Alternate Jobs/Uses For Your Video Shopping Equipment/

OK, I'm steadily employed F/T now doing 2-3 shops a day, sometimes a route with more, around my area.

I recently did a $200 video shop for a local attorney (requested via friend) that involved nothing more than waiting for a claimant outside his chiropractor's office and filming him walking with 100% mobility. I burned the 5-minute clip to a disk, brought it to the paralegal's office 15 minutes away, showed her the clip, and - she wrote me a check on the spot. Loved, loved, loved it. The entire shop, wait time, drive time, and all, took one hour and ten minutes.

So - does anyone else have suggestions for alternate video shopping jobs? I'd love a thread for marketing ideas that do NOT conflict with our ICAs. So - small, local stuff only. No chains or national accounts, just jobs that make us a tidy sum w/out being viewed as a VMSC's competition.

Here are mine:

1. Insurance fraud videos
2. Small, local business customer service videos (auto repair, food service, B&B - type lodging)
3. Day care, elder care compliance

Before I really got going, I would incorporate as a "business consulting firm" and get a $1 million business insurance policy to protect myself.

Ideas?

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What about offering to work for a Private Investigator on an "as needed" basis.

Some small local businesses probably would not be interested in an ongoing program. Does that conflict? The lodging is interesting if you can find one large enough that the owners are not the primary workers.

I've actually wondered if entities such as a lottery commission or even local PDs would consider hiring ICs for any type of sting operations. Naturally ones that involve little to no risk of harm.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Be sure that your state or locality does not have any laws regarding audio/video recording without the target's consent.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

You may need to be licensed as a private investigator to do the kinds of gigs you mention. Try contacting some PIs in your area and let them know your availability and see if they might be interested in subcontracting any surveillance kind of work out. Good luck. Let me know how you make out, I'd be interested as I thought of the same thing but then got too busy and dropped the idea.

1. I live in a one-party state.

2. There is no licensure for PIs in my state. It's a pretty libertarian climate.

OK, any other ideas?

I'm thankful to be in a one-party state as well. It has given me the opportunity to do some test shops without having to travel. I'm not sure about the PI licensing.

You could be a decoy for a Private Investigator. One of my Facebook friends had a wife "interviewing" women to see who she thought would be best for the assignment to try and get her husband to give out his phone number....
And do check with the laws in your state. For something like that if you are not the decoy you could be someone near catching it all on film....
I'm not sure how to find all the Private Eyes that get jobs like these, but I would think quite a lot.

________________________________________
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.

I can't post what first came to my mind when I read the subject!

Great post!

In CA we are screwed, since it is a two-party state. Third party surveillance must be performed by employees working on behalf of a PI firm or other such agency, or be a licensed PI themselves. In order to get your PI license, you must first have 6000 hours (three years of full-time employment) with a firm or agency that is licensed to provide that kind of work. I doubt that MSing would qualify us in this regard, so I doubt that anyone in CA could supplement income by doing independent IC type work unless they are licensed here. Bummer.

[www.bsis.ca.gov]

OTOH, I could do this when traveling to a one-party state...may be an incentive to move??

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