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The Heart & Hustle Podcast
443: How This Wedding Filmmaker Turned His Passion for Storytelling into a Multi-Faceted Youtube Brand with Eric Floberg
01:09:10
Ever wondered what happens when a high school teacher swaps textbooks for a camera and turns weddings into cinematic art? This week on the Heart and Hustle Podcast, Lindsey and Evie sit down with filmmaker, photographer, YouTuber, and all-around...
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- [00:01]
Evie McLeod
You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast. We are your hosts, Evie McLeod and Lindsay Roman. Welcome back to the show, my friend. This episode, I believe is kind of one of its first in the sense that I think this is one of the first interviews we have ever done directly talking about wedding videography, wedding filmmaking with a wedding filmmaker specifically. Not just video.
- [00:25]
Lindsay Roman
I think so. So we could be forgetting. I know we've had Brady a lot of episodes, we've had Brady on the show, but Brady doesn't do wedding. But like I genuinely think, unless we're.
- [00:34]
Evie McLeod
Just like black holing, we've had hundreds of episodes. So if we have, we forget and we apologize for that. But this episode is going to be such a powerhouse. We have the incredible Eric Floberg on today. If you aren't familiar with him, Eric is a Chicago based photographer and filmmaker who loves teaching his craft and documenting his adventures. His films are beautiful, jaw dropping works of cinematography. It is magical. I would encourage you maybe go watch a video or two of his before you even listen to this episode so you have a grasp of the work that he produces. And today we get to go behind the scenes with him on his heart and mission, behind his work and his business.
- [01:11]
Lindsay Roman
Yeah. So today we talked with Eric about kind of just like deep diving into how he started his wedding and video and photo business, specifically diving a little bit more into the video side. And he specifically markets himself as a wedding filmmaker. We talk about why, what was the reason for that. And then he goes into his philosophy for wedding filmmaking which is really to focus on more of a cinematic storytelling experience than just like a video montage. Like is more typical in the videography wedding space specifically. And he just had so much to say, like the moments that he focuses on on a wedding day, like the serendipity that happens when you're very present. Just like all of that. And then we kind of pivoted the conversation as we talked about his own personal journey into getting into YouTube when he diversified from, you know, his full time wedding business to then kind of incorporating YouTube and education into his business as well as kind of ending with a conversation on the. The stereotype that kind of happens in the wedding industry where it's almost like a quote unquote, given that you're supposed to or you're meant to kind of outgrow wedding, the wedding industry and go on to bigger and better things and kind of like his tea, our own tea on, on that topic in general. But today is just such a good episode. Eric just dropped the mic on. So many incredible tip. If you are a wedding filmmaker or wedding videographer or in the wedding industry in general, or even I would say if you're a current YouTuber or wanting to get into YouTube, lots of good things in store. So let's get to it.
- [02:46]
Eric Floberg
Do you ever feel like your Instagram growth is stagnant and people coming to your page clearly aren't hitting follow and therefore converting into leads and paying clients?
- [02:53]
Lindsay Roman
Hand is raised.
- [02:53]
Eric Floberg
We've all been there. While there could be other marketing issues within your business, one of the easiest fixes and most effective ways to convert clients into customers on social media is through one simple little sentence. Your Instagram bio. Yeah, we know it sounds so simple. But here's the thing. That little block of 150 characters is precious real estate. You want to leave a stellar and clear first impression. And if someone is hopping onto your feed and is confused for even a second about who you are, what you do, and what they can get from following your account, you have lost them completely. So to help you create clarity on your Instagram, we are sharing a free guide with all of the ingredients necessary to create a powerful, concise and clear Instagram bio for your business. You can snag our free resource through theheartuniversity.com bio.
- [03:45]
Evie McLeod
Hey hey.
- [03:46]
Eric Floberg
I'm Lindsay Roman.
- [03:47]
Evie McLeod
And I'm Evie McLeod and we are family and legacy focused serial entrepreneurs and the founders of the Hart University, a business education company with a mission to help you thrive in your business and life.
- [03:58]
Eric Floberg
Welcome to our Entrepreneur Cocktail hour where.
- [04:00]
Lindsay Roman
Business and marketing strategies meet faith, real.
- [04:02]
Eric Floberg
Talk and raw in life changing conversations.
- [04:04]
Evie McLeod
At the end of the day, we are all in this together, figuring out how to navigate the ups and downs, the messy and the beautiful and everything in between. This is a community where you can come as you are, get inspired and walk away equipped to build a legacy filled life.
- [04:18]
Lindsay Roman
You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast.
- [04:29]
Evie McLeod
Eric, welcome to the show. I feel like this is long overdue, so we are so excited to have you.
- [04:34]
Guest Speaker
Thanks for having me. Super excited to chat.
- [04:36]
Evie McLeod
I love it. All right, if you are willing. For anyone who isn't familiar with you and doesn't follow along, doesn't know all that much about your journey, your story, what you do, who you are. Are you willing to give like a little synopsis of like, this is Eric Floberg.
- [04:50]
Guest Speaker
Yeah, creatively, professionally, us. You know, all the way from middle school to high school, dabbled in video like a lot of people do with their parents Camcorder and just transitioned to making stupid videos in college and until one friend asked me to film her sister's wedding. And so that kind of started the snowball of filming and photographing weddings. So, you know, photographed my friends, proposals and engagements in college and into early adulthood grew my business as I taught professionally. So I taught in a classroom for three years while growing my wedding business, both photo and video. And it just became all too overwhelming. I should have been done with teaching after two years, but went for a third because we had our first kid. I was married in 2013, so now we've been married for over 12 years. And yeah, so it just became too overwhelming. But stuck to the third year for the health insurance with our new kiddo. And that was like the busiest year of my Life. Then in 2016, transitioned to full time with my business and once I got full time into weddings, was shooting like 30 a year, started to diversify with a YouTube channel. So took those teaching skills, brought them over to YouTube, started teaching photo, video and then it just kind of like splintered off from that point into like a gazillion different things. So Overall photography, filmmaking, YouTube, that's what I do.
- [06:22]
Lindsay Roman
Amazing. I love talking to just multi passionate guests and especially somebody who has been in the photo industry or I guess wedding industry you could say, and has like gone off and diversified in many ways. So you're just the perfect person to talk about this with. But backing up to the beginning of your business, this is maybe just a. This isn't on our list. I thought of it as you were talking. But how did you practically balance photo and video in the same business? I know many people do it, but like did you do photo and video for the same client or could. Could they only hire you for one or the other?
