The Business Side: How to Grow a Surveying Business with YouTube

Robert uses his YouTube channel, Surveying with Robert, to show his audience how to use Trimble equipment.

Elaine Ball

KEYWORDS future of surveying / marketing / small business

“Our mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world.” – YouTube

You might think YouTube is just for teenagers or only for vloggers (video bloggers) to do product reviews. You might think it’s for kids to show other kids how to play (seriously – one channel, in which a dad shows how his kids play with trucks, has over 900,000 subscribers!). YouTube is all of these, sure, but also so much more and it can be very powerful for businesses. So, as a surveyor or manufacturer, you need to listen up! 

Become a Survey Rockstar on YouTube 

A lot of surveyors and manufacturers in our industry see YouTube as a platform for talking nonsense or watching music videos. But a very small handful of them have understood the opportunity and are really getting stuck into it.

These are the people who will be the YouTube rockstars of surveying – and it’s still early enough for you to get in on the action. Plus, the survey community is a very small niche, so even though the internet is huge, there’s a real opportunity to get heard and make a difference. All you have to do is take the bull by its horns, and I’m here to help you! 

So is Robert. Take a look at the YouTube channel, “Surveying with Robert.” Robert is my friend, my client, a reseller of Trimble equipment, a surveyor – and a YouTube superstar! He started his channel after he began following Peter McKinnon’s photography vlog on YouTube, along with almost 2.3 million (yes, million) other subscribers! Hashtag shocking. Robert asked himself why he couldn’t do something similar in surveying… so he did. 

Video is King

In the digital world, the best way to grab people’s attention is with video; yes, even for businesses. The second best way is images, and the third is words. So if you’re only building your business using words, aren’t you missing out? The internet is crowded, so video is a great way to stand out from that crowd. 

So, what’s stopping you from seizing your share of that bandwidth to promote your company and the geospatial industry? After all, according to Hubspot, 45-54 years olds spend 12 percent of their internet time on YouTube. Those aged 44 and under spend over 22 percent of their time on YouTube. And that’s just now! What will that look like in five years? 

Prove it to yourself with your own research. Reach out to your audience and ask them how much video they watch each week. Then you’ll know whether there’s a “you-shaped” hole on YouTube.

Robert’s 6 BIG Tips

1 - Get the Kit Right

Robert made a smart decision and bought the same kit as his YouTube idol, Peter McKinnon:

• A Canon 80D DSLR camera that also records video (about $1,500). 
• A GoPro Hero 3+
• A Rode microphone and a ‘dead cat’ fluffy wind muffler that cuts wind noise ($200)
• A GorillaPod SLR tripod for around $45
• A 64Gb SD card for about $40
• Adobe Premier, Camtasia, and Snagit software for creating and editing his videos.

In conclusion: a little money has to be spent to get the right kit!

2 - Categorize by the Buying Cycle 

Robert is definitely a pioneer in the geospatial video realm. Starting out in March 2018, he had one goal: show his audience how to use his Trimble equipment! But he also had an approach in mind. “I wanted to get away from the boring and mundane, and produce something that was really catchy! So I started watching some videos to get ideas on how to create better and more interesting content! Maybe even some of that, ‘Hey, didn’t I see you on YouTube?!’” 

As a surveyor, Robert is trusted by his client base, so teaching them great stuff was more important to him than anything else. “There’s nothing worse than some sales dude trying to sell you something you don’t want! I understand the ins and outs of being a surveyor, so giving my honest opinion has done me and my clients a world of good, which has built an awesome reputation for me – and for NEI, my employer.”

Robert also realized that while he couldn’t get to everyone’s office in person, he could at least get there via YouTube! And in fact, it’s led to some amazing conversations with his customer base, which has been a huge boost to Robert’s brand as a trusted source for exceptional content!

