Looking for a video documentation service business plan? You're in the right place.
A plan for a service like this has to answer questions a lender or a partner will ask. How many jobs can one person film and edit in a year? What does it cost to win a client for a service most people have never bought? How do you keep a client's footage private? A blank template won't show what a sensible answer looks like.
In this article we'll walk through a complete sample business plan for a video documentation firm in Eugene, Oregon, section by section. We'll cover the executive summary, the SWOT analysis, the marketing budget and, in particular, all of the financials.
Here's what you'll take away:
- The executive summary: see how to describe a service that most people have never bought, so a reader grasps the offer in a minute
- The capacity math: learn how to turn hours per job into the number of people you need, so you hire when the work is there and not before
- The marketing budget: find out what a launch might cost per client, and why referral partners carry the load from year two
- The first year, month by month: spot the six months that lose money before you get there, and plan your cash around them
- The privacy and data section: see how to write down what you film, who can see it and when it is deleted
- The five-year profit, cash flow and balance sheet: understand how each hire, pay rise and price change shows up in the numbers
- The downside case: have an answer ready for the "what if revenue is 20% short?" question, along with the steps the owner takes in response
If you're setting up a documentation or inspection service, read this before you write your own. The firm is fictional, so take what fits your trade and change the rest.
In this plan
Looking for a video documentation service business plan template? The Toolkit builds yours with your own numbers.
Executive Summary
Plain Sight Records is an Oregon video documentation firm that opens in Eugene on 1 January 2027. It films and catalogues what people and businesses own: a room-by-room video inventory of a home, a survey of a business's equipment and stock, and a dated condition record of a rental unit. Each client receives an indexed copy to keep away from the property. The firm also sells property-protection advice drawn from the founder's career from March of Year 1, and from the second year it re-films earlier clients. Founder John Walter spent 22 years in Oregon policing, the last five commanding a burglary unit, and owns 100% of the firm.
The opening budget is $90,000, funded by $52,000 of John's savings and a $38,000 bank term loan. The money goes to a $51,600 cash reserve, $24,000 of cameras, an edit workstation and storage, and $14,400 of legal fees, licensing and launch marketing.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $123,370 | $226,881 | $314,389 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($34,474) | ($77) | $29,798 |
| Closing cash | $28,647 | $22,393 | $45,731 |
Year 1 delivers 110 home inventories, 12 business surveys and 140 rental unit surveys for two property managers. It loses money, because rent, equipment and a full-time founder's pay are fixed while jobs build slowly from four a month in January. Operating profit before interest and depreciation is positive from June to November and negative in the other six months. Year 2 breaks even, because a videographer joins in month 15 to meet the spring season. Year 3 is the first clearly profitable year.
The model also tests a bad run: bookings 20% short, hiring pushed back nine months, the last hire dropped, marketing and equipment trimmed, no distributions and John's pay left alone. Cash still stays above zero in every year. The cost is a first-year loss large enough to exhaust his invested capital.
The firm sells a record and nothing else. It does not give legal or insurance advice, and it makes no claim about how an insurer, a court or any other body will treat a record. What it promises is a complete, indexed, dated video of the property, kept confidential, with a copy for the client to store elsewhere.
The Firm at a Glance
Legal name: Plain Sight Records, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company. Owner: John Walter, 100%. Premises: about 550 square feet of leased office and edit space in Eugene, with a locked media room. Start date: 1 January 2027. Stage: pre-launch. The client agreement, privacy statement and retention policy are with a lawyer, and two insurance agents have agreed to refer clients.
Why the firm exists
Give households and small businesses in the Eugene area a complete, dated video record of what they own, kept private and held in a second place.
Targets to 2031
- 110 home inventories, 12 business surveys and 140 rental unit surveys in 2027.
- A break-even second year, with revenue of $226,881.
- Eight property-manager accounts and about 1,200 households and businesses on file by the end of 2031.
- Begin owner distributions in 2030 and repay the bank loan by the end of 2031.
Services and rates
| Service | How it is priced | Year 1 share of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Home video inventory | $650 a home | 58% |
| Business and asset survey | $2,000 a site | 19% |
| Rental unit condition survey | $150 a unit | 17% |
| Annual update to an existing record | $290 | 1% |
| Property-protection consulting | $150 an hour | 5% |
The deliverable
An indexed video organized by room or area, a searchable list of the items the client chose to have described (make, model and serial number where visible), and a copy on an encrypted drive or in a private cloud folder. The firm keeps the edited index copy and deletes raw footage 90 days after delivery.
Where the firm stops
It does not sell alarms, investigate losses or advise on claims. Consulting is limited to practical advice on protecting property, drawn from John's police casework. Before the consulting line launches, the firm checks with the relevant Oregon agencies whether any license applies to that advice.
