Monthly contracts, rate increases, thresholds to watch, and the moment you start turning work down.
From order to service
Three shifts in posture, and they come before everything else.
Sell a rhythm rather than a piece: four videos a month, delivered on a fixed date, are worth more than a one-off order twice the size.
Propose the calendar yourself instead of waiting for the request: the person opposite has no time to plan your work.
And document what you deliver: a one-page sheet per job, with what was produced, the rights granted and the end date. That document is what gets you called back.
What to delegate first
Four tasks, in this order, and none of them is the shoot.
Editing the variants, which is repetitive and easily subcontracted.
Subtitling and language versions.
Filing and naming the files.
And chasing invoices administratively.
The shoot comes last: it is what the client buys, and it is what sets you apart. Delegating production first means losing the relationship while keeping the chores.
Raising prices without losing clients
Four rules, and they work particularly well there.
Announce the increase on a fixed date, once a year, with two months' notice.
Justify it by what has changed in the service: deadlines kept, extra formats, broader rights.
Apply it to new orders, never retroactively.
And simultaneously offer an option keeping the previous price against a volume commitment. Most clients choose that option, which gives you predictable income rather than an increase.
What to track every month
Five figures, noted on the same day each month.
Turnover received, not invoiced.
The share made with your top three clients.
The number of repeat orders.
The average time between delivery and payment.
And the number of hours spent outside production.
That last figure is the most useful: when it exceeds half your time, your business has changed nature, and it is time to delegate or to raise prices.
What you measure to know where to push
| Figure | What it reveals | What to do if it drops |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes sent per month | The selling effort | Block a fixed slot |
| Acceptance rate | Whether the price is right | Review what is included |
| Share of returning clients | The perceived quality | Follow up after delivery |
| Average payment delay | The cash-flow health | Review the terms |
What grows the business without more work
Selling a monthly commitment rather than a video, grouping several orders on one shooting day, and reusing a set already built.
What reassures a client hesitating to commit
A clear contract, a written schedule and a sentence on data handling. Those three cost one evening to prepare and serve for years.
When to structure
Three thresholds, and each triggers a decision.
The turnover threshold that changes your reporting obligations: it is watched before being crossed, not after, and is checked with an accountant.
The workload threshold: when you turn down a job for lack of time two months running, you must either raise prices or delegate.
And the dependency threshold: when one client exceeds half your income, the priority is no longer to produce, it is to find a second one. That rule holds there more than elsewhere, because an overly concentrated relationship also raises a question of status, to be checked with an accountant before it raises itself.
Sources
Checked on 4 September 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
