"As a new creator, I fell into the trap of thinking everything needed to be perfect and everything needed to be pretty. I spent a lot of money on backgrounds, lighting, cameras, gimbal tripods, special cameras for on-the-go, video apps, training courses, and more - all within a few months. While I had all of this stuff, I found that each thing had its own learning curve.

The backgrounds for video and photography had to be lit just right so that they looked natural and didn’t glare, and setting up the right scene that got the point across but was also nice on the eyes was another thing that had to be perfected. The gimbal tripod was a pain to work with and hard to get the kind of shots I wanted. This was another tool that required its own training to work it properly.

In the end, I found that my studio lighting was harder to set up and much bulkier than using natural daylight. I used my phone for almost all filming, either on a mini tripod or an overhead one that attaches to a tabletop. I didn’t use the fancy editing software most of the time and was able to produce the right style of video just with basic apps on my phone.

This isn’t to say that some of these tools aren’t helpful or good to have, but you don’t NEED any of them when you’re getting started - or ever, if you so choose. Each of these tools has its own quirks and features that need to be perfected, and you’ll end up so distracted trying to do all of these things that you won’t have any time to actually create!

Maybe you’re not doing video or photography as part of your creative process, but I know there are lots of shiny objects in every area of life, where you think “things would be so much easier if I just had THIS.” But all of these things will just take away from the end product you’re trying to make. You can make high-quality videos that people want to watch without anything but your phone, a window, and maybe a basic tripod."