Studio Owners Joel & Jennifer Miller Find Their Piece of the American Dream!

The American Dream: Wealth, Health, Opportunity, Choice and Control; one thing that we all dream of is the freedom to march to our own drummer and to have some control in our lives. Joel and Jennifer Miller of Aberdeen, New Jersey, our March Studio Owners of the Month, believe in that dream. They took action to make that dream happen for themselves and now they march to the beat of their own drum.

Joel Miller graduated from film school in 1985.He became a film editor for a production company in Manhattan that produced, among other things, films of the Olympics. Gradually Joel moved into the corporate life and became a sales executive for fine art photography. Jennifer ran the office of a large corporation. They settled down in suburban New Jersey.

“It was a great lifestyle,” says Joel, “but it still wasn’t what we wanted. I enjoyed working in New York on cool projects and making pretty good money – but we wanted to work for ourselves. Plus, I was spending up to four hours a day just commuting!” Not exactly conducive to the quality family time that Joel and Jennifer treasure with their two children. So they began looking for opportunities.

They found an opportunity at a franchise expo in the Meadowlands in New Jersey when they came across Home Video Studio. “It was what I was looking for,” says Joel. It was a package, a system where I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel to get started.” On October 1, 2010 Joel and Jennifer opened their franchise in Watertown, NJ and have been steadily building their business ever since. As a matter of fact in February they were in the top five sales three out of four weeks!

With Jennifer’s obvious administration skills and work ethic, combined with Joel’s video chops and salesmanship the Miller’s future as entrepreneurs looks bright. “We believe we can really grow a great profitable business,” says Joel. Their next goal is to have a storefront studio.

Do Joel and Jennifer feel they are on the path of the American Dream? “Every sale made, every project successfully completed is a small victory for us – and it’s OUR victory. That’s the best thing.”

Congratulations to Joel and Jennifer Miller, March’s HVS Studio Owners of the Month.

What about YOU? Cutting the “Golden Handcuffs” of corporate life is not always easy but why do you march to the beat of someone else’s dream? Why do you continue to take work home on the weekends? In fact, are the weekends the only time you have to see your kids or to spend quality time with your spouse? What about time for odd jobs around the house, hobbies, sports, a round of golf? Home Video Studio can be the solution to your situation and the answer to your dreams. Contact us today and we’ll find a way to to give you a shot at your American Dream.

Call 866-714-1956. Let’s chat!

May the Force be with you!

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own!"

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own."

This wisdom provides a great outlook and, according to Pete Gallo, a necessary way to live if you’re in business for yourself. Perhaps this is why Pete, a former Studio Owner of the Year, is Home Video Studio’s January Studio Owner of the Month.

“There are many things I like as a business owner,” says Pete, who operates his studio in Hasbrouck Heights NJ, “but the most satisfying is the feeling of self determination and empowerment. When things are up I take pride. Conversely, when things are a little down I take responsibility and action to get them right.”

Gallo, who started his career as an Electrical Engineer, found himself in a precarious position a little over six years ago when he was laid off from his corporate job. Video was a hobby of his and this unexpected circumstance helped him decide it was time to turn it into a profession.

“I knew I wanted to do video for a living, but I had natural concerns about starting from scratch and going it alone,” says Pete. Ironically (or not) he became aware of Home Video Studio and found it was a fit. “It seemed like the perfect foundation because I would be involved with people who had been there before.”

Quick to act Pete attended a Show-N-Tell Saturday Discovery Day, liked what he saw and heard, and became a studio owner. Now Pete has four employees involved with him on a part time basis and many happy clients. Whether it’s Video Transfers, Film Transfer, Video Shooting and Production or any of the other Home Video Studio profit centers he enjoys the diversity and mix of services he offers. His expertise is also on display as a recipient of several Hanley Awards including Best Short Video and Best CD/DVD Label and Imprint.

One award of note that adorns Pete’s studio is the Relationship Mindset Award. The logical and technical world of software and machinery comes easy for Pete, but he is quick to say that a genuine desire to help people is what makes him successful.

Taking control, assuming responsibility and running to serve. Three ingredients that keep Pete Gallo at the top among his peers and make us proud to call him January Studio Owner of the Month.

