Whenever you look great on camera, people will look at you
differently. It's more about authority,
positioning and confidence. You don't need to be a pure
expert on anything in order to start.
That's the most common mistakes you've seen across the board.
Most people think that you need just a better camera to make it
look epic, but the reality is lighting is way more important
than the device that you're using.
I've created studios in literally any space, including
corridors, bedrooms, kitchens, garages, living rooms,
everywhere. What does success look like to?
You to me success happened when I was able to.
All right, Simona, so excited to have you on the show.
Yeah, same. Very excited.
Thanks for having me. So I.
Learned two things about you. I learned that you're incredibly
good at setting up studio spaces no matter where you go, and that
you have maybe an above average sense of how to make this whole
creator thing work financially. I mean, I've been doing this for
for a few years and for the first few years they were just
failure on top of failure. So let's say it took me a while,
but now finally it seems like it's working out.
So you are digital nomad, right? You travel around the bunch.
You've had the luxury of setting up a bunch of spaces.
So when you walk into a new space, what is something that
you notice? What do you like?
Do you look at angles like? What is your perspective on
this? I tell you what, even before
entering into a space, I I look online for photos for, for
things that I could use as backgrounds because I want to
make sure to have at least a few elements that I can use in my
background. And then I've created studios in
literally any space, including like corridors, bedrooms,
kitchens, garages, living rooms, everywhere.
So now I'm quite skilled at it and I can recognize quite easily
spaces that I could use for studios.
And So what makes a good space, or what makes you choose a space
over another? Oh that's that's a very good
question. First of all, in case nothing
works, I start with a plain white wall and then I want to
have at least 2 meters and 20 of space without nothing so that I
can start with 0. Then usually I don't like to
work with white walls whatsoever, so I always try to
have either a texture background or maybe I can buy some
wallpaper, I can buy plants, I can buy panels that I can use
momentarily because most of the time I cannot really drill or
paint the wall in like temporary accommodation.
So I try to always have some sort of texture in the
background. Then the next thing is that you
want to try to have as much depth as possible, which means
that you want to set up your camera on the opposite side of
your background. And even right now, the camera
is literally attached to the wall that I have in front of me.
And then I'm using this, which looks quite decent as a
background, which is currently basically the living room that I
am that I'm in right now with just the sofa, looking for
symmetry. Then kind of like try to balance
both of my sites. So on one side I have a plant
and then on the other side I have a floor lamp.
So these are kind of like the main general guidelines that I
try to look for whenever I create studios.
And so do you travel with a bunch of kit or do you just work
with whatever practicals are available in the house?
In terms of background design and practicals, I always work
with whatever I have. Sometimes I need to buy maybe an
extra plant, but I always try to have a very low spending.
Otherwise if I need to spend thousands of dollars every time
I move, then it's just it's not going to, it's not going to,
it's not going to work. So the main things that I have
always with me are a 60 Watt light, a foldable softbox, a
teleprompter, a camera, a tripod and a light stand and two pocket
lights. Those are the essential on the
microphone. Sorry, forgot about the
microphone. Those are the essentials that I
need all the time, no matter where I go, just because buying
an extra light every time, it will be quite, quite expensive.
But in terms of background design, I've built studios with
literally €20.25. I mean studios building
backgrounds with €2025 because it's all about understanding the
kind of texture that you want to have in the background and there
are some very cheap possibilities out there and it's
just very fun for me to create an epic looking image that cost
€15. Nice.
So you said in your intro, you're now making entrepreneurs
and creators look epic before they look epic.
What? What do they do wrong?
Like what is the most common mistakes you see across the
board? I've seen it, I've seen it all.
Honestly I would say most people think that you need just a
better camera to make it look epic, but the reality is I can
literally show you right now 2 images that have been shot with
the same exact camera in the same exact location with the
same exact background but one looks rubbish and the other one
looks amazing. This is because of lighting.
Lighting is way more important than the device that you're
using. If you upgrade from a camera of
$1000 to $2000, so that's a double price.
It won't make any difference if you don't change your lighting.
So the biggest mistake that I see is just not taking care of
lighting. And people think that lighting
is extremely difficult, whereas I think it's not.
And we can use some basic rules to make it look much better.
The first one of which being have the light higher than your
eyelid. So let's think about, for
example, ringlet, right? Most of the time, the ringlets
have the phone holder right in the middle of the light.
This is for convenience. It's not because it looks good.
It will make you look flat. Whereas if you lift it up and
then you maybe detach the phone and then you have it 45° higher
than your island, this is going to look so much better for your
face. And this is one of the key thing
that I teach and that whenever we do this movement, this little
change is going to make a massive difference.
