Have you ever wondered how top creators design their content creation studios to boost productivity?
What must-have gear do the most successful creators swear by?
How can you transform your studio space to reflect your personal flair and maximise creativity?
π Read / Listen more: https://iag.me/225
This episode is sponsored by Adobe Express. Take it for a whirl (it's free) here: https://iag.me/adobeexpress
In this episode of The Confident Live Marketing Podcast, I chat with the incredibly talented Liz Mosley, a graphic designer with over 15 years of experience. We delve into the art of creating a studio setup that is not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing. Liz shares her journey and expertise on how to make budget-friendly tech upgrades and the importance of a well-curated background.
Liz Mosley brings a wealth of knowledge to the table, offering practical tips on using your phone for content creation and how different setup styles can affect your creativity and productivity. Whether you're working in a small space or looking to upgrade your gear, Liz has some brilliant insights to help you on your journey.
ποΈ In this episode:
00:00 Introduction to Brand Visuals
00:48 Welcome to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast
01:13 Meet Liz Mosley: Graphic Designer Extraordinaire
02:31 Liz's Journey with Adobe
03:43 Setting Up a Home Studio
08:09 The Importance of Audio Quality
12:11 Camera and Lighting Setup
18:23 Using Phones for Content Creation
20:31 Software and Tools for Content Creation
22:03 Personalizing Your Workspace
29:09 The Value of Authenticity in Content
32:50 Quickfire Round
34:32 Closing Remarks and Where to Find Liz
35:50 Final Sign-Off
πΊMore about Liz Mosley
Liz Mosley is a graphic designer with over 15 years of experience and now specialises in creating creative branding and websites for small business owners. She also hosts a podcast called Building Your Brand and teaches courses showing people how to create their own branding and GIFs if they donβt have the budget to outsource it. Her goal for her clients and students is for them to come away with branding that they love that helps them to feel so proud and confident promoting their businesses and sharing what they do with the world. You can find out more on her website lizmosley.net and following her on Instagram @lizmmosley.
Connect with Liz:
Website: https://lizmosley.net
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/lizmmosley
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lizmmosley
What's your biggest challenge with setting up your content creation studio? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, and don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!
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π€ About the Confident Live Marketing Podcast
The Confident Live Marketing Podcast is aimed at established entrepreneurs who want to level up their impact, authority, and profits through the power of live video, webinars, and podcasts. We focus on knocking down the 3 main barriers these entrepreneurs face when creating live content - live video camera fear, live video tech & gear, and the content marketing sphere.
π Find out more at https://iag.me/podcast
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πΊMore about Ian Anderson Gray
Ian is the founder of the Confident Live Marketing Academy and is the host of the Confident Live Marketing Podcast. He helps entrepreneurs to level up their impact, authority, and profits by using live video confidently. He's the founder of Seriously Social - a blog focused on live video and social media tools. He's an international speaker, trainer, teacher, and consultant. He has a passion for making the techno-babble of live video and social media marketing easy to understand. As well as being a geek, husband, and dad to two kids, Ian is also a professional singer and lives near Manchester in the UK.
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π€ Connect with Ian
Website: https://iag.me/
X/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/iagdotme
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ianandersongray
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianandersongray/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iagdotme
Threads: https://threads.net/@ianandersongray
when the visuals of your brand are quite established.
Liz:I think it makes it easier to make decorating decisions in your space
Liz:means that your videos look on brand and that just really helps build
Liz:up that trust and it helps people recognize your brand really quickly.
Liz:I think one of the things that I struggle with, especially in the design industry,
Liz:is there's like a lot of, maybe now become visual cliches, so I've noticed that a
Liz:lot of designers will have a really dark studio and they'll use colored lights
Liz:to get in their sort of brand color
Liz:Sometimes we look at what other people are doing and think, I don't
Liz:have the right setup, this isn't gonna be slick enough, but actually,
Liz:psychologically, people respond better if you don't have all of that.
Liz:Welcome to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray.
Liz:Helping you level up your impact, authority, and profits through
Liz:the power of confident live video.
Liz:Optimize your mindset and communication.
Liz:And increase your confidence in front of the camera.
Liz:Get confident with the tech and gear.
Liz:And get confident with the content and marketing.
Liz:Together, we can go live!
Ian:Hello and welcome to episode 225 of the confident live marketing podcast.
Ian:Wow.
Ian:it's exciting today because we're going behind the scenes
Ian:with another special guest.
Ian:And my guest today is the fabulous Liz Mosley, who is a graphic designer
Ian:with over 15 years experience and now specializes in creating.
Ian:Creative branding and websites for small business owners.
Ian:She also hosts a podcast called building your brand and teaches
Ian:courses showing people how to create their own branding and gifts if they
Ian:don't have the budget to outsource it.
