374 - How to Get Web Design Clients through Social Media Videos with Blaze Smith

The social media video and reel game is a hard one to play (and win) when it comes to landing clients. Every platform is beyond saturated, the competition is only growing and unless you’re getting quality leads fairly quick, it can be difficult to stick with.

But as Roberto Blake has recently been quoted in saying:

”While there may be saturation in a market, there’s not a saturation of “quality.”

This could not be more timely for you if you’re wanting to market your web design business with videos and reels. And there may be no better example of this than my guest in this chat, Blaze Smith

Blaze, who at a very young age, started getting clients immediately through Instagram and TikTok reels. Many of them with big brand CEO’s, founders and marketing directors.

We get into his process from planning, to recording, to the proven strategies and blueprints he follows for all his videos which have not only brought in quality leads, but have also built up his social media following to tens of thousands in a matter of months.

If you’re wondering how to stand out and get clients with reels, here ya go.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/374

Episode Transcript

Blaze Smith (00:00):
If you don't have a good hook, you just don't have
a good video, and then the hookis what is going to keep people
watching right, so that hook.
I'll maybe iterate that 50times before I actually pick it,
like I really make sure that issomething I think is
interesting and prompt someoneto like be more interested to
watch the next sequence, whichthe next sequence might even be

(00:22):
one line or two lines a wordlong.
You can't waste any time onshort form content.
Welcome to the Web DesignBusiness Podcast, with your host
, josh Hall, helping you build aweb design business that gives
you freedom and a lifestyle youlove.

Josh Hall (00:41):
Hey friends, it's great to have you here.
I think you're going to be veryexcited that you showed up for
this one If you are someonelooking to get more clients
through social media videos.
Now, my guest in this episode,blaze Smith, has done an
incredible job very quickly inhis young entrepreneurial career
so far in using, morespecifically, reels to land some

(01:02):
really legit web design clients, a lot of them bigger brands
and even folks who are CEOs,founders and marketing directors
in these bigger brands that areseeing his videos.
So in this combo, we're gettinginto everything.
I mean a huge shout out toblaze here, because this is kind
of like an audio masterclassfor social media videos,

(01:24):
particularly reels, with how toplan them, how to go about the
strategy with them, the nittygritty of the timing, the
spacing, the editing, theplanning, the scripts for all
this.
I mean we really get intoeverything.
So a big thanks to blaze forsharing everything he's learned
and getting some really goodclients through mainly Instagram
and Tik TOK, but other channelsas well.

(01:45):
You can connect with Blaze athis website, shovelstudio.
That is also his handle onInstagram and TikTok, where he
has growing followings and, mostimportantly, how he's getting
clients.
And I want to leave you with aquote before we dive in, because
the creator, roberto Blake, hasrecently been quoted in saying
something to the effect of theremay be market saturation, but

(02:09):
there's not a saturation ofquality, and Blaze is a really
good example of how to do reelsquality.
Let's dive in, blaze.
What an honor to have you onthis side side of the show, man.
Thanks for taking some time andwe're gonna.

(02:29):
I think we're having some fundiving into your uh, early into
the journey and your socialmedia epic rise so far, man yeah
, I appreciate you having me onagain.

Blaze Smith (02:38):
I was been a long time viewer so it's like full
circle to be on this podcast andI think I've been really
excited I my perspective,especially maybe coming from a
younger perspective, issomething I always enjoy to hear
.

Josh Hall (02:52):
I have to warn you and apologize up front for the
amount of puns that I'llprobably kick out today.
Your name is just like it's, soit's so punnable.
I probably couldn't controlmyself with a name like Blaze on
my copywriting.

Blaze Smith (03:06):
It's been my whole life, for 24 years.
The Blaze jokes I've heardevery single one.
I was going to say you're welldone.

Josh Hall (03:11):
Yeah, you're well past that, so I'll try to keep
it to a minimum.
Man Well, hey, dude, so much wecould potentially dive in here.
I think what we talked about.
Focusing on with you is yoursocial media.
Seeing on with you is yoursocial media and within the
first year of your business yourInstagram in particular you
have gained over 12,000followers.
You have a very, very engagedpost schedule, like I.

(03:35):
See your posts and see thereels and see the amount of
engagement you're getting.
But I think, most importantly,you're like you're, you're doing
this in a way that's, you know,really getting you clients.
Is this the number one clientacquisition channel for you?
Your Instagram.

Blaze Smith (03:49):
It's number one by far.
I do attend a lot of personalnetworking events, or I did last
year and yeah, it's not even incomparison and I tried cold
outreach.
It's just social media.
It all comes to me now throughsocials.

Josh Hall (04:02):
So you are in your first year of business.
Comes to me now through socials.
So give us you are in yourfirst year of business.
Just give us like the quicksummary or the highlights of the
last year for you.
Like, you know, when did youstart doing design?
And I know you're you're fulltime now already.
So what, what were thehighlights of this last year?

Blaze Smith (04:17):
Yeah, I think for a lot of people their early mid
twenties are a lot oftransitions and a lot of
different things.
That just happened fast.
But for me it was end of lastyear graduated college with a
bachelor's.
Like finally, after six years,I completed an internship.
It was a good UX designinternship at a big regional
bank here in the Midwest.
You actually might even knowI'm Josh, but all that to say is

(04:41):
like the freelancing, thewebsite design stuff was always
in my mind and it really pickedup because I took off on social
media.
Or maybe not took off incomparison to some people, but I
did well on social media andwas able to leverage that to get
new leads and work.
So officially I've maybe beenin business.

(05:04):
I got my LLC like seven monthsago, seven, eight months ago and
I've been into this full timefor maybe three, coming up on
four months Very new to it.

Josh Hall (05:14):
So summer was July 24 , that you like officially
started, officially kicked off,and then, yeah, I mean it was
only a few months after thatthat I remember you saying yeah
about ready to go full time now.
And then you did go full timevery, very, very quickly, just
with the amount of leads andinbound you had, which is also
an important thing too, I think,for folks to remember.

(05:34):
It's like you had a pipeline ofclients and a swarm of projects
very quickly, so it's not likeyou were hurting for clients and
then went full time and justhoped it worked out.
You had some proof in a veryshort amount of time that you
could do this thing.

Blaze Smith (05:48):
I did, and I think my story might be a little
similar to you in the fact thatI feel like I didn't really have
a choice to go full time.
I just was forced to do it.
Maybe not forced is the word touse, but it was definitely my
best interest to go full time.
My internship was it seemedlike it was going to be locked

(06:10):
in to go full-time.
But then, you know, my heartwas more in freelancing and then
some weird organization changescame and it didn't seem as
likely to me.
So I'm like okay, well, this isjust the best option for me.
And I've talked to my bosses, Italked to all my coworkers.
It just made sense.
They all supported me to do it.
My family supported me.
Gofriend it was pretty easychoice for me.
Definitely nerve wracking,though, for sure.

Josh Hall (06:27):
Yeah, now, before this, when you started
freelancing, what was your?
How were you getting clientsinitially?
Was it the good old friends andfamily?
Did you do some localnetworking?
Was it social media right outof the gate?
How'd you get those first fewclients?

Blaze Smith (06:43):
The first clients I ever had.
This is when I was working fulltime, going to school, like
maybe 2022.
So three years from now, it wasjust.
My best friend from high schoolended up being a business owner
.
He does like window tinting andI made a website for him for
like 800 bucks and that to me atthe time was like Whoa, this is
a lot of money, like, and I'mdoing something that's not

(07:10):
physical labor.
I worked at FedEx at the timeand it was so different.
I thought it was so cool andfast forward to maybe 2022, it
was sorry 2024, beginning of2024, I was attending a lot of
networking events.
Beginning of 2024, I wasattending a lot of networking
events, not BNI referrals, butit was more like tech events in

(07:30):
the Milwaukee area.
I'm based in Milwaukee too, bythe way, which seems to have
this growing interest in techstartup stuff.
It's not quite there yet, butthose are the type of people
that you meet and I did likelittle one-off projects, like 10
hours of UX work for thestartup and I'll make 400 bucks
and I was like whoa, like thisis so cool again.

