Latest / The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business / Owner Spotlight Series: Chris Powell - Lighthouse Studios - REPP 2025 Speaker

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Owner Spotlight Series: Chris Powell - Lighthouse Studios - REPP 2025 Speaker · The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

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Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
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So even if you're not facing this type of crisis,
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the time will come when you need some support,
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when you need some backup, and the thing can't rely totally on you.
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Hi and welcome to the Spiro Podcast, managing your real estate media business.
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Spiro is a software platform.
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It's designed to help you manage your day to day real estate media business.
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And ultimately, we'd love to help you grow and scale the business as well.
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I'm Craig Magrum, host of the podcast.
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Welcome back to Another Week.
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I am flying semis solo this week.
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Todd is at PMRE as we, are recording this this morning.
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He'll be back by the time this, this gets published.
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But that's why Todd is not here this week.
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He's a he's a busy guy.
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He's a busy guy.
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But, we just got back, a week or two ago.
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It's been, I think, about two weeks now from the repp 2025 conference,
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which is also in Las Vegas and had an absolute absolute blast.
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And I'm really excited.
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Over the course of the next, I don't know, month, month
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and a half or so, other than some, breaks for holidays.
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We're going to be featuring some of the speakers that were
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at the repp 2025, conference this year.
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And, sharing a little bit about their presentation, just kind of recapping that.
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And I always love having guests on the podcast and,
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hearing their stories because we each have a story in our business, right?
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And we can learn from each other.
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That's what this podcast is all about, is learning from one another
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and sharing our successes so that we can sharpen each other,
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and help each other's businesses grow in our various markets. So,
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normally we would do some Spiro announcements, industry announcements.
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With Todd not being here.
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We're just going to kind of move on right past that.
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But thank you so much for taking the time to be back this week.
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I am really excited, to introduce this week's
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guest as we kick off this, this continuing
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repp 2025 recap and the guest speakers that were a part of that.
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Excited to introduce our very first guest,
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for this season from that conference, Mr.
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Chris Powell of Lighthouse Studios.
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Chris, welcome to the Spiro podcast.
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Thank you so much, Craig. It's really an honor to be here.
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And I wish Todd could be here to.
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Yeah. Again sometime.
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Yeah.
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When I, when I so full disclosure to those of you watching and listening
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when I scheduled Chris it didn't dawn on me.
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Oh, yeah.
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Todd is turning right around and going back out to Vegas, for the PMRE conference.
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And if just a quick note, Chris, maybe you can chime in on this as well.
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If you've never been to one of these industry conferences,
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we just want to really, really encourage you.
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Take the time out from your business, invest
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in yourself, invest in your business, and get out here.
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Because, the relationships that are form, the things that you learn, the spark
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that gets reignited for the passion we have for
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this industry is well worth all of that investment.
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Chris Wood, would you agree?
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Absolutely.
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I was actually,
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just writing a review for REPP yesterday because it's such a
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transformative conference and you work all year long, and especially
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for us, the busy time is all throughout the spring and summer and fall,
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and you can get kind of worn out.
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And then you go to this conference surrounded by people who are, you know,
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trying to achieve the same goals
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and they're of the same mind, and they share your values
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and you get re-energized
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and reinvigorated about the business, which for me is huge.
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It really helps you connect with people who have the same mindset
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and goals as you, and it sets you up for success for the year ahead.
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So that's huge for me every year.
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And to be in that room at repp and look around and see that everyone
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there wants you to succeed and you want all of them to succeed,
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and there's so much support and care for each other.
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It's a really amazing experience.
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It is you know, I had started to kind of go into, I don't want to say
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downward spiral, but I was starting to get a little stale just after a while.
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When you shoot so many houses, it can kind of turn into a production job.
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I think you could probably agree.
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And I've had the added challenge, which we just did an episode,
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a couple weeks ago on hiring.
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I've had the challenge of in the market that I'm responsible for,
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both as the photographer and the business development specialist.
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I've been the only photographer all summer since like about April of this year.
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Yeah. And,
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I was at
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capacity, like, I had no more room for any additional clients.
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And so I've not been prospecting business, and
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I have just kind of it's like I feel stuck, right?
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We've just had a challenge in my market specifically
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for whatever reason, in finding a photographer.
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But I that's not going to be a forever thing.
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So I started thinking as I was listing the speakers, I don't remember
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who was up on stage when I started this, but I started a list, a goal list
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because the energy of each of the speakers
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and just the room in general just started getting me to dream again, right?
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To kind of,
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visualize what could be in my market and what I could be doing
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better as a business development specialist.
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So I started writing
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just a bulleted list of items of, of goals and tasks I wanted to do.
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The second we get another photographer in my market.
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And, Chris, the good news is we have a candidate.
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Amazing. Oh yeah, I am I'm super excited.
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So by going to that conference, it just like I said, it got me to dream again.
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And now I've got a plan of action
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that as soon as that guy's ready to to start shooting
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and take some of the load off of me so that I can develop business again,
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I've got that plan of action in place, and I can just hit the ground running.
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So it's it's those sorts of things that, you can really benefit
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from by going to either Repp or PMRE or whatever. So
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yeah, ability to start dreaming again is huge,
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because it makes you realize what's possible for your business,
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because you're seeing and meeting these people who have done it in theirs.
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They've gone before you, they've paved the way.
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And you can take what you learn from them and all the hard lessons
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they've learned, all the mistakes they've made along the way,
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especially from people
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like Todd, who's been here for so long and has learned so much.