- [06:59]
Guest Speaker
That's a great question. I only started doing both once I got into the Chicago wedding market, which is where we moved to when we first got married. I went to school in central Illinois, not a lot happening there. Literally my college town was called Normal, Illinois Illinois State. So very fitting and just didn't see a creative future in that area, so wanted to move to Chicago and it took a solid two years to establish roots there with meeting people, networking, starting to build community within the city to then at that point feel comfortable to do both on the same wedding day because I was never comfortable doing both on my own. So because especially because my philosophy with filmmaking is so intensive and so like just so hands on and so much attention to detail, especially on the audio front, like there's just no way you can balance all those things and do them to the capacity I wanted. So once I started meeting people and we started building our studio, Creative Club Chicago 2016, 2017 is where I started feeling comfortable offering that to potential clients, saying, well, I can build a team. And actually it would, you know, like, I would make it really appealing price wise for them. And then I was able to pay those shooters at a much higher rate than a second shooting rate because they were lead shooting and most of the time they didn't have that date booked. So everyone was kind of winning in that situation. And then I would edit everything. So that was good to. Yeah.
- [08:43]
Evie McLeod
Same time.
- [08:44]
Guest Speaker
It was brutal. And I mean, wedding. Wedding films are so much more intensive than wedding photography on the editing side, especially the way I do them. So that was very intense. But I built a really robust portfolio very quickly by doing that and then showed proof of concept with photo and video on the same wedding, where I could do one blog post that had all the photos and the video up at the top. It's like, oh, I can offer this because I'm connected to enough people to build a small team of three to four people every wedding, which was then really beneficial, profit wise.
- [09:16]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [09:17]
Lindsay Roman
Well, so if you were doing both photo and video on the same wedding day, you would always take charge of the video and have an associate do like one of your team members do the photo side.
- [09:27]
Guest Speaker
I actually usually led photo, but that was mostly because I knew people that were talented enough on the filmmaking side.
- [09:35]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [09:36]
Guest Speaker
Because in that situation, obviously, as you all know, the photographer usually leads the day and is, you know, backup wedding planner. So, yeah, it's a lot harder for a filmmaker to do that, especially in Chicago, where your couple may have hired like a really well established wedding photographer. If you're kind of stepping into the lead, it's a bit taboo almost. So not to say you couldn't do that if it was your own team, but it was pretty rare that I was leading video. I started doing that much later once I met Steven, who is my co host on our podcast, Rallycaps and co owner of our studio. We've collaborated on tons of things. I would really need to trust someone on the photo side to be able to both lead in the planning sense and driving the day and deliver on the portfolio side and gallery side.
- [10:29]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, yeah. I love that. This might touch in on your philosophy, which I kind of want to hear about in your journey of filmmaking and wedding films. But I'm curious because I noticed you always Say wedding films and like filmmaker, you don't say like videos or videography. So does that touch into your philosophy and tie in? Because I would, I want to hear both. So I would love to hear why you call it wedding films, and I would love to hear your philosophy behind them and your heart behind, like, what you create.
- [11:01]
Guest Speaker
Yeah, I love that you recognize that. And first and foremost I do. I don't do it out of, like being arrogant or like turning my nose up at videography or that word. It's much more something I intentionally tried to say because words matter in the marketing of your business. So, you know, if you're, if you're wanting to appeal to a certain audience, like, you want to use specific types of words because a potential client might ask the same exact question and it gives you the opportunity to then give this explanation.
- [11:33]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [11:33]
Guest Speaker
In that a lot of times when people hear videography, they're thinking of event coverage and, you know, like sports and this, that the other. Or like someone who does content or people's Instagram reels and you're a videographer. But if you position yourself to say something like filmmaking or cinematographer, you are implicitly stating that you're creating something that has so much more depth than just a cookie cutter, three to four minute wedding montage video that you see so often.
- [12:08]
Lindsay Roman
Yeah.
- [12:08]
Guest Speaker
And so, yeah, that opportunity gives you. That gives you the opportunity then explain to that potential client or booked client. I'm coming into this with a ton of intentionality. And as much as. And this dips more into my philosophy on the wedding filmmaking side is as much as my clients are willing to open up to me, then I'm willing to go the extra mile and do something special for them. And so a lot of times what that ends up being is shooting outside the wedding day and figuring out different ways that are unique to set the scene, elaborate on the story further without it being cheesy or allowing myself to just create a different world in which the viewer can experience and be thrusted into the lives and story of these people with B roll, with supplemental things, with archival home footage. As much as the client is willing to open up. And sometimes they don't. So I'm like, okay, I'll just come and cover the hours you want me to. And that's cool, and I'll make it beautiful. But I really try to, like, push that envelope a bit more. So on my creative side too. I just feel so much more compelled to make something like that.
- [13:15]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [13:15]
Guest Speaker
When there's. Yeah. So much more context and Things to pull from creatively.
- [13:20]
Lindsay Roman
Well, if Anybody's seen your YouTube channel like you, it makes so much wedding films. Well, not even the. Whatever, like, I'm talking about, like. Yeah, even just, like, the work that you do now with filmmaking. Like, you. You're a very incredible storyteller holistically, and so it makes sense that you would bring, like, almost like a. Like a movies type of eye. That's probably not the way to say it, but like a. Like a filmmaking.
- [13:43]
Evie McLeod
I guess it's probably cinematic.
- [13:45]
Eric Floberg
Thank you.
- [13:45]
Lindsay Roman
Yeah, A cinematic, like, spin. Whereas, like you said, you. You mostly see montage is probably, like a great word for it. And obviously there's like, so much variations, I think, within, like, videography technically of just, like, how people decide to tell a story. But, like, when you say you get B roll, like, even before the wedding day, how. I have some outside. I have so many questions. My brain was gonna be like, how do you price that? But no, hold on. Like, it. How do you, like, get the story or, like, understand? So it's like you're treating the wedding day like it's a part of their story. Right. But I guess, how do you get to know your couples, to know what needs to go into, like, the. Almost like you're crafting and, like your script writing. Does that make sense? I feel like the words coming out my mouth are not eloquent.
- [14:32]
Guest Speaker
I mean, I don't have any kind of like, structured PDF or list of questions at all, like, you know, go through with every single client, but rather keeping things super conversational and picking up on the nuances of what they're willing to share with me. So, for example, one of. One of the wedding films that really changed the game for me was my friend Mark Spooner, which you. Y' all might. I don't know if you remember Mark from Workshop. He got married in 2019. And, you know, we. You know, a lot of my clientele, there's like, some sort of connection with online or creativity. A lot of other creatives actually hire me to photograph and film their weddings. And I knew that they. I mean, based off of knowing them, based off having conversations with them, I knew that they had a cabin in upstate New York that wasn't too far from where they were getting married. So we actually just made plans to, two days after the wedding, go to the cabin and just film whatever. And there was really no plan. It was just like, let's just film y'. All. Existing in this place that you love so much and have spent so much time at Together, I think that alone, just a decisive. We're gonna do that and see what happens and. And then see if it's magic, you know. And so with some intentionality, like I'm bringing haze in a can, you know, to like fill the kitchen with haze while they cook breakfast. And it's just this. I mean, it ended up being unbelievable. Like they're. They're cooking a full blown breakfast. And there's even a scene of Molly, like, washing the dishes that I put in the film. There's just this really unique simplicity where then they. They redid their vows, sitting in front of the fire, just facing each other, sitting on the ground. And it's the same exact vows that were on the wedding day. So I was able to go back and forth between in front of the fire, back to the wedding day, to the cabin.
