Is there a market for this business??

[Sarahlou63]

I recently spent a (fruitless!) couple of weeks working for a company who promote video training with celebrities - it's a good idea but their service was very expensive, especially at the moment.

I suggested a much cheaper product aimed at job seekers but they weren't interested so I'm thinking of launching it myself..

I have a good friend who is a retired film director - he's worked with some very famous names - who is interested so this is what we're thinking;

30 minute Zoom session for up to five people at a time at £50 each, including a Q&A and a full recording of the training plus individual job interview role play as an optional extra (say £20 for 10 minutes).

The training will cover;

Lighting, audio, camera position, background, relaxation exercises, body language and dress.

I know there are free resources online but nothing with an experienced film/video professional who knows all the 'tricks of the trade'.

What do you think?

And any ideas of what to call it?!?

What are you training?

Zoom/video job interviews and meetings - how to present professionally on screen.

It's not something I'd be interested in. When you can find the information for free anyway.

A lot of this stuff is available for free on linked inn?

Yes, you can but there's no affordable 'live' training.

I’d see this as an add on - perhaps on a grad training scheme in law or corporate - rather than a service individuals would pay for.

I definitely wouldn't pay £50 when I can find stuff for free.
I don't feel I'd need a professional director to help me with a video interview.

Why would you need live training?

I'm not sure job seekers have a spare £50+ for this, generally speaking .

I’m currently looking for jobs and have now done (too many) zoom interviews.

For free online I found what to wear, how to have my background, where to look (e.g camera for eye contact, them on the screen for more relaxed) where to place my screen in relation to light and lighting in front of me and my body language.

I know about relaxation techniques as I have anxiety anyway... I’m your perfect market right now as I’m desperate for a job - why should I go to you?

Five people for 30 min? If I was payingvthst I'd want more individual tuition. A Q and A session could easily take 30 minutes in itself.
I'm not sure - most of it is common sense surely. People will have a window or lamp as a light source, it's not hard to figure out. And individual role play - can't do much in ten minutes.
I think you need to offer individual coaching on how to present yourself online, but what are your qualifications? Are you an HR expert? Not sure what a professional film director can add to a straightforward interview session.

@sparklefarts

I'm not sure job seekers have a spare £50+ for this, generally speaking .

Sorry my mind instantly went to unemployed people.

For others wanting to further, there's loads of this on the net. For free. So...unlikely

Yes, an add on to something else. Not a paid for direct to consumer service.

That said, create a promo, put it out there, see if anyone bites. You don't even have to run the course immediately. Just see if anyone tries to sign up.

Btw I work in building start up products and services, well, scaling up after start up is really my niche. There are lots of free resources on how to test product ideas without making a big up front commitment. Read around that and test the market in a low risk way.

Your business dies as soon as a vaccine is around and people start going back to face to face. I'm sure people will still be using on line but not as much as they are now when a vaccine is available. Especially in recruitment it's good to see people face to face.

Honestly op I think you need to think again. Who is going to pay fifty quid to sit with four other people for thirty mins to talk about camera, audio, lighting, backgrounds, dress and relaxation exercises for a zoom interview or presentation?

So that’s five mins for intro. And then approx three to four mins on each subject, and most of them are not applicable to Zoom, most cameras there isn’t a lot of choice where they are positioned, the audio is the audio, the back ground is a click of a button and relaxation exercises are easily available on line, and much more in depth than someone talking for three mins about it.

Honestly that’s not got legs and is ill thought through.

£50 for 30 minutes on zoom shared with 5 other people? So £50 for 6 minutes.

You could make a load of youtube tutorials and make money in the usual way out of that. Have affiliate links to lighting and mics in there.

Sorry, 4 other people.

A company might go for it within their training. Surely if the company you worked for and charged mega bucks can do it, why couldn't you just do what they do but for less?

I think some people will pay for anything sometimes - like having CV's done professionally for example. We can all download anything can't we?

Why I think I have anything valuable for you I have no idea - I just think it could work if you're not expecting to become really rich in a year!

There are people that pay for coaching, but I don’t think it’s generally the unemployed as £50 is quite a lot when you’ve not got a decent income. I also don’t know how you’d convince them that even if we do continue with less face to face interactions that the stuff you’re training them on is more important than general interview technique. I can’t imagine many employers being more impressed with the videography over the person’s answers and so on? Perhaps you’d be better off targeting the “coaching” demographic and the more senior people that are presenting in corporate meetings and pitches as that might have more longevity?

I'm unemployed and desperately looking for work, so I'm your target audience.

I couldn't afford to spend what is essentially the budget for my weekly food on this OP, sorry.

That seems very expensive for 30 minutes, especially if it's shared with others. I can't imagine you'd be able to fit much in. Also as others have said, most of this is already online. Search zoom interview tips on YouTube and literally hours of content comes up I wouldn't pay it, sorry.

OK, lots of feedback! Back to the drawing board. There is a value to having someone critique your Zoom presentation - think about TV interviews when you're looking up some MP's nose! - and most people don't know how old egg cartons can improve the way you sound but, you're right, I do need to rethink.

This isn’t for me but I don’t see why you don’t give it a go anyway? It won’t cost you anything, just give it a try and see what the consensus is. If people sign up to it and it’s successful, look into properly launching a business, if not, it won’t work....

You are 100% right about the whole looking up people’s noses etc - but I think in the overwhelming majority of cases, it’s kind of low stakes and doesn’t matter to the tune of £50 when you’re unemployed. Teaching people for appearing on BBC interviews or in mid- to high- stakes situations then I can see the value.