Today we’d like to introduce you to Steffen Sharikov.
Hi Steffen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up around ministry and storytelling. My father, Vladimir, founded Sharikov Ministries in Jordan, Minnesota, and I started working alongside him there in 2016. That experience taught me early that a camera is never just a camera. It is a way to capture something that matters and hand it to someone in a form they can hold onto.
Steffen Studios grew out of that conviction. What began as me and a single camera turned into a full commercial photography and videography studio serving the Twin Cities. In the early days, I shot anything I could, learning the craft on real jobs and reinvesting every dollar back into better gear and a better experience for my clients. Over time, the work compounded. Corporate headshots led to brand content, brand content led to commercial video, and word of mouth did the rest.
Today, Steffen Studios is based in Excelsior, Minnesota, and we serve everyone from local Twin Cities businesses to Fortune 500 brands like Marriott, Verizon, Amazon, and NASCAR. We handle corporate headshots, commercial photo and video, event coverage, brand storytelling, and studio rental, along with marketing retainers for clients who want a consistent creative partner rather than a single shoot.
One of the milestones I am proudest of is the most recent buildout of our Excelsior space, which I call Steffen Studios 3.0. I did a huge amount of it myself, with the huge help of my brother-in-law, Igor Partikevich, from flooring and paint to signage and electrical, because I wanted the space to reflect the same care we bring to every client.
Through all of it, my faith has been the foundation. I produce a faith based content series called the GO Series, and I see my business and my ministry as two expressions of the same calling: to create work that is excellent, honest, and built to outlast the moment.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly, no, it has not been a smooth road, and I would be lying if I said otherwise. Building a commercial photography and videography studio from nothing means you are the photographer, the editor, the salesperson, the bookkeeper, and the janitor all at once, often in the same day.
In the early years the biggest struggle was simply being taken seriously. When you are a one person operation in the Twin Cities competing for corporate headshot and commercial video work, larger brands want proof you can deliver at their scale before they will give you a shot. So I had to overdeliver on every smaller job to build the track record that eventually opened doors to clients like Marriott, Verizon, Amazon, and NASCAR. There was no shortcut. It was just showing up, doing excellent work, and letting it compound.
Cash flow was another constant teacher. Reinvesting in better gear, software, and eventually a real studio space meant there were long stretches where almost everything went back into the business. Learning to price my work for the value it actually delivered, rather than what felt comfortable to charge, was one of the hardest and most important lessons.
The studio buildouts tested me too. Doing so much of the Excelsior space myself, the flooring, paint, signage, and electrical, saved money but stretched me thin. There were nights I questioned whether the DIY approach was worth it. Looking back, every hour I put into that space taught me something and gave the studio a character I could not have bought.
Through the harder seasons, my faith is what kept me steady. I genuinely believe the struggles were not obstacles to the work but part of how the work, and I, got refined. The setbacks built the resilience, and the resilience built the business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At its core, Steffen Studios is a full service commercial photography and videography studio based in Excelsior, Minnesota, serving businesses across the Twin Cities and beyond. I help brands look as good as the work they do.
My bread and butter is corporate and commercial work. That means professional corporate headshots, often for whole teams on location or in studio, commercial photo and video for products and brands, event coverage, and brand storytelling content built to live on websites and social media. I also offer marketing retainers for companies that want a consistent creative partner producing content month after month, rather than scrambling to find someone for every project. On top of that, my Excelsior studio is available for rental when other creators need a professional space to work in.
What I am known for is range without a drop in quality. A client can come to me for a single headshot and end up trusting me with a full brand video, because the experience and the craft hold up at every level. That consistency is how a Twin Cities studio earns work from Fortune 500 brands like Marriott, Verizon, Amazon, and NASCAR while still serving the local business down the road with the same care.
What sets me apart is that I am genuinely invested in the people I work with, not just the deliverable. I built my studio with my own hands, I answer my own phone, and I treat a client’s brand like it is my own reputation on the line, because it is. Big enough to deliver, small enough to care is not a slogan for me. It is the entire model.
What I am most proud of is the trust. When a Fortune 500 marketing team and a local family business both leave a shoot feeling genuinely taken care of, that tells me I built the right thing.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Plenty of people deserve credit, because no one builds something like this alone.
First and most importantly, my wife Cait. She has been my steadiest supporter through every late night, every studio buildout, and every risk that looked crazy from the outside. A business like this asks a lot of the person you come home to, and she has carried that with grace. With our first child on the way, that partnership means more to me now than ever.
My father, Vladimir, shaped me long before Steffen Studios existed. He founded Sharikov Ministries, and working alongside him starting in 2016 taught me how to lead with conviction and serve people genuinely. So much of how I run my business traces back to what I learned from him.
I also owe a great deal to my clients, especially the early ones who took a chance on a studio that was still proving itself. Every business that trusted me with their brand before I had the big names on my roster helped build the track record that made the later work possible. The local Twin Cities businesses who keep coming back are the backbone of everything.
I have also been fortunate to have a strong group of trusted professionals around the business, from my accountant to my banking partners, who help me make sound decisions so I can focus on the creative work I love.
And underneath all of it is my faith. I give God the credit for the doors that opened, the people placed in my path, and the strength to keep going through the seasons that tested me. I see the whole journey as something I was called to, not just something I built.
Pricing:
- $399
- $699
- $1400
- $2400
- $17,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.steffensharikov.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steffenstudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steffenstudios/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Stefan032296
