So you’re starting to shoot video and you’ve got some footage but now you need to put it all together and create an edited video. In this episode, I’m going to talk about the programs that are available to you from basic, entry-level editors to professional-grade editors.

In this episode, I tell you what you need to get started shooting video and what you do not need to get started. I’m also going to give you some suggested parameters for your first video.

In 2021, it is going to be more important than ever to have a motion section in your portfolio and to offer video services to your clients. In this episode, I talk about why you need motion in your portfolio and what you need to do this year to move ahead of your competition.

Outside of straight-up business goals, I always make sure to set personal goals. I’m not a big fan of resolutions but I do believe in the power of habits. In this episode, I take a look at three habits Warren Buffett recommends to help you achieve success.

There are a lot of website options out there for consumer photographers. In this episode, I outline my picks for the best three website platforms for consumer photographers.

In this episode, I take a look forward to what’s in store for 2021, for this show, for Studio Builder, and photography as a profession and an industry.

There are a lot of options out there for photographers to put websites together. I’m going to outline the key features needed for a commercial photography website, what the best options are out there.

If you’re considering expanding into other genres and markets, you need to think about how to market your new work. Should you add a section to your website? Should you build a whole new website? Should you create a whole new brand identity and start from scratch? These are important considerations but I think the answers are pretty easy, albeit not necessarily straightforward.

With the new year fast approaching, we’re all thinking about what business is going to look like next year. We’ve got questions. We probably all have an idea about what we want our year to look like and we’re thinking about resolutions, for ourselves and for our businesses. Discover the power of SMART goals.

I took a couple of weeks off and quick frankly I needed it. We’re a week into December and somehow 2020 has felt simultaneously like the longest and shortest year of my life. Thanks, COVID.

Troughs in our business cycles are the perfect times and opportunities to focus our attention inward for a change, to assess what’s working, what’s not, what needs improving, what needs to change, or even what needs to come to an end. It’s times like these when we can look back and be proud of the work we’ve done, take stock in our business, to think strategically, and plan accordingly, about the next steps.

I love to have a plan for my photoshoots. But I also have enough experience to know that things don’t always go to plan. So, when I plan for a shoot, I plan for two things: success and failure.

We want to work with people who want to work with us. I’d argue that we want to work with people who are fans of what we do, who love what we do, and who want us to have a positive impact on their lives. It’s why we need to define our ideal client and create work for the people we want to help and make sure we focus on reaching those people.

Before we can determine who our ideal clients are, we need to first determine what our goals are. We need to think about and put down on paper what it is we want, for our business, but more importantly, for our lives.

If you know who your ideal client is, you know who to target in your copy, your designs, your emails, your brand colours, brand voice, and every aspect of your marketing. You need to know who to target because we can’t be everything to everybody. In fact, we don’t even want to be. Here’s why.

We don’t talk enough about the physical toll our bodies endure as photographers. Long days, often with little or no breaks — bending, slouching, squatting, lying, hovering, twisting, and more. It used to be that if I did a 4-hour shoot I would be bedridden the entire next day. Now I’m able to rock a 10- to 12-hour day with little to no problems.

In this recap of October 2020, I reflect on recent episodes, shooting a wedding for 20 people, and address how some changes I’m making to my pricing.

Love it or hate it as a social media outlet, Facebook undeniably has the best advertising platform in the world right now. It also has a few other great tools you might not know about. However, in order to take advantage of any of them, you first need to set up and connect a Facebook Pixel to your website.