I have a very cool job.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to head to London and watch a bunch of skateboarders do a load of alley-oops, disco flips, tail slides, and other potentially teeth-shattering tricks in East London. For work.
And, yes, I did Google this trick names.
What’s more, this night of - admittedly freezing cold - skatery was organised by Samsung, who had linked the flipping antics of those very talented individuals to the Flip5 smartphone.
There was free food, free booze, and another chance to massage a very important brand relationship. I even got a ‘VIP’ wristband.
Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fairly), I had to pay for everything else myself. I don’t live in London, which means a train fare, overnight stay, and subsistence to keep me fed and watered. All in all, the trip has probably cost my business just over £200.
That’s not going to break the bank, but it does raise some serious questions. How valuable is that skateboarding-come-smartphone event to the business? Does my attendance warrant that travel cost? Add in the time it takes me away from the studio and other work, and the actual overhead for this jaunt to London is costing Mark Ellis Media a fair bit more than £200.
Whenever I head out on trips like this, I look for ways to maximise my time away from the studio. If you’re a budding content creator, I strongly suggest you adopt this strategy - it’s one of the best ways to remove any lingering doubt that you might be out on a ‘jolly’.
I could have just swanned around London for a bit before heading to the event last night, but I didn’t. Instead, I decided to walk from Marylebone to the east London location of my hotel - a walk that would take me about two hours. The reason for doing this was simple - I wanted to film a Solo Club video, vlog style while heading to my destination.
I have a similar plan today. The time is currently 06:17 and I’m writing this Substack newsletter before jumping in the shower and hitting the streets of London again to make the opposite journey back to the train station (via a slightly different route to mix things up a bit).
On my way, I’ll shoot the remainder (or as much as I can) of this weekend’s Mark Ellis Reviews earbud review video.
Undertaking these two tasks while visiting London makes me feel much better about the overheads involved with this trip. Not only have I accepted an invitation to a press event by a big brand - but I’ve also spent a serious amount of time filming content for both YouTube channels. What’s more, I’ve used a location and filming style which should, in theory, result in far more interesting, engaging videos.
This is a brilliant job. It’s nothing like sitting in an office you hate, interacting with colleagues you can’t stand, and dealing with customers who you’d rather weren’t required. But it is a job, and for it to be a profitable one, you need to do stuff like this. I’m not on holiday, touring London - I’m working.
There are two reasons I’m able to undertake this kind of video-making while out on the road. The first is the ability to shoot fast; I now have a couple of different vlogging setups which enable me to travel without being weighed down by gear, yet still having access to great-looking footage and audio at the press of a button. I can also edit fast - whether it be yours truly editing Mark Ellis Reviews videos, or my General Manager, Niall, editing the Solo Club stuff. And that’s only possible because we have rock-solid processes in place.
If I hadn’t decided to undertake the aforementioned filming while in London, it wouldn’t have been wasted time, but it wouldn’t have been a profitable visit, either, and staying over would have been harder to justify.
Maximise your time out on the road, folks.