I don’t need to tell you that times are difficult right now. Which means that finding, closing, and keeping clients is a key priority.

The problem is that, for many of us, the business side of the business is much less fun that the editing side. And, all too often, we let the business side slip. Or, we don’t keep our business skills as sharp as our editing skills.

Or, worse, we don’t charge what we need to charge for our time and equipment.

MY TRAINING CAN HELP

Recently, I completed a set of three 30-minute video tutorials filled with business tips for the editor and small post-production house. I’ve tested these ideas at lots of my seminars and they have always been popular – with many editors telling me how helpful they are in refreshing their thinking on how to grow their business. (In fact, these are among the most popular items in my store.)

SPECIAL OFFER – SAVE 30%

So, I’ve decided to run a special offer from now till the end of June: SAVE 30% on the whole set of three. That’s like Buy Two and Get One Free … (almost).

Click here for more information.

Plus, when you buy the set, I’ll also send you an article I wrote for my latest newsletter on how to calculate rates for your time, your equipment, and your travel. (Even better, I’ve updated my information based on feedback from readers; even my newsletter readers haven’t see the new version!)

Here’s how this works: Buy all three parts of Growing Your Business, then, during checkout enter “GROW” (without the quotes) for the Coupon Code to automatically save 30%.

Click here to order.

Then, after the sale, we’ll send the link to the article directly to your email.

This offer expires June 30, 2009, so don’t wait. Remember, a good client is hard to find.

Order today!

Thanks!

I just upgraded one of my Final Cut Studio editing systems from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 using the download from Apple’s website.

Since then, I’ve discovered some problems with LiveType. I’m still looking for a work-around, but none of the usual techniques seem to work. I can open existing projects, but can not create new text clips in either an old or new project.

NOTE: Found the problem. I first thought it was caused by having a FireWire 400 device attached. Instead, I discover that if your LiveType data files are stored on an external hard disk, LiveType does not create new text clips. To fix this, be sure all LiveType data files are stored on your boot hard disk.

However, this illustrates a key point: With any OS update, waiting a few weeks before updating to make sure the release is stable is ALWAYS a good idea. Especially when updating systems that you depend upon for meeting deadlines.

One of the highlights of my job is traveling around the world, meeting with editors, and helping them learn how to become better at their craft.

Thanks to the hard work of Ben Balser, founder of the South Louisiana Final Cut Pro User Group, and Lynn Robertson, Assistant Professor at Delgado Community College, I was invited down to New Orleans to conduct two days of seminars for editors and students. The sessions were held at Delgado Community College.

We had almost 70 people each day for two days, with a great discussion on professional techniques to get editing work done faster, while improving quality.

(By the way, one of the highlights of the first day was a discussion of video formats and determining which one is right for your project. I’ve created a video tutorial for download that highlights what you need to know. You can learn more about it here.)

Saturday night, I participated in a panel discussion, sponsored by the New Orleans Film Commission, on skills editors need to develop that will help them get jobs, determine how much to charge for their time, and improve their negotiating skills.

The panel discussion was fun, but what I really enjoyed was the extended conversation many of us had afterward.

Our New Orleans trip was really successful and we’ve already been invited to present in other cities in the South. I’m looking forward to the trip.

(By the way, if you would be interested in hosting a seminar in your city, drop us a note and we’ll work with you to put it on the schedule.)

During the Digital Production BuZZ coverage of the 2009 NAB Show, we conducted more than 200 interviews and created 37 NAB News Briefs.

Here is a list of companies and guests, and the News Brief they appeared in. (Due to time constraints, not all interviews were aired.)

Once you know which News Brief you want to listen to, go to www.NABShowBuZZ.com and use the News Brief Player in the upper right corner to locate and listen to the interview. Each News Brief runs about five minutes.

A list of all our Digital Production BuZZ shows, and their guests, is on the www.NABShowBuZZ.com page, as well.

Just in case you were interested, and because I find this stuff fascinating, I thought I’d share a few numbers with you from our recent work with the Digital Production BuZZ at the 2009 NAB Show.

Our NAB News Brief player was syndicated to 104 websites around the world.

The number of listeners doubled in the week AFTER the show! While the total number of listeners continues to climb, we had close to 100,000 listeners to our hourly NAB News Briefs!

We are absolutely delighted with the results of this – and are looking forward to doing more of these in the future.

To see all our 2009 NAB Show coverage, visit: www.NABShowBuZZ.com.