Ian:Her goal for her clients and students is for them to come away with branding that
Ian:they love that helps them feel so proud and confident promoting their businesses
Ian:and showing what they do in the world.
Ian:Welcome to the show, Liz.
Ian:How are you doing?
Liz:Good, thanks.
Liz:Thanks for having me.
Ian:It's been great.
Ian:Great to have you.
Ian:We've not known each other for that long.
Ian:Actually.
Ian:we, I'm trying to think how we've, we, met in person at Adobe max.
Ian:I think that was the first time.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:and,
Liz:We've met each other twice since getting to know each other,
Liz:which was like about five months ago.
Ian:I know.
Ian:And then, it was a tummy con.
Ian:Wasn't it?
Ian:I think.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:so yeah, so we're both, Adobe, your Adobe ambassadors or Adobe express ambassador.
Ian:Tell us a little bit more about what you do with Adobe.
Ian:Cause I know you do a lot of stuff.
Ian:Yeah.
Liz:I'm an Adobe Express ambassador as well, but I also have been roped
Liz:into doing all sorts of other things with them, which has been really fun.
Liz:I've done, Some live streaming for them on Adobe Live.
Liz:I've, spoken at Adobe Max for part of their virtual
Liz:conference a couple of times.
Liz:I create content for them outside of the Express Ambassadorship as well.
Liz:So yeah, a bunch of different things.
Liz:I also do training for them.
Liz:teaching their clients how to use Adobe Express as well.
Ian:Awesome.
Ian:I love the way you say roped in.
Ian:I'm sure
Liz:I know, roped in.
Liz:it's really fun because basically they, people like recommend
Liz:me to different teams and then I get drawn into other areas.
Liz:So yeah, roped in probably isn't the right word, but it feels like I get drawn in
Ian:drawn in.
Ian:Yeah, that.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And it's been similar.
Ian:It's similar with me.
Ian:I think I've, it's been really interesting to, to work on a few,
Ian:kind of projects and stuff like that.
Ian:So you've done a lot of live, a lot of stuff.
Ian:You do stuff with Adobe.
Ian:You do stuff yourself.
Ian:You've got your own podcast.
Ian:tell us a little bit more about your, we know a little bit about your background
Ian:because we talked about your, I gave you a bio, but what makes your studio
Ian:setup unique in terms of what you do as a designer and all the other stuff that you
Ian:do for Adobe and also for your business?
Liz:Oh, what makes my studio setup unique?
Liz:I don't think anything in particular.
Liz:I feel like I've had to, I've been very slowly improving it as we go.
Liz:So when I first started live streaming for Adobe, I was actually, I still
Liz:had a desk set up in my bedroom, which wasn't the most professional look, but
Liz:they were like really chilled about it.
Liz:But I was like, here's my bed in the background.
Liz:But yeah, basically converted like a box room in our house into a
Liz:office or studio And then I've just slowly been adding Things to it.
Liz:So like for example, the lighting wasn't great because there's a window behind me.
Liz:So then I've got some lights I always had the microphone because
Liz:I was like doing the podcast.
Liz:So I guess as I've needed to improve things I've invested In little bits
Liz:here and there, which has been good because it means I've spread out the
Liz:cost over the last couple of years.
Ian:I think that's, I think that's such a good answer because there's a couple of
Ian:things that I want to go back to on that.
Ian:And the first thing is like.
Ian:When you first started doing live streams with Adobe, like Adobe is
Ian:it's a big name and you probably felt quite a bit of pressure.
Ian:I'm assuming like this is Adobe.
Ian:I'm doing live streaming, like my, I need to have the top mega
Ian:professional kit, like background and but they were chilled out about it.
Ian:And I, and the thing often, I don't know about you, but for
Ian:me, I've, the, a lot of my.
Ian:Concerns for having professional setup is all been in my head.
Ian:I've not always needed that.
Ian:I think it helps with the, obviously the production value, but it
Ian:doesn't matter so much, does it?
Ian:and then the second thing is, I think you're so right that for most of us,
Ian:unless you are totally committed right from the start, you know that Your video
Ian:live video podcasting is absolutely paramount to your business success And
Ian:you've got the money right at the start fine invest ten thousand twenty thousand
Ian:pounds or dollars into it but for most of us like It's a case of bootstrapping
Ian:your live your studio, isn't it over time and investing in the gear and
Ian:quite often We're going to buy gear that isn't that great to begin with.
Ian:It takes time, doesn't it?
Ian:So yeah, any thoughts on that?
Liz:Yeah, definitely.
Liz:And I think that's it.
Liz:Like, when I started live streaming with Adobe, actually, that was the first
Liz:time I'd done any live streaming before.
Liz:And so I didn't know how long it was gonna last.
Liz:I ended up actually doing it for a year and I had a weekly show.
