Startup Under $1,000?

On the WeddingVideoDoneRight.com forums, we occasionally have had debates on just how much money it takes to get into this business. As I recall, we often come up with figure of about ten thousand dollars, give or take. (See latest rough-draft of Wedding Videography Start-up Costs ).

I recently had a high school student (senior year), ask me what it would take for him to enter the wedding video market. (Oh great, just what I need - a seventeen-year-old competitor!). Within few minutes, I learned he already had one camera, tripod and editing software and would be hard-pressed to spend more than another three hundred dollars.

Should I discourage this eager, determined kid and tell him to wait another five years (by which time he may be married and in worse economic straights than now!), condemning him to a cubicle life or perhaps as a construction worker, etc.?

After reviewing some of his work, I could tell he had real talent. I was convinced that this kid could do a better job with two $250 cameras than many "professionals" with cameras costing ten times as much.

But those $2500 cameras give a much better image than the $250 ones, right? Right. But the HC-28's ain't half-bad, especially in good light. And, as has been said many times, the talent and skill of the cameraman/editor makes more of a difference than the gear alone.

So here is my revised,

Minimum Start-up Wedding Videographer Kit -

Total costs: $1000 (less whatever you already have)

Before you start to rain on this kid's party, think about this -

The clients all get to review a sample of his work, produced with his gear, before hiring him. That means they know exactly what they are getting from the start.

If the kid charges $500 per wedding, he'll earn a lot more over the summer than he would by flipping hamburgers, and the experience he'll get from being an entrepeneur will be priceless. His clients will get a wedding video much better than "Uncle Mike's" (and possibly better than some of your competitors!) that they couldn't otherwise have afforded.

See there, it's a win-win with no casualties. Comments?

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.