Hollywood Video Editor Shoots for the Stars

Notes from Chris

Episode 1998

Graham “Gray” Jones works as a TV editor/writer. Because that industry has so many ebbs and flows, he’s always filled in the gaps with side jobs, including building a stock footage library and getting sponsorships for his video podcasts. But in 2017 when he was invited to shoot a music festival, he started thinking bigger.

Although he had a lot of gear already, he didn’t have everything he needed, so he rented it from a peer-to-peer equipment camera sharing platform called ShareGrid.

That experience made him realize he could be renting out his own gear when he wasn’t using it, so he immediately listed everything he had and started making $1,500/month. He reinvested earnings to build a bigger rental catalog, and got it as high as $3,500/month before COVID hit.

In addition to bringing in revenue, the rentals also allowed Gray to be more aggressive in pursuing jobs that needed a lot of specialized equipment, because he knew whatever he bought could be rented out to offset the purchase price.

Buying and selling camera equipment has also been lucrative. In fact, Gray made about $30,000 last year just on the buying and selling through a mix of eBay, Craigslist and ShareGrid, the website that started these hustles.

So far, Gray’s biggest catch was a $140,000 job with an educational foundation for billionaire Michael Milken. The foundation had 14,000 videotapes (appropriately fifteen tons of tapes) that needed to be imported.

By capturing from nineteen machines at once, Gray and a small team were able to deliver it in ten weeks. Even the most established transfer companies would take a year or more for that amount of video, so he feels that speed is what’s helped him succeed in that niche. He celebrated the six-figure project with a week-long vacation in Disneyland and a weekend in wine country.

When Gray saw how much success he had renting out camera equipment on ShareGrid, he and his wife started renting their minivan through the peer-to-peer car rental site Turo. In the first two weeks of signing up, they booked $3,000 of rentals. They plan to reinvest their earnings to buy more vehicles and gradually build a fleet.

Finally, because two multi-six figure side hustles isn’t enough, he’s also in talks to buy a competing well-established audio/video transfer company.

 

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Graham and his AV services at his website, AVGearGuy.com/.

SEE ALSO:

• London Photographer Rents Camera Gear 1,100 Times: A London receptionist rents out his photography equipment on a peer-to-peer sharing site… over and over and over.
• Oh Snap! Photography Site Turns Into Passive Income Hustle: A traffic engineer begins shooting wedding photography to make some cash on the side, but it’s his niche tutorial website that earns the real money… at least until it doesn’t.
• Mom-Founded Startup Rents Infant Gear to Tourists: Busy mom in Chicago uses a peer-to-peer sharing platform to earn extra money for her family and help visiting parents get all the baby gear they need for their trip.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,