Creator Scale

#83 - From selling his last name (twice) to getting paid to wear different t-shirts everyday, Jason Zook has run some of the most unique businesses and marketing strategies online over the past ten years.

In this episode I talk with one of the most creative entrepreneurs I’ve ever met.

We discuss how he comes up with these unique business ideas, how he pitches company and customers to take a chance on him, and why instead of trying to get “rich” he is working towards just having enough.

• 00:00:27 - Introduction
• 00:01:49 - Getting off on the wrong foot
• 00:05:15 - Always having “out there” ideas
• 00:21:26 - Taking past lessons & moving forward
• 00:29:06 - Does personality drive the type of business you have and the way you view money?
• 00:37:02 - Being content with work-life balance
• 00:42:03 - Advice to someone who feels stuck in their 9-5 job
• 00:48:23 - Where should you go to learn business?
• 00:55:38 - Trends in online business
• 01:00:00 - Is the power of an email list still as strong as everyone claims?
• 01:04:16 - What Jason learned making 900 videos in 900 days
• 01:06:40 - Some of Jason's ideas that never came to be
• 01:16:58 - Wrap-up

• Learn More About IWearYourShirt and How I Made $1,000,000
• BuyMyFuture: Behind The Scenes of How I Made $178,000 Selling My Future in 2015
• BuyMyLastName: Why I Sold My Last Name For Nearly $100,000 in 2012 and 2013
• Welcome to Wandering Aimfully, we're Jason and Caroline Zook
• Creativity For Sale | by Jason SurfrApp (formely Jason Headsetsdotcom & Jason Sadler)
• Own Your Weird, An Oddly Effective Way For Finding Happiness
• Why You Should Focus on Enough Instead of More

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#82 - Nowadays anyone can become a "news outlet” by simply commentating on what’s new, what was just announced, or regurgitating what they read online, but to really stand out from the noise in a topic you’re interested in you need to bring a different slant to it.

In this episode I talk with Ben Sullins of Teslanomics about how he approaches covering Tesla and sustainable technology news using his years of experience as a data scientist.

We also discuss how & when to leave a day job behind, how he experimented on YouTube until something “popped”, how he makes money from his channel now, and the story behind how he bought Elon Musk a couch.

• 00:00:25 - Introduction
• 00:02:05 - Before Teslanomics
• 00:11:21 - Teslanomics
• 00:21:09 - Don't just quit your day job
• 00:29:16 - What Youtube content worked and what didn't
• 00:39:17 - Getting Noticed by Tesla
• 00:41:59 - Buying Elon Musk a Couch
• 00:48:43 - Income & Revenue Streams
• 00:53:19 - Re-branding a Channel
• 01:05:48 - Next 5-10 years of electric cars
• 01:17:13 - Future of self driving cars

• Teslanomics with Ben Sullins - YouTube
• Ben's Cybertruck Announcement Event Video - YouTube
• Ben's Tesla CyberTruck Ride Video - YouTube
• Tesla | Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage
• Marques Brownlee - YouTube
• Trello | Project Management Tool
• Ben's Courses on LinkedIn Learning
• Ben's Courses on Pluralsight

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#81 - Running a business is hard. You work long hours, you have the livelihood of your employees resting on your shoulders, and you want to do ALL the ideas that are in your head.

But sometimes, as successful as you might feel financially or look to others online you burn out. You hit a wall. Your business runs out of money. You need to re-think everything and make the hard decisions.

In this podcast episode I chat with Sean McCabe, who has built multiple businesses through client services, creating physical products, growing a membership community, and selling online courses.

Throughout this episode we discuss starting how to grow a physical or digital product business, what to do when you feel stuck, why you need to be making content online, how to pre-sell a new product, avoiding scarcity mindset, and why Sean is taking a full year sabbatical.

• Sean's interview of me on his podcast
• Rescue Time
• Presale Profits | seanwes
• 256: How to Defeat Scarcity Mindset | seanwes podcast
• seanwes - Business Community for Creative Professionals
• SwitchPod on Kickstarter — The minimal, versatile, handheld tripod

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#80 - I’ve been talking to a lot of beginners lately.