- [16:29]
Lindsay Roman
I got floor.
- [16:31]
Guest Speaker
So, like, you had this and. And then they just, like, they jumped in the lake at Blue Hour. Like, it was just, you know, it feels like an indie film, you know, so there's. And I don't like forcing that stuff. Like, it would have been weird if we were like, let's just, let's go to an Airbnb and try to fabricate this.
- [16:49]
Evie McLeod
Right?
- [16:50]
Guest Speaker
Sure, that could be fun. But like, another example, this was on the photography side. I did engagement photos last summer with a couple, and it was his family's lake house up in Wisconsin. And so, like, we went out on the boat and they like, dressed up in like, Hollywood attire, basically, because they just love that. And we got these crazy photos of them, like, doing donuts in the water, like in sunglasses. And like, and then they got pizza and played pool in the basement and just, you know, like, meeting people where they're at, doing what they love is ultimately like, that's my favorite thing. Because they feel most comfortable. You get some of the most magical stuff and it doesn't feel forced. And so a lot of it is just like, get to know them, lean into the nuance of what makes them different and who they are, and then just be present and capture and treat it like a documentary that turns into an indie film.
- [17:40]
Evie McLeod
That's so cool. I love that. I love that approach in philosophy. You can so easily see that in your work. Like, for any listeners who maybe haven't seen a wedding film or honestly, anything from Eric before, like, I just pause this episode right now, go watch something and then come back because you're gonna see that come alive. It is so tangible in the work that you do, Eric. And it's it's just, it's, it's different. Like it's set apart in the industry in that I don't feel like that's the normal approach in a lot of ways. Especially, you know, I'm curious on your end of things because I'm like, I think that's really hard to do when you're shooting like 30 to 40 weddings a year, which I think has been part of your story. So I would love to hear like, do you think that that's something that you wish every single wedding videographer could grasp, that like, approach? Or do you think that that's something like, hey, this is one approach, but it might not be sustainable for you if you're going for, you know, 30 plus weddings a year.
- [18:52]
Guest Speaker
Yeah, it's a perfect anecdote because I don't think it's possible for someone who's shooting upwards of 20 or more a year, the amount of time, effort and energy you'd have to put into 20 films. Like every time I film a wedding and do it that intentionally between shooting and editing, we're talking like 10 days. You know, like that's quite a bit 10 to 10 to 14 days. And so if it's exclusively what you do. Yeah, like your price is going to have to reflect that and you're going to have to really niche into a specific audience. I personally wouldn't want that for my life, like to have to only rely on that all the time. I know people make it work and do it with intentionality. My recommendation as far as like from the education side is if they're going to approach it as a full time career in that way, you need to let that be your philosophy. But then also let a certain amount of clientele just be like, oh, this is, this is a paycheck client. Like, this isn't, this isn't portfolio. This is like, do the coverage, make them super happy and move on. And that might be four days of investment versus the 14. And that's perfectly okay as well. I think a lot of artists really beat themselves up and being like, I have to make this, you know, barn wedding or whatever. It's like, it's really simple and stripped back. We're not like in the mountains in Colorado and they're, they're not giving me home footage. Well, it's like, well if they're not doing that, then they're not expecting that from you. So like don't beat yourself up into having to make something that isn't. But in the same regard, like meet them where they're at. And if they're more simple people, it's okay to make a film that's more simple. They're going to love it and adore it. So it's just hard because that client might be paying you the same amount as the other client is.
- [20:47]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [20:47]
Guest Speaker
So you have to reckon with that on your own. But I'm a huge fan of diversification of business and using your skill set. You know, like coming from my perspective, I do photography and filmmaking. So once I dipped into the world of YouTube and realized that it could be something else career wise that I could add, opportunities just came left and right as I grew that channel. And it wasn't, it wasn't an intentional move for me to really move out of wedding filmmaking. I guess eventually it was because I got pretty overwhelmed with how long it was taking me to edit films in the standard that I wanted to. So post Covid, I actually stopped taking them for a while just because I had enough income coming from different things. But recently, just this past fall, I shot my first wedding film in probably two calendar years. And it guts me that I can't really share it publicly because it involves their kids. But. Yeah, so they came from two previous marriages and they both have two kids. So it's just this insane celebration out in college, Colorado, a whole weekend. They like, they got a private chef and like, just, just the family. And so we covered everything. And oh man, the things I wish I could share publicly about all this. Like, I can obviously, like in this setting. But as we were leaving, the bride, she's just like, I, she was like beside herself. She's like, I don't, I haven't, I haven't seen anything. And you guys made, you made this weekend what it was.
- [22:26]
Lindsay Roman
Wow.
- [22:26]
Guest Speaker
And so then when we delivered all of it, they were just, they melted. So, yeah, just insanely, insanely special stuff. But when I look at that, I'm like, I can't. There's no way I could sustainably do this 20 times over a year, especially with my own family and traveling to places like this. So it's cool for me to do it from time to time, but I definitely champion the diversification so that I can do it in that capacity to that standard. And then still at the same time when I get booked to do it, like, I have an inquiry going right now or this couple's pretty serious about booking me at full price for a wedding found. Southern California, you know, there's just like a handful of those coming in a year now, which is Great.
- [23:13]
Evie McLeod
Yeah. I wonder, what are your thoughts, Eric? Obviously, like, we're. We're big advocates as well for diversification. I feel like we. I would love to touch on that at some point in this episode. But I'm curious for your thoughts. For the listener right now who is actively in the wedding video, wedding filmmaking world, that's their primary stream of income right now. That's their main focus. And they're hearing what you're saying and they're so inspired because it is inspired. As a photographer, I don't touch video and I am so inspired, even on the photo side of just that storytelling and thinking bigger and outside of just the day of and just, you know, it's just an amazing approach in philosophy for the person listening, who's listening to this, who's like, I really want to incorporate more of that philosophy, that approach, that storytelling, you know, cinematic, you know, visual into my work. But like you're saying, it is much more time intensive, all encompassing. Yeah, there's just. There's more to it. It's more involved, it's more hands on. Um, would you. I guess what would your encouragement to them, because part of me is like, maybe they raise their prices and decrease the amount of bookings as they, like, work towards this. And they. That's just their big shift for them is they're not doing quantity, they're doing quality, and they kind of take that shift. But what are your thoughts on that? Like, do you agree or what would your, I guess, encouragement be to the videographer, filmmaker listening to this, who's feeling excited but a little nervous about the. The intensity of what you're talking about?
