We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Susan DeSylvia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

After our son was born, I left my corporate job and my 2 horses to become a Mom…. After 2 1/2 years I was eager to ride again! My husband said “if you want to ride horses again, we need to find a way to pay for it”.

Not long after that conversation, my Father gave us a camcorder for Christmas. Eureka!! I found a way to pay to ride horses again! I could film my friends lessons at the barn I used to keep my horses!

I did NOT go to film school, I went to Graduate School in Industrial / Organizational Psychology, and studied Psychology and Communications in Undergraduate school. We have different learning styles and I knew from my experience as a rider that I improved my riding faster from having lessons and clinic rides filmed. I know that horses for sale need videos, and I knew that having a quality video from a horse show was valuable.

I started by simply asking people at a horse show, “would you like a video of your ride?”

My marketing efforts expanded to making flyers to hang in the stabling areas and porta-potties!

Each horse show I arrived a day before the show started and I would have a table set up and offer horse cookies or dog treats for free, ask questions about people and where they came from, and asked if they would like their rides filmed. But I still needed to walk the barns, introduce myself and let people know I was there to offer my business.

Not long after that, I had my son’s art teacher create my logo with my horse, and I branded my flyers and shirts. On the back of my shirts I had the words “Professional Video Services” with my logo so that I encouraged people to talk to me.

It didn’t take long for me to need to hire assistants, more cameras and equipment. This was by far my biggest challenge! Not only finding reliable people – but people who where aware that their top priority wasn’t to film the horse, but the top priority is to not spook the horse with a big camera, tripod, and a clipboard of flapping papers or coats! Customers spent hundreds of $ to be there, and they did NOT need their ride ruined because the videographer scared their horse getting set up at the same moment they were riding around the arena. When I hired professional video guys that went to film school, I actually caught on the sound during a moment of a ride for a customer, “hey _____ do you have time to get me some weed (marijuana, before Colorado had it legally). I’m so glad I actually HEARD that said, and I could edit that moment out and put in different sound there instead!

I decided to buy bigger fancier cameras so people thought I could do the job better than with a Sony Handycam. I was able to charge a little more … I started my business back in the days of VHS tapes! In time I had clients asking me if I could edit a shorter amount from the entire show so that I save videos could be mailed. Next it was making sDVDs, and finally uploading video to YouTube.

Being self employed, you don’t always know where your next income is going to come from! So you have to be very comfortable marketing yourself! I got creative and analyzed where people would want to be filmed… I sponsored classes at the horse shows I was working at… I gave High Point Awards… Year End Awards and Silent Auction items at Awards Banquets.

Along came Facebook, and in the early days it was possible to market horses on FB. Every single horse I filmed, I captured an image from my phone of the front of my camcorder and the horse as sort of my signature image. Many sales horses led to people calling me to video their horses for sale.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve provided custom equine video for over 2 decades. My business is a luxury service in a luxury sport, filming private coaching, editing footage for sales horses and marketing them. My clients can afford to hire who they want, so I have exceptionally high standards. It’s a small horse world and quality, excellent service and reputation matter. My value isn’t just that I provide steady, zoomed in video footage, but that I have competed in many disciplines, so I know how to edit what riding is the best.

I’ve also applied this knowledge and experience into creating video courses on how to improve your video skills and how to film a horse for sale with your cell phone. I am eager to help others learn from my 2 decades of experience!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Having filmed tens of thousands of horses, I have paid my dues. For many years I sought out work everywhere and had said yes to everyone who needed anything filmed. I filmed 4 weddings and there is a reason why wedding videographers charge thousands of dollars! I no longer film them!

Some money gets too expensive to earn.

For the first 10 years, I filmed for every trainer that asked me to create a sales video. In time, I learned that not every horse trainer honestly represents a horse for sale, and I choose to walk away from marketing a few horses and in doing so I have given a handful of trainers or owners their checks back because I will not represent them. If I’ve learned that before I stared filming that day the farm owner asked the trainer if they should give that horse a drug to settle them… I will not publicly represent that farm anymore. I had stopped marketing horses for a client I had filmed and marketed around 25 horses. Over time, that trainer wasn’t honestly wanting to suitably match the horse with the rider as much as that trainer was merely wanting to get that horse sold. When the word gets back to me that a trainer was not disclosing if the horse needed to stay on eye drops or if the horse had had a surgery, that is not ok. I had been asked to fly out of state to film very expensive sales horses for a trainer that I knew had publicly been brought up on animal abuse charges. Integrity matters, doing right by these horses matter.

When I put my logo to a horse for sale on my YouTube Channel, I take my work personally until that horse finds a suitable new home.

Since I am not able to make it reasonable to travel out of state to video one horse, I wanted to created an educational course to help others understand how I make effective sales productions for horses to sell to suitable homes faster, and for more money than with amateur videos.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

I was not longer going to video at horse shows, but I knew that was a profitable business and I wanted someone else to continue to offer that service.

WOW DID I LEARN A LOT! I “sold” that part of my business for a fraction of what it was worth and spent my entire summer trying to help the person I sold it to. That money was too expensive to earn. As I tried to educate my hundreds of customers that they were getting their videos from someone new, who didn’t do as good of a job … sigh….

Consult a professional who helps sell businesses! Or choose to walk away from it with accepting that it was a chapter of your life that you gave your best and now it’s time to focus your time and energy elsewhere.

Contact Info:

• Website: ProHorseProductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susandesylvia/channel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prohorseproductions
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyoaRYVagpuQSOW2BnYtuA

Image Credits
All my images in all photos are taken with my cell phone and I have the rights. The image on my YouTube Channel is Karen Kenedy Icon Studios, photo with me and my horse is Kathleen Bryan photo