By guest author Corey Cheney
Always have a backup plan and consider the possible outcomes.
So why am I talking about this? Well, because I didn’t during a recent shoot and almost lost video footage and a camera. Let me bring you up to speed.
I was filming a documentary project in Scotland.
The project required 2 weeks of filming in the magical land of kilted men, painted blue warriors and William Wallace (Braveheart is the movie if you want to learn more about him). We filmed one week in the Lowlands, primarily in Edinburgh and surrounding cities, and one week in the Highlands, the landscapes you see in Braveheart.
Anyways, it was the second to last day of filming. We were on the island of Iona in Mull on a beach on the north end of the island (here is a link to view the beach). To make the best use of the time I set up a GoPro (that we had been using throughout the day to film B and C camera angles) to capture a timelapse of the tide coming in and eventually washing over the camera. Don’t worry, the camera was in a very waterproof case.
After setting up the GoPro I continued filming b-roll with the director, Colin Gunn. After about 5-10 minutes I turned back around to see that the gopro was gone. I looked frantically where I had put it and couldn’t find it.
Thinking perhaps it had washed into the ever rising tide, Colin and I waded out into the water and began searching through the waist and chest deep water to find it. After 45 minutes of wading, getting very wet, cold, offering silent prayers and Colin getting knocked over by a particularly vicious wave we gave up. Walking back to the primary camera which had been placed a very safe distance from the waves, I looked down and saw the handle to the GoPro sticking out of the sand. Pulling it out of the sand I let loose a few yells and screams worthy of a war movie.
So why tell you this?
In business and marketing you always need to have a backup plan for the important things, from a physical backup of business files, to an alternative ad idea in case the one you spent hours on isn’t well received by the target market.
Also, consider what might happen if not everything goes according to plan. Basically do what I didn’t do: consider as many of the possible outcomes as you can, have a backup plan and don’t think that everything will go according to plan.
Like I learned, almost the hard way, the sea does what it will no matter our plans.
Originally shared on Corey’s blog.
About the Author: Corey Cheney
At the age of 7, Corey Cheney started working alongside his father at their hot dog stand in downtown Denver. Since then he has worked in a variety of family businesses ranging from home remodeling and real estate to retail sales. Currently he owns and manages a video production company based in Colorado, Provident Media Group. Corey was mentored and apprenticed by Kevin Swanson and Dave Buehner.