The Market for a Home Record
The gap the firm fills
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation tells consumers to photograph every room, including walls, closets and storage areas, to describe each item with its make, model, price and other details, and to have the inventory ready when reporting a claim (Prepare Now page That advice suggests the task is common knowledge and still often undone. The task is simple and unwelcome. The firm sells doing it properly, once, with a second copy held elsewhere.
No local household or business count is quoted here. The Census Bureau's Eugene figures could not be retrieved, so the plan tests demand with conversion arithmetic in the sales plan instead of a market count.
Camera and edit labor
BLS data show median pay of television, video and film camera operators at $74,990 and of film and video editors at $75,420 in May 2025. It projects employment growth of 1% for camera operators and 4% for editors from 2025 to 2035, and it notes that amateur footage and robotic cameras may slow demand for camera operators. A client can film a room on a phone, so the firm's price rests on completeness, indexing and confidentiality, not on camera quality.
Oregon rules that touch payroll and profit
Oregon's corporate excise tax is 6.6% of taxable income up to $1 million (Department of Revenue, corporation requirements page The Corporate Activity Tax applies only to Oregon commercial activity above $1 million, which this firm does not reach. In Lane County the Lane Transit District payroll tax is imposed on the employer and its rate is set out on Form OQ. The model uses the 6.6% rate in its tax line and carries the payroll items inside a 27% load. For 2026 the Oregon Employment Department sets the unemployment insurance wage base at $56,700 and the new-employer rate at 2.4%. The Corporate Activity Tax is not modeled.
Other ways to get a record
| Alternative | What it offers | Why a client picks it | How Plain Sight Records differs by design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do-it-yourself phone walkthrough | A video the client records alone | Free and immediate | Indexed by room, complete, and stored in a second place |
| Home inventory apps | Item lists with photos and receipts | Searchable and cheap | A person films every item, so the client does not have to |
| General videographers | Professional footage | Quality of image | Cataloguing, confidentiality and a fixed scope and price |
| Personal property appraisers | Valuations of specific items | Formal valuation | A record of everything, not a value on selected items |
| Alarm and security companies | Monitoring and hardware | Established brands | A record of belongings, not protection of the building |
The table describes categories, not named businesses, because local providers publish few prices. Each alternative is a different job from the one the firm sells.
SWOT
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Founder with 22 years in policing and burglary casework | One filmmaker for the first 14 months |
| Fixed prices and a clear deliverable | No brand; every client starts from zero |
| Rental surveys fill the months when home work is slow | Year 1 loses money and draws on the reserve |
| Opportunities | Threats |
|---|---|
| Insurance agents, realtors and property managers as referral partners | Free phone and app inventories that clients build themselves |
| Annual updates that turn one job into a repeat client | A data breach: the archive lists where valuables sit |
| Businesses that have never recorded their equipment | A bad winter for rentals or a slow housing market |
Who Books a Filming Visit
Households
Homeowners and long-term renters in Eugene and the surrounding towns who want a record in hand before a loss. Typical triggers are a break-in nearby, a wildfire-season warning, an inheritance, a home move, or an insurance agent suggesting it at renewal. They pay $650 for a complete room-by-room record and are comparing it with doing nothing.
Small businesses and workshops
Small offices, retail shops, workshops and contractors with equipment worth more than they could replace from cash. The buyer is usually the owner or office manager. A survey of stock, tools and fixtures also supports a conversation with the insurance broker.
Rental managers
Managers with 50 to 300 rental units who want a dated record of each unit at move-in and move-out. They buy by volume and invoice monthly. Eugene is a university town, so the work peaks in August and September.
What a buyer weighs
The record is complete. The footage stays private. The work is booked at a fixed price and delivered when promised. Someone trustworthy is in the house.
Why a former detective films serial plates
John's casework left him convinced that serial numbers and photographs help return recovered property, and that is why the firm films the serial-number plate of each high-value item wherever it is visible. The plan treats that as the founder's experience and makes no claim about outcomes.
Winning the First 124 Clients
From first call to delivery
A 15-minute call, a fixed quote the same day, a booked visit, filming, then delivery of the indexed copy within five working days (ten for a business survey, three for a rental unit). Homeowners pay by card on delivery, businesses on 30-day terms and property managers on a monthly invoice. A home visit is booked with a card on file, and a no-show or a cancellation inside 24 hours is charged a fee, which the plan does not count as revenue. John takes every call in Year 1.
