Meet Lukas Schulz | Creative Director | Founder STMNT Studios

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lukas Schulz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lukas, how do you think about risk?
I believe that risk plays a large part in entrepreneurship. Just the decision itself to run your own business bares a lot of risks. Who’s going to pay your bills? Health insurance? Job security? All those securities you have as an employee are gone, all of the sudden.

“Take the risk” – is one of my core mantras. Risk equals growth. Stepping out of your comfort zone is mandatory to advance to the next level. Sometimes, certain risks feel like an itch to me. And I won’t be happy until I scratch it. In the past few years I have learned how to identify that itch and analyze how to scratch it without putting too much money or time on the line. It is a dangerous walk to go all in on things and I have certainly burned myself with it. Learning how you can take calculated risks will catapult you further towards your goals without stressing too much about it.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started freelancing in 2018 with a crazy passion for making videos. Thinking back at it, it was way different back then. I always felt the urge to develop the business and idea behind it and make it grow. In 2022 we opened our first very own STMNT Studio. A 3000 square feet photo and video studio in the middle of San Francisco. The space is constantly evolving with new sets, better sound proofing, new equipment and gear, and so on. It’s been very rewarding to have a place to gather for the team and other creatives.

The idea, create a photo and video studio that we can use for our own productions and rent out on the side to other agencies, freelancers and businesses around the city.

Why?
I found it tedious and exhausting to move locations for simple talking head videos that needed different looking homes or backgrounds. That meant schlepping all the production gear to multiple locations a day, steep San Francisco staircases, trying to find parking, scheduling crew, talent, etc.

Solution: Build various corporate and homey sets within one space.

I knew I wasn’t reinventing the wheel and this model had been done before. Nevertheless I thought there was room for such a space in SF.

And hey, follow your dreams – right?

We signed the lease in June 2022 and it took us roughly 5 months to fully gut and renovate the space so it looks presentable to clients.

Note to myself: renovations ALWAYS take longer than you think 😅.

Reality check 3 months in, this was way harder and more expensive than I thought.

The investment: Roughly $50k and 5 months of manual labor. That meant 10 hours a day of renovating the studio and run my production business, to keep myself financially afloat, at night or on the weekends. I didn’t take on a loan or had a financier. This was all bootstrapped. This felt stressful.

At the time I’m writing this our STMNT Studio has been open for about 15 months. Some insights below.

– We hosted 100+ photographers, videographers, small business owners and corporate productions. Many of them multiple times.
– The space was booked for a few events (birthdays, meetups, gatherings of any sort)
– We had some of our biggest productions ourselves in the studio with 30+ people on site.
– Most popular booking duration is 2-4 hours.
– Additional gear rentals increase our revenue by an extra 7%.

This makes me incredibly happy!

Some of the discovered downsides:

– The space isn’t soundproof and people have voiced their concerns (something we have actively been improving over time)
– A few people are concerned about the location (Tenderloin)
– There’s only metered street parking
– 2-4 hour bookings are tedious and take the same amount of work than a 10-12 hour booking

TLDR: This space has been so much more to me than just a short-term rental. It’s providing my production agency, STMNT Studios, a home, a place to gather, be creative and hang out. I love telling new and existing clients (and friends) to come by for a coffee and see what we have built. I’m proud of it and the people who built it with me.

So, was it worth it? While it did create a second income stream, it isn’t (yet) making what I initially predicted. For now, it’s doing enough and the added benefits mentioned above far outweigh the negative. In short, yes I’d do this again.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I just relocated to Oahu, Hawaii, last year and had a few friends visit recently. This is a fun one. Here’s what our day would look like:

– I’d pick you up from the airport and we’d drop off your luggage.
– Straight from there we go for a quick surf around Diamond Head (all levels welcome)
– After, we grab some fresh fruit from the farmers market and a poké bowl at Foodland in Kahala
– Once we regenerated we hike Kuli´ou´ou (roughly 2.5 hours). The views are fabulous.
– Shower off the dirt and sweat after the hike and get ready for sunset
– Watch the sunset at China Walls in Hawaii Kai

Bedtime at 8:30pm 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Surely, there are plenty but at the forefront of that is one of my best friends Bobby Dunn, who’s supported me through the most stressful times of my career. There are moments in entrepreneurship where I felt that everything is falling apart and it all becomes too much. Having a friend and mentor around you that not just listens to you but also actively helps to build your dream, is something I feel very lucky to have.

Website: www.stmntstudios.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukasshlz/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-schulz-2a0787a5

Image Credits
Cat Fennell Caroll Andrewsk Kealani Kitaura