People just getting started with video, wanting to launch their YouTube channel, record the first online course, start their business, etc.

And there is this recurring theme with all of them.

They’re doing it wrong. Here’s what I mean.

There is really only one metric that matters when you’re starting out.

Action. Doing. Movement. Go.

When making videos, here are some things that you might think really matter at first, but don’t.

• Should I use my phone or a DSLR camera?
• Should I film in 1080p or 4K?
• Should I start my YouTube channel or my website first?

The answer to all of these questions is: YES.

Its like when you starting working out at the gym. It almost doesn’t matter what exercises you do. What matters is that you go to the gym, you do SOMETHING, and then you keep coming back.

Even this video I’m filming right now is an example, I really needed to shave and I was gonna do that before I hit record, but NO. Action. Just, do it.

Eventually you will reach a point where those earlier questions matter, but chances are you’re not there yet.

It doesn’t matter which direction you go in if you’re not moving.

My friend Sean McCabe, who is a guest on my podcast soon, likes to say, “You Can’t Steer a Parked Car”.

Newton’s First Law - An object at rest stays at rest. An object in motion stays in motion until forces act upon it.

*Once you start doing, you learn. *If you’re in a state of paralysis, nothing happens.

When you’re in it, you feel like every decision you make is HUGE. But you’re trying to play a more complicated version of Go or chess instead of just playing checkers and moving forward.

Research quickly, make a decision, and move on.

When you’re just starting you may be stalled out because you want a level of quality or professionalism that is only achievable through practice, time, and actually doing it.

Just look back at the earliest videos of some of the biggest YouTubers. Chances are they were poorly filmed, barely edited, and don’t feel anywhere close to the same as their current videos. They got better with repetition and so will you.

Your most limited resource is time. Not money, not knowledge. The last thing you need to do is agonize about every decision you’re making and what equipment or software you should use.

Choose and go.

Another thing I see people stall out on is what their current followers online initially followed them for.

If you’re worried about what people might think or that you’ve grown an audience or following talking about one thing but now you want to take about something else, just do it.

Make what YOU want to make.

Let your audience self filter out. Just do what you want to do. People that are attracted to you and what you make will follow you. Those that don’t, will leave. Who cares?

I’d rather have less people following what I make that care about it than millions of people who don’t care.

And if there are already people talking about or sharing what you’re interested in online that have an audience, take that as a sign that there is a need for it. Not keep you making.

Because if you’re really interested in a topic or niche, you don’t just follow one person that talks about it. You follow 5 or 10 or more.

All this to say... The fact that you’re even thinking of starting means that you’re further along than most people. Which is great.

But take it a step further and go make something.

Head in a direction. You can always course correct later.

If you’re just starting out with something, focus on building the habit of showing up. Creating. Finishing. Publishing. Then repeat and make the next time better.

My buddy James Clear has this 1% better every day idea that I love.

If you get 1% better every day for a year, by the end of the year you’ll be 37 times better. 1% worse and you slowly approach zero.

Getting started and slowly, get a little better each day.

You got this.

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#079 - After six years of running a video production business I have developed and honed my entire process to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

In this podcast episode I talk in detail about that process and the changes I have made over the years. I cover all the phases of a project from the initial onboarding period to the actual shoot day and all the way through post production.

I learned some lessons the hard way and share those with you so hopefully, you don't have to.

This isn't the sexy stuff but it's the essential stuff that makes business run smoothly.

Chapters / Timestamps:

• Onboarding
• Pre-Production
• Day Before/Travel Tips
• Shoot Day
• Post-Production & Revisions
• Getting Reviews & Referrals

Mentioned in this episode:

• Think Tank Roller Carry on Bag
• Tile Pro Tracker
• Frame.io
• Adobe Sign
• Quickbooks
• Wipster
• Squarespace
• LensProToGo
• Airbnb
• Breather

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#078 - Growing a business from scratch is tough. Especially when you're also trying to build up the skills to do the work your future clients need you to do at the same time.

In this podcast episode I talk with my wife Jen Wojcik about how she built and scaled her wedding photography business into a full-time job over the course of 6 years after moving to a new city and not having photographed a wedding ever before.

If you're looking to grow a client based business, there is a lot in this episode to learn from.