The first 124 clients
About 124 new clients: 110 homes, 12 businesses and 2 property managers. At a close rate of 40%, the 110 homes need about 275 quote calls, or about 23 a month, which is why 42 of them are expected to come through referral partners who pre-sell the service.
| Lead source, home clients | Year 1 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Referral partners (insurance agents, realtors, estate and move managers) | 42 | 38% |
| Google Business Profile, local search and the website | 30 | 27% |
| Neighborhood association and community talks | 22 | 20% |
| Paid search and social ads | 16 | 15% |
Twelve business surveys come from three sources: about five from two business insurance brokers, about four from the chamber of commerce and John's own calls to local firms, and about three from direct mail to 150 firms, a response of about 2%. The 2 property managers come from John's outreach to local landlord groups, the first signing in April.
Pricing
$650 for a home of typical size, adjusted up for outbuildings and large collections, $2,000 for a business site, $150 a rental unit with a volume discount written into the manager's agreement, and $290 for a yearly update. All prices rise 3% a year from Year 2.
Annual updates
The model has about 15% of the home and business clients filmed in earlier years return each year for an update: 19 in Year 2 from the 122 filmed in Year 1, and 140 in Year 5 from about 900 filmed over the four years before. Almost no one is due an update in Year 1, so the line starts at 3. Every delivery email offers a booked update date.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home inventories | 110 | 190 | 235 | 270 | 305 |
| Business surveys | 12 | 20 | 28 | 34 | 40 |
| Rental units surveyed | 140 | 280 | 400 | 490 | 560 |
| Annual updates | 3 | 19 | 51 | 94 | 140 |
| Property-manager accounts | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
Rental accounts
Each account orders about 70 unit surveys a year in every year, so rental volume grows only as accounts are added: two in Year 1, four in Year 2, six in Year 3 and one more in each of Years 4 and 5.
Where the Leads Come From
Spend and cost per client
Year 1 marketing totals $25,000, made of $9,000 for the launch paid from the opening capital and $16,000 for running campaigns. That is 20% of Year 1 revenue and about $202 for each of about 124 new clients, or 31% of the price of a first home job. The cost per new client falls as referral partners and past clients take over.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing spend | $25,000 | $18,000 | $20,000 |
| New clients (homes, businesses, new managers) | 124 | 212 | 265 |
| Spend per new client | $202 | $85 | $75 |
| Marketing as a share of revenue | 20% | 8% | 6% |
The same trend holds in Years 4 and 5, at about $72 and $66 a client. The fall depends on the mix of home clients below. Referral partners grow from 38% of home clients to about half, and clients who recommend the firm are a source that does not exist in Year 1.
| Lead source, home clients | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referral partners | 42 (38%) | 90 (47%) | 120 (51%) |
| Local search and website | 30 (27%) | 45 (24%) | 55 (23%) |
| Past clients and their friends | 0 | 25 (13%) | 30 (13%) |
| Neighborhood talks | 22 (20%) | 20 (11%) | 20 (9%) |
| Paid ads | 16 (15%) | 10 (5%) | 10 (4%) |
| Total home clients | 110 | 190 | 235 |
| Channel | Year 1 spend | Year 2 spend | What it is expected to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website and a sample inventory film (launch) | $6,500 | – | A booking page and a shortened example of a finished record |
| Referral-partner materials and printed guide (launch) | $2,500 | – | A one-page explainer for insurance agents and realtors to hand to clients |
| Paid search and social ads | $4,500 | $3,500 | Searches such as "home inventory video Eugene"; 16 homes in Year 1 and 10 in Year 2 |
| Referral partner program | $3,500 | $6,500 | Coffee meetings and a written thank-you; 42 homes in Year 1 and 90 in Year 2 |
| Business outreach | $3,800 | $3,000 | Chamber membership, broker meetings, direct mail; 12 surveys in Year 1 and 20 in Year 2 |
| Neighborhood associations and community talks | $2,200 | $1,800 | Short talks on keeping a household record; 22 homes in Year 1 and 20 in Year 2 |
| Website upkeep and content | $2,000 | $2,200 | One practical guide a quarter and a current Google Business Profile; 30 homes in Year 1 and 45 in Year 2 |
| Update reminders and a client-referral note | – | $1,000 | An email at the anniversary of each record; 25 homes in Year 2 through friends of past clients |
Operating spend adds up to $16,000 in Year 1 and $18,000 in Year 2.
Counsel check on referral thank-yous. Insurance producers and real estate licensees may be limited in what they can accept for an introduction. The firm's lawyer reviews the referral program before the launch event. Until then, a partner's thank-you is a handwritten note, and the plan makes no claim about what Oregon rules allow.
First-year markers
- January 2027: website live, first four bookings.
- April 2027: first property manager signs.
- September 2027: busiest month, about 117 delivery hours.
- December 2027: 122 homes and businesses on file.
