I get real about my burnout after finally achieving what I had worked for over the past decade. I had a family with three kids, paid off all my debt, and was running multiple successful businesses, but hit a wall.

My story starts five years ago with the launch of SwitchPod on Kickstarter, where we raised over $400,000. Despite this success, personal challenges arose, like expecting our first child and balancing business with family life. The pandemic also hit and I had to quickly pivot my businesses without being able to travel.

I talk about the craziness of 2022, juggling my biggest client project to date and the demands of a growing family, including newborn twins. Even though things were headed in the right direction professionally, a fallout with a major client led to a big loss of planned income, which also felt like a huge betrayal.

During this time, I also faced personal setbacks, like a failed house purchase. With savings but no clear direction, I drifted and eventually sought therapy to process my emotions and past experiences. Therapy was transformative, helping me gain clarity and closure.

After a year of reflection and support, I’ll share how I recovered from burnout and I hope this episode encourages you if you’re currently stuck in a velvet rut like I was.

0:00 - It felt like a finish line
1:05 - Let's go back to 2019
4:34 - My busiest year ever in 2022
6:56 - Client & subcontractor drama
8:56 - What was I going to do next?
10:36 - Drifting & procrastination
11:11 - Seeking escape & therapy
13:02 - Solid inner tube metaphor
14:19 - Figuring out what was next
16:03 - Anti-famous
17:14 - Teasing the next episodes

I'm excited to be back behind the microphone again after a long hiatus. The show will start with just me solo for a bit, but I plan to bring guests in from time to time too. I'll tell stories of failure and success. I will share real numbers and statistics. I'll laugh, but try not to cry. 

Next week, I’ll share my story of burning out and how I ended up on the hypothetical “couch” that I’m alluding to with the title of the show. 

But for now, here's a bit of behind the scenes on why I took a break from podcasting and why I'm back at it.

0:00 - Shifting Towards Documenting
4:09 - My History with Podcasting
8:50 - What to Expect from this Podcast

#101 - At the end of every year I do an annual review and usually publish them too (like I did in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018).

And yes, I'm finally publishing this review in March because I took time off during Christmas break and played Playstation. That's the honest truth.

The year before last, 2019, ended up being one of the biggest years of change or growth I’ve had since I started working for myself full-time because of SwitchPod’s Kickstarter launch and having our first child, but I didn’t make the time to create a public annual review. I could blame it having a two month old baby with colic, but really I was just taking any extra downtime then to catch up on sleep or urgent work after starting to ship SwitchPod worldwide just two months earlier.

But 2020 was a YEAR. Actually it felt two to three years long.

What started off as a normal year with plans to continue traveling for my video client work turned into basically staying home for 10 months straight. My wife and I took the pandemic and our potential exposure very seriously (because of her past cancer surgeries and her parents living nearby) and thankfully we haven't lost anyone we know to COVID-19, but it has majorly disrupted the lives of many, us included.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I’ll try not to mention any of the major world events from 2019 like the pandemic, the U.S. election, racial injustice, and more but it was definitely a harder year to stay focused on work and different events did impact my year financially, socially, mentally, and more.

It makes me think back to 2008 and how in a way I took that economic downturn as a sign that I needed to choose myself to take care of myself, not rely on a company or economy to make sure I have a job or be in control of my income. I worked hard in college to get a job when I graduated with my two bachelor's degrees in May 2008 right before the recession.

A few months into being a full-time employee I saw friends, coworkers, and family lose jobs, never land jobs, and be financially stunted. I also saw the company I worked for (Boeing) announce they were laying off up to 10,000 people. This made me start learning about entrepreneurship, how to make money online, and personal finance. It pushed to get my MBA right away. And overall, it made me not just trust that a large company would take care of me for 40 years and pay me a pension at the end.

Because I took the risk and left my day job with solid pay and cushy benefits in 2011, I was able to build up the skills, connections, and multiple income streams that let me survive and even thrive financially in 2020 when the world was completely upended by coronavirus.

If last year was rough for you and you felt out of control, try to use that as a wake up call for taking control back in your own life from whoever you've given it up to.

Okay, I think that's enough preamble. Let's dive in.

What I "Do" for Work

Right now I am running three different businesses day to day.

1. A physical product business (SwitchPod)
2. A client service business (Caleb Wojcik Films)
3. A digital teaching business (online courses, YouTube, podcast, etc.).

