Camera gear evolution, business growth and winter running dread

Jan 26

The Digital Pulse Issue 3

Tech Vitals

All of my Camera Gear “for YouTube” felt like a cop out title.

I like taking photos and videos and the reality was, I started to buy this stuff before I even had a YouTube channel.

I originally purchased the Sony A7IV for my honeymoon and the Sigma 24-70 quickly became my favorite travel lens.

It has spiraled out of control from there. Three Sony Camera bodies, countless lenses and accessories and a whole lot of trial and error to find the kit that works best for me.

Check out 33 minutes and 33 seconds of me talking cameras, lenses, audio, lighting and studio accessories in this week’s video here.

Creator Heartbeat

Launching a business

I am taking a more serious approach while keeping it fun.

On YouTube I reached monetization in October of 2024, had my first payout and first brand offer to send a product for a video, which is a story for another time.

I decided to start treating this more like a business. I now have the Bill McLean channel, Not another Pair just starting, the For Perspective Podcast and this newsletter. Plus managing the social media presence AND still working a full time job.

It just felt right, I was inspired, I am sometimes overwhelmed, but I am confident in my abilities to make a plan that is reasonable and workable.

All told, I spend about 10-15 hours per week on this business. That fluctuates, sometimes its 0 hours, other times it could be 20+. I have decided to space out uploads such that I can try to keep weekly uploads on the Bill McLean channel, bi-weekly or even every 3 weeks on Not Another Pair, twice a month for For Perspective and weekly(for now) for the digital pulse newsletter. I think enough is going on that I’ll be able to type at least something up every week that was interesting about what I’m working on.

So there ya go, I’m open to collaborating with brands, if the product is something I am interested in I may have already reached out, if there is something you would like to see or could help me out with let me know with a comment or e-mail, contact@williambmclean.com

Running Stats

Asics NovaBlast 5 First Miles

My First Miles video is out now here!

The Asics Novablast 5 quickly went from “I don’t need it” to my favorite daily trainer. Put aside that its the only daily trainer I’ve tried this year(for now) and go check out the video.

I will be following up with my long term thoughts as I continue to rack up miles with this comfortable and bouncy shoe.

Why are treadmills soul sucking?

I am certain that running 3 miles on a treadmill feels like 3 hours, but if I run outside for 3 miles it takes exactly 3 seconds.

Winter is in full force here in Connecticut and I haven’t run outside in weeks. Sometimes it gets to me, sometimes it does not, but I thought I would have some fun with this concept and in sprang an idea for a short film.

A semi-serious take called, The Dreadmill, will be out shortly. I need a nice warm sunny day to film the end sequence and I’ll be onto the final edit, stay tuned for that on the Not Another Pair channel as I try to sprinkle some cinematic goodness into the shoe review channel.