Being Professional Simply Means Being Helpful
Being professional simply means being helpful. Throw away the images of suits, tall buildings, and assistants when you hear the word “professional.” Replace all of those with an image of the best waiter you ever had. The waiter who recommended a great side, filled up your drink at the right time, and steered you away from the desert that you eyed.
That’s what being a professional is. Let me explain.
On Tuesday, I was a guest on the 52 Stories Podcast with Omar Waseem. Omar reached out to me on Instagram a few weeks ago. He sent a concise, informative, non-pushy message explaining the premise of his show and his previous guests. I told him I would check my schedule. He followed up the next day. Finally, when I did some research on his podcast, I decided I would jump on it. Within an hour, Omar sent me a calendar invite, asked what my time constraints were, and texted me the links I needed. I didn’t need to download any software or record an audio file on my end. He sent me a link that did all that. When we started the call, he walked me through the audio set up process and the flow of the podcast.
Omar was a professional because he took all my questions out of the equation. He made the process as simple as possible for me. He was helpful.
When I produce videos on set, being a professional means being as helpful as I can to everyone I’m working with. I let all my vendors know what their responsibilities are, I set everyone loose, and then I wait. I scan the set like a catcher. I watch all the moving pieces and look for missing gaps. If my director is looking puzzled by the shot list, I check in and make sure she feels good. If it looks like my lighting team needs a hand, I help set up a few rigs. The key to being a professional on set is seeing gaps and filling them before anyone asks.
Often, the set doesn’t exactly match up with our ideal creative. I consider what the goal of the ideal creative is, I develop a few alternative options to achieve that goal, and I present them to the director so she can make a quick decision. That’s what being a professional on set looks like.
Being a professional in client care looks like developing and presenting the few best options to move forward. As odd as it sounds, great client care isn’t saying, “whatever you want, sir!” It’s saying, “Here’s what I believe is best and why. Let me take you there.”
We’ve let the word “professional” get taken over by corporate mottos and company policies. If that’s what it takes to be professional, then 17-year old Omar has no chance at it. But if being a professional is being helpful, then I believe we all have a lot to learn from young Omar.
P.S. My episode with Omar comes out in a few weeks. Follow me on Instagram, I’ll post about it.
