credit cards, bank loan? What type of interest will you need to pay?
• After you’ve spent all of this money, you had better have some business insurance.
• At this level, you probably will want to incorporate your business. That will cost anywhere from $500 to $1,200 depending on who does it and to what level that handle the details. On average expect to pay about $800.

Let’s say you get past all of the hurdles above (and this is just a partial list). You now have your small little company ready to go and generate some income. And let’s say you’re the worlds best editor and being booked is not a problem (this is usually not the case if you’re just starting, even if you do have some long time clients that you’ve edited with). What do you actually know about running a business? If you’re busy editing all the time, who is actually running the business? Who handles the accounting, finding new business, keeping the equipment running, doing research on new trends? Do you need to hire an assistant editor to help out with all of the extra duties associated with editing?

One of the main reasons that so many businesses fail in the first 3 years is that they were not well designed from the ground up. In many cases, small businesses are built around a single person doing everything. But no matter how passionate you are about what you do, you WILL burn out if you don’t have a better plan going into it.

And by now you’re probably asking yourself “where’s the book Tom, I thought this was about a book”?

A few years back around the time I was starting Edit Creations I read a great book called,

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.

The book is very good at breaking down how to design your business in a way that you will have control over the business, instead of the business having control over you. While the book does not cover post houses specifically, the lessons taught can easily be applied to any business. For me it answered the question of how I go from one man editing, to a business that can sustain itself without me (something I’m still working towards, one step at a time).

The book is available on Amazon.com in paperback, and as an unabridged audio recording on Audible.com. If you’ve already read it yourself, I would be interested in hearing your feedback.

Ten years ago starting your own post production business was a pretty big undertaking. Just the initial investment in equipment alone could set you back over $100K for a very modest setup. Add to that the cost of office space, the build out, office furniture and equipment and business insurance, and it was out of reach for all but the most well funded entrepreneurs.

But due to the progression in technology and the drastic drop in prices, nearly anybody can open a little boutique of their own. And in fact, more and more editors are opting to leave their full time job to pursue freelance editing, while also having their own system setup in an extra room or their basement. For many post houses, filling a senior editor job has become a difficult task, with so many of the talented editors deciding to make their own path.

Have you been tempted to go this route? Have you been tempted to start your own production or post production company? It’s not for everybody, that’s for sure. Chances are you know in your gut if it’s not for you already. While on the surface it sounds great and you have visions of building your own room and keeping all of that hourly rate for yourself, there’s so much more to running a good (and profitable) business. If you want to set something up in your house and just work the room yourself, maybe there’s not much more to it, but I’m talking about the editor that wants to get an office, have more then one room, maybe a VO booth, graphics work station and so on.

Here are just a few things to consider.

• You’ll need to secure office space. Location is key, but so is the monthly rent. Will you need to sign a lease (probably) and if so for how long?
• Will you need to build out the office at all to fit your needs? Painting? Will you have to pay for this or will the landlord?
• How much furniture and office equipment will you need? What will that cost, especially if you like those Herman Miller chairs.
• You’ll need at least one phone line, two or more is better.
• How much cash will you actually need to lay out for all of the necessary gear? Sure, you can get a mac and Final Cut Pro for around 6K, but add to that a capture card, tape deck(s), audio board, speakers, lots of cables, edit monitor, client monitor, machine room rack and some really fast hard drives and suddenly you’re more around 25-100K.
• Do you have that kind of cash, or will you need to buy on credit? If credit, where will you get it? Credit cards, bank loan? What type of interest will you need to pay?
• After you’ve spent all of this money, you had better have some business insurance.
• At this level, you probably will want to incorporate your business. That will cost anywhere from $500 to $1,200 depending on who does it and to what level that handle the details. On average expect to pay about $800.

Let’s say you get past all of the hurdles above (and this is just a partial list). You now have your small little company ready to go and generate some income. And let’s say you’re the worlds best editor and being booked is not a problem (this is usually not the case if you’re just starting, even if you do have some long time clients that you’ve edited with). What do you actually know about running a business? If you’re busy editing all the time, who is actually running the business? Who handles the accounting, finding new business, keeping the equipment running, doing research on new trends? Do you need to hire an assistant editor to help out with all of the extra duties associated with editing?

One of the main reasons that so many businesses fail in the first 3 years is that they were not well designed from the ground up. In many cases, small businesses are built around a single person doing everything. But no matter how passionate you are about what you do, you WILL burn out if you don’t have a better plan going into it.

And by now you’re probably asking yourself “where’s the book Tom, I thought this was about a book”?

A few years back around the time I was starting Edit Creations I read a great book called,

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.

The book is very good at breaking down how to design your business in a way that you will have control over the business, instead of the business having control over you. While the book does not cover post houses specifically, the lessons taught can easily be applied to any business. For me it answered the question of how I go from one man editing, to a business that can sustain itself without me (something I’m still working towards, one step at a time).

The book is available on Amazon.com in paperback, and as an unabridged audio recording on Audible.com. If you’ve already read it yourself, I would be interested in hearing your feedback.

TT