<<<-- Originally posted by Pat Chaney : <<<-- Originally posted by Josh Bass : Is there an email for this lady? I can't find one on the site (yourgoldenopportunity.net). I'd like to ask her quesions along the lines of "why do you need my home address?" and "why do you need to know the exact gear I use?" (though I SORT OF see the logic in the latter). -->>>

Skye Winslow
317-581-1766

SkyeDonaldson@aol.com

You can give her a call - she answers the phone herself.

Thanks, guys.

James, what part of Atlanta you in? I did not see that post. Bob Safay

I take it this whole thing was a huge waste of our time. When will we all learn!! lol

Murph

I was contacted by Skye yesterday via email and received a call from her this AM. She's susposedly got a job for me with a local auto dealer. The dealer is a very well know and I'm supposed to film a 2-3 min. infomercial for them. As far as I know, they're to know exactly what they want and all I'll have to do is show up and shoot 2-3 different shots, do a rough edit and slap on a title and ending contact title.

Skye told me they've decided to broaden their video market. That's why this job is with an auto dealer. The pay is the standard $100 but I figure if it only takes me an hour then that's not too bad.

BTW, their new website is www.golookinside.com if you're interested. Nothings live yet execpt the "Order Now" link. It just seems like they're pushing things faster than the marketing is able to keep up with.

It's not all set in stone yet but it seems to me a lot of trouble for it to be a scam. I'll keep everyone posted.

Rick

Videographers needed all over the U.S.
 

Greetings,

Just to let everyone know. I have been in touch with Skye for over a month, and she appears to be legit. I know many of you think that the pay is too low, however, in my area (New England), Coldwell-Banker only pays their shooters $50 per house - and they are a multi-billion dollar company.

The company is a small start-up that is trying to do big things. I don't think that asking where you live and what equipment you use is an unreasonable request. As MANY of you know, being a "videographer" for many people consists of having a $300 camera and iMovie. If I was going to try and use videographers from across the US, I would want to know what equipment they have!

Skye seems like a very nice person, and she is working very hard on getting this going. Give her a chance!

Im glad!!
 

Im glad to see more positive comments on this business venture.

Good luck to us ALL !!

Just an FYI - I got an email from "Skye". It does seem at this point to be legit - she's talking about Re/Max International etc. & Verizon.

Everything business these days requires extreme caution, but from the outside looking in....seems legit. She talked about getting videographers a DVD that explains exactly what they want - wireless mics, tripods, exporting to an AVI for web purposes (encoding) etc.

In short, I do believe that someone (Skye and company) are trying to make a go at something here. Almost 99% of the time you'd never get an email back from someone that talks specfics (wireless mics etc.). Of course, we could all be wrong...but, something tells me it's worth waiting and seeing how it pans out.

Also, she said they were expanding their menu to include other types of businesses because the money isn't there in just real estate. Apparently, it's taking some time to get it all together and we should hang loose until she contacts us again in about 30-60 days.

It's a waiting game, and there is no harm in waiting!

Murph

Re: Videographers needed all over the U.S.
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Ray Lane : As MANY of you know, being a "videographer" for many people consists of having a $300 camera and iMovie

And for $100 bucks that's all she should get! What a joke! Now she's branching out into car commercials?! Hell I get about 10 times that just to edit a 30 second commercial!
Some people won't be satisfied until they completely destroy an industries pricing schedule. I hope you enjoy driving all over town spending your time, your gas, your money and using your equipment to make some ingrate foreign (India, you know, where we're sending all of our jobs) company more money (they make almost as much as you off this) while you make a mockery of our craft!

I would rather see individuals go out and solicit the business themselves for a little more money. I don't care what other Real Estate agencies are paying, if the price starts going up, we all win!

Remember, if you start making it an industry standard to shoot and edit a commercial for $100, don't come crying to me when you can't afford to live at this craft anymore. Maybe fast food will pay better.