(07:52):
And then I started posting moreon social media.
The first video I ever postedwas in January 2024 on TikTok
and it like blew up right away.
It was faceless.
It was just some interestingdesign thing I found from Reddit
.
It got like 2 million views andit was like the first or second
video I posted.

(08:12):
And I talked to an agency ownerand he was like dude, you
should keep posting and get yourface on this, do design reviews
.
And that stuck with me for awhile and eventually I went to
london, came back, I feltrefreshed and in july I was like
, hey, let's just start posting.
And from there I startedgetting like more web design,

(08:34):
full ground up build projectsand I do that on webflow or
framer.
Shopify is really the the mainplatform I like to.

Josh Hall (08:43):
So you had been kind of dipping into just casual
freelancing, just dipping yourtoe into the water, through 22,
23,.
24 is when you really got alittle more serious, it sounds
like, and then that's when itbecame official was 24.
It's good context to know too,because it's not like you didn't
have any experience and thenjust started in July of 24.
It's like you had kind ofplayed around and dabbled in it

(09:05):
leading up to all this yeah,totally, and I shouldn't
downplay this either.

Blaze Smith (09:10):
I have an associate's degree in web design
too.
So like I already had thetechnical concepts in my head, I
just had no idea how to applythem to real life and, to be
honest, a lot of the concepts Ilearned were like these more
hardcore javascript programmingclasses I took Not really any
design at all actually.
So like development I feltcomfortable with is just

(09:33):
applying that to someone payingyou money.
It was just like superintimidating and very nerve
wracking the first few times forsure.

Josh Hall (09:40):
I didn't realize.
Your TikTok has actuallydoubled your Instagram.
As far as your follower count,it's almost a 24,000.
So did you start those two intandem?
Did you do Instagram and TikTok, or did you just start with
TikTok?

Blaze Smith (09:51):
I just started with TikTok.
Tiktok is interesting nowadays,but back then it felt pretty
easy.
I was just posting experimentalcontent, my face over images
and videos of websites andreally just doing the least
amount of effort to post twice aday.
Sometimes I post four times aday, but these videos took me

(10:11):
maybe 15 minutes to make.
Sometimes it was really loweffort and I was just talking to
someone about this looking atmy old videos.
But I would showcase like funnywebsites, like interesting.
This one website was just alist of sandwiches rotating, and
that's all I said is this isjust a list of rotating
sandwiches.
It was funny and I got a clientthrough it because they're like

(10:32):
hey, I saw that video and thenI went on your profile and saw
your other stuff.
So it's just, you know,something stupid like that got
their attention and wanted themto work with me.

Josh Hall (10:41):
What made you get into Instagram and how?
How long were you doing TikTokbefore you decided to make
Instagram happen as well?

Blaze Smith (10:48):
I probably did TikTok for three or four months
before I started posting onInstagram and a friend came to
me and said hey, why aren't youposting on Instagram, like it's
just post the same content?
You know on reels it's the samething.
You're probably going to havedifferent viewership and I did,
and the engagement was very lowon Instagram at first.
But you might as well postacross YouTube, instagram,

(11:09):
tiktok and because they all havethese short form platforms to
just post this stuff on and theaudiences differ significantly.
I had no success on YouTubeshorts, at least with the
content I'm posting.
Tiktok was doing well and at thestart Instagram was not doing

(11:32):
well, but I really do loveInstagram.
Naturally.
It's a platform I'm always on.
The audience I want to workwith seems to be on it a little
bit more DM.
You can DM on Instagram andthat it's the most used thing on
Instagram is DMs versus TikTok?
Dms really it's not existentbecause you can't.
You have to follow the otherperson.
It's a whole thing.
On Instagram you can prettymuch just cold outreach to
people, interact with youraudience, actually talk to them

(11:53):
there in private conversation,and I think that's what I really
enjoy about it.

Josh Hall (11:58):
You answered a few of my follow-up questions to the
difference between TikTok andInstagram, particularly with the
DM stuff, and then, as youmentioned, sounds like some of
your more ideal clients wereInstagram facing, and I know
you're working with some brands,both in the sports world,
athletics and a few other techbrands and stuff as well.
What type of clients were yougetting through TikTok?

Blaze Smith (12:19):
Through TikTok.
It was honestly.
I'm still getting clientsthrough TikTok a little bit,
even though it's not my mainfocus.
Tiktok is where a lot of peoplefirst see me.
It's really.
It varies Like.
They come in all shapes andsizes.
You would be so surprised, andmaybe you're not, but initially
when I was posting I didn'tthink CEOs of my favorite brands

(12:41):
would be seeing my content.
But now they are.
So now maybe maybe I should saynames my content.
But now they are.
So now maybe maybe I should saynames.
Like I don't know.
I feel like it's good to saynames and have it be
recognizable to people.
But like Herschel, supply, john, these huge brands that I
didn't even think I would talkto with international audiences,
that I've been supporting foryears and just naturally love
their products and reached outto me and the CEOs directly DMs

(13:04):
me through their actual brandaccount or their personal
account and that's just like areally cool thing to me did ling
from ling cars reach out to you.

Josh Hall (13:12):
I saw you did a video for him which he has one of the
best you know, most notableclassic websites ever online I
don't know.

Blaze Smith (13:18):
I see I I sometimes post videos targeting these
specific brands like on purpose,and I hope they DM me, but I
don't think that one did.

Josh Hall (13:27):
Yeah, everyone wants to work with Ling's cars,
everyone's got.
If you haven't, if you haven'tbeen through my design course,
you need to go through Ling'scarscom.
I think I mentioned that in mydesign course, but classic, cool
, cool.
So, and it does sound like too.
I imagine some people who maysee you on Tik TOK would
probably just go to your websiteif there's not a good of a
native DMing experience.

(13:47):
I'm actually not on TikTok.
I grabbed my handle but I'm notactive on it, so I didn't know
too much about the DM stuff.
So is that a lot of thattraffic just going to your
website and then you hope youcan pin down where they came
from?

Blaze Smith (13:58):
Yeah, it gets a lot of Link, would get a lot of
traffic.
I think I was getting like3,500 visitors a month on my
website from mostly just techtalk at the time.
It's interesting now like techtalk was really compatible to
transfer people over to otherplatforms.
But with that band looming andthe band kind of actually did
happen for a while, they madethat user experience just awful.

(14:20):
To convert people and you haveto you actually it's just not
possible Honestly, and you haveto you actually it's just not
possible honestly you have to goon instagram and manually type
in my name.
You can't just press a linkfrom my profile.
They made it really difficultand they're.
You can tell they're probablykind of salty, but, um, from the
actual standpoint of convertingpeople to my link, it seems I
never told anyone to go visit mylink, they just naturally did

(14:42):
it.
And I think it's reallyimportant to have like one clean
link in your profile and I justhad shovelstudio there and
people like oh matches.
That it's pretty cool.

Josh Hall (14:51):
When the ban happened for, like you know, three and a
half hours or whatever it was,were you like.
Thank God, I also put contenton Instagram, Like what was your
thought when that went down?

Blaze Smith (15:05):
So that ban was looming for years, but it didn't
hit me until I saw some of myfavorite creators that aren't
even related to web designposting hey, like goodbye to my
audience like this, is it?
No, that was maybe like twomonths before the ban in
november, december, and I waslike whoa, I really have to like
make instagram work and go allin on it and try different
content for Instagram.

(15:25):
So glad I did it, though.
Yeah, definitely I'm happier onthe platform.
I actually really don't likeTikTok that much, but, yeah, it
took an investment from my endto do that.

Josh Hall (15:38):
Let's talk about the content itself, blaze, because,
as you know and you can probablyimagine, you were a member of
pro for a while.
One of the main questions I getis about marketing and content.
Typically it's like what typeof content should I create?
And I know this could differ onthe platforms, but one of my
big points is that you got to bereally careful that you don't

(16:00):
make content for DIYers or other.
Diyers can be okay, butpotentially other web designers.
I just see a lot of people makecontent wanting to get clients
and they just get a bunch ofother web designers who are not
going to buy a $10,000 website.
But I think you've struck aninteresting chord with not
really it doesn't seem like yousay who the stuff is for.

