University of Warwick student turns videography hobby into viable business

Chris Haywood, a second-year Politics and International Relations undergraduate, founded Haywood Media after finding that his video production hobby could make him some money during his studies.

Haywood Media produces video content for clients, and mainly focuses on short-form videos designed to reach as many people as possible on social media platforms.

He said: “I’ve loved being behind a camera from a young age, and as I got older many people I knew were interested in the films I could produce for them.

“This led me to realise I could earn decent money from my hobby, which led me to set up Haywood Media. I had initial success with projects for a vodka company, e-commerce firms, and others.

“I have good knowledge of how social media platforms’ algorithms work so I could produce videos that were viewed by lots of users.

“But it was never anything more than a side project to begin with – my work was very much coming in peaks and troughs.”

After contacting the University of Warwick’s ‘Warwick Enterprise’ programme, Chris was put in touch Gaynor Matthews of business support programme Business Ready.

Business Ready delivers support to expanding companies managed by the business support team at the University of Warwick Science Park, and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Warwickshire County Council as part of the CW Business: Start, Grow & Scale Programme.

Chris said: “Through Business Ready, I was put in touch with beauty business, Counter Culture, and we spoke about the services I could offer them and how it could grow their profile.

“The talks went well and Counter Culture became my first retained client, which has resulted in a sustainable business model with substantial income.

"There are also plenty of other businesses who I’m in positive talks with too.

“I’m now seeing Haywood Media as a viable option for me after I graduate, which I never thought would be the case when I founded it. I have Business Ready’s guidance to thank for that.”

Gaynor said: “Chris was clearly a very skilled videographer when he came to Business Ready, but the key for him was to make his offer attractive enough to keep clients on instead of constantly doing ad-hoc work.

“We’re delighted his meeting with Counter Culture resulted in a retainer for Chris, and we hope it’s a stepping stone for him to grow his business even further.”