I also agree with others, my home address and inventory are none of her business (yet), and my insurance company would probably drop me for doing something as asinine as giving out that info to any website! DUH!

I noticed on her page, a question along the lines... "If the product is not up to standards, are you willing to re-shoot at no cost to the client"?

So... I spend my time, money and insurance to go out to shoot some local car dealer, who can't get his lines straight, or his act together, my "One hour shoot" turns into three... and he still looks terrible because he can't deliver his lines, which were poorly written anyway. Two days later, he feels more comfortable with them, decides he doesn't like the first version, and I have to go out and do it all over again for free.


Whats wrong with this business model?


I provide the equipment, (My own values at over ten grand) the time, the gas, the transportation, the insurance (and expose myself to all the liablility) for 100 dollars. (Which, if we are realistic about office hours, travel, setup, shoot, edit and paperwork... is proably in the neighborhood of 20 dollars per hour) I also sign a non-compete that says I won't go with someone else who offers to pay me more if and when they come up with a better "model".

And they get ninety nine dollars for setting hosting a website and giving out your phone number.


By golly, they're right. All we have to do is find a member of this board that's web-savvy, bind together as the "Largest on-line community of Videographers in the world" with "Millions of dollars in state of the art equipment" and offer our "Professional level services" for three hunderd dollars a spot. (Marketing is fun, and easy, no?)

Heck, I'll only take fifty, you guys can keep the other two hundred and fifty.

It's not a "scam" in the sense of the "nigerian money deal" sense, as someone said. It is a business model that the local Television stations often use. The practically give away their production services at cost, because they make up their profit on airtime.

Only in this model, another company is selling YOUR production services at below market cost, because they are making their profit on "Streaming air time". You carry the skills, expense and liability, they carry the video on a server. Sweet deal...


Yeah,,,, painting this fence sure is fun. Why, I haven't had this much fun painting a fence in a loooong time... I wouldn't trade this job for anything...

Doug,

Have you ,or anyone else, actually done any paid work for her? I spoke to her and she seems like a nice enough person. The only drawback is that she doesn't currently have any business. It sounds like she's trying to market her ideas, but is only in the planning stages.

I'd appreciate any info.

Bruce Yarock

They were working on 90,000 realtor websites, now they are branching into car ads before they have shot a single home tour?

Their website does not work.

They put all risk on me. If client is unhappy it is my fault. If commercial is ugly it is my reputation. If they go out of business, who is realtor gonna call? (Clue: local guy). If someone gets hurt in the shoot it is my buttz and my insurance. If realtor is not ready to shoot, how long am I expected to wait and do they expect me to return again later for same $100 fee? Can I refuse to shoot with certain realtor who are chronically late?

In most places you need a business license to be in business. Here in Sarasota County, I would need 6 different licenses (One from each city plus one from the county) to do this kind of mobile work.

Is this work-for-hire? Who owns the copyright? What does the contract say? What does the non-compete say?

Am I expected to get each realtor to sign a talent release? DId they even think about this? Whose buttz is on the line ? Talent release even a bigger issue with car dealer ads.

What if homeowner gets pissed at the inside of their home (likely with personal possessions) being on the Internet? What if they get burgled? Who is homeowner going to sue? (hint: everyone). Will they be providing me with location releases for each house I shoot?

I seem to remember someone saying she must be legit because she gave him a phone number for her attorney. Did you call it, and did you verify that he is a real attorney?

Has anyone seem the agreements or non-compete she wants signed? She wants to use my reputation and thgen prevent me fomr even competing with her or stepping in to pick up the pieces locally when she crumbles. It is likely the non-compete will prevent you from ever working for that homeowner or the realtor ever. You may end up paying her a cut just to shoot a wedding for someone you met thru working for her.

BTW, she and programmer are the two "owners" of this business. Are they married? Boyfriend/girlfriend? What happens to all of us when they have a fight?

