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The iPhone is quickly becoming the “go to” gadget for fans of photography and video and many are now using these features for business and marketing purposes. Enter Grant Wickes, a.k.a. “Professor Gadget,” Vice President of Business Development for Wasp Barcode Technologies and a Top 100 SMB Influencer. Grant has sourced many useful gadgets and turned his iPhone into a one man media studio for conducting on-the-go interviews. Tune in as he joins Brent Leary to share some of these special finds so that you, too, can make the best use of the iPhone for business.
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Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Grant Wickes: I’ve been steeped in the technology world for 25, almost 30 years. It has always been on the marketing and sales side of things with software companies.
Small Business Trends: What compelled you to get into “interview mode” at conferences? To find all of these cools tools to turn your iPhone into a full blown production kit?
Grant Wickes: I don’t come from T.V. I don’t come from radio. I am not a big expert on these things. But I have a passion to interact with folks. As you said, going around to the various conferences.
I like to take photographs. I have all of the high end equipment, a big Cannon Digital SLR, with all the big lenses, which is fantastic. But I don’t want to bring all of that stuff with me on the road. Then the iPhone came out and it really became an interesting platform.
I collapsed it down and found the iPhone really became the platform for me to be able to do photography. I got into it, this thing is a fantastic video machine. So I did not have to bother with the camcorder any more.
Small Business Trends: Can you talk about how you make them look good and sound great using the iPhone?
Grant Wickes: Sound is something people will not tolerate if there’s crackling. The iPhone has a built in microphone, but honestly, it’s just a cheap little mic inside the phone.
With a little research, now you can get adaptable microphones. There is one by Belkin that’s called an iPhone Boom Mic that plugs right into your ear piece for the iPhone and sticks out about 4 or 5 inches and I can go around talking to people.
The second approach is the little lavalier mic that all the T.V. guys put on their collar. There is an adaptable unit from Audio Technica for $20. I can get a lavalier mic with a 20 foot cord, with another little $20 adapter that converts into the iPhone plug in. Now I have studio quality sound for an interview.
The other one, the Boom Mike, was around $40.
Small Business Trends: How do you get great lighting from a picture you take from your iPhone?
Grant Wickes: If you are out at an event or in a spot, you look for natural light. It is always the best approach. If I can get an outdoor setting where the sun is in the back, or if I can get an indoor sitting area that has a glass enclosure where outside light is coming in, that is always superb to do that.
But let’s face it, we don’t always have that luxury. For $30 for both, I have bought a couple of different LED lights. These things are small little white lights I turn on.
I have a bracket I can fit on the iPhone so that the light now shoots off to the side. It hangs out to the right side of the iPhone. Because one of the things you try to avoid with light is having it directly in someone’s face.
An iPhone with this little case for $23, with a $13 extension heading out there, with a $30 LED light, and $30 microphone, and I’ve got gadgets on the go. I have studio quality on a shoe string budget.
I have these little gadgets in my bag. I can immediately have a quick conversation, it leads to an interesting discussion. Within less than five minutes, I am up and running. In less than ten minutes, you and I have finished the conversation. I have content that I can put up and share with my customers, or clients, or business prospects.
Small Business Trends: Did you see any difference, in terms of views or clicks, in the way people perceived the content?
Grant Wickes: There is no doubt. The good old days where you can have your flip cam and all of that noise in the background – that’s really not acceptable anymore. So I do see it. I see it through Google Analytics the continued use and sharing of these video snippets that I take.
Small Business Trends: Where can people see these tips that you have talked about?
Grant Wickes: I am putting up a robust set on my Pinterest.
Small Business Trends: Where can people find some of these tools and these little gadgets?
Grant Wickes: There are two primary places I go for my gadgets. One is called Photojojo. They are a fantastic little gadgets spot for iPhones. Another is B&H Photo Video. It’s based in New York and is a store for photography. They have all of these little gadgets I’ve picked up.
I didn’t even talk to you about the 8x zoom lens I got from Photojojo to do shots. So we have to talk again Brent. There’s too much stuff to share with everyone in a short amount of time.
Small Business Trends: Since you mentioned that, what is that called?
Grant Wickes: That one is iPhone Lens by Photojojo. It is an 8x lens. Now they have one for the iPhone 5 that takes you 12x. So it is like having a 600mm lens on your iPhone. It is $35. It’s just fantastic!
Grant Wickes – Professor Gadget by smallbiztrends
This interview about using iPhone photos and video for business purposes is part of the One on One interview series with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above.
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