Have you noticed like a shift in the output from the creators
once they like have their setup? Like does it boost their
confidence that make their content better?
What's the like emotional response that you get from the
people who go through your program?
Yeah, like I, I see a lot of people that they just literally
send me, I received I think an hour ago, an e-mail that says
like, I've been trying to do this for so long.
And then just thanks to, to, to a few tips and tricks, now I
really look good on camera. And it's not only about ego, but
it's more about authority, positioning and confidence.
So whenever you look great on camera, people will look at you
different just because you have usually, you know, one to three
seconds to judge somebody's content, right?
And then if you look great, you're going to think, oh wow,
this person puts effort in his or her content.
That means he's probably going to put effort also in his
business. And therefore I can trust him
and also myself when I see my content and I know that I look
good on my content, it makes me feel really good.
It makes me even, I want to, I feel inspired to create more
whenever I know that my content looks professional.
And on the other hand, it's exactly opposite for people that
really they think they're ugly. They they don't or they're not
satisfied with the image. They can't really work out how
to actually make it look good. And it just puts your
inspiration to to 0. You know what I mean?
It's it's really it helps a lot in so many different areas.
And especially if you're talking with clients, if you're doing
webinars, if you are a closer maybe and you want to try to
literally close clients looking good, it will help massively and
it will create instant trust. And also it's fun to create
backgrounds and to create studios.
I mean, at least for me. OK, real quick, if you're
enjoying this conversation, if you're learning something, if
you feel inspired, can you do me one simple favor?
And that is just to share the episode, share with people you
know, share it on social media because the algorithm does not
care. But if you're still here, you
do. And the only way more people get
to see this type of content is if people like you talk about it
and share it. So that is the only ask I have
for you. This content is completely free
and I'd love for you to enjoy it.
But yeah, if you want more of this, just share it.
And now let's get back to the show.
This space I'm in is quite limited in its layout and it
took me, I don't know, years to get to the point where I am now
where to me this is workable. I don't think it's perfect, but
it works for me. But I don't know how would you
rate this setup. I would say first thing first, I
would block out all the natural light coming in, which means
that you will be able to control it with artificial lighting.
Even here I have a window right here, but I blocked it out
because I want to have full control usually.
The second thing that I would say is try to declutter your
background to remove everything that is not absolutely necessary
just because you want to have it as clean as possible.
You want to be the subject of the frame.
You don't want anything around to be distracting, but you just
want to complement your image. And then I would try to have an
image that will remove the white parts, especially the part of
the window so that you don't see the heater, you don't see the
window. So probably a more cropped in
image would look slightly better.
I like the frames that you have on the opposite side
potentially. So maybe just rotating the
camera on that side, it would be better and probably changing the
lens if we can. I always suggest to have the
lowest aperture possible to have more separation.
So if you have an F 1.4, F 1.8, something like that, that will
make a massive difference. Even yesterday I was on a call
with the client and his image was looking OK, but it was just
very flat. It was because he had the
aperture set at F 5.6 and he had the lens that could go down to F
1.4. And I'm like just go down and
it's going to make a gigantic difference.
Obviously that's super important.
And then in your studio, I would add lights to the background.
This will allow to have more depth to illuminate the plant,
maybe a light that shines through bottom up to the plant
and maybe some small pocket lights or fairy lights on the
floating shelves that you have. Because I think your studio
looks amazing. We probably just need to work a
bit on the lighting, the background and cutting things
that are extra like the window for example.
All. Right, cool, I got nice set of
roasted. That's a first, but you know,
that's part living room, part office, part everything.
And I, you know, I like the daylight vibes that come in, but
I totally get the like make it dark and control the lighting.
Just just two very different approaches I think.
But probably I think you can keep potentially the natural
light coming in because as you said, I totally agree there too.
You know, you could have natural light coming in.
It might be tricky on the editing if you're recording
content. Yes, it can be.
Because like the windows are much brighter than everything
else. It just looks like a basically
just white inside the windows. That's why I would say try to
cut it out potentially so you just don't see it in the image,
but you can keep the windows up in case you you'd like a
brighter image for sure. All right, cool.
Fairpoint, I'll take it into consideration.
So I'm sure you also deal with a lot of people who start with the
built in webcam to whatever computer they're using.
Like what, what do you need to make your first home studio?
Do you need like €10,000 to get started or where do you start
those people off? So if you have absolutely
nothing in terms of gear I would recommend and you don't have
much budget, I would recommend that you start recording with
your phone. But the first investment should
be a light. OK.
And with light, I would recommend a 60 Watt light.
You can find it from non light go dogs, newer, whatever comes
in your mind. There's so many brands out there
based on price. I have everything non light
because I used to be a non light ambassador.
