This Founder Borrowed $4,500 To Book Wiz Khalifa At His College. Now He’s a Millionaire

Forbes

Cameron Kirkland, the CEO of Cam Kirk Studios, estimates he’s made more than $6 million from a photography studio business.  0:00 Introduction 2:04 Kendrick Lamar v Drake 3:55 Being A Content Creator In 2024 9:35 Collective Gallery's Business Model 14:29 Is Being An Artistic Entrepreneur For Everyone? 19:21 Lesson From Kirk’s Parents 24:14 Taking Out A Student Loan To Book Wiz Khalifa 30:33 Kirk’s Business Lessons  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jabariyoung/2024/06/21/this-founder-borrowed-4500-to-book-wiz-khalifa-at-his-college-now-hes-a-millionaire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00It's worth about $250 billion. And as the digital age expands, expect the creator economy to get

00:07even more lucrative, maybe half a trillion. We'll tell you how one creator who turned himself into

00:13a millionaire plans to profit even more. Our Journey to 4's BLK series continues

00:18with a creator's conversation with Cam Kirk right now.

00:22Again, we welcome in Cameron Kirkland. He is the founder and CEO of Cam Kirk Studios

00:31based in Atlanta, as well as Collective Gallery. This is a record label-like agency for photographers

00:38and discussion as part of our Journey to 4's BLK series back in Atlanta, June 23rd to the 25th.

00:44Cam, it's good to see you again, man. I never see you without your hat on, man. You got all

00:48this good graded hair. I don't have any, and yet you don't even want to show it off, man. What's

00:52up with that? I don't know. It's just my style. It's got a little bit of my signature, man,

00:57in between haircut and without a hat on. Yeah, man. Yeah. Well, listen, again,

01:02you're no stranger to Forbes. We first profiled you on our Forbes Live video back in 2018.

01:08And then in August 2023, here you are on the local under 30 list for Atlanta. So I say welcome back,

01:14but I mean, you've been here plenty of times before, man. So I guess I'll say how is business?

01:19Because if I'm not mistaking, you guys are celebrating seven years in business at Cam Kirk

01:24Studios. Yep. Seven years. July marks seven years since we opened up here in downtown Atlanta.

01:32Yeah. It's a good lesson, man. Again, I'm thankful for the relationship with Forbes and the spotlight

01:37and the platform Forbes has offered me over the years. They came to my studio. You guys came into

01:42my studio and profiled me in my studio. So you guys got to see it firsthand. A few years back

01:48when we were first really getting things off the ground. So it's amazing to still be here and still

01:53be in business. You know, so many horror stories in business. So to withstand the storms of COVID

01:59and everything and still be here, it's a blessing. Yeah, man. Well, listen, let's dive into that

02:03business in a little bit. But before you do, man, you know, I got to put you on the spot.

02:06You're a culture guy, man. You know, I'm going to put you on the spot. You can't duck it.

02:10And your opinion, right, your opinion as a fan, who won the Drake Kendrick beef?

02:16Oh, man, I think they both won. The culture won. The culture won. I think, I mean, you know,

02:25one person went against multiple people. Yeah. Oh, for him to just stand up in battle

02:31with so many people coming at me, I can't necessarily say he lost, you know, and then

02:36obviously Kendrick continued to show those who might have been sleeping on him, you know,

02:40the range that he has. So, I mean, like I think everybody said it was beautiful that it stayed on

02:46all wax. I think all parties have at some point laughed about it, joked about it from what I've

02:52seen. So it was a beautiful thing, I guess, for the culture just to see, you know, those bar

02:57maps like that. Yeah. As you said, man, it was great for the culture, actually. I was hoping

03:02that it didn't. It wasn't anything similar to what we saw with Tupac and Biggie, the outcome,

03:07at least. So the fact that it stayed on music, for the most part, for the most part,

03:11and we were able to see that type of very rare battle between two very popular musicians. I

03:17thought it was great for the culture in general, man. But dig in deep. You got to pick your

03:23selection. Can't just put me on the spot like that. Oh, I'll pick my selection. I think Kendrick

03:27won. No, without a doubt. I mean, I like Drake, man. But I mean, listen, dude, when you got a

03:32song like Not Like Us and it comes on, man, and the beat, I mean, it was a moment, man. I mean,

03:37I hear that popping. I know I'm going to hear that song throughout the city every time I go back to

03:42Philly. I normally hear it in, you know, I hear it in New York now. And then when you go to the

03:46clubs, man, it's so like it's a very, again, a good moment for content creators in the whole.

