If You're A Solo Freelancer, You HAVE To Learn This Skill | Unfold EP. 41

The fastest way to raise your rates and stop burning out isn’t more gear—it’s mastering client intake and scoping. In this episode, we show how diagnostic questioning turns vague inquiries into clear deliverables, timelines, usage rights, and approvals so you can price with confidence, avoid scope creep, and protect your margin. You’ll see our exact intake flow, red flags to watch for, how to frame budget vs. deliverables, and simple email scripts that turn “Can you do a video?” into a profitable project (or a polite pass). If you’re a solo filmmaker or creative stuck saying yes to everything, this is the skill that compounds.

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Follow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/iamjasondam/
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Transcript

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;18;15
Unknown
I think I'm sick. Yeah, but realistically, this is a mixed mash of random stuff. Yeah, that doesn't have any purpose or meaning. I'm just doing whatever comes our way. I would rather bring on a friend with less experience than someone who I think might be more experienced, but I have no idea who they are. If your whole thing is like, give me money, give me money, give money.

00;00;18;16 - 00;00;33;22
Unknown
It's like no one wants to work with you. The people that you are friends with and the people that will row with you and make you your millions or your whole career out of that, are going to be the same people 20 years from now. And sometimes there's better people than you. But it doesn't matter because you're the only person they trust.

00;00;33;25 - 00;00;42;14
Unknown
Top of mind. You're top of mind. You're there. You've shaken hands. This.

00;00;42;16 - 00;01;07;27
Unknown
Have you guys ever tried to network and send a DM to someone that you looked up to and got no response? Or maybe you've asked someone to jump on their set and then same thing. Just no response. Crickets. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you don't know how to network properly. And today we're going to show you the one thing that's actually going to transform the way you function when it comes to filmmaking and how to network, how to actually build real relationships around you.

00;01;08;00 - 00;01;28;22
Unknown
And so today we're going to show you guys the frameworks. We're going to bring you through exactly how to network in 2025. But more importantly just in general. So people actually respond back to you. And we're going to be talking about the networking ladder. And we'll tell you guys exactly where you would fall on our personal networks. As always, you have Juanjo and myself, Jason from ten Full production.

00;01;28;28 - 00;01;46;22
Unknown
And we used to do this as well all the time in the past. Try to figure out how to network, get ghosted all the time. You'll hear my story on that. But ultimately, we've learned how to build real networks with real people and learn how to leverage that into real productions and paid projects. So let's lock in. Let's figure out how to network today.

00;01;46;27 - 00;02;12;07
Unknown
All right. Let's get right into it. What is networking look like to you? Yeah, for me, networking is completely different from what the standard people think it's like. It's not just going out to an event with your name tag being like, hi, I'm Jason, I run video production like I used to do this too. I used to go to this random place that was small business only, and then everyone there was like one job only, like they had one career.

00;02;12;09 - 00;02;29;00
Unknown
Yeah. Like, oh, I run a construction business, I run or whatever. And then it came to my turn. I stood up like, hi, I'm Jason. I run a video production company, and I had so much imposter syndrome back then, like, yeah, like video production. And I just sat back down like, red beet face and, like, what am I here for?

00;02;29;01 - 00;02;52;19
Unknown
Why am I here? And I hated that. That's like the worst thing ever because it's just feel so not personable at all. And then over time we've discovered like what networking really is. It's really just a combination of like who do you know. Sure. Like how strong is that bond as well. And we're going to go through that at the end through our ladder, framework.

00;02;52;19 - 00;03;09;12
Unknown
And it'll make it a lot more sense in terms of like who you are, how are you connected to other people and then how you can you build your network? Yeah, especially as you're growing into more of a larger production scale. Yeah. Networking is everything, right? It's like who you know, it's how you're going to get money. It's gonna sustain you forever.

00;03;09;12 - 00;03;30;06
Unknown
And ultimately, if you don't do it properly, you are going to fall back. So yeah, we had the small business version, which I knew I hated. Yeah. And so this was the first time I would tell you guys a story. That kind of changed the whole trajectory of, like, what? I thought networking was. Okay, and how it actually affects you as someone that's trying to reach out or grow your business or just just put yourself out there.

00;03;30;11 - 00;03;59;27
Unknown
Yeah. Because in this day and age, I probably get a new message every day saying like, hey, can I be on one of your projects? Can you jump on a call with me? Can you show me the ropes? Yeah, blah blah blah blah. For sure. And unfortunately, I don't have that much time to respond to every single person or, you know, I would love to, but at the same time, I'm like, what I'm about to say is going to make a lot more sense in terms of how to properly reach out to people.

00;03;59;29 - 00;04;23;14
Unknown
And to build real relationships. Right. Which is all networking is. So years ago when I first started, probably after my first year, probably like the end of 2019, I was stressed. I was like doing terribly. Probably me. Like 15 k my first year. Just imagine. Knock it dead. Yep. Just doing all that stuff right.

00;04;23;16 - 00;04;35;28
Unknown
But then I saw like this, this production company two zero doing cool stuff. Sick. And then we're reaching out to one of the founders. I was like, hey, please give me a.

00;04;36;00 - 00;04;55;03
Unknown
Release date like that. But I said, like, hey, love your work. Like, you know, if you guys ever need me, I got you right. Classic lines. This will get them. This will get them. Like, how can you say no? I'm offering free work right now. And I'm like thanks I appreciate it. Like if anything ever comes up we'll let you know.

00;04;55;06 - 00;05;14;17
Unknown
What do you think that means. That means don't ever dance again right. Yeah. You're you're cooked. And I'm like, even as I was sending that message, I felt it in my bones. You already knew. I was like, oh, yeah. Oh, I know I said this. I, I don't think it's going to work. And I got that message and I'm like, it's kind of reconfirm.

00;05;14;17 - 00;05;35;26
Unknown
And then again, I totally understand now, right? Because I know where I'm at now. And I'm like in that position, getting a message like that is like even though I kind of knew them through people and maybe I've kind of worked adjacent to them. Sure. Definitely not the scale. I thought, like, knowing them sort of was going to get me on set with them.

