One thing that most people won’t see during an economic downturn is opportunity.
But opportunity is out there.
And not the $25/hr Deskside Computer Support position that just landed in my inbox.
Real money. Like, $300 to $1,000 for a few hours of work.
When you make a compelling offer to solve someone’s legitimate problems, they’re happy to give you work. (Check out my review of The Secret of Selling Anything, here)
And if you’re decent with a camera and a computer, here are two opportunities I see right now:
Video Tours
Child care facilities, nursing homes, and other facilities are still in need of paying customers, and those customers are still in need of these services.
But during the Coronavirus Clampdown, potential customers are unable to take in-person tours.
Instead, these child care facilities, etc., host ‘slideshow’ tours of their buildings, often using photos that their staff have taken.
The ‘tour’ is not the best representation of what they offer.
If you shoot and edit a 5 minute video tour, and overdub that with a script about the facility, that would put these places above their competition.
You’d need a DSLR or video camera (I love my Fuji X-T20), a decent digital recorder for the overdubbed audio, video editing software, and both camera and editing skills.
Minimum Total Cost to get started: $700 or less.
Some notes:
- Don’t be tempted to use your mobile phone for this. While it may work very well, you’ll be treated as an amateur. A professional looking setup goes a long way in helping people accept that they’ve made an intelligent choice to hire you, the professional with the knowledge and the gear.
- Make sure you can shoot in low light situations and can hold a camera steady during your shots, and know how to compose a photo in the frame.
- You’ll need editing software to cut the footage and splice it together, and add the overdubbed audio. I use the libre KDEnlive for video editing on Linux. There are other tools out there, such as Apple iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.
- Get familiar with your hardware and software so you know how to produce a decent video.
- Work with the client to write a decent script about what they offer and how they’re different.
- Clients can host the resulting professionally edited videos on YouTube and link or embed these on their websites.
- Show up on time and dress professionally. Respect social distancing rules.
Funeral Streaming
Families are hurting right now if they cannot personally attend a funeral service of a loved one.
Funeral homes and churches are being asked for streaming options, yet most of them don’t have the knowledge or equipment do provide this service.
If you offered your services to local churches and funeral homes, they could connect you with families that would willingly pay you to stream the funeral service of a loved one.
You can also offer your services on CraigsList.
You’d need a laptop (with an internet connection from the church or funeral home), a quality USB camera with pre-set zoom settings (via remote control), a tripod, a bluetooth Jabra (or similar) speakerphone for the priest or officiant, Zoom videochat software (for people to give a eulogy from afar), and then push the whole thing to YouTube (which may require OBS software).
Minimum Total Cost to get started: $1300 or less.
Some notes:
- Test your setup more than once. This will be complex and you don’t have another opportunity to re-shoot this single event.
- Make sure the service is evenly lit and well framed in your camera pre-sets.
- Camera pre-sets will change between different venues. Test them before the event.
- Test audio levels before the service, especially if there will be music played. How does it sound? Will you need to adjust during the service?
- Ensure your hardware is wall powered.
- Perform at least one “dry run” with any remote participants to ensure they’re well lit, they have good audio, etc.
- Ask for photos from the family to offer as an opening or closing slideshow (which you’d create).
- Record the event to your local computer as well as streaming it live, in case the stream fails.
- Show up early to set up, and dress respectfully. Follow social distancing rules.
Is This You?
Not everyone has these tools or these skills. Not everyone is comfortable being out from their home at this time.
But some people are willing to work away from home, trusting in protective measures, and have the tools to do the job (or are willing to start from scratch).
These are just a few ideas where an enterprising person like yourself can use (or develop) skills to provide a valuable service to people who really need it.
What other opportunities do you see?