03:52Because think about they won as well. Right. And here you are sitting in that seat as a content

03:56creator, you know, focusing on photography and videography. And it's so funny, Cam, you know,

04:01in this digital age, I find myself I'm walking down the block and I see so many young people

04:07now and they're capturing their moment. They're taking a camera and they'll sometimes turn around

04:11and say, oh, I'm sorry. You know what I mean? The blog, go do your thing. Right. Because this is

04:14their era. This is this is a new generation. They're growing up with these iPhones in their

04:18hands. And me and you probably didn't have that coming up. You know, I mean, go back to your

04:22Wiz Khalifa story. Your phone died. You had to go buy a camera. Right. But I mean, what are you

04:26seeing, man, as a content creator here in twenty twenty four? You sit at the top. You know, so much

04:31was sustained over the last few years, including a pandemic. And here we are coming out of that

04:35a two hundred and fifty billion dollar created economy in twenty twenty three, according to

04:39Goldman Sachs, man. And here you are now sitting in the middle of it. What are you feeling as a

04:43content creator? What are you seeing in twenty twenty four? Wow. Yeah, it's it's amazing to see

04:52how open minded people have been to content and how much social media has changed. It's our

04:58perception to content, our affection for our affinity for. So when I first started photography,

05:04I didn't know many other photographers. It wasn't a trend when I was even on Morehouse campus. It

05:10wasn't like I knew three other people that were doing it or, you know, it was something that

05:15I just had to figure out on my own and explore my own. Yeah. So to now to see how many

05:21photographers there are young, you know, young photographers that not even technically trained,

05:26they're just picking up a camera, expressing themselves and and finding joy in it. I

05:32remember I went back to campus. I went back to Morehouse last year for an event and I saw 50,

05:40no lie, about 50 kids on campus with cameras in hand. And I was just blown away by it. Like, wow,

05:46like it is really changed. And to see the economy grow and to see the amount of opportunities and

05:52wealth and money you can make from it, you know, in my era, or if it was still the era of you

05:57telling your parents you want to be a photographer and they're like, that's not a job. Yeah, that's

06:01not like like, what are you talking about? You know, I didn't send you to Morehouse to be a

06:05photographer. So to now to hear numbers like that, to see the economy like that, to see what I've

06:10been able to do and others with me have been able to do in the heights we've gone with it,

06:16is quite, quite frankly, amazing. And I'm thankful to be here and to be in the center of it.

06:21Yeah, man. I mean, listen, everywhere you go now and every time I'm getting, you know,

06:24setting up interviews at the Nasdaq or what have you, and we're going through email to say, hey,

06:28we need to bring our videographer, we need to bring our photographer. I mean, it's a whole

06:32crew of these what you call creators and artists, right? Because they are artists in their own way

06:37that you must now make people so that you start a company nowadays. Well, nowadays,

06:42you need a chief AI officer, you need a chief technology officer, those are mandatory, right?

06:46And you also need a videographer and a photographer, you need someone to follow you

06:50around to collect that content. Because again, we're in this digital age, social media is very

06:55big at that. For somebody who would not know about Cam Kirk Studios, how would you describe

07:00the studio? How would you describe the business? Yeah, so the best way to describe Cam Kirk

07:06Studios is it's like a community center mixed with like a brick and mortar business. So we kind

07:13of merge those two lanes and then obviously merge it with just some normal content or production

07:20space that creators can work out of. So when I first was coming up in photography, these big

07:28studios with these big site walls and these big warehouse spaces, they were very intimidating,

07:32even for me as a photographer. I didn't know where to begin or where to start. So when I set

