Do you remember a blog I did where I said I was having trouble learning new things out of necessity?  Well, it happened to me again recently, courtesy of my friend Carolyn Fears-Williams and her non-profit health organization Devoted 2 Healing, of which I am media director.

Carolyn wanted me to do a new version of a video I did for D2H two years ago, outlining her plans for a Retreat Care Center in Northwest Indiana that would serve seniors and disabled people with holistic health practices including exercise and vegan meals prepared on site, among other services.  I was dragging my feet on the project all winter long, mostly because it was not a paying job and I was worried about paying bills and paying more attention to what did pay me.

Carolyn firmly but kindly got on my case, saying this project would serve me by providing a sample of corporate video work that she could post on her website, www.devoted2healing.org.  And I could use the video as a sample on my own website, www.dkladytooner.com, to get new video jobs.  Besides, she was paying me--in boxes of expensive healthy hot chocolate.  Thanks for reminding me, Carolyn.

I also had to learn new things about my present technology.  To get pictures to use in the new video, I had to dig out my old desktop computer where the old video was.  I had to convert the video to mp4 so I could put it in my smartphone's SD card.  Then, with movie editing software on the phone, I "grabbed" stills from the old video that I might  be able to use in the new one.  Besides that, for the first time I used larger blank storyboards that were not thumbnail sized to lay out the scenes.

So, what have I learned from all this?  Never leave your clients hanging.  Don't be too proud to do a free job if it pays in rewards just as important as money, like publicity.  And figuring out today's technology is tough but also a grand and glorious adventure.

Now if I can just learn something new out of initiative instead of necessity!