Latest / The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business / Colleen Kydd: Building Your Dream Team

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Colleen Kydd: Building Your Dream Team · 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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don't change 100% of your processes for like 2% of like mistakes.
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if one little thing
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goes wrong, don't change everything about your life because of that.
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So I think it's the same with your first hire.
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Your second hire, your first two VAs don't work out.
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Doesn't mean that,
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you know, they're not going to work out.
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Welcome to the Spiro Podcast.
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Managing your real estate, photography and videography business
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with your hosts, Todd, Kevin Mackie
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and Craig Mann.
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Hi and welcome to the Spiro Podcast,
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managing your real estate, photography and videography business.
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Spiro is a software package, a platform designed
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to help you manage your day to day business.
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Whether you're a small boutique real estate media company
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or a large growing regional company as well.
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I'm your host, Craig Magrum, and welcome to the podcast.
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If this is your first time, we are so happy to have you in.
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Just very grateful.
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We don't take that for granted because we know you as a business owner,
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especially, your time is busy, so the fact that you're taking time
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out of your schedule to either watch or listen,
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is not lost on us.
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So thank you for taking that time.
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Each and every week, our co-host, abd Spiro owner and founder Todd Kivimaki
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joins us. Welcome back.
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Well, I guess actually, you should be walking me back since.
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es.
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Well, welcome back, Craig.
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You were you were out hard working last week, and,
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I went into just a black hole of speaking last week.
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So, you and Colleen, our guests can say to me today
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I'll be the one not speaking today, but, Good to have you back, Craig.
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And, excited for another great week.
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Yeah.
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That fun, northern Ohio weather that we had to deal with and,
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rescheduling several shoots.
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And you, you serve the clients, and you do what they need.
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So, yeah, I, I had, had to take care of business, so.
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Awesome.
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All right. Well, we do have a guest this week.
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We'll be introducing her,
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a repeat guest, and we're excited to have her back on the podcast.
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So we'll introduce Colleen in just a few minutes.
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But, first, a couple of things that we want to take care of.
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So last week know, two weeks ago, Todd, we did a book giveaway.
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But no takers on that, so no problem.
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We're going to put that book back on the shelf.
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But I have a different book, to give away this week, one that I,
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I did a lot of highlighting and, it's another John Maxwell
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book called Developing the Leader Within You and, version 2.0.
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- That's a good one, Craig. - It's a classic.
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It's a classic, really great material if you are leading a team.
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So we are going to give away this book.
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Now, this is my personal copy.
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I have a lot of highlights in this.
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Not a ton of notes.
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I had to go through it,
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make sure there was nothing, you know, super dark or introspective
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as I was going through my leadership journey.
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But yeah, excited to give this away.
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And, Todd, we're just going to take what the first person to respond on the pink
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Spiro chat bubble in their Spiro platform
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Pink Spiro chat bubble.
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I renamed it today.
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You guys didn't know that into the Shiroe chat.
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But anyways, hey,
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if you want the book, just let us know if I missed you last week, let me know.
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For the book we gave away. It was good.
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We heard from a lot of you which is fabulous.
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We love hearing from you guys, but mention the book and your message
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that you send to us like, hey, I want the book
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and we will send it to the first person that wants it. Yep.
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All right. Cool. That's taking care of.
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We've got a number of updates on Spiro to talk about, Todd.
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- What’s goin on. - We do.
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So these are coming soon.
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Very soon potentially by the time you're listening to this.
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So about the first week of March we are slated.
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And this is going to be a review process
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for you to send to your clients.
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At any point you wish.
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So this could be after
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they place the order, after the shoot's done, after the media is delivered.
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But finding out what they thought is incredibly important
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to knowing the health of your business.
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And if they're happy,
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let's ask them for a review on a review platform of your choice.
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And if they're not happy, at least we can collect that feedback.
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We can get them
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before they go to the review platform so that we can fix any problems.
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So that will be coming.
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Also a landing page of your order pages.
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So, many of us, we shoot different types of categories
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being residential, commercial, short term rentals,
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lifestyle, headshots, whatever you want to put, whatever your web,
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excuse me, whatever your order page advertisers, you'll be able to group
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those onto a landing page and then advertise that to your clients.