How a Visit Becomes a Record
The studio
About 550 square feet in Eugene at roughly $20 a square foot a year ($11,000 in Year 1): two desks, an edit station and a locked media room. The firm moves to about 800 square feet in Year 4 when the second senior videographer joins.
A visit, start to finish
A home visit takes about two hours: the owner walks through, opens cabinets and drawers, and the filmmaker narrates each room. Back at the studio, about two and a half hours go to indexing the footage by room and item and checking the cut against the room list, so that serial-number plates are legible. Travel and delivery take about an hour. A business survey takes about 10 hours in all. A rental unit takes about 1.3 hours.
The kit
Cameras, lenses, a gimbal, lighting and audio ($12,500), an editing workstation with monitors and network storage ($7,500), and a fit-out for the media room ($4,000). Replacement is budgeted from Year 2 at $3,500 to $8,000 a year.
Footage, storage and deletion
Raw footage is deleted 90 days after delivery. The edited index copy, at about 2 GB per home, is kept in encrypted storage with access limited to the filmmaker who made it and the administrator. A client copy goes on an encrypted drive or into a private folder the client controls. The retention period is set in the client agreement and reviewed by the firm's lawyer. Storage is part of the $5,400 software budget in Year 1 and $11,000 by Year 5.
Who does the filming
John alone for 14 months. A videographer and editor from month 15, a part-time client administrator from month 28, and a second senior videographer and editor from month 40. Each hire follows demand, and the lower-revenue table in the financials shows which hires slip or disappear if bookings fall short. Staff who enter clients' homes are background-checked and covered by a fidelity bond.
Hours against headcount
One full-time person delivers about 1,300 hours a year, or 108 a month, in the model. Delivery hours are 954 in Year 1, 1,716 in Year 2, 2,305 in Year 3, 2,792 in Year 4 and 3,266 in Year 5.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery hours needed | 954 | 1,716 | 2,305 | 2,792 | 3,266 |
| Delivery people at year end | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Share of the team's annual capacity | 73% | 72% | 89% | 78% | 84% |
Year 1's busiest month, September, needs about 117 hours, 8% above one person's month, so John works longer days and quotes up to two weeks for delivery. From Year 3 the August and September peak outruns the team, so freelance filmmakers are budgeted at $5,500, $2,500 and $7,500 in Years 3 to 5.
Registrations and insurance
- Oregon LLC registration and any license the Eugene or Lane County authorities require, budgeted at $900 with bonding.
- A client agreement that states the scope, the fee, who owns the footage, how long the index copy is kept and who may see it.
- General liability, professional liability, an equipment floater, cyber cover, key-person life and disability cover on John and, from the first hire, workers' compensation, budgeted at $6,200 in Year 1.
- Payroll registrations, including Oregon unemployment insurance and the Lane Transit District payroll tax.
Questions a lender will ask
How is local demand sized? It is not sized by a market count. The plan counts calls and referral partners: 275 quote calls for 110 homes in Year 1, with 42 homes expected from partners who pre-sell the service.
What happens if police or a lawyer asks for footage? The client agreement says footage is confidential and is released to a third party only with the client's written consent or when the firm's lawyer advises that the law compels it. Where permitted, the firm tells the client first. The plan states no rule about subpoenas or police requests, and counsel reviews the wording.
What if the archive is breached? Access is limited and the archive is encrypted. If someone gets in without authority, the firm tells affected clients promptly and its lawyer confirms which Oregon breach-notification rules apply. Cyber cover is budgeted.
How does the firm enter rental units? The property manager books the survey and gives tenants the notice and access arrangements the lease and Oregon landlord-tenant rules require. The firm films only when a manager's representative or an occupant lets it in, and the manager's agreement puts responsibility for notice on the manager. Counsel reviews the agreement.
What about cancellations and no-shows? A home booking holds a card, and a no-show or a cancellation inside 24 hours is charged a fee. The plan counts none of that as revenue.
Why is Year 4 tax only $4,390 on $16,745 of pre-tax profit? That is 26.2%, the combined rate. Years 1 and 2 left losses of $20,151 before start-up costs, and Year 3 used them up, which is why Year 3's tax was low and Year 4's is not.
Suppliers
Camera and storage suppliers, a cloud storage provider, an employment lawyer on call for hiring and a freelance filmmaker on a short list to cover illness and the August to September peak. None is hard to replace.
John Walter and the People Around Him
John Walter, founder and lead videographer
John has 22 years in Oregon policing. For the last five he commanded a burglary unit, where he worked on recovered property and on what owners could and could not tell investigators. He holds no film qualification. He has filmed and edited for the last three years on small commissions and trained for six months on property-record methods before opening. His $52,000 investment is twenty years of savings.
