Life's Contingencies and Delivery Deadlines?
 

I'm just coming into full awareness of the constant background tension a one-person operator has to deal with in the solo pursuit of keeping all the plates spinning. I've got a crunchy deadline approaching which arouses enough tension on it's own, but leave it to the psyche to add all the what ifs on top of it -- injury, illness, death in family, weather and etc.

What are some of your coping insights and strategies?

Has the unthinkable ever happened? How did you and the client deal with it?

At one point in my life I was on a fire department rescue squad. If something doesn't go right for someones photographs or video it isn't that big of a deal. I work as hard as I can not to dissapoint believe me on that, but in the end I keep it in perspective.

Mike

Dude...you are the Man! That was the most insightful comment I've heard in a long time.....mucho agreed.
-joe

All large problems can be subdivided into a series of small problems.

Hi Sam,

I deal with this on a regular basis. Its hard not to feel like a black cloud is following you around. But I've got a few ways to cope. One is to never set deadlines. It sounds like a hard thing to do because people always want a firm date of completion but I don't do it, for their good and mine. The stress that builds up from an unattainable deadline can be bad for your health, literally. Just say you're doing the best you can. Another way to keep the stress level low is to contact your clients before they contact you. Send them a note, even if nothing has changed with the status of their video. I send out an email blast as often as possible to the people on my backlog list just to let them know I'm thinking about them. It really helps to know that they are not brooding. Lastly take Mike's advice to heart - don't take it so seriously. On life's list of priorities this is very very insignificant. In an odd way this business attracts creative people that are by nature conscientious, caring and don't react well to conflict and negative interaction. These type of people take what other people think and their expectations to heart. I'm sure you know what I mean. Its that sinking feeling in your chest that you're going to disappoint someone when you say that their video won't be ready when it was 'supposed' to be. Just tell them the truth as soon as you realize it won't be ready and live your life without regrets.

A great pilot once told me.....there are NO problems...."ONLY solutions".....hmmm, if there were no solutions, you'd have a lot of planes crashing to the ground. so, my people.......your problems are solved by coming up with solutions.

same here
 

I was a beat cop in my town for several months, but decided that I did not like the tension of domestic violence scenarios. I prefered the investigation side of things, but to be a detective, you have to be a beat cop.... kind of a catch 22.

But the prespective is a good thing to keep in mind. A guy I was hired with just had a pretty bad accident and was in the hospital for a while. He will be back on the beat in a few months, but that is still a long time to be out of commission.


jason