1. SwitchPod

Let's start with SwitchPod since that has been the biggest change to my work lately. Since launching the Kickstarter campaign in January 2019, I'd estimate SwitchPod has taken up 50% or more of my time spent working. Some weeks more like 80%.

2020 had some major projects for SwitchPod:

• Launched our 2nd & 3rd products, ball head and phone adapter
• Created new stylized product photography
• Completely redesigned the Shopify website to be faster & more mobile friendly.

Other than those larger projects, I spent my time reaching out to land more retailers to stock SwitchPod, fulfilling orders to Amazon and other existing retailers, marketing through social media, partnering with creators and companies on promotion, working on the less exciting admin bits (finances, taxes, legal, etc.), and handling customer support.

It really isn't the type of business that I can let go more than a day or two without working on because systems will start to fall apart, customers and retailers will get upset by response time, etc.

I think of it more like a garden I have to check in on every day. Some days I'm just pulling weeds or watering some things quickly. Other days I have to completely till the soil or plant a bunch of seeds which takes all day.

I'm really proud of where the business is at. Could we be selling more units? Always. But the business is lean, very profitable, and has a lot of potential to grow. More numbers later.

2. Client Services Business

In 2018 and 2019, my main client Smart Passive Income (run by Pat Flynn who is also my business partner on SwitchPod) accounted for about 50% of my service based business. The other half came from me flying around the U.S. filming courses and events for start-ups, authors, and more.

In 2020, SPI and Pat made up almost all of my client revenue. I wasn't able or willing to travel due to COVID-19, work inquiries slowed down, events were cancelled, and more. However, we did do some editing on some previous client projects that had been pushed into 2020.

The timing of becoming a father a few months before a worldwide pandemic meant I was able to be home more to help my wife with our daughter and not travel at all.

Adjusting to the new reality of not traveling for work was actually quite nice. And financially I'm grateful that the timing of when SwitchPod could start paying me through a monthly salary and quarterly owner draws helped to more than off-set the decrease in other client work in 2020. This is the power of diversifying income streams and why I'm glad I've worked to set up so many different ways I make money.

Project wise what we worked on for SPI was:

• we filmed and edited two courses (A to Z Webinars and Email Marketing Magic)
• helped with a bunch of live workshops they sell
• supported Pat's YouTube channel which published 58 videos that weren't livestreams

Having a steady client on retainer is a lifeline to a client business that is more prone to ups and downs. Even having just one can be the difference between making payroll one month or missing it. I highly suggest you try to pitch and convince clients to work with you monthly with a retainer.

3. Digital Business

I started 2020 all gung-ho with plans to make 1 video a week, 1 podcast a week, and 1 course a month. That didn't happen...

Let's break down what I made and learned in 2020.

My Podcast

Content wise I was most consistent with my podcast in 2020 and released 25 episodes. I started the year filming the episodes, even doing in person 3 camera interviews for a month before the pandemic locked everything down. Eleven of the podcast episodes I did in 2020 have video versions.

For how much I enjoy having long-form conversations with friends and guests on my podcast, the results just aren't there for the amount of effort they take to produce. Planning questions, setting up equipment, editing, publishing, and more take anywhere from 5-10 hours per episode and when they get less than a thousand audio downloads each or are viewed less than a thousand times on YouTube, I can't see myself continuing to do it with the limited amount of capacity and extra work time I have. It sucks to say that, but it's the reality.

Just look at how 16 podcast interviews on my channel have performed 100x worse than 19 non-camera product reviews when it comes to views and revenue.

I would maybe do an audio only podcast if someone else hosted it with me or I was getting more downloads. I've considered doing my podcast live on YouTube to see if getting guests & listeners on live would help grow it more, but I think lack of consistency and not having a more specific niche for the show other than "whatever Caleb wants to talk about or whoever he wants to have on as a guest" has hurt growth for the show. Right now having a podcast is just something I have to put on the shelf and leave there. In 2021 I may do a few episodes here and there for fun, maybe as livestreams on YouTube first.

My YouTube Channel

I published 21 videos on my YouTube channel in 2020.

• 11 were podcast episodes.
• 2 were to announce launches for my course or the SwitchPod Ball Head.
• 3 were made because a company sent me something early or sponsored me.
• 2 were rants about Canon crippling cameras and buying too much gear.
• 3 were about my new cameras (Canon C70 & R5)

Another extremely sporadic, inconsistent year of publishing videos.

I can't imagine what it is like to follow me online on social media or YouTube.

• I go weeks or months without posting anything.
• I don't mention or tease what I'm working on so everything is a surprise.
• There is no cadence or consistent release date or time.
• Topics are all over the place.