What John has not done yet
John has not run a business or hired staff, and has not sold to property managers. The plan covers these with an outside accountant who keeps the books, an employment lawyer on call, and a weekly outreach schedule John sets in January and reviews each month.
If John is out
John is the only filmmaker for 14 months. The firm carries key-person life and disability cover on him and keeps a freelance filmmaker on a short list. Booked clients are told turnaround may extend if he is unwell.
Outside eyes
An independent insurance agent reviews the client agreement and the record format, and an accountant reviews the numbers each quarter.
Ownership and the bank loan
John holds all of Plain Sight Records, LLC and signs a personal guarantee for the loan. The lender is expected to want quarterly accounts and no net-worth test.
The Numbers Behind Plain Sight Records
One five-year model produces every table here, with Year 1 broken out by month and later years in annual blocks. The inputs sit first, so each figure can be followed back to its basis.
Equipment, launch costs and the loan
| Use of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cameras, lenses, gimbal, lighting and audio kit | $12,500 |
| Editing workstation, monitors, network storage and backup drives | $7,500 |
| Edit suite fit-out and secure media storage | $4,000 |
| Business registration, licenses and bonding | $900 |
| Legal: client agreement, privacy and retention policy, lease review | $4,500 |
| Launch: website, sample inventory, referral-partner materials | $9,000 |
| Cash reserve for the first year | $51,600 |
| Total uses | $90,000 |
| Source of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| John Walter's savings | $52,000 |
| Bank term loan | $38,000 |
| Total sources | $90,000 |
Of the $90,000, John puts in $52,000 from savings (58%) and a bank lends the other $38,000 over five years. The loan is priced at 10.5% for illustration only, with no principal due for six months, and the lender is expected to ask for John's personal guarantee and a charge over the cameras and edit gear. The reserve of $51,600 is the biggest item because the first year runs at a loss. After equipment, launch costs, the operating deficit and early loan payments, $28,647 remains in December 2027; the lowest month-end balance, about $21,000, comes in July.
What the figures rest on
- Prices in Year 1 are $650 for a home inventory, $2,000 for a business or asset survey, $150 for each rental unit condition survey, $290 for an annual update and $150 an hour for property-protection consulting. They rise 3% a year from Year 2, rounded to the nearest dollar. The prices are illustrative; no local competitor prices were found.
- A home inventory takes about 5.5 hours: roughly 2 hours filming on site, 2.5 hours cataloguing and indexing the footage by room, and 1 hour for travel, delivery and the client's copy. A business survey takes about 10 hours, a rental unit about 1.3 hours, an update about 2.5 hours. Those times set how many jobs one person can deliver, and they work out to about $115 to $200 of revenue per hour of work on a job.
- Year 1 volume is 110 homes, 12 businesses, 140 rental units from two property managers (the first signs in April), 3 updates and 40 consulting hours. Year 5 is 305 homes, 40 businesses, 560 units from eight managers, 140 updates and 110 hours. Rental volume is about 70 units per manager each year in every year. Updates come from about 15% of the home and business clients filmed in earlier years, who return each year: 19 in Year 2 from the 122 filmed in Year 1, and 140 in Year 5 from about 900 filmed in the four years before.
- Delivery hours come to 954 in Year 1, 1,716 in Year 2, 2,305 in Year 3, 2,792 in Year 4 and 3,266 in Year 5. The model has one full-time person delivering about 1,300 hours a year, or about 108 a month, after sales, equipment care and administration. That makes the team 73% loaded in Year 1, 72% in Year 2 (John plus a videographer from month 15), 89% in Year 3, 78% in Year 4 (three people from month 40) and 84% in Year 5. Revenue per delivery hour is about $129 in Year 1 and between $132 and $145 afterwards.
- Home inventories are busier in spring and autumn in the model. Rental surveys follow lease turnover and peak in August and September, since Eugene is a university town. In Year 1 the peak is September at about 117 delivery hours, 8% above one person's month, met with longer evenings and a turnaround of up to two weeks. From Year 3 the August and September peak exceeds the team's monthly capacity, so freelance filmmakers are budgeted at $5,500, $2,500 and $7,500 in Years 3, 4 and 5. These patterns are planning figures, not published data.
- Households pay by card at delivery, businesses within 30 days and rental managers on a monthly invoice, so receivables average about 12 days of sales. About 5% of revenue goes on direct costs: delivery drives, card fees and encrypted cloud space for each client's archive. Cancellations and no-shows are not modeled.