(16:20):
You just post content aboutwhat's interesting in the world
of design or flow or some ofyour projects.
What is?
Yeah, I mean like I don't knowhow deep you thought about your
strategy, but if you couldsummarize, you know, blaze's
content strategy, what is that?

Blaze Smith (16:37):
So I have this background of clothing brands.
That's what brought me intolike the entrepreneurial journey
.
When I was a teenager I startedclothing brands, got obsessed
with screen printing, graphicdesign.
That's when I started hiringlike the first contractors to
like do stuff for me and it wasso exciting.
But in turn I ended up being aweb designer because making that
Shopify website was so fun tome and that's what converted me

(17:00):
over.
So clothing brands are likepeople I really enjoy.
I find that clothing brandowners they all come in
different shapes and sizes andthey're so interesting and just
a lot more informal, which Ilike coming from like a very
formal corporate background.
So in these videos a lot ofthem you'll notice I'm breaking

(17:21):
down clothing brand websites.
I'm not saying the wordclothing brand, but I'm
showcasing these recognizablebrands to this maybe more gen z,
millennial audience like these.
This audience will recognizethese brands and they just
naturally find the video moreinteresting because of that and
through that is how you hitthese ceos, the clothing brand
owners, or maybe it's like itnot, it's not always clothing

(17:44):
brands, but that's kind of themajority of it.
So a lot of my videos, in short, are about clothing brands
because I want to work withclothing brands but I'm not
explicitly saying hey, clothingbrand owners, come watch this.
I'm kind of making itaccessible to everyone to watch.

Josh Hall (17:58):
Are you tagging these owners or brands or profiles
Cause you mentioned earlier, alot of CEOs are seeing this and
I would imagine that just byposting content about FedEx or
certain brands, that they'reprobably getting flagged in some
way.
I know when my profile wasmentioned online typically, so
are you tagging peopleintentionally, or hashtagging or

(18:18):
anything like that?

Blaze Smith (18:19):
I found that tagging doesn't work most of the
time.
Let me let me rephrase taggingthe brands you're breaking down
in the video I haven't foundmuch success with personally.
There was one big brand oninstagram that reposted my video
, but that was it.
Tagging the people that createdthe website.
They always repost it andengage with your content and I'm

(18:42):
sure you're like this too.
Talking to other agency ownersweb designers is awesome and
like just meeting them andespecially for me, I have this.
It's very niche, but like thesepeople I look up to in the
industry and having them likesupport my videos is amazing and
I tag them in it and theyalways, you know, repost it,
reach out to DM or somethinglike that.

Josh Hall (19:03):
That's great.
It's a cool idea, greatchallenge too.
I haven't really personallythought about that too much, but
as I'm thinking about doing alittle better engagement on
social media, just like everyoneelse is, I imagine the thought
of tagging people and justencouraging them to have content
they could share.
Yeah, that's really really cool, but you're doing it in a
different way versus like I havethe podcast and might do a real

(19:25):
like there'll be a real of youthat you'll probably share, I
would imagine, on your socialmedia.
Um, but that's different thanlike posting a video of
somebody's work and then givingit praise or critiques and
having them share it, making itshare worthy.
Um, where did that did?
Did being?
Did doing some design forclothing and having some of that
marketing background?
Did that help as you thoughtabout how to make content that

(19:49):
is shareable in a little moreviral like?
I mean, you had one that had aton of views, so where did that
come from?
Where did your genius come from, please?

Blaze Smith (20:00):
So I grew up being a YouTube kid.
I was a little nine-year-old in2009 when YouTube first started
and I had these babysittersthere was like four boys and
they're all in their middleschool, high school age and they
exposed me to, like you know,the platforms.
What was cool and happeningthat my nine-year-old self

(20:21):
wouldn't have been able to findon his own.
So I've always kind of been asocial media kid and you know
love and found YouTube sofascinating social platforms.
I was posting videos when I wasa little kid skateboard videos,
lego videos, gaming videos so Iwas like very much a social
media kid.
I lost it for a while, but it'sobviously back now and I think

(20:45):
that really helps me likeunderstand what's actually
appealing.
It's like what's I really postcontent I think I would find
interesting and I think myinterest is kind of a good gauge
of something, at least for myown content.

Josh Hall (21:01):
I find do you have like categories or buckets of
types of content in the way oflike?
Do you have like a how to typeseries of videos, or like
critique videos or review videosDo you have?
Do you think about it like thator you just wing it and go for
it?

Blaze Smith (21:18):
I do so right now, a lot of my videos you'll see
are these like more timeconsuming animation videos that
I all hand animate through Figmaand they're really great.
They kill on Instagram, right.
They're so time consuming andright now, like I don't you know
, I kind of want to go back tomy roots a little bit and maybe

(21:44):
split it, split the formats andthe packaging up more and just
do simple green screen my faceover some images and, you know,
videos.
That's a lot less timeconsuming.
Um, so, especially lately, likeliterally yesterday, I came up
with a new plan hey, I'm goingto do stills of slides these
days and then do like a morefleshed out animation this day
and then just do a simple, moreuncut green screen video of me
this day.
And I do think about that,because doing the same thing

(22:05):
every time, this animation, itgets old, it gets boring.
My mind, you know, is always on.
So the next thing that'sactually exciting to me it's
really hard for me to work onsomething when I don't feel
strong about it.

Josh Hall (22:17):
So let's get nerdy and a little specific on this
stuff.
The videos themselves.
Of course, I'm going torecommend everyone check out
either your Instagram or TikTokor website, or all three, to
actually see some of this live.
But I noticed there's somecommonalities.
You're typically always, likeyou said, green screen
transition or a transparentbackground type thing, so you're

(22:40):
thinking vertical first, ofcourse, with instagram and
tiktok, what, um, how do youlike?
What's the process for thesevideos?
Do you do you have?
Do you do you have like?
Do you plan it out?
Is it pretty like spot on?
Or or do you just wing it andtry to keep it under a minute or
a couple minutes and thenrecord yourself and that and

(23:02):
then just edit me and replicateme?
But they can't do that becauseI have the reps and I have my
personality.

Blaze Smith (23:07):
They have their personalities and I know I
really think it is a lot ofvalue to show off this process.
But I always start with thescripts and I was very informal,

(23:31):
just posting whatever was atthe top of my head when I
started.
But I'm at the point now whereI do.
I am strict and I have like afilter of what I like actually
post and don't post.
It always starts with thescripts, depends on the video
let's say my more higherperforming videos with more
views.
They're broadly appealing.
So the script needs to beunderstandable at a fifth grade

(23:52):
reading level or below and don'tuse advanced words, like a lot
of web designers will say.
Hey, seo, hey, navigation, uh,use all these words.
No one knows what that means.
If you're not a web designer,you don't know what that means.
I'm sorry, but you need this toappeal to everyone, especially,
you know, the business ownersthat aren't always and most of

(24:12):
the time, aren't technicallyliterate with website terms.
Right, but that just makes thenet wider.
To get more views and make yourvideo more accessible, because
the people that do understandthose terms are just going to
understand the video even easierthen.
So why not make it accessibleto everyone?

Josh Hall (24:30):
Real quick.
I was just thinking.
Like your transcripts or youroutline, is it like bullet
points?
Are you writing essentially ablog post that you follow that
could be repurposed, like your,your, your transcripts or your,
your outline?
Is it like bullet points?
Is this basically, are youwriting essentially a blog post
that you follow that could berepurposed, Like what are your
scripts look like?

Blaze Smith (24:44):
It is basically just like following bullet
points for the most part.
Uh, there's more to that in thescript.
So let's say, if you don't, ifyou have a bad hook and the hook
plays into the visual aspect aswell but really the script,
that first thing, that maybe thesecond thing you say to um,
definitely the second thing yousay that matters so much, if you

(25:05):
don't have a good hook, youjust don't have a good video,
and then the hook is what isgoing to keep people watching
Right.
So that hook, I'll maybeiterate that 50 times before I
actually pick it, like I reallymake sure that is something I
think is interesting and promptsomeone to like be more
interested to watch the nextsequence, which the next

(25:26):
sequence might even be one lineor two lines a word long.
You can't waste any time onshort form content.