Liz:And so I did do, I think I did like well over 50 live streams.
Liz:and yeah.
Liz:But, yeah, I feel like it wouldn't have made sense, and I wasn't really
Liz:in a position that I could invest in everything, right there at the beginning.
Liz:yeah, it was a case of doing it bit by bit, and I think you're so right
Liz:as well, actually, about not always getting, Like the right thing or the
Liz:best thing right from the beginning.
Liz:So for example, Like I had a light that sort of suckered onto the top of my
Liz:computer and it worked okay for a bit, but it, it was very, yeah, it wasn't great
Liz:and now I've invested in the like, Elgato lights and those are like much bigger and
Liz:much better and I think It's there's an element of upgrading as well as you like
Liz:improve and grow and I guess as you said as I proved Myself that this is something
Liz:that i'm gonna keep doing and so it's worth investing in because it was exactly
Liz:the same with my podcast I started it.
Liz:I did a season of 12 episodes just to see If it was something that
Liz:I wanted to do, if I enjoyed it.
Liz:At the beginning, I wasn't recording video.
Liz:I was just recording audio.
Liz:like the sort of needs have changed over time.
Liz:And now that I've committed to it for three years, like it feels a lot
Liz:more worthwhile investing in that tech, because I know that I'm going
Liz:to get plenty of use out of it.
Ian:That makes total sense.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And three years, that's a long time because most podcasters, they, I
Ian:don't know what the stats are on this, but it's like the, something
Ian:like the 10th they give up.
Ian:And so if you've been doing this for three years, I think that's a
Ian:pretty good indicator that you're
Liz:yeah, I'm committed.
Liz:yeah, totally.
Ian:which is great.
Ian:So let's dive into your studio.
Ian:And the first one that I always like to, Ask about is audio and microphones.
Ian:Cause I don't know what you, so this is interesting.
Ian:Obviously you're a designer and visuals is a huge amount of what you do.
Ian:But, would you agree like audio is pretty important?
Ian:Like I would say it's the most important if your audio doesn't sound great, then
Ian:it's not, and particularly for podcasting.
Ian:So tell us about your microphone and audio setup and why you
Ian:invested in that particular setup.
Liz:I've got a blue Yeti microphone.
Liz:And interestingly, someone asked me the other day if I would recommend it.
Liz:And I would say that I'm happy with it, and I'm happy with the quality.
Liz:But, I'm not, obsessed with it, if that makes sense.
Liz:So I would totally be open.
Liz:If I had my time again, I think I would consider other brands.
Liz:I think at the beginning, Blue Yeti is one of those ones where people
Liz:really like the aesthetic look of it.
Liz:You can get it in different colors.
Liz:you can usually find a version of a Blue Yeti that sort of,
Liz:fits with your aesthetics.
Liz:I just went for a brand, a black one, so it didn't really do that for me.
Liz:But, I think I just saw loads of people using it, and That's why I got it.
Liz:So I didn't really, I knew it was a decent microphone, but I didn't really do that
Liz:much research into what was out there.
Liz:So yeah, I think potentially down the line, I would upgrade.
Liz:I do agree with you.
Liz:I think the audio is really important, but I also think I, and you might
Liz:disagree with me on this, but I also don't think it has to be totally perfect.
Liz:I think, people who are listening There's a certain amount that they're forgiving
Liz:of, I think often you can have like audio issues that are really annoying
Liz:and it will completely put people off listening, but I think there's, yeah.
Liz:I don't think it has to be totally perfect is what I'm
Ian:No, I wouldn't disagree with that at all.
Ian:Like I, so I suppose.
Ian:I think if you're not, if you're, for example, if you're using a laptop
Ian:microphone, that's not going to be great.
Ian:And you're probably going to get a lot of, echo and reverb and,
Ian:fan noises from your computer.
Ian:That's not great, but you don't have to spend hundreds
Ian:of pounds or dollars on this.
Ian:you can, the blue Yeti isn't particularly cheap.
Ian:It's about a hundred.
Ian:It's about the hundred range, I think, isn't it?
Ian:But, you can get even cheaper microphone line that the one I really like is
Ian:the Samsung QTU, which is about.
Ian:60 pounds 60 dollars and it's really good.
Ian:so I agree with you I think just start off with something simple
Ian:But just if you go for a dynamic microphone, that's going to be much
Ian:better than your laptop microphone.
Ian:So you've already upgraded and it's funny You obviously seem a little bit.
Ian:I don't know apologetic about the the blue yeti
Ian:I started off with that and I got to the same point when I think
Ian:there are a lot of people out there that are almost quite judgmental,
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:you've got the blue Yeti.
Ian:Oh, and you know what?
Ian:I think the blue Yeti is a really good microphone.
Ian:It's really
Liz:solid.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:It's solid.
