We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cyi Amani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Cyi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
My customer story success has significantly gone higher, and 99% of the time my customers are satisfied. This is not only because I started to do this full time, but because I have dedicated myself to the craft, and the time we stepped in and made sure a customer was satisfied was when a customer reached out to me because she did not like the performance of another videographer towards her wedding video. She complained that it was a little dark, and lack certain substance which I can’t remember. I studied the situation, and the work done by the other person, and orchestrated the AmaniFilms style, and signature which brought out more beauty, class, light, and love into the video, and the customer was really pleased, and satisfied.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
Hello, my name is Amani, and I am a Film maker, photographer/videographer. I have been into the art of film making since high school, but mainly took it serious right after college. It all really started when I, and a few friends started to film our YouTube series, then unfortunately we lost our cinematographer which took a hit on our production, and I had to pick up the camera. That’s about 8 years ago, and I’ve been rolling ever since. I am in the business to bring our client’s vision to life, and also had things that they wouldn’t have thought of, and that has been working really great, thank God!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I started my business from just having passion with film making, and of course with passion comes acquiring tools or equipment to facilitate that passion, so I had to work 2 jobs while in college so I can raise enough money to buy my first camera (canon T5i), lens, lights, and the other things. Buying the cameras wasn’t the problem, but because I wasn’t making money with it, I had to do overtime to I can purchase it with the extra pay. Even these days funding my business is never an ending process because I do a yearly inventory which I sort out things that needs to be replaced or upgraded from wears, and tears from constant usage.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
My company has been the side hustle for 5-6 years because I’ve always kept a full time job for consistency. Of course I’ve taken breaks from these jobs while still handling my side hustle which is my business, but over the last 2 years I have been able to make that switch, and turned my business to my main, and the other jobs as side hustles that’s when I had one. The reasons behind the switch was because of the future, and where I saw myself being with the business, so if I don’t put in the work now, and give it all the needed time to grow it won’t. I was able to make these switch when I focused on my main clientele, and provided more which means from going extra miles to satisfy each client, to advertising, upgraded equipment, God, and of course word of mouth referrals I’ve been able to make it a full time job, and kept it that way since 2020.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amanifilms.com/?fbclid=IwAR1VOoEeJm_OyGtLaG-VqWJZSBjuW3hp3sJaDVEiLwSWryyHYDme5eYl_tI
- Instagram: @amanifilms24
- Facebook: Grind24
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCINSmK2c6vWOW4aZJY_H6Iw
Image Credits
AmaniFilms