00;05;35;26 - 00;06;00;02
Unknown
Right. But then I got that message and I'm like, oh, snap. I am nobody. Right. Because back then I was doing nothing. My my portfolio was nothing. I didn't have anything to showcase like I was legit. And so like almost in a way, what am I even going to provide these guys. Like what service or what help is me going to them that they wouldn't just get someone in their own circle to do first?

00;06;00;04 - 00;06;18;24
Unknown
Yeah, right. Like these guys are small time. So like, they were just they had a network of people. You were probably in that sphere around some time as well, because you were interning for them, maybe a few years later, but years later, ultimately, that's the whole thing is like, even if you were there earlier, they would have put you first, probably if they needed like help on other stuff.

00;06;18;29 - 00;06;50;06
Unknown
Yeah. So long winded. Way to say I realize I was bad back then and there's a reason for that, right? And so I just took it upon myself to go and get better. So this is point number one. Yeah. Of this whole thing about networking, it sounds like it's not related, but it's 100% related, right. You have to prove to yourself and to other people more so for other people when it comes networking that you care about what you're doing, that you're willing to put in the work yourself.

00;06;50;09 - 00;07;16;08
Unknown
And that you're trying. Right. Because ultimately, we started grinding. We started putting out work. We started doing all these things. And then a few years later, the same founder was like, messaged me, DM, I know we're in the booth like, yo, I see what you're doing. Keep going, keep pushing it. I'm like, oh I stopped caring about that and my whole thing was like, I'm just going to put in work, I'm going to control what I can control.

00;07;16;10 - 00;07;31;22
Unknown
And if other people don't want to work with me. It's not their fault. Right? It's not up to it's not like they have like a personal slide or anything like that. It's just like, yo, I just wasn't ready back then, and I didn't position myself in a way that, like, made sense for them to even try to work with me.

00;07;31;22 - 00;07;54;06
Unknown
Right. What am I what am I showcasing at that point? And so it just proved to me that in the long run that I'm like, I just need to do what's best for myself and not wait for permission in a sense as well. And so here's how there's kind of layers up to this day when I get messages, what works for me and what doesn't work for me.

00;07;54;06 - 00;08;26;23
Unknown
Right. If someone paints someone into a position where they have to say yes or no. Psychologically it makes it much tougher, right? Because I'm sitting here doing nothing, right? Let's just use hypothetically. Me. Right. This just happened, actually. I'm sitting here doing a podcast with you. Yeah, we're just having a good time. No, no, no. Really? Yeah. Someone messages me is like, hey, if you need someone on a job, let me know I got you.

00;08;26;25 - 00;08;48;26
Unknown
That forces me in a corner. You know I make a decision. I gotta make a decision. I'm like oh yeah. Next time I'm on set I'll call you up. The other option is like no, you know it's like and you know to be fair, even getting put in that position kind of shifts me towards a negative because I'm like, now you gonna make me respond to this?

00;08;49;03 - 00;09;11;21
Unknown
That's why I don't respond to people. Because you haven't proven to me that I should care. Yeah. Asking you. Asking something for me, but I. I'm not really getting anything from you at this moment as well. Yeah. So it's like I'm going to put on all this work. I'm going to set up a project and then let me bring on this person that I've never met.

00;09;11;24 - 00;09;27;14
Unknown
Right. And so you'll understand why this all matters later on. And again if you're one of these people. Don't feel hurt. Usually I'm just busy. We don't have a production going on and I'm not really that guy right now. Right. That is the person that, like, you're not that guy. I'm not the producer either. So it's not like I'm making the final choices on who.

00;09;27;17 - 00;09;46;08
Unknown
That's also very true. And so there's also finding who the right people are. Yeah. But ultimately my point is, like, I sometimes do still make these decisions. But this ladders up to the next one, which is I'm going to look at your work. Right. And so there's like layers to this. The first one is is the message good.

00;09;46;10 - 00;10;07;01
Unknown
Okay. And so here's the better way to do that message. Just call them at me. Just be like hey love your work. Super inspiring. Please keep doing what you're doing. Like that recent added up job. I was even on it. But like that recent DJI job that you did, like that shot you did in the middle with the the ball man.

00;10;07;07 - 00;10;29;13
Unknown
Some of my favorite like I'm for you guys for selling some of my favorite stuff. If you're a filmmaker who's technically skilled but you're stuck doing the 1 to 2 K jobs, you're not alone. And funny enough, that was me five years ago. I had gear. I had talent. I was grinding, but my career felt like it was moving in slow motion and I wasn't really getting anywhere.

00;10;29;15 - 00;10;55;04
Unknown
I didn't need another YouTube tutorial. I needed a system that I could follow. And that's why we built Cinematic Portfolio Mastery. This is a eight week program to help filmmakers like you break out of the pricing plateau, and build a spec project that finally gets you taken seriously. We give you the roadmap, the mentorship, and the community you've been missing and something I really wish I had five years ago when I started doing this.

00;10;55;07 - 00;11;17;11
Unknown
So you can stop spinning your wheels and start getting paid like a real creative professional, because that's what we all want to do. If you're tired of being stuck in a creative loop, join the CPM waitlist in the link in the description below, and let's build the project that unlocks your next level. Do you realize that, like, how much more freeing that is for me?

00;11;17;14 - 00;11;37;09
Unknown
Because now I just got complimented. Yeah, and there's no ask for me. There's no, like, give or take. Yeah. He just gave. Right. This person just gave. And they're like, yo, keep inspiring. End of conversation. Yeah. Already you can feel that difference. If you got that, you're like, oh, nice. So much easier to respond. It's so much easier to spot because I almost always say thanks.