My questions just go on and on. Until I see some of the legal stuff mentioned here addressed, the amount of pay is meaningless to me. Even then, it just smells like a dead horse.

But she and her shill certainly know how to create some buzz.

<But she and her shill certainly know how to create some buzz.>

That was my gut feeling also.

I spoke to her, and she had lots of different ideas. If you listened to Doug, you'd think she had an ongoing business. When I asked her about that, she said they were still laying the groundwork, and that she would get back to me later that day... Never heard back from her.

What I can't understand is why people engage in such mental masturbation, and waste so many people's time.

Bruce Yarock

Well, there's a lot to be said for the "Stone Soup" approach to building a project. Start the buzzz, generate the interest, get SOME commitments, and everyone else jumps on board. The idea is to build a critical mass of people/money and the project gets moving.

SOMETIMES it works... but not always. Basically, you have to have a sound enough idea to get the real commitments in the first place.

That's fine, but her "shill" presented the business as something that was ongoing, already in existence. Would have been more sensible and honest if she represented her efforts as what they are...efforts. She had nothing going on, but attempted ( and succeeded) in making people believe that she could offer them work.

Some images that come to mind- "smoke and mirrors", "cart before horse", "building a house from the roof down".
I've been in business since 1981, and I have low tolerance for bs artists.

Bruce Yarock

Just Found this

Here
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t107348.html

That's what the promo says, but when you talk to her, she tells you that she doesn't actually have any business yet.If you Contact her,I'd be curious to hear her reaction.
Bruce yarock

Well her website is reasonably well laid out with lots of stock graphics of smiling models. The video samples on their site however are pretty bad, about what one might expect with a single camera and available light. The resolution is terrible, either due to the camera used or just crappy compression for streaming. I wouldn't necessarily want to buy a house based on these sorry samples.

If this is the best they offer it is hard to see how anyone would want their services even with a rock bottom price.

Wow! Imagine that, BOTH websites are down!

I actually wanted to see the crappy quality of video to see what a hundred dollar shoot and edit looks like. I guessing similar to an Auto Trader classified photo. You know, the grainy black and white one's in the paper. Maybe not quite that good because after all, those photographers make big money, considerably more when you take into account your equipment investment and man hours involved. They show up with a $49 digital camera and take 1 shot and leave, most never even heard of a "tripod"!

The http://www.golookinside.com/ is up. The addresses listed were both mistyped.

Interesting. If you're just starting out and need a first or second client, it might be a way to start.

I did like going to see their sample videos because it allowed me to compare the different compression qualities of the big three media players, quicktime, windows media and real. I thought Windows was the winner.

Scott

Anyone get their information packet and NonCompete Contract in the mail like I did? Likely I'd be one of the first being in Dayton OH and her in Indy. I'll fill more in for you folks this evening as I'm back at work.

I got mine yesterday. The only part that really worries me is the W2 - I am not too keen on giving social security numbers ect until I actually have a reason too, ie: I actually have done some work for them.
I would like to hear from some of the more legal types here what they think of the non-compete

Samuel

Can you post the non-compete agreement here or somewhere else?

Guys, after careful examination and careful thought...my opinion is that this is a scam. I have communicated with "Skye" via email a bunch of times.

If it's not - at the very least, it's a waste of time.

Murph

I got mine the other day as well. I'm also a little leery of the contracts, mostly the ownership of works.

Hey guys, just wanted to throw up the 'investigation' I wrote up when this whole topic came up. It's quite long and will be split between this post and the next.

Again, this was written back when the topic first came up and has not been edited since so there may be more information now then I had when it was written. I will not be updating or continue a running list of changes or new information as I do not wish to persue my 'investigation' any longer. Some site links may no longer be available. I have not checked or updated these.

My 'insights' are found inbetween the ** marks.