07:37out to create Cam Kirk Studios, I kind of was trying to attack that. How can we create a very

07:41user-friendly space that is welcoming, inviting, and that can allow someone who just bought a

07:48camera last week still feel like they can actually get work done and create out of here. So our space

07:54is like a boutique style studio. It's not in a big warehouse. It's about 4,000 square feet of

08:01space, but it's not a big warehouse. It's built out like a creative loft almost. And we have

08:06multiple shoot stations in there. And that was purposely done as well because I wanted to also

08:12combat the loneliness feeling that most creators have of being on the island of themselves and

08:17being entrepreneurs and thinking that they're going through it themselves. So we actually have

08:21like a co-working space where in our main studio, there are two photo shoots happening in the same

08:27room at the same time. So you're actually able to like look to your left and see like someone else

08:34is creating, someone else young that you can network with, deal with, ask their advice, or get

08:39inspired by what they're doing and you all feel like not alone. And then our space also comes with

08:45a photography assistant. I know for me, when I first got in the studio, I didn't know the first

08:50thing to do in the studio. I didn't know where my lights go, how to do anything. So we actually

08:55provide an assistant that literally helps you. If you don't know how to set up lights, you don't

09:00know how to change your backdrop, we actually do it for you. So everything is really designed to

09:05ensure that you get the most bang for your buck and that you leave confidently feeling like, wow,

09:11I might have learned something today. So it's like education is built in that. And that's where I feel

09:16like the community aspect comes. Like we actually hold your hand and walk with you side by side

09:22through your process where most studios you'll go in, they say, all right, we'll see you in two

09:26hours. You know what I mean? The stuff you need is to the left or right, we'll see you in two hours.

09:31Let us know if you need something. We have a different approach.

09:34And then you have Collective Gallery that's tied onto that, right? And again, this is a record

09:38label like agency where you're taking photographers, signing them. The last I heard was $10,000 you

09:44would sign them to, and that would be their upfront, not have to pay it back, right? That's

09:48their money that they keep. And then they have a marketing budget with that, right? What's the

09:52business? What was the idea of taking photographers and then signing them?

09:56Yeah. Collective Gallery is an extension, like you said, of the studio. So when I was working

10:02in the studio, built the studio, I'm meeting photographers every day. I'm seeing how creative

10:08they are. I'm seeing the energy. And I'm also mentoring. So I'm seeing the questions that I

10:13constantly get asked. How do I do this? How do I go to this level? I know my work is good,

10:18but how do I get clients? How do I make money off of this? And I realized having a studio was

10:23great. We created a safe place for them to create out of, to work out of. It supports them creatively.

10:28But what happens when they leave my studio and they have 10 questions? What happens when they

10:33get booked at another spot? And I was doing so much mentoring that I was like, man,

10:38the studio is great for the local community it serves, but I have a bigger mission that

10:43can probably serve a wider audience of photographers who could use just my understanding,

10:49my knowledge, my wisdom, and the things that I've been able to learn throughout my journey.

10:54And coming into photography, I didn't have a mentor that directly led me to know,

10:59this is how you pitch for a job, or this is what you do on set. This is what you charge for this.

11:05These are the different parts of photography to learn. Licensing or, you know, ownership,

11:10what a work for hire means. These are trial and error things I literally learned on the fly,

11:17through mistakes, through this and that. So I'm like, I got a lot of knowledge that I can give

11:22to young photographers. And I met so many that just needed a shot. They just needed to be put

11:27in the room. You know, I'm like, man, your photography style, if you work with Lotto,

11:31or you work with Cardi B, be crazy. And that's what I was able to do with Collective Gallery.

11:37So the reason why we call it a label-like, and why I built it that way, because in business,

11:42one, it's a marketing thing. But in business, there are a lot of, there are photography

11:46agencies out there, right? That business model exists, where if you're a dope photographer,

11:52you can sign to a photography agency, they'll get you work, they'll take a fee on top,

11:58and they will pretty much house your portfolio and get you more jobs. But in this day and age,

12:04that's not enough. If you're a photographer just to do jobs, you'd have to run a full business.

