Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicholas Evanko

Hi Nicholas, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I’ve been a film lover since a young age, started watching classics in just about every genre but I gravitated towards action, horror and science fiction. Films like Alien, RoboCop, Hard Boiled and so many more. From there I was pretty invested in following a path towards creative arts such as Film, Videography and then into Photography as well.

I was accepted into the Robert Morris University Film and Video program in 2008 and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts. After moving to Altoona, we formed MindOverMedia Studios.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

I don’t think any new business owner has a smooth road into it. Building our Brand has always been at the forefront of our goals, but it hasn’t been easy. One of the big problems any videographer or photographer faces early on is just acquiring the gear and kit to be able to create content. That started pretty slow at first but you don’t need the most expensive gear to create good looking work. We built on that year after year and now we have a professional kit, able to handle just about any project we work on.

Another challenge is just building clientele. It has always been important for us to take care of our clients with whatever they may need. It’s good to occasionally reach out to clients on a regular basis and catch up with them and see how the work we did for them has effected their own businesses. Not only is it important to stay in touch for their needs, it also helps us develop our own case studies and see if some content works better than others. We want to develop those relationships and keep them healthy.

Generating leads for new clients can be a lot to take on as well, but it’s important to keep up with outreach. We are finding that no one likes to be “sold to,” so when we do cold outreach we try and keep it as straightforward as possible with a human element to it. Just one business owner reaching out to another in the pursuit of mutual expansion and benefit.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

We do a lot of different types of content for a lot of different client bases but what mainly got us started was live events, weddings, and music and arts festivals. The Event community in Altoona has embraced us since day one and it’s always been something we have loved being a part of. We wouldn’t be here without them.

Right now we are beginning to move into the local small business community, creating content for them to increase their visibility.

Video and Photography is something that can help in any business type and we are working on some new offers and packages to provide local businesses with content they can use for their social media and websites. Our new system is something we call RCP which stands for Regular Content Packages. These are a subscription type service where we would do one shoot a month for a local business or organization, and from that shoot we can deliver all kinds of high quality content they can then use all month long. We are finding that businesses are in need of new content on a regular basis in order to engage with their customers. And we do that for a set monthly cost.

Everyone needs advertisement, and video has been proven to help with conversion rates and many other aspects of running a successful business. We are hoping that this endeavor is mutually beneficial to everyone.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?

Covid isn’t going to go away, so practicing good hygiene and preventive measures is always important to us. We normally have to work with a crew so we just try and keep everyone as safe as we can.

I think more than anything Covid has inspired people to take those leaps of faith to follow their ambitions. Video was actually really helpful during COVID. From Online social gatherings, faith and church events, and tons of other examples, video had been a way of connecting people when the restrictions of Covid arose. Hopefully we never encounter it again, but if we do we know video can help a lot of people. Life’s too short to not follow your heart and do what you love.

Pricing:

• $175 portrait sessions: Hour + 20 HighRes
• $750 Live Music Videos
• $750 Business Promo Videos
• $2600 8 Hour Wedding Coverage: Video
• $1200 Event Promo Coverage: Photo

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindover_media_studios/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mindovermediastudios
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mindovermediastudios7045
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mindovermedia-studios-hollidaysburg