<removed orignal posting by Doug Puckett>

*********
Sure sounds fishy to me. And quite a few others on the messageboard as can be seen. Just establishing the domain name and the name attached to the bottom. Helpful tools in internet sleuthing.
*********


WHOIS DOMAIN SEARCH

http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/results.jhtml;jsessionid=RPRKO3RSAPVBICWLEALCFEY?whoistoken=0&_requestid=300257

photographersneeded.com
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160
PMB353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: PHOTOGRAPHERSNEEDED.COM
Created on: 27-Sep-04
Expires on: 27-Sep-05
Last Updated on: 28-Sep-04

http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/results.jhtml;jsessionid=RPRKO3RSAPVBICWLEALCFEY?whoistoken=2&_requestid=300434

yourgoldenopportunity.net
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160
PMB353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: YOURGOLDENOPPORTUNITY.NET
Created on: 12-Sep-04
Expires on: 12-Sep-05
Last Updated on: 12-Sep-04

NNOVIA.COM
Registrant: Make this info private
nNovia (22060252O)
1630 Oakland Rd.
Suite A 206
San Jose, CA 95131
US
Phone: 999 999 9999
Fax: 999 999 9999


Administrative Contact :
Caldeira, Robert
(RCC451)
robertcaldeira@AOL.COM
1650 Zanker Rd, Suite 126
San Jose, CA 95112
US
Phone: (408) 441-6916
Fax: 999 999 9999

Technical Contact :
Brenner, Michael R
(MB1617)
michael@BRENNERNETWORK.COM
PO BOX 1456
PEBBLE BEACH, CA 93953-1456
US
Phone: (831) 384-4141
Fax: (831) 884-0999

Record expires on 10-Apr-2005
Record created on 10-Apr-2000
Database last updated on 07-Jul-2004

*********
The first two websites were both registered by the same proxy company 15 days apart. Not liking that the domain registration was done with an intermediary but there are sometimes legitimate reasons for doing so. First website listed was found at the top of either domain and both are identical pages. Either this is a scam or the people deciding the domain names aren’t really bright. That’s just my opinion however. Site with hardware DV recorder seems to be legit, didn’t pursue that avenue really.
*********



http://fox59.trb.com/news/wxin-pm-meetourteam-bob.story

Bob Donaldson

Bob joined WXIN Fox 59 in 1991. He anchors Fox News at 10, one of the most successful newscasts in the Fox network. Besides his work at the anchor desk, Bob has been an Emmy- Nominated writer and producer of documentaries on Fox 59. His efforts also helped make WXIN-TV "Fox Station of the Year" in 1992. Bob graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism.

Bob began his professional career in the small Texas town of Beaumont. In seven years he climbed up the ladder of success. First in Oklahoma City as a reporter, then in Salt Lake City as an investigative reporter, Oklahoma again as a weekend anchor, and Little Rock, Arkansas, as a main anchor. Then, finally to Indianapolis as the main anchor for Fox News at 10.

Bob and his wife, Skye Winslow are the proud parents of two girls and a boy.

*********
Found this one pretty quickly. Appears that Mrs Skye Winslow and Mrs. Skye Donaldson are likely the same person. Perhaps a maden name that she has chosen to keep. Not a significant flag in my book. Another good avenue is that her husband is Robert Donaldson anchor for Fox News 10 in Indianapolis. Served there since 1991 is what I’m getting out of the bio. I think that’s quite a prestigious position and probably very financially secure. Doesn’t seem like a position to risk any bad press associated with false marketing etc.
*********


http://www.google.com/search?sa=X&oi=fwp&pb=f&q=skye+donaldson+indiana

Skye Donaldson - (317) 581-9847 - 9650 Copley Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46290


