Studio Sherpas Podcast

Well, we've made it to episode 50, and what a ride it’s been thus far. When we started Studio Sherpas in 2015 and this podcast a year ago, we had no idea the impact that it would have on us and our own businesses. We were driven by a desire to share our stories and knowledge to help struggling filmmakers to run better businesses and bust through obstacles that were keeping them from producing the types of films they wanted to, at the budget they wanted to. But as it turns out, we’ve ended up taking away as much as we’ve tried to give. So in this, our 50th episode, we want to look back at some of the most important lessons that we’ve learned from both our amazing guests, and the inspiring community that Studio Sherpas has become. Whether you’re a new or long-time listener of the show, we know that you’ll find the lessons we discuss in this episode as relevant now as on the original episodes, so let’s dive in! We would absolutely LOVE to hear from you on what your favorite episodes have been and some of your bi

It’s no secret that drones are currently one of the most hyped tools we have in our arsenal as filmmakers, and it’s no wonder why. In the past decade, affordable drones have unlocked cinematic shots that we were only accustomed to seeing in huge Hollywood or commercial productions. The thing is, there’s a lot more to the world of drone cinematography than just those cool shots. If you’re anything like me, you might not be nearly as well educated as you think you might be, and that can end up costing you in a whole bunch of ways you might never have even thought of. Scott Stimple is a filmmaker, the owner of The Drone Flight School and CinemAerial Visuals, has been a commercial pilot with United Airlines for over 40 years and has been hacking together DIY drones since before they were cool. Needless to say, he is an expert in the arena of flight, and one of the top experts in the world of drone cinematography. He takes us to school today on how to use these amazing tools safely, responsibly, and effectively, t

We all have those evil little fears that roll around in our heads and try to get us to give up, or worse, not even try in the first place. These gremlins of doubt and uncertainty will keep us from achieving or even reaching for some of our biggest goals and dreams, often things we know we have the talent to achieve. Well in today’s podcast we explore these fears and get actionable steps to conquer them. Amy Johnson is an Emmy winning filmmaker who specializes in both weddings with One Fine Day Productions and big sporting & corporate events including a ton of work with Fox Sports, the Milwaukee Brewers and others with Captivate Film Company. She was highly requested by our Studio Sherpas community, and we are so excited that she was able to sit down and talk to us. Amy is super honest about her journey, and we dig deep into how building your team with subcontractors according to each job’s needs can open up your business to big jobs you might never have considered, why checking your ego can help you maint

Many of us started our careers focussing on the wedding film industry. And while many filmmakers eventually expand their businesses to include corporate and commercial films, getting established in the wedding in the first place is something that often gets glossed over. If you’re looking to make the leap into the world of wedding filmmaking, maybe leaving your day job in the process (woot!) Matt Johnson has some great tips on how to grow a wedding film-based business.  Matt Johnson is a filmmaker/storyteller and owner of FilmStrong, who specializes in stunning wedding videos. He also gives out a ton of free advice, and tips & tricks on his extremely popular Youtube channel which is a must watch for anyone wanting to break into the biz. We also talk about how getting the right people into the proper roles can be the thing that takes you from being in the hole financially to being profitable. Plus, Matt gives us actionable steps for all the people starting out and I mean genuinely just beginning. This is t

What do you do when the struggles get to be too much? How do you deal with the fears and frustrations of being an entrepreneur? We have all been there, and they will happen throughout your career, but today’s guest Whitney Powell has some insight and inspiration to share that will help you break free. Whitney began her career in LA after graduating from film school but soon realized that the Hollywood life was just not for her. So she changed everything. Her love of travel, storytelling, and endurance racing lead her to create her own company that fuses those passions together with social media branding for clients. She opens up about how while her life might look amazing on Instagram and Facebook (and believe me, it does), that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been filled with struggles, frustrations, and fear. She gets brutally honest about all of this, including what she does to pick herself up and continue moving forward even in the darkest times. If you have ever felt like taking your business in another direction

