The Monkey Business

So, as is common with blogs, a new strand has come along. I'm running a new media business now and it's starting to take off. The key thing I've found is that people just don't understand why they should now be involved in small-scale cottage media production. I watch a lot of YouTube but until I started my business I didn't understand the challenges and pitfalls of trying to be a YouTuber.

If you have a business enterprise then you will have to get involved with new media tech, it's inevitable. People that don't embrace engagement through YouTube, Hangouts and podcasting are going to get left struggling. These technologies really are the best way to engage with new customers in a new way. Not least because passing trade is at home surfing the net, not walking down the high street. That's what this article, which I sent out as a mailshot to some potential new clients, is all about:

We live in a world that has been transformed by computers, the internet, and social networking. The problem for many of us is that the change is subtle and if you don't see it you can easily miss something important.

When I started Spinning Monkey I thought of myself as being in the business of small scale media production. I have all the kit to take a studio around with me, like a school photographer, and I have the expertise to cut together video productions.

That makes me a videographer, right?

Wrong.

What I quickly discovered is that the types of things you need to do with a small scale media set up are very different to the requirements of even the smallest video production house. What I do is to help people plug into a vast sea of potential customer engagements quickly and to maximum effect.

Businesses of the future will be expected to be social, have faces and names, like people on Facebook. The success stories of tomorrow will talk directly to more people and show the world, with an immediate touch, that they are experts in their field and can move with a rip tide of daunting technological advancement.

At Spinning Monkey we have a variety of projects happening that can help you take vital steps to consolidating your position in business in the exciting times to come. Take a look at the current newsletter. It tells you what is going on at the moment, it's not just a bunch of sales pitches, some projects ask for participation at no cost and give a great window into the possibilities of new media technology.

You can't afford to think of new technologies in media as things that are for someone else, or that what they offer isn't for you. If you don't get involved one of your competitors will sometime soon. It's an exciting time for pioneers and trailblazers. For the early adopters the rewards will be greatest.

You don't have to go it alone. We can explore this new world together. If anything the Spinning Monkey is doing is of interest please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Plastic Bags, Extension Reels, Tarot and Levercastle

At last! The wristband to meet all of my wristbanding needs!

And Lo! There was networking just to the side of the M4 and people looking for new pals did come and the world of the small business saw that it was good.

Starting out at the ungodly time of 6 AM for a 6:45 start (networking breakfast for the win!) I approached Cardiff's Village Hotel before the sun had risen in order to join a cohort of other slightly bleary but otherwise enthusiastic but lovely people for a morning of getting to know yous.

I literally found out about the event two days ago when David of Books & Pontyclun messaged me to ask if we were "still on for Friday", My response: "were we doing something on Friday?" This may signal my level of preparedness at this early rising start of business but not my engagement with the process.

After spending a jolly time learning who was present and then enjoying a quick discussion of regional accents and paying for plastic carrier bags with the lads from DevelopMy I moved on to the main business of the day the Sterling Integrity business show, I had come along primarily to video David's talk in which we will discover why this image

Just another day at the bookshop!

has proven central to David's Facebook marketing in recent days. More, obviously, to follow on that in a short while.

When I actually looked at the venue  where I was to film the talk I noted that I would need that cable extension reel I totally forgot to buy yesterday. So, off to the supermarket I went, good job the weather was glorious for November, really.

Once I returned to the venue I worked out the other thing I'd failed to have adequately prepared for, the mandatory gaffering down of trailing camera wires. Not wanting to be sued I begged for an assist from the kind gentlemen from LNP Sound and they sorted me right out for which I must offer heartfelt thanks as must all the people who failed to break their neck tripping over my cables.

After David's talk I talked to a couple more people, not the least the delightfully enthusiastic Mary Collin, with whom I managed to get into a conversation about Levercastle and Tarot, one of the most interesting conversations of the day! After this I had to leave as time was wearing on and, well, I really wanted to get home and put that order in for a big reel of white gaffer of my very own.