*********
Found this number on Google’s search. Listed in reverse telephone lookups to be owned by Skye Donaldson, Skye Winslow, S. W. Winslow, R. Donaldson, and an R. A. Donaldson. Very likely to be Robert her husband. Also found on http://www.daplus.us/ is lists some other information:
Est. Home Value: $350,000 - $399,999
Years at Address: 6
Est. Household Income: $201,000 - $499,999
Dwelling Type: House
I phoned a friend I had in Indianapolis who is familiar with the area and said that the address I gave him and subsequently looked up on www.mapquest.com was in a very wealthy area and would likely reflect a home location of a well-paid individual. He attempted to contact Mr. Donaldson but was unable to reach him at that time.
*********

http://www.bavc.org/cgi-bin/paid_jobs.cgi?page=week

Accession number: 25576
Position: videographer
Company: Skye Winslow Productions, LLC
Hours: any
Pay: $100 and up
Union/Nonunion: Nonunion
Job Description: Hundreds of photographers in all 50 states to video tape narrated tours of real estate. Realtor contacts our site, requests video, pays immediately and photographer arranges the shoot day and time. Realtor gives on camera "narrated tour" of listed property. Photographer edits and posts FTP file to our server. Pay is immediate. Realtor pays $180. Photographer keeps $100 AND any additional a la carte fees. We are an international company and serve over 90,000 Realtors. NO FEES - NO COSTS to photographers other than required equipment.
Requirements: 3 CCD camera, wireless mic, basic editing skills, ability to shoot and edit within 48 hours. Must fill out questionnaire at www.photographersneeded.com
How To Apply: visit www.photographersneeded.com and fill out questionnaire or skyewinslow@aol.com
Contact: skye winslow
Date Submitted: Tue Sep 28 17:14:26 2004
Other: Permission for a background check, liability insurance and letter of non-compete is required.

*********
Found out the company name “Skye Winslow Productions, LLC” and it’s linked to the website and Mrs. Skye Winslow. Not anything groundbreaking but it’s just more fodder for Google.
*********



http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:S8WG_Z3kkL4J:https://www.filmunderground.com/Filmmaker/State/14/xt/Indiana.htm+Skye+Winslow+Indianapolis&hl=en&start=3

as retrieved on Mar 10, 2004 09:24:37 GMT

as of Oct 04, 2004 19:25:00 EST (when I looked) name no longer listed on site.

Winslow, Skye
9650 Copley Drive
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
voice: 317-581-0546

Also a mirrored site: http://www.filmdeveloper.com/Filmmaker/State/14/xt/cfs_1.htm had the same info cached by Google but is no longer listed.

*********
Again, nothing huge but notice the phone number. Different than the one found previously. This number also registers to Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson in various forms but on Directory Assistance Plus it shows only 2 years at the current address with all other information being the same. Another phone line installed perhaps? Seems likely to me.
*********


http://www.co.hamilton.in.us/apps/reports/rptparcelinfo.asp?parcelno=1713100401012000

Parcel No: 17-13-10-04-01-012.000
Property Address: 9650 Copley DRIndianapolis, IN 46290 Deeded Owner: Donaldson, Robert A & Skye WinslowOwner Address:9650 Copley DRIndianapolis , IN46290
Legal Description: LACOMA ESTATES 167.6 X 475.2 A 2/11/93 FRM BRUMMER 9305667 9/11/95 FRM BRUMMER 9551305
Section/Township/Range: 10/17/03
Subdivision Name: LACOMA ESTATES
Block:
Deeded Acres: 0
Political Township: Clay
Lot Number(s): 4
Most Recent Recorded Date: Not Available.

