HIRE OR RETAIN
Salary is the number people quote. It’s rarely more than two thirds of what the role costs in its first year. Move the sliders to match what you had in mind.
01 — THE HONEST PART
If you genuinely have more than around forty shoot days of work a year, hiring is the right answer and I’d tell you so. A full time videographer gives you roughly 1,700 working hours. Monthly gives you 48 hours on location plus everything that happens afterwards.
The question isn’t which is cheaper per hour. It’s whether you have enough work to keep a person busy. Most businesses I speak to need somewhere between eight and fifteen shoot days a year, which means hiring buys a great deal of capacity that sits idle.
The other thing worth weighing: an employee takes their skills, their contacts and their knowledge of your business with them when they go, and the average tenure in this role is short.
02 — WHAT THE NUMBERS MISS
YOU’RE BUYING ATTENDANCE, NOT OUTPUT
Employment pays for hours present. Nothing in that arrangement rewards finishing early, because finishing early doesn’t end the day. That isn’t a criticism of anyone. It’s just what the structure does.
I’m paid for the finished thing. If I find a faster way through an edit, I get the afternoon back and can take on more work. So I’ve spent nine years finding faster ways through, and I’m still looking, because it’s the only lever I have.
IT’S THE SAME REASON A PLUMBER QUOTES THE JOB RATHER THAN THE HOUR. THE INCENTIVE HAS TO POINT AT THE OUTCOME, OR IT POINTS AT THE CLOCK INSTEAD.
The Pickup is one location, two hours, one finished video. If you go monthly within 30 days it comes off your first invoice.