Hey family! How are you? How is your training going?
I hope all is well with you and yours! We’ve had our thinking caps on this week on how we can raise the capital we need which is roughly $20,000 to be able to upgrade the rest of our equipment and make some (ideally $40,000, but the bare min improvements are $20k) much needed improvements to our recording space to provide you with cleaner video and better sound.
As we talked about a few weeks back, we are looking to start getting DVDs made and while we could just use what we have and repurpose it to make them, even the guy we went to recommended we reshoot everything due to DVDs are mostly seen on TV and our quality just isn’t there.
While what we have been doing on our shoestring budget has worked for all intensive purposes to help us get Enter Shaolin out on the web and be able to start the site and so on, the fact is we are working on equipment that really is not meant for what we do now, not to mention what we are looking to do in the very near future.
To give you an idea of the quality and crispness we are looking to provide, if you have ever seen Master Wong on YouTube in his most recent videos… That is the level of quality we are looking for!
We love what Master Wong and his crew are doing and while we may not be able to have as many hands on deck, we can certainly up the quality with the hands we have. 🙂
As you know we recently upgraded our computers (my replacement finally arrived 2 days ago!) to be able to handle our day to day operations faster as our comps where just not cutting it and everything from even the simplest of tasks were taking too long. No beuno! 🙁
Being a one man and one woman show at the helms, time efficiency is beyond essential. We also knew that if we wanted to provide better video quality, then we would need to upgrade our computers as well.
Our sale for our Anniversary helped us get one computer and a working capital loan from Paypal helped us get another. We were hoping to be able to get more funds, but it just wasn’t possible.
After weeks of researching, we finally found the camera that wasn’t too complicated as we are moving from the consumer to prosumer camera range that would also give us quality in a variety of scenarios and the ability to livestream.
We have been hunting down this camera on everything from Ebay to Craigslist, Amazon and every other site to find a deal on a gently used one and finally, we found the 2 we need so we can provide multiple angles in our shoots without having to up our recording time. Now we are just trying to figure out how to get the funds to purchase them, the upgrading camera gear, sound, lighting, etc. etc…
Some ideas we have had are to create a GoFundMe with gifts for different levels of giving and the other is to have another Abbot upgrade sale. We may end up doing both as the more help the better.
We were looking at using Patreon which is an online system used by many YouTubers for their patrons to help the YT channels they love. However, it looks like this is not a viable option for us. We can say this as we were able to see how Master Wong who has a larger subscriber base than us is doing on there and it was sad to see it’s not a fruitful endeavor. Though for other genres it is.
Getting a small business loan isn’t an option at the moment as we have only been an LLC for 1 year, we need to have been one for 2.
So we are really going at any avenue to accomplish this. I have a tax return coming, it’s not much but I am willing to contribute it to the funds if necessary to make this happen, which was originally going to help me get a car or fix mine as mine is on its last leg.
While I do need to get some reliable transportation going soon, I am confident that if I need to take that and put it towards helping Enter Shaolin be better, then all will somehow work out by the graces of The Most High!
I am also going to be having some yard sales to get rid of excess stuff and craigslisting, whatever it takes. It’s time for us to enter the second phase of Enter Shaolin. To provide you with the best of the best and continue to do so. To get DVDs out to those who don’t have great internet access or just like having that alternative and to be able to provide better footage at seminars…
Speaking of seminars! Sifu Phu is back from Israel and we hope to get the footage from his trip soon, so we can start editing it and getting it out to you. More on that once I know more!
Wondering how you can help us reach the next level of Enter Shaolin?
- Keep spreading the word about Enter Shaolin.
- Upgrade to an Abbot if you haven’t already. 😉
- Buy a friend or a loved one a membership as a gift.
- If we do a GoFundMe and/or sale, share it in-person and via social media.
- Keep being awesome!
Got an idea of how we can raise the funds? Share it with us!
Now on to your training…
Here’s Your New Enter Shaolin Training:
Ngo Dac Na
Chin Na
Tai Chi
Blessings & Happy Training,
Jamie Pelaez
& The Enter Shaolin Family
1-844-9-KUNGFU
(1-844-958-6438)
Greetings! I greatly admire your work, and I have some experience of producing teaching/creative material at various levels of quality for different purposes.
How many DVDs are you thinking of producing, over what time period? Apart from the increased technical quality, you’ll need more planning, recording and post-production time for such high quality. So each DVD will take considerably more time and effort than the equivalent duration in short web videos.
(No criticism intended of the quality of your web material, just a recognition that for DVD you’ll be moving everything up a notch.)
Bearing this in mind, it might be that the bulk of your recording over the next couple of years will continue to be web videos for weekly publication and promotional material, with perhaps a couple of major DVD projects each year. The first DVD, in particular, will take the most time, as you figure out how to do everything the way you want to.
So what about sticking with the camera you currently own, and HIRING the cameras (or even the filming team with their own gear) for the DVD shoot. That might be cost-effective, and would also be a way to try out the camera you think you want, before eventual purchase a year or two down the line. Just a thought.
Meanwhile, many thanks for all the magnificent teaching you are posting.
All best wishes
Andrew
Thank you Andrew for all the information! 🙂 We definitely know it will be a lot more work, etc. We are also wanting to up the quality of our web and YT lessons. After doing tons of research and talking to some pros, we have decided to upgrade our equipment. This is because it is the most affordable option for the amount of filming we do weekly and with our upcoming projects.
We will be releasing at least 2 DVDs this year. One will be a re-filming of our 5-day NDN Intro and another will be a DVD set with our seminar from last year in Pittsburg. It won’t be a reshoot for this one, so only that one will be.
As far as others, we have some ideas but nothing concrete yet. Possibly a Sil Lum Tao DVD set would be our next.
Thanks again for all the tips brother! Blessings!