How to Escape the Feast or Famine Cycle in Your Video Business
Many people in the video production industry proudly describe themselves as storytellers. We tell stories for our clients, but we also tell stories to ourselves. Some of those stories help us see the truth more clearly, while others protect us from truths that feel uncomfortable.
One story I regularly hear from video business owners is the story of feast or famine. It usually goes something like this: “When a project comes in, I become so busy producing the work that I don’t have time for sales or marketing. Once the project is finished, I have nothing lined up, so I start marketing again. Then another job arrives, I get busy, and the cycle begins again.”
If that sounds familiar, it may be worth examining whether the cycle is really caused by a lack of time. It could have more to do with priorities, habits and the way we respond to urgency.
Why marketing stops when work arrives
When your pipeline is empty, sales and marketing feel urgent. You follow up with old contacts, reach out to potential clients and become much more active. Then a project arrives. The immediate pressure disappears, you feel relieved, and your sales activity stops. Production takes over and marketing becomes something you will return to when you are less busy.
The problem is that there will always be something more immediate than marketing. Client work has deadlines and visible consequences. Marketing can feel uncomfortable, its rewards are delayed, and much of the activity may not produce an immediate response. That makes it easy to stop and tell yourself that you simply do not have the time.
In many cases, the real issue is that marketing no longer feels urgent enough to compete with everything else. When the pipeline is empty, finding work is essential. Once a project arrives, that urgency disappears, even though the need to build the next opportunity has not gone away.
Are you running your business like a hunter?
Think about sales as hunting. A hunter searches for food because hunger creates urgency. Once food has been found, the hunting stops. There is no reason to keep expending energy when the immediate need has been satisfied. This is also how many small production businesses operate.
Work slows down, anxiety rises and the owner goes hunting. They contact their network, follow up with previous clients and start looking for new opportunities. Eventually, a project arrives. The anxiety drops, production begins and the hunting stops. Once the project is delivered, the pipeline is empty again and the entire process has to be restarted.
This is panic-driven marketing. It may produce occasional success, but it also creates an unpredictable and stressful way of running a business. All the while, the business owner repeats the same story: “I’m too busy to market. I need to put all my energy into production and delivery.”
Moving from hunter to farmer
A more sustainable business operates like a farm. Farming requires planning, consistency and patience. Different crops are planted at different times. Some provide a relatively quick return, while others take months to mature. Food is stored for leaner periods, and the entire system is designed to provide a more reliable supply over time.
A healthy sales and marketing system works in much the same way. Some activities may create opportunities quickly, while others involve building relationships that will not produce work for months or even years. You might combine referrals, regular follow-ups, outbound sales, useful content and long-term relationship building. The important difference is that you continue tending these activities even when you are busy.
Moving from hunter to farmer requires more effort, particularly at the beginning. You need to act before the situation becomes urgent and continue working without receiving an immediate reward. You have to plant and tend the crops without knowing exactly which ones will grow or when they will be ready to harvest. That is where habits become important.
The story behind “I don’t have time”
There is a psychological concept called cognitive dissonance. It describes the discomfort we experience when our behaviour does not match our beliefs or the way we see ourselves. A smoker may know that smoking is harmful but continue to smoke. Someone may consider themselves financially responsible but keep buying camera equipment they do not genuinely need.
When our beliefs and behaviour do not align, we have a few choices. We can change the behaviour, reconsider the belief, or create a story that makes the contradiction easier to live with. “I don’t have time to market” can become one of those stories.
Perhaps you believe consistent marketing is important, but you repeatedly stop doing it. Admitting that you have not made it a priority may feel uncomfortable, so lack of time becomes the explanation. That explanation protects your self-image because it suggests the situation is outside your control. You would market if you had the time, but your clients and workload make it impossible.
I am not immune to this. I can think of many occasions when I have created stories to protect my own ego or avoid confronting something difficult. We all do it. The important thing is to become aware of the story and ask whether it is helping you see the truth or helping you hide from it.
You probably need less time than you think
Building a consistent marketing habit does not necessarily require hours every day. It could begin with 30 minutes spent following up with a previous client, contacting a potential client, asking for a referral, updating your sales pipeline, publishing something useful or reviewing your sales targets and numbers.
The amount of time matters less than the consistency. Thirty minutes every weekday adds up to more than 120 hours of focused sales and marketing activity over a year. That is a significant investment in your pipeline, particularly compared with doing nothing while you are busy and then trying to generate work in a panic.
If something feels genuinely important, we usually find a way to make time for it. The challenge is to treat marketing as an essential part of running the business rather than an optional activity reserved for quiet periods. It has to remain part of the job even when there is client work demanding your attention.
Building a new business identity
Changing this pattern is not just about learning another marketing tactic. It involves changing your behaviour and, eventually, the way you see yourself. Instead of being someone who markets only when work is quiet, you become someone who maintains a sales habit regardless of the current workload.
That transition can be difficult. You may do the right things for weeks without seeing a result. Outbound messages may be ignored, follow-ups may go unanswered and potential clients may show interest without committing to anything. It can feel as though your effort is achieving nothing, which is where many people stop.
The people who make progress are often those who can tolerate that early discomfort. They set goals, track their activity, continue following up and accept that response rates may be low. They understand that they are not looking for every person to respond. They are looking for the relatively small number of conversations that can develop into genuine opportunities.
Over time, something begins to change. Opportunities appear, relationships develop and marketing begins to produce work. The activity starts to feel more positive because you can see the connection between your actions and the results. What initially felt uncomfortable gradually becomes normal, and the new behaviour begins to form part of your identity.
This is one of the most fulfilling things to see in my coaching work. A business owner lets go of an old belief, tries a different approach and begins building their sales and marketing muscles. They continue through the difficult early period when results are not immediate, and eventually they are rewarded for staying with the process.
Choosing a different way to operate
There is nothing inherently wrong with living from project to project. Some people are comfortable relying on their networks, responding to opportunities as they appear and trusting that things will work out. The important thing is to be honest about the type of business and life you want.
If the feast or famine cycle is creating anxiety, financial pressure or frustration, continuing to tell yourself that you simply do not have time will not change it. A more useful story might be: “Sales and marketing are part of running my business, even when I am busy. I may not be able to do everything, but I can consistently make time for the activities that keep my pipeline healthy.”
You do not need to transform your business overnight. Start by reserving a small, regular block of time. Protect it, decide in advance what you will do with it, and keep going long enough for the habit to take hold. It can also help to spend time around other business owners who are making the same change. Seeing other people continue through the uncomfortable stages can make it easier to maintain your own commitment.
The goal is to stop hunting only when you are hungry and begin cultivating opportunities before you need them. That is how you move away from feast or famine and towards a business that feels more stable, deliberate and sustainable.
Ready to break the feast or famine cycle?
If you are ready to build a more consistent pipeline, develop better sales habits and stop relying on panic-driven marketing, this is exactly the kind of work we do in my coaching programs.
I help video business owners make time for the activities that create sustainable growth, stay accountable and keep going when the results are not immediate. You can also work alongside other business owners who are building the same habits and facing many of the same challenges.
