@Dave Lisowski thanks as always for the thoughts. And that's excellent to hear on the new client. Your "voice" in your posting is a consistent one, and your manner really comes across. The idea of shifting what I speak about and to whom I'm speaking it to is a good action item, helps blue sky less with some of the "what." Have you found any specific topics you've posted about resonated more this year? One piece of feedback specific to me I got Thursday from a networking group, which has been folks with at least 10 years industry experience, is how much they want 1. a partner who can be flexible with where and how they fit in the process and 2. is local to have some familiarity with the area and potentially companies and culture. A very "I didn't know you were here" reaction, which I don't think social is the way to make happen alone, but social can reinforce experience, presentation. And executing does come down to that energy and resources focus, especially if you get booked on projects. I'm trying to think and prep for updates that are valuable and aren't time sinks.

@Keith Adams ha ha no, I think you're spot-on. And for me an easy one to let atrophy. After years of in-person networking I moved to a different city from where my studio space located, and didn't network much in the new city. We had our daughter and with my wife's corporate job(s) I'm the school drop off and pick up parent (unless I'm filming) so I didn't network much the last few years. Fast forward to making an effort in 2024 to get out and meet people and three possible projects for 2025 with a range of $20,000-45,000 total in budgets... I never pushed sales, all three "came to me" to talk. One of those "Oh right, that's how this works" moments. And great point about articulation of what you offer and how you offer it. At a meetup this week two people expressed how much they want a "partner" they can bring in to help augment strategy/brand and manage video. Another huge reminder to say it simply. Cost and experience come into play sure, but to hear that from other marketers was a reminder and clarifier of what to put out as far as differentiation.

I was in a similar boat, and finished out the week with any project e-mails with a plan of doing post-break follow ups the second week of January at the earliest. I've got a number of warm leads and proposal going on, I don't want to get lost in the shuffle or add on to the pile of e-mails folks have coming back into the office. My natural mode is to want to "send now!" but I'm using the next few weeks to prep those e-mails, write posts for January, and plan the year out.

- The robot running effect in Interstellar is one of my favorite VFX the last couple years. I'm glad Nolan keeps getting big budget swings for "big" movies, his stuff doesn't always land for me, though I was surprised how much I LOVED Dunkirk. - Is it baseball season yet? - My wife got snow boots for my daughter at like 45% off, I should've looked at archive drives. - trying to figure out increased marketing and ways to increased revenue, luckily there's a group that focuses on that...

@Dave Lisowski I'm a hit-or-miss Nolan watcher, but even the stuff that doesn't click for me is mostly an interesting disconnect. And I was just looking for some physical drives to archive to. I haven't made time to think specific goals, or look at what worked this year and what didn't. The TL;DR version for me is to get back in the black. How about you?

I haven't gotten Federal work or contracts, I currently have a state contract. I've gotten a few state and local RFP proposals, and lost a lot more ;) The success I've had boils down to being the lowest bid, which can be a race to the bottom. Yesterday I was messaging with someone in another city that had their proposal repurposed by a government office for a bid, the "winning" proposal came in at half their amount. I've never tried for "lowest" amount, in a couple cases it worked out I was and the margins were okay. I've not purposefully underbid, though I did respond to an RFP recently with a "volume" mentality because of how much filming and content was in play. If you know someone in the office issuing the bid that MAY be helpful. My contract is with a university in the state, and that contract applies to the other state universities and colleges. What that seems to really mean is any work less than $50,000 would not have to be formally bid out if someone at the university wants to do a project, which HAS led to work at different times. Frankly a lot of that work was years ago when universities had less robust internal marketing solutions and needed to reach out more. Having said that there's still projects that crop up, and some state groups may need more recurring work. If your state has a registration system to get certified to do business with the state it's probably free. There's likely a portal or email listserv for RFPs that you could get on. The federal level I don't know much about, I've registered with some orgs here and there but found at least where I am and what I do it's not been worth the effort.

Congrats Grayson! That's fantastic. Is your approach something you've talked about in another thread?