Robert has divided his YouTube channel into playlists, with his videos categorized according to where people are in the buying cycle. Which brings us to…

Think about the buyer cycle and what types (and depth) of content your audience will be interested in during each phase:

• Discovery phase: Use short, sharp videos (this is crucial!) to tease your clients into taking action. Try 30 seconds of testimonials, thought leadership, or even snippets. Catchy videos will also put your brand in front of your target audience. Lee B Landman Surveying Services has a very watchable video called, Keep calm, I’m a land surveyor, which has been seen almost 38,000 times! 
• Exploring phase: Here, clients are willing to watch more in-depth content, such as 30-60 minute webinars, so there’s no need to rush your videos. But mix them up.
• Buying phase: Product demos and webinars are ideal here, and the more technical your product, the more in-depth people will go. 
• Using phase: Produce in-house tutorials, how-to videos, etc. Time isn’t so important here, as your audience is thirsty for facts and how-tos… as long as you keep the videos moving and interesting. 
• Ask phase: Create plenty of ‘help’ and ‘how-to’ videos. Talk to your support and post-sales teams. What are your customers’ common issues? By addressing these using videos, you’ll reduce your volume of incoming support calls, too.
• Engage phase: Keep producing lots of brand-in-face video content. Who else made the smart decision to buy your product? Who’s done great things with it? How can you inspire people to use the full range of your product’s features? 

3 - Client Testimonial Videos

One of Robert’s videos, Tony from Anderson Surveying reviews the new Trimble TSC7, has had a staggering 1,403 views (as of July 23rd). It’s 6 minutes and 40 seconds long… definitely in the exploring phase! 

Why does Robert do video client testimonials? Well, he knows that they are truly powerful because they’re independent. You can’t pay clients to do this kind of thing, nor should you. You can pay for advertising where you control the message, but in a testimonial, the client controls the message. And for a client to take the time to record the video, and put their own brand and reputation on the line, they must really mean it! This boosts the mercury in the ‘trust’ thermometer, and it’s way better than Robert himself telling you why you should buy his product. A great way for you, as a surveyor, to showcase your services is through projects you’ve already completed. 

4 - Be Open and Honest

Share the good, the bad, and the ugly with your market. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t agree with something or don’t believe in a certain method or tool. Your insights and experience will be invaluable to other people, and people will love to hear stories and anecdotes that back up those opinions. Plus, revealing your personality, even with humor, can help to engage people and keep them coming back for more. But remember to focus on why your product is useful, or why doing something a certain way has helped your customers. Build trust in you as a brand, as well as your company and product.

5 - Be Consistent and Timely

Trickle-feed your content out to your audience. Don’t swamp them in a period of (your own) enthusiasm and then disappear for a year. And make sure you’re timely; test out certain times and see what results you get. Plus, keep it consistent and regular; for example, videos once a week. 

6 - Measure

Keep an eye on your number of subscribers and viewers. Top tip: Interact with anyone who engages and communicates with you! Thank people for positive comments, watch out for questions, get involved in discussions. This will boost those numbers, and build your network online.

Once you’ve made your first video and posted it on YouTube, what do you do with it? If you want people to see it, you have to tell them it’s there. But how? Next month, I’ll talk about how YouTube, your website, and social media can all work together to build your brand and generate more business!

How To Become an Entrepreneur

8 chapters

Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Not sure if you have what it takes to permanently escape the 9-to-5? This ebook, developed in partnership with Foundr magazine, will educate you on the critical skills needed to find a winning idea, the mindset to adopt, and the tools you’ll need along the way.