Josh Hall (25:33):
So I derailed you there.
But that's great to know andyou know you, you're a follow of
James Bernard as well.
He told me the same thing withhis videos.
I know he's an influence foryou that he's like everything
starts with a script.
He's like I don't go right intorecording anything.
I it's it's very intentionallya script or an outline, before I
even would think aboutrecording something or making

(25:54):
something.
So sorry, blazeze, I took youaway there, but yeah.
So step one was kind of your,your script, but what's what's?
Yeah, what's what's, what's thenext step for you?

Blaze Smith (26:01):
Yeah, no worries at all, that's.
I mean, that brought up a goodpoint that I probably would have
skimmed over.
Um, there's so much that goesinto the script.
You might see's like that, sostart with the script.

Josh Hall (26:18):
He's also been doing YouTube since he was like four
months old, so you get quickerat.
You know, get quicker atputting thoughts together and
you know how to do it after awhile.

Blaze Smith (26:27):
I'm sure with any skill, if you get the reps and
time in, you're going to benaturally doing stuff as well.
So really look at scripting,animating, all of this stuff as
skills that you just need toflex your muscle and just get
the reps in and learn.
Another big point with thescript is that after the hook
you almost need another hook toget more interest, and you just

(26:49):
have to be good at storytelling,saying, hey, this is that you
present the question, let's say,and then you answer the
question instantly.
But then you have to proposeanother question after that or
some other interest to keep themwatching after that.
And I think if you can getthose first two like good hooks
down, you're going to have areally good watchable video.
Short form videos theviewership always dies off

(27:14):
halfway through, but if you canget viewership over halfway
through, I think you're killingit.
Um, at least from my point ofview, my videos that's what's
I've seen on like the reallygood performers.
Um, so, yeah, once you have agood script, a good hook, uh,
read it.
Probably read it a hundredtimes, actually not that many
but keep rereading it and say itas clear as possible.

(27:36):
Use good tone of voice.
You'll see in my early videos Iam very monotone, or I was very
monotone, and that is actuallysomething that prevented me from
starting.
Social media is something Iwould get made fun of for, but I
think you know making so manyvideos now I'm able to talk a
little more, you know have alittle more liveliness in my
voice.
So something you know the way,the tone of voice, your attitude

(27:58):
, really matters a lot.
Um, and the way you say thescripts.
I record it and just read itoff my my computer.
I record on my Mac, just usingmy Mac mic or my Mac camera.
I have a more professional micnow.
Um, put that into CapCut, useCapCut.
If you don't know how to edit,it's very simple, simple.
I recommend the desktop app.

(28:18):
It crops your background outautomatically.
You can cut by the transcript.
You don't have to manually sitthere and it saves you so much
time.
It's just fast.
I take the green screenbackground on and edit from
there.
And if you're looking at my morevisual animated videos not just
me talking over images and text, but it's more of a voiceover
talking through this nice flowof UI I do that all in Figma.

(28:43):
I'm a very big, I'm prettyadvanced with Figma, so this is
something that that requires forsure.
Um prototyping and Figma, youcan make animations, and I
screen record those animations,put it into Cap, into cap, cut,
add satisfying sounds over it,and essentially that's the video
.
Um, the closer of the video,though, should lead into the

(29:04):
hook, so a lot of my videosyou'll find the end of them lead
seamlessly back into thebeginning, because for a new
viewer on social media it justkeeps looping over and over.
Versus a follower it's going topause at the end of the video,
but for a new person seeing yourvideo it just keeps looping
over and over.
Versus a follower it's going topause at the end of the video,
but for a new person seeing yourvideo it's just looping, and
you can catch like extra viewsby doing that, and it just makes
the video better and more highquality, in my opinion.

Josh Hall (29:26):
That's genius.
I just I think it.
Just last night I was watchinga video and I was like wait a
minute, I've already heard thispart.
It just looped.
I didn't think it's like a badtrick.

Blaze Smith (29:34):
I think it actually makes the video seem like oh,
this was like a good video.

Josh Hall (29:40):
I watched it all the way through and I'm still
watching it so yeah, I was gonnasay, especially if it's good
and you want to re-watch it orif you miss something or you're
multitasking, or when we're justscrolling.
It's like you know there's 82things that you see in a few
minutes and then it's like, ohyeah, I to hit.
What was that?
Again, that's genius.
What's the timeline on thesevideos?
Is it under a minute on all ofthem?
Do you shoot for 30 seconds?

Blaze Smith (30:01):
For me it varies per person.
Some videos for some peoplekill with a minute long.
For me it's like 20 to 27seconds-ish are my best videos
and just for my schedule andstuff.
Like that's really all I havetime for.
You can imagine.
I'm busy with other projects,which is a whole nother

(30:22):
conversation.

Josh Hall (30:23):
Everyone wants to know how much time goes into a
27 second video.

Blaze Smith (30:30):
So describing a video with this animation, this
Figma animation, it's roughlymax two and a half hours, which
is actually is not that bad, butdo that every single day and
when you actually have hugeprojects.
You know you have four or fiveprojects you're trying to
balance at once, so you knowit's not always your main
priority.

Josh Hall (30:50):
Yeah, I just had James on recently on the podcast
, james Bernard, and we weretalking about long form versus
short form and he reminded methat because, as you know, blaze
, I'm a long form guy, I likepodcasts, I like media, longer
YouTube tutorials.
I'm just I didn't grow up inthe short form world, so this is
like news to me.
A lot of this is like educationfor me.

(31:11):
And he reminded me what takesme about to it Like I could make
a 45 minute YouTube video thatwould maybe take two and a half
hours and you may make a 27second video that may take two
and a half hours.
And he reminded me it'sactually way more
post-production in editing to doa super short video that is

(31:31):
hooky and grabby and catchy,versus something that's a little
more free form and a littlemore um, lengthy, like like I'm
a little more comfortableputting it out.

Blaze Smith (31:42):
Yeah, I think you saw my first ever YouTube video.
That took me 16 hours straight.
I worked 16 hours from 9am on aSaturday all the way to, like
you know, that night, like twoor 3am that day.
That's how long it took me tomake that video and I had Figma
animations Like I went all outfor it.

Josh Hall (32:02):
I remember when you showed me that in pro and I was
like, well, congrats, first ofall for getting on YouTube.
But then I was like Whoa, I waslike I couldn't imagine.
I was like this how didn't Iask you like, how the heck long
did this take is?
Um, it was like, oh, it wasalmost like 30 short form videos
stacked in one, which I hopeyou're able to repurpose that

(32:24):
somehow.
But yeah, that was, maybe youcould even repurpose that into
like two or three minute uhshorts, or two or three minutes
smaller videos on youtube thatare part of a larger picture.
But yeah, I was like, wow,you're a short form guy and
messed up with long form forsure on that one.

Blaze Smith (32:38):
Yeah, you can definitely see it's.
It's almost like too much valuein the video, which I don't
know if that's a good thing orbad thing.
It got a lot of good feedback.
Maybe he didn't get the viewsor anything.
I actually really didn't haveany expectations.
I mean 4,000, almost 5,000views, 300 subscribers for my
first video.
I was like, oh, it's okay, Iguess, like I don't know what's
good.

Josh Hall (32:59):
I think with that too , one thing to consider is it's
short form.
That is going long form and Ithink, just like me trying to
create a 27 second video withone of my typical long intros, I
wouldn't even get through anintro by the time your videos
are done Like they just don'twork.
The same, like I feel like ifyou're going to go long form,

(33:20):
what I've learned with YouTubeis least is that you can do some
more quick cuts and animationsin the beginning and this is
pretty common with tutorials.
It'll be a little more flashyin the first minute or so, but
then through the next 10 minutesor 15 minutes it's a little
more watchable like long form,wise Cause a lot of people are
watching YouTube videos,multitasking or doing something

(33:40):
else, or they're just in adifferent headspace, I've found
than shorts and short form likeactual YouTube videos.
So most YouTube video watchersthey're looking at like okay, is
there something like five or 10minutes, maybe 15?
That's generally the sweet spot.