12:09What happens in between jobs? How do you monetize the personal work that you want to do? Your own

12:14IP, your own ideas? How do you sell artwork, print photography? How are you doing? What's

12:20your press look like? Like, are you telling your stories? Are you out? It's so much more that I

12:25felt agencies weren't servicing. And a lot of photographers I was speaking to were like,

12:30I'm signed to an agency, and they call me when they got a job. But if they don't have a job,

12:34I don't have no support. I'm out here. So I took that. And then I also came up in the music

12:41industry. So I came in in the photography industry, through the back door in a sentence,

12:46like I came in through music industry, and then kind of slowly position myself back in

12:50the photography industry. So I've been following the blueprint and a rollout plan of music artists

12:58my whole life. A lot of my business models is built off of that. You get your own fame,

13:03your own success, and then you open up other businesses based off of your fame and success.

13:10Most artists would have a recording studio. I have a photo studio. Most artists, when they

13:15have a lot of success for themselves, they start a label. And that was the concept here.

13:20I could call it an agency. But if I call it a label, it's the first up sky. And it's never

13:26done before. If I start giving people cash advance, it's never been done before.

13:33Agencies will get you work, but they're not necessarily believing in you so much that

13:38they're going to put up 10 to 20,000 hours to say, we want you on our squad. So that was kind

13:45of like the notion behind it, of starting it. And we were grateful to launch with the support

13:50of Atlantic Records. So Atlantic Records was our first two-year partnership, where our label also

13:57served as in-house content agency team for Atlantic Records. So we were able to do work with Cardi B.

14:05We were able to do Kodak Black album covers. Worked really closely with their big artist,

14:09Kali, who's blown up. Did stuff for Jack Harlow. We were able to prove the model inside of the

14:15music space to really show we have a bunch of different content creators on our roster,

14:22and we can bring a different light kind of working in-house with you all.

14:26Right. Yeah. As you said, due to liabilities as well. Makes perfect sense, man. What's the

14:31biggest positive surprise that you found about running this creator business with photography,

14:38video? You do press photos, but what's been the biggest positive surprise about this whole process?

14:45Since you started seven years ago. The amount of money that you can make

14:53is a huge surprise. The amount of opportunities, the places you can go through creativity and

15:00through your camera, your lens, the opportunities that I have afforded. Major surprise. I'm also

15:10surprised at just how open people are now to content. That wasn't like a normal thing. I would

15:16be in rooms. People would not want cameras in the room or not want me taking pictures and to just

15:20see how many photos are taken on a daily basis every day. It's quite amazing just to see the

15:27growth of the industry and the respect of the industry. I mean, I know Kevin Durant's into

15:33photography. Devin Booker's into photography. Ken Griffey Jr. retired majorly baseball. He's a

15:40sports photographer now. Just to see people coming over to our world and wanting to be

15:46photographers, wanting to capture culture, wanting to story tell. I think that those

15:52things are just amazing. It lets me know that our story will be told for generations on because

15:57we're in control of that now. I'm very happy about that aspect of it, especially as a black man.

16:03It's like, man, no one's going to be telling our history, at least this generation. We're going to

16:07have documents and proof that we own and that we are able to capture. So I think things like that

16:14are just really exciting and really surprising to see how fast it kind of took off. Yeah. Now we're

16:19talking seven figures when you first started. Let's say I get a camera, right, and I have no

16:23experience. You're telling me I can go make a million dollars right fast? I was going to take

16:26a little bit of time. How much money can be made if you're an amateur and you're looking at this

16:31video and you maybe have a camera and you're looking to maybe go out there and get some work?

16:36Give a figure. Amateur now. I'm not going to sit here and do that for amateurs. You know,

16:42you work your way up. Work your way up. I have 100% gross millions of dollars with my camera.