Start Reading or Download PDF

8 chapters

• 1. What Is Entrepreneurship? It’s a State of Mind
  If you’re unsure about whether you have the characteristics of a true entrepreneur – and how exactly to go about it even if you’re certain you’re up for it – this chapter is for you. Learn what sets real entrepreneurs apart from the rest and whether you have what it takes to escape the 9-to-5 grind.
• 2. Identifying Your Entrepreneurial Skills
  There are loads of entrepreneurial skills and competencies that can improve your chances of success. This chapter helps you figure out which ones come naturally to you, and which ones you might need to focus on improving or getting assistance with in the future. Keep in mind that you definitely do not need to master all of them to be successful.
• 3. How to Find a Good Business Idea
  Having a solid, growth-oriented foundation for business or entrepreneurship is great – but now what? You probably need a work desk, an internet package, some apps, and, of course, a business idea to get off the ground. Use the tips and strategies in this chapter as a jump-off point to spark your own business ideas.
• 4. How to Validate Your Business Idea
  9/10 ventures fail, and the majority of owners crash and burn very early on in their careers, which is why we always advise entrepreneurs to perform market analysis before diving head-first into an uncharted business territory. If you’re starting out, we personally recommend using the strategies discussed in this chapter to see whether or not you’re onto something people want.
• 5. Choosing the Right Business Model
  Validating your business idea to ensure there’s a market out there for your product or service is only one aspect of starting a new business. The other crucial part is figuring out how you’re going to monetize your venture. This is where you pick a business model to pursue. This chapter offers a primer on the popular business models in existence.
• 6. Business Funding and Finances 101
  Money can give you amazing opportunities to fund your dreams. The problem is that a huge majority of startups struggle to find business funding solutions. But there’s good news: you have options and opportunities. If you have a business idea but feel restricted by your financial resources, this chapter is for you.
• 7. How to Start a Business – Officially
  The logistics of starting a business can be pretty confusing. And in some unfortunate cases, new entrepreneurs might find themselves in situations where they’re getting the run-around in terms of boxes that need to be checked off. If you’re having trouble figuring things out, this chapter has a lot of resources to help get your ducks in a row.
• 8. Best Entrepreneur Books, Podcasts, Resources
  Perhaps you have your heart set on a certain type of business, but you don’t feel qualified enough to master it just yet. This is more common than you might think, and there’s great news: there are lots of excellent learning resources like free and paid books, podcasts, online courses, communities, and more. We’ve compiled the best ones in this chapter to help get you started.

Author

Foundr is the go-to digital resource for the growing ranks of self-made entrepreneurs at every level of experience. Launched by Nathan Chan in 2013, it now serves millions of entrepreneurs around the world. Foundr also offers this FREE Instagram masterclass on how they went from zero to 500K Instagram followers in under 12 months.

How to Find a Good Business Idea

Having a solid, growth-oriented foundation for business or entrepreneurship is great – but now what? You probably need a work desk, an internet package, some apps, and, of course, a business idea to get off the ground.

The problem? Good business ideas are hard to come by.

How hard? Nine out of ten startups fail.

And while there’s a lot of talk about how the people executing make or break a business, your idea is important. Even with the right mix of entrepreneurial skills, you’re unlikely to be successful without a good idea.

Ideas are where it all begins, and in order to become an entrepreneur you need to find a promising business opportunity, and then know whether you’ll be able to permanently escape from the 9-to-5 grind.

If you’re aware of the challenges and you’re still dead-set on practicing entrepreneurship, use the tips and strategies in this chapter as a jump-off point to spark your own business ideas.

In this chapter, we’ll talk about:

• Imagining your ideal work day
• Finding a problem to solve
• How to choose between a product-based and service-based business
• Choosing your profitable business idea

Let’s jump in.

1. Imagine your ideal work day

The first step is to sit down and imagine your ideal work day five years from now. How is this helpful? Well, you’d be amazed by the number of people who aren’t passionate about their work or the number of people who’ve shared their aspirations for living a location-independent lifestyle but don’t actually want to spend time away from their families. You certainly don’t want to end up in the same boat.

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The aim of this exercise is for you to drop any ideas you might already be attached to and ask yourself – what do I really want out of entrepreneurship? This will help you figure out the best business to start in order to feel fulfilled.

Do you want to finish the day’s work before noon? Where do you see yourself living? Essentially, you are creating a roadmap in terms of what your professional life will be like.

Because we want this to be inspirational to you, we listed all the possible questions you could ask yourself at this stage in an Excel worksheet.

You can access and fill it in here, along with the other templates and worksheets from this ebook.

Answer all the questions you find relevant. By doing so, you should be able to better imagine your ideal work day and see whether any business ideas you’ve thought of align with what you want your professional life to be like. Scrap the ones that don’t line up because they aren’t going to make you any happier.

For example, if you can’t live away from home, the idea of becoming a travel consultant wouldn’t be viable. That’s because travel consultants are known for their authentic, real-world knowledge of different destinations, and that comes with going to those places.

2. Find a problem to solve

Now that you have a rough idea of your ideal working day (and a few business ideas), it’s time to discover a problem to solve.

No matter your skills, product genius, or sales and marketing chops, at the end of the day, your success as an entrepreneur hinges on your ability to solve problems.