- A 27% load sits on top of wages and covers employer payroll taxes, Oregon unemployment insurance (the 2026 taxable wage base is $56,700 and the new-employer rate is 2.4%, per the Oregon Employment Department), the Lane Transit District payroll tax (imposed on the employer; the rate is on Form OQ and is about 0.8% in secondary sources), workers' compensation, a health contribution and a small retirement match. Paid Leave Oregon contributions are 1% of wages for 2026. A 15% load is used for the part-time administrator.
- John is paid $60,000 from the first month. The two employed videographers start at $58,000 and $60,000. BLS publishes national medians of $74,990 for camera operators and $75,420 for film and video editors (May 2025); the plan pays less for an owner during launch and for early-career hires in a smaller market. Annual pay raises of 3% are charged as a separate line from Year 2.
- Rent is based on about 550 square feet of office and edit space at roughly $20 a square foot a year, with a locked media room, rising to about 800 square feet in Year 4 when the second senior videographer joins. Insurance covers general liability, professional liability, an equipment floater, cyber cover, key-person life and disability cover on John and, once staff are hired, workers' compensation. The rent and insurance figures are estimates, not quotes.
- Income tax uses 21% federal and 6.6% Oregon corporate excise, which together come to about 26.2% because the engine treats the Oregon tax as deductible federally. The Year 1 loss before start-up costs ($20,074) and the Year 2 loss ($77) are carried forward and used up in Year 3, so Year 4 tax of $4,390 is 26.2% of $16,745 of pre-tax profit. The Oregon Department of Revenue states the 6.6% rate for Oregon taxable income up to $1 million. The Corporate Activity Tax applies only above $1 million of Oregon commercial activity, which this firm does not reach. The firm would normally be taxed as a pass-through, which moves this tax to John's personal return, so corporate rates are a cautious placeholder.
- John takes $15,000 out in Year 4 and $20,000 in Year 5, amounts the cash balance can bear. Equipment replacement is budgeted from Year 2, and each new hire carries a kit allowance.
Revenue by service
| Revenue stream | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home video inventories | $71,500 | $127,300 | $162,150 | $191,700 | $223,260 |
| Business and asset documentation | $24,000 | $41,200 | $59,416 | $74,290 | $90,040 |
| Rental unit condition surveys | $21,000 | $43,400 | $63,600 | $80,360 | $94,640 |
| Annual updates to existing records | $870 | $5,681 | $15,708 | $29,798 | $45,640 |
| Property-protection consulting | $6,000 | $9,300 | $13,515 | $15,580 | $18,590 |
| Total revenue | $123,370 | $226,881 | $314,389 | $391,728 | $472,170 |
| Growth on prior year | – | 84% | 39% | 25% | 21% |
Home inventories lead in every year: 58% of Year 1 revenue and 47% of Year 5. Rental unit surveys and business surveys are next. Rental surveys earn the least per job but fill the late-summer weeks and grow from 17% to 20% of revenue. Business surveys are 19% in both years. Annual updates are about 1% of revenue in Year 1, because almost nobody has yet been filmed a year ago, and 10% in Year 5; they are the only line that repeats without a new sale. Consulting stays small, at 5% falling to 4%.
The first twelve months
| Month | Home video inventories | Business and asset documentation | Rental unit condition surveys | Annual updates to existing records | Property-protection consulting | Total revenue | EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2027 | $2,600 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $2,600 | ($8,251) |
| Feb 2027 | $3,250 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $3,250 | ($7,634) |
| Mar 2027 | $4,550 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $300 | $4,850 | ($6,117) |
| Apr 2027 | $5,850 | $2,000 | $1,500 | $0 | $300 | $9,650 | ($1,564) |
| May 2027 | $6,500 | $2,000 | $2,250 | $0 | $450 | $11,200 | ($94) |
| Jun 2027 | $6,500 | $2,000 | $2,250 | $0 | $600 | $11,350 | $49 |
| Jul 2027 | $6,500 | $2,000 | $3,000 | $0 | $600 | $12,100 | $760 |
| Aug 2027 | $6,500 | $2,000 | $3,750 | $0 | $600 | $12,850 | $1,471 |
| Sep 2027 | $7,150 | $4,000 | $3,750 | $0 | $600 | $15,500 | $3,985 |
| Oct 2027 | $7,150 | $4,000 | $2,250 | $290 | $750 | $14,440 | $2,979 |
| Nov 2027 | $7,800 | $4,000 | $1,500 | $290 | $900 | $14,490 | $3,027 |
| Dec 2027 | $7,150 | $2,000 | $750 | $290 | $900 | $11,090 | ($198) |
January brings $2,600 and September peaks at $15,500. The firm earns an operating profit (EBITDA, before interest, depreciation and tax) in each month from June to November and loses money in the other six. September is also the busiest month for work, at about 117 delivery hours against 108 for one person, so John stretches delivery to two weeks and works longer days. The lowest month-end cash is Jul, at about $21,000, after allowing for the 12 days clients take to pay.
