Studio Sherpas Podcast

We will all come across opportunities to change our lives. Recognizing and acting upon them is key. We have what it takes. Sometimes we need support to see that. Today’s guest shares how harnessing your greatness to do what is hard will ultimately lead to unimaginable success. Rock Thomas is the world’s number one whole life success expert. He is the host of the top-rated #IAmMovement Podcast, a bestselling author, and motivational speaker with over 30 years of experience in personal development and coaching. Rock has studied one on one with such legends as Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and more. Over 100 million people have watched his Goalcast video. Rock’s story involves some pivotal crossroads. His early years were full of hard work. Rock found ways to embrace the lessons he learned and develop his work ethic. It wasn’t something he could do on his own though. Rock credits finding the right support and advice as the most important part. Now he helps others the way others helped him.  As a c

My heart hurts and I decided to use my platform to share a little more about my story, my reaction to the tragedies unfolding around us, and how I’m choosing to respond.  I think I’ve ridden the line for a long time as a business owner by trying to make friends with everyone thinking that the most popular businesses are the most successful.  It’s taken me a long time to realize my definition of success needs to be revisited… and what that also means is that my brand is becoming more personal. And I’m finally realizing that I’m okay with that.  I’m thankful you’re on this journey with me and I appreciate you taking the time to listen.  How are you responding to what’s going on? What are you doing? I’d love for you to share in the comments on the episode page.   In this episode Identifying the wrong clients for your business Choosing your marketing language to better identify your ideal clients Why it is a good thing to be polarizing  Why you get to create the rules of your own business The power you have to u

Have you ever wondered where the time goes? Do you get lost in little tasks and find that nothing actually got done by the end of the day? I’ve been there. I’m sure we all have. That’s why mindset is so important. The truth is, you can’t grow as a business until you allow yourself the time to think. It’s the clarity that comes with that thinking that allows you to focus on what’s really important. Mike Brown is a former Navy fighter pilot turned entrepreneur. Using the decision-making framework that he learned as an aviator, Mike founded, grew, and exited an 8-figure energy company focusing on land acquisitions. Mike has also invested in and mentored dozens of startups and works with select entrepreneurs as a coach. It’s okay if you’re struggling right now. Just know that it’s not your fault. These times are unprecedented. Mike finds that daily meditations help him reframe this “new normal”. Recognizing just where you have control and what is out of control is key to staying fully present. Mike explains how w

Limitations are a benefit to creativity. In the reality of COVID 19, business owners are facing significant limitations. But with crisis there comes opportunity. In this episode, I talk with someone who is full of brilliant actionable ideas that we can all harness to grow our businesses right now. Tucker Max is the co-founder of Scribe Media, a company that helps people write, publish, and market their books. He is himself the author of four New York Times best-sellers. In 2009, he was nominated to the Time Magazine 100 most influential people list. Today, Tucker helps us reframe the current crisis. In fact, he thinks there has seldom been a better time for video. For one thing, more people are building their at-home studios. Everyone making videos at home needs editing help. You’re already the expert in this. Marketing and monetizing your knowledge of this will only lead to growth.  What new opportunities can your business take advantage of right now? Tell me in the comments on the episode page!   In this ep

Imagine going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning with more money. Stick with me on this one, because this is something that’s within your grasp as a filmmaker and producer. For the past three years, my studio has been doing it. Today, I’m sharing our strategy for you to use too! Creating content for course creators opens up some great opportunities for passive income. There’s a lot of upfront work to be sure. Finding the right partners, collaborating, and creating content and marketing it takes time. But once that’s done, we get to sit back and let our share of the revenue come in. What you offer can go far beyond just creating the content. Helping your partners with services like building out a website, managing ads, creating marketing emails, and more lets you add value that will pay you back many times over. In fact, this has been so successful that it’s become the major focus of my business.  Are there roadblocks stopping you from being a course creator? Let’s work through them together in the

Balancing your creativity and your business is a challenge. But prioritizing the parts that fulfill you the most won’t just be good for you, it will benefit your business too. Inevitably, this will foster a sense of purpose for your business that will lead to meaningful connections and projects. David Burkus is a skilled researcher and an inspiring communicator. His award-winning books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. By making cutting-edge organizational research accessible and applicable, David pushes audiences to reconsider how they work both individually and in teams. This way, they unlock the methods top performers use to thrive at work and in life. In this episode, David and I talk about how the right time to start any endeavor is now. Waiting for the time to be perfect means waiting forever. We both started lots of projects before we had it perfected. Some of our early works were really abysmal compared to where we are now. Bu

At some point, we all end up in a situation that forces us to do far more than we ever thought possible. We’re changing all the time and pushed to new heights. I’m not the person I was before and you aren’t either. Today, I’m talking with someone who understands as well as anyone how none of us are ever the finished product of ourselves. Dr. Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and best-selling author of Willpower Doesn’t Work. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, and many others. He was the number one writer in the world on Medium.com from 2015 to 2018. Ben and I chat about human potential throughout this conversation. It is usually a lot greater than we think. It’s situations that lead to greatness. That’s why Ben suggests that we all actively create situations that force us to bring out our strengths. This involves actively cutting out elements that derail us and seeking out the right kind of challenges. Roadblocks are a common afflictio