Not just any problem, but a recurring one. Something that your target audience has to deal with all the time, and makes them wish that there was something available to make their lives just a tad bit easier.

Random question: Have you ever spent too much time searching and trying invalid, expired, or fake coupon codes while you’re shopping online?

The founders of the LA-based browser extension startup Honey had the same problem, and they came up with a solution that made it easy for shoppers to find eligible coupon codes before checkout. To date, Honey has raised $40.8 million in funding, and the browser extension has been downloaded over 5 million times on FireFox, Safari, and Chrome.

Hence, a great way to expand your list of business ideas is to find problems that need solutions. Below we share a couple of tactics that actually yield solid results.

Use Quora

Quora is a hugely popular Q&A site that lists questions from various categories, making it easy to spot patterns.

Within Quora, you can subscribe to different categories or follow Spaces (communities and collections set up around shared tastes and interests) to find dozens of questions related to your niche. It’s almost as if your target audiences’ problems are served to you on a silver platter, waiting to be addressed.

To get started on Quora, enter a keyword related to your interest/passion in the search bar at the top. In the example below, we searched ‘water sports.’

Quora will then present you with a list of topics around that niche. Your next step is to find patterns within your results, and then brainstorm solutions.

In the above example, we happened to identify a pattern that gave us a business idea. One of the individuals is asking if there’s any non-water exercise that could help a person replicate the advantages of surfing.

While there are lots of such exercises, an entrepreneur could easily market suspension training bands to this demographic. They could ask a supplier in China to make these bands or use a dropshipping supplier for the purpose.

Another interesting aspect of Quora is its ‘related questions’ feature. Whenever you click on a question, Quora will take you to a separate page that lists related questions in the sidebar.

You can browse through these questions to identify additional trends, thereby eliminating some research work.

Once you have spotted a few worthwhile patterns within each category, start thinking about the potential solutions. Repeat this process until you have 20 or more business ideas from Quora.

Note: Jot down every idea you extract from Quora in a journal. Do the same for the ideas you had left after imagining your ideal work day. This will make it easier for you to remember them, as well as ensure you have a list ready for validation.

Browse through the comments section of popular websites

On popular websites, the comments area is usually full of questions from people who regularly visit those sites. Sometimes, these individuals want to know more about the subject of an article, and sometimes they have interesting questions for the website owner.

With that said, here’s some advice so you don’t waste hours scouring the websites, checking every article, and finding that many of them didn’t get comments:

Use BuzzSumo or another similar content analyzer to find the most popular posts on a website.

The results presented by these tools are a list of most popular posts on a website based on social media engagement. If the post has many shares, it will usually have a red-hot comments section as well.

In our example, we searched for popular posts on Social Media Examiner, one of the world’s most popular online social media magazines.

BuzzSumo returned a list containing Social Media Examiner’s most popular blog posts. As we had anticipated, they have loads of comments.

You can replicate this strategy by searching for a popular website in your niche and going through the comments section of its most shared blog posts.

Though you may not be able to generate as many good business ideas as you can with Quora, you might be able to find a gem or two to add to your journal.  

3. Choose between products and services

You’ve got some ideas about your own personal desires and some problems that need fixing.

Now we’ll narrow the playing field a bit more: choosing whether to start a product-based venture or sell business services.

The main difference between the two is that the product-based venture involves selling a physical item, while business services are intangible. Both types can be very profitable, and there are loads of entrepreneurs who’ve gone on to become millionaires with both product-based and service-based companies.

But as with anything, there are pros and cons to consider before getting started.

Launching a product business

Starting your entrepreneurial journey with a product business can require more time. Whether you choose to keep your own inventory or take the dropshipping route, you are ultimately responsible for your products’ quality, as well as figuring out what to do with returns.

Also, the R&D costs of building a product from scratch can be quite high (prototypes for innovative business ideas can cost upwards of $100,000!).

Source

But it’s not all bad with product businesses.

When you launch a product, you just have to build or source it once, and then if successful, you can make money selling the same product as many times as consumers want it and keep searching for it.

Also, it’s usually easier to convey the benefits of a product and the influence it can have in a short span of time. If you have a bad posture and buy a posture corrector, for instance, you will know if the product works for you within 15 minutes.