Despite all of this, the YouTube channel made more money last year than any previous year while getting less views than any of the previous four years. Videos upload in 2020 only accounted for 8.5% of my revenue from Adsense and 4.6% of my views. So it really pays to have a backlog of videos ranking in search. My most popular video was about how to look better on a webcam from 2014. (See: pandemic + more zoom calls = views.)

In the following graph you can see a list of how many videos I published on the left and then the cumulative stats during that year to the right.

When I initially starting making YouTube videos in 2014 I was only making videos about things I was interested in or had recently bought. Podcasting gear, cameras, editing software, etc. There weren't as many people talking about those things on YouTube back then. Now I feel like by the time I get around to making a video about a product or topic, multiple people have already made something similar.

I know my perspective and reviews on specific Canon cameras tend to perform well, but honestly I'm just kind of over talking about gear. I have "enough" gear and technology that allows me to do work for my clients or make high quality videos for myself. I rarely care when a new camera, lens, microphone, light, or piece of software gets released and I don't watch many videos about them, want to purchase them, or envy people that have them anymore.

I'm planning to just create and publish YouTube videos about whatever I want since doing that would at least excite me enough to make them on a consistent basis and the other 193 videos on my channel will still live there making passive income from ads.

I'll need to separate how a specific video is performing from my feelings though, as it is quite discouraging to see videos getting less views than I'm used to when they aren't served to or clicked by my audience since they will be different than what they expect from me or doesn't line up with why they subscribed to me in the first place.

I'm much more interested in things other than video production and now spend my free time learning about other things. The categories of topics I plan to cover via YouTube videos include:

• money & wealth — beyond the basics of personal finance or getting out of debt, covering things like early retirement, investing, etc.
• productivity & habits — how to stay focused on what will give me the biggest results in the least amount of time working (especially now that I'm a parent) and covering tools I use like Notion & Things
• stoicism & mindfulness & essentialism — being happy and content with now instead of striving to get or have more, living a simpler lifestyle, etc.
• solo entrepreneurship — showing more of what it is like to run multiple "small" businesses while increasing revenue & profit without scaling up staff, expenses, or stress
• creator tools & tech — basically what I've been making videos about for 7 years, covering equipment or software that helps with content creation

So if you see me start to make videos about random things unrelated to video production, it's because the few thousand dollars I make a year from YouTube are not enough to keep me from treating it more like a hobby than a necessary part of my businesses.

I am going to start treating my YouTube channel more like a playground, have fun with it, share more behind the scenes than I have been, and just see where it goes. (This decision is partially influenced by the trio of books by Austin Kleon: Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going.)

My Online Courses

I released one new course last year, Camera Basics for Filming Videos, and got a second one filmed and edited that launched in January 2021: Audio Basics for Filming Videos.

I definitely hoped to release more than this, so I'll be working to release a couple more courses in the first half of 2021 (specifically updating my Premiere Pro course this spring and making a lighting basics course).

From 2015 to today, my course sales have made up 55% of my digital revenue (with advertising making up 15% and affiliate income bringing in the remaining 30%), so it is a big portion of how I make money from my content.

I've sold over $100,000 of online courses since 2015. Even saying that out loud is crazy to me and I'm very grateful to all of my students for choosing to learn from me when there are so many different ways and places to learn online nowadays.

But at the same time I don't feel like I've ever really "cracked the code" for selling online courses like a lot of my clients, friends, or peers have. I don't have large launches, sophisticated funnels, or even an evergreen marketing or sales strategy.

A few reasons why I think I haven't been able to sell more courses are:

• Not consistently releasing content for my audience to trust me and prove my expertise.
• The courses aren't "unique" (you can learn similar things from other places).
• No evergreen sales system like webinars, ads, etc.
• I really don't push them or try to sell them beyond the initial launch.

I've always considered my courses to be things I make during "bonus" downtime and they bring in "bonus" money, but I do feel like my courses could help a lot more people and in turn, bring in more money. This is a code I'm still going to work to crack but I'm proud of the results over the past 7 years.

2020 Numbers & Metrics

Here's a breakdown of the hard numbers & metrics that I track.