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He can teach us so many of those pitfalls to avoid.
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Yeah.
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And especially
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as when it comes to managing a larger team and working with larger clients
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and really stepping into that leadership role, there's a lot that many of us
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don't know because we come in here, we're photographers, we're entrepreneurs,
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and we're just doing the things solo and it's great.
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It's fun, it's fast paced, but it really changes
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when you have to start leading a team and that's what we're going to dive into,
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because Chris's topic at the conference at repp was from
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from resisting hiring to loving it.
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And man and Chris, your topic
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struck me so much because,
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we've shared this on the podcast before.
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I've been in management before.
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I managed a radio station here in my area,
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and during that experience, I learned that I really don't like to manage.
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I'm not super comfortable with it.
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I would rather work shoulder
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to shoulder with people rather than be the out front leader.
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And so I had gotten to a point in my my business
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before I joined, Todd's, wow video tours where I had to make a decision.
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Am I going to
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continue to grow the business or am I going to keep it boutique
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and very small and very specialized?
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And I'm still doing the bulk of the work,
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versus Todd, who is all about growing it
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and growing as a leader and, and, you know, being that out front leader.
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And, Chris, we're going to dive into this.
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But that's the journey you went through as well.
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And that leadership development, part of it
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that you shared with, with the audience really intrigued me.
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So that's kind of the setup.
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But let me have you introduce yourself and, you know,
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tell us where in the country you are, where you know, where your company is
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and maybe a little bit of a backstory of how you even got into real estate media.
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Sure. Absolutely.
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So I'm Chris Powell, I am based in Seattle,
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and my business is Lighthouse Studio here in Seattle.
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And I've been a full time professional photographer since 2016.
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So I came at this.
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I came to this industry through a photography background.
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So some of us come through more of a entrepreneurship background
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or some just, you know, start kind of learning it online
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and don't necessarily know a lot about photography.
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And each one of those perspectives has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
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And having a more professional, kind of classically trained photography
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background definitely has some perks as you come in its industry.
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But there's some disadvantages, too,
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because it can be a little bit harder to let go of sort of that artistic mindset.
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Maybe that's a conversation for later, but so after doing the freelance
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photography thing for a few years, kind of shooting all kinds of stuff,
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shooting for different magazines and studios here in the Seattle area,
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that all really slowed down during Covid.
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Of course, like many things, and I think a lot of people
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probably started their real estate
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media businesses around that time in 2020, and I'm one of them too.
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So I started learning about the the business and the process and all that,
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and I knew how to take decent photos and I kind of understood
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the creative side of it.
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But I didn't know how to work with realtors
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and what they were really looking for
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and what went into making a successful real estate listing.
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So I learned about that at that point, and it was Eli
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who taught me all those things and showed me the ropes there.
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And then after a few years of that, I was doing well solo.
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I was feeling successful,
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but I was really starting to feel the negative effects of doing it alone.
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I know you understand, Craig, how it is when you've got those busy days
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with multiple shoots lined up, and then you've got to go home and upload
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and then the next morning you're delivering
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and starting the whole thing all over again.
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And there was really no margin.
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And I got to a point where that lack of margin was negatively impacting me.
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And, you know, it can be fun doing the solo thing for a little while.
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And it's it feels nice because you have control.
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So it kind of feels safe in a lot of ways. Sure.
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And that's where I had to shift my mindset.
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So that's that's what got us to where we are now.
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And, you know, I'll share some of the story
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that led me there, but that's a little bit about my background.
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Good deal.
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So what what type of photography did you do before?
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You mentioned magazines.
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Was it was a portraiture or landscape?
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Nature, wildlife, foot.
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What was your your initial passion?
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Yeah. So.
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Well, the initial passion that got me into it was when I was young.
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You know, I was an in elementary school and middle school and high school.
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I would take photos
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of birds in the backyard, and then I would start shooting landscapes
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and nature and all those sorts of things.
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So that was kind of the initial thing that got me interested in photography
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as a kid.
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But then
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professionally, I started doing a lot of headshots, and
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I also worked at rei and their photo studio shooting products for their website.
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So I did that for a few years,
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and then just other various types of freelance work, pretty much,
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you know, whatever I can get you know how it is
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when you're a freelance photographer and sometimes you're really busy
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and things feel great,
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and other times you'll shoot anything because you just want to a paycheck,
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right?
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I, I was the second shooter, on two weddings.
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I my my very first photography mentor.
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She was an amazing portrait photographer
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and did a lot of senior shoots, but a lot of weddings.
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And, she was just absolutely fantastic.
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And she asked me,
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hey, do you want to be as second shooter for me on on these two weddings?
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I'm, like, a little nervous, but I'll try it.
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And Chris, after the after the second wedding,
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I called her and said, Dawn, thank you so much for the experience. But
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I don't think I
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want to ever touch a wedding with a 20ft pole again.
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I get, she laughs.
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Like you were only the second shooter.
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The you didn't even have the pressure. But I get it, I get it.
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That's why I know this is not for me.
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So much respect to all of you,
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that have come from a wedding photographer background.
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Oh my gosh, weddings are not for the faint of heart.
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It's a special skill, a special talent, and it's not one that I have,
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but I have enormous respect for those who do.
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Absolutely.
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The other thing
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I've heard about portraiture and we'll get into your story, I promise.
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She shared with me, an early piece of advice.
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And it was, you're going to be as much photographer as you are, counselor.
