Meet Calvin Ludwig | Founder & Owner | 4Blades Digital Media

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

Hi Calvin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
This one is kind of funny, it really started when I went to a local car show – and importantly, my wife didn’t want to come with me. That left me fully caffeinated and unsupervised to talk to about every single person I could find at the car show.

Whenever I used to see a really nice and expensive car, I always used to ask myself “man, I wonder what that person does for a living?” Well, when I was left unsupervised at a car show – I did exactly that. I went and talked to every person I could find that had a really nice car and I asked what they did for a living. It turned out, every single one of them ‘owned’ a business of some sort – a mechanic shop, a roofing company, a real estate agency, an asphalt company, etc. It set something in motion in my mind that told me I NEEDED to start my own business.

Shortly afterwards, I got my first drone – a GoPro Karma drone. I had no idea how to use it (I crashed on my maiden flight) and had no idea about ANYTHING related to photography. At the time, I worked in construction as a General Contractor and started using the drone (once it was repaired) to take photos of my job site. My team and the entire company loved getting to see aerial photos of the site. It made me realize I was sitting on an idea to start my own company!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
4Blades Digital Media is a media company that helps companies attract talent, build their brand, and tell their story through story based video marketing. We do most of our work in the construction, real estate, commercial real estate, and development industries here in Colorado.

I think one of the biggest things that sets 4Blades apart from the competition is the love for construction and building. I wasn’t a photographer/videographer first – I was a builder first. My passion for the construction industry has helped me land some seriously big clients (like Amazon) and has helped set me apart within the industry as an industry expert.

I started the business while working full time as a general contractor. Before jumping out of the nest and doing this full time, it was a LOT of work. I spent most of my mornings getting up before dawn to be at a job site to shoot before going to work. I’d hurry through getting all of the content I wanted, and then went to work all day. After getting home from work, I’d start working on editing the content I shot that morning and sent out that night – it turned into a lot of 80+ hour weeks and regularly working until midnight.

I didn’t really have time to do a lot of business development or marketing – pretty much all of my growth at first was through word of mouth and through relationships. I’m very proud of building my business to where it is while not really doing any sales or marketing.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned and want to share is just do not give up. Keep your burning desire focused on what you want – and ALWAYS keep pushing forward. sometimes it’s a big step forward, sometimes it’s just a little inch forward… but it’s progress. There were times I’d look at all of the stuff I wanted to do with my business and it was just overwhelming… but then I’d remember it didn’t all need to get done today and to just get SOMETHING done today, no matter how big or little it was.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As a Colorado native, my favorite spots around Colorado are up in the mountains! I’m partial for off roading, hiking, and photography of cell reception – so I’d take my friends up to the mountains. Whether it is summer or winter, a trip up to Estes Park is a necessity. A nice lunch at Penelope’s Burgers in Estes Park and an afternoon in Rocky Mountain National Park hiking sounds like a great day to me.

There’s so many amazing places to go and explore Colorado’s beauty like Guanella Pass Road in Georgetown and up near Dillon Reservoir up in Summit County.

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?
My wife – Reme Ludwig. From the day I told her I wanted to start my own business, she has had my back. She has always supported me and been my biggest fan and encouraged me to do more and to keep reaching. She’s never doubted me and her support has really allowed me to be where I am today.

Also, my mom – Lisa Underhill. She’s supported me every step of the way from the very beginning (literally!) and helped me through some important milestones with my business and my life.

I couldn’t have done it without the support of Reme and Lisa!

Website: https://4bladesdigital.com