How often do you feel like you are overworked and underpaid? I'm sorry to say this, but you only have yourself to blame. Today on the podcast, Matt and I (Ryan) are opening up about the struggles we've faced in our businesses, both early on and more recently, and how we overcame them. We cover a lot of the info you probably never though about when you got into business in the first place including hiring, firing, pricing, and the fine art of setting boundaries for yourself. We also talk about the insane importance of allowing yourself time to recharge and that working 80 hours a week isn’t impressive, it’s stupid. And, how you are setting yourself up for failure if you don’t carve out time to work on your business and not just in your business. As we discuss, there are always new challenges to tackle at every stage of your business, but with this episode we're hoping we can help you avoid some of the pitfalls that held us back early, and give you a look into the future of a growing film business so you can pl

We all want to be big business moguls like Mark Cuban or Steven Spielberg. We all want to scale our businesses to the upper echelons. But first we have take tiny steps before the big leaps, and to do that, we need to surround ourselves with people we can lean on, rely on, and laugh with. Do you have those people? Dan and Dana of Gnarly Bay are a team of young and ambitious filmmakers that make unique, honest and quirky videos that evoke human emotion and inspire. Today we discuss where they started from and how they have grown their business to the stage it is today. We speak in depth about how slow growth can be more beneficial to a company then the fast track effect and how passion projects can ultimately lead you to high paying clients. Do you want to grow your business? Do you need to make that next move but are fearful? Are you super passionate about your personal projects but don’t see how it can lead to big paying gigs? Leave a comment below the post!   In this episode: How can passion projects turn i

If you’re like me, and most other creative business owners, you’re really good at starting projects, but not always at finishing through on them. You have a ton of amazing ideas but most of them never get acted upon, and it feels like if only you could find the time to actually implement these thoughts your business would be unstoppable. If that sounds familiar, this is completely normal. You’re most likely what Mark Winters calls a visionary. Mark is the co-author of a book called Rocket Fuel, where he and his co-author Gino Wickman detail the two essential roles that need to be filled for any business to truly thrive. As we discuss, most business owners and entrepreneurs are Visionaries, people who excel at coming up with ideas, but often lack the focus to follow through on the details and execution. That’s where the Implementer comes in. As visionaries, these are the people we need to hold us accountable, and who excel at seeing that the grand ideas get put into practice in our businesses. Mark and I tal

What’s the first thing you think of when I mention the word “lawyer”? It’s ok, you can come out from under the bed. I know most of us creatives are easily scared off by the thought of lawyers, contracts, accounting and the like. We’ve all heard about hourly rates that are waaaay out of our price range, and we work with such great people that we’ll never actually need a contract to enforce to protect ourselves. Right? Colleen Bezich is not only a practicing attorney specializing in helping creatives with legal issues pertaining to their business, but a filmmaker herself. She knows how we think as creatives and is joins us on the podcast to bust some of the myths most of us have around the legal aspects of our business. I can’t even believe how many notes I took during the recording of this episode, covering everything from what type of business structure we should be set up as, what to include in our contracts to not only protect ourselves, but actually earn more money, to how to find cheap or even free legal

Do you ever feel like if only you could convince your wedding clients to get rid of the photographer on the wedding day your job would be so much easier, and your films would come out better? As videographers, most of us have felt this way at some point. But as today’s guest, Sachin Khona points out, the problem is not that there’s a photographer there vying for the same angles and moments as we are, it’s the fact that we don’t communicate and collaborate enough to help the day flow smoothly. In fact, approaching the day collaboratively with another creative can often lead to different angles and shots than we might capture on our own. Sachin is a Vancouver based wedding, portrait and street photographer who also puts on an annual conference in his hometown called The ARC Experience geared towards wedding photographers. He’s heard all the complaints from both videographers and photographers about working with each other, and shares some of his tips for how to ensure the wedding day goes smoothly and everyone