Then what's really really, really important is that you use
a softbox. This will allow you to have a
diffusion in front of the light and this will create amazing
flattering light. And then as I said before, you
want to have it higher than your eyeline, 45° pointing towards
you. So this is kind of like the main
thing that I would suggest. So don't buy a camera if you
don't have much budget, but buy a light and start with your
phone. If you're enjoying creating
content after you look at least decent, then you can invest in a
camera. In general, my guideline is like
if you have less than $1000 budget, there is no point buying
a camera. Just use your phone will be the
same quality. So I would suggest to save up to
you know when you have $1000 then yes you can invest in a
camera and there are like some great alternatives out there for
for $1000 and that's a great starting point.
Then if you have a bit more budget, you want to have
probably a Sony A74, Sony A73, something like that between 1002
thousand budget. And then you'll probably need to
add an extra maybe 500 for a very good lens.
The length that I have right now, it's a Tamron 2875 that
it's like probably $650 like that kind of range and it still
looks pretty good and with the Sony A7 four.
And then the third thing is microphone actually forgot about
that super important as well. This is I think the best quality
overpriced microphone that you can find right now is the Shore
MB 7 Plus. It has a USB C cable that goes
directly into the laptop. So you can record directly with
your laptop or even with your phone.
And then you don't need, for example, the XR cable that most
podcast microphone have just because it will be a massive
hassle. But the audio from this, I think
it's really, really nice. Is there anything else you want
to share about studio setups or anything like that?
Oh yeah, I mean, I have AI have a ton of things to share.
One of the things that usually people don't like overlook,
let's say it's balance within the image.
So whenever you have an element or like big elements on the
left, then you should not leave your right hand side empty.
So try to have balance within the composition and eyes will be
a bit, it will be more pleasant for the eyes.
Then regarding elements that you have in the background, I always
try to recommend to not have anything that is bigger than
your head in the background just because otherwise it will
empower you. It will just not look great and
then you're gonna it's gonna be distracting.
So smaller or maybe elements that can if you have a very
blurred out background, then it's OK maybe to have you know,
bigger elements. Obviously plants are excluded
from this, but even when you use plants, if you use a huge plant
and you're very close to it, it's going to be it's going to
look like a forest. So it tries to have balance also
in the dimension of objects. Then another thing that I can
tell you is that clothes make a big difference for me.
I always suggest to check your outfit, which means that if you
have big logos, if you have a lot of colors in your outfit, if
you have a very contrasting outfit, that will be
distracting. So I want my face, I want people
to look in my eyes instead of my clothes.
So I always suggest to avoid logos and try to be as neutral
as possible. So try to understand, OK, what
could be OK with the background and then go with plain sweater
AT shirt, a shirt that is not distracting.
So I always wear black just because in this case, when you
see my darker backgrounds, you don't see anything on my chest.
You don't. This is not distracting at all.
It's almost like disappears in the background, but then my face
just really stands out. And that's why it's it's good
for me to just wear black. And I like it also because it's
simple. I don't have to choose.
I always wear black. It's just this one thing, one
thing to think about less than than all than everything else
that you have during the day. Love it, love it.
How did you get into this whole thing?
Like how did you just like figure this thing out and what
made you think about this more? Listen, it was a pure necessity.
I so first of all, kind of a bit of background about me.
I love DIY stuff like since it was 12, I started working with
like wood stuff and do things for my own bedroom.
I rebuilt my bedroom like 3-4 times just because I really love
DIY things. It's like and this kind of like
recent years because I was moving so much, I needed to
build content. It's been over five years that
I'm a full time content creator and before I used to be a
videographer. So it's just like I wanted to
look professional every time and everywhere I go.
And therefore whenever I'm in a new room, I need to build a new
space. And because I don't want to
spend crazy amounts of money, I just want to try to find ideas
that will make me look good with cheap.
And then with skills and time, I learned that it's about camera,
it's about light, and it's about just background design and just
some very simple elements that will make it look outstanding.
So it was literally a necessity. Then what happened is that I had
a friend asking me to go and basically make a studio for him.
He wasn't a fit, he was a fitness influencer.
So I went to his place and then I just built up a, a nice
studio. I told him like a few things to
buy and then the image was just looking so much better.
Then I didn't really think that this could have been business
or, or a course or anything because I'm like, Nah, not many
people need this. And then I started creating some
organic content of studio transformation that I was doing
in places. And then every single time I
would post on Instagram, I caught like a piece of content
about studio transformation and how to look better on camera for
content. It would go viral like every
single time. So I'm like, OK, there is
demand, so let's just do a course about this and just teach
very basics things that maybe could be helpful for people.