We discuss building up your portfolio, landing a gig as a second shooter, and how to land the clients you dream of working for.

Chapters / Timestamps:

• 00:42 - Getting Started with Photography
• 08:25 - Shooter her first wedding
• 10:16 - Starting to scale your business
• 15:08 - Setting prices at the beginning
• 17:04 - Building a portfolio
• 21:05 - Wedding workshops
• 25:52 - Inspiration shoots
• 29:17 - Standing out in a crowded industry
• 30:56 - Shooting film instead of digital
• 34:33 - Don't try something new on a paid job
• 39:17 - Stepping away from wedding photography
• 46:38 - Advice to new wedding photographers
• 54:48 - Tools used to run a client business

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Jen's Wedding Photography Website
• Jen's Instagram
• Sourced Co

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#077 - One year ago I launched my camera tripod invention, [SwitchPod], on Kickstarter. It went on to raise over $415,000 and we have since manufactured and shipped almost 10,000 tripods all over the world.

In this podcast episode I share 17 lessons I’ve learned from launching and growing SwitchPod over the past 3 years that you can apply to the projects and businesses that you’re building.

Here’s a list of all the lessons:

1. Have Patience When Building Something New
2. Building Buzz & Hype
3. Wait to Launch Until You’re 90% Ready
4. Don’t Network, Make Friends
5. Be Careful with Influencers
6. Double Down on What’s Working
7. Fame vs. Being in the Trenches
8. Pay Attention to Detail
9. The Constant Inventory Battle
10. Roll the Dice & Re-Invest
11. Retailers Bring Legitimacy
12. Amazon is a Pain
13. Know Your Numbers
14. Don’t Forget About...
15. Customer Support is a Full-Time Job
16. Don’t Quit Your Day Job
17. Have Fun
 

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#076 - In this episode I share a quick update about what to expect from me in 2020. I’ll talk about my YouTube channel, my podcast, and my training courses.

2019 was the busiest and biggest year for me yet. And that’s not just because my family actually grew by one and I’m now a Dad. :)

Here’s a full update about what’s to come from me in 2020, what’s been hard about balancing 3 businesses, my words for the year, and whether I’m changing my brand name online.

Caleb Wojcik Films - My client business
SwitchPod - The handheld tripod I invented
DIY Video School - My training courses

In this Episode I talked about:

0:00 Introduction

0:25 Balancing 3 Businesses

3:39 Words for the Year

6:11 Branding

7:47 Summary

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#075 - This episode is a little different in that I don't interview anyone, but I tell my story.

I went immediately from college into the corporate world, and then from there, into the entrepreneurial space to work for a blogger. I eventually started my own business as a freelance filmmaker. I discuss how it's led to my channel, my podcast, and my new invention, the SwitchPod.

In this episode I talked about:

01:12 - Growing up - part nerd/part athlete
03:54 - Choosing a 9 to 5 felt safe at the time
07:48 - Stumbling into entrepreneurship
10:00 - The Art of Non-Conformity and Chris Guillebeau
14:14 - How a $500 investment in an online course changed my life
17:00 - Helping build Fizzle.co and getting back into video
22:43 - The itch to run my own thing
29:16 - Connecting the dots going backwards
33:50 - Leaning into my obsession

Links to things mentioned:

• SwitchPod
• Fizzle

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.

#074 - In this episode I talk to Dave Maze who runs a channel called Kinotika where he talks all about camera gear and equipment.

We talk about transitioning from full time freelancer to full time YouTuber, what it’s like to run a channel focused on reviews, and the future of YouTube and camera gear. If you want to grow your YouTube channel or do sponsored content as an influencer, this episode is for you.

Table of Contents:

00:47 - Introduction
05:28 - Shooting weddings
09:02 - Becoming an independent Filmmaker
15:48 - Starting out on youtube
19:36 - Influencers and making sponsored videos
25:50 - The direction YouTube is headed
34:11 - Best piece of gear and what needs to change in cameras

📲Follow Dave here:

• Dave's YouTube channel
• Dave's Instagram
• Dave's Twitter

To learn more about me and what I offer, go to CalebWojcik.com. Cheers.