I could not turn it down.I love supporting Non-Profits! Please check out my short look at the launch party. See some of the fun we were having when a major company like Keen extends a hand to help the world by supporting CBI and there new site Data Basin.

A blog post about the event can be found here.

A Toast to Data Basin at Keen Headquarters

Last night I was re-reading a book I’ve read three times called ” Making Movies.” In this book the director talked about making movies on the cheap because the crew agreed to work for cheap to see the movie hit the screen.

I can see both sides here. There are times when I need to have help on a project but I might not be able to afford to pay for really good help. At these times I wouldn’t contact a professional contact of mine but might contact one of my students and ask them if they want to learn or help out. Most of them know what they are doing and are happy to help.

On the other side, people contact me all the time asking if I will work for free on this wonderful project. Some times I say yes.  A lot the time I can’t afford to say yes as we all have bills to pay etc.  If you take a look at the movie at the bottom of Vincent’s blog it will give you a nice insider’s perspective of what it’s like to be a good camera person in the industry and what we face some of the time.

Hope this gains you a bit of incite today.

Sean Brown

117 Productions

Hello everyone my name is Sean Brown and this is my first blog post on the Madison Ave blog. Today I would like to talk about some of my feelings on independent and community projects.

We’re all professionals who do good work here at the MAC. A lot of the time we will be working on projects that we got from our own sources. While working on these projects we might collaborate with other MAC members or community members to achieve what is best for the client/projects needs.  It’s in that collaboration that the creative process of independent pros like ourselves can flourish.

Supporting the community/collaborative process is vital to achieve the highest quality results. The more passionate you and your team are about a project the more the ideas will flow and the brainstorms will strike.

I’m a filmmaker and videographer.  In my profession you can be a solo bird that does all the roles or work with a decided and passionate team to create amazing results.

I have done both.

I enjoy working with a team of people who know what they are doing and enjoy doing it.

Filmmaking is my passion and I enjoy that I get to do it everyday and teach it to the community at large.

There are many ways to support community, local, collaborative, creative projects.

I have a new project coming up soon that will all be shot in Oregon.

I’m using a website that is for artist, musicians, and creative people to rally together in support of the arts, to see a dream become a reality.

My new project called “Reality Crash” is in pre-production and I’m raising funds through a community website called Kickstarter. I would suggest checking it out and seeing if this site could help you on your way to creating your art.

If you would like to see or support my project, the link is here:

Reality Crash

That was until this week when Google opened up GVoice to everyone. With it ready for wide release, I thought I’d dust off my account and see if Google could sell me on it this time.

I think it has. Last summer, I saw potential at home where my wife and I had recently dropped our landline. Making use of GVoice’s call forwarding to multiple lines, we could still offer a single phone number with family voicemail while only carrying our cell phones. While that may have it’s uses, it wasn’t enough for me to adopt the service.

But for the solopreneur, the features become more rich. I’m not a proponent of acting bigger than you are. On the other hand, I think we can agree there’s no harm in a little more professionalism. Like shaving. Daily. Or giving your business a dedicated line, as opposed your cell phone. GVoice gives you the ability to truly control your business telephone communication. It’s a (mostly) clean break. You can use the messaging to speak directly to your business audience, not them AND your friends, family, or the guy picking up the free couch you put on Craiglist.

So now your customers, prospects, vendors, and contractors have their own number. And your business voicemail sounds all professional and stuff. But it gets better. In GVoice, you can assign callers to groups. If you want all your regular clients to have their own message, or ring to a certain phone, do it. Even make it a more personal experience by addressing the specific company or individual in the recording.

The feature list rolls on. Rather read your messages? Google transcribes them (though this feature still needs some work in the accuracy department). Annoying sales calls? Mark them as Spam and never see them again. Then, try saving some money on texts and use GVoice to send them.

There’s much more to be found if you sign up. And it’s free. For the solopreneur, I think it offers great value by managing your business line as it’s own entity and giving your customers a better experience in the process.

Will you use Google Voice for your business? How?

I think there is a better place to start. First, anticipate. There will be push-back, a pull to conform, to survive, to return to normal. Gird yourself for the struggle. Then, take the time to ask yourself the harder questions. I found Seth Godin’s recent post a good place to start. He lists questions he believes every freelancer, project manager, or entrepreneur – those leaving normal in search of remarkable – need to ask themselves. They aren’t easy, but they are necessary. There was one, however, that stood out from the rest.

To me, the list hinges on #8. It’s key to the kind of business and life you are planning to create. He asks, “Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?” In other words, chose to be game-changing, or compete as a commodity. One is uncommon and risky, the other familiar and acceptable. Which will it be for you?

That leads us to the heart of the issue. Do you need to be understood? Sure, anyone with a tinge of entrepreneur inside wants to make the unique. But if it’s truly different, even revolutionary, then it certainly won’t be familiar. If it was, someone would already be doing it. So, are you willing to put your heart and soul into producing something even those close to you (and maybe even you yourself) won’t understand in the beginning? Or maybe ever?

The deal is, if you are expecting an idea bundled with the latest user manual on how to explain it to the world, forget it. If you want remarkable, be prepared for the long slog through blank stares, disapproval, and rejection. Sure, there will be victories. Maybe a few will get it. But in the midst of testing, failing, retesting, tabling, and restarting, approval will be rare. And you need to be good with that, persevering until the thing you thought might be a good idea gets chiseled down to one that is. Then maybe, you’ll be able to talk about what you do.

What do you think? What have you encountered while working on remarkable?