By: Hillel Fuld (@Hilzfuld)

What an insane week it has been! You see, my professional bucket list is not all that long, and it is not that long for one simple reason, I try to cross things off. When I want to accomplish something big, I start small, sometimes fail, but I usually try. Some of the items that have occupied space on that list in the past include building relationships with legends such as Steve Wozniak and Marc Andreessen. Done and Done.

Other items I have wanted to accomplish is to write for some of the largest and most influential tech publications in the world. Done, done, and done. Anyway, not saying I have accomplished everything I have set out to accomplish but I can say that in most instances, I have at least tried. Then, there was vlogging. TLDR: Here is my channel. Subscribe here!

I have wanted to generate high quality long form video content for years. I have embraced video on FB, on Meerkat back in the day, and on Snapchat, but I am talking high quality long form stuff. Not only have I wanted to do this, but over the years, an endless amount of people have said to me “We enjoy your content on Snap or FB but all those videos are too short. I would love to get a deeper look into Israeli tech.”

So what is the problem? I wanted to do it, people wanted to watch it, so just start vlogging, right? Yea, sure.

You see, I was so serious about vlogging, I even went out and bought myself the camera that the interwebs recommended to me, the Sony RX100V.

That camera spent the next few months laying next to my bed because, quite frankly, I was terrified. Why was I terrified? Well, for starters, I had no video editing skills and any video person can tell you, capturing the footage is the easy part, editing it is the long and painful element.

So I was kinda stuck. Then something happened, something I consider somewhat of a miracle. A Facebook friend of mine, someone I did not know personally, asked me to meet. He was visiting and asked if I had time to meet. I did not. But he was a nice guy and so I said, why not?

Why do I say that is a miracle? Because that very same day, I turned down at least 5 other people who reached out and asked to meet. My week that week was too insane for “Pointless meetings.”  I would just like to add here that I don’t believe there is such a thing as a pointless meeting, hence the quotation marks, but in this instance, I was having a crazy week and was saying no to meetings that didn’t align with my goals that week. Yet somehow, I did want to meet Joseph.

Anyway, we met for coffee and it was a nice meeting. Then at some point in the meeting, Joseph takes out his DJI Osmo to show it to me and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, I had found the person who would join me on my vlogging journey. He was the missing link. He had tons of editing experience, liked my work, and believed in the power of vlogging. So we were set. I would record footage of my day, send it to him at night, he would edit and send me the final episode, at which point I would post it, move on to the next episode, then repeat.

Well, that was the first of a string of miracles in the first week of vlogging. And episode 1 is below.

Well, the feedback was phenomenal and we were just getting started. Well, a few episodes later and we started to realize there was actually huge potential here. Like HUGE. People were loving it and sending me messages online and off that they were waiting for my next episode. I kid you not, I walked by an old friend in a cafe and when I went over to say hello, guess what he was in the middle of watching. Yep, the episode I had published just ten minutes earlier.

Joseph and I quickly realized that if we were going to do this, we needed to go all in and really do it. That meant one thing, money. It meant more time editing, it meant equipment, and it meant more resources. And so I posted on FB that I was considering taking on a sponsor for the vlog.

The messages started pouring in! But one message stood out. It was a message from Benny Shaviv, a good friend and CEO of Fitness22, a company I am fortunate enough to be advising. He was basically responding to my post about a sponsor for the vlog and his response? “I got this”.

Read about that conversation here, it was epic. So we had the camera, we had the editor, and now we had a sponsor! So we were set, right? Well, yes, but it was about to get even more exciting!

Benny and I in my first pre vlogging video interview ever!

Now that I had budget, I started to do research about the best camera out there and what better place to research than watching the mother of all vloggers, Casey Neistat. Casey had just published this video and recommended the Panasonic GH5.

And so, it was decided. I was getting the GH5. So I tweeted this. Things were about to get nuts!

Ok, it’s decided. GH5 it is. So says @CaseyNeistat and something tells me he knows a thing or two about vlogging equipment. Any objections? pic.twitter.com/XEEF5hvzWH

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) April 27, 2017

A few days later, Thursday night that week, I am going out to dinner and my phone rings. “Hi Hillel, this is B&H, and we would love to work with you on the vlog. Consider the GH5 done. Long term partnership.”

Suffice to say, I almost crashed the car (not really.)

Well, since that call, I think both Joseph and I realized just how explosive this vlog can be. And so, my RX100 never leaves my side, and my GH5, hopefully, should be arriving soon, along with all the other equipment I need to “Make the best video possible”. Those are the words B&H said when I asked them what they wanted in return. “We want you to make the best video possible.” Amazing.

Well, I guess all that is left at this point is to:

• Thank Benny!
• Thank B&H!
• Thanks Joseph!
• Get my butt vlogging!

Oh, and one more thing. DJI is sending me the OSMO Mobile and the OSMO+ after reaching out to them following that meeting with Joseph. Cannot wait to vlog with the OSMO.

Ok, really, the last thing? There is no doubt in my head that my style of vlogging is inspired by Casey, I watch him daily. And so, when people say they see Casey in my vlogs, I take that as the ultimate compliment, and not as “Stop copying”. Again, inspiration, not imitation, there is a big difference.

Ok, here is episode 7. Enjoy!