Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Sanders.
Alan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
11 years ago, with the real-estate bubble popping and companies scaling back their workforce, I found myself laid off from a job I had for almost 14 years. With the economy tanking, it took nearly nine months to find a contract position. It lasted for just a few months. Then it was on to another contract role while applying weekly for permanent employment in the IT field.
My wife, Susan, suggested I consider starting my own business to help supplement income while looking for work. I had 14 years of being a manager in a Fortune 100 tech company and already had a passion for film and video, so the idea of AJS Productions was born.
Sensing company websites would see a need for video, photography and graphic design, AJS Productions was created to be both a website development house and a full-scale video production facility. With the rise of social media and changes in search engine optimization (“SEO”), we quickly added those services as well.
Using a different model in-house for assigning resources, we are able to keep our overhead to a bare minimum, allowing us to provide high-end deliverables at competitive prices. We like to say we give you the quality of the big firms while keeping the small to medium-sized business budgets in mind.
We have grown each year since our inception, taking on larger projects on both the website development side of the house and video production. From training videos to 30 second commercial spots to interviews, animation, and creative narratives, there has been no shoot we haven’t been able to tackle. Our clients range from small, local alarm companies to law firms to international software development firms. One of our more recent projects took our team to the University of Southern Mississippi to shoot a video, highlighting their Eagle Scholars program. It’s been exciting to see a dream turn into reality.
To be clear, I have never personally worked more hours in my life. Every day is a struggle to manage the business, finances and client expectations, while still trying to carve out time for marketing and advertising. It is easily a 60+ hour work week that runs over weekends and holidays. But, the old adage that says, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” is certainly true. Yes, it can be exhausting, but at the end of the day, it feels great to help our clients achieve their objectives.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The hardest part of being a small business owner is the lack of consistency in clients walking in the door. We might go three months with little to no new project work. Then, like last year, we found ourselves slammed with four projects that all came in at the same time and all with similar delivery dates. It may sound trite to call it “feast or famine,” but that is an accurate way of describing a typical year.
The other struggle is keeping on top of the changes in the industry. It takes time to read the tech literature and participate in webinars and that means time away from selling or delivering projects. Another struggle is having to gain the trust of a client who has already been burned by a different website developer, which happens a lot. Often clients are trying to save as much money as they can and want to find short-cuts to satisfy their web or video needs only to find they are left with sub-par deliverables. I find one of the most important aspects of my job is to be both a consultant and an educator. There are a lot of moving pieces in any project, but film/video may be one of the most complex. I spend a lot of time walking prospective clients through our processes so they will have a much better understanding of how we get from point A to point B.
AJS Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At AJS Productions we specialize in both website design and video production. On the web side, we believe that a successful website design project begins with a clear understanding of a client’s business goals and incorporates a clearly defined process to achieve their online and social media presence. When it comes to video, we have the experience and the expertise to bring a full-fledged video production to life. From story-boarding and scriptwriting to filming and editing, we can offer expert film and video production services to individuals and their business, providing clients with the same quality production value for their website as for television and cable broadcast.
Some of our video highlights include filming campaign commercials for US Congressmen, marketing videos for the University of Southern Mississippi and instructional videos for the mental health services organization, Georgia HOPE. We recently created a three-minute overview video for an international tech firm, Agile Innovations Group, that they use for both their website and at trade shows.
As to websites, we have helped a number of Atlanta-based law firms with their sites as well as a host of non-profits, to include United Way of Bartow County and the Pettit Environmental Preserve. We also helped build a completely new and updated website for Owen Security Solutions, which also included shooting a 30 and 60 second commercial to promote their business.
What sets us apart is our delivery model, where we only assign assets as needed, keeping overhead extremely low. Because of this, we can provide high-end deliverables at a more affordable rate than other competing firms in the same market.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
For me, success is measured two ways: intrinsically and financially. The latter is easy to understand. At it’s most basic level, every business, in order to survive, has to make more money than it spends. We have been in business for 11 years now and that does not happen without having some financial wins. Each year has been better than the last and as long as that trend continues upwards, I’d argue we are a success.
The other way I look at success comes from the knowledge that we are helping others to highlight their own businesses or processes. When a client is so happy with our work they immediately refer others to us, it is a statement of our success. Even with our marketing and advertising, without a doubt, the vast majority of our new clients are a result of a referral. We believe by treating people well, listening to their needs, educating them on current trends and partnering with them for development, we forge a relationship that survives long past delivery.
Contact Info:
- Address: 41 Whistle Stop Drive
Cartersville, GA 30120 - Website: www.AJSProductions.com
- Phone: 678-427-1763
- Email: asanders@ajsproductions.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/AJSProductions
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/AJS_Productions
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