SwitchPod

• Units Sold in 2020
  • SwitchPod = 5525
  • Ball Head = 4092
  • Phone Adapter = 685
• Total # of Retailers = 16

YouTube

• 21 New Videos Published
• 1,245,660 Views
• 49,100 Subscribers (+5,374 in 2020)

Podcast

• 25 New Episodes Published
• 26,727 Downloads

Website

• Email Subscribers = 7,621 (+103 net increase)
• Pageviews = 169,707 (down -10.4%)
• Users = 112,569 (down -13.5%)

You'll see that I really don't get that much traffic to my website, grow my email list much each year after churn, and my podcast doesn't get many downloads. My digital efforts just don't get the results that they could, but when we talk finances, that part of my businesses still brings in a decent amount of income so I still continue to focus on it.

Why I'm Sharing Revenue Numbers, But Not Expenses

I share the following financial numbers for the following reasons.

1. For myself to look at year over year to chart my own progress instead of comparing myself to anyone else.
2. To inspire the someone like me from 6 years ago that just risked leaving a job to start their own business.
3. To inspire someone like me from 10 years ago that still worked a desk job at Boeing and didn't know what kind of business was possible to build.
4. To show how diversify your revenue streams and running multiple styles of businesses can help you break through a potential earnings ceiling and survive major economic downturns.

Now, why am I only sharing revenue, but not expenses?

In year's past I've shared more detailed financial information including expenses (like in my 2015 & 2018 reviews), but I won't be doing that this year. Without diving completely into the details of what exactly I pay myself, my contractors, and in taxes it gets really convoluted. And honestly, I'm not sure I really want to be putting out THAT detailed of financially information about me publicly.

I'd be happy to talk generally about how much my business spends each year on things like accounting, applications, recurring services, and other "spend money to make money" line items, but to simplify things this year I'm going to leave out expenses.

Just know the numbers listed below are BEFORE expenses, taxes, gear purchases or sales, paying my editor, tax write off, and so much more. The numbers below do NOT equal how much money I "took home" last year.

Another quick thing to note, the SwitchPod revenue is what was paid to me as an owner and manager of the company, not the top line revenue of the entire company. (I'll break that down in detail more later.)

2020 Revenue

Client Revenue = $ 173,934.30

When it comes to revenue, there was actually a big dip in my client income because inquiries slowed down and I couldn't safely travel like I normally do to film. I'm still really happy with this number though as it allows me to have a full-time editor contracted and pays for overhead costs and my base salarypayroll for the year.

Digital Revenue = $ 31,446.49

• Advertising = $ 8,734.73
• Affiliate Income = $ 12,147.61
• Course Sales = $ 10,564.15

The digital business stayed pretty flat revenue wise overall compared to 2019. This "online business" has a lot of potential for growth considering how little attention it gets compared to the other two businesses, but I need to find the right balance of what to work on and how to maximize revenue from it.

SwitchPod = $ 147,725.00

Thankfully, this was the first full year SwitchPod shipped orders to customers and retailers, so there was profit in that business to pass through as an owner. Due to the amount of work it takes to do customer support, product development, retailer management, social media, and more I started taking monthly guaranteed payments to run SwitchPod day-to-day. The number above comes from the monthly payments + the quarterly owner draws that Pat and I take four times a year.

The top line gross revenue for SwitchPod for 2020 was $685,012.39, so being able to withdraw ~21.5% of that amount directly feels great and means we have solid profit margins at scale in that business. The number above does not include cash left in the business or owner draws Pat took. We are taking substantial draws since we're treating this company as a lean cash cow at the moment and we are not reinvesting every dollar in advertising, staff, or scaling it up to try to build a billion dollar business and exit.

TOTAL GROSS REVENUE = $ 353,105.79

Again, this is not how much money that made it to my personal checking account in 2020. There are so many expenses, taxes, contractors, subscriptions, fees for operating businesses in California, office space, and more that eat into this top line revenue number.

This also doesn't count all of SwitchPod's gross revenue like I mentioned above, just the portion I personally withdrew or was paid by that LLC. If you add up SwitchPod, Clients, and Digital income my businesses had over $890,000 of gross revenue in 2020, but I'm a co-owner in SwitchPod, so I'm only counting my portion for the above.

I might share my expenses for certain things in the future, but to be respectful of not disclosing how much I pay others, what my co-owner earns, etc. I'm leaving it out of this review. Okay, hopefully that is enough caveats.

