Creator Scale

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...

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 alludin...

#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 s...

#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 st...

#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 throu...

#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...

#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,...

#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 camera...

#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...

#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 exp...

#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 pro...

#92 - Separating work from your personal life is hard enough already without partnering with, hiring, or working for other people close to you. When you work with your spouse, friend, or a family member, it can be a convoluted mess of emotions, tones, and debating. In this episode I talk with my wife Jen about how we work together on each other’s businesses or on the same business with all the dyn...

#91 - Working from home is way different than going to a separate physical location to work. You don’t clock in or out, no one is looking over your shoulder, and your normal routine of hygiene or commuting go out the window. And right now, a lot of people are being forced to work from home due to CO-VID19. In this episode I talk with my wife Jen about how over the past 9 years of working from home...

#90 - Whether you want one or not you have a personal brand. People want to follow and learn from other people online and even bigger brands “try” to act more like a person than a huge company. In this podcast episode I chat with my buddy Chris Ducker about how to build, scale, and monetize a personal brand, whether you should name your brand after your name or something else, what to do when your...

#89 - If you have the ability and skills to edit video a great way to supplement your existing income is to do video editing for other people. Not only can some editing only projects help fill the gap between other clients or projects you have, you can get paid well doing so. In this episode I chat with Jacob Cross, who I’ve hired to help me film for clients before, but who piqued my interest when...

# 88 - If you’re running a service based company, like making videos for people, you need clients or customers to stay in business each month. And when there is a recession like what we’re currently going through during CO-VID19, sometimes your services are the first to go for a company looking to cut back. But now is an important time to focus on who you can best serve, how you can find them, and...

#87 -If you're like me, you're overwhelmed with everything that is going on right now. The global pandemic is turning the economy into an unknown mess, we want to make sure our finances and our lives don’t implode, and there is an ever-growing pile of work to do to help your business survive all of this. But sometimes, what’s most important is to just take a break. In this podcast episode I give y...

#86 - In this episode I talk with photographer and video creator Tyler Stalman about how important it is to become a “full stack creator”, his term for being able to do the multiple types of creative work needed in today’s competitive landscape.  We discuss how to start a client business and scale it, the importance of setting up multiple revenue streams, how to make your work stand out from the c...

#85 - With the CO-VID19 coronavirus, the world is a bit crazy right now. But I wanted to do my part to share how I’m trying to weather this as an entrepreneur and small business owner and give you some tips for how to best spend your down time during any pandemic quarantines. Now is a time for getting prepared. Not just through buying toilet paper, but using this time wisely to make sure on the ot...

#84 - If you choose what kinds of videos you’re going to make, decide who you want to help, and then show up publicly every week year after year you’ll grow your audience and reach. This is exactly what my friend Thomas Frank has done. He has continually showed up consistently for his audience and become an expert YouTuber. In this episode I talk with Thomas Frank, a full-time YouTuber, about what...

#83 - From selling his last name (twice) to getting paid to wear different t-shirts everyday, Jason Zook has run some of the most unique businesses and marketing strategies online over the past ten years. In this episode I talk with one of the most creative entrepreneurs I’ve ever met. We discuss how he comes up with these unique business ideas, how he pitches company and customers to take a chanc...

#82 - Nowadays anyone can become a "news outlet” by simply commentating on what’s new, what was just announced, or regurgitating what they read online, but to really stand out from the noise in a topic you’re interested in you need to bring a different slant to it. In this episode I talk with Ben Sullins of Teslanomics about how he approaches covering Tesla and sustainable technology news using hi...

#81 - Running a business is hard. You work long hours, you have the livelihood of your employees resting on your shoulders, and you want to do ALL the ideas that are in your head. But sometimes, as successful as you might feel financially or look to others online you burn out. You hit a wall. Your business runs out of money. You need to re-think everything and make the hard decisions. In this podc...

#80 - I’ve been talking to a lot of beginners lately. People just getting started with video, wanting to launch their YouTube channel, record the first online course, start their business, etc. And there is this recurring theme with all of them. They’re doing it wrong. Here’s what I mean. There is really only one metric that matters when you’re starting out. Action. Doing. Movement. Go. When makin...

#079 - After six years of running a video production business I have developed and honed my entire process to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. In this podcast episode I talk in detail about that process and the changes I have made over the years. I cover all the phases of a project from the initial onboarding period to the actual shoot day and all the way through post production....