This business idea helps you preserve a town’s history and provide entertainment at the same time.
Do you like to travel and meet interesting people? Are you handy with a video camera and have video editing and filming skills or know someone who does? Are you a savvy film director at heart?
Do you like to do research on people and places in history?
Then you are the perfect person to create a series of Town History Documentaries!
Many people with glowing town pride enjoy watching and would be proud to own a video documentary featuring their town and their own local folk heroes.
This product will sell well to both locals and tourists alike. What better way to take a bit of your vacation home with you than a DVD that you can put on your shelf and pull out when you want to remember your trip to that location!
Reproducing DVD's is very inexpensive and most likely they will not cost you more than a single dollar each.
After you have completed the historic film and created the first DVD, you could sell each one for about $20 and make $19 in profits for each sale.
Use one of the best photos from your film to make an attractive cover for the DVD.
This is one of those small business ideas that will give you a continued income stream from one project that could last for years.
Most cities and small towns have some sort of museum featuring photos and stories from the past, explaining the history of their locality (check with the town hall and/or library for more information on that particular town's history).
Include still shots of the many photos and items available in these museums. Take careful notes of the stories that are shown there, so that you can do a comprehensive narration later.
Pick the brain of the museum curator. Prepare questions ahead of time to ask them, so that you do not overlook any facet of their story. Likely, the curator will be more than willing to relate many hours of anecdote and tall tales supposedly lived by their ancestors and neighbors.
Was anyone famous born in the town?
Perhaps someone of interest moved there or lived there during their careers. Have there been books published about the city or town?
In most cases, even the smallest town museums will have the history in some sort of printed form, even if it is just in the form of a pamphlet or brochure.
Usually they will also have genealogy books about the more famous or wealthy families in town available as reference material in the town library.
Also, be sure to take advantage of back issues of newspapers that are housed there.
Use all the resources available to you to find out the stories that happened in the town.
Be sure to spend some time in the town walking around and talking to older people, who are also usually more than willing to relate their memories of people and places long gone by.
Ask if you can film them telling their stories and then be sure to have them sign a release for any interviews you use.
I can’t imagine anyone saying no – everyone wants to be a star!
Make sure to include in your film older houses and buildings that have stood for many years.
Show people where interesting things happened and contrast the way they looked way back when, with the way they look now. Show them maps of the land before it was settled and maps of it in current modern times.
Show your viewers the beautiful views available to a visitor to this area. Are there scenic rivers or lakes? Maybe there are valleys of lush fields of grains or other agricultural interest?
County Fairs and Street Fairs are perfect places to feature your selection of local town history DVD's, since people visit these fairs from all around and both live and work in local areas whose history they will be interested in.
In addition, most town museums and libraries will want a copy to add to their reference library. The schools in the town would also likely be interested in having a copy to educate their students on their local history.
Local bookstores and small locally owned shops would probably be interested in carrying copies too.
You can offer these at a discount so the stores will make some profit for carrying the film, and you will still make a profit too.
You can also advertise your DVD in the local chamber of congress, town hall, or community center. Make sure to talk to the mayor or local politician to find out if there are any other places they would suggest that you could market the DVD’s.
If the town has a movie theater, plan a premiere for the film.
This will draw interest and lots of publicity and you can sell copies of the film at the premiere too.
Providing a town with their very own Town History DVD will enrich both the people in the town as well as yourself, as you document history and teach it to the current and future generations!