*********
Found this on the Hamilton County Indiana page. Just cements for me that the address is correct and Mrs. Winslow and Mr. Donaldson are ‘together’. The pertinent information in email I received from Mrs. Winslow is listed below. Yet another different phone number that is unable to be traced via any of the reverse lookups I have available. I’m not willing to pay for Cellular number lookups so I was unable to determine if it is indeed a cellular number or not. Reverse lookup only had some slightly confirming information available. “The phone number "(317) 581-1766" is a Carmel, IN based phone number and the registered carrier is Ameritech Indiana.” Carmel IN is what I would consider a suburb of Indianapolis and the address provided is very likely in Carmel. I live in a suburb of Dayton and most of my mail comes addressed to Dayton and not the suburb name. The only other clue is that it’s carrier is Ameritech and is in Indiana. Ameritech was recently (2 or so years) bought up by SBC. SBC does have an agreement with Cingular Wireless for cellular service. Didn’t come up with anything conclusive with that avenue.
*********


Email received from Skye Winslow
SkyeDonaldson@aol.com
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 11:31 AM

Skye Winslow
9650 Copley Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46290
317-581-1766



*********

So in conclusion, I’ve determined that 1 I have way too much time on my hands, and 2 that there is a Skye Donaldson/Winslow that lives at the address provided and the numbers listed in other areas are also registered to her. The only questionable number is the one sent in the email, as I can find no information further on it. This leaves me with few options that this situation could boil down to.

1. Legit.
2. Someone is falsely using the Mrs. Winslow/Donaldson name to pull of quite an interesting scheme. Not sure what that purpose would be, and it would seem to be a lot of work to get some names, address (physical and email) and phone # at a minimum. The equipment listing section was optional and I only filled out a few of the fields.
3. Mrs. Donaldson is attempting to con people out of their personal information and gradually take over the world. Wait, forget that last part. Besides identity theft, or junk mail and spam, or physically coming to the address to loot, I can’t think of a reason to do that but the reasons mentioned are probably good enough for most people.
4. Mrs. Donaldson has herself been deceived into this venture, and may be dragging us into it without knowing. It’s a ‘fly by night’ company as Mr. Donald from the DV Info Net message board has suggested and is there to slowly real you in with little bait and then when you take the big hook they leave you hanging with no compensation for the big job you did for them. I can see that situation under the circumstance that Mrs. Donaldson has been deceived into this venture but I would think that with her husband’s position that she wouldn’t want any bad exposure. Plus they’ve had one of their numbers established for quite some years and own a home. Doesn’t seem like the kind of people to just disappear to me. The fact that I received a confirmation email from a noreply@photographersneeded.com and from what I think is Mrs. Donaldson’s personal email address SkyeDonaldson@aol.com. Seems a bit odd that if it was her ‘program’ that she wasn’t set up with some addresses with a. her Production company’s name (which does not have a domain registered that I can find), or b. the photographersneed.com site.




My judgment call on this on is that it’s likely #4 but I think it’d be really cool if it were #1. I look forward to receiving any more information on this venture. Must always err on the side of caution.





*********
Additional Site found Skye Winslow Productions, LLC. Oddly to me it talks about exercise equipment. Doesn’t seem to match anything else I’ve found and it is a cached link from Mar 8, 2004 05:54:08 GMT. Didn’t find any more leads in that area.

*********




http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:PaoUjQY36NAJ:www.alibaba.com/trade/globalbuyer/hotbuy%3FSearchText%3Djump_rope%26stype%3Dgb+%22Skye+Winslow%22&hl=en
YS Manufacturing [United States] Purchasing Products: sports and nutrition,Pilates exersize ball jump rope


Skye Winslow Productions, LLC [United States] Purchasing Products: Rhythmic gymnastic equipment for preschool children(balls, ribbons, clubs, jump ropes,hoops, etc.) 11 inch balloons, 16 inch punch balls, nylon scarfs, bean bags.Rhythmic ribbons should be of good quality, 2 meters in length with a swivel stick. The rhythmic ball or heavy weight plastic or rubber ball should be 6 inches in diameter. The gymnastic hoop should be 24 inches round and non-kink. The rhythmic jump rope has no handles. The gymnastic clubs can be plastic. The nylon scarfs can be 12 inches or 16 inches square. Bean bags should be square with plastic pellets. Punch balls should be 16 inches and be able to be screened with my company logo.

Man, you should be a PI.