Liz:And it's served me really well, but yeah, I think maybe that's it.
Liz:Is that I've, as I've moved more into podcasting and live streaming
Liz:circles, I've started to experience the snobbery of Blue Yeti.
Liz:so now I'm a bit like, Oh, I know it's not necessarily the best one.
Ian:Yeah, it is funny, but I think the snobbery probably comes from the fact
Ian:that the Blue Yeti is often used badly.
Ian:Like I can definitely tell that Yeti correctly.
Ian:You've got it close to you.
Ian:A lot of people use the Blue Yeti and it's like halfway down the garden, it's
Ian:because they want it out of shot, which I get from an aesthetics point of view.
Ian:but you're not going to get the best quality.
Ian:and the other thing about the Blue Yeti, which is great is it's USB.
Ian:So you just plug it into your computer.
Ian:You don't have to worry about any other technical stuff.
Ian:So that's
Liz:yeah.
Ian:Cool.
Ian:So I'm interested in your camera setup because like you've got
Ian:your current camera setup.
Ian:And just before we, I pressed record, you were talking about what you're thinking of
Ian:getting actually fairly soon, apparently.
Ian:So tell us more about your current setup and what you're
Ian:thinking of doing in the future.
Liz:So my current setup I feel embarrassed about as well,
Liz:but I'm basically just using the camera on my computer.
Liz:So I've got an iMac.
Liz:yeah.
Liz:I like, one of those I never know the right names.
Liz:like a big iMac desktop.
Liz:it's like one of those 27 inch ones.
Liz:It's a really good computer.
Liz:Really nice.
Liz:I think, the camera is good enough.
Liz:And it, it has served me for the last few years, but I think
Liz:the same with everything else.
Liz:Now that I've proved to myself that I'm committed to the podcasting, live
Liz:streaming, all that sort of thing, I think it is really time to invest in, an
Liz:external camera, not the computer camera.
Liz:So I've decided that I'm going to get the Sony ZV 10.
Liz:Is that?
Liz:I've got already.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:they need to, do you know what, they need to come up with some more snazzy
Ian:names because it's really confusing.
Ian:It's the, I think it's the ZVE10, but I always get that wrong.
Ian:And of course, if you're, and if you're American, of course, it's the ZVE10.
Ian:so
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:So I'm planning to buy that.
Liz:it's basically all sitting in my cart online and I just need to press
Liz:send because obviously that is a bit more of a, like a bit of a bigger
Liz:investment, but I've got the lens in there and then I've got like a stand
Liz:that will clamp onto the computer.
Liz:so it's all there ready to go.
Liz:So basically after this I just need to press order and actually do it.
Ian:do you know what, thank you for coming on because if that was
Ian:me, I'd be like so eager to get it.
Ian:Oh no, I've got this interview I have to do.
Ian:I just want to
Liz:Oh no.
Liz:No, I'm like stalling because I'm like, oh, it's a lot of money.
Liz:So I, yeah, I need to just do it.
Liz:I think it's one of those ones where, like it feels like a big chunk of money
Liz:will come out of my account, but I really know that it's like worth the investment.
Liz:And it feels like definitely the next thing to level up and invest in for sure.
Ian:yeah, definitely.
Ian:And yeah, so that's actually the camera and lens that I've got as
Ian:well, and presumably with that, so the thing about that is you can't plug
Ian:it directly into your computer, you need to get Something like, the one
Ian:that people tend to recommend, the one I've got is the Elgato Cam Link 4K.
Ian:It'd be great if, Elgato sponsored this podcast, the amount of
Liz:Yeah, I know we've mentioned this So, often.
Ian:so yeah, that converts the HDMI output of your camera into, signal
Ian:that your computer can use that you so you can use it as a webcam.
Ian:so yeah, so I think, you've got all that set up.
Ian:That's going to come very soon and yeah, we'll have to see what things look like.
Ian:It's going to be
Liz:and thanks to you, I'm probably going to put the teleprompter
Liz:in there as well, so I'll go and add that to my car afterwards.
Liz:It's getting more and more expensive as the day goes
Ian:I know it's not good.
Ian:it's, it is good.
Ian:It is good.
Ian:So that's your camera set up.
Ian:the next thing, so this, the next question is the area that I personally
Ian:really struggled with cameras.
Ian:It can be quite complicated, I think, but it doesn't have to be.
Ian:But the thing I find a bit more complicated, because we're now
Ian:veering into the art and science, type of thing and aesthetics.
Ian:I'm interested to hear from you about this, because obviously you're
Ian:a designer and you're very visual.
Ian:How have you got on with lighting?
Ian:What's your lighting setup?
Ian:And how has that, how have you set that up to create the right mood and the right
Ian:kind of, the way it looks, on camera?
Ian:So tell us a bit more about that.
