Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Roycroft.
Michelle, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After staying home with kids for nine years, I had lost myself in the midst of chores and dinners and trying to be the perfect everything for everyone. I needed to get back to me. My artistic side, my ambition for something other than a clean house, and my identity beyond mom and wife.
I got back into photography and started a business that was beginning to thrive when I decided on a whim to make a video of my brother’s wedding. The day I put the last touches on the editing of their film, I was hooked. That following week I took my business in a completely new direction.
I started filming families because I felt a connection to the mothers who are often lost in the shuffle of life. The moms who have gotten bogged down in the mundane and the monotony of everyday life and forgotten that they have a story beyond what the people around them see. A mother’s story matters beyond words and I needed to show that. For them, but also for myself. I am more than a mom and so is everyone else. I’ve never had a mom not cry when she watches her family film, and I consider that a success!
But then, being in the entrepreneurial world connected me to other women, not just moms. Women who fought and struggled for a business they believed in. These women also have a story that needs to be captured, acknowledged, and celebrated.
Today, I work with families, brands, and businesses who have a story to tell. I help businesses use video to connect with their customers through story telling and I capture a family’s story for them to cherish years to come.
Has it been a smooth road?
Yes and no. Ha!
I have been lucky to always have had a business that supported itself. There was never any going into debt or wondering how to pay for the expenses needed to run a business. I’ve also had luck with finding clients purely through word of mouth. I’ve never had to advertise or come up with a marketing plan.
But there have definitely been bumps along the way. I recently got a divorce and my business that started out as a “fun money passion project” type of thing turned into a “need to pay my bills” kind of thing. And at the same time, I was drowning in indecision and guilt and just trying to make it day by day, so I wasn’t focusing growing my business like I should have been.
To ease the finances, I went back to teaching part-time and for the first year felt incredibly overwhelmed because it felt like I was working two full-time jobs for part-time pay and getting nowhere fast. Today, I see that part-time teaching gig as a good thing. I can teach, which I love, to pay my bills. This gives me the opportunity to take more risks in my business and to not take on clients that I really don’t want to work with. That part time job gives me freedom and keeps my business from feeling like a job!
My advice to women starting their journey is to stop listening to everyone else. I was made to believe my business was a failure if I also had a “regular” job. Totally not true. You make your business, and your life, into what you want. Define success for yourself and forget about everything else.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Film Still – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I offer three different ways of working with me. My full filming package is the main aspect of the business. I work with a person from start to finish – identifying the ideal client, styling the location, scripting the film, and editing the film.
I also offer video coaching for people wanting to DIY their filming process. This is totally doable and I spend an afternoon with the clients to make sure they understand the technical and creative aspects of filming. I have lots of bloggers who want to add video regularly and learning to do it themselves is an economical way to do that.
Video editing is something I’ve begun as well. It started when some of my coaching clients decided they didn’t like the editing process enough to do it themselves. Sometimes, the best course of action is to hire out the parts of your business you don’t love and they would call me wanting to just hand over their footage and let me do the rest. I have regular bloggers, photographers, and moms who send me their footage and let me take control of the editing.
What sets me apart in all of this, though, is that I believe there always needs to be a defined purpose behind your video. I tell my clients they have one of three options – to educate, to entertain or to empower. And whichever of these you choose will guide your entire filming process.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
Videography is a little different from the photography industry in that it is hugely dominated by men. Especially on the corporate side. I think it’s just a matter of women being taken seriously. Many times, a business owned by a woman is seen as her hobby or something that her husband “let’s” her do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thefilmstill.com
- Phone: 903-316-9029
- Email: michelle@thefilmstill.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thefilmstill
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thefilmstill
- Other: vimeo.com/michelleroycroft
Image Credit:
Victoria Garcia Studios, Charlie Ewing
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