But, seriously...is this all not a waste of time or what? If they have venture capital to sustain their business this long without actually doing anything...well, that's questionable. The fact remains we've been doing all the work trying to get information. Any reputable company would not send out all this communication ASKING for information and not follow-up regularly. In any case, it's not worth the effort if it ain't flying by now..

Jacob, you should do a video on "How to be an Internet sleuth".

I would not give any positive weight to the fact that they are well-known. Lots of well-known people (or their spouses) get into all kinds of questionable deals, including State Governors and Presidents.

Did you by chance do a lookup on their LLC?

Even if completely legit, it just does not look like a good deal unless you are a student, can drop everything on short notice, and don't need much income per hour. It sure would be interesting to see that non-compete and other contractual stuff. I bet it does nothing to protect us against client, copyright, or homeowner lawsuits.

I'm a little baffled.

WHO cares who it is? Do YOU really feel that your time, skill, sizable investment in equipment and inability to compete with them in the future is worth making a lousy $100 a day? (really, do you actually believe you could do more than one a day if they are across town, and these are Realtors we're talking about, you'll be there all day while they tell you how to do your job) The company makes more than you do off this and what do they have invested? Some website and a few phone calls? Whoopie! Why don't videographers just get off their butts and go get the work by themselves, and charge a fair price! (read, don't sell your soul for a nickel)


I don't really think it's a scam per se' as much as I think they are just trying to make a buck off of some poor unsuspecting soul.

<<<-- Originally posted by John Galt : Jacob, you should do a video on "How to be an Internet sleuth".

I would not give any positive weight to the fact that they are well-known. Lots of well-known people (or their spouses) get into all kinds of questionable deals, including State Governors and Presidents.

Did you by chance do a lookup on their LLC?

Even if completely legit, it just does not look like a good deal unless you are a student, can drop everything on short notice, and don't need much income per hour. It sure would be interesting to see that non-compete and other contractual stuff. I bet it does nothing to protect us against client, copyright, or homeowner lawsuits. -->>>


I'll consider the video. :) No, not really, I just fed information into the google machine and out came more stuff. It's like that old TV show where they put in a bunch of random objects and out came a story book about it or something. Man that memory goes way back. :)

I didn't look up their LLC, as I really didn't have a good resource at the time for it, nor did I even think of it.

I also agree that it doesn't look like a very good deal for normal 'established' videographers. I'm full time employed in another field and the only times I'd be able to do such a thing is after work hours and possibly on the weekends. It'd take a lot of filming to make a living at $100 a commercial.

I'm not really interested in the 'work for hire' nature of the contract. If I do some good work, I'd want to keep it for a demo reel or something. Within their contract, you'd be giving up that right.

I think we should go section by section through the contract to see if anyone has any particulars they'd like to talk about. Think it'd be good, just from a learning standpoint, even if you don't become employed by GoLookInside.com.

Waste of time and effort
 

I totally agree with Chris and Rhett. Even if it's not a scam, it's just not worth fooling with because of the terms, all of that red tape and most importantly that low pay. No legitimate job should be that hard to get. If it's that difficult to just get started, imagine trying to get paid!

It sounds as if this is their last minute attempt to get in on a market that is quickly shrinking. There are alot of people doing this so it makes more since to just do it for yourself and keep the middleman out of it.

I talked to her a month ago.She has no conceete business. It's either a scam, or fantasy/delusion. A big WASTE of time and bandwidth. The original poster was probably her shill.
Bruce Yarock

Uhhh, what is a shill?

<<<-- Originally posted by James Emory : Uhhh, what is a shill? -->>>

try here

Now why did you have to make me go to all that effort?

Wow, I don't know what kind of money you guys are making but the money is definatly there in the Video Tours business. I talked to Skye a couple of months ago, I had already been doing video Tours on my own for about 6 months, and decided to stay on my own, all the contracts and paper work through her, not worth it.