Blaze Smith (33:56):
So if I could give any advice if you decide to go
YouTube.

Josh Hall (33:58):
That's how I would approach that.
The longer form stuff.

Blaze Smith (34:01):
Yeah, I'm making another YouTube video.
I hope to launch it at the endof this month.
It's essentially the breakdownI'm doing now, but on a bigger
variety of websites in awidescreen format, and just the
script is taking me days.
I don't even want to thinkabout animation, which you know
brings me up to another topic isthat I really feel like a figma

(34:24):
animator is a niche thing and Idon't know if I can have
someone.
I would love to contractsomeone out to do that for me,
but that is something, you know,not top of my priority, but
something I think about goingforward, because it is like two
and a half hours every day, sotime consuming.

Josh Hall (34:41):
Yeah, I mean it reminds me that you are probably
blowing up your diapers.
When Flash was was out and thehuge thing in the early
thousands, like that was all therage when web design got kicked
off, but it was that same ideaof I.
I mean really what you're doingwith animations and framer is a
lot like flash in the terms of,like you got a little sequence
and you can adjust it.

(35:02):
You can add different movementsand overlays and everything.
It's kind of the same processand I just remember I mean it
was just painstakingly brutal,as every animator or 3d artist
will tell you.
It's um, oh, it's brutal.
Somebody told me recently theywanted to be.
Was it somebody in pro?
Was it alexia?
Or somebody who said theywanted to be originally a 3d

(35:23):
animator and then they did likean internship and saw the
animators like going in and likeone frame at a time, just
moving every little piece ofthread, and they were like, oh
my god, I would, I'd lose mymind doing this all day.

Blaze Smith (35:36):
So it's the attention you need, a very
strong attention to detail, umwhich for me.
I was doing a lot of animationsat that internship before and
I'm lucky I went through thatand learned, because that really
that internship taught me thevalue of animation for sure so
good to know on your process,the type of videos you're doing

(35:58):
they're?

Josh Hall (35:58):
they're vertical typically.
You're cut out using cap cutwith a transparent background.
You kind of pop in and outsometimes, um, doing a lot of
screen record or you know screenoverlays recording and then
your, your, your frameranimations and stuff like that.
What like, do you have a callto action sometimes on some of
these?

(36:19):
That has ever like a work withme, or is it just simply more
entertainment and educationversus any sort of persuasion or
sales or call to actions?

Blaze Smith (36:28):
Yeah, so it's a good question.
I I'm really trying to getbetter at call to actions and
converting an audience.
I think I can convert them tomy services pretty well because
you don't have to say, hey, workwith me.
You just show what you knowessentially.
But I have a lot of interest inselling products.
I think it's something reallyfun about building a product,

(36:49):
testing it and then launching itand having it be successful,
and I did that with a Notiontemplate pretty low effort, I
would say.
I think right now it's verytrendy and you were on this
before everyone else and Iadmire you for that but it's
very trendy for creators to makecommunities and sell Notion
templates.
Right now it seems likeeveryone wants to do it.
It just seems like more of acash grab type of thing and I

(37:13):
had to back away from it forthat reason.
I didn't feel good promoting it, even though it is something
that I actually do find to bevery valuable.
Um, it just I'm not sure howwell it fit with me, um, but I
did make money on it.
But anyways, to answer yourquestion, uh, you kind of again
the rule of thirds here postslike a broadly appealing piece
of content.
Then maybe something a littlemore niche that your audience

(37:34):
would understand and be closerwith, and then, very hard, call
to action.
So just do this every threetimes, like every three posts.
That's kind of the rule ofthumb.
I've been following Posting.
Maybe I've had times where Iposted every single day.
I think that's good, on asix-day schedule at least, but
not everyone has that, obviously.

(37:55):
So you got to space up thecontent, because if you're just
posting call to actions all day,people are going to lose trust
and it's just annoying no one'sgoing to buy your stuff versus
posting them very infrequently.
I'm learning this too, so I'malso into this new side of the
creator business gettingpartnerships and brand deals,
which I didn't expect at all.

(38:16):
But the money is amazing there.
I mean, I think it's good to betransparent about numbers.
It's interesting when I can get$1,500 per reel.
What's the incentive of doing awebsite project that will take
me months sometimes?
But the one thing I'm learningand the thing that I maybe feel
a little insecure about is man.

(38:36):
I really hope I can getconversions and make this
investment worthwhile for theperson I'm working with, because
I really support their businessand what they're doing.
But yeah, all that to say.
Don't post call to action asmuch and space them out.
Post less call to actionsrather than more.

Josh Hall (38:56):
I would say yeah, it's kind of interesting how
that same approach is has takendifferent forms through
basically every medium like.
It's the same thing withpodcasting, it's the same thing
with newsletters, it's the samething with long form youtube
content, any type of medium.
You want to have a balance of,like entertainment, a little bit
education, primarily probablyas a creator, at least an

(39:19):
educational type creator likeyou are, or service-based
creator, and then a little bitof call to action, because if
you never tell people what to do, then the goal would just be
views, unless you're like no, Iactually want you to work with
me, so occasionally throw thatin there.
I think you're on the righttrack with that.
And yeah, it's really cool tohear that the brand partnership

(39:42):
and sponsorship stuff is working.
I mean, the reality is you're amicro-influencer now and you're
getting exposure and views andeyeballs on a lot of your
content, so it doesn't take toolong to be in that position,
even on a really small level.
Or Like, as you know, blaze, Imean my social media, even my
YouTube, isn't massive, but itis an audience that are buyers

(40:04):
and it's an audience that arelike owners and serious and
committed.
There's a really, really bigdifference, going back to
entertainment versus education,where education space creators
make way more than entertainmentspace creators per view, like
10 times, maybe a hundred timesmore.
You can see this on YouTubeanalytics too.
Like my videos that are longerform, that are like how twos

(40:28):
will have a CPM which is costper Mila, so cost per a thousand
views Sometimes I was justlooking some of them are up to
like 60 to $70 per thousandviews that advertisers would pay
, whereas the more shorter form,slightly entertaining videos,
those will might get like 20 perper million per thousand.

(40:48):
So same thing with social media.
All that to say like it doesn'ttake too much before you're
like, wow, I've got a lot ofleverage with this and I would
imagine over the next well, 2025for sure, but even just the
next few months you'll probablyhave a lot more brand
sponsorships, roll inopportunities.
But, as you said, it's a wholedifferent ballgame.
It's like a different part ofthe business and you don't want
to break your authenticity andtrust as well, I'm sure.

Blaze Smith (41:11):
Yeah, I'm not like really pushing them as hard
maybe as I should, because it isjust easy money at the end of
the day.
But really interesting point onthe education video.
You're totally right Audienceof buyers versus more people
casually watching.
I really feel like I have morepeople casually watching me.
Granted, maybe I have a biggeraudience, something I really

(41:33):
want to maybe change up one day.
For now, I'm really focused onjust getting to the number 100
hundred thousand, for somereason in my head is like really
exciting.
Like that's when I'm like okay,I did this.
I um, yeah, yeah, there's,there's so much to it that as
far as the follower count yeah,and you know, with getting these

(41:56):
brand deals too, there's peoplesaying, hey, I've been watching
you forever and they reallylook up to me and like they'll
believe anything I say and Ijust just maybe it's imposter
syndrome, but I see othercreators, I'll bring them up.
Ui Adrian, for example.
He's a huge designer on socialmedia.
This guy built like a $50,000per month agency building framer
websites like last year, andnow he's going up to a hundred

(42:18):
thousand dollars.
To me, having that credibilityis so valuable and for you even
you were in web design for 10years.
You built an agency, you soldthe agency.
For me, that's the dream andthat's undeniable proof of
success.
I'm early into my career,obviously, and I'm working to
that undeniable proof of successwhere I'll probably feel more

(42:39):
confident pushing products myown products towards people.
But for now, to get to thatpoint, I just need to keep
servicing recognizable brands,and doing good work with them is
my main goal.