Darrell Day Opens His Own Home Video Studio!

Today I went to one of my favorite places on earth – The Apple Store! And even though I love my Apple store, this blog entry is not about The Apple Store but rather who I went there with and why: Darrell Day, our former Director of Video Services for Home Video Studio. I say former because after eight years of being associated with HVS and the last two being spent as our Director of Studio Services, Darrell has decided to open his own Home Video Studio.

Darrel worked out of our Flagship Home Video Studio (in my home) in Indianapolis for two years. His office was right by the door that our customers come through. Darrell watched the endless parade of happy customers who came in day by day, week after week and year in and year out. Darrel is a Music Composer by trade or profession so he has always had that creative passion. Like many of you reading this, Darrell had his time of “thinking it over”. And then, one day he just took a decision.

Darrell puts it like this: “I’m very excited about opening up my own studio. A lot of opportunities, a lot of challenges, a lot of things for me to learn. I look at Home Video Studio as a way for me to be of service to people in my community so I can’t wait to begin.”

Darrel opens his Home Video Studio in about two weeks. He will be attending his first Advanced Training in about three weeks! Timing is everything. Congratulations Darrell!

What about you? What are you waiting for? Call me. Let’s discuss your studio ownership: 866-714-1956 or 317-358-5932.

May the Force be with you!

Robert Hanley

HVS Announces 12th Annual Advanced Training Schedule

Twelve years ago, Home Video Studio announced its first Advanced Training. The year was 1999 and we were excited! Now we are even more excited. 2011 marks more than one milestone with HVS. Twenty years ago this coming June 14, 1991 is the day I made a decision to stop being a starving artist and to stop, take a look and make a change in my life. I chose to focus on simply making money to support my family. Luck, synchronicity and the grace of God helped me find the way. Today, the company I founded that day in 1991 is the top franchise in the world for video and photography and video services.

Today, we are releasing our schedule for our 12th Annual Advanced Training for all HVS franchisees. We call them simply Studio Owners. Many of them have become my close friends. Others are treasured and valued studio owners whom I look forward to seeing each year. All are simply and truly members of the HVS Family. All of the HVS staff and HVS Family will get together in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 27 through March 5 at the 12th Annual Advanced Training. I suggest you join us!

Much happens that week. For many Studio Owners, it is their first major HVS training. I always acquaint it to... like going back to college (assuming that you loved college and had an absolute ball!). Advanced Training is seven days of training, camaraderie, fun, tech, sales, marketing, games, food, dinners, jokes, family time, learning and most of all: serious franchisees building their businesses. I call it our Mini-College of HVS.

What's happening this year? Same as always plus more! Some or our traditions go back to our first Advanced Training, i.e. Pizza and a Movie Night and our Celebration Dinner. Other traditions go back only a few years (the unofficial game night). What always moves studio owners forward is our strong focus on both sales & marketing and technical training. This year we have over fifty classes and events for studio owners to choose from: Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Video Production, Green Screen, Networking, Sales, Marketing, Photoshop For Video, Soundtrack, Motion, Sports Video, Corporate Videos, Weddings, HDSLR Production, Photo Books, Social Media, Facebook, and tons more! Over twenty presenters and over fifty studios from three countries will train and teach together. And not one studio owner will pay one thin dime for this training. It's the Giver's Gain philosophy.

In the end, it is all about moving each studio forward. After all, Home Video Studio may seem like a super fun game but it is a business. The top business in it's field

Come join us. Call me today and let's discuss YOU opening up your own HOME VIDEO STUDIO. It could be out of your home like Pete Gallo of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ or you could open up a new studio store like Alan and Kim Fon of Corpus Christi, TX. They opened this week.

If you have dabbled on your PC or MAC with with photos, video, sound, music, etc. then you have probably wondered if you can make a living at this. You can.

If you have sat in your office or taken work home on the weekend and wished there was another way, there is.

If you have wondered why you are building someone else's dream instead of your own, well there is a way to start now and build something in your city (if a territory is open).

Call me. Robert Hanley - 866-714-1956. Let's talk.

May The Force Be With You!