We charge anywhere from 150-300+ per house, 20 houses a week would be part time for myself and business partner. Take the low $150*20 houses a week * 52 weeks a year you're looking at over 150k per year, split that and I'm happy making 75k working part time ( I'm also a full time student). Not saying I'm making that right now, but we recently moved to a bigger market, and am getting all our ducks in line, Real Estate is huge after the Superbowl, and am looking for business to take off.

I can't really believe I'm posting this, because the tour are so easy to do, pay so well, and I'm paranoid about hundreds of videographers deciding to shoot Video Tours.

The original poster implied that he had no connection with these people, and only wanted to spread the news to help others...
I once worked for some guys who auctioned off persian rugs, going from city to city. If the price didn't go high enough on a particular rug, a guy employed by them ( nobody knew) would bid the price up. You would call him their "shill".
Bruce yarock

Brakes on!
 

Guys, I got a package in the mail yesterday from Skye. It's my opinion only, but it's totally NOT worth the effort. It seems like a hokey thing they have going on...they put in a bunch of flyers for us to give out. (Ok, so we're also sales people now too?) I have a hard enough time promoting my own business - these hokey looking flyers will only confuse my higher paying customers. Their whole campain looks like a cheap commerical, "Be a Millionaire!" type promotion. Get real, no one is making a million bucks by trying to get people on-board by sending them flyers to pass out. One of the services is Web Design...gimme a break. Web design? That went out with 8-tracks! No one is paying for that unless it's local - people want to sit down with someone and workout a plan for their own site. Who the heck is going to pay some middle person (us) to then contact someone else (them) to build a website for like $99? It's stupid - (in my opinion).

If anyone wants more details I'll give them - but, I will say the contract is almost a long as the one I signed for buying my house! I'm not saying this is legit or not - I can't say that for sure and everything I am saying is my opinion. They are looking to pay a small amount for signing such a large contract that basically says they own you in that particullar market for 3 YEARS. Say again?

Come one people - no regular job, even on a strict contract asks to OWN you for 3 years! At the most, jobs ask for a 1 year commitment. But, 3 years? They are doing this because they know after 3 years they'll be able to grow their business enough and own the market a percentage of a market. Is that smart? Yes, for them...not for any of us. The fact is they'll make a few bucks because of people signing up...saps. But, they'll fold like every other online business does that doesn't have a real viable plan.

Worst case senario for us...they'll own our asses for 3 years because some weird clause in this huge contract says we can't shoot ANY video for anyone. The next thing you know the video world collapses, people start shooting HD and using iMovie by themselves because they don't want to support the monoploy of Skye, we all loses our shirts and houses, wifes and girlfriends leave us, we're walking the streets looking for food, flashes of suicide makes us insane, we all gather and wait for 3 years to end....it does, but now every man/women/child that didn't sign the contract has taken up videography and they own very successful businesses. So, now we have to start at the bottom getting coffee for some jerk who used to work for us and he's thinking we're dumb for signing a contract that took away our livelyhood. The only thing we can say is, "Would you like cream and sugar?"

I'm not into signing my video skills to anyone for 3 years..even a year is pushing it. Believe it or not, I actually care about my friends in the video business. Yes, someone cares! I'd hate to see people getting involved in someone they might regret. I highly suggest talking to a lawyer before you sign their contract, if you chose to. No matter what, don't just sign it and send it back in their "SASE". They're making it really easy huh? It's funny the post it says, "RETURN ASAP" - all over the contents it says they want you to sign and send it back ASAP. They say they need you to get it all back to them or they'll have a harder time dealing with processing your crap. Really? Then they say that getting it in the mail is quicker for them to process than getting it online. Just my opinon, but I smell a rotten egg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, this stinks like a burrito fart!!!!!!!!!!

NOTE: All of the above statements are my opinion only. I do not have first hand knowledge of this company or the people. It's only my opinion and fiction.