There are several successful entrepreneurs who’ve made a solid living selling products. However, you have to be wary of the logistics involved, and be ready to jump through a few hoops.

Launching a service business

Starting a service business can be easier in some ways. For one thing, you won’t have to invest as much money upfront than with a product business. Online services, like freelance writing and graphic design, require just a computer, an internet connection, and skill.

Simply put, you can take your capital and put it into marketing rather than into stock, getting the word out and bringing money in.

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However, you can find it difficult to explain your service to potential customers. In fact, the audience you pitch to may not be able to visualize what you do. You can counter this somewhat by highlighting how your service could save them time and money, but even then you may have to frequently rearticulate its value.

Also, much of your success will be up to you, so it’s you who’s going to go the extra mile to increase the sales of your business, not anyone (or anything) else.

Depending on where you choose to offer a service, you might need an office and a small team to make it happen. Launching and working out of your home usually means lower overhead and growing with a team of freelancers, if you can swing it.

Business ideas for ecommerce entrepreneurs

Now that you’re aware of the differences between product-based and service-based businesses, how about working out your idea muscle?

While you probably already have some really good business ideas in your journal to work on, you might have missed out on certain business opportunities that are in demand, easy to start, and can be fruitful.

To ensure you don’t miss out on any viable ventures, we’ve created a huge list of 50 online and in-person businesses that you could start as an entrepreneur.

We’ve also categorized each idea for business type (whether it involves selling a product or service). As you review, keep in mind that some of these ideas can be done online from the comfort of your bed, while others will require setting up a physical store or presence to interact in-person with customers.

Business Type	Business idea
Service-Based	Graphic designer
	Freelance writing
	English teaching
	Dog walking
	Web development
	Tour guide company
	Makeup artist
	Social media manager
	Mobile app development
	SEO consultant
	Image optimizer
	Language translation
	Professional drone flyer
	Digital ad campaign manager
	Proofreader
	Voice-over artist
	SaaS (software-as-a-service)
	Fitness instructor
	Event company
	Gardening business
	Career counselor business
	Business coaching
	Fact researcher
	Product reviewer
	Lead generation expert
	Website flipping professional
	Virtual assistant
	Tax consultant
	Outsourcing service provider
Product-based	Musical instrument shop
	Food truck
	Print retailing
	Gifts box shop
	Ecommerce store
	IT equipment wholesale
	Organic bakery
	Handmade crafts company
	Furniture company
	Laptop parts retailing
	Second-hand car retailing
	Video game shop
	Book store
	3D printing manufacturing
	Picture frame maker
	Plush toy retailing
	Coin dealer
	Ice cream shop
	Import/export company
	Bike rentals company
	Wedding dress shop

4. Pick your most promising business idea

The last step is integral to the entire four-step approach, as this is where you identify the best business to start. The ideal business will be the one that meets the following criteria:

Profitability: Can give a good return on your investment

You want to pick an idea that has the biggest odds of becoming a cash cow for you. We did a lot of exercises on trying to find an idea that meshes well with your interests and passions, but of course, you’ll need to balance that outlook with viability.

Possibility: Is easy for you to execute

This is crucial if you’re planning to bootstrap or create a side hustle, or if you don’t want to invest in resources for the time being. If that’s you, choosing something that’ll require a ton of capital right off the bat is setting yourself up for disaster. If you’re looking into tutoring, for instance, you could start an online business where you deliver lectures over Skype. It’d require less capital than if you were to start with an offline academy. 

Interest: Aligns with what you enjoy

Preferably, it should be something you see yourself working on for the next few years at least, so your idea has to be something that’s not only going to bring in money but something you’ll enjoy doing as well.

Take the top 10 ideas you generated throughout this chapter, and organize them into three lists:

1. Most to least profitable ideas
2. Most to least possible ideas
3. Most to least interesting ideas

Then cross-examine these ordered lists to see which ideas rank high for all three categories.

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At the end of this process, you should have at least a couple of business ideas that you can really start working on tomorrow, if you wanted to.

The next chapter is all about validating your business ideas, so you don’t waste your money and time launching something that nobody wants.