00;11;37;10 - 00;11;55;09
Unknown
Appreciate that. Yeah. Now the doors have been opened. Yeah. And now you can. Now you've established that you can. Jason. There's contact now you can build rapport now. Be like, hey, man. Like, you know, like that's it. You know, it's like you just want to keep doing, like, cool stuff. Hopefully there's like, cool projects down the line. I'm still watching, like, what you guys are doing.

00;11;55;09 - 00;12;17;04
Unknown
Can't wait to see it on YouTube. Like, cool. Oh, this is great. Like these guys really cares about, like, what we're doing. They haven't asked for anything yet. Yeah. And so yeah. Cool. Sigma, I appreciate it. You're about to get hella DMs. Yeah. But even then, it's like, sometimes it's okay to just end it there. Yeah, right. The first contact, you, you leave it on a good footing.

00;12;17;06 - 00;12;36;06
Unknown
Great. If you leave the first message really strong. What I'm going to do is I'm going to check your page. Because I'm like, you've passed the barrier for me to care. Yeah, right. Because you're like, you're just a nice person. You're trying to learn whatever that is. Wherever you are in your career. Maybe you're already seasoned and you're like a legit DP or whatever.

00;12;36;09 - 00;12;49;16
Unknown
Am now I'm just going to check and make sure you're like oh okay. Cool. What are you up to. And so this relates back all the way back to the two zero story. Yeah I was going to ask you when you sent that DM to them. Yeah. What did your portfolio look like at that point. What did they see.

00;12;49;19 - 00;13;08;13
Unknown
It just barber shop videos and, comic shop videos, right? Like, I had nothing to really prove for myself. And I was just doing work that maybe back then was a bit of, like, Dunning-Kruger like effect of like, I think I'm sick. Yeah. But realistically, this is a mixed mash of random stuff. Yeah, that doesn't have any purpose or meaning.

00;13;08;15 - 00;13;23;25
Unknown
I'm just doing whatever it comes my way. And for context, they were doing like lots of sports. Yeah, they were doing stuff that I was actually like really into, like Nike and Lululemon and all these brands. And I'm like, that's what I want, right? So obviously I'm going to reach out to the people that, you know, are doing the stuff that you want to be doing.

00;13;23;29 - 00;13;42;09
Unknown
But you're less like people that are reaching out to us now. Right. And so but on your page, like, it doesn't show that they talk about like, right now, like back in the day. Oh, back in the day. Yeah. It's like yeah. It awful. Yeah. And they're like because they already knew that was due. Yeah. It's crazy. It's just like it just doesn't matter.

00;13;42;09 - 00;13;56;18
Unknown
Yeah. Right. It's like, even if I know people right now, if you don't really fit into a certain mold or pocket for me or, or like, the relationship started off on, like a, oh, like a give and take type of thing where, like, you already asking for me for stuff, it's like, oh my God, that's a lot, right?

00;13;56;19 - 00;14;23;05
Unknown
It's like, it's the way it's presented and the optics of everything. You have to know how you're making people feel, right? And so coming back to this whole thing. If I see someone that is putting in the work, they're not asking for a handout. They're grinding irregardless. If I say yes or no. Yeah. That stuff is super inspiring because I know what that feels like.

00;14;23;05 - 00;14;45;01
Unknown
And much like how you zero came back afterwards was like yo, see what you're doing? Keep up. That's kind of the same energy that I'm trying to like. I understand where that's coming from now. Yeah. Because it's like, I will keep an eye out on people and what they're doing. If I see potential in them. Right. But the potential is also added with the proof, right?

00;14;45;02 - 00;15;02;24
Unknown
Like they're building stuff out for themselves. They're proving without me and having me say, like, do more jobs, and then eventually we'll work together. It's like, no, they're already just doing it and they're hustling. That's why I talked to you guys in the beginning, because you guys were already proving yourself through doghouse, that you're like, you're grinding, you're putting in the work.

00;15;03;00 - 00;15;21;21
Unknown
So when you when we talked, I already knew you guys were right at that point. And I'm like, I'm just I'm just talking like business to business at this point. But for you, it's like a whole different thing because the years after you're like or like after you're like, yo, that's a lot of money you're offering. Yeah. And we were going to take it for sure.

00;15;21;22 - 00;15;41;29
Unknown
Right. But then for me, I'm like, oh, yo, I just want to see if you guys are down for this. You know. And so again it's always just like balance of this relationship. It's like if you're not to say that people are lower than us or above us whatever. That's not my point. It's like optically if you feel like you're reaching up and trying to like get from people.

00;15;42;01 - 00;16;06;09
Unknown
Yeah, it's like, I don't know how to help that sometimes. Like, go get it yourself. Yeah. That energy does translate very, very clearly on the way you move on the social media 100%. And so when I see people again, my point I see them there's potential. They're grinding. They're proving themselves immediately. They just move up onto the rungs of like oh cool.

00;16;06;16 - 00;16;24;12
Unknown
I definitely could find ways to do what you're doing and like bring it into our system. Or I see where you're trying to go with your commercial work and like it just needs some polish like let's, let's I can see how we can like start to collaborate. And like, even if you come on to us as a PA or whatever.

00;16;24;16 - 00;16;40;11
Unknown
Yeah. Like that's what you did first. Right. Like you started like did that project proved it and were like cool I know you're legit now. The only way I can find that makes sense for us right now. It's like you're not going to be directing a project for us immediately. It's like, do you want to start to get integrated into our systems?

00;16;40;14 - 00;17;01;06
Unknown
Do you want to start with beats? Because like, as much as it is, the beats role for us is almost equally as important as another big role, because you need to show up, you need to actually get very specific stuff, and you need to know how to navigate that space without being a weirdo. Yeah. Not to say that weirdos aren't allowed on our sets.

00;17;01;09 - 00;17;21;00
Unknown
It's it's more so, like, is the energy going to flow? Right? Can we trust you to show up at the right time? And so even though people think like, oh, just pay or I just, I just beats for you is like, you're a big role, man. It's like even a PA is we care a lot about the PA and the people that are like in our space, because it's an energy flow.