- [24:49]
Guest Speaker
Well, I think there's two ways to really increase your prices. One's demand. You know, if you have a ton of demand coming in and you're elevating that price point to pull back the amount of bookings so that you're naturally just kind of turning people away, but booking far less for maybe even more money? I think secondarily, like, being able to raise your prices is proof of concept of the work that you do. And so it's not necessarily a point of demand, but they're looking at it and they're like, I have to have this. I have to have this quality. So I think I lean more towards the latter. Like, there was definitely a phase of my career where I had the volume issue. And at workshop where I met y', all, I sat down with Levi Tiarina and he was like, double your prices. I'm like, are you psychotic? And he's like, double them. He's like, it solves all your problems. You're so stressed out with how many bookings you have and all of your editing queue. If you just double your prices, you'll do half the work and you'll make the same amount of money. And I'm like, that makes a lot of sense.
- [25:50]
Evie McLeod
The math is mathing here.
- [25:53]
Guest Speaker
So that's basically what I did. And so I think a lot of it is just really, it's birthed out of passion. It's like, what do I, you know, whether it's narcissistic or not, it's like, what do I want my artistic voice to be in a legacy of my art on the world? You know, you're talking about wedding films. It's not like I'm winning any Oscars or anything. Yeah, okay. But yeah, it's more so just like I want what I make to matter in some sense. And so, yeah, there's a. There's a dichotomy there of I want what I make to matter, but I want what I make, you know, in the wedding filmmaking world to matter so much more to my clients than it matters to me. Where is that marriage of the two, you know, where you're really feeling fulfilled artistically, but you're giving them a piece of legacy that they're going to hold on to for decades, that they're going to just cherish and adore for generations. Really, they're going to end up loving that far more than you ever will in your lifetimes. I think that answered the question. I hope that answered the question.
- [27:09]
Evie McLeod
No, it totally did. I love that.
- [27:11]
Lindsay Roman
I do. I do want to get to diversification and like YouTube and even Exit, exiting, quote unquote weddings and like, the whole conversation behind that. But, but real fast, another question that I would love to ask you about filmmaking specifically on a wedding day. Are there or even off? Because I know that's part of your. Your flow and system, but is there any. This is like maybe twofold question on the day of, Are you like, what are some moments that you are looking for or that you naturally always try to get to tell the story? So that's like part one of the question and then part two question. Do you do a lot of the actual, like, scripting storytelling in the editing? Yeah, like, like in the editing, if you. If like you mentioned with that story of like, you going to the cabin, you didn't really have a. A preconceived thought of what to film. So does that come together all in the editing room.
- [28:06]
Guest Speaker
Yeah. For me it always, and this is a common question that I've been asked over the years of do you storyboard? Like personally, I just don't even know how you would storyboard outside of knowing the itinerary or schedule of a wedding. Again, that goes back to the trying to force some sort of narrative.
- [28:25]
Lindsay Roman
Yeah.
- [28:25]
Guest Speaker
So my philosophy and approach to coverage on a wedding day is top tier is be like overbearingly present. Not in an obnoxious way, but in a way that's just constantly head on a swivel and noticing the nuances of what's going on around you. There's one film in particular I think about. It was during getting ready and I was heading upstairs because the. The bride was like really upset. I can't remember why, but mom went, went over upstairs to like calm her down. And I was like trying to sneak up there and like shoot through the crack in the door. And like that's a really intimate and like really moment of feeling like very stripped down emotionally. But at the same time I'm like, I don't, I don't even know what's happening right now, but it might mean something later. It ended up not being that I barely got that shot. But as we were coming back down the stairs, her grandma just starts talking to us. My wife and I were both doing coverage that day and she, she just starts going like, I wasn't supposed to be here today. And we're like, what? And she just starts going on about how she's diagnosed with cancer. And I'm like, as she starts going, I just like hit record and put it on my chest and just hoped I was because I was trying to not break eye contact with her.
- [29:56]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, right.
- [29:56]
Guest Speaker
Like, please work autofocus. But she just had this beautiful moment of like, I wasn't supposed to be here, but I'm here now. And just a phrase like that where you're like, if you weren't available or thinking of or interacting with people in that way, like all of it is intentional and being present. It's a five second moment. But it's this insane part of the film that crescendos into the next scene. And so I'm constantly thinking in that way. There's a lot of times where I see filmmakers, like I'm on the photography side and something's happening and I'm snapping away and they're just kind of like, oh, this isn't part of the itinerary today, so I'm not shooting it. And I'm just sitting there going like.
- [30:44]
Lindsay Roman
What are you doing?
- [30:45]
Evie McLeod
Hurts my soul.
- [30:47]
Guest Speaker
It's killing me that they're not filming this moment, especially on the audio front. Like the things that are being said, the emotions that are being passed and, and so. And the beautiful thing about filmmaking is that it doesn't need to be perfect in those moments. It's actually even. I love it even more when it's imperfect because it just shows the rawness of the emotion. The camera shaky, it's out of focus, the lighting is terrible. But that if that one thing is said, the power that can. Oh just you know, like a lot of times those moments are connected to things that they say in the vows later. And so when you tie that into the edit, it's crazy. So that with I just love scene setting and getting establishing shots in every setting you're in. So whether it is getting ready or the ceremony, the portraits, the reception, wherever you're getting a ton of coverage of where you are contextually for the viewer to make sense of what is happening.
- [31:46]
Evie McLeod
If you are loving what you're hearing on today's episode, then we wanted to share something else you might love. The Heart Shop. It's our digital resource online shop for creative entrepreneurs. The Heart Shop is your one stop shop for all of our online courses, luxury website templates, PDF guides, social media, graphic templates and illustrations.
- [32:05]
Eric Floberg
If you've been at your wit's end with your website design and you don't.
- [32:09]
Lindsay Roman
Know where the heck to create a.
- [32:10]
Eric Floberg
High quality pricing or welcome guide to give your clients an incredible branded first impression. Ooh, we got you. We created the Heart Shop to serve.
- [32:19]
Lindsay Roman
You with the best tools and resources.
- [32:21]
Eric Floberg
You need to successfully run your business. Just head to theheartuniversity.comshop and start browsing the goods. That's theheartuniversity.com forward/shop and we'll see you there. Want to know what both Evie and I use for our skincare? Our absolute favorite non toxic skincare products are without a doubt primly pure.
- [32:42]
Evie McLeod
Yes, if you've been searching for a natural non toxic skin care company you can actually feel solid about using, knowing that the ingredients won't harm you and are derived from nature, then I'm not joking when I say that you need to try Primally Pure.
- [32:56]
Eric Floberg
Evie and I have been using Primally Pure for our skincare for a couple of years now and we are legit in love. Like we love that every product has minimal, safe, all natural ingredients that I'm not joking, smell divine and make our skin look and feel healthy and beautiful.
- [33:11]
Evie McLeod
Yes. Some of our favorite products that we've used from Primarily Pure are their charcoal deodorant, the cleansing oil, their lavender complexion mist, and their clarity serum. Like every freaking product of theirs, we're not kidding. Knocks it out of the park as far as quality and making our skin feel incredible.
