I just made my first YouTube video the other day. It took me 8 hours to make THIS crappy looking video (and I’m still not happy with it) and I have about 1-3 hours of minor tweaking left to do. The day before, Prior to actually making the video I spent about 6 hours learning how to upload and edit videos and finding a video editor to use (harder than you think). This isn’t to intimidate you but to inform. I came in with ZERO video editing experience. I didn’t even know where to start. I put in the hard work once (time flew by actually) and my 2nd video took less than 2 hours to make. Eventually ill have put in the work to where each video takes 5-10 minutes to make. I hope to hit that point in under a week.
From Wikipedia:
The familiar expression “a steep learning curve” is intended to mean that the activity is difficult to learn, although a learning curve with a steep start actually represents rapid progress.
Not From Wikipedia:
What is the lesson to be learned? Not to be intimidated by learning new skills. Your first project will take 8 hours, but the 2nd time around you can shave 2 hours off of the 2nd project. Do 1 project a week and you will have an accelerated learning curve.
You like making business cards or Infographics or fliers but you use an easy drag and drop interface that you’re paying $20-100 a month to use; its convenient and highly recommended for a beginner; I used Piktochart (highly recommended) and various programs like Heritage Makers (Also Recommended for beginners) for a time but I was always limited by the user interface and often paid a steep price to use the service. I would narrow down all the features you use and then learn all those in Adobe Photoshop or a free open source program like Gimp. And then you’ll not need to pay a monthly membership for a software, PLUS you’ll get advanced photo editing features and there is no limit to what you can do. Lots of times with using a drag and drop software is you lose power over distribution sometimes you even spend a fortune designing it yourself and printing at office max rather than using a service like Heritage Makers. Eventually you could freelance that stuff, even more you can expand to wedding cards, resumes, cool pictures. IF you have a knack or passion for making that stuff in the first place you’re crazy not to! It sounds intimidating but its about 1 day (8 hour) learning curve for each one project you take on and the 2nd time around you cut that time in half or by 2 hours at least. By the 3rd project it takes less than 2 hours and eventually over time – 10 minutes a project. I have witnessed firsthand this accelerated learning curve, and the best part! You can get paid to learn all this! Using a basic Photoshop example, one cool, simple example of a cool picture you can make for friends and family. and Its a drag and drop add-on for Photoshop making photos like these easy to make.
Double Exposure Photoshop Action
I would gladly pay $20-30 for a bad ass picture like that and I know other people would too. And a picture like this you can do in 10 minutes. There are a TON of cool drag and drop easy add-ons for Photoshop, but no one uses them because Photoshop is intimidating.
I made some business fliers in Photoshop which took me 8 hours to make, I didn’t enjoy doing it but was motivated to get it done. I saw first hand how easy it was to pick up a skill in just 1 day (8 hours) and you improve over time. I redesigned the entire flyer the 2nd day and it took me 6 hours. Then I made a personal business card which took me 2-4 hours. Accelerated learning curve.
You’re a mom who goes to her kid’s cross country meets and takes pictures of your son and his friends to give away? Check this out!
This one is super cool! And there are tons of super hero features you can add to photos that are basically draw with a brush and click a button. You can go to school sports competitions, bring your own camera, and offer to turn action photo shots into cool art. Parents would totally buy that up! Like $30-50 a pop and maybe 10 parents buy in 1 day. Just bring samples to pique their interests.And you might even get more business than you can handle if you hustle right…
Football season, basketball season, track, cross country, team and private photo shoots… Maybe 20+ parents at a meet are interested and you cant do them all… so you have to double the price because you CANT do them all… Give away free regular pics of their kids in action, then offer a Generous (for you) price for Photoshopped pictures.
Make Resumes and business cards for businesses professionals and college students
Make PowerPoint for businesses, or for that overworked and underpaid banker who isn’t doing so well on his performance review and has an upcoming presentation to give.
You can offer to make logos and fliers for local businesses. Like $100 a pop (VERY LOW PRICE FOR A LOGO) and make it in 1 day. Go door to door and offer just $100, you’ll probably get the gig because the expectation will be low. After the 10th time you’ll be making these logos in 10 minutes (more like 2 hours after re-doing the logo 12 times because the business owner didn’t really know what he wanted). It builds your portfolio and builds your business. A happy entrepreneur will hire you for future gigs and send referrals your way. Over time you can raise your rates but $100 a day for 2 hours of work is a VERY good lifestyle…
The possibilities are endless once you’re willing to put yourself out there. And EVERY project adds to your portfolio which you can bring with you as you knock on doors or show up at sporting events. Success wont happen right away, but you can really start to freelance on a basic skill like Photoshop… If you have a knack for it, it will be very fun, lucrative and easy to scale. And will beat a 9-5 job ANY day of the week.