16:48Wow. I'll say that. And I'll say that as an amateur, I started now, I know young photographers

16:55that are, you know, making four or five thousand a month, you know, consistently utilizing their

17:02camera. And it's just with local community, not even getting the shots of shooting a night

17:06campaign or Puma campaign. Wow. They're they can make that if your hustle is there. So the money

17:14is there. It's quite funny. I just saw an article today that Spotify CEO said the cost of creating

17:21content is zero dollars. It's like they're close to nothing now, which is very interesting to see

17:26the contrast of this conversation. And we're talking about how much money you can make in it.

17:31And to hear a CEO of a content company say they generate content at zero dollars.

17:38It's interesting to see where it goes moving forward and with statements like that and

17:43stances like that, how it could affect things moving forward in a good or bad way.

17:48It could be. I mean, it could be bad with the surge of A.I. I'm assuming he's he's referring to

17:56A.I. I'm assuming he's referring to lo-fi content that is now taking over social media. You know,

18:05like they don't want to high produce video like that anymore. They pull out your phone,

18:10you know, grab your phone, turn it sideways, shoot this video. You know, that's what's going viral

18:16You know, that's what's going viral on TikTok and reels is this quick, short content. So

18:22it's I think everything comes in ways, but it's interesting to hear someone that sits at a CEO

18:27of a billion dollar company to make a hard stance like that. And I know you got a lot of pushback

18:31on it, but it's interesting. And it's something that as photographers, we got to pay attention

18:36to because that's what they're saying behind closed doors. Like, why do I still need to pay

18:40$100,000 to photoshoot? I can go and do this with my phone. Yeah. Or so that or an A.I.

18:48It's things I'm keeping my eye out for because it's interesting conversation being had right

18:53now as technology continues to advance. I mean, these iPhones shoot at higher megapixels than my

18:59five, six thousand dollar camera. Yeah. Yeah. So you have to be aware of what's happening within

19:04the industry. Yeah. Tell me. Listen, you took that right out of my mouth because later on in

19:08the conversation, I guess I don't have to ask you now is going to say, hey, scare me a little bit,

19:11man. What are you paying attention to that can change things? And, you know, you said it,

19:15generative A.I. and that wave of content that's coming, you know, definitely scary, man. But

19:21listen, let's go back a little bit. Right. You know, you grew up in Maryland, DMV area, PG

19:26County. Mom was a credit coach, right. Helped teach financial literacy to community. Dad was

19:30in the military. Did two stints, if I'm not mistaken, in Iraq when you when you were coming

19:36up. And he was also a photographer. Right. My dad was a photographer. My uncle Dave was a

19:40photographer. Right. So we got that photography and I but I didn't want to go to photography

19:43route, though, Cam. I just went the right routing route, writing route. But what you learned from

19:47your parents, man, growing up? I learned everything from my parents going up. I mean, quite quite

19:54honestly, my mom really just taught me like more of the entrepreneurial side. Like my mom is like

20:03businesswoman. Finance is important. Your credit is important. Climbing the ranks in a corporate

20:10ladder. My mom was vice president of her company at time before she took maternity leave.

20:15But my sister on my mom's side was entrepreneurial side started. They started a financial company

20:24where they were giving out loans. They were like a broker for loans, stuff like that. So

20:29from that side, I learned like risk taking from my mom. I learned going out on your own. She quit

20:36a multi six figure job and started her own thing and was comfortable doing her own thing with her

20:42and her husband. I learned so much of that from her. And then on my dad's side, my dad is

20:48is a superhero. Quite frankly, he's a military guy who's literally fought for our freedoms

20:55multiple times, even when he didn't have to. His second stint, he was the leader in the military

21:01in his second stint. They told him, you don't have to go where your troops are going to go.

21:06My dad said, no, my troops go. I go. I saw that very on just leadership,

21:12like with the qualities of being a leader, being selfless, putting others first, putting the cause

21:17first, being willing to sacrifice for the greater whatever of your family, whatever. And my dad did

21:24that also to help pay for my tuition, you know, that more house, more house wasn't cheap by no

21:29means. Yeah. And they paid it and it didn't allow me to come out with student loans or, you know,

21:34like part of that stint in Iraq. So you don't have no student loan debts, no student loan debts at all?