- [33:27]
Eric Floberg
For 10% off your order, you can use Code Heart and Hustle. That's all caps, no spaces at checkout. Using the link in our show notes.
- [33:33]
Lindsay Roman
We know that you're going to love.
- [33:35]
Eric Floberg
Primly Pure as much as we do. Again, that's Code, Heart and hustle for 10% off your order today.
- [33:40]
Lindsay Roman
Okay, I want to do video now. I know. Okay, this is, like, so practical of a question, and it's about audio. And maybe just as I call myself practical poly today, because I'm just, like, asking all the nitty gritty questions. But when you're in a moment like that with the grandma, like, are. How do you choose? Like, are you. Obviously, you're probably micing up the. The couple, like, during the ceremony for the vows, but, like, are you miking up people? Or like, how are you getting audio from the grandma in that moment?
- [34:07]
Guest Speaker
So the way I shoot is I have scratch audio on a mic on the camera. So it's a shotgun mic on camera. It's not perfect. So, you know, it's. It's directional. So you're just trying to point it at wherever that's happening. Someone like Justin Porter, he's done crazy coverage of micing up, like 12 people on a wedding day, but he'll do like a full. It'll feel like a reality TV show edit. It's really, really interesting. I would encourage everyone to just watch like, one or two of his films because it's. I love stuff like that because it's a completely different approach. And he's bringing his own style and energy to it, and people adore it, and they should because it's awesome. But, yeah, that's on a functional level, totally up to you on what you want to do. I love using these Sony clip mics. They're literally just voice memo recorders. And you could put them on a hold setting where if anybody bumps it, any of the buttons, it'll keep recording. But it has a little clip. So you could just throw it on a lapel, throw it on a dress. You always keep a couple of those in your pocket and you'd be like, hey, real quick. So if someone's doing a first look or there's something happening, you should be like, hey, come here real quick. And you just clip it on them, and they walk away. You might do, like, a clap sync, and then you have, like, really good audio. And you could be, like, hiding in the bushes.
- [35:27]
Evie McLeod
Hiding in the bushes. The story of every wedding filmmaker slash photographer ever. I love it. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Is there anything. Because everything you're talking about, Eric, is very. You as the artist, have to be so aware of your surroundings on the day of. And everything like that. But I feel like what you were talking about in general, of really getting to know your couple and. And finding out more about them and, like, you know, they love. They have this cabin in New York or whatever is. Do you have any tips for the listeners, photo or video, who are like, how do I build that kind of trust and connection with my clients? Maybe especially. I'm curious, especially on the video side, because I feel like that's a lot more rare that. At least that I hear. Maybe I'm just too immersed in the photo world. But for a videographer to do that level of, like, getting to know their story and, you know, all of that. I hear that a lot more for photo, not video. Is that. Do you feel like that's the case? And then what encouragement would you have for the listener who's like, hey, I really would like to put in more of getting to know my couple and how to build that trust and connection.
- [36:39]
Guest Speaker
Yeah. And it's ironic because filmmaking inherently is a more intensive form of storytelling, and so you would think it would be the opposite. But I think the standard is just kind of like, oh, you're secondary to the photographer. So at first, it would be a lot of intentionality. Your clientele might not be prone to want to have that conversation or want that depth. That's why I think it's so important to have proof of concept pieces in your portfolio. And that requires you going to specific. Maybe like, friend connections or people that you already know that you're shooting for and going to them and be like, hey, I have this kind of crazy idea. Would you be willing to go for it? We're gonna shoot outside the day. We're gonna shoot in your apartment. We're gonna film you going on a date night and. And just make it really cinematic and feeling like this is a part of their life. You incorporate that into that friend's wedding film that maybe you shot at a discount or. And they have that flexibility.
- [37:39]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [37:40]
Guest Speaker
And then you start putting things like that in your portfolio and on your website, and then your clientele Starts to expect like, oh, I actually want. I want that. So they lead in. They're like, oh, I want that. You're like, okay, you want that? Great. This is the process. Then we need to get to know each other. And they're like, absolutely, let's do it. Then you saying that's the only way we can do this? Because if I don't know you, we can't have the depth that you want in your film. Like you've seen on my website and these other ones.
- [38:08]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, love it.
- [38:09]
Lindsay Roman
That's so good. Okay, you mentioned before you love or. Well, you just. Your story of how you eventually kind of like diversified your business with YouTube. What was the original, like, inciting incident? Speaking in story terms, mostly inciting incident that like, caused you to maybe scale back with weddings and like, start diversifying and open yourself up to YouTube in that way.
- [38:41]
Guest Speaker
Well, so I started YouTube in 2017, 2018, and I didn't really know at that point the potential, like the earning potential monetarily that the platform could provide. It was more so just, hey, how could I market myself and get some views and try to grow this thing? And so a lot of the early videos I made were tutorial based on wedding photography and wedding filmmaking. And so that gave me the ability to then start actually teaching on the subject, doing workshops, doing patreon and online courses. That eventually became a really robust form of income for me. So that happened very naturally. But it was always led by, I'm feeling really passionate about making this stuff and the audience is just really responding well to it in volume and depth of comments and really sharing my philosophies in that as well. There's a common phrase I like to go to whenever I want to make a video with intention that usually ends up getting a lot of views. The model. So YouTube is, you know, a lot of people teach on, on YouTube videos being three part stories, beginning, middle, end, however you want to dice it. I found out that this approach for myself in Hook, Info and Heart was a really powerful way to deliver a message. So hooking them as you do in essays in English class, you know, growing up and figuring out what that hook is and what a lot of people do on social media, the middle part being really robust information that helps them in their own career, own business, own life, that's not beating around the bush, but actually giving good quality information. And that's usually where it ends for a lot of people on YouTube. And what I would do in the end is I would kind of sucker punch the audience with this heart perspective of, well, this is why I'm doing it so introspectively. I would say that I'm doing it because I want to support my family here. I want this to be part of my career. And especially when it came to wedding coverage and wedding business, it was like, my intention is serving my clientele so that they feel loved and cared for first and foremost. I know that if that happens, then my family is going to be taken care of as well. So I taught a lot about, like, very specific interactions I had with clients and beautiful moments I've had with families and really tragic things as well, about how wedding photography and filmmaking has allowed those clients to remember, you know, tragic deaths or, you know, whatever the circumstances. And I noticed that the audience was really responding to this sentiment because YouTube is a really powerful platform in that the audience can really clearly decipher if people are being legitimate or not, people are being fake or not. It's. It's pretty obvious. So when I. When they started responding to, like, my authentic philosophical approaches, I think that's where people really started to want to listen, learn more, and engage with growing their own business and me helping teach them. And, yeah, I mean, none of that was like, I never set out to do that. And so a lot of my business and diversification is always just kind of led with my heart with, like, I just want to pursue this because I love it and I love seeing that people are interacting with it and benefiting from it first and foremost. And then if there's a way to monetize that where it doesn't feel transactional and dead, where I really struggle with that, because I'm always struggling with this feeling of if people are going to pay me for some sort of service or education or whatever. I feel like I'm almost taking advantage of them. But I always have to step back and think, well, if this is really helping them grow their own business and develop their own philosophies and support their own lives and families, that's a wonderful, beautiful thing. Yeah. And it's just been so cool to see that throughout the years.
