How to Make Big Profits In Your Own Specialty Video Production Business

Almost any subject can be a great premise for a video that you will produce and then market. In particular, instructional videos can be very profitable. There is almost an unlimited number of subjects that could sell well. Any special hobby such as cooking, sewing or martial arts is great. Subjects on business and physical skills are also excellent. And, if you aren't an expert yourself in the field, you can find someone who is and have them appear in the video. Here are the basic steps:

1) Choose your subject. If you do have an area that you're an expert in, then this is a good place to start. Because I was a professional ballroom dance teacher for many years, that was a natural first subject for me to produce my first video on. On the other hand, I've also produced a video on back stretching which I have no qualifications to teach. Actually, I came across someone who was talented and it dawned on me that her expertise could make a great video, so I offered to hire her. That video made me over $5000 the first week I promoted it and it's continued to make money ever since. And, believe it or not, it's not that expensive to hire someone. Many people will work quite reasonably. The woman in my back stretching video did it for $50 and she signed a contract stating that she understood that's all she was going to get. For her it wasn't a bad deal. She worked for 2 hours and made $50. After all, I was the one taking a chance because I didn't know if it would sell or not.

2) Plan the video. It's really important to have your shoot planned out well, or it can take forever to do it. You don't have to have a professional storyboard, but you should have a clear written outline. In my stretching video, we had an introduction, about ten stretches and then a conclusion. We shot the whole thing in under two hours.

3) Equipment for shooting. These days you can buy a mini DV camera for a very reasonable price. And, this kind of camera will easily provide you with enough quality because you can download the video directly into your computer with a firewire. If you don't want to shell out $500- $1500 for a video camera, then you can rent one for about $100. Or, if you're really without any capital, put a posting on sites like Craigslist for a video partner. Most metropolitan areas are swarming with video guys who are eager to work for a very reasonable price.

4) Shooting the video. Make sure you've tested the quality of the lighting and sound by recording some footage first and playing it back on a TV set. I've lost a lot of money a few times (the hard way) by not doing this. Have everything set up before any talent arrives. If you're using a videographer, make sure he or she arrives at least an hour before the talent. Shoot the video according to the plan. Try to keep things moving.

5) Edit the video. Most computers actually come with a basic video editing program now that can actually do the job. But, if you want something a little nicer, for about $500 you can get a really nice program that will be able to do anything you want with the video. The only other thing you need to worry about is storage. Video takes up a lot of room, so it's likely your computer won't be able to hold it all. But, it's simple to solve. All you have to do is go out and buy an external storage unit. They're not more than a couple of hundred dollars and then you'll have all the storage you need. They're easy to use. You just plug them into a USB port on your computer. As for the video, you'll want to dump it into your computer with a firewire connection. If your computer doesn't have one, you can get one for a reasonable price. This will allow you to edit the whole thing digitally. Once your done editing, burn a DVD master. With this master, you can go to a duplicating house where they can make up copies very reasonably. The one I use only has a minimum of 30 and it's about $3 a pop. This leaves a big profit since your videos can sell for between $20 and $100 depending on the video and the subject.

6) Market the video. I like marketing on the Internet with a website. If you can't make your own webpage, you can hire web programmers who can make basic sites for a very reasonable price. On your website, you'll have a headline and some copy below which explains the benefits of the video. Then, finally you can have a link to your order page. There are many online merchant accounts you can get that have almost no start-up fees and are very reputable. You can find them by doing a Google search. Or, you can always just use Paypal. In addition to the Internet, you can try adverising in print specialty magazines or direct mail to targeted lists.

The great thing about producing videos is that you can get into the business quite cheaply and once you've created a video that sells, you've got an asset that keeps producing revenues for perpetuity.