Josh Hall (42:51):
Yeah, look, I think Blaze honestly a lot.
This is something I've noticedwith a lot of younger
entrepreneurs like you andLandon and some others who are
in pro, who, um, you know areare the Gen Z entrepreneurs, is
it's so corny and cliche, but,like, delayed gratification is
what you just have to keep onremembering.
It's just the and there's,honestly, I'll tell you
something that a mentor told me,cause I shared sentiments that

(43:14):
were almost exactly what youjust said, and he was an
established business owner whoeventually sold his it business
and I just kind of felt like Iwas behind the eight ball and
taken forever, and other peoplewere getting farther, faster
than I was.
And he was like he's like, josh, you're doing great.
He's like you're on anincredible track.
Like he's like don't wearyourself out, don't?
There's no rush to success.

(43:34):
And I was like, ooh, I neededto hear that.
So I mean, honestly, your proofof work and success is I mean,
you have 12 times the amount ofInstagram followers that I have.
You have 24 times the amount ofTikTok.
You know like you're way aheadof me in some areas.
In other areas, you're still inyour first official year of

(43:55):
business.
So, man, you keep right on thistrack and then you'll look back
in a year and be like, wow,there's phase one of success and
now there's phase two, which islike a little more serious.
You've been an entrepreneurthrough and through, but now
you're becoming like a truebusiness owner, minded on this,
and 100K is cool.
I get it.
I mean, I have that same goalfor my YouTube channel.

(44:16):
At the end of the day, it's100% vanity metric and on
YouTube at least, it's nice tohave the plaque, I'm sure.
Hopefully one day I'll getthere.
But I've also realized the truesuccess is what is happening
outside of the screen.
What do you want yourday-to-day to look like?
What do you want your calendarto look like?
What do you I mean, I've gotthree kids work from home, spend

(44:39):
a lot of time with them, wantto be present and as long as the
bank account is filling up, Idon't give a shit how many
subscribers I have now.
Those are the most importantmetrics.
So I don't know if any of thathelps with where you're at.

Blaze Smith (44:53):
It definitely does.
And it brings up thisinteresting point I've been
thinking about a lot.
Recently I talked to a mentor.
He has his own agency.
I just actually talked to himtoday, right before this call,
ironically.
But he's amazing.
He has like five or sixdevelopers below him and he's
doing all of these cool projects, working with these cool brands
in my city here in Milwaukee.
And I remember one of the firsttimes I met him I said what was

(45:17):
it like when you first startedthis agency, this freelance life
, whatever it was?
And you started right afterhigh school.
But he was like blaze, my lifewas just a different time.
Back then the internet was juststarting or not even created.
Now, the time I'm living in,it's so different, right, social
media wasn't a thing back thenversus now.

(45:38):
So even for you, josh, if youwere my age, I guarantee you
you'd be, you know, findingsuccess on social media too,
because you just have to havesuccess to have a successful
business.
I think nowadays social mediaties so closely with that, in my
opinion.

Josh Hall (45:55):
Interesting.
Yeah, I mean, I I do feel likeif I were coming up in the age
of social media.
I think, wherever you hang out,whatever medium you're
consuming, you're interested in,which is probably like what you
mentioned earlier withInstagram.
The good news is, I mean, andthe reality is, I think, a lot
of people are taking completehiatuses off of social media, so

(46:16):
it's definitely possible to notgo this route.
Obviously, we're exploring yoursocial media because it's
working so well, but you enjoyit and you are an entrepreneur
through and through.
You're cool with working longhours.
You're cool with spending aSaturday working 16 hours.
A lot of people wouldn't dothat.
So you have it in you to makethis work and I'm sure
eventually, in five years fromnow, maybe when you're at a

(46:38):
different place in the nextphase of your life, it'll be
like, yeah, I worked a lot backthen, but I've scaled things
back and trim things down alittle bit.
But the cool news is, I mean, Ido, I do see and and and have
seen a lot of creators go theroute where there's more
emphasis on things like books,podcast appearances, in-person
events, guest trainings,community, online community

(47:02):
versus social media.
So there's definitely so manydifferent avenues, but I think
to my goals.

Blaze Smith (47:12):
Everyone has different goals.
Obviously, my goals are to workwith, like, big, recognizable
brands.
At least you know, I've beenable to do that so far.
I can't talk about the one I'mdoing, but I want to talk about
it.
So bad so I think you mightknow I posted it in web designer
pro previously.
It's awesome, but, um, if I wasjust stagnant in Milwaukee, I
wouldn't be meeting clients.

(47:32):
I don't.
I wouldn't have clients fromAustralia, LA, New York, Paris,
Sweden.
I have this, these diverseclients from all over the world
which is possible through socialmedia, and I have these diverse
clients from all over the worldwhich is possible through
social media, and that's my goal.
I don't necessarily want towork with local businesses.
I want to work with some ofthese bigger brands, and social
media is a must for me, unlessif I'm traveling to these places

(47:52):
every week, which I'm obviouslynot doing.

Josh Hall (47:55):
I love that you said that, blaze, because that's it,
it's the goal.
Like, yeah, what type ofclients do you want to work with
?
For you, you are doing exactlywhat you need to do and exactly
what you like to do and it'sworking awesome.
So I'm gonna change a dangthing, um, whereas, yeah, people
who want to do social media toget local clients completely
different strategy, completelydifferent ball game um, so yeah,

(48:16):
there's just so many, becauseeven social media doesn't
necessarily need to bring younational or global.
You can do social media and SEOand website stuff in a local
way.
I have some colleagues who arereally active on social media
and it's all about local stuff,it's all Columbus, it's all a
couple suburbs outside ofColumbus.
So, yeah, you're spot on withthat man.

(48:38):
You're totally right.
And yeah, the client we can'tmention why, because I think
there's an NDR that you have.
The cool thing about that isknowing who you're talking about
.
You probably wouldn't have gotthem with my preferred routes of
marketing, with podcastinterviews or a book.
You know it's like no, the,what you did landed your dream
client.
So all power to you.

Blaze Smith (48:58):
Yeah, it's actually funny.
Maybe if you're just targetinglocal businesses, I wouldn't say
organic content is the bestapproach there.
It's probably targeted ads or,even better, in-person
networking events is definitelygoing to be the move there yep,
heck, yeah, man, um, trying togive us anything.

Josh Hall (49:17):
you really answered so many questions about your
process and how you're goingabout these videos.
I am curious ideation Do youhave like a master spreadsheet
that has 2000 ideas?
At this point, are you justwinging it and just every day
creating something and you'rejust flying by the seat of your
pants?
What's?
What's the pipeline look likefor content creation for you?

Blaze Smith (49:38):
Yeah, I'm a very strong believer of that.
When you sit there and try tomake ideas, it's probably not
the most effective use of yourtime.
I think it's very effective,though, to write an idea as soon
as it hits your head.
For me, it's like when I'mabout to fall asleep or if I'm
driving.
Like, doing these mundaneactivities it's just how you
know makes my mind wander andfind ideas, think of ideas, but

(50:02):
you have to write them down.
Any creative will say this youhave to write those ideas down
right away.
For me, I have them all storedin my Notion template.
My Notion page is kind of likehow I run my business, honestly,
but I don't know if that's thebest way to do it.
It's just how it works for me.
And, yeah, I can just kind ofgo through all these ideas, see
what's interesting and I'musually not at a loss for what

(50:24):
to post about.
I will say there are sometimesin social media to chase trends.
So there was a huge brand.
I don't want to mention thisbrand because there's
controversy behind them, but Iposted about this huge brand
recently and their website gottaken down by Shopify, and I
posted it at the right time.

(50:45):
It was a very controversialbrand and that video did amazing
like 200,000 views on Instagramand actually brought me a
really big, high profile clienttoo.
So the timing of that wasperfect for me and I knew it was
because they just launched thiswebsite.
It's a big brand everyone knowsabout, so there's things like
that too.
You know to see, to be in the,you know, the know of what's

(51:07):
happening in news and brandtrends and stuff like that.

Josh Hall (51:11):
How has?
One thing we haven't reallytalked about is the services
behind all this.
How have your services evolved?
I mean, I know some of thisbecause you were in pro for
quite a while.
But like, how have yourservices evolved?
While you're doing the socialmedia, have you cut out certain
services you were doing lastyear?
Have you really nailed down,like your tool stack, what's the

(51:33):
business side of things?
How has that evolved since yoursocial media has blown up?