- [42:55]
Evie McLeod
I love it. I feel like so much of what you said in, like, kind of your journey with each thing was just simply leading with your heart first and foremost. But then I just, like, as you were talking, I was like, it's also just, I mean, the sign of a good entrepreneur in that you were just aware of opportunities that were in front of you and obviously making sure you were taking, picking the right ones that felt aligned and valuable. For you and you know, your audience. But that willingness to pivot, to adjust, to open a new door, I think that's one of the key things when it comes to talking about like diversifying your revenue streams or you know, opening up a, a new opportunity, a new offer, whatever it is. There's just a whole side of it that's just like you have to have your eyes open to what's unfolding kind of in front of you and be willing to make a shift or a pivot. Do you feel like that's like an accurate kind of assessment of what your journey was? Just being aware and alert and being willing to pivot?
- [44:05]
Guest Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And it's really helpful to have a foundation of reliable income when doing that.
- [44:12]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [44:13]
Guest Speaker
Because I think that's where a lot of artists really struggle is they are searching for that next thing, how they're going to build their career and they're doing it off of having nothing to support them financially. And so it's this blend of sometimes doing a lot of work that you might not want to do. Like maybe I was subsidizing a lot of, a lot of what I was evolving into by shooting a lot of weddings where I didn't line up philosophically with a couple. Like when I shared that message with them, they're like, okay, cool, whatever. Just like show up on Saturday. I'm like, okay, yeah, cool. And so. Or is like doing family sessions and you know, like that's not always easy for people like me and. But there's just these paychecks here and there and maybe some passive income that I'm building here and there, getting ad revenue from YouTube that's supporting my risk tolerance and stepping into new efforts and new endeavors. Like Fast forward to 2022 and we shot an entire feature length documentary with Joe Greer. And all of that was just out of my pocket, out of as a passion project. So. And then it didn't really make any money, but now it's just evolved into this crazy web of connections. And even just like a few weeks ago I got an email from an executive at, at a literal Hollywood studio that just wanted to chat on the phone. I'm like, well, I never thought that would ever happen. So you know, it's like. But then there's this whole perspective of self awareness where I experienced that. And I look at it, I'm like currently right now with what I'm doing. I'm actually not even interested in pursuing like the Hollywood route right now. Yeah, I could go call out that person again. He said I could, you know, and. And then make more connections and maybe move my whole family to la. I'm just not interested in that life right now. But now I have all of these doors to potentially walk through, but a foundation of stable income through a bunch of different means.
- [46:22]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, that's so good.
- [46:23]
Lindsay Roman
I like the balance that you said of like, having a paycheck that you can rely on regularly. It gives you freedom to be able to then do those passion projects.
- [46:34]
Guest Speaker
Yeah.
- [46:34]
Evie McLeod
Or to experiment, to try to see a potential doorway that you could walk through and be like, this might not work, but I have the financial freedom right now to take a risk, like you said, and to recognize that.
- [46:49]
Lindsay Roman
Can you demystify YouTube ads for me for a minute? At what level of subscribers do you actually need to make anything more than a Penn?
- [47:01]
Evie McLeod
Maybe that's just like, you just changed the entire topic.
- [47:06]
Lindsay Roman
No, we're talking about, like, diversification. We're talking about everything.
- [47:10]
Guest Speaker
No, I'm really passionate about this because not a lot of people in the wedding world actually know that I started an entire running channel. And so now I'm balancing my main creative photo video channel and a running channel. And that's been a whole whirlwind of passion and fun. And now I do more running stuff than really any, like, creative stuff, which is insane. And I'm coaching renters now and all sorts of craziness there. But a lot of people think that people only make money on YouTube based off of ad revenue, where ad revenue is actually just a small portion of the pie, at least in a business sense of building a YouTube channel. So you have based off of ads that run on your video. If you monetize it, use licensed music and make it monetizable. You get a variable rate from YouTube through two different metrics, a CPM and an RPM. CPM is clicks per mil, which is 1000 views or rate per mil. The clicks per the CPM is the rate at which advertisers are willing to pay per thousand views on your niche in that video. And the RPM is then your cut. So YouTube actually takes like the majority of that money, and then they give you like maybe 40 to 45% of that cut, and that RPM number is anywhere from like $8 to $15 per thousand views. So, like, between my two channels, I'm really never regularly pulling any more than 2500 or $3000 a month, which is. Which is good. But it's. It's much more in like, I have. I have a running sponsors now, like I, I get, I get paid to use specific gels and electrolytes and like I'm sponsored by a company called BPN and so I have an agreement with them to incorporate that stuff into the videos. I have long, long standing partners that sponsor specific, specific videos on my main channel that, that pay my sponsorship rate for a specific video. So it might be one off with one video or it might be a huge year long contract like I have with bpn and I'm just putting it through everything throughout the entire year. That is insanely robust because I keep saying robust. I'm sorry.
- [49:54]
Evie McLeod
It's a great word. Keep using it. It's making sense.
- [49:58]
Guest Speaker
It's really beneficial to have all of these partnerships and all of these connections because at any given point I could just reach out to any of these brands and be like, here's a creative idea, you want to go for it? They're like, yep, we got room in the budget, let's do it. And you can just kind of like create your own paychecks based off of your bandwidth. I'm never really in that position. It's mostly just like, oh, I have deadlines on all of these things. I'm never really like reaching out, but it is that security blanket of, oh, if things get really slow, I could just reach out to musicbed. I could just reach out to pick Time. I could just reach out to all these different sponsors and as long as my idea is really creative, they'll be like, yeah, that sounds great, let's do it. So yeah, and then there's all the different, you know, there's products that you could sell. I sell digital products with my photo presets and video luts. I'll be selling socks with a company in the running world soon. Like there's all these then like affiliate.
- [50:56]
Evie McLeod
Yeah.
- [50:57]
Guest Speaker
Things that you could do. There's Amazon affiliate links, there's, there's a, like endless ways to make money.
- [51:04]
Lindsay Roman
Yeah, that makes sense. That's. It feels, it feels very similar to podcasting except I guess Apple doesn't pay us.
- [51:11]
Evie McLeod
No, they do not.
- [51:13]
Lindsay Roman
But in the sense that like you use the platform that you have with either paid partnerships or your own.