00;17;21;00 - 00;17;37;23
Unknown
It's not an easy job. It's not an easy job either. It's like, are you down to the hustle and put in the work to get there as well? Yeah, it's it's hard in all places, but at the end of the day, people get brought up to say it like, are you nice to hang out with. That's it.

00;17;37;26 - 00;17;58;10
Unknown
That's a huge thing you know. It's huge. It's huge. And how am I supposed to know that from a DM. From a stranger being. Exactly. Just be like let me pull up. Give me some time. Like, that's not really where we can start. Yeah. And so that's pretty much it. When it comes to how I start to see it from the other way, I hopefully this is helpful for other people to see.

00;17;58;12 - 00;18;17;14
Unknown
Okay, cool. When I do reach out, how do I approach this? How are other people feeling? How would you want to be treated? If people reach out to you as well? Yeah. Right. And then obviously this is how I keep it to account. Like okay. Doing the jobs, working, proving themselves. I can understand and see how this is going to flow out.

00;18;17;16 - 00;18;38;16
Unknown
I also might not have a job right now at the time. And so you might just be hitting me at the wrong time or I'm busy, whatever it is. And so, you know, networking is a continuous game. Yeah. But that's also why it's kind of important. Like you said, that's a great point. It might not be the right time, but you don't want to be that guy who's only showing up when there's an opportunity.

00;18;38;17 - 00;19;00;22
Unknown
Yeah. Because, you know, like, personally, I would rather bring on a friend with less experience than someone who I think might be more experienced, but I have no idea who they are. Yeah. So I. Yeah. For this. Yeah. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like it's more important to build an actual relationship as opposed to like a working or transactional relationship.

00;19;00;23 - 00;19;22;29
Unknown
Yeah. Perfect way to put it. Networking is not transactional. Yeah. And a lot of people and I felt this before. So there's you meet someone in person and by the end of it they're like, oh, so like you got jobs. Yeah. That's the energy that they're putting out. Yeah. And it's like, no one likes that. Right. It's like, obviously I know what the the deep down secrets are.

00;19;23;02 - 00;19;50;18
Unknown
If we're meeting at like a, a very specific networking space, we're all trying to get jobs from each other. Yeah, we know what's going on. You know, it's gonna. Yeah, but we're not gonna say it. I'm not going to show it. I'm not going to show my hands and be like, give me money. Yeah. Right. It's like, hey, the best people that have reached out to us, that has actually turned into work in the future have been people that just genuinely cared and were interested and they didn't ask for anything.

00;19;50;20 - 00;20;15;01
Unknown
And then we actually end up like, if we can joke about stuff, if we can be real friends. Then, you know, you're one rung up. This is all leading to a ladder or talking about it's cooking. Okay. Once I started to take everything before the shoot a lot more seriously, that's when I started getting hired. That's why I created the pre-production playbook.

00;20;15;06 - 00;20;42;17
Unknown
And this is the system that I built to help you do exactly that. It shows you how to plan, pitch, and prep like a DP who's ready for ten K plus work. No more winging it. No more hoping your instincts will save you. If you're tired of being overlooked, click the link in the description below. Grab the playbook and start leading like a professional director of photography and getting the work that you always dreamed of.

00;20;42;20 - 00;20;58;06
Unknown
Yeah, that's all it is, right? It's like we're going to meet so many people in our lives. Yeah. If your whole thing is like, give me money, give me money, give money. It's like no one wants to work with you. Yeah, right. The favorite people that I work with on set to this day, and I'm sure for you guys as well, is people that I enjoy spending time with.

00;20;58;09 - 00;21;16;04
Unknown
We get to joke and laugh around in between shots and stuff like that. And then when we're working, we're working, right? It's like we're locked in for this, core purpose together. And when everyone can align that way, it's great. And I'll go back to this thing that happened to us recently. We were shooting for, like, just a little recap thing that we do as a favor, right?

00;21;16;06 - 00;21;31;05
Unknown
Like, we've been doing this for a few years. We called out, like, send out, like a poll. It's not like a poll, but like, just like an I in search of on our story and to just be like, hey, we need this thing for, like, a shoot. We had a couple people reach out to us.

00;21;31;05 - 00;21;53;15
Unknown
Right. Here's a perfect example of how this might work. Right. And let's just dive right into the ladder framework, actually, because this is a perfect example. Okay. We needed someone for this shoot. Right. Our normal people that we would have to shoot for this. We're just not available. Yeah, someone was injured. Someone was busy. Stuff happens. But now we got to go up to the outside world and make a decision.

00;21;53;17 - 00;22;13;00
Unknown
So at the very top, the people that got brought in immediately up at the top of the rung, right there's five rungs here. Yeah. Top of the rung. You get the people that you've already worked with that you can trust. Yeah. So automatically they get the job. They don't even they get the first ask if that makes sense.

00;22;13;00 - 00;22;27;16
Unknown
Right. They've passed all the all the lungs and this little loop back into all the tears. Real stories, all these different things. Because like at the top of the rung, you get the people that you trust. I'm always looking for these people. And then if that job is fulfilled, that that role is filled. I'm not going to ask any work.

00;22;27;23 - 00;22;46;24
Unknown
Right. And then no one even knows that job exists. Yeah. Secondly, I'm going to get, So if that first person is not available, right, the person we trust, we're going to go for someone that's vouched. Right. And so that just means someone else that we've worked with, that we trust has brought this person in and they're like, oh, we can trust this person.

00;22;46;28 - 00;23;08;09
Unknown
Yeah. Right. Like, oh, that specific thing you need. It's like, we know this person can do it. So they get automatic dibs after, you know, but first, top person. So that's the fourth one inside the sad side tangent. I've been vouched for a lot in my life. And if you are vouched for by someone, you're pulling up representing that person.

00;23;08;14 - 00;23;34;07
Unknown
Yes. So if you are ever in a privileged position to get vouched by somebody, you always show up with the right energy and the right attitude because you're not only representing yourself, you're representing someone else's trust. So yeah, pull up and be good. Also, it's your first impression. Yeah. So if you ever want more jobs and more work for those people, it's like you show up, you put in the work, you know, make people's lives more difficult.