A couple of weeks ago, three other studio owners and I ran a live webinar. Travis Hull, Doug Darling, and Wes Wages are part of the Studio Sherpas community and have their own successful studios. I was thrilled to join them so they could share their insights and wisdom with all of you. If you didn’t make it to the webinar, or just want to hear it all again, this episode is for you. Crises contain within them opportunities. We discuss how we are pivoting our businesses so that we emerge from the current situation stronger than before. Everyone has the capacity to help others in one way or another. We can reach out and be of service in new ways. As more brands are shifting to digital content, video makers are well-positioned to show them how it’s done. It may feel natural to worry just about the money right now. We talk about how this is counter-productive. By keeping customer service and your clients as your priority, you’ll better position your business to thrive in the long run. It’s important to remember th

Everyone you ever interact with will have an impact on you. That includes your clients. People have energy and that energy is contagious. If you’ve ever worked with difficult clients you know what I mean. They affect how you feel. The same is true for great clients. So are you seeking out the right clients for you? David Meltzer is the co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. He is a three-time international best-selling author, a Top 100 Business Coach, the executive producer of Entrepreneur‘s #1 digital business show, “Elevator Pitch”, and host of the top entrepreneur podcast, The Playbook. His newest book, Game-Time Decision Making, was a #1 new release.  David’s life story involves committing to pursuing your potential and seeing where that takes you. He’s learned a lot of important lessons along the way. This includes putting in the effort where it will actually pay off r

Are you wasting precious time in your work as a business owner? Sometimes, even often, we get tired, distracted, or disconnected. Not taking care of our mental health as creatives often lead to wasted time, as well as many other issues. Today’s guest helps people like you and I find a place of tranquility and perspective so that their personal and professional life can thrive. Dr. Sherry Walling helps smart people do hard things. She works with leaders and entrepreneurs to tackle the common and uncommon challenges that go along with the pursuit of an extraordinary life. As a clinical psychologist, speaker, yoga teacher, podcaster, entrepreneur, and best-selling author, she draws from her professional expertise as well as her personal experience. Her best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together, combines the insight and warmth of a therapist with the truth-telling mirth of someone who has been there. Today, we’re talking about cultivating helpful habits. Sherry tells us why we can’

If you’re anything me, you have tons of great ideas that just never get off the ground. This is a common affliction of the entrepreneurial type. The source of this lack of action isn’t that it’s unfeasible or that you lack the skills to make it happen. It’s perfectionism. For me, I’ve had this idea for a webinar for two years. The reason why it hasn’t happened yet is that I’ve wanted it to be perfect. I wanted it to have the best graphics, the perfect font, etc. By getting caught up in wanting every detail to be perfect, I became the architect of my own roadblocks. I’ve discovered that clients are often far more impressed with my work than I am. By striving for what is perfect for you, you may be overlooking what your client actually wants. That quest for perfection can lead to lost time and profits. Instead, identify what your clients needs and wants, and shoot for that. Try sharing your ideas, plans, and deadlines. I’ve found that this builds a sense of accountability. That, in turn, leads to action and hel

It’s times like these that cause us to question everything. Anxiety and uncertainty are creativity and self-esteem killers. But it’s important to remember that you’re more than these fears. Today’s guest has some great advice on maintaining a good mindset and creating clarity even as nothing around you makes sense anymore. Megan Rafuse is a co-founder at Shift Collab. She is a mental health innovator focused on helping ambitious leaders believe they are enough as they are. As a therapist and entrepreneur, she works with executives, creatives, athletes, and young leaders to examine their limiting beliefs, challenge their inner imposter voice, and help them build confidence to share their struggles openly. It’s actually very common for leaders to think that they aren’t good enough. Megan discusses the source of these limiting beliefs. It often comes from a gap in how you view yourself and how others see you. Megan gives some great advice for overcoming this gap in perception. Mostly it comes from recognizing th

Culture is so crucial to any business. Are you overlooking it? Don’t feel bad. Many do. It’s not enough to make outstanding videos for your clients. You need to have a well-developed company culture or you’ll fall short every time. However, it’s not too late to start building your culture today. Michel Falcon is a hospitality entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author. He focuses on customer experience, employee engagement, and company culture strategies to grow a business. Like me, Michel is passionate about building a great company culture. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this. It has to be specific to your business. But a common purpose of serving your people and clients is crucial. Most of all, it has to more than just about making money. Michel explains how micro customer experiences will change the way you do business. Simply put, this is a small, memorable, and affordable gesture that will resonate with your customers for years. Every single company can make use of this. Best of all, these sma