21:41No, I took I took out one loan. I know I'll get to that one minute, but I did get it. But man,

21:46that must feel good to come into corporate America or to come into your own put without

21:52zero outside of the one you took. And I know why you did it with the Wiz Khalifa.

21:55But, you know, that did that help you from a financial standpoint that you didn't have to

22:00worry about that burden? Because, Cam, look, I pay student loans every month, man. And I'll

22:03be crying. I told you when I see you in Atlanta, man, I hate those things. But you didn't have

22:08that on your back. Now, I'm so blessed and grateful for our family, you know, that being

22:15able to set me up that way, me and my brother and my sister is about to go. So I'm so thankful

22:22for the way they set us up because, yes, it was freedom. You know, when I graduated, it was it

22:26was it allowed me to be able to be a photographer, right? Not rush into corporate America

22:32because I didn't have like something looming over me. I was like, well, you need to pay back this

22:36starting now. I didn't have that clock and that pressure. So forever grateful and thankful for

22:42the way they set me up. And that's what drives me, honestly, as I think about legacy and making

22:48sure it's worth their their investment, because I know I didn't go the route that I they thought I

22:53would go. Yeah, because you were supposed to be a doctor, Cam. They thought you were going to be

22:56a doctor there, man. You chose a photography route. No, man, that's the only reason I was

23:02able to go to Morehouse. I said my parents that I said Morehouse graduates the most black men

23:07into medical school every year. And that was a sell because they were like, you're going to

23:11University of Maryland, staying local and state tuition. And I sold them in on that. And I'm

23:16grateful that my parents trusted me, believed in me enough to let me, you know, my own life and make

23:22my own way and making that shift. And they didn't they didn't hold it against me. You know, they

23:28were firm and they were strong about, you know, you need to make you need to see it through then

23:33if you're going to do it. But they didn't they didn't turn their back on me and they supported

23:37me and been some really big fans of my work and what I'm doing now. And I know they're blown away

23:43with just like how far this has gone, especially my dad being a photographer. You ain't never seen

23:49it like this. This is different. Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, you kind of hit it on the money

23:54there. Right. And as I kind of lead to wrap up and definitely more from you, because, Cam, you'll be

23:59joining us on stage at our Forrest B.L.K. Summit in Atlanta, man, to go more into the creative

24:05economy and what you can do with that. And I'm sure you're going to have a whole bunch of people

24:08coming up to you afterwards to ask you what's like working at Cam Kirk Studios and for advice,

24:13man. But that student loan that you took out, how much was that? Because you took that money and you

24:17booked Wiz Khalifa. And that's where it kind of sparked for you. Right. In that concert, your

24:23phone died. You went out next day and you bought a Canon T2i. Right. That was your your first

24:28camera that you bought. But looking at that student loan, how much did you take out? How

24:32much you have to pay, Wiz? Take me in that little that that transaction there.

24:38Man, that was that was just a wild time of just like I kind of miss those days of being just so

24:44free and just like trying things and exploring and being so open minded. Yeah. But I was a big

24:50Wiz Khalifa fan. So at Morehouse, my junior year at Morehouse, I was like, I need to do something

24:55on campus. I mean, I can't just go skate through this four years and not do nothing. At that time,

25:00I thought I wanted to get into the fashion industry. So I wasn't seeing music, wasn't

25:05seeing creativity, I was seeing fashion at that time. And I had an organization that I started

25:10on campus, which is the first fashion organization at Morehouse. And I was like, we need to fundraise.

25:15We need to find a way to bring awareness to our organization. And Twitter was brand new. Twitter

25:21was like a new social platform where you could really ask your favorite artists and they might

25:26respond, they might tweet you back. And I remember I was just listening to Wiz Khalifa every single

25:31day. I went to his Twitter page and I saw he had an email by him. And it was definitely an email to

25:38his booking agent. But I was like, I wonder what happens if I reach out to this email and ask them

25:43would they come to Morehouse? It started really as that. My first pitch was, do you think Wiz

25:48will come to Morehouse and do a pop up for his merch and I can get a lot of kids will be excited