Liz:Oh, see, I don't think I'm that good at that either.
Liz:So basically I When I had my desk in my room as I talked about before I
Liz:was right in front of a big window And that actually worked, served me really
Liz:well And the light was really good.
Liz:Apart from I did some nighttime live streams I'm not joking.
Liz:Like it was the first one I ever did for Adobe was in the evening
Liz:and it was Like two hours long.
Liz:It started when it was light outside and by the end of the
Liz:stream, it was like pitch black.
Liz:And basically I just got like everything just got darker and darker.
Liz:so I didn't have a great setup then but i've now invested in two Elgato
Liz:lights because I don't I so i'm in a very small box room and I don't have
Liz:space For big lights behind the desk so they sit on the desk on either
Liz:side, and I'm really pleased with them, and they've worked really well.
Liz:I think, ultimately, I am doing the best that I can with the space
Liz:that I've got, which is small.
Liz:and so I think, aesthetically, things aren't quite where I'd like them to be.
Liz:the dream would be to have a slightly bigger space, where I
Liz:can have, quite a lot of space.
Liz:set up behind the desk.
Liz:But for now, I'm just working with what I've got.
Liz:And it keeps getting, it gradually keeps getting better
Liz:and better, but quite slowly.
Ian:I think this is, I'm not a kind of jealous person, but when I have
Ian:some of my American friends on the show, they always seem to have a
Ian:lot more space than us in the UK.
Ian:so I think that's part of it, but I think we can still make
Ian:do with a fairly small space.
Ian:my, my space is pretty small.
Ian:It's a box room as well.
Ian:but it's I think what's really important and it sounds like you've got this is
Ian:you at least have a dedicated space.
Ian:So this is for your content creation on your work, which is I think
Ian:really makes a big difference.
Ian:So lighting.
Ian:Now let's get onto your computer.
Ian:So you mentioned you've got an iMac.
Ian:So I'm just interested in terms of your podcasts, your videos, presumably
Ian:you use your phone quite a lot in some of that creation as well.
Ian:So tell us a bit more about your computers and devices that you
Ian:use and any kind of special stuff that you've got going on there.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:So I guess for the podcast, I do just use, like we're doing now, I use the
Liz:camera on the computer, but for my content, and I know that I could.
Liz:I could set this up to do it for the podcast as well, but for my content
Liz:I do use my phone a lot and actually i've got an iphone 14 and the camera
Liz:is so impressive and I'm, definitely like a believer in starting with
Liz:what you've got and not, my, no, deep down what I want to do is spend
Liz:all the money and get all the gear.
Liz:my husband always makes fun of me because I am like, a walking, the walking epitome
Liz:of like, all the gear and no idea.
Liz:So if I could, I would like, start a new hobby or start a new
Liz:interest and I would just do it.
Liz:Bile, but obviously there's like limitations and I can't do that So i'm
Liz:definitely like trying to be that person who starts with what they got they've
Liz:got and like i've recorded quite a few like youtube videos just using the Camera
Liz:on my phone all of my courses like the videos i've created from that I've done
Liz:with my phone and as I said, I am gonna invest in a camera now because I'm just
Liz:creating so much more video content.
Liz:It absolutely makes sense.
Liz:But yeah, I've been really impressed with what I've been able to do with my phone.
Liz:And I've, I've recorded content for brands and collaborations, like I've
Liz:created so many, reels and TikTok videos for Adobe using my phone
Liz:and it's served me really well.
Ian:I think it's a bit like the matrix when the, Neo wants to fly a
Ian:helicopter and he just downloads the program to, to fly the helicopter.
Ian:And I think sometimes we can feel like that with.
Ian:gear, like we just buy the gear and that's going to fix all our problems.
Ian:we're suddenly going to be able to be an amazing podcaster,
Ian:an amazing live streamer, just because we've invested in that.
Ian:We've downloaded the program.
Ian:but it's not, it's never as simple as that, unfortunately.
Ian:software.
Ian:So we've had a chat about software, haven't we?
Ian:So about, different software that you use.
Ian:So I'm just trying to say like for your podcasting, for your
Ian:video, what kind of software do you use in your content creation?
Liz:For my podcast, I use Riverside.
Liz:So I recently moved over to Riverside and I'm really enjoying using it.
Liz:I, so when I, was doing a lives with Adobe, like they did all the
Liz:production, so I didn't need to have any software for the live streaming.
Liz:Like I'd have a.
Liz:I don't know what you'd call him, like a live producer, I guess he was, so
Liz:a guy in my ear who's telling me what to do and he's managing everything.
Liz:So I literally just had to do the live, perform basically and
Liz:he was doing all the tech stuff.
Liz:But now I'm not doing that and we actually had a chat about this.
Liz:I'm gonna start live streaming myself and I'm gonna use Ecamm for that.