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And I said what?
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She said, people don't like pictures of themselves.
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I'm like,
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She's like, you got to talk them through
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being comfortable with who they are and being in their own skin.
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Yeah.
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And I'm like, that's really, really interesting.
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So there's more to more to portrait photography than just the lighting
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and the, the, you know, the posing and the location.
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It's actually being able to understand human beings.
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And there's a actually I think there's a degree of that.
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Even in real estate photography, you might be shooting houses, but you're
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dealing with a very high stress, emotional,
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transaction for the seller
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who they're they're getting ready to sell the most,
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probably the most expensive asset that they have.
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And a realtor that has a lot of pressure
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on them and being able to manage those relationships and emotions
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as the real estate photographer, coming in, being calm, being peaceful
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before we get, you know, it's the rest of your story.
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What what's your experience been in that? Chris.
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Yeah, that's a huge part of it.
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I think maybe in any business you end up, you know, dealing more with people.
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And it's kind of a ultimately when it comes down to it,
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it's how you deal with people and how you approach those situations.
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But it's very true in real estate, when we're going into high stress, high
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pressure situations, which for us we're just going
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in, we're only there for an hour or two and then we're gone and that's it.
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We don't know a whole lot
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about the behind the scenes and what has gone into that transaction.
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But there are so many different stories that we hear.
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And like you said, it's people selling their most valuable asset.
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And realtors are trying to manage and they're trying to be a counselor
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to their clients and also deal with all of the paperwork and all the logistics
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and whatever else might be going on, trying to prep the house.
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A lot of times we get to a shoot in the realtors
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and they're, you know, scrubbing walls or scrubbing bathrooms or whatever.
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And the realtors, they're trying to do their best
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to serve their clients so we can do our best
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to serve our clients, to make their load a little bit lighter.
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And our goal every shoot we go to is to make our realtors jobs easier.
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If we can do something just to make their job
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a little bit easier, make their day feel a little bit lighter,
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and take something off of their plate rather than putting more onto their plate.
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Then our our mission is complete.
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That's good, that's good.
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And that creates some loyalty as well. Yeah.
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So yeah, absolutely.
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If they feel like you're someone who they can trust to you enter
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and they know that things aren't
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going to get more chaotic, but they'll become more faithful, that is huge.
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And that that can be everything to a realtor having a good system in place
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for your business to manage all of that is gold.
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So invest and invest in your systems for sure.
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All right.
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Let's let's dive into your presentation.
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The the Cliff Notes version.
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Well, sure.
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So, you mentioned that you were
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you started as a solo, you know, real estate photographer.
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But you got to that point where you were starting experience,
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I'll call it burnout, some burnout.
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Because
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of the low rate of everything that you were carrying.
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So let's let's jump off from there.
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You you were initially resistant to the idea of hiring help.
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Yes. So what was involved with that?
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I knew I wanted to grow the business, and I.
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I had a dream of, you know, being this entrepreneur and being this business owner
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that had more than just a job as basically a freelance real estate photographer.
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And I wanted a team, but I had some limiting beliefs,
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and I had some fear and some excuses, and I really
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I didn't think
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that I would be able to train someone to do the job as well as I could,
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and I didn't think that my clients would accept somebody else being on site.
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So it was really just a lack of faith.
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And the fear and the excuses kept my thinking small.
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But in the process, they kept my business small to okay.
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So I had to kind of,
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you know, push through and break through these limiting beliefs.
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But it was a, a, family
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tragedy, a family crisis, really, that pushed me through to that next level.
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So, I got a call in it.
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I never expected it.
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And it really shifted my world and changed my perspective.
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So I got a call from my sister, and she told me
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that she'd been diagnosed with a rare cancer.
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So I knew when I was talking to her that if I didn't do something
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to change the way my business functioned, then I would have to choose
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between traveling to spend time with her
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and my family, or keeping the business afloat.
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And in that moment, it's like business doesn't matter anymore.
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When you're faced with something like that, you realize that
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the importance of the business is it's really nothing.
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When you're talking with your family and in your considering the health
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and time with family and those that you love. So
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you have this,
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this dilemma where it's like the business doesn't disappear, it's still there.
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Yeah.
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But in terms of importance, it totally pales in comparison with what's going on.
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So I had a choice to either put the business on pause,
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or I could finally take that step and train the team
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who could operate it without me to,
17:51
Wow. Yeah, that's that's tough.
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So you're you're dealing with the news that your sister just shared with you,
18:00
but at the same time, then also trying to make a mental shift
18:03
to start developing and bringing people on to help you.
18:07
That's too heavy.
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Loads because either one by themselves is
18:11
is heavy enough to have to try and navigate and deal with.
18:16
Chris how did
18:16
I mean, how did you manage to balance those two things?
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Yeah, it's it's a good question.
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I think
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the the gravity of what was in front of me just helps to really clarify
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that all of these excuses and fears that I had just didn't matter anymore.
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You know, I could look at it and be like,
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so what if I don't train someone perfectly?
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And so what if a client doesn't want somebody else to be their on site?
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That's that's really not as big of a deal as I used to think it was.
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Now that I'm looking at this mountain in front of me.
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So I just made a choice.
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I decided I was going to do whatever it would take,
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and I wasn't going to let the fear stop me any longer.
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And all those limiting beliefs, I was like, I'm just going to ignore them.
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I'm not even going to worry about them anymore. I'm just going to do this.
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I'm going to keep stepping forward and we'll see what was going to happen.