- [51:21]
Evie McLeod
Well, and also the shelf life. I mean, this is at least from my understanding of YouTube. The shelf life for content such as YouTube is significantly longer than, you know, something like TikTok or Instagram or whatever. And it's just once you've created it, especially attached to some form of affiliate link or product or, you know, digital products, physical product, whatever that could be. Out there on the SEO for anyone who's searching, you know, how, how to train for a marathon, they find your thing and boom, it's, you know, all connected. So it's a brilliant opportunity for, as a business owner to create, especially someone with your skills and talent naturally, like you already had at your fingertips. It's just so different from social media.
- [52:11]
Guest Speaker
Like hamster wheel, rat race, it's pretty insane. Like you get for bang for buck. It's no question, like everybody unanimously says it's the platform in that regard because YouTube's owned by Google, it's all SEO driven. So if you make, if you make a video title, that's a super popular phrase to Google and you make the best video on it, it's going to do views for years. So like you said, if it's attached to a product, like I have videos that are years old, but I'm getting commissions on whatever was being sold in it for a minute of a 25 minute video and I have videos that like get hundreds of views a day still like two years removed. So just because it's SEO driven and it's in the algorithm recommended to people just all the time. Yeah, pretty. It's unbelievably powerful.
- [53:07]
Evie McLeod
I have a question for you, Eric. When we're talking about diversification, I mean obviously that could mean a million things that could mean, you know, hey, go and buy a business or you know, let's talk about maybe you start teaching, doing some one on one mentoring and coaching as a, as a filmmaker. Like there's so many things that we're talking about. But you, in your journey, YouTube was a big part of your diversification and you know, a big part of kind of like I guess the central hub. I don't know if you would agree with that but like from my outside perspective, I'm like, there's a central hub of almost everything you're doing is your YouTube and your YouTube channels. What is that something you would recommend in general to most of the listeners who are on here who are maybe in the filmmaking video world. If you're like, hey, I think all of you, 90% of you, whatever, should be exploring or at least looking at the option of YouTube or are you like, hey, that's like 5% of you may actually be interested in that. Like, what are your thoughts there?
- [54:05]
Guest Speaker
That's a great question. I have, I have maybe controversial thoughts.
- [54:12]
Lindsay Roman
On this because we love controversial thoughts.
- [54:14]
Guest Speaker
Yeah, most, most people are like, do it, gotta go for it. Like be consistent, do it for a year. Like There's a threshold that a lot of people go for with getting monetized. You can't just get monetized right away. You have to reach, you have to reach 1000 subscribers, 4000 watch hours across your channel over 365 days. So a lot of people really struggle to meet that threshold before they even start making ad revenue. If you have one video pop off, you'll like get monetized and then that's a lot of psychological momentum for someone to then keep going and they get proof of concept for their own style and they start replicating that and then getting consistent. I've seen so many people try to be consistent for the sake of being consistent and growing a YouTube channel and it's a hamster wheel and it's not, and it's not providing any income. They feel enslaved to it. And I don't want that for anyone. So a huge part of YouTube is having enough self awareness to realize that it's worth your time. So the concept phrase I've always championed on my main channel is lean into what makes you different. And that's really, to me, the only way you can stand out on a, a platform like YouTube. You have, you can't just make the same stuff that everyone else makes because you'll just get lost in the noise. It's the same as any other platform. You have to bring something interesting or different to the table. And there's so many creative ways to do that, but you have to find out what that is for yourself. And I think a whole year of testing that and figuring out what works and what doesn't is a really cool thing to try. But if you get to the end of that year and you're like, well, there's been no growth relatively, I'm not making any money this way or the other, then just be like, is this worth pursuing or not anymore. So really for me, it was like, I'm going to go in with zero expectations of anything in return. And if things start, you know, if I start getting traction, it's a really cool thing. It's like really similar to paying off debt. You're like, if I can get traction with it, then it reinforces my desire to keep doing it because there's a reaction and proof of concept. And so I'm going to double down and try to replicate that in a different way creatively with this new video topic, see if that tracks. And then all of a sudden you get an email from a potential sponsor and then you get your first sponsorship and you're like, oh no, I got a paycheck. I'm going to invest that to make this new creative thing that's even better. And then another sponsor comes. So it's like, have no expectations but like warmly welcome all those exciting new things to fuel you into growing it more. And if that's not happening, really look in the mirror and see is this worth pursuing?
- [57:10]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, that's good. That's so good. I feel like every, everyone needs to hear that, especially as entrepreneurs and multi passionate entrepreneurs that want to do everything who like, it's so easy to be on this, you know, podcast with multifaceted entrepreneurs where you hear this idea and this topic and you're like, oh my gosh, Eric's videos are so dope. And he has two channels now and that's like a huge hub for all of his different like revenue streams that he has going. And I need to be jumping on the YouTube train and then to, I mean, do what I did where I launched a YouTube channel and I was like, this is way too much work. I don't like this at all. I'm just gonna let this die slowly in a corner.
- [57:48]
Guest Speaker
It's so much work.
- [57:50]
Evie McLeod
It is so much work. You have to, you have to have really good systems. You have to have or a lot of time on your hand or a great team or all of the above.
- [58:00]
Guest Speaker
It's a lot of tolerance. Yeah. It's just like it's working. It's working when you really don't want to and it's meeting a lot of deadlines because you could just, you could leave it at it half done and if you don't jump on that thing right away, it's going to get lost in the sauce.
- [58:14]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, yeah.
- [58:15]
Lindsay Roman
Do you have a quota of like a specific amount of videos per month for either channel?
- [58:21]
Guest Speaker
I don't like putting it on myself. The running channel is so much easier to be consistent with because it's just an ongoing docu series of my training. So like all we have to do. So I've had a full time employee for the two different full time employees for the past two and a half years. Cyrus actually just ended his one year contract and he's going into full time freelance. But I'll still hire him contractually. So every once in a while I'll just have him come out and film a workout. And then for now, a lot of it is going to be me doing talking heads on my own. But like the run channel is super easy as I'm building towards a marathon to just Make a weekly video on my training that week. And there's a reoccurring audience that faithfully just tunes in no matter what. The creative world is completely different. That niche is entirely different. And it's going through a really difficult stage right now because it's so saturated and it's so redundant that now for me, where I'm at right now, all I do on my main channel is if I have a sponsor, I'll make a video. But I'll make it good enough that it's not super annoying that every video has a sponsor. Yeah. Whereas the running size is. All of my contracts are long contracts. So I'm not ever going like, this video is sponsored by.
- [59:38]
Lindsay Roman
Right.
- [59:38]
Guest Speaker
I'm just going like, hey, for this workout, I'm doing two scoops of G1. I'm sport these electrolytes and recover after the workout code float work for 10% off. And then going into my workout. Um, yeah, so I again try to do everything passion driven first. And unfortunately there are still deadlines based off of contracts you sign with sponsorships. Um, but yeah, I'm really going into a season where I'm. I'm just really excited to have a whole lot more freedom on what I make and when I make and how I want to make it. And now that I'm not paying Cyrus a full time salary, I'm really interested in exploring a world where I slow down more and take more time, especially on the main channel, to make things that are just really super engaging that I know can like do upwards of like a million views if I really take the time on it.