00;23;34;10 - 00;23;38;24
Unknown
And just because you have like,

00;23;38;26 - 00;24;00;10
Unknown
Just because you were brought on set here, it does not mean you've you've crossed the barrier to be brought in to every set. Yeah. Like, this is a real job interview now. Yeah. That is the the job interview. Yeah. If you don't show up or whatever, it's like you're just not going to get brought on again. Yeah. And imagine what that looks like on the other person who vouched for you.

00;24;00;11 - 00;24;18;15
Unknown
Yeah. So don't be like that. Yeah, because maybe I won't hire that person. Oh, and then you mess up for everybody or crazy. But, yeah, this is just the reality of things. It's like you show up, you. There's, like, money involved. There's, like reputations involved. Yeah. So yeah, the vouches, the vouches, everything. So that's the fourth on the run or the second.

00;24;18;16 - 00;24;43;04
Unknown
Second highest. The second highest. Sorry. Second highest. So we go fifth from top. Fourth one. Okay. Yeah. 545433. So three is people we've met before. But we haven't worked with them before. Okay. And so what this means is sometimes when you talk to people you can actually get them out for coffees or lunch or whatever that is.

00;24;43;06 - 00;25;04;00
Unknown
But the people that I've met and I've shaken hands with automatically beat out the people underneath, which are like people that I haven't, I've only met through DMs for sure. Right. Because then I can't, I don't even know what you are in person. Right. Like are you able to carry conversation? Are you crazy? Are you guys, you know, like, there's a lot of questions involved, right?

00;25;04;03 - 00;25;18;26
Unknown
And so these people is like, at least minimum. I've had a coffee with you. Yeah. And, like, I know what you're about. I know what you do is like, yo, we just now it's our opportunity to, like, test some stuff out, but automatically, it doesn't feel like I'm meeting you for the first time so I can trust you a little bit more.

00;25;18;27 - 00;25;36;03
Unknown
There's a little bit more trust and rapport built halfway through. And so that's that that's at layer. Right. But even at this point, it's still kind of a rocky. Right. Because like, we don't know what you're capable of necessarily. I'm only basing it off of. And if I've had a meeting with you in person usually means like your work's probably decent.

00;25;36;06 - 00;25;55;29
Unknown
And that you're trying or even that's the big one. Like you're trying. Yeah. And then, like, the relationship that we've started off of, probably a DM was pretty chill and open. Yeah. You pass the other two, right? You pass the other two rounds. Right. So the second rung one up from the bottom. Yeah. Is we've had a good conversation on DM.

00;25;56;02 - 00;26;13;23
Unknown
So the beer is quite low here right. Yeah. But it means that like at least we've talked somewhere right. And I wonder I was saying earlier that we even get to that I'm jumping around. Yeah. So this was just getting to know and talking to someone. So you've gone past that first barrier. So again, now it's super blind.

00;26;13;23 - 00;26;34;00
Unknown
Still, like, I don't really know 100% what we're doing here or even when I'm on set. I'm like, hi, nice to meet you. It's like, that's still the energy. Yeah. So you can see how it gets really tricky the lower and lower you get because it's a it's a built trust thing. Right. Yeah. And all these levels of trust keep scaling up.

00;26;34;00 - 00;26;49;23
Unknown
So you're trying to get to that top top place where you've worked with someone before on set. And you have a really good time working with them. Right. And they trust you're like, I need that person back. Like they showed up. Heavy work ethic. They were listening proactive. They were just like on it the whole day. Never complained.

00;26;49;23 - 00;27;12;11
Unknown
And then they just like they know when to laugh. They know when to talk. Yeah, right. Like, sometimes people are like, do I just do I make random jokes and try to make be funny is like, no, no, no, no, just show up on the set and like, try your hardest. Try to be attentive and try to be like, make people's lives easier, but don't jump ahead and be like, you know, or you know, doing some crazy stuff just because you don't know what to do.

00;27;12;12 - 00;27;29;03
Unknown
So people will tell you what to do. Yeah. And then you just just be smart. I know common sense is hard to say. Like, oh, just common sense, but, like, think about what's happening right now. You're in a position where people brought you on the trust you to do your job. Like either they're going to tell you don't do stuff that's erratic.

00;27;29;06 - 00;27;53;07
Unknown
Yeah. Behave yourself. Just behave yourself. Right. And and that's it. Make people's lives easier. You know, they'll call you back, right? The last final rung, as always, is a blind. Complete blind. Like we're we're we're desperate. We just. It doesn't matter, right? Just come on. Sure. Yeah. And that's the trickiest and risky is because, again, energy is so huge on set.

00;27;53;11 - 00;28;16;00
Unknown
Yeah. You just gotta show up. And we hope for the best. And hope this is the right person for the shoot. But, yeah, that's that's the whole ladder foundation. It's built on trust, right? And this is what networking is as well. How do you, in a way, finesse yourself to the top? Yeah. Or you can land on someone's set and actually show up properly and build a real long term relationship.

00;28;16;02 - 00;28;42;17
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a it's a good framework because like ask yourself if you are reaching out to someone for work. Look at the ladder and see where you are which rung your on on that ladder and really think critically. Yeah. Of my odds of getting onto this set or whatever, but based off like the things we've talked about, it's not difficult to get up there.

00;28;42;20 - 00;29;00;18
Unknown
No, I think he's got to put in the time and energy to like, care and then don't just jump at it and try and grab it. Yeah. Like put in the work. You know, it's like you also. Sure everyone does. Just get on the set and you'll learn some stuff. Whatever. Whatever you got to shoot some numbers to.

00;29;00;18 - 00;29;14;25
Unknown
Right. It's like you're not going to just message us and be like all right I'm done. No one else is going to message me on the set or whatever. But now knowing this, you know how to properly message someone to actually get them on your good side. It's a bit of a, it's a bit of psychology. Right.