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But I, I knew that at that point I would do whatever it took
19:10
to be able to spend time with my family and with my sister,
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and I just wasn't going to resist it any longer, and I didn't.
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I used to try to wait for everything to be perfect,
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but you just don't have to do that.
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And you will wait forever.
19:24
If you're waiting for everything to be perfect
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because nothing's ever going to be perfect.
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So I had this mission in front of me, and I just decided I'm going to build
19:32
a real business that will allow me to spend time with my family.
19:35
So I hired a photographer.
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And this is back in January. At this point.
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So January 15th, I hired my first photographer.
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Okay?
19:43
I had no idea what I was doing,
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and he didn't know what he was doing, so it was great.
19:47
But with the help of the community and community is a big theme
19:50
throughout my story because with the help of the community,
19:54
I was able to kind of figure it out, learn lessons along the way,
19:57
and get some tips and advice from friends within the industry.
20:01
And I was able to get that, you know, figure it out just one day at a time.
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Let me ask you, this is as you were starting to,
20:11
introduce this new photographer that was part of your team to clients,
20:16
or you knew that you had to get to that point.
20:19
What kind of conversation did you have with clients about why
20:23
the they were going to be seeing a new face?
20:26
Yeah.
20:26
So with some of the clients who I had no longer and had a closer
20:30
relationship with, I was open with them about what was going on.
20:33
Okay.
20:33
Because I've got some clients who I consider friends
20:35
who I would hang out with outside of work, and some of them know you well.
20:39
And that's actually one thing that I have learned in business
20:43
is when you can be open with your clients and with your team about what's going
20:48
on, you know, whatever challenges or struggles
20:50
you're facing, whether it's in business or even outside of the business,
20:53
I think it's good.
20:54
I think it's healthy to be able to share that, not in a in a weird,
20:58
oversharing way where you just shoot someone for the first time
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and you're saying way too much, but with your team
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and with your clients that you're working with frequently,
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I think it's good to be able to open up with them.
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And some people are better at that than others.
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Some are really natural at it. I'm not supernatural.
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It doesn't come, doesn't come easily to me.
21:13
A lot of the time.
21:14
But I've found that it's really valuable to be able to have those conversations
21:18
with your clients or with your team so they know what's going
21:20
on, they know what challenges are facing, and then it shifts it from,
21:24
oh, Chris is just trying to push some other photographer off on me to,
21:27
oh, wow, Chris is going through this thing,
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and he's still trying to serve me as best as he can,
21:33
and I want him to be able to get through this with his family.
21:36
That totally changes it.
21:37
And I also don't want to make it sound like clients will only accept you hiring
21:42
if you're going through some crisis, because that's not the case either.
21:45
I didn't share this story with the majority of the realtors
21:49
I was working with, but with the ones who know me well and with others.
21:55
I think it's still great to share that you're trying to grow your business,
21:57
and you want to be able to serve more clients in your community,
22:01
and you want to be able to have an impact and build something where
22:03
maybe you're creating jobs for people and you're building this thing
22:07
that can be an asset for your family into the future.
22:09
And you know, there's going to be a time when you get sick.
22:12
You might just have a cold or a flu, and you're going to have to decide,
22:16
am I going to push through and go to a shoot, which,
22:18
you know, probably isn't the best thing, right?
22:20
But if you have a team, a team under you and behind you,
22:25
you can push through in a way that doesn't require you
22:28
to be going out while you're sick or while you have a broken leg or whatever.
22:32
So even if you're not facing this type of crisis,
22:36
the time will come when you need some support,
22:38
when you need some backup, and the thing can't rely totally on you.
22:43
Yeah, you're
22:44
introducing the human element right in when we get rolling with business, it's
22:50
at least for me, it's very easy to just get caught up in the the day
22:54
to day business activities, and it almost becomes,
22:58
if you're not careful, can be
23:00
I hate using this word, but it can almost feel cold.
23:04
Right.
23:05
Just cold business transactions.
23:07
It's just it's business. This is what I have to do.
23:09
You know, it's about making the profit, making the money,
23:13
and then that whole cold capitalist, you know, I'm all for capitalism.
23:18
Don't get me wrong.
23:20
But that's what drives our businesses, right?
23:22
But we can forget the human element
23:26
of of the business that we're in.
23:29
We're human beings first.
23:30
We're not moneymaking machines first, right?
23:32
We all have families that we love and care for,
23:35
and we're ultimately doing this for them.
23:37
And there's important relationships.
23:39
You know, Chris, your sister.
23:42
And it allows us,
23:43
I think, to take a step back and kind of just be human with one another
23:47
and show some transparency, some vulnerability
23:51
and sharing those sorts of things with people that you trust.
23:56
It makes you human, it makes you relatable.
23:59
And I think that relatable part is really important
24:02
in building relationships, even within our business,
24:04
not just relationships in general, but in business as well.
24:09
Exactly. Yeah.
24:09
Showing some of that vulnerability,
24:11
not trying to carry everything yourself is huge.
24:14
And I think, you know, some of that might come from insecurity
24:18
or fear when we don't want to let go of control.
24:20
But then another part of that
24:21
is ego and thinking that everything has to be done by us,
24:25
and nobody could possibly do it as well as we can.
24:28
And again, I think every entrepreneur deals with that throughout the journey.
24:32
But the sooner we can kind of set free those limiting beliefs
24:36
and realize that there are people out there
24:39
who can actually do these things better than we can.
