I’ve decided, with the Ladies Who Launch Incubator, to start a part-time multimedia consulting business focusing on providing multimedia services of all kinds to Education and other organizations by way of crowdsourcing.
It’s similar to how government works. They identify a problem, designate money to it, put out an RFI or RFP and chose the best of the best. I believe this could work with multimedia projects in the same manner – helping people solve a particular multimedia issue by reaching across all the varied ranges of what could fall under multimedia: broadcast engineers, IT professionals, audiovisual engineers, graphic/web designers and even “green” technology specialists. (Also, I feel we would be nothing without Interior and Industrial Designers 
)
My key service, however, will be in training. The biggest issue with existing multimedia is in the operation and management of existing solutions. There are also a great number of Education/Government entities dealing with the issue of having outdated technology and trying to make it work without dedicated on-site support. Or even the opposite – they have brand-new technology and no one on hand to, well, give them a hand!
I want to change that. I want to provide solutions that meet these needs. With the help, knowledge and dedication of other multimedia professionals, I’m sure this can be done.
Challenge #1 is finding other professionals willing to work on projects.
Challenge #2 is finding entry-level projects to help build the business.
Examples:
- Your church wants to podcast/stream their services.
- A small school wants to record special events for parents and sell the DVD’s as a fundraising effort.
- Your agency no longer has on-site conference support and you need documentation on how to use the equipment.
If you can help with any of those, I’d truly appreciate your help. A wise person once said “How can anyone help you if you don’t ask?”. So there.
I know someone who could help make videos for school events (http://www.wavian.com/blog/interviews/joseph-falcione/index.html).
I think your new business is a fantastic idea. I went to a conference last week on social media in government and the whole room was abuzz with excitement for how many uses government, business and education could use the various media to help them connect with their audience. Your timing is perfect.
YES! that is so awesome! Thanks, Holly – what conference did you go to?