Liz:and then what else do I use?
Liz:I guess in terms of like video editing and stuff like that, I tend to use
Liz:Premiere Pro mainly, which I love.
Liz:I really enjoy using that.
Liz:If it's like very light editing, I'll use an app or Adobe Express as well.
Liz:So it depends what I need.
Liz:Like sometimes I just I do quite a lot of tutorials actually that are screen
Liz:recorded and I use loom for that.
Liz:So yeah, there's all sorts of different things that I bring
Liz:together to piece my content together.
Ian:No, that sounds cool.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And so a lot of people don't realize that Adobe Express can do a lot of
Ian:editing as well as we know, particularly if it's for the short form side
Ian:of things, which is really cool.
Ian:So definitely check that out.
Ian:I want to move on to your workspace and how you've personalized it.
Ian:And I, and again, We're all on a journey, so I'm sure, like me, and
Ian:you've already mentioned this, that there are frustrations, there are
Ian:things that are not quite there yet.
Ian:you've talked about you would like to have a bigger space, but how have you,
Ian:right now, how have you made your space somewhere that is a place that is uniquely
Ian:yours to help with two things, really, to foster that creativity in your day
Ian:to day work, but also Productivity.
Liz:Yeah, so I would say, and again, this is like evolved slowly over
Liz:time, I've tried to make decorating decisions that feel on brand for me.
Liz:So for example, you can't say, see it, but in front of me, there's a big green wall.
Liz:So I tend to record content with, like in this corner.
Liz:So there's like a green wall and a white wall.
Liz:And then I've got cool things, stuck up.
Liz:and I've got a bookshelf that's got all my design, books on.
Liz:So because I don't have a small, a big space, what I've done is I've curated
Liz:corners so that then, like thinking about, The angles that I would use to
Liz:film so like the window's facing me.
Liz:So then I've got light from there i'm not like totally happy with my background
Liz:at the moment, but again, it's just Making the best I can with the space
Liz:that i've got at the moment like the ultimate goal I think and i'm not sure
Liz:this will work But I should try it would be to have the desk switched around
Liz:and have the green wall behind me But yeah, I need to play around a bit more.
Liz:But yeah, I think when you know when the visuals of your
Liz:brand are quite established.
Liz:I think it makes it easier to make almost like decorating decisions in
Liz:your space means that your videos look on brand and that just really helps
Liz:build up that trust and it helps people recognize your brand like really quickly.
Liz:so yeah, I think those are the sort of like little things that I've done.
Liz:Again, there's still so much more that I want to do and I feel like
Liz:I've had to, compromise and just, do what I can with the space that I've
Liz:got and the budget that I've got.
Liz:But just some simple things like painting a wall green has made a big difference.
Ian:Yeah, that's all I wanted to ask you a little bit more about that.
Ian:So quite often what I asked my guests on this in this season about studio
Ian:set up is what is their dream set up?
Ian:Or what would you invest in?
Ian:But I want to make it slightly different for you because
Ian:obviously, you're a designer.
Ian:And so you've you tend to think about things in a ball.
Ian:designery way.
Ian:how would you, in terms of the look and feel of your, your camera set up
Ian:and the look and feel, your background, the lighting, how would you, thinking
Ian:about, no, there's no budget here, sorry, there's, sorry, there is a
Ian:budget here, to invest in and the next stage for you, what would that be?
Ian:how would you, How, change what you've currently got to have a more memorable
Ian:brands than you've currently got.
Ian:what would you think?
Liz:Oh, that's such a good question.
Liz:I think, I think one of the things that I struggle with, so I guess I,
Liz:something that I've considered is getting a studio outside of the home.
Liz:And I like the idea of that in terms of had it having a dedicated studio.
Liz:space to work, like to record content.
Liz:But I actually really love working from home.
Liz:So I think I would probably have to like still live it myself.
Liz:I'd still have the space issue, but I think what I would do is yeah, move the
Liz:room around, have the green wall behind me and then really curate that wall.
Liz:I think.
Liz:I think it's about adding personality and showing, having elements
Liz:that help people get to know you.
Liz:And your unique personality, and I think you can do that,
Liz:with the prints that you choose.
Liz:So I've got an Aaron Draplin print, who's like a very well known designer up here.
Liz:yeah, I think you can bring those things in and I've seen lots of
Liz:people do it in really brilliant ways where their setups all look really
Liz:different, but it really shows their personality and what their brand is like.
Liz:And so I think it's, yeah, it's about curating that sort of
Liz:like aesthetic of your brand.