24:41
And we're not the only ones.
24:42
We're not some, you know, magical creation that is the only person
24:46
who can do this combination of skills.
24:48
There's other amazing people out there.
24:50
And to find those and bring them into your business
24:54
is the most incredible feeling, because you start to realize
24:58
what's possible and you realize that your own limited view of what?
25:03
Of what was possible before can now expand, and you're
25:07
going to have people who can carry this burden with you
25:10
and push your business into the future, and you'll grow together.
25:14
And it's a really incredible thing.
25:16
Todd Todd has shared a couple of times in past episodes.
25:19
If you could find somebody that can do what you do,
25:22
80% is effective, just pass it off to them.
25:27
That's that's good enough.
25:28
And then just keep training them, you know, keep investing in them.
25:33
Getting a mop up even further.
25:35
But if they can do 80% of what you do, let them run,
25:39
let them go with it so that it frees you up to do to do other things.
25:43
Absolutely, yes.
25:44
And the amazing thing that I've found is once they're focused on that task,
25:47
then they'll end up doing better than 80% and they'll probably eventually end up
25:51
doing it better than you because they'll be more focused, right?
25:54
When we're doing things as the owners,
25:56
we're working way too many hours in a day, and we have a million tasks to do.
26:00
So those things that we think we're so good at,
26:02
we're trying to sit in the cracks and make them work wherever we can.
26:05
But when you trust a team member who's only got this core focus on these,
26:10
you know, these certain tasks, they're going to end up doing way better.
26:12
They'll be more focused,
26:13
they'll be more present, and they'll have the clarity of mind
26:16
to learn and do those things properly that we just won't,
26:20
as the frantic business owners, until we get our own stuff figured out.
26:24
Right.
26:25
So this potential photographer we have joining us in my market,
26:29
he already does amazing video work, and I can already see that
26:34
he's going to be better than I am on the camera, both photo and video.
26:37
And that's what I want.
26:39
And and seeing him grow in how to relate to clients and customers.
26:44
I want the realtors that that I serve in my market to love him
26:48
more than they love me. Even right?
26:51
So that he gets the jobs and I can continue to grow things in other areas.
26:57
So having that kind of care and concern for people and,
27:00
and invest in their success, I think is is awesome.
27:04
Absolutely. And that's such an incredible feeling.
27:06
We had, shortly after I had finished training, our second photographer,
27:09
we had someone request that he be on site for all the photos
27:13
because he did such a great job and they don't even know who I am.
27:17
It was our admin doing the communication and the photographer.
27:20
They're on site, so if I show up one day, they'll be like, who are you?
27:23
I want the good photographer. Give me the other guy.
27:25
That's awesome.
27:27
All right.
27:28
So let's let's move the story forward.
27:30
So you had gotten this this call from your sister paradigm shift in in your life.
27:35
In her life, obviously. And in your business.
27:38
What what how did how did things continue to grow and develop as you realized
27:42
you need to make the shift to start hiring a team?
27:47
Yeah. So I began the hiring process.
27:49
I got someone on board in mid-January and was training him for a couple weeks.
27:54
And like I said, I didn't know what I was doing.
27:55
So, you know, that
27:56
first one always takes a little bit of extra time, which is totally fine.
27:59
And it's it's a learning process for everybody.
28:02
So about three weeks into that, I got another phone call
28:06
and I was driving to a shoot for a brand new client.
28:09
It was a luxury realtor,
28:11
and my first photographer was still in training and he was doing great.
28:14
But there's still a long way to go to actually get him out in the field.
28:17
So he wasn't ready to be shooting yet.
28:19
And my parents called me and,
28:22
while on the phone, they said it looked like my sister wasn't going to make it,
28:25
and she had been in surgery and her heart had stopped during that operation.
28:31
So for the first time
28:32
ever, I had to call a client and say, I'm not going to be able to make the shoot.
28:36
And I just turned around and got on a plane and miraculously,
28:40
they were able to actually resuscitate her.
28:42
But she was in the ICU and unresponsive on life support
28:47
so that continued over the next several months.
28:51
And I spent most of my weekends and, you know, pretty much any free time
28:55
I had getting on a plane to go see my family and spend time with my sister.
29:00
And she made some progress, but she remained in the ICU.
29:03
And again, like, like before, it made all the fears and hesitations seem so
29:08
small and insignificant because the stakes were so much higher now.
29:12
And all those worries about, oh, the photos won't be good enough,
29:15
or the agents aren't going to trust somebody else on the team,
29:18
or they're just not going to want me to hire.
29:20
That's it's so small when you face this type of thing.
29:24
And it made me realize that what I had been doing was not sustainable.
29:29
And I couldn't
29:30
leave the state almost weekly while trying to operate the business alone.
29:35
So again, I just I doubled down and said, this isn't an option.
29:39
I can either quit totally or I can ignore the fear and just build the business.
29:44
So I finished training my first photographer.
29:47
I got super focused on that.
29:49
I hired another one.
29:51
I hired more on our virtual teams, a couple people in the Philippines
29:55
to help out with the back end work,
29:57
and I hired an admin locally who could help with customer
30:00
service and communication and scheduling and all of those tasks.
30:04
So I really fully staffed up as quickly as possible.
30:08
And we went from being a team of one, just me to a team of seven.
30:12
And as all of those pieces came together, I could finally see some relief
30:17
in the pressure a little bit at a time until I could finally leave town.
30:22
And there wouldn't be any effect on our ability to serve our clients.
