QA 86 – Amy Schmittauer Answers "What kind of equipment do I need to record videos?"

In today's Q&A, we are helping Kathy figure out how she can create awesome videos for her online business with affordable video equipment (or what she already has). Do you have a question you want answered on our podcast? We would love to help you! Click here to ask your question! Resources Mentioned in this Episode Today's expert is Amy from SavvySexySocial.com Amy on Youtube Amy's Podcast iRig Mic Rhode Lapel Mic Let's dive into this week's question! JOCELYN: Hey y'all! You're listening to a Q&A with S&J. Welcome to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, where life always comes before work. We're your hosts, Shane and Jocelyn Sams. Join us, each week, as we teach you how to flip your lifestyle upside-down, by selling stuff online. Are you ready for something different? All right, let's get started. SHANE: What's going on guys? Welcome back to the Expert edition of the Q&A with S&J and today we are bringing back one of our favorite guests to talk about video and how it can improve your brand. It is Amy Schmittauer; Amy, welcome back to the Q&A with S&J. AMY: Shane and Jocelyn are my favorite people in the world, thanks for having me. SHANE: Love it. JOCELYN: Yeah, we are like super pumped when we talked to Amy a little bit ago that she is in the Eastern Time zone. There are very few people in the Eastern Time Zone. SHANE: This is the only podcast we get to record in the Eastern Time zone is when we get to talk to Amy. AMY: It's so funny because most people don't even believe me when I say I'm in the Eastern Time zone – SHANE: I know. AMY: – they're like, "You're in Ohio, so what does that mean?" SHANE: "Do you even have internet?" AMY: "Is that central time?" I'm like, "Yeah, exactly. I'm on Eastern Time, it's all good." SHANE: I always say, we have to like plus or minus four from everything we do because of all the people in California. AMY: Oh no. JOCELYN: East Coast represent – SHANE: East Coast is in the house today. JOCELYN: Let's jump into today's question. It's from Cathy, a Flip Your Life member, and she says, "I cannot afford expensive equipment to make videos; what should I do?" SHANE: If we get any video questions, it's this one because you know, when people start out affordability on everything, you got to get hosting and domains and blah-blah-blah and you got to spend some money to get started. But then we're like "Okay, how are you going to use video?" And they're like, "I can't afford a camera." That's impossible. So what do you say to people when they come to you and they are like "I don't have anything to record with; what do I do?" AMY: Well, it's a bunch of crap, is what it is because you do have something to record with – Cathy, no disrespect. So, most of us have a smartphone and there's no reason to think that if you are going to get serious about video content that you can't use what you already have. I mean, it's actually sort of mind-blowing when you think about the abilities of the cameras that are built into smartphones. This is why the flip camera got discontinued and there are so many other hand-held video cameras nobody is buying because you just have it in something you carry around anyway. So, other than maybe a memory issue, there's no reason for you to say like "I can't use my phone" and there's so many accessories out there to enhance even that product alone if you are worried about internal audio being an issue 'cause you like to do stuff outside a lot. There's a way of getting a microphone that can just plug into your phone and then you automatically have an upgrade there. So, often times when people are trying to sort of drag their feet on video, they are always talking about equipment and it's just very hard to wrap your mind on what are all the things we need: lighting, sound, quality everything; but if you just start with what you have at that point in time, you are going to prove to yourself that you need better...