00;29;14;29 - 00;29;31;19
Unknown
Yeah. Don't ask on your first time. Like that's just not good sales right. Like especially in this case when you have no leverage. The whole point is like you're fresh. What do you have to offer for someone else? In this case, it's probably just going to be your time and energy and effort. Yeah, and that's not enough. And that's not enough.

00;29;31;19 - 00;29;53;05
Unknown
But it is if you just present it in the right positioning. Yeah. Right. Like, hey, I'm just hungry to help. It's like, but figure out the how to find rapport first. Right. It's like, yeah, we know, we know. You want to jump on the set. Yeah. Even if people messaged me without it, I'm like, I kind of know if you're in my local area, that's like what we're trying to do here.

00;29;53;07 - 00;30;12;28
Unknown
But, you know, you got to find how you can meet real people. Yeah. And show up and just be a nice person so that you can treat this right. So say you go into like a, a filmmaking, you know, meet up or whatever it's like, then you can skip, you know, one and two, which is the DMs and actually just meet people in real life.

00;30;13;02 - 00;30;26;21
Unknown
Yeah. If we're at the same event and you come up to me and you shake my hand and be like, hey, really love what you guys are doing. Say, I've been following TensorFlow for a while. You've just jumped to rungs because now I'm going to ask you like, oh, like what do you what do you do? Like, what are you up to?

00;30;26;22 - 00;30;52;22
Unknown
What kind of, filmmaker are you trying to be? Now I'm going to find people on my doorstep being like, I'm skipping the first two rungs. But, yeah, there's there's there's other ways. Right? We'll we'll skip this for now. We'll go into, like, the unintentional city of, like, finding networking through different pathways. Right. This is the one of the most under represented versions of networking.

00;30;52;22 - 00;31;13;29
Unknown
And I think it's one of the most, valuable ones. Yeah. Because over the years, this method has, like us, are probably like three, $400,000 worth of revenue. Okay. And only two through, like 2 or 3 people. And what this is, is finding networking in unfamiliar places or more specifically, places that you feel comfortable with, too. Right.

00;31;14;00 - 00;31;35;10
Unknown
And so people think, I got to go do Saturday, 7:00 pm. I gotta go with this meeting and shake some hands. It's like, no, most of the people that I found that actually ended up paying me is like, finding work together is through running. Right. And that was just something that I had been doing regardless of filmmaking.

00;31;35;12 - 00;31;50;19
Unknown
And it was something that I was interested in. And it kind of still gravitated close towards the stuff that I was doing outside of filmmaking and inside of filmmaking. And so it kind of just blended all the worlds. Like, cool. I can kind of like shoot in this world, but I can also just, like, enjoy it and meet people through it.

00;31;50;21 - 00;32;07;12
Unknown
So naturally, through running, I'm just shaking hands, meeting people on my on our weekly like running clubs because I was like in the space. I was just trying to connect with whoever I could. And it didn't feel like I was trying to pitch people. It's just like, oh, yo, you're doing cool stuff. Like what's up? I was like, tell me about that.

00;32;07;12 - 00;32;24;28
Unknown
Right? You're being a real genuine person. And then you just have a ton of friends that are all kind of mixed within different worlds, right? Because in the run world, it's like, you're not like a runner's not your job. You're just doing that as, like, a pastime. Yeah. So then these people all have businesses. They have like, aspirations as well.

00;32;25;05 - 00;32;44;20
Unknown
And you're like, oh, have you ever thought of, like, shooting a commercial around that? Like, you already have these connections. So this is another way of like leveraging other people's networks as well to work for you. And so this could work for anyone, right? So say for yourself like you're big into soccer, right? Easiest thing you could do is go to games.

00;32;44;22 - 00;33;05;19
Unknown
Yeah, exactly. Spend time watching games with, like, you know, who are the sports photographers in the city? Who's interesting? Who's doing cool stuff in the sports? In the in the soccer world, who's running magazines? Is there any, like, events showing up? And all you gotta do is go there and then naturally, you just going to be like, because you have the same hobbies and you have the same, like, passion for things.

00;33;05;19 - 00;33;29;28
Unknown
You just naturally connect with people. Yeah. And not everyone is someone for your real because you just because you met someone like, oh yeah, I work at like KPMG, the accounting firm. That's the next lead. Like, oh yeah. Do you need video? Which is like a joke that we always have. Like, you know, especially in the beginning, it's like every person that we're like on a business or something, they're like, you need a video.

00;33;30;00 - 00;33;58;04
Unknown
And I'm like, obviously that's not the point. But it's kind of the point, right? It's like the relationship might blossom into something or it might not, but having the expectation to be like, this person needs to give me a job. It's like it's just never going to come then. That's transactional. The super transactional. Perfect word. Right. So the through filmmaking and through running I eventually found people that were like oh yeah this I actually have this like event coming up.

00;33;58;09 - 00;34;24;13
Unknown
And it's kind of how it all started. It's like I've got this event coming up. So you want to like you don't have to shoot it, but you want to shoot it. Like, yeah I actually do want to do that. And then that turned into like a doc with that person talking about Q specifically. And then by the end of the year, I had a dog, had more experience of shooting stuff, and then I'm like, Q you have a lot of relationships, too.

00;34;24;15 - 00;34;41;24
Unknown
It's like, what are you doing? What are you up to now? So, yeah, I'm doing this thing over here. Was like, hey, I can find ways to connect and make your life easier because like, oh, you need video for that. Obviously this is like a long, long, long relationship. Like one of my closest friends to, like, oh, obviously we've built this rapport.

00;34;41;24 - 00;34;57;11
Unknown
And so it goes both ways to figure out like some things he's doing. It's not for video related. Yeah. And so I'm not going to force that in there. But some things I'm like, I get to put my creative energies into being like I see some connection here. I think we can turn this into something cool. Yeah.