Who is on payroll and when
| Role | Annual wage | Starts | Year 1 end | Year 2 end | Year 3 end | Year 4 end | Year 5 end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder and lead videographer | $60,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Videographer and editor | $58,000 | Month 15 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Client administrator (part time, 20 hours a week) | $22,000 | Month 28 | – | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Second senior videographer and editor | $60,000 | Month 40 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Total payroll incl. on-costs | $76,200 | $137,583 | $168,835 | $232,310 | $251,360 |
John works alone for the first 14 months. His delivery load is about 950 hours in Year 1, 73% of a full year. A videographer and editor joins in month 15 (March 2028), ahead of the spring season, because Year 2 demand of 1,716 hours is 132% of what one person delivers. A part-time client administrator joins in month 28 for scheduling, invoicing and delivery of client copies, and a second senior videographer and editor in month 40 (April 2030), when demand reaches 2,792 hours in Year 4, 107% of what two people deliver. Each hire is timed to the hours the last one made possible. The administrator's $22,000 is a part-time wage. John draws his $60,000 from month 1, which means every profit figure below is struck after his pay.
Profit and loss
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $123,370 | $226,881 | $314,389 | $391,728 | $472,170 |
| Direct costs (delivery media, fees, storage) | ($6,356) | ($11,689) | ($16,198) | ($20,182) | ($24,326) |
| Gross profit | $117,014 | $215,192 | $298,191 | $371,546 | $447,844 |
| Payroll incl. on-costs | ($76,200) | ($137,583) | ($168,835) | ($232,310) | ($251,360) |
| Rent | ($11,000) | ($11,300) | ($11,700) | ($16,000) | ($16,500) |
| Utilities | ($1,800) | ($1,900) | ($2,000) | ($2,900) | ($3,000) |
| Marketing | ($16,000) | ($18,000) | ($20,000) | ($22,000) | ($23,000) |
| Insurance | ($6,200) | ($7,800) | ($9,300) | ($11,500) | ($12,800) |
| Professional fees | ($3,500) | ($3,800) | ($4,200) | ($4,500) | ($5,000) |
| Software subscriptions | ($5,400) | ($6,800) | ($8,200) | ($10,000) | ($11,000) |
| Vehicle, fuel and mileage reimbursement | ($4,800) | ($6,000) | ($7,000) | ($8,200) | ($9,000) |
| Freelance filmmakers for the August to September peak | $0 | $0 | ($5,500) | ($2,500) | ($7,500) |
| Delivery media, phones, supplies and postage | ($1,800) | ($2,400) | ($3,000) | ($3,600) | ($4,000) |
| Bonding, background checks and memberships | ($1,300) | ($1,700) | ($2,100) | ($2,600) | ($3,000) |
| Equipment replacement and new-hire kit | $0 | ($4,500) | ($3,500) | ($8,000) | ($5,000) |
| Bad debt allowance | ($600) | ($1,500) | ($2,300) | ($3,000) | ($3,600) |
| Annual pay raises (3% a year) | $0 | ($4,127) | ($10,282) | ($21,541) | ($31,548) |
| EBITDA | ($11,586) | $7,782 | $40,274 | $22,895 | $61,536 |
| Depreciation | ($4,571) | ($4,571) | ($4,571) | ($4,571) | ($4,571) |
| Interest | ($3,916) | ($3,287) | ($2,477) | ($1,579) | ($581) |
| Income tax | $0 | $0 | ($3,428) | ($4,390) | ($14,780) |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($20,074) | ($77) | $29,798 | $12,355 | $41,603 |
| Start-up costs expensed at opening (legal, licensing, launch marketing) | ($14,400) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($34,474) | ($77) | $29,798 | $12,355 | $41,603 |
Year 1 ends $20,074 down before start-up costs and $34,474 down after them. Year 2 reaches break-even at the EBITDA line (3.4% of revenue) but finishes $77 short once depreciation and interest are charged, because the videographer starts in month 15. Year 3 is the first clearly profitable year: a 12.8% EBITDA margin and $29,798 of net income. Year 4 drops to 5.8% when the second senior videographer, the larger studio and three years of pay raises arrive together, and Year 5 climbs back to 13.0%. No income tax is due in Years 1 and 2, and little in Year 3, because the early losses are carried forward.
