Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jon Schmidt | Episode 502
Jon Schmidt is a potter, entrepreneur, adventurer, videographer, photographer, father, and husband. Jon began his pottery adventures in 2010 when he took his first wheel throwing class at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, MN. Jon graduated with a Business management degree. Jon combined his passion for handmade pottery and entrepreneurship skills to purchase the coffee shop, Mocha Monkey in 2011, at 21 years old. Since then, Mocha Monkey has grown from 1 store and 18 employees to 3 locations, and over 50 employees. Mocha Monkey uses and sells all handmade Jon Schmidt pottery. Jon has spent most of his time honing the pottery business, being a husband and father to his 18 month old son, Ryder and seeking out the next adventure.
SPONSORS
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
What kind of equipment do you use for Youtube?
So right now I have a Canon T6i DSLR camera with a road mic and it clips on top. And then I have a couple of tripods. One that is at home and one that is in the studio. And that is basically it. I have a couple of lights, it has really changed over time from when I started and I had these cheap little GoPro cameras. I have a wide angle lens for the camera and a couple of lights too because there is no natural light in the studio. That has made a big difference from some of my previous videos.
Is using your Canon better than using GoPros?
I think it just gives me more options. The Canon also is what I used to take pictures of all my pottery too so a lot of the videos I do are kiln unloading or whatever, so I will film the whole thing and then I will take pictures of all the pottery with a different lens so there is more depth of field. And so then I will put all those pictures in the video so the pictures are really high quality and the video is high quality but they are different because one is wide angle and one is more a of a zoom lens.
What kind of editing software do you use?
So I am using Final Cut Pro 10. That is Mac/Apple software. My first 70 movies were just on iMovie that I made on my wif’e’s Macbook Air. Then I actually started getting really into videos and I shot a wedding and I was trying to figure some other things out and I realized I need some better software. Then I upgraded to Final Cut Pro 10, which has been really good.
How important are the titles of your videos?
The titles and the thumbnails are super important.
Explain what a thumbnail is.
So the thumbnail is the picture you see before you actually watch the video. So if you scroll through YouTube, it is just like Instagram, the thumbnail is kind of the hook. How the title and thumbnail work together effect if people are going watch your video or not be interested. The other thing about it is when people look at your channel your thumbnails work just like your grid on Instagram does. If someone looks at your profile on Instagram and they are scrolling through then how does all that look together? So the thumbnails and titles I think are the two most important and most under looked at things . If you are not into the YouTube world you probably don’t care about your thumbnails and titles, bu tif you are trying to grow a channel then these are the most important things.
How do you get people to go to a specific place to purchase your work from YouTube?
So I have done three Etsy restocks since I have had the YouTube channel. You have to keep in mind I have probably been doing between 20 and 30 thousand dollars worth of pottery at coffee shops every year for the last seven years. So just keeping up with that pottery has been somewhat difficult at times. So all of a sudden if I want to put stuff up online then how am I going to keep up with this stuff too. So basically I do a video and then I put it in the title that says, Etsy Restock Number 1, and I will put the link to the Etsy shop in the video I did and then people can check out pots they saw that they liked on Etsy.
How do you make money being a content creator on YouTube?
You have to have a minimum of a thousand subscribers. And you have to have four thousand watch hours in the last 12 month period. That is the base line. No one can make any money under that. Once we hit that, I think we hit it in June or July, then you can apply to be a YouTube partner and they will review your channel and make sure you are not using any copyrighted music or whatever and make sure it is family friendly. Once that happens you can start making a little bit of money. Then it is the ads, there can be multiple ads if your videos are a little longer. It is a super complex thing that I don’t really understand that I am not sure how much I am making from exactly where, but the more views you get on a video the more money you make.
How does YouTube actually pay you?
It is all through Google AdSense. It is integrated with the YouTube partner program. You set it up with your bank account and once a month they send you a direct deposit.
What is a great outing for you and your family?
A great family outing for us is on the boat in the summer to do surfing and wake-boarding. That is what we love doing. We will take out little eighteen month old and me and my wife will be out on the lake. He was with me surfing last year and hopefully he will be out surfing on his own this year.
Book
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Contact:
Instagram: @jonschmidtpottery