February 14, 2019
Success story from reader James Choe
Sent by Jonathan Stark on February 15th, 2019
Fellow reader James Choe wrote in with a wonderful success story that I hope you find inspirational (shared with permission):
Hi Jonathan! I hope you’re well. I wanted to share a success story with you that couldn’t have been possible without all the information I’ve heard from you. I just came back from a meeting with my ideal client having secured a contract, 2 months after making the decision to specialise in a vertical. A little while ago I commented on one of your videos about how I had lost 2 jobs. It was not a good time for me. At the time, I was presenting myself as an undifferentiated videographer and had met with a govt non profit and also a Plumbing company. I lost these jobs because the price was too high for them and they decided to go with someone cheaper. I learned from your content that the only point of comparison I had with other vendors was my price, since I had no speciality - even though I thought highly of my skills. Coming to the middle of December, after devouring your content, I thought I should specialise in making films for Luxury Products and narrow my focus. But considering everything I’ve heard you say, I felt that Luxury Products still wasn’t narrow enough. So I took a leap and decided I’ll just focus on filmmaking for Luxury Watches using 3D. I don’t advertise the 3D part though, since I need to be platform agnostic. So between the end of Dec and January, I made 2 spec films about 2 watch brands and I’m writing to you today after securing a my ideal client after they found my work on Instagram. I’m incredibly chuffed and excited about the next phase of the journey. In hindsight - scary as it was to take the leap - I feel like the niche I chose fits your criteria on how to choose an specialised vertical. * Videography and Photography is such a saturated space. * 3D is an industry with experts that I have no interest in competing with. * Watch Photography is also very saturated because anyone with an iPhone can take these photos (which you’ll find plenty of IG accounts who do this and commonly have over 40,000 followers. But watch videos using 3D was such a perfect combination, because I have nearly no competitors even though it is a service that is valued highly by the thousands of watch brands out there. I wanted to say thank you for all your advice available online. I’m for the first time excited about the future and don’t feel the cloud of anxiety over me. In case you’re interested, I am in Sydney Australia and am 23. I look forward to growing this, and then hopefully being able to come to you in the future to grow even further. Kind Regards James Choe Director
Thanks for sharing James!
Yours,
—J