I know as well as anyone that it’s only too easy to focus on the tactical, hands on aspects of dealing with clients, chipping away at the never-ending to do list, and practicing our craft in an effort to maintain and grow our businesses. The thing is that when we do this, we often tend to get sucked in, overwhelmed, and burned out. Adrian Koehler is a performance coach who helps high-level entrepreneurs and teams improve their mental fitness and approach to business so that they can achieve the results they’re working towards. He has a history working as a crisis responder, and working with inmates in the prison system to improve their outlook on life. He’s found that with all of his clients, much of the struggle comes from the filters they view life through, and the stories they construct to explain their reality, many of which are not only not true, but are actively limiting our potential. Today we talk about how to maintain a healthy outlook that will not only help us achieve our business goals but help us

If you’ve been hanging around Sherpa land for a while, you know how passionate we are about building teams around ourselves so that we can live the lives we want and not be overwhelmed by our work, no matter how much we love it. Jordan Bunch is an Austin-based wedding filmmaker, and host of the Wedding Film Academy Podcast, who realized early on that by hiring a team, he could free up the time to be a better husband, father, neighbor, and person, focussing on the things that are really important to him in life. He didn’t stop there though. After hiring his first editor and seeing the impact on his business, he ran with it, and created two separate wedding film brands, both with unique approaches to the business. He shares today which roles in his team he feels are most important, how to build a team that you can trust and rely on, and getting over the fears a lot of us have around letting go of doing everything ourselves.   In this episode: Why Jordan created a second wedding brand not associated with his nam

Have you ever heard the phrase “content is king”? It’s a phrase that is sold to creatives the world over encouraging them to continue to put their best work. We’re told that if we do, sooner or later, we’ll catch our break and get discovered. The thing is, it’s not enough. Sure we need to be putting out quality work, but our work alone, no matter how good it is, will rarely get us where we want to go. Joe Simon has been working as a filmmaker and DP for 20 years. He transitioned from starting out as a professional BMX rider and filmmaker focusing on action sports, to a successful and in demand wedding film company, and then again transitioned into a commercial and corporate film brand. He now travels the world shooting TV shows for networks like CBS and CNN, and workign with brands such as Norwegian Cruise Line, TD Ameritrade, Oakley, and many, many others. Today, Joe shares how even after 10 years working in film, when he started his commercial brand The Delivery Guys, he still fell victim to the creative bi

Do you ever find yourself watching TV, and when a commercial for a big national or even international brand comes on, find yourself thinking, “I could’ve shot that.” Many of us believe we have what it takes to produce that same quality of work, but we have absolutely no idea about what it takes to break into the world of commercial advertising. If that sounds like you, do we ever have a treat for you today. Raj Dhillon is a freelance commercial TV producer from Toronto who works with some small brands you might have heard of like Heineken, Toyota, and oh, yeah McDonalds. Today she joins us on the podcast to walk us through everything we need to know if we would like to get established in the world of commercial advertising. She breaks down the entire process from concept to finished product, the people involved, and where we fit into the puzzle. She also lets us in on who exactly we need to be networking with, what producers like her are looking for in the reels we submit, and she also shares her story of bar

Quick question for you. If you wanted to take 8 weeks to volunteer in South America with limited wifi, is your business set up in a way that you could do it? If you’re anything like me, and most small film companies out there, I’m guessing the answer is no, and if that’s the case, then this is the perfect episode for you. Shannon Avery is the founder of Hoo Films, a California-based wedding film company currently shooting around 75 weddings per year all over the world. In addition to traveling for work however, Shannon routinely will take a few weeks off at a time to travel and recharge her creative batteries. Oh, and yeah, she’s planning on taking that 2 month trip to South America this winter, managing her team remotely. She didn’t always have the flexibility to do this however. Over the past 5 years she’s built her team in such a way to allow her the flexibility and freedom that she needs. She shares her secrets and processes that have allowed her to create the business that she always wanted (and the one