00;34;57;17 - 00;35;16;02
Unknown
And so it just ultimately turns into like multiple docs that we've done real big paid campaigns and commercials and then that stuff stacked into your portfolio, which ultimately leads into the bigger paying jobs. Yeah. Did I assume from day one this person was going to become a super close friend, but also at the same time let us a ton of jobs?

00;35;16;10 - 00;35;40;10
Unknown
Probably not. But sometimes you have a feeling somebody like, I think there's something cool here. Yeah, and I think, just building the friendship is so important because, like you were saying, your relationship with that person was over the span of a long time. Yeah. And those are really important because that's that's where the trust comes in. And like I was saying before, I would rather work with someone who I already like.

00;35;40;12 - 00;35;56;22
Unknown
I'm friends with. I like helping my friends up. Yeah. You know what I mean? Oh, hundred percent. And friends, I like helping you out. That's exactly the thing. They're going to fight for you. And when they see an opportunity like I love when people are like, they see someone else's story and they send it to me. Yeah. Like, hey, I need a, like this guy.

00;35;56;22 - 00;36;15;16
Unknown
I need a wedding videographer. Yeah. Like, I don't think you understand what I do. I appreciate the effort because sometimes people, you know, they know you do video, but they don't know what kind of stuff like that. And I'm like, I love that because maybe we're not that deep of a friendship in that case where you know, exactly, not a lot of people know exactly what I do.

00;36;15;18 - 00;36;32;05
Unknown
But for the right people they know exactly what I offer and stuff like that based on that relationship. But in this case a perfect way of saying is like the people that you are friends with and the people that will grow with you and make you your millions or your whole career out of that are going to be the same people 20 years from now.

00;36;32;07 - 00;36;51;02
Unknown
Right. And so you gotta look at like who you surround yourself with. Right. What kind of circle you're trying to build as well. And then like who's going to help continue to bring you up and vice versa. It should go both ways. Yeah. How can you find someone that you're like oh if something pops up that's the first person I think of right.

00;36;51;06 - 00;37;18;20
Unknown
And I go and that's how you build real relationships. Okay. So let's say let's say you don't know me at all. Yeah. Complete random. We've never made contact. Yeah. If I wanted to climb up this ladder how would I. How should I go about it. Yeah. So it's quite deep here. Yeah. But at the simplest form, you have to start to figure out and just sit there for the weekend.

00;37;18;20 - 00;37;38;16
Unknown
Right. It's Friday when we're recording this, so for you, it'd be like, all right, I'm to spend a Saturday and Sunday sitting down figuring out where do I spend most my time, how do I spend my time? Like, am I big in the cars? I'm already going to these car meetups. Am I really like what is your deeper like pull in the things that you do outside of filmmaking?

00;37;38;19 - 00;37;58;18
Unknown
Yeah. Right. And then how can you start to incorporate that and find ways to connect? There's always money in any industry. And so if people are like, well I guess I'm going to start a new hobby, one that has money in it. It's like, what are you going to start into? Like the dental care community that you have zero connection to as like crazy hobby, you know, you're already doing things right.

00;37;58;21 - 00;38;23;24
Unknown
Yeah, exactly. It's like, are you already going to soccer games? Are you connecting with the people in that soccer world? Yeah, because how did you become known as that category king? Right. Like 00I don't yeah. If you want soccer stuff in Canada, that's the guy. Kind of like how like, you know, you think of like Taguba you know I think about like photographers shot at Darby.

00;38;23;26 - 00;38;43;14
Unknown
Darby number one. Yeah. So also that was one of my earlier videos that we shot too. And it's always like that's just kind of the connection of like who's doing cool stuff out here. How do we connect. How can you also like find ways to connect with people closer to your level. Because that's a great relationship starter to how you get to start growing together, which is what we did, right?

00;38;43;17 - 00;38;59;19
Unknown
And not always trying to chase for the people. Ten steps, 20 steps ahead of you. Yeah. And so, yeah, I would just look at, you know, what is your local network right now? How can I fill it with more videographers, people at your local level, getting super good at understanding what your local network even looks like.

00;38;59;21 - 00;39;18;09
Unknown
So you should just know everyone, right? Like, how do you become part of that circle? Because if someone knows you for something, they're just going to, hey, I know no one else. One is the only person I know that does soccer. Filmmaking. That's my guy right there. Yeah. And sometimes there's better people than you. But it doesn't matter because you're the only person they trust your top of mind.

00;39;18;09 - 00;39;38;09
Unknown
Your top of mind. You're you're there. You've you've shaken hands. Yeah. That's all right. So then connect with your local market as much as you can. Especially if it's like newer videographers around your level. Just be like, hey, just want to connect. I think your work is sick. That's it. Yeah. Shoot in the comments. I think the comments is a really good comment.

00;39;38;10 - 00;39;56;01
Unknown
Yeah. Show up. Be consistent. Like, you know, especially if you're not busy. But if you're not busy, you should be connecting with everyone. That should be what your downtime is for. Yeah, right. And then like I said before, in between the downtime, you got to work on yourself. You got to build that self-confidence to through the work.

00;39;56;03 - 00;40;12;03
Unknown
So you have to have proof for people, especially when you, you're going to find something that changes psychologically when you put out a piece of work and then you start reaching out to people, you're like yeah I got some confidence here. I just did something cool. Yeah, right. You got to build that up and do that over and over.

00;40;12;04 - 00;40;31;11
Unknown
So then it's either that or you're working with, like you're working or you're building on that work. And then more or less that's that's kind of it. You kind of have to just start grinding away and finding like these little pockets that will open up doors for you. And these are the relationships that ultimately you're going to become like your long, long, long term relationships.

00;40;31;15 - 00;40;48;07
Unknown
Yeah. Right. Once you find that little pocket for yourself of like hey this person does this, this person does this. We can all do cool stuff together. Naturally, it just forms and allows you to like, hey, are we all trying to do cool stuff together? Yeah. And we all have specific roles that we're trying. It's like perfect. Those are the people you want to, like, cling on to.