Liz:I think one of the things that I struggle with, especially in the sort of like
Liz:design industry, is there's like a lot of, I guess what of, maybe now become
Liz:visual cliches, where, so I've noticed that a lot of designers will have a
Liz:really dark, studio and they'll use like colored lights to get in their sort of
Liz:brand color and it's really effective and it works really well, but I don't think
Liz:it's really like my vibe or aesthetic, but I find myself getting sucked into it
Liz:because I see everybody else doing it.
Liz:I'm like, oh, maybe I just need to like make it all really dark and have, like
Liz:one of those long stick lights that's like putting out this green glow.
Liz:But yeah, that's not really, that's not really the vibe I want to go to.
Liz:Another one that a lot of designs do, and this is like no shade on them because
Liz:the aesthetics are perfect for them, but like another one is they, quite a lot of
Liz:them have neon signs in their background.
Liz:And so then I feel myself getting sucked in and I'm like,
Liz:oh, I need to have a neon sign.
Liz:am I really a designer content creator unless I've got a
Liz:neon sign in the background?
Liz:But again, I have to remind myself that's not really my aesthetic, Like I need to
Liz:find my own way and I think sometimes we can't see what everybody else is
Liz:doing and get sucked Into that so I think yeah I'm in the process of trying
Liz:to curate a space that reflects me and isn't just what everyone else is doing
Ian:I love that curator space.
Ian:That's, I think that's a good nugget that, that we can think about.
Ian:And.
Ian:I think you're so right.
Ian:we, I feel the same thing.
Ian:Like I get sucked in.
Ian:I think, Oh, like maybe if I had this dark background with the, the led and neon
Ian:lights, that would solve all my problems.
Ian:And it made me look really cool.
Ian:But I think one thing that I've been thinking a lot about is.
Ian:I want to be so it depends on your brand and like the kind of clients
Ian:that you work with, but one of the big words, but big things for
Ian:me is I want to be approachable.
Ian:And I've found sometimes that the more professional your background
Ian:is and your setup that can actually almost put up a bit of a barrier.
Ian:and I've had to work at that because I spend a lot of time, recommending
Ian:gear and setups and things like that.
Ian:But I found that.
Ian:when I started talking about more kind of high tech setups, it was actually a
Ian:barrier to people working with me because they thought, Oh, I could never do that.
Ian:And the point is I can help you do that.
Ian:that's what I was trying to say.
Ian:But, so I think there's a balance and assume that's the same with you.
Ian:You want to be approachable.
Ian:You want people, you want to say, look, I'm.
Ian:I'm a person you can work with and if there's all the, if you almost look too
Ian:professional, that can be a barrier.
Ian:I don't know what you think about that.
Liz:I think you're totally spot on and I've got some
Liz:interesting insight into this.
Liz:So my husband is actually like an online education sort of expert.
Liz:Like his whole thing is advising people about online courses.
Liz:And I remember when I created my courses, he gave me this really
Liz:interesting bit of information, which was that actually, Students respond
Liz:better if your recording setup isn't super, super slick and polished.
Liz:If it's a bit more, yeah, I guess like you say, approachable, friendly, I want
Liz:to say a bit more lo fi, so it's still good, like the audio is still good,
Liz:the video's clear, the lighting's good.
Liz:but it, it doesn't have to be this like super slick in a studio
Liz:with a professional videographer, it doesn't have to be that.
Liz:Actually people respond better when it's not.
Liz:And him telling me that was so helpful because I realized, and I think
Liz:this comes back to Branding so well, when you're clear on what your brand
Liz:values are and how you want people to feel when they work with you.
Liz:for some people, they're, they're trying to attract massive corporate
Liz:companies and that slickness is going to be really important.
Liz:But for me, I'm working with small businesses.
Liz:I want to come across, I, not in a fake way, but I want to come across friendly
Liz:and approachable and I want them to, yeah, Feel like not feel overwhelmed like
Liz:I think exactly like you described and so I think you know that this has been
Liz:talked about a lot on Instagram as well like one of the biggest sort of like
Liz:content creators on Instagram basically came Out and said that he thought the
Liz:time of really slick well edited videos is over and actually What people are
Liz:looking for now is more authentic, scrappy, I don't know if that's the
Liz:right word to use, but more scrappy content, where it's not as polished.
Liz:And I think sometimes we look at what other people are doing and think, oh,
Liz:what, I don't have the right setup, this isn't gonna be slick enough, but
Liz:actually, psychologically, people respond better if you don't have all of that.
Liz:And yeah, I think that's a, I think that's really interesting to think about.
Liz:I love, I love considering that and I think, a part of my setup is more
Liz:based on, what I've got available and the budget, but it's always
Liz:encouraging to be reminded that actually you can do, create content
Liz:and do really effective work without it being this, like huge production.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And I would agree.
Ian:I'm not a massive Instagram person, but I find that thing that puts me off
Ian:Instagram is the overly slickness quality.
Ian:Like I prefer the raw stuff.