What Went Well

1. I grew SwitchPod into a very profitable & lean first full year. This is the catalyst for a bunch of the other things that went well below, so I'll start with it first. After reinvesting all of the money from our Kickstarter campaign (rough $365,000 after Kickstarter fees and non-payments) into manufacturing costs and stocking up on inventory in 2019, 2020 was mostly profiting off of the hard groundwork we had laid the years prior. We launched a second and third product as accessories (ball head and phone adapter) and pushed hard to sell what we'd made via email, social media, connecting with retailers, partnering with affiliates, and more. I really have tried to keep the company as lean as possible though to increase profitability. I do as much in house as possible (including packaging design, product photography, website design, marketing videos, and more). Building out all kinds of creative abilities and talents over the past decade allows me to not have to hire other people or contract out help on key projects. We are also continuing to grow only organically. We don't currently pay for advertising or influencer marketing. We'll keep SwitchPod lean for the foreseeable future while still investing in developing new products.

2. I paid off all outstanding debt. Going into 2020 we still had some personal debt outstanding from past medical bills, student loans, and living above our means. Mainly due to the financial success of SwitchPod, we were able to be completely debt free for the first time since 2010. I talk about this in more detail during podcast episode 96, but it actually felt really weird to finally be debt free again. For too many years we had been carrying balances (sometimes small, sometimes large) and it became our normal. The mental weight that has been lifted since making those last payments is indescribable. I started being a better boss to myself and felt less guilty during my non-work hours. It is really odd that 2020 was the year we became debt free, considering the world was turned upside with the pandemic, but thankfully all the hard work I'd put in the previous 5 to 10 years growing business had us in a good position to persevere during COVID-19 without needing a PPP loan or anything. We're now aggressively saving money each month for a house, for the eventuality of replacing 16 year old cars, retiring early (hopefully), and more.

3. I didn't travel for work during the first full year being a dad. One thing that I felt like was keeping me from having kids was how much my work required me to travel before 2020. In a normal year I would fly a dozen times or more for client projects, a few times to attend events or retreats, and more recently I'd visit factories overseas and warehouses for SwitchPod. All this time away would put additional pressure and workload on Jen. I always thought I'd HAVE to keep this kind and amount of travel to make a living, but 2020 happened and I didn't travel at all for work, which meant I got to be home every day to see my daughter grow up over her first year and beyond. I'm going to try to limit work travel as much possible for at least the next few years.

4. I started "playing" again. I used to play a lot of video games. In high school and college I probably played around 15-30 hours a week. It was how I hung out with or stayed in touch with friends growing up and also was just a hobby of mine I enjoyed in the evenings. But since I started running my own business in 2014 I have mostly "retired" from it and skipped owning a full cycle of consoles. During lockdown and partially due to the guilt of not having debt anymore being lifted, I picked up a Nintendo Switch. It ended up being something I could do while my colicky 4 month old napped in my lap for two hours in the afternoon to give my wife a break. Bringing gaming back into my life was a way to distract myself from the outside world, but also to reconnect me with old friends. We started using Tabletop Simulator to play board games virtually, Jen and I played Switch online with some friends, and overall it was just a hobby to have when we couldn't really leave home. I missed playing games and plan to keep them around at a healthy level.

5. I walked over 700 miles. Once our daughter was through the colicky newborn phase and the pandemic lockdown began I started going for a 2+ mile walk with her in the stroller and Pippa (my dog) every morning. And I mean... Every. Single. Morning. As for writing this I'm at ~330 straight days according to my Apple Watch. Sometimes I listen to a book or podcast, other times I just listen to the ocean waves and talk to Odette.

6. We went to Cabo. Right before lockdown in February 2020, the three of us went with Jen's family and my mom to Cabo. The flight there and back timed well as I was able to bounce Odette in my arms for the duration and she slept or barely cried during the flight somehow. (This was still during peak colic). Odette was still only 4 months old, so her short cycles and relying on naps and feedings every couple hours were a different kind of "vacation" than we were used to, but it was still a blast and knowing that we'd be stuck at home for the next year or more, I'm glad we went.

7. I read 19 books. I mainly consumed audiobooks purchased through Audible or borrowed them from my library via the app Libby. I kept a good habit of listening to books instead of podcasts (most of the time) on my walks. I've also been trying to branch out beyond the typical business or money genre I've mostly been reading the past decade. Some of my favorite books I read last year were Greenlights, Skin in the Game, Shoe Dog, Talking to Strangers, The End is Always Near, Sapiens, and Stillness is the Key.

What Didn’t Go Well

1. I didn’t release content consistently. I say this in every annual review. I haven't yet been able to keep a constant publishing cadence other than when I first started blogging in 2010 when I published a new post every day for 50 days. Success in this to me would (at a minimum) mean releasing one video every week on the same day and time. Ideally more and more often, with better performance than I have been getting on videos, but I'm trying to just focus on what I can do or create and let the results or performance happen out of my control.

