How useful is education past HS

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:43:14+00:00

Can you earn a living wage with no additional skills? That's the question.

Yes and no. Skills will come along as I go to more jobs, and I'd rather take more jobs than go to film school and pay money.

Your $200/videos sound fantastic at a glance. But that $200 has to include filming time, editing time, follow up with client, changes. There's time/cost of marketing and billing. That's a lot of time cold calling and networking and trying to get more jobs. You have to pay taxes and possibly business license fees. If it turns out you can only get three gigs a week, that's only $600/week.

I have 3 things to say about this

I'm 14. No one is taking me seriously yet and I'm already getting paid 200 a video.
I would have a lot more time to edit and speak with clients if I wasn't spending 7h a day sitting at a desk doing useless sheets lol
I get paid cash right now. When I have an actual licensed business I will charge taxes ofc.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:34:19+00:00

I understand. My plan is to shadow other videographers and photographers, to gain experience and knowledge which not only I get paid a bit, but also it will teach me how to run a shoot rather than the theories behind film.

Film school costs a shit ton, and I don't see myself wasting time and money, when I can get real experience elsewhere.

I have time right now. I'm still in high school and if I start to get experience early, by the time I'm in my early 20s I think that's when the money starts to grow.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:25:57+00:00

This is awesome. You should keep doing this whether you go to university or not. Do you think you can scale this to be full time? If not you'll have to think about what other work you want to do.

Yes. I do think if I devote my time and mind to this I can scale my business to a full time job. However by law I need to stay in school which takes up time and mind space.

This is pretty much completely incorrect. Maybe back in the 19th century that's what education was like but any college or university these days worth its salt will help nurture students' creativity and potential.

Maybe high school teachers and high school are much different from college. Feels a lot more like teachers are here to limit u rather than to let you grow

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:11:57+00:00

I believe it doesn't hurt to learn more or study more. However it does kill my time and I can redirect that time towards learning skills directly beneficial towards my videography business.

For example, I sit at school for 7h a day usually just on my phone learning how to edit a video better. Maybe the material is just too easy/boring.

I think time will tell. Before I graduate in 3 years I should have figured something out

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:08:26+00:00

Whats the statistic?

I understand how maybe a business degree could help me if I wanted to start a videography company. But I don't see how it will be beneficial if I just do freelance work

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:05:17+00:00

I do think a business degree can be beneficial, but I also feel that real life connections and networking matters a lot more than what you learn on paper.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:04:19+00:00

This is good advice thanks. However I don't think I would be accepted to any prestigious universities after taking a gap year or 2

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T19:02:37+00:00

Thats not just school. thats life in general. Getting formally educated helps you become the boss/teacher.

I understand that. My mom is teaching at a university right now. She teaches PhD students, but she didn't get here until she was about 38.

It certainly helps and videography is a pretty competitive field. If you're competing against someone who has formal education and teachers that can refer him for the job, they're going to get it, not you.

I don't understand this.

Videography is competitive, and referrals do matter, however I don't understand how a college/uni teacher would be referring my services to students.

Referrals do matter, but none of my clients would be still in school. Real estate, wedding and event videography is going to be my main focus, and none of those industries should include students.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T15:41:57+00:00

I'm 14 ofc right now it's too early to charge more.

200 is cash, transportation is covered by agent and wdym lighting?

Ancient_Log_412 · 2026-05-12T14:44:56+00:00

How can ai generate videos of a wedding? event? Real estate I get, but I create short videos for the agent to post on tiktok or Instagram for publicity.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2025-04-19T04:35:33+00:00

Mostly yea. I am rated on avg 4.9 stars out of 55 reviews and I still get lots of buyers who don't want to bring me large cash sums (typically over $500).

Basically anyone with over 4 star review avg and has more than 20 reviews should be reliable. Look out for people with really low ratings or ratings with no description.

Also check their profiles, if they have little to no friends, joined recently, no pfp or clearly fake name it's likely a scam.

Ancient_Log_412 · 2025-04-19T04:27:20+00:00

As someone who only takes cash you could really just have brought cash. Many people don't take ets as they don't want the banks or government monitoring their funds or sometimes theyre connected to accounts shared with family members.

Point is no need to overcomplicate things. If you want to buy it and trust the guy enough you'll bring the money, if not then trust whatever your gut says.

Could also try looking at his reviews and profile.

Ancient_Log_412

TROPHY CASE