25:54to see him. They completely ignored my message. Just saw that I was in Atlanta and said, hey,

26:01we're on a 50 city tour. We've booked 49 cities. The only city we haven't booked is Atlanta. No

26:06one has called us by Atlanta. Wow. What are you trying to do? So when I was reached out to him,

26:10they told me it was forty five hundred and I just had to pay half to log in to be able to start

26:16selling tickets. And I was just like, wow, like the timing was amazing. The new staff, the staff

26:22loan for that second semester was available. I told my parents that if I take out the forty

26:27five hundred on the Stafford, will you guys give me the forty five hundred? You know, I mean that

26:33I was going to pay. I was going to pay to college anyway. And I was able to convince my roommate

26:37to kind of do the same thing. So me and him kind of went at it together to try to put some money

26:42up for a concert. Booked Wiz for a total of forty five hundred dollars. Booked the venue concert

26:49venue for fifteen hundred. And the rest was really history. Sold out event. Latest thing

26:55to happen on campus that time. The first time I ever used Cam Kirk before that, I was just camera

27:01and camera. I put on a flyer because my name was too long to stretch across the whole flyer. I was

27:07like, for more information, call Cam Kirk. And I was like, Kim Kirk. And then, yeah, from there,

27:14the rest is truly history. One of my favorite artists of all time. Sold out event. Had everybody

27:21wondering who is Cam Kirk? Who is he? Who is he? You remember what you walked away with that night?

27:26Like you pay Wiz forty five hundred, right? You and your partner, y'all kind of put the money

27:30together. So I'm thinking about nine thousand dollars pay Wiz forty five hundred. How much

27:34did you guys end up grossing and walked away with that night? We tried to make no money. We didn't

27:39know how we were managing the money. The security guard was backdooring us, selling, selling,

27:46letting people come in, backdoor tickets. People were sneaking in and baiting you.

27:51We technically sold out. I do know that we sold out 750 tickets at twenty dollars a pop. So I think

27:59that's around thirteen, fourteen thousand. But then, you know, you had hidden expenses that I

28:04wasn't aware of. Wiz's team got there and his manager, Will, is like, where's our hotel? I'm

28:10like, well, you didn't tell me about it. It was all in. I didn't know about the hotel. I got to

28:14get a hotel, you know, like these other things. You know, he wants food backstage. He wants liquor

28:20backstage. And when you're not managing it properly, the venue is taking fees, ticket master

28:26fees. You know, next thing you know, you can't keep up with anything. You just see the money,

28:30you see whatever you are getting. I think we had enough to split down like four thousand dollars,

28:36which is really the money we kind of put back into it. I don't know. I know I didn't make

28:39nothing significant. Yeah. So you made about four grand. You had to split it with your partner,

28:44two grand apiece. But you gained the experience, though, man. If you look back at that lesson

28:49and I know you said your mom taught you risk taking. That's what it sounds like to me.

28:53Would you learn about that? I learned that I was destined for success,

29:00honestly. Everything just fell into place. I had never done a concert before.

29:04Here I am doing this major concert. And to be quite frankly, the day I signed the deal

29:09with Wiz, his booking manager called me and said, you were the first to believe in us.

29:16So I stuck with you because throughout the process of us getting you this contract and

29:20you paying your deposit, eight other promoters called us and every one of them told us you were

29:26a nobody. You never did a concert out here before and that we were crazy to give you this show.

29:32Like, you're crazy. Who is this kid? Like eight other people and some people I still

29:36bump shows with today. I'm like, wow, you didn't even know. So I was up against a lot of obstacles

29:42to make that happen. And when I was able to do it, it just made me feel like I was moving in

29:47my purpose. And everything I've ever tried to do from an entrepreneurial spirit has always been

29:53that easy. Yeah, it's always been that easy for me. I find my most friction when I try to work

29:59for somebody. Whenever I come up working for somebody, it's the most friction ever. But when

30:03I'm on my own doing my thing, it's been the easiest. Yeah. Well, you go from taking out a

30:09forty five hundred dollar loan, student loan, convincing your parents to help you, you know,