2. I struggled to get SwitchPod into physical stores or add on as many international retailers as I'd hoped. The timing of the pandemic starting just months after we got our first batch of inventory wasn't great. Part of my plans for growing the business included getting our products into physical big box stores and being stocked by retailers in countries around the world. Everything getting locked down really put a pause on orders from new partners. Thankfully people kept buying through our Shopify website, Amazon, and our other existing retailers. We did make progress with some big retailers I hope to get orders from in early 2021 and added a handful of international retailers in 2020 too though. Success in this for 2021 would mean landing at least 10 more international retailers and 2 big box stores.

3. Lifting weights. Blame it on gym's closing due to COVID-19 if you want, but I didn't lift weights as much as I wanted to or should. I was in a good rhythm in January and February of going to the YMCA with Jen and doing the power lifts I enjoy (deadlift, bench press, back squat, overhead press, and barbell curl). We then got a pair of adjustable dumbbells (after scouring the internet when everyone else was) and put together a small home gym. Once we got all of that setup I lifted weights 14 times in July and 10 times in August, but fell off the routine after that.

What's Next in 2021

In year's past I've written out what I planned to do the next year, but since we are already 2 months into 2021 and I've already done extensively goal planning for the year privately, I'm not going to share too much here, but my main goals are to:

1. Keep growing SwitchPod (more units sold, more retailers, more products developed)
2. Deliver on projects for Smart Passive Income (courses, YouTube content, etc.)
3. Have fun with my digital business (videos on different topics, launch a couple more courses)
4. Keep a healthy work-life balance (daily walks, gaming with friends, weight lifting, only work 9-5)
5. Save additional money (avoid lifestyle creep, stay out of debt, invest for retirement, save for a house)

#100 - Have you ever reached big milestone that shifts you to be more introspective?

I'm talking something big like turning an age that ends in zero, getting out of debt, or having a child.

This is what happened to me when it came to planning and recording episode 100 of my podcast.

Not only did I start to question what episode 100 should be, but also what content I even want to be making.

I've stopped and started my podcast up again multiple times since recording episode 1 back in 2014. I've done plenty of interviews with video creators and taught a bunch of what I've learned running my video business the last 6 years.

I tend to focus most of my YouTube videos on specific pieces of video or photo gear because that is what I think will get me more views, which leads to audience growth, more affiliate income, and more course sales. And for the podcast I feature other creators to share what is possible to accomplish with online video, but also to potentially reach some of their audience as well.

I already run two profitable businesses, the first making videos for clients and the second being SwitchPod, and each equate to a full-time job themselves a lot of the time. This means the hopes, dreams, and plans for my free content and paid courses business always ends up being a third wheel.

And what I earn from it is also the least of my 3 income streams, so it gets the least amount of attention.

So why am I putting so much pressure on myself to make it "the thing" or compare myself to other creators online?

In this podcast episode I discuss this and more with my wife Jen.

We talk about what's next for me online, what kind of videos, podcasts, etc. I should be making, discuss my website redesign, and share an open and honest look at what it is like to be a creator online balancing multiple businesses, passions, and goals.

#99 - The most common thing people ask me online is, "what camera should I buy?”

When there are new cameras being released from every brand multiple times a year, it is really hard to do enough research on your own to figure out which camera is right for you and what you’re going to use it for.

In this podcast episode I chat with Greg Farnum all about cameras and which ones we’d buy. We talk through what features really matter when choosing a camera, what accessories we’d recommend beyond just the camera body or lens, and finish by discussing what we’d buy with a $500, $1,000, $2,500, or $10,000 budget.

Whether you're in the market for a new camera or you want to be reassured that what you have is good enough, this episode will help you out.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 0:00 — Introduction
• 01:41 - Greg's Background
• 05:14 - Important Camera Features
• 17:07 - $500 Budget Recommendation
• 23:36 - $1,000 Budget Recommendation
• 28:47 - $2,500 Budget Recommendation
• 44:22 - $10,000 Budget Recommendation
• 47:50 - Invest in Lenses Not Cameras
• 48:53 - Essential Accessories

Items Mentioned

• Greg's YouTube Channel
• Greg's Instagram
• BenQ 4K Art Series Monitor
• Zoom H6 Recorder
• Sony RX100 VI
• Sony a6000 & 16-50mm
• Canon G7X
• FUJIFILM X-T30 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens
• Sony a6400 16-50mm Lens
• Pocket 4k
• Pocket 6k
• Sigma 18-35
• DaVinci Resolve
• Canon RP
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens
• Polar Pro 2-5 Stop Variable ND Filter
• SwitchPod - Handheld Tripod
• Small HD Focus
• Atomos Shinobi
• Atomos Ninja V
• BMPCC Tilta Modification Kit

#98 - In my opinion, lighting is one of the most underrated skills and underspent categories of gear when making high quality videos.