Ok, so first off I want to share that Matt and I were called out by one of our followers a couple of weeks ago about the lack of women we have on the podcast. This was by no means an intentional decision but rather a result of us just being better networked with male filmmakers and educators. We’re super appreciative of the feedback and we’re going to be making a much greater effort to find talented, strong, female filmmakers who can bring a different perspective to what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry (although not for long!) Jennifer Moon is the founder of Northernlight Filmworks, as well as The Posh Retreat, an annual conference focussed on women filmmakers and photographers that is going into its seventh year this fall. After 11 years in the film industry, she noticed how at pretty much every conference, the majority of speakers were male, and if there was a woman on stage, she was likely accompanied (and perhaps talked over) by her husband. As a passionate educator, she realized that the

Ok, so to be completely honest, I don’t even know how to sum up my conversation with today’s guest, Dane Sanders. I left our call completely jacked up, inspired, and motivated to be better, and I have a feeling this episode is going to do the same for you. Dane spent 12 years as a professional photographer before a “leadership book [he] snuck into the photography community” took off and helped him realize that he had more to offer the world. He now works as a speaker, coach, has written two best-selling books, is the founder of Fastermind.co, hosts the Converge Podcast, and organizes the annual Go Summit. Yeah, he’s a busy guy with a ton of insight and drive. With so much on his plate, Dane has realized that maybe the most important skill to develop is understanding how to prioritize your time effectively. We also talk about why good coaching is essential, and what to look for in a good coach, how he hacked his way to leveling up his friend group and why you should do the same, and why you should be focussing

We’re going to try something a bit different on the podcast this week, but I think you’re going to enjoy it. Since launching the Studio Sherpas podcast we’ve received a ton of questions both from listeners, as well as members of our Selling Like A Sherpa course, which we recently relaunched. In this episode we wanted to address some of the most common questions we get and give our take on how we approach the different challenges that come our way, and what’s worked (or not) for us. The questions in this episode come from a live Q&A call Matt and I did with Selling Like A Sherpa Members. We wanted to share one of the perks of being a member with the rest of our community and we hope that this episode answers some of the questions that you’ve been asking yourself! What do you think, should we do more Q&A type episodes? What are you still wondering about that we didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments! In this episode: • If you have an existing film business, how do you diversify your brands operationa

We’ve talked before on the show about how to start landing high end weddings and corporate clients, but I don’t know if anyone has ever laid out the strategy in such simple terms as today’s guest, Caleb Lee. Don’t be fooled by Caleb’s age, he’s been doing this for a long time and knows a thing or two about not only filmmaking, but running a successful business. At 16 he sold his landscaping business to invest in film gear before traveling the world for a year helping a charity produce videos of their projects. His first film? In the Himalayas in Nepal, no big deal… He now primarily focuses on high end destination weddings and shares with us how he was able to break into the world of celebrity, politician, professional athlete, and Fortune 500 company events and weddings. His secret? It’s all about networking with the right people, and he shares exactly who he was able to network with and how he approaches working with wedding vendors to keep booking big budget weddings, and getting to travel the world while d

Have you ever thought about moving past the solopreneur, one person band, or maybe husband/wife duo business model and build up a team around you? Those of us who have made the leap to hiring a team often only realized that we needed one after nearly working ourselves to death trying to do it all ourselves. Part of the reason is that most of us have absolutely no idea what makes a creative team click or how to hire a team where each member complements the skills and personalities of the others. David Aguilar of Archaius Creative, a SoCal post-productions house, started in the same place as many of us, wearing a ton of hats working first as a filmmaker before moving to a freelance editing role. He quickly realized however the drawbacks of doing it all himself, including backlog, stress, and a resentment of the work he once loved. Since then, David’s put a lot of thought into how to structure and hire a successful creative team, and the post-production house now has a staff of 11. Today he shares with us how he