Then slowly with time, I understood that this was a huge
problem for people. Then I started looking around
and being more attentive on how how people would show up on
camera and I saw that they could be improved with a few simple
tweaks. And therefore I, I was like, OK,
I think there is demand for this and maybe I can even build the
business out of it. And and then here I am today
with like over 1300 entrepreneurs helped.
I have 14,000 students stored on all my courses.
It's just it's been going incredibly well and I'm like,
wow, I was not expecting this at all.
If you think of somebody who wants to create content but
hasn't started, hasn't like made the first move, what would you
tell them? I would say first of all, pick
one single niche. The biggest problem that I see
right now and that it used to be mine, maybe it's mine still
today, is that we want to do too many things because we I enjoy
fitness. I'm a personal training myself
swimming instructor. I love, I do, I work out every
day and obviously because I know quite a quite a bit about
workouts and routine and maybe a little bit of diet, naturally I
want to share that on social media.
But then there will be a mistake because my brand has been built
on photography and videography stuff.
So it's just it doesn't really work that much.
And then also I like to look at financial markets.
I like to invest money in stocks and stuff like that.
Should I talk about stocks as well?
In my channel, most people are tempted and say like, yes, I
want to talk about my cat. I want to talk about cooking, I
want to talk about this. And if you do that, you're
never, ever going to grow up because it's just super hard.
And the the biggest problem that I see is that many times when I
do the speech to people that are starting out, they then
reference. Actors of lifestyle, people that
are posting about whatever they want, that's we are not actors,
we are not already famous. We are completely different
humans. And maybe it can work for one
person out of a million, but we need to assume when we start
this journey that we are not that person, that we are not
that lucky and we need to embrace the normal journey of
steady slow growth. And therefore, if you try 10
different topics, it's never going to happen.
Whereas if you focus on one, it's way, way, way easier to
stand out and have people that follow you for that reason,
because you're, let's say, an expert or somebody that knows a
bit more on that topic. And talking about this, I think
it's really important to understand that you don't need
to be a pure expert on anything in order to start.
You can just share your experience, what you've learned
until now to somebody that is one step behind you, rather than
having to become the top expert and then teach everybody else.
There's no point in doing that. Even when I started my social
media career, I was like literally sharing extremely
basic tips on photography and videography.
And that worked out because most of the people are beginners.
And this is something that I didn't really understand first.
It's just like 99.9% of people watching your content.
It's probably a beginner and and therefore targeting the mass.
It's it's, it's a good thing with basic stuff and that's why
you don't need to be an expert. Amazing, amazing.
To wrap things up, what does success look like to you?
I come from a very small village where I had no idea that all of
this was possible for me. What I've been taught in school
is that you just need to find a full time job that pays you
€1200 a month, keep it until you retire.
That's what's been like what everybody was saying.
And then a bit of luck, a bit of courage, a bit of, I don't know,
I found out about a world that is much bigger than than I
thought. And even today I cannot even
comprehend the numbers that we're doing right now.
Like I, I, it's, it's, it's unbelievable how much money we
are making and how much this is actually helping other people.
So for me, success is has been already achieved years ago when
I managed to go full time into social media and now everything
that comes on top of whatever happened already for me, it's
just a massive ultra E per something that I was not
expecting before. It's just super, super success.
But in terms of what I would be happy with, obviously now
because I have this and like I love working, I love building
new things. So I will keep doing and I don't
have any target in mind. I just really enjoy what I do.
But for me, success happened when I was able to live decent
life without having to do a nine to five.
That's like managing my time. If I want to go to the gym at
11, AMI can do whatever I want. If I want to take a day off, I
do whatever. You know what I mean?
That's that's what success looks like for me.
Super, super personal, but I I love the freedom and I love
being able to do what you love on a daily basis.
I wake up every day wanting to start work ASAP and I finish as
late as I can because I just love it.
As long as I can do my workout daily, even weekends.
This weekend I worked the whole weekend.
My girlfriend didn't really like that but just I had some urgent
things I wanted to finish and get it done.
So this is what success looks like for me.
Amazing. Well this was a great chat.
If people want to know more about you, what's the best place
they can follow you? How can people stay in your
orbit? You can find me on Instagram,
TikTok and YouTube at Pharaoh 21 and then if you want to find me
there, then all you'll find the link in my bio for for the home
studio blueprint in case you want or just send me a message
on Instagram. I try to get back to everybody.
Sometimes it's not easy because it's just my my chat is
absolutely jammed, but I do my best.
All right, what do you think of the new studio setup?
Let me know in the comments down below and make sure to subscribe
to catch the second part of this conversation where Simona tells
me about his ridiculously profitable monetization
strategy. I'll see you over there.