Blaze Smith (51:37):
Yeah, Before social media.
Like, the project I hadliterally before I started
posting consistently on socialwas like a ux ui project like 10
hours total for a startup, andI didn't really enjoy that like
just focusing on the flow,something they already built.
I think it's more exciting tobuild stuff from the ground up
or redesign stuff.
Um, this was not as visual of aproject.

(52:01):
I guess it was more UX focused.
I didn't really find that thatfun.
So I mostly just focus onredesigns and ground up builds.
I've always wanted to dabbleinto Shopify for clients and
social media brought that to me.
I finally got clients wantingto do Shopify websites In
Milwaukee.
There wasn't really.
There's not much of likeclothing brands going on.

(52:22):
There's one big one, um, whichI'm hoping to close a project
with actually this week or nextweek.
But again, social media put myface, the algorithm.
I trained the algorithm to putmy face in front of the people I
want to be, so it did worklocally.
It did.
Yeah, it did.
Actually thinking about aboutit like it's kind of crazy
because I was wearing this hat.

(52:43):
So another thing in my videosis like these hats are so key.
When I'm talking about a moreniche clothing brand, I might
put on like it's a holiday hat.
The brand is called Holiday, ithas a little H on it, If you
know.
You know, like, if yourecognize the logo, you know,
like I have this interest inbrands.
But in this case I wore theMilwaukee hat.

(53:04):
The owner is like and I've metthe owner briefly, he didn't
really remember me, but he said,hey, are you based in Milwaukee
?
I saw the hat and I was like,yeah, I'm based in Milwaukee.

Josh Hall (53:15):
That's a great point.
Everybody wear your local swagif you're looking for local
clients.

Blaze Smith (53:20):
Yes, it's valuable real estate.
Your head in videos is valuablereal estate.
Truly though it sounds funny,but it's true.

Josh Hall (53:27):
So what's your sweet spot now with Pro?
What's your ideal project now?
Is it a clothing brand that'san online store?
Is it UX and UI design both?
What's your ideal project?

Blaze Smith (53:39):
Ideal project is a ground up shopify build for like
a new store or just a completeredesign which essentially is
just a ground up build of a newstore for an existing brand.
Um, there's a you can put abigger budget to those and it's
more exciting.
A lot of collaboration betweenyou and, like the designers or
other brand owner um, just a lotmore exciting to me.

(54:00):
And that's possible becausesocial media again.

Josh Hall (54:04):
And you're still.
What's your cadence right nowwith posting on socials?
Is it at least a few times aweek?

Blaze Smith (54:09):
It varies.
When I first started I wasdoing 2 to 4 times a week and I
was just not sustainable.
But I could do it because Ididn't have a lot of work, other
projects going on, so I justhad the time and I work.
You know, other projects goingon, so I just had the time.
Um, and I saw a huge influx inJanuary I think I went up almost
10,000 followers on Instagram,like almost all of my followers
on Instagram, in January,because I didn't have any

(54:29):
projects going on.
I kind of got into thisfull-time business thing at a
weird time because you know theholidays there's just no leads
or work, new work coming in.
Um, so I had time and I wasposting five times a week.
That's mostly that's ideal tome.
Realistically, when I'm runningprojects maybe three times a
week, I would say Um, and againI'm, I'm still working on this.

(54:51):
I'm trying different formatsand packaging, like some.
I'm trying to not only postvideos that take me two and a
half hours to make, ideally,like a video would take me not
even 30 minutes to make, and Ican post something good.

Josh Hall (55:03):
Nice and we talked about that in pro.
I forget if you were in on that, but we talked about, like,
what do you do during theholidays, when things are a
little dry, typically cause it'snot uncommon and it makes sense
Business owners or we're, youknow everyone's busy with family
and everything else.
Not too many people want tolike drop a huge project and get
things going on December 23rd,so that is the time to post

(55:23):
content and to be front top ofmind, because as soon as the new
year hits, who's top of mind?
Whoever, they're seeing a lot,whether it's a newsletter,
podcast, social media orwhatever.
So, yeah, you did that right,man, I love hearing that this
past month has been great foryou.
I was curious about your cadencebecause your business is
growing.

(55:44):
You've got a lot of differentopportunities.
I know you've started to scale.
You're starting to hire outmore and more, so I was
wondering how, basically, howare you going to?
What's your plan to balance themarketing, the social media
content, along with actuallygetting work done and being a
team lead in some ways?

Blaze Smith (56:00):
When you first had James Barnard on the pod.
He's really drilled into myhead 50% marketing, 50%, uh,
actual hands-on work.
And this was a version of blaze.
That was like a year and a halfago sitting at in in a cubicle
in a corporate environment justtaking notes.
So you should sit there andtake notes that, all your
podcasts, um, but that onereally stuck to me and he's so

(56:22):
right.
Posting YouTube or posting forright now on Instagram for me is
a part of my job.
It's how I get leads.
So ideally I'm spending half mytime doing that and half time
doing hands-on work In theperfect, absolute world.
What I'm trying to build is Ican post on social media because
right now I find that I enjoyposting content, growing

(56:44):
audience, like very much I enjoyit, but not necessarily doing
the technical.
Being in Figma every day, beingin developing code and like
it's not really something that'sI want to do all the time.
So ideally it's like I can getleads, clients, through social
media by posting and then justyou know, put them through the

(57:08):
system, have my, have a good setof people I can trust to
deliver work on time.
I don't mind managing theproject or client relations.
I think that stuff's fun, butthat's what an ideal perfect
setup works looks like for meand something I'm actually
actively building.
I might I've been able tosuccessfully incorporate design
contract or develop contractorsinto my projects.
It's finding a good designer Ican trust.

(57:29):
Next, which, for me, thisdesigner needs to have a
specific taste.
I'm mostly a designer.
You know how it goes Like.
This is a really importantthing for me, but I might've I
might've found someone, sothat's good.

Josh Hall (57:40):
Awesome, yeah, man, scale your way.
Time.
Get that job description inplace, recommended tools
requirements, and here we go,although it sounds like you're
probably already past that point, so awesome.

Blaze Smith (57:52):
I need a careers page.
I thought about a careers pagethe other day and I'm like how
do I filter this out even more?
And I think I don't know ifit's legal, but I think a
question I want to put in thereis like what is your favorite
brand and why?
And if they give some sort ofstale answer, that might kind of
filter it in my head.
I don't know if this is thebest approach, but there's like
an attention to detail and thiskind of knowledge of culture

(58:16):
that I think I bring to webdesign that people find
interesting and why they want towork with me.
So you know, having a designerthat understands that is
important.

Josh Hall (58:24):
Yeah, there's nothing illegal about that.
Look, when you, when you createyour own business, you create
the rules so you can askwhatever questions you want.
As far as a filter because itis it's more of an interesting
prompt which is obviously reallyimportant to how you run the
business.
So, um, no, I think you'reright on with that.
I would avoid a careers pagejust because you're going to get

(58:44):
swarmed.
I would just I mean you couldhave a hidden one that, if
somebody is, if you need a role,then there's there's of
interest with that.
But I mean that could also be anotion template or an email
template.
That could be something causeyou're not going to have to hire
often.
Hopefully, you only have tohire a couple of roles and
you're good for a while.
So, yeah, I wouldn't worryabout doing a careers page

(59:07):
unless you want to be 30% HR forthe next couple of years.

Blaze Smith (59:10):
That's good to know , and I took your scaling course
.
I've taken all of your coursesand I find them very valuable.
All of them related to businessside of things.
Something I think about is likewho do I hire first?
And it seems like I probablyhave that nailed down already,
but very valuable learning I gotfrom your course I should
mention.