30:25
So I could finally start to see, you know, kind of through this fog of fear,
30:29
I could see the light through that. And,
30:33
the those months really,
30:36
they taught me a lot of lessons, and they reminded me of
30:39
what was truly important and what matters in life.
30:43
And I'm very, very thankful, that I didn't delay any longer.
30:47
It was really precious time.
30:50
Because on June 24th, my sister passed away.
30:54
Yeah. And,
30:56
I, I was able to be there
31:00
and take the time that I needed for my family.
31:03
And there wasn't a concern about the business.
31:06
I couldn't even, you know, couldn't think about it at that time.
31:09
But the team had my back.
31:10
So, again, it became this thing where, you know,
31:13
the business is not important in this moment.
31:15
And it wasn't my focus.
31:16
It couldn't be my focus, but it was able to keep going.
31:20
And we can keep serving our clients. Even in my absence.
31:24
As the team had my back. So
31:27
once again, you know, something where
31:30
it would have been just shutting the business down,
31:33
which, of course, in those moments, again, you're not thinking about that stuff.
31:37
Yeah, but it's still reality.
31:39
And you still have bills and you still have an income. And,
31:44
you know, you still we still live within reality, right?
31:48
You've got so
31:51
the process of recognizing the fears
31:55
that were holding me back and letting go of those excuses, that's
31:59
what allowed me to be where I was needed most during this really dark time.
32:03
And, you know, the past year has been very challenging.
32:06
It's been the hardest year of my life,
32:08
but it's been some growth, a lot of growth through it.
32:12
And I, I don't want to imagine what this time would have been like
32:17
had I not had this amazing team behind me, because I'm really blessed
32:21
to have some wonderful people on my team, and they were super supportive
32:26
through everything. And, you know, they had my back.
32:28
They they were totally fine with me being away for a little while, me
32:32
not being as present.
32:34
And they were just like, hey,
32:35
you know, whatever we can do, let us know they were there.
32:38
They stepped up.
32:39
And I am truly so thankful for that because I
32:45
it would have been a very different picture
32:47
to have gone through that without them to have the support
32:50
both on the professional side, on the business side,
32:52
but also on the personal side, just to have those people who I knew
32:55
had my back. It's really amazing.
32:57
So that's a lot of heavy stuff.
33:00
Chris. In,
33:05
losing someone that close to you is hard,
33:08
and you and I, we we didn't get to talk.
33:11
Really a ton, at the conference, but
33:14
we had a couple of exchanges where I kind of picked up on,
33:18
the fact that I think, I was
33:20
pretty sure you were a man of faith.
33:24
Following Christ.
33:26
And first of all, is that accurate?
33:28
And then a follow up to that, what role has your faith in Christ?
33:34
Had in navigating this hardest year of your life
33:38
as a business owner and just as a human being?
33:42
Yeah, absolutely.
33:42
You're totally right about that, Craig. And,
33:46
yeah, it's a it's a big question and an important one.
33:49
And in the same way that I said I, I wouldn't want to imagine
33:53
what this would have been like without my team,
33:55
even more so, you know, times a thousand.
33:57
I wouldn't want to imagine what this would be like without faith and without,
34:03
you know, the peace of God carrying me through these
34:05
incredibly difficult times, and being there with my family and,
34:13
Yeah, it's it's the kind of thing that
34:18
I can't imagine facing alone
34:20
without having the faith that we will be together again.
34:24
Right. And,
34:28
I'm. I'm imagining.
34:29
I'm imagining some, hard conversations with God.
34:33
Probably through that.
34:35
Yeah.
34:35
I mean, it's it's one of those things where you have a lot of questions
34:39
and not a lot of answers, but through that, you have faith that,
34:43
you know, somehow this is this is part of God's plan.
34:47
And somehow this will work for good, right?
34:49
As promised.
34:51
And it's
34:53
it's a time where you have to be able to come to peace
34:57
with not having all of the answers.
35:00
Sure.
35:00
And it's only it's only the peace of God
35:03
that even, you know, helps us remotely step forward every day
35:08
and have some level of acceptance of that.
35:11
And of course, those questions still remain.
35:13
And she struggles and that wrestling is still there.
35:17
Yeah, but
35:18
we're able to
35:20
to keep moving forward and to look to God and, and spend
35:25
time in prayer and looking to his word and to him for peace.
35:30
Right.
35:30
Ultimately, that hope of the resurrection and seeing those that we love again
35:35
in eternity, because of what he did for us, right, exactly.
35:40
And that hope is what I cannot imagine living without, without.
35:45
And I, I've had this conversation with my parents, too, because
35:48
they've said the same thing.
35:49
How could someone possibly survive going through this
35:53
without having that hope that at the end we'll be together
35:57
for eternity and will be with Christ and and, all will be restored.
36:03
Yeah.
36:04
And Chris, thank you for sharing that.
36:08
I know that's not easy, but
36:10
I appreciate your vulnerability and, just being real with us.
36:14
You know, we we talk. Yeah, a lot about business.
36:16
But again, there's that human element of we're all going through stuff.
36:19
So just know that our team is going to be praying for you
36:23
just for continued strength and that peace of God.
36:26
That, that rules our hearts, right.
36:28
And goes beyond our logic and our understanding.
36:30
So know that we're we're committed to that for you.
36:33
And praying just for the continued success of your business as well.
36:38
Yeah.
36:39
For sure.