Every entrepreneur, really every person, has had feelings of self-doubt. This often rears its ugly head in the form of imposter syndrome. To succeed, you need to get past these feelings. Often, leaning on the support of others reveals your potential you may have been blind to all along. Mark Skala is the founder and creative director for Skalawag Productions, a food and beverage production company that helps clients deliver high-quality consistent content for all areas of their brand. He’s also a Studio Sherpas student and a very good friend of mine. Mark shares the lessons he’s learned while getting into a very specific niche. Through trial, error, and experimentation, he found that he can shoot what he loves and build a company around that. Refining a sales process was a big part of this and Mark explains how he put that into action. One thing Mark had to learn to overcome was imposter syndrome. This is something that I think we’ve all dealt with at some point. Mark found that focusing on the successes and

In this solo unscripted episode, I want to answer one question for you. How do you stop attracting cheapskate clients? We’ve all been in a situation where a potential client doesn’t want to pay enough. Yet, knowing your value will help you choose the right people to work with. To give you some context into how I learned these valuable lessons, I describe my first ever jobs as a filmmaker. There were some hard lessons learned, but now I know what my value is. Since this realization, my encounters with low-balling clients have become rare. Being able to deal with cheapskate clients means knowing how much your business actually costs. There is a minimum cost involved in everything. When you take a job that doesn’t exceed what it costs to run your business, you are cutting off opportunities to actually turn a profit. Often, avoiding low paying clients takes doing the work needed to find high paying ones. You have to get out there and network with the people with the right budgets who value what you do. Have you e

Have you ever been on the verge of calling it quits as a video business owner? My guest today knows just what that feels like. It was a mindset change that led her to find the focus and passion that she needed to become an incredibly successful filmmaker. If you feel ready to throw in the towel, you have to listen to this! Natalie Fava is an independent filmmaker and entrepreneur on a quest to portray the magic of real life. She is the owner and lead filmmaker behind Wonderscope Cinema. For eleven years, Natalie’s innate understanding of how to connect humans to one another through emotionally charged, thoughtfully produced content, has led her to capture music festivals and live sessions across the US and UK and film weddings in 19 states from Oregon to Maine, as well as Italy. Natalie and I talk about why injecting feelings into your work is what will help it stand apart. It doesn’t matter if you’re shooting for weddings, corporations, or anything else. Emotions are what people connect with the strongest an

Are you still trying to figure out which social media channel to focus on to grow your business? What about Linkedin? Sure, it may not seem as exciting to scroll through as some other feeds. However, I’ve brought in a guest today to tell us why it’s time to rethink the value of Linkedin. Chrissie Wywrot is the president and CEO of e-Link Consulting. With more than 14 years of experience in marketing and public relations, she works with clients to generate maximum visibility on LinkedIn through profile optimization, marketing blueprints, and ongoing support. Chrissie explains how Linkedin became a platform for content generation and engagement. Once considered a serious business-only platform, Linkedin has become a great place to showcase personality and what makes you and your brand unique. This helps you identify and find the clients you will work with best. Each platform has different uses and people are on them for different reasons. That’s why it’s important to understand how to generate the right type of

Just getting in the door with companies you want to work with is important. But it isn’t enough. You still have to close the deal. This means exuding confidence and communicating it. If your potential clients can know you, trust you, and like you then your odds of winning the job couldn’t be higher. Austin Black is a Studio Sherpas Student who works as a filmmaker in the agriculture industry with Backroad Productions. A cowboy at heart, Austin has a love of cameras and storytelling. His studio provides photography and video marketing services to livestock producers as well as video strategy, marketing, and branding services for agriculture and outdoor brands. As someone who frequently works with large brands, Austin has identified a number of strategies that have won them over. Networking and knowing what to say certainly helps, but that won’t be enough. Austin has found that it’s crucial to have a portfolio of high-quality work. This is where your passion projects come in as they’ll show the work that you wa

In today’s solo unscripted episode, I want to answer just one question - If I was just starting out today, what would I do? Since you only get to do something for the first time once, It’s interesting to look back with the experience of years of business and imagine what I would do if it were possible to start over. One thing I wouldn’t change was getting out there and meeting with people in the industry. I explain why you should always ask questions, see how others do it, and figure out where you fit into it all. I found that this can also pay off in the form of referrals further down the road. Learning how to best use social media for my business took some time. Now we are very intentional about what we do and often defer to the experts for strategic advice. However, some experimentation is still useful for finding and connecting with your best audience. Most of all though, getting started the right way means getting out from behind your computer and meeting the right people. I discuss getting involved in t

One of the biggest struggles of any business owner is aligning their work with their purpose and values. You may feel that you need to make personal sacrifices in support of the bottom line. However, today’s guest has made a career by building his studio around the values and lifestyle that are most meaningful to him. I believe that all of us can do the same! Jesse Bone is a partner and producer at Filter Studios on Vancouver Island. A fellow sherpa and Onward Summit attendee, Jesse and his studio focus on making amazing films for the outdoor industry. Jesse lays out how his business is intentionally aligned with his values. Being intentional from the very start of building your business and in every project that you do will lead to work that you find most meaningful. One thing that’s helped Jesse is creating a clear vision of where he wants to be and what he wants to have accomplished by the end of his career.  Niching down is an essential part of this. You really can’t be too focused on who you serve. Jesse