Josh Hall (59:31):
Awesome.
Well, I hope it was valuableenough to answer that question
for you.
I mean, as a quick aside, Iwould just say whatever is
either most time consuming andor draining, and that's pretty
much the two metrics to judge.
If it is the video editing,then, as you mentioned, that's
tricky Just because of the wayyou edit.
You would have to see ifsomebody could do something

(59:52):
similar and come up with aprocess with the screen overlays
and stuff.
Maybe you do a screen recordingand then they are the ones who
chop it up into the animations.
But you're not alone.
James Barnard mentioned in ourlast interview, he's in that
same boat.
It's, it's hard.
I I don't even hire out muchactual editing because it is
kind of a personal thing and itsometimes depends on when screen

(01:00:13):
recording like you can't.
Somebody else is not going tobe able to screen record like
you would necessarily.
So, true, so if there's otherthings you can get off of your
plate, start with that.
But uh, yeah, either one ofthose metrics time or draining,
uh, blaze, this has been awesomeman, super, super pumped for
you again early in the journey.
Uh, your, your, what, how'd yousay it earlier?

(01:00:36):
Your proof of success is therealready, so it's just going to
be amplified over this next year.
Man, I have one final questionfor you.
It it's kind of a selflessquestion, but before we get to
that, we talked about yourInstagram TikTok.
Where should everyone go?
What's the handle?
Where should everyone go toconnect with you and actually
see this live?

Blaze Smith (01:00:52):
Everyone check out at shovelstudio.
That's my website too.
Shovelstudio, shovelstudio,everywhere.
I keep it simple, keep itsimple.
Um, actually, youtube is blazedash, smt, but first go on
instagram, shovelstudio.
Um, I have to thank you, josh.
You've been a huge mentor ofmine.
Web designer pro, taught me alot of these concepts to make me

(01:01:12):
sustainable for myself.
Um, I'm at, I'm not justkeeping my head above water
anymore, and it's a really goodfeeling, at least for this month
.
Uh, and it's because of allthese concepts you've taught me,
getting these reps in.
Like, I think I very quicklyprogressed here, or, let me say,
hope I did.
Maybe not as fast as I'd wantto, but what an honor it is to

(01:01:33):
be here.
This has been great.

Josh Hall (01:01:35):
Well, dude, thank you for saying that.
I know you're taking a littlebreak right now, but sometimes
that happens.
So that's what I've learnedwith a membership I never take
it personally when somebody youknow make some progress and then
has other things to move on.
Especially, you know, you got alot of irons in the fire and I
feel like you got to a pointwhere, yeah, you might be good
for a little while, but you knowthe door is always open for you

(01:01:57):
to see what you've done and bea part of your journey.
Just at this point.
So I hope some of thefoundation we laid I mean, I
know the foundation we laid isgoing to be there for a long
time for you.
So the honor is on this side ofthe table, man.
That actually brings me to mylast question, which is purely
selfish, because we talked aboutyou being a short form guy, but
I'm a long form guy.
So what made you attracted tomy stuff?

(01:02:19):
Was it the podcast?
Was it YouTube?
I'm sure it wasn't social media, I don't think.
You probably saw my Instagramand said that's who I want to
follow.
My Instagram is like purelyconnecting with a smaller
audience.
So, yeah, what brought you intomy world?

Blaze Smith (01:02:34):
I didn't actually find you through YouTube.
I just typed in web design onSpotify and you were the first
one to pop up.
So you got that Spotify SEO,which is great.
You're naturally very talentedat SEO and you know what you're
doing, but, honestly, there wasno one really competing with you

(01:02:55):
in terms of Spotify web design,podcasts.
Spotify was just moreaccessible for me to listen to
podcasts at the time.
So, yeah, I listened to you forlike two years almost before I
invested into pro.
So it's it's kind of funny,like how much your voice has
been in my head versus mine andyours.
Like it's this weird humaninteraction, right?
I'm experiencing that myselfwith social media too.

Josh Hall (01:03:16):
That's awesome, man.
Well and it sounds like you'dmentioned earlier you were at a
desk job listening, and eventhough you're a short form guy,
there are there is times wherewe all are digesting different
content differently, like youcouldn't be scrolling through
social media, probably,hopefully, when you're supposed
to be working, but podcasts canoften work out and even even
though I'm a long form guy, I'mlooking at more reels and short

(01:03:39):
form stuff now.
So, uh, it is kind of cool tobe able to to be there for
somebody when you know,depending on when, how they need
you.
So that's awesome.

Blaze Smith (01:03:48):
I think something that really stands out to me,
too, is like you're justnaturally like the nice dad
figure, at least from myperspective, because you talk
about it all the time and I likeI love these creators.
Don't get me wrong, but there'sa lot of like bro, business
hustler, like you should beworking a hundred hours every
week, and like you didn't reallygive off that vibe to me, you

(01:04:09):
know, to you put the idea thatlike I can do this and like have
you know the lifestyle I wantto live, that's like the whole,
that's your whole thing, and Ienjoyed that a lot and that
stood out to me a lot as well.
I shouldn't mention that.

Josh Hall (01:04:21):
Oh, that's awesome, man.
Well, I appreciate hearing that, especially from you, because
you're not in that season oflife yet where there's there's
kids, and you're at a differentplace in life.
But I do, I feel like you'reprobably catching the, the
industry, at a certain pointwhere I think a lot of people,
even younger, are kind ofhesitant to the, to the hustle
bro culture.
And I mean, you know, I'm allabout hard work and there is

(01:04:43):
seasons of hustle, but it's theculture of the hustle.
And then, um, you know you, youwill see, as just I saw, you'll
see a lot of agency owners burnout and get divorced and not
know their kids.
And, uh, I learned very quicklyI don't want to be that agency
owner.
So I'm glad that that seed hasbeen planted early on for you,

(01:05:04):
man, and again, another honor tobe a mentor for you.

Blaze Smith (01:05:07):
Yeah, it's full circle.
It's all about goals.
Again, I don't really care tomake $100 million a month.
I just want to make enough amonth to eventually have kids,
have a nice car, maybe have anice apartment, have some nice
clothes.
I don't need a billion dollarsand that's what the Bro Hustlers
really push, I think.

Josh Hall (01:05:29):
Well, by the end of this year I think you'll have
most of that and I imagineyou'll probably land some brand
partnership deals with clothingcompanies and you'll probably
get the clothes for free.

Blaze Smith (01:05:38):
So your goals may be hit by 2025 end of 2025 man
the free, the free clothes havealready came in.
It's kind of crazy.
Actually it's a weird thing oh,that's awesome, dude.

Josh Hall (01:05:48):
I remember in my band days side note, complete,
complete tangent.
But we got sponsored by, we got25 free burritos to put uh
chipotle sign on our merch andit was I'd like.
It was the coolest feeling ever.
It was like oh my God, we'responsored by Chipotle.

Blaze Smith (01:06:08):
Absolute dream and it's something you should talk
about more.
He went from 25 to burritos to300,000 a year.

Josh Hall (01:06:14):
Yes, the burritos are still a highlight for me.
It would still be a great.
I would take that deal.
So, chipotle, hit me up, I'llthrow you on some of my stuff
and we'll make it happen.
Awesome, blaze.
Well, thanks, man, it's beengreat.
Keep it up.
We'll keep in touch and listen.
I'm sure the Blaze of fiveyears ago is listening to this
right now thinking thank you,blaze.

(01:06:36):
So you're already in a mentorrole, man.
So appreciate you, dude, keepit up.

Blaze Smith (01:06:39):
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Dream come true.

Josh Hall (01:06:49):
See you guys.
Awesome, awesome stuff.
Again, huge thanks to Blaze forreally sharing the ins and outs
of his process.
I'm sure I can speak for him insaying we hope this helps you
in your video and reels effortsin getting clients.
I know for me personally thiswas a huge help.
So thanks to blaze.
In a way I was kind of a astudent in this one as a an old
geezer at 38 now, so I reallyhope you enjoy this one.
We would love to hear yourcomments and your takeaways.

(01:07:12):
You can go to the show notesfor this episode, which will
have all the links we mentionedat joshhallco slash three, seven
, four.
Reminder you can go to hiswebsite, shovelstudio, and there
will be links to all of hissocial media.
And I want to say, if blaze islistening, at the very end of
this I took blaze's advice.
My man and I made your intro 27seconds, so I'm learning.

(01:07:34):
Thanks for tuning in everybody.
I hope you enjoyed this one.
Make sure you subscribe becausemore doozies like this one
coming at you.