36:41
So obviously, yeah, your faith
36:43
in Christ helping you navigate that.
36:46
Making that decision to,
36:48
take that leap of faith and hiring a team to help you navigate this time
36:53
so that you could spend it with your family.
36:56
But that's that it in
36:58
its in and of itself is not easy either,
37:01
because you're going from a creative kind of on their own
37:05
making business work to now having a team that you have to lead.
37:10
And that's an entirely different skill set.
37:14
So you're dealing with all this stuff,
37:17
but you also now have to morph into leader.
37:22
Can I ask what did that process look like
37:25
for you in in learning those leadership skills and
37:29
and putting those into practice, learning what those skills are to begin
37:32
with, how did that all happen for you?
37:35
Yeah, that's a really good question.
37:37
And it's a big question along a winding course
37:41
and a little bit of a bumpy journey. And we're still on that.
37:43
Of course, as we all are.
37:46
But I think where it started was I started to see the business,
37:49
as something that could actually give back time
37:52
rather than something that controlled my time.
37:54
Oh, wow.
37:54
And to get to that point, you have to start to trust your team.
37:57
So I think the first leadership lesson I sort of learned,
38:01
and there were a lot of them,
38:02
but but one of the first ones was that you can trust your team.
38:06
You hired them, right?
38:07
You're the one who brought them into your business to work alongside you.
38:11
So you have to be able to trust them.
38:13
And, for me, it started with mornings.
38:17
My mornings were chaos.
38:18
So I had to hire somebody to help out with the morning deliveries
38:22
and the quality control of the photos and all that.
38:24
So that was kind of the first step in trusting my team for me.
38:28
And, you know, just doing little trainings bit by bit
38:31
until the VA that I hired could do things really well.
38:34
Okay.
38:35
But then as I hired photographer as an admin locally,
38:40
the leadership steps up because now you're not just
38:43
communicating with somebody on zoom or via slack.
38:46
You now have your team all together in one place,
38:50
and you have to again become that leader.
38:53
So another thing that kind of goes
38:56
along with trusting your team is serving better by letting go.
38:59
So, you know, I used to think that I, that I somehow wasn't serving my clients
39:04
if I sent somebody other than myself, but if I if I didn't let go,
39:09
my team never would have been empowered to do better work.
39:12
Yeah.
39:13
So like we talked about briefly, you can have specialists
39:16
that do what they're great at
39:18
and that allows you to focus on your strengths.
39:20
So you can now focus on developing as a leader.
39:22
And yeah,
39:23
there's a lot of, you know,
39:24
wonderful books on leadership and there's various courses
39:26
and all kinds of videos, of course, that you can watch.
39:29
And that's all good stuff.
39:30
But when it comes down to it, it's
39:31
it's experience that's going to build you as a leader.
39:35
But yeah, becoming a leader is it's one of the biggest lessons.
39:38
And when I presented at repp, I talked about a variety of lessons
39:42
that I've learned.
39:42
I think there were 12 of them
39:44
kind of over this past year, as I had reflected on it.
39:47
And one of the big ones was, you must become a leader,
39:51
because when you're solo, you only have to lead yourself right.
39:54
You've got to get yourself out of bed in the morning.
39:56
You've got to go to your shoots.
39:57
But that's not really leadership.
39:58
You're just kind of, you know, getting up every day to make your money.
40:01
Right.
40:02
But when you have a team now, they're going to look to you
40:04
and they want direction, they want guidance.
40:07
And inspiration, and they're joining you.
40:10
And there is a degree of risk there that isn't present in most jobs,
40:14
because you've got this really small business in the world of business,
40:18
and they're trusting that this thing that you're building
40:22
is going to be moving forward and making progress.
40:26
And that's really just based on
40:29
how much they have faith in you as a person
40:32
and as a leader, because you don't have a big company behind you.
40:35
You don't have. Right.
40:36
You're not Apple or Coca-Cola or something like that.
40:39
There's no HR department.
40:40
There's no, shareholders.
40:42
It's literally just you.
40:44
So they're taking a risk for themselves personally.
40:47
They might have some family members who were like,
40:49
what's what's this company that you're working for? I've never heard of it.
40:53
And you
40:53
need to show them that even though you're small
40:56
and you you are not this big business that you want to be.
41:00
You're not where you want to be yet that this is moving forward.
41:04
You're making progress, and also that you're here to serve them
41:07
and help them grow into whatever life has for them.
41:10
So one of the values that's really important to me in my business
41:14
is to see people live the lives that they were made to live,
41:17
and that might mean that someone's only with us for a few months
41:21
in a transitionary role, and then they'll move on to something else
41:24
that suits them better.
41:25
Or, you know, kind of that they're a role that they're made to do.
41:29
It might mean that someone's worth as ten years or more.
41:32
And I hope that's the case for for a lot of our people, of course.
41:34
But it's my goal to see people really flourish in what they were made to do.
41:40
That's huge to me.
41:41
So as part of that, you have to shift your focus
41:45
a little bit from serving your clients every day to serving your team.
41:49
Oh, that's when you do that.
41:50
You empower them to grow as people and but you also empower them
41:55
to serve your clients.
41:56
So now instead of my focus being totally on how can we serve these clients
42:00
better, it's how can I serve my team better,
42:03
which gives them the power to serve the clients.
42:06
So you just have to shift that mindset.
42:08
You're not a solo photographer anymore.
42:09
You're not just a freelancer running around with a camera.
42:12
You have a duty, really, to take care of the people who work for you.
