We recently connected with David Estrin and have shared our conversation below.

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Today I want to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve used to grow my business since graduating from San Diego State University in 2017. Wow, can’t believe it has already been 7 years since graduating from college. Time flies when you are having fun!

I’ve always liked tracking numbers, evaluating what’s working, and what isn’t working. In the creative field, it is all about following trends, and being able to pivot when some past successful strategies stop working.

If I were to give advice to others as they begin their creative entrepreneurial journey, or share ideas for those who are in the middle of growing their business, here are a few tips:
– At the beginning of each year I map out an excel sheet with all 12 months
– In many years, it starts mostly blank with a few prior booked jobs, or recurring jobs penciled in
– Create a few columns to track the client, the event, dates, and the expected earnings
– By tracking what type of income you are predicting you will be making monthly, and yearly, it provides some clarity for the year ahead
– This will show are you on track for the year ahead, or do you need to work on filling the calendar with more work

This simple strategy of writing down your predictions for the year ahead can help get all this information out of your head, and onto paper, thus clearing the mind to be able to focus on the small daily tasks at hand.

Here are some big picture ideas I like to write down at the beginning of each year:
– Who do I want to work with
– Who have I worked with in the past
– Which colleagues have strengths similar and different to my own, that can be added to a project if needed
– What decision makers can I strengthen my relationships with
– Is there any venues or events I want to go to and network with this year
– Are there other videographers and photographers, and other vendors I can add to my preferred vendor list

By no means is this an easy process, but by putting in the effort to assess your business foundation for the year ahead, it can help you initiate a plan to action. Success is a term used in many ways, but I feel that all the small wins add up to success, and any failure along the way, is a learning experience that will help prepare you for the unknown situations you may face.

In regards to earning a full-time living from your creative work, this is an idea I think about every week. Here are some tips I can share:
– Be able to pivot
– Some weeks and months I can focus on my own projects and clients
– Other weeks and months, I fill the calendar by reaching out to other videographers/photographers/video production companies and saying I am available for work
– It is a constant balancing act of knowing your bandwidth of your current commitments/projects, and knowing when to let others know you are looking for more work
– Being comfortable with things out of your control is a skillset that can be learned over time
– Some jobs disappear due to budgeting restrictions. Move on fast, and think about the next task at hand
– Sometimes past clients or referrals come your way when you are least expecting it
– Be flexible to work with client’s budgets. No two budgets or the scope of work are the same, so being flexible can help secure the job.
– Start to learn what your monthly costs of doing business are, so you can price yourself profitably to be able to stay in business
– Being open to new opportunities has helped me expand the types of services I can offer
– If you are a family photographer, you can also photograph product photos, animals, real estate, events, sporting events
– If you are a videographer, once you learn the basics, you can help film content for folks in all types of industries

Here is my final take away for today:
Others say to niche down. I say to keep exploring as many niches as you can while you are still growing as a creative, so you learn which ones you like, and which you don’t want to focus on in the future. By pursuing more niches now, you are moving forward in your career with a growth mindset, and unlocking new skill sets, thus growing your personal and professional network, and opening doors to future opportunities.

Wishing you all the best in your creative journey no matter which phase of the process you are currently in.

Best regards,
David Estrin
Photographer/Videographer, based in San Diego, and open to travel

David, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My passion for films and art began as a kid, but it wasn’t until high school where I was exposed to editing videos on computers, and mixing sound effects to bring films to life. After pursuing my college degrees in Television, Film, and New Media Production and Business Financial Services, I realized I wanted to pursue the route of being a creative entrepreneur.

Today I am a Videographer and Photographer, that is based in San Diego.

I help photograph and film for marketing directors, event planners, entrepreneurs, families with lifecycle events like weddings, and corporate conferences. By being resourceful as a person who can offer photography and video deliverables, I can help clients create an archive of content in a short period of time.

As a kid, I was taught you only get out what you put in. This has stuck with me all these years in the work I do. I am most proud of the quality of my photo and video work, and the impact it can have for those I work with. By focusing on being creative, up to date on industry trends, and doing the best I can on each and every project, I always am excited to share my final work with my clients.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The only piece of gear I had before college was an iPod touch. This did not hold me back. I began filming friends doing parkour around campus. This taught me how to film creatively with the limited gear I had.

My first jobs required me to buy a camera and a laptop. These 2 purchases were instrumental in kickstarting my business. I used this same camera for the first 5 years of my business, and the laptop for the first 8 years.

By doing research on what was a need verse a want, these quality purchases in the beginning were the foundation for me. After doing jobs to pay off the equipment, I finally started being profitable. Once profitable I would only buy new gear that I absolutely needed, and any future purchase from that point on has been an investment in myself and my business.

If on a budget, you can always rent equipment for a specific job, to keep costs low. YOU DO NOT NEED TO OWN EVERY Camera Lense, light, camera model. You only need 1 camera and 1 Lense to start.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Find a CRM that works for you

Definition of a CRM (Customer relationship management (CRM) is a set of integrated, data-driven software solutions that help manage, track, and store information related to your company’s current and potential customers)

A client told me they use Trello.com
(Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Imagine a white board, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team.)

I started using Trello, and it has been instrumental in helping me keeping track of things I’m working on, upcoming tasks, networking ideas, business ideas, successfully jobs, lost jobs, and tracking income.

By writing down all my 1000s of thoughts into little “Boards” that could be dragged from column to column, it has helped me to see everything in a way that works for me. I like being organized, and this is much easier than needing to remember every smallest detail in my head.

By clearing the mind, I can then focus on priority tasks first, verses non-important tasks. Both take up space in your mind, but seeing them in categories is extremely helpful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://davidestrinproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidestrinproductions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidEstrinProductions/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-estrin-79b01682/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/davidestrin/