Where the cash goes
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | ($33,959) | $1,092 | $31,493 | $14,384 | $43,530 |
| Equipment and fit-out | ($24,000) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Funding received | $90,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Loan principal repaid | ($3,395) | ($7,345) | ($8,155) | ($9,054) | ($10,051) |
| Owner distributions | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($15,000) | ($20,000) |
| Net change in cash | $28,647 | ($6,254) | $23,338 | ($9,669) | $13,478 |
| Closing cash | $28,647 | $22,393 | $45,731 | $36,061 | $49,540 |
The bank balance never reaches zero. Its low point is the end of Year 2, at $22,393, after the videographer's first year on payroll. Distributions start in Year 4, and Year 5 ends at $49,540 once the second distribution is paid and the bank loan is cleared.
Balance sheet
| At year end | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $28,647 | $22,393 | $45,731 | $36,061 | $49,540 |
| Accounts receivable | $4,056 | $7,459 | $10,336 | $12,879 | $15,523 |
| Equipment and fit-out (net) | $19,429 | $14,857 | $10,286 | $5,714 | $1,143 |
| Total assets | $52,131 | $44,709 | $66,353 | $54,655 | $66,206 |
| Bank loan | $34,605 | $27,260 | $19,105 | $10,051 | $0 |
| Paid-in capital | $52,000 | $52,000 | $52,000 | $52,000 | $52,000 |
| Retained earnings | ($34,474) | ($34,551) | ($4,752) | ($7,397) | $14,206 |
| Total liabilities and equity | $52,131 | $44,709 | $66,353 | $54,655 | $66,206 |
Break-even and margins
| Measure | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBITDA margin | -9.4% | 3.4% | 12.8% | 5.8% | 13.0% |
| Net margin (before start-up costs) | -16.3% | -0.0% | 9.5% | 3.2% | 8.8% |
| Payroll incl. pay raises as share of revenue | 62% | 62% | 57% | 65% | 60% |
| Revenue per full-time equivalent at year end | $123,370 | $113,441 | $125,756 | $111,922 | $134,906 |
| Average monthly revenue | $10,281 | $18,907 | $26,199 | $32,644 | $39,348 |
| Monthly revenue needed to cover operating costs | $11,299 | $18,223 | $22,661 | $30,632 | $33,941 |
| Debt service cover (EBITDA / interest + principal) | -1.6x | 0.7x | 3.8x | 2.2x | 5.8x |
A year pays its way when average monthly revenue passes the "needed" row in the table above. Year 1 averages $10,281 against $11,299 needed, a shortfall. Year 2 averages $18,907 against $18,223, clearing it by about $700 a month. Years 3 and 4 clear it by about $3,500 and $2,000. Debt service cover is negative in Year 1 because the firm loses money while paying interest, falls to 0.7x in Year 2 so the reserve helps meet loan payments, and is 2.2x or better afterwards.
If bookings fall a fifth short
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $98,696 | $181,505 | $251,511 | $313,382 | $377,736 |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($40,277) | $19,637 | $569 | $17,734 | $48,770 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($54,677) | $19,637 | $569 | $17,734 | $48,770 |
| Closing cash | $9,255 | $23,396 | $18,079 | $29,297 | $70,471 |
Here every revenue line runs 20% under plan in every year, and John's own pay is left alone. John's answer: each hire from month 13 slips nine months (videographer to month 24, administrator to month 37), the second senior videographer is never hired, marketing falls 20%, freelance overflow shrinks with volume, half the equipment replacement budget is deferred, the studio stays put and nothing is paid out to John. Cash then stays above $9,255 at every year end, the lowest being Year 1, and profit returns from Year 2, although Year 3 earns just $569. Year 1 loses $54,677 after start-up costs, which leaves equity at ($2,677): John's capital is used up and the lender is carrying part of the risk. The lender is expected to need only quarterly accounts, but John would call the bank early. Years 2, 4 and 5 still beat the base case because slower hiring and the missing second senior videographer save more wages than the lost margin, and John films and edits more himself. It also suggests the base plan carries more payroll than a smaller firm needs. With no response, the shortfall would drain the cash by the end of Year 2.
Sources
- Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, Prepare Now: home inventory guidance. The page carries no date.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Film and video editors and camera operators, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 pay and 2025 to 2035 projections.
- Oregon Department of Revenue, Corporation excise and income tax requirements: 6.6% rate on taxable income up to $1 million.
- Oregon Department of Revenue, Corporate Activity Tax: applies to Oregon commercial activity above $1 million. The page carries no date.
- Oregon Department of Revenue, Lane County Transit District payroll tax: imposed on the employer, rate on Form OQ. The page gives no rate; the 0.8% used in the model comes from secondary sources and should be checked against the current Form OQ.
- Oregon Employment Department, Unemployment Insurance tax and Paid Leave Oregon contribution rates hold steady for 2026, 18 November 2025: 2026 taxable wage base of $56,700, new-employer rate of 2.4%, Paid Leave Oregon contribution rate of 1%.
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