- [60:32]
Lindsay Roman
That's awesome.
- [60:34]
Evie McLeod
You definitely have all the, all the ingredients that you need, all the skills, all the passion, the vision, everything. Every video I see from you, I feel like I'm like, holy cow, that's so good. So detailed. So, you know, the storytelling, the visuals, everything is just so rich. So that's really cool to see.
- [60:50]
Lindsay Roman
I have like. As we're kind of slowly wrapping up, I have a question that's kind of like bridging both the conversation of wedding filmmaking and then YouTube. It's almost this conversation. We kind of talked about this before we started recording of. I don't know if you. I feel like you might feel this. I felt this. I think I even felt this when I was in photography. And I think that was because we, we really got in in the era of like Jenna Kutcher and I, I think I saw like, almost like there is an expected track of like, okay, you get into the wedding industry, and you blow up. And you blow up, and then you leave it for. Or, like, new education. Maybe there's. Because it's like, oh, if you get to a certain age, that's really hard on your body to do, like, 10 hours every Saturday. And so there's that p. The conversation. But I feel like there's this. There's this talking point in the. In the wedding industry that you almost have to kind of diversify or, like, figure out your next thing, because that won't be forever. And I would love just your hot tea on that. On that topic.
- [61:52]
Guest Speaker
Yeah. I think I. For a long time, I. I've felt really offended by people asking that. By asking, whenever anyone asked me, when are you going to get out of weddings? I was always like, how dare you? Like, this is a sustainable career. You could do forever if you really care about it. Yeah, that's, like, you actually could. I'm watching people do it. My friend Tim Tabayu has been doing it for over 20 years now. He's based out of Chicago. My buddy Ben Heisch, who shot my wedding, still going strong, like, but he's even diversifying now, like, Ben Chiz. So I don't. We talked about this before we started the podcast. Like, I don't think people are asking that, you know, with harmful intention they might see something that you don't. And so you really have to reckon with yourself on what your life is circumstantially. If you stay really fit and active and healthy, like, there's no question you can be shooting weddings into your 60s. Like, I see people in Chicago doing it. And. And what's so funny to me is that, like, really inexperienced photographers who are, like. Who are blowing up will make fun of those people. And I'm like, you realize they've been killing it for, like, three decades before you were born. Like, they might not be your style, but they're so established, and they're, like, raking on really classic style. And it doesn't matter that they're not your style. Like, they're doing fine. And so it's all deeply personal because in, like, these circles, everything is really artistic. And some people aren't super artistic when it comes to wedding photography. And they just do volume. And, like, they're like, sure, yeah, two weddings a weekend. Everything through AI editing, bing, bang, boom, three grand a wedding. Like, I'm making. Doing a hundred weddings a year, 300 grand. You're like, okay. Like, that's great. I mean, and if you can handle that, awesome. So, yeah, it's, again, dependent on what a lot of people in our circles really want, an artistic career, really want to diversify their business. And so I don't think it's harmful to pursue those things. I also don't think it's taboo to stay in weddings for as long as you feel comfortable doing that if you feel super passionate about it. I think the one caveat is to make it sustainable for yourself. You have to figure out how it's sustainable. If you're burning out of it and you're feeling so tired, you have to ask yourself why. And for me in particular, when it got really hard, I had to constantly go back to, how can I shoot this day through the. The eyes of my clients? How like it? Sure, it's my 272nd wedding I've ever shot, but, like, they've been to four weddings in their life, and this one's theirs. So, like, maybe think about that and think about how exciting that is for them. And when you can harness that kind of empathy and excitement, then all of a sudden you're just like, you have this renewed energy in life, in the work that you do, and that then falls into all, like, being present and enjoying the day. And that's when you end with the trip or the day. People embracing you on the dance floor or saying goodbye to you, just being like, you just made this day what it was, and we're so thankful for you. So, yeah, maybe that's not happening for the person that's shooting 100 weddings a year, but they're finding their sustainability in a completely different way that works for them.
- [65:42]
Evie McLeod
Yeah, I think that was so. That was like, preaching right there. I mean, every. Every person is going to approach both their art, but also their business setup completely differently. And as humans, to just recognize, hey, I might not do it the way that so and so is doing it, but that doesn't mean that they're doing it wrong or that my way is right or better. It's just like this humility and this willingness to recognize and almost in some ways, take our eyes off of everyone else and be like, what do I want and what works for me and what is sustainable for me? Because we are in a field where, unfortunately, burnout is very common because we are, in so many ways, pouring our hearts and souls into what we're doing. And if we're not careful, it's very easy to either lose our passion and therefore burn out just because we feel dead inside, because we're no longer doing something we love because we've gotten on autopilot or to be pouring so much out, but we're overworking that. We're just dead inside because we're just drained. There's nothing left to give either way. The point of just, hey, everyone can do it differently, and it could be perfect for each and every person. Put your eyes on your own lane and what you want and what is sustainable for you. I think that was literal gold mine of wisdom right there, Eric. That was so good.
- [67:15]
Guest Speaker
Well, thank you. Yeah, it's. It's fun to. It's fun to relate to people in the industry and, like, see that because. Yeah, it's just. I mean, it's so hard to get lost in the sauce of the work that we do. And so often so many people just need to step back and just look at all of it and be like, what are we doing here? What's important? Like, why am I doing the things that I'm doing? And is it leading to a life that I wanted for myself? Because if you're just burning yourself out and, like, not spending time with the people you care about and not building your own relationships in your own life and letting all that stuff fizzle, like, all right, well, is the paycheck worth it? Is the notoriety worth it? Is the business growth worth it? Like, I submit that it is not.
- [68:07]
Evie McLeod
We concur.
- [68:08]
Lindsay Roman
We concur. Amazing.
- [68:12]
Evie McLeod
I love it.
- [68:12]
Lindsay Roman
Eric, you have been a joy to talk with this last hour. Thank you for being on the show and giving us your time and your wisdom and just talking about all the things, wedding, filmmaking, YouTube, all my haphazard questions. But for anybody that has listened to this and they want to learn more from you, they want to check out your YouTube channels. They want to, like, get into the world of Eric Floberg. Where can they find you?
- [68:36]
Guest Speaker
Uh, I got a. It's funny, as you said, like, YouTube is my hub. Like, my website is just not even. It's. It's, like, half done and whatever. That's ericfloberg co. And then, yeah, my YouTube channel is just my name, Eric Floberg. And then the running one is Flowbrook runs.
- [68:51]
Evie McLeod
I love it. Eric, thank you for everything you gave today. I know our listeners love this, so thank you for just sharing your wisdom and your time today.
- [68:59]
Guest Speaker
Thanks for having me. It was great.