If you understand how to light a video well and have the proper gear, your videos can even look better than someone that has a camera that costs 5 or 10 times as much as yours.

In this podcast episode I chat with Tommy Callaway about how to improve lighting in your videos. We discuss common mistakes people make with lighting, what you can do to improve your lighting setup for under $100, what specs you should pay attention to when researching a light to purchase, and what lighting gear we would recommend at low-end, mid-range, and professional level budgets.

Whether you're looking to invest money into new lights or just modify your current lighting setup with a few DIY solutions to improve how it looks, this episode is full of helpful tips.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 0:40 - Tommy's Background
• 04:12 - Choosing to Focus on Lighting
• 07:25 - Working with Big Brands
• 08:09 - Common Lighting Mistakes on YouTube
• 11:40 - Lighting Upgrades Under $100
• 24:35 - What Matters When Buying Lights
• 32:40 - Gear Recommendations for Any Budgets
• 50:56 - Learning How to Shape Light

Items Mentioned

• Tommy's YouTube Channel
• Tommy's Twitter Feed
• Bebob MICRO V-Mount Battery
• Intellytech Pocket-V 98Wh Li-Ion Battery
• Godox SL-60 LED Video Light
• Neewer Soft Box
• Aputure 120D
• Aputure MC
• FalconEyes F7
• Aputure Nova p300c
• Lupo Superpanel Soft Full Color 30 1x1
• Velvet Light Evo 2
• Intellytech Fast Frames

#97 - Everyone always wants to talk about the latest cameras that just came out, but the better way to spend your money is on making your videos sound better. And even if you don’t have any extra budget to put towards a better microphone or audio recorder, there are a lot of tips and tricks for capturing better sound.

In this episode I chat with Curtis Judd about how to record high quality audio, what gear he recommends for both the cheapest and high-end budgets, and common audio mistakes to avoid when making videos.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 01:21 - Curtis' Background
• 04:52 - Choosing to Focus on Audio & Lighting
• 11:27 - Audio Gear Evolution
• 23:23 - Tips for Hiding a Lav Mic
• 26:34 - High Quality Audio on a Low Budget
• 32:00 - Upgrading to a Medium Budget
• 39:30 - Curtis' Favorite Microphones
• 48:53 - Most Common Audio Mistakes to Avoid
• 53:30 - Final Thoughts

Items Mentioned

• Curtis Judd's YouTube Channel
• Curtis Judd's Website
• Canon C100 Mark II Camera
• Caleb's Review of the C100 Mark II
• Rode NTG3 Shotgun Mic
• Mix Pre 6
• TAKSTAR SGC-600
• Rode VideoMic NTG
• Deity V-Mic D3 Pro
• Curtis' Video About How to Boom Your Camera Shotgun Mic
• DPA Microphones 4017B
• Sennheiser MKH 8050
• Shure TwinPlex TL48
• Shure SM7B
• Earthworks SR314B
• Electro-Voice RE20

#96 - Most people are afraid to talk about money.

If I had to guess the reason I'd say it is because they are truly embarrassed about where they are financially. They would rather flaunt flashy cars or homes the debt they owe a bank actually owns then discuss the deeper going ons of their savings for retirement or their net worth.

“But Caleb, what does this have to do with creativity, using cameras, and making videos?”

Everything.

You can't do your work, make your art, or run your business if you can’t get your money right.

I think money shouldn't be something you're ashamed of or hide from, no matter where you are at financially. There will always be someone further in debt or with a larger net worth than you.

And instead of hiding where you’re at, coming face to face to your reality of not being where you wish you were with money might be the wake up call you need.

So as my wife and I just hit a financial milestone we're proud of, I wanted to record a podcast episode about my financial journey from getting out of debt two different times in completely different ways. The first time by being frugal and cheap, the second by building businesses to help me earn more (while spending to live the life I want to live).

I also discuss what I'm calling the "money ladder". It describes the stages of getting out of debt and saving for the future that you should work your way up, one rung at a time.