00;40;48;10 - 00;41;07;29
Unknown
And if you have really good energy together, then the sky's the limit because that person for you is maybe like Charlie, for example, back in the was like, yeah, I mean, like that's a great point even for like when I was starting doghouse, my production company, I just reached out to my friends. I mean, like, we're all doing work together anyway, so it made sense.

00;41;08;00 - 00;41;30;08
Unknown
Yeah. But then when I knew Charlie, because we worked together for a long time and we didn't originally start together, but then Charlie, I knew was really a great cinematographer, and he was grinding and he knew a lot about cameras. And when I told him about this event we were doing, I was like, you should pull up. And I wasn't telling him to pull up because I was like, oh, this guy's really good.

00;41;30;09 - 00;41;57;18
Unknown
He's gonna make my video better. I told him to pull up because I knew him and he was my friend. Yeah, and like that jumps you across the the ladder? Yeah. Way up real fast. And then, from there, like everyone that I work with, I know personally or are working really hard. Yeah. Like anyone that I bring onto my sets, I either know them as a friend, and I know that they can do a decent job or are people that I admire, and I wanted to work with them.

00;41;57;18 - 00;42;14;28
Unknown
Like, you are fantastic at lighting, and I've seen all the work you've do and you've never even reached out to me for work. Maybe like you like, leave a comment on my videos. Like, this is like like that's awesome. That's super nice of you. Those are the types of people that I'm going to be like, yo, I really need someone to fill out this gaffer role.

00;42;14;29 - 00;42;39;23
Unknown
Like, please pull up to my side. Yeah. You know. Yeah. A recent example that happened was the on shoot, own reached out because we put an ISO out. Yeah. Looking for a shooter. Shout out to Owen. Killed it on that shoot. Like, really took some big hits, on his rollerblades. But he locked in, and he got the shoot done, and he was shot out of the blue.

00;42;39;26 - 00;42;50;22
Unknown
But when he came back and we met in person. So I've been following you guys for a while, and I was scared to reach out.

00;42;50;24 - 00;43;09;04
Unknown
Him not reaching out. Wait a minute. That I would have never have met him. Yeah. Unless we like did a meet up or whatever. You know what I mean. It's like but you do have to put yourself out there. And so as much as I'm saying like I might not read your stuff, sometimes it's still good to reach out in the right way, in the right way, right?

00;43;09;04 - 00;43;31;02
Unknown
And just focus on trying to build real, real, real relationships and not making transactional because I can see it through it. People can see through it. They can. They just know. Right. And so that's all rounded out way to say you just gotta put in the work. Get over the fear. I think a lot of people struggle the most, especially some of our like CPM students.

00;43;31;03 - 00;43;46;27
Unknown
It's just getting over the fear of working with one new person, right? And sometimes that snowballs very quickly because once you understand how to ask people properly and how to like position yourself, leverage yourself to like really try to do cool work together. And when you're all in the same position, you're just like, I'm here to try. Let's do work together.

00;43;46;29 - 00;44;11;06
Unknown
It's like when this comes from a genuine place, you can make a lot of real relationships very quickly. It's just you gotta just shoot your shot right in the right way. In the right way. Yeah. Ultimately. So, yeah, that's about it. That's like the general framework for networking. And if you guys can do this and if you guys can get comfortable with it, you're going to realize that you're not a better filmmaker as a solo one man band.

00;44;11;13 - 00;44;41;08
Unknown
There was absolutely no way that's going to happen. Right. But it is a phase right? Probably your first year reaching into your second. You should start looking for people immediately because then you're capped. You don't have the resources. All these different things are going to be stuck at that level forever. That's true. It's true, unfortunately. But I need you guys to just like there's there's more on the other side and giving people chances and like, learning how to navigate that space, is ultimately going to end up being a better place for you as a filmmaker.

00;44;41;12 - 00;45;05;24
Unknown
Yeah. So thank you for checking in with the Unfold podcast, as always. Yeah. If you guys want to learn how to do this at scale, we are actually doing CPM one more time for the end of the year. It's in my portfolio, master. We love it. This is where students get brought in. We show them how to find their creative direction, the clarity on who they are, and then we show them how to elevate their taste and get them to that next level.

00;45;05;25 - 00;45;30;19
Unknown
How do you actually shoot something that gets seen and gets visibility from the right people and gets paid and gets paid? That's the biggest one. And then we show you how to do the production side of things, how to market it properly, how to actually build and use these frameworks to make your life so easy. Because once you learn this, once people do so much faster, they actually bring these skills over to real paid projects, and then their lives are just like, completely changed.

00;45;30;23 - 00;45;54;20
Unknown
Wow. I don't think you go through that and not realize there's like a whole new world and a way to do this. And I would say almost all of our studies have been like, I see there is another way to do this. Yeah, but now I just gotta put in the work. And so if you guys want us to show you how to do this over eight weeks, there's three calls a week where we pretty much guide you head on, on how to actually make your spec project and how to market it.

00;45;54;22 - 00;46;13;09
Unknown
I think it's a complete game changer. If you guys are interested in signing up, there's only 50 spots. Check the description below. Fill out the application, see if you're ready to join CPM. Because if you are, I think by the end of it, you're going to be in a completely new space with over 100 new filmmakers all doing the same thing as you guys are, and finding networking.

00;46;13;16 - 00;46;31;28
Unknown
Oh, in our private circle community, which is a banger spot, we have a ton of people who work together though. Yeah, we love it. Otherwise that was it. Yo. Appreciate you guys for joining in and checking out the full podcast. As always, we'll see you in the next one. Hopefully you like the ladder analogy. Think about where you are on that ladder.

00;46;32;00 - 00;46;49;18
Unknown
If you guys like this episode comment. Friends. Oh, I wasn't expecting that. Yeah, yeah. Friends. Space. Colon. Close bracket. We love you guys for watching all the way through and dropping that comment. It means a lot to us. That's it friends. See you guys. Peace. Chaotic.