Ian:I quite like stories when they're just basic stories, just
Ian:people talking to the camera.
Ian:I prefer that.
Ian:And yeah, I think what I've realized, what I want to invest in my studio
Ian:setup is actually, I want to get rid of barriers that, That I want to remove
Ian:any friction in the creation of content.
Ian:So I want to just plug a switch, put a switch on and I can create my
Ian:podcast on my video straight away.
Ian:there's no friction because it's already difficult enough.
Ian:So sometimes to get motivated, to create that content.
Ian:So like having my microphone here, my camera all ready to go.
Ian:That's I think a good way to invest, but it doesn't have to necessarily be like
Ian:make a professional other than that.
Ian:I'm just aware of time, with this has been such an interesting
Ian:conversation, but, we've actually, actually a little bit longer than we
Ian:normally do, which is absolutely cool.
Ian:Cause we've had some really good, interesting conversations,
Ian:but I do want to get onto the.
Ian:the famous quickfire round, which I know you're looking forward to.
Ian:So I'm going to ask you a series of questions, you need to answer
Ian:them as quickly as possible.
Ian:So no pressure.
Ian:Let's do it now.
Ian:So the question number one, Is microphone in or out of shot?
Liz:In.
Liz:I like it in.
Ian:Awesome.
Ian:okay.
Ian:Acoustic panels.
Ian:Are these an aesthetic choice or acoustic essential?
Liz:Oh, I feel like they're probably an acoustic essential, but I don't
Liz:have them, and I feel like quite often they're an aesthetic choice.
Ian:Okay, I don't think you need them.
Ian:Teleprompter, yes or no?
Ian:Webcam or fancy camera?
Liz:in an ideal world, fancy camera, but I currently have a webcam.
Ian:Okay, to create content sitting or standing.
Liz:Sitting.
Ian:Ring lights, good or bad?
Liz:Oh, I think they're good in some situations, but I'm not a massive fan.
Ian:One big monitor or dual monitors, or even triple?
Liz:Oh, the dream would be dual, but I currently have one big one.
Ian:Green screen or natural background?
Liz:Natural background.
Ian:What's best, going solo or with guests?
Liz:With guests.
Liz:I love chatting to people.
Ian:Awesome, you've got nine there, that's pretty good.
Ian:It's difficult though, isn't it?
Ian:Because you want to say, Yeah, but
Liz:Qualify!
Liz:I know, yeah, I wanted to give a little explanation with all of my decisions.
Ian:We're just worried about getting judged, for saying things like,
Liz:I know, yeah.
Ian:like ring lights, like I personally don't like them, but
Ian:I'm also like completely aware that for some people they're perfect.
Ian:So just because I don't like them doesn't mean that, so there we go.
Ian:Anyway, thank you so much, Liz.
Ian:It's been great to have you on the show.
Ian:You are back in the next season talking about confidence and communication.
Ian:Really excited about having you back then, but, We are almost out of time.
Ian:tell people how they can find out more about you, connect with you and
Ian:what are you currently working on?
Liz:Yeah, sure.
Liz:you can find out more about me on my website, which is lizmosley.
Liz:net.
Liz:And I also have a new website for my podcast, which I'm very excited
Liz:about, which is buildingyourbrand.
Liz:net.
Liz:and the main place I hang out online is Instagram and my
Liz:handle is at lizmmosley there.
Liz:So yeah, if you want to find me, that's the best place to go.
Liz:Oh, and what am I working on now?
Liz:Oh, I'm always working on the podcast.
Liz:So there's like weekly episodes that come out with that, where I interview
Liz:people about branding and marketing.
Liz:I guess the other work is more behind the scenes.
Liz:So doing lots of branding projects for clients, doing some content
Liz:creation for clients as well.
Liz:but yeah, I guess the podcast is the main place where you can
Liz:see regular content from me.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And it is a really cool website.
Ian:You need to check that out.
Ian:All of those links will be in the show notes.
Ian:and, let me just, I can't even remember what we're on now.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:IAG.
Ian:me forward slash 225.
Ian:That's where they'll all be.
Ian:Thanks so much, Liz.
Ian:It's been great to have you on.
Liz:you.
Ian:we are out of time.
Ian:do check out the podcast, website.
Ian:Iag.
Ian:me forward slash podcast, where you can connect with us and you
Ian:can subscribe and listen in all your favorite podcasting apps.
Ian:And of course we're on YouTube as well.
Ian:yeah, that's it from me.
Ian:And until next time I encourage you to level up your impact authority and profits
Ian:to the power of confident live video.
Ian:See you soon.
Ian:Bye.
Ian:Thanks for listening to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray.
Ian:Make sure you subscribe at iag.me/podcast so you can continue to level up
Ian:your impact, authority and profits through the power of live video.
Ian:And until next time, Toodle