If money has been something you’ve been afraid to deal with yourself or talk about with the people close to you, I hope this episode will help to feel more comfortable being open and honest about it so you can work toward financially healthy.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 00:00 - Why We're Talking About Money
• 03:34 - Balance Sheet Rich vs Income Statement Rich
• 05:52 - My Debt Story
• 18:12 - Climbing the Financial Ladder

Items Mentioned

• The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
• Get Rich Slowly
• The Simple Dollar

#95 - In this podcast episode I chat with Tom Martin about what a YouTube channel should do behind the scenes if it wants to get more views through search and suggested recommendations.

Tom's experience working on large YouTube channels for companies like the BBC and advising smaller independent channels has led him to be a leading expert in the technical aspects of YouTube. I brought him back to the podcast to share what really works on YouTube to get more reach, gain more subscribers, and ultimately earn more money through the platform.

We discuss how to research keywords for your video titles and tags, how to make sure your other videos show up in the suggested area when someone is watching your videos, how long YouTube videos should be, how frequently you should publish, tips for creating thumbnails, and more.

If you have a YouTube channel that isn’t performing how you want it to, this conversation is for you.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 1:50 - Tom's Background
• 4:19 - Managing Large Channels
• 11:37 - Recommendations for Small Creators
• 29:19 - Keyword Research
• 36:19 - Best Way to Gain Subscribers
• 37:23 - How Long Your Video Should Be
• 40:03 - How Often You Should Publish a Video
• 46:12 - Making Videos You Want to Make vs What YouTube Wants
• 55:20 - Tom's Current Projects
• 57:32 - YouTube Isn't for Everyone

Items Mentioned

• Tom's Website
• Pro Channel Manager
• Mr. Bean YouTube Channel
• vidIQ
• TubeBuddy
• Wordtracker
• Ahrefs
• Youtube defaults
• Text Expander
• Video Insiders Podcast
• Pro Channel Manager Podcast

#94 - In this podcast episode I chat with Sarah Beth, a yoga teacher on YouTube, about how she grew her channel to almost a million subscribers and built a thriving online business over a span of nearly ten years of uploading videos.

We dive into everything she has learned about content strategy & release cadence on YouTube, figuring out which videos her audience really wants to watch, how she experimented with one off digital courses at first, and then how she ultimately built a paid membership app with a bustling community behind it.

If you're wanting to turn YouTube into a full-time business, this episode is full of great advice, stories, and experience shared about what tactics and mindset changes it takes to achieve results.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 2:50 - When Sarah Got Started with YouTube
• 10:34 - Starting to Make Money on YouTube
• 14:23 - Growth on YouTube
• 20:18 - Trying to Play with the Algorithm
• 22:18 - Having Others Work On the Channel
• 27:22 - Deciding to Use an App for Membership
• 34:47 - Fitting into the Youtube Space
• 40:03 - Finding Future Content
• 42:42 - Batching Videos
• 1:00:18 - What's Next for Sarah
• 1:07:13 - Advice for Building a Channel
• 1:12:34 - Sarah's Resources

Items Mentioned

• Sarah's YouTube Channel
• Sarah's Instagram
• Sarah's Website
• The Four Hour Work Week

#93 - In this podcast episode I chat with Matt Giovanisci of Swim University & Money Lab about how to get more traffic to a website from Google. He shares what he’s learned from 10+ years of experience optimizing his websites for search engines, doing content audits, and creating epic content.

We dive into what he does on his websites to drive more email sign-ups, affiliate income, and digital product sales.

If you're like me and you have years worth of old content on a website and a lot of what you’ve made is not being found by anyone anymore (or it is completely out of date or irrelevant) this podcast episode will help give you direction on what to do with all of it so your website starts to rank for what search terms you’re targeting.

Chapters / Timestamps

• 3:07 - Matt's Businesses
• 16:16 - Deleting Posts for More Traffic
• 31:26 - Getting a Post to Rank
• 40:29 - Tools for Website Rank and Speed
• 47:13 - Matt's Beef with Squarespace
• 54:03 - Affiliate Marketing
• 58:55 - Books/Courses Surpassing Affiliate Income
• 1:12:42 - Keep it Simple
• 1:22:21 - Matt's Recommended Products

Items Mentioned

• Swim University
• Money Lab
• Brew Cabin
• Traction
• Ahrefs
• WP Engine
• Cloudflare
• Imagify
• Tiny jpg
• Convertkit
• Wordpress
• Genius Link
• Lasso
• BuyCarbonate
• Matt's Course on Asana