Make a Little Money from Audio-Visual Presentations Development
A client from OBAGI Philippines asked for some help in the development of a PowerPoint presentation. They already had the text and graphics in but it still required an overall theme, some sound and animation. We decided to choose the classic ?Mission Impossible theme. Searching ?mission impossible? on the Google images engine allowed us to download some graphics from the movie. Midi sound files were also plugged into the presentation. After over an hour, we prepared something pretty decent. They were willing to pay me P500-P1000 for this.
Every now and then I get these kinds of jobs. It turns out that some companies haven't any techno-savvy people that they could turn to for audio-visual presentations. In their mind, their best option would just be to outsource it.
This can work because there is definitely a market for audio-visual presentation developers. Right now, I know a LOT of people who are not into computers, who are either very busy and/or prefer to have other people do computer stuff for them. My lawyer friend, Atty. Lopez, for instance, would regularly contact me for odd computer jobs ? such as animation for a presentation or set-up of WebPages/email. These kinds of work were simply not for executive assistants/secretaries. It doesn?t make sense to hire a full time computer expert so they just get a tech guy like me.
The demand for presentation-developers opens up small income opportunities for technophiles who also have an eye for art. My former boss from La Salle once told me that this is a rare combination ? artists that are also technology experts.
Still, there are people who are very good at this. My friend, Paolo, easily gets 20 thousand pesos from companies (like FORD Philippines) for work on short 5-minute flash-animated clips. He works on it for a week or two and gives himself another week for revisions and final touches. All in all, that?s 20thousand a month for one client.
The key here, of course, is to have a ready portfolio to show to new clients. Networking and marketing is also important. A healthy relationship with existing clients could get you a referral or two. Paolo, for instance, has a marketing guy help him out and gives him a commission for each referral.
For a business like this to work, one would need:
- A pretty powerful graphics-capable computer system, probably worth around P40,000-P60,000 (US$1,000?)
- A good network of contacts/ a talented marketing person
- A ready portfolio of existing projects
The monthly expenses would probably be:
- Electricity ? P1,500
- Transportation and Representation Fees?P 4,000
- Commission/ Referral fees ? P4,000
The numbers are from the top of my head. All in all, if a developer could close one project a month worth P15,000- P20,000, that?s already a healthy income of P5,000 ? P10,000. I don?t think it?s something that can be done full time. Perhaps it can be a source of supplementary income.
Based on experience, though, payment-collection for this work can be quite a chore. I remember Paolo once had receivables worth around P100, 000. That was work he did for around 3 months. Luckily, he lived with his parents and didn?t worry too much about the bills pilling up. Any other person though, would find this unacceptable. He was rich in paper, but they were all ?utang.? It seems that some big companies were ready to take in freelancers but weren?t ready to hand out the cheque once the work was done.
It can also be hard to work with fickle minded-clients who regularly change their mind on presentation themes. They choose one kind general look this week and change it entirely the next. Just imagine working wee hours of the night finishing a tough design that the clients wanted (which was sometimes wasn?t easy to implement!) and find that the client suddenly wants it totally scrapped the next day. I?ve noticed Paolo go crazy when this happens.
Getting
into simple audio-visual presentation development is hard work. Personally, I tried my hand at art and technology, but found it quite tedious. It required me to constantly stream out a lot of creative ideas. At times, it can also be disheartening to work for 2 weeks on what you thought to be a great creative idea only to find it shot down for something that was really UGLY.
So if you have patience with people, a creative eye, and good technical background, you could get into presentations development for additional income.