30:13replenish that money and also convincing your roommate to do the same thing, man. And now you

30:18go and you are a millionaire. You gross over you made over a million dollars from the time that you

30:24did that Wiz Khalifa concert in 2015 to 2024. Cam Kirk is a millionaire based off photography

30:31and videography. Yes, sir. Wow. Wow. Wow. What is it? What is the business lesson that you want

30:38other content creators to take from your journey? Because your journey is deeper than what you've

30:43already described. It goes way deeper because, again, you've seen so much stuff. We haven't even

30:48talked about what you've learned from a business marketing standpoint at Morehouse, but even more

30:53when you was rolling around with Young Scooter. Right. I mean, that's that's the marketing that

30:56you learned there. So your story is very rich and deep. But what would you want a content

31:01creator to take from what you've done and what they can do? My two big lessons to content

31:08creators of this one at the beginning of your career, you've got to determine if you're

31:13an entrepreneur, content creator, or you just love content. If you're an entrepreneur,

31:19content creator, then you're on a mission like me and you have to treat everything you do like

31:24a full business. You have to be focused on the marketing, the PR, the accounting,

31:30the promotion, the customer relation management. You've got to focus on the full gamut of what it

31:37takes to be a brand. At that point, you are become you are positioning yourself as a brand

31:42and you have to be built for it. You know, the sacrifices, the longevity of it,

31:48trusting other people. If you're someone that's very stingy and not open mind to those things,

31:53if you're someone that doesn't want to learn anything besides content creating or using your

31:57camera, not a bad thing at all. Don't let nobody tell you have to be an entrepreneur just because

32:03you're a photographer. You can go work a really great job being head of photography for a major

32:08company, working underneath an umbrella of a company and they need you to work and you just

32:14work on projects. Hey, I work at this agency and we have to shoot this for this client and they

32:20just tell us what we shoot and you have to worry about brand building. You got to worry about

32:24all of the investment things I have to do on a daily basis to keep my brand,

32:29keep the company name relevant. You got to worry about that. So my first step is just understand

32:34what path you want to go in and don't let nobody tell you you have to be an entrepreneur just

32:40because you're creative. That's not true. And I want people to understand that because a lot of

32:45people think you have to be an entrepreneur and they fail. And then when they fail, they end up

32:49giving up on their dream completely and start working something else where they knew there

32:53are two paths they can actually explore it in a better way that fits their narrative and what's

32:59for them. Now, if you like me, you want to be an entrepreneur, you got to strap up because it's

33:05time to work. It's a lot of work that goes into it. It's a lot. And you've got to be making sure

33:10that you're working on every aspect of yourself as a business, as a brand. Yeah, most definitely,

33:15man. Well, listen, I get you out of here on this, man. I always end my conversations on good to

33:19great. And again, thank you so much, man, for the entrepreneurial journey talk and more from you at

33:24the BLK Summit on June 24th that Monday. But good to great. We always ended on that. Best business

33:30book I've ever read, Jim Collins. What's the difference between a good photographer and a

33:35great one? Okay, I like that. A good photographer is someone that understands the skill set as it

33:42relates to photography. You understand ISO, f-stop, you understand the technical sides of it.

33:48I think you're a good photographer. A great photographer understands all of that

33:54and also knows how to manipulate and create his own style from that. They understand that

33:59photography is a skill set first and art form second, but they're just as equally good with

34:05the art form as they are with the skill set. And good photographers are just great with skill sets.

34:10Great one is understands both. Yeah. Cam Kirk, CEO, founder of Cam Kirk Studios,

34:17as well as Collective Gallery, my brother. Thank you so much for the time. Congratulations on all

34:21the success, man. And I look forward to seeing you at the Forrest BLK Summit on stage where you're

34:27going to drop some more jewels and insight, man. Your entrepreneurial journey has been great and

34:32it's going to continue to be great, man. I appreciate the time. Yeah, thank you for having

34:36me, man. I'm excited about it. See you soon, man. Absolutely. Cam Kirk, Cam Kirk Studios,

34:41Forrest BLK. We'll see you in Atlanta.

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