42:16
And it's motivating.
42:17
And sometimes it's scary.
42:19
I imagine in some ways it's a little bit like being a parent.
42:21
I'm not a parent myself yet, but I imagine there's some similarities where,
42:25
you know, you hire a photographer
42:27
and you have to train them and set the level of expectation.
42:30
And if they don't show up on time or they don't do something right,
42:32
you have to have that that conversation and not avoid conflict.
42:37
And you can't try to be their best friend.
42:39
You can't try to be their buddy from the start.
42:42
You have to first be a leader, and then from that
42:45
there can be a wonderful relationship where you are friends, but
42:48
you can't just try to be their friend in everything and avoid the conflict.
42:52
So that's something I didn't really
42:54
talk about in the presentation, but that's good.
42:56
That's been a struggle for me.
42:57
It's been an area of growth for sure, where, you know, if,
43:01
like I said, if someone on the team is showing up late to a couple of shoots
43:04
or if there's a toilet lid left open or something like that,
43:08
you've got to be able to approach those things directly
43:10
and your team will respect you more because of it.
43:13
Yeah, but you can't just kind of, you know, do
43:16
what friends would do and be like, oh, no worries, it's totally fine.
43:18
Like, you've got to approach this stuff.
43:20
You've got to be direct with your team.
43:22
And if it comes down to it, you have to be firm
43:24
and you have to make sure they know that you're the leader.
43:26
But from what I've learned in my little bit of experience,
43:30
is they'll respect you more because of it.
43:32
And all these things I've learned.
43:33
I know that I'm no expert.
43:35
I'm new at this too.
43:36
I'm on this journey with everyone else.
43:39
But these are just some of the little lessons I've learned along the way.
43:43
Chris.
43:44
Such good stuff.
43:46
If if you could suggest one leadership
43:50
resource that has had maybe the biggest impact on you,
43:54
what what would that one resource be that you would suggest
43:57
to those watching and listening right now that are at that same point of morphing
44:02
into more of a, leader of their team
44:06
role versus serving their client?
44:09
So, Craig, that's a great question.
44:10
There are two books that have helped me, and there's a ton of books.
44:14
I'm sure everyone's got their lists of amazing business books
44:16
they've read, but the first one is The Servant Leader.
44:19
It's an older book. It's been around for a while.
44:21
It's pretty short, easy read,
44:23
but it helps frame that mindset of you now are serving your team.
44:26
That's huge.
44:27
Another recent book, it's actually by Dave Ramsey real quick.
44:30
Who's who's the author of that first one? The servant leader.
44:32
Oh my goodness, do you remember?
44:34
But, we'll look it up.
44:36
I'll look it up. Yeah. We'll put it in the show notes for you.
44:39
Okay. Go ahead. Second one.
44:40
And then Dave Ramsey released a book recently called Build a Business You Love.
44:44
And he walks through the lessons.
44:45
He's learned, in his many decades of business leadership.
44:50
And it's a really remarkable book, especially as you build a team and scale
44:54
and you're trying to figure out your company culture and values
44:56
and figure out how to make this business last beyond just you.
44:59
Very powerful book and lots of stuff in there. Awesome.
45:02
I might have to check that one out myself.
45:04
Dave Ramsey is, he's got gold.
45:07
Yeah, I'm a big Ramsey fan.
45:08
Yeah, absolutely.
45:10
Our guest this week, Chris Powell, Lighthouse Studios
45:13
in the Seattle, Washington area.
45:14
Chris, thank you so much for taking the time,
45:17
to to join us here on the podcast and, and sharing the things
45:20
that you've been learning about, about hiring and leadership.
45:22
We appreciate it.
45:24
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Craig.
45:25
I really appreciate you having me on. It's a big honor to be on here with you.
45:28
Sure thing. Real quick.
45:29
If somebody wants to get in contact with you
45:31
or maybe pick your brain a little bit more on
45:33
some of what you talked about,
45:34
what's what's the best way for them to get Ahold of you?
45:37
Yeah.
45:37
So you can email me directly at Chris@lh.studio
45:41
or you can DM us at LHstudio.re on Instagram.
45:45
Very good, very good.
45:46
Again, our guest, Chris Powell.
45:48
Chris a pleasure.
45:49
I would love to get you back on the podcast here
45:51
because there were so much more in your presentation
45:54
that I think we can learn and benefit from.
45:56
So, thank you for making the time.
45:58
Thank you so much, Craig.
45:59
I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
46:01
No problem.
46:02
All right, guys, that's going to wrap it up this week.
46:05
Yeah.
46:06
We've got so much good, material coming for you
46:09
from, the presenters at at repp 2025.
46:12
I'm guessing Todd is probably going to have
46:14
a few more people from PMRE that he wants to, to have on.
46:18
So make sure you stay tuned.
46:19
If you've found this podcast to be of benefit to you, to your business,
46:23
be sure to, give it a like on YouTube.
46:26
Subscribe.
46:27
That way you get the notification bell when a new, new, episode launches.
46:32
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46:36
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46:38
through the various Facebook groups, feel free to share it as well.
46:42
We just we want to be a benefit to you and continue to invest in this community
46:47
that's going to wrap it up for this week.
46:49
Make sure that you take time.
46:52
Let's see, this is going to be launching the day before Thanksgiving.
46:55
For those of us here in the US, make sure you take time to be
46:59
thankful for the blessings in your life and make sure you take a breath.
47:03
Have a great week!