Securing work in other cities besides the one you live in/near?

[Dave Morgan]

Does anyone do work for clients in other cities besides the one you live in? say like 300 miles away or more?
I would like to promote in a city about 300 miles away due to more clients in that city.

I know clients would mostly want someone close to their city but im sure some wouldn't care? any thoughts?

for example, traveling 300 miles to shoot a video then doing everything else back at home.

[Brian Brown]

Hi Dave:

I relocated to a small resort community almost 6 months ago. My clients are now 40 - 70 miles away, and no new clients have balked at the distance. In fact, I'm now booking productions even further away than my previous home-base. However, my productions are such that I can book 2 to 3 shoot days on location, and then spend a few weeks in post-production from the comfort of my home office.

OTOH, 300 miles, is quite a commute. Unless you're hooked up with some great public transportation, that would make for a looong shoot day, so you'll have to factor-in lodging into your equations.

While most clients won't care, I would downplay the location where you live in your marketing. If it comes up, you should give the impression that you work "all over" as opposed to "I'm thinking about relocating to your city... IF I can get enough work."

At some point, if you find success in the city, you may be faced with that choice, since a six-hour, one-way commute would make the type of projects you can bid on much more limited than if you lived in that city and could pick-up simple half-day or full-day shoots.

HTH,
Brian Brown
BrownCow Productions
BrownCow Productions - Affordable Full-Service Video Production serving Estes Park, Longmont, Boulder, Denver and the Northern Colorado Front Range

[Kevin McRoberts]

I regularly do 4-hour (one way) commutes for day jobs out of simple expediency; it costs less for me to pay for the drive (even with $5/gal gas) than to pay the higher cost-of-living to be near those population centers daily. I typically get paid more working in the city than out here. If a shoot will last a couple of days, the cost of lodging easily outweighs the time/gas cost of commuting that distance, so I book accordingly when possible.

[Wayne Reimer]

I regularly work within a three or four hour (one way) driving distance from my home base. I live in a Canadian Prairie province, and the work is spread around quite a bit. Since there are VERY few people in the entire province doing full start to finish production work, there is no lack of business. It can get a bit tedious driving all the time, but I've yet to have anyone complain about travel charges, etc.

[Kevin McKendree]

How can we promote in other cities besides our own? I live in JAX, but how can I promote in MCO, TPA, MIA, ATL, etc?

[Doug Bailey]

Hi Kevin,
What field are you working in & what services are you offering? This will help with suggestions.

Regards,
Doug.

[Christian Brown]

Hi Kevin,

How do you get work in your own city?

If it's effective, can you apply it to another city?

[Dave Morgan]

I have thought about getting a virtual voice-mail with the area code for a city I would like to work in. I think a lot of people are turned away if they see the phone number is out of state. That way I can get them on the phone at least.

any opinions?

[Rick L. Allen]

Turn the question around; If you're the client why would you hire someone that lives 300 miles (5-6 hrs drive away)?

On your side; How will the travel time affect your costs - day rate, mileage, upkeep on your vehicle, lodging, meals & fatigue?

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Dave Morgan

I have thought about getting a virtual voice-mail with the area code for a city I would like to work in. I think a lot of people are turned away if they see the phone number is out of state. That way I can get them on the phone at least.

any opinions?

I use Vonage for my business phone. One of the nice features they offer is 'virtual numbers,' local phone numbers in your choice of location that all ring through to the same phone on your desk. For very low cost each you can have a local presence in the form of a local phone number in as many cities as you might like.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Dave Morgan

I have thought about getting a virtual voice-mail with the area code for a city I would like to work in. I think a lot of people are turned away if they see the phone number is out of state. That way I can get them on the phone at least.

any opinions?

Originally Posted by Rick L. Allen

Turn the question around; If you're the client why would you hire someone that lives 300 miles (5-6 hrs drive away)?

On your side; How will the travel time affect your costs - day rate, mileage, upkeep on your vehicle, lodging, meals & fatigue?

You would hire them because you know they'll deliver the quality of work you need, better than people you might hire locally.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Steve House

You would hire them because you know they'll deliver the quality of work you need, better than people you might hire locally.

Further, in 6 weeks I will be traveling 3000kms round trip to direct and switch a multicamera live switched gig with my gear for 4 days, with 1 day of driving on either side, using local crew (my buddies) as camera ops. Believe it or not, I'm STILL cheaper than the local guys and this is my 13th convention with these folks so the sheer fact that they KNOW I will deliver above and beyond every time gets me confirmed at the end of convention every year.

The only stipulation is occasionally they need to put the gig up for tender to confirm that there is value in bringing in "the outsider". Which is why I insist on using local crew.

Besides, these days a LOT of big gig rentals aren't even located in the city that the A/V house serves. Big consoles and specialty gear are OFTEN flown or trucked in for gigs from a central "clearing house"/warehouse these days...

If the business model works, it works. For you OR for them.

There is a reason I changed the name of my business to Road Dog Media...

Word of advice though: get a comfortable vehicle with great lumbar support and heated seats. Long drives can get OLD if you are ill equipped. I bought a 2010 Subaru Forester Full Time AWD JUST so I could have the best chance of making it to the gig alive AND ready to work...

[Shaun Roemich]

Oh, and to answer the original question:
Networking.

Thus endeth the lesson.