As a smart millennial, often the view of people may be that we are unorthodox or play around more often or jump from job to job but these are actually quite helpful and advantageous traits to have. In today’s world job security is a long-gone work of fiction and gone are the days you could have great pensions of yesteryear. Today people are getting into the gig economy and seeing that the grass is greener on the other side. Everything is going online and being digitized and life is faster with the social media microscope on everything. If you blink in online competition you lose. Your sales goes to someone else and truly who moves bigger and fastest is often the one who wins. You can cry about it and gnash your teeth about it but that’s just the way business and the real world works.
The other day we talked to a few people as a local Hollywood production rolled into town. It seems more and more these days people want content whether streaming or online or digital or mobile, more people are consuming content voraciously and faster. The insatiable desire for 4k, high definition, wide screen and 3D has created a market in several industries that include Netflix, Hulu, Roku, Amazon video services. This coupled with local state sponsored filming credits has created a boom and been a literal boon to the industry with several celebrities streaming in and film production companies cropping up and popping up to fill in the need. As in all things, if you find a need and can provide a service and can get someone to pay for it you’re in business, as long as you can get in before anyone faster and better you have first mover advantage. There have recently been a spate of films being created in the local Ohio and Kentucky area and with that the theater and audio and film industry have had amazing flows of business and people migrating in to take advantage of this renaissance in the area. With it also other sectors like lighting, costume, food / catering / craft services have been doing well and with these credits it has funneled money back into the states and also affected near-by states as they are racing to create content and take advantage of the desire for web-series. With this and the highly welcome publicity that comes with incoming flood of films, the gig economy and self-employment biz is basically taking off like a rocket-ship as people realize they have the power to become their own creators and generate their own income and become their own news, content and media sites.
There is another advantage of this industry as it is a networking, educational and people dynamo / powerhouse. You cannot ever eliminate the need for people in the equation for consumption and the drive for more. More income, more entertainment, and more luxury. People want a good time and more free time. You can go 3D and CGI with many fields but you can’t eliminate the entrepreneur spirit to outwit and outfox others in the industry because that’s what drives people. We interviewed several people and one of the greatest assets that the film and entertainment has brought to the area are new jobs, new ways of thinking, new ways of making money and networking and ultimately a better life, better quality of living, and overall health and self-esteem. What can be better than getting a chance to live your Hollywood dreams you’ve had as a chipper bright child or teen and instead grew into a daily 9 to 5 worker flipping packages, or pushing paper in a cubicle? Many of the people in the area work two jobs both as actor or other entertainment professional but also a regular day job or self-employed individual. They have kids to take care of, bills and rent to pay, and families to support. But yet they voraciously pursue their dreams and rightly so. We innately know there’s a better life waiting out there and a light at the end of the tunnel out of the rat race if only we prep ourselves or work harder and faster with sweat on brow. That is what made the Wright Brothers, and immigrants that came to the country and became software company giants and multimillionaires.
One of the tips passed on to us was that it does take time to build the foundation and a lot of the overnight successes that appear to be overnight are actually years of hard work. Sometimes it takes 6 months or two to five possibly six years to be successful at a site. A gentleman actor told us how he does work during the day while his wife home schools and takes care of their children. They started their own site and hired someone to help get it set up and started recording stuff into YouTube with just a static image of their voice-over portfolio. Another actor told of how you can find local talent agencies and start working for commercials. And a third told us about getting on fiverr.com to hire programmers to help create your site. Whatever content management (CM) platform you use such as WordPress or Weebly or Wix etc you decide to use they can help you. Then whether you want to add podcasts or videos or sell music on iTunes or Spotify or other content you can host it on your site. If you play music you can record it for your site. If you separately are a voice talent actor you can also try voice123.com or get on acx.com as an audiobook or Audible book narrator.
As you can see, there are tons of amazing ways to make money and the sky’s the limit. We hope you found this article interesting and informative and helpful and want to hear from all you in the industry and entertainment as to how you realized that you are no longer tethered to your desk to make money and live out your life. Please comment below if you have found other great ways to help out those in the industry. Looking forward to hearing the responses!