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So we're excited about that coming.
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And then we have some UI and UX
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updates for the way that the order page is functioning.
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So we're going to give you some new goodies, ability to add more media.
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And we want to turn the order page into a sales.
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More of a sales to what already sells right now has two upsell features,
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but we want to turn it into selling better for you.
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So this will be the first of many updates to come to allow you
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to better advertise what you do on your website.
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or what you do for your clients on your order page.
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Sure, sure.
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So awesome.
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All right, well, we'll we'll look for those updates.
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And then some learning opportunities as well with Spyro Academy.
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What's going on there.
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Yes, the Spiro Academy we have so
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Shannon on the team has come up with this idea and it's fabulous.
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Based on your guys's feedback, we have,
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Spiro 101, 202, and 301,
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something like that.
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I figure
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this brings back the days of college, but we've got three classes right now,
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the first being just a very introductory class of the day to day working.
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So this is not how do I set up Spiro?
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We have guides for that.
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We have a white glove service that we can do that for you.
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This is how do I use it.
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The second is how do I price my services.
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So this is one that we get asked a ton.
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What should I price? How should I price it?
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Is this too much?
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Is this too little? What does my competitors do.
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And Shannon is going to host and hold that class.
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And then Spiro 301 is the actual setting up
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of the Spiro task and workflows I taught myself.
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That's how to gear up and, make sure that the system can do
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all of your task and to do list after the shoot.
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So we're going to guide you with those things if you want to know when
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and where you can, head over to the Spiro Super User Facebook page.
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All of them are as events in there,
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and we're going to do them all of the classes at least twice a month.
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So check it out on their mark it, put it on your calendar and come join us
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and we are there to help you get all of that.
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Going for your company.
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Excellent.
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All right. We got a lot going on.
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We do, we do.
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And it's important that we know what you all want out there.
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Continue to send us great feedback.
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I love hearing from you guys, and I love it.
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You guys must be listening to this podcast in the car, and you send in the pink
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chat bubble in your are using talk to text, which is fine.
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I don't mind you all.
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You apologize profusely for the talk to text because it spells words
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weird and Spiro become Sparo or Sparrow and I don't mind.
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Send me your thoughts.
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I want those are gold nuggets in your head.
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Send them to me, I'll analyze it.
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It'll get to me.
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Okay, so if you have an idea, if you have a need, let us know.
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We're here to help.
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We want to know what's in your head so you can email us hello@spiro.media.
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Or if you are Spiro user, the pink chat bubble
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in the bottom right hand corner will lead you to the same inbox.
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And if somebody has a feature that they'd like to see developed
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in the software, what's the best way for them to communicate that to us, Todd?
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Craig, we have a board for that.
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Thank you for asking.
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And the upper right hand corner, when you log in to Spiro, there is a
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there's something up there says feedback.
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I think what that gives up their feedback.
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feedback. Yep.
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It says feedback. I created the buttons.
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So my brain is just going to kick in here guys.
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And I don't have to give you much take as
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Colleen is going to give it all to you. So,
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as far as knowledge
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of what's going to come up, but click the feedback button,
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go to a board and you can suggest anything you want.
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You can see what else has been suggested
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and you can upvote other users suggestions as well.
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Awesome.
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Lots of ways to get feedback to us and we really do value that.
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So thank you.
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All right.
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Well let's dive into this Todd.
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And we love having guests.
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And we have this guest on once before
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and just had a fantastic interview with her.
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And, just got some really good insight on mindsets.
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And, our returning guest was a guest speaker at the REPP 2024 conference back.
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It was that November. Todd.
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Yes.
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Yeah, back in November.
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And, shared a great topic.
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And I'm going to let you take over from here and introducing Colleen.
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Yes. So Colleen Kydd love, Colleen.
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I met her a couple years ago at the REPP conference.
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And, she has just been a wealth of knowledge for us all in the community.
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Not only just from a logistical standpoint,
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what we're going to talk about today, but also a mindset just so inspirational.
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Her story is amazing, and she's built
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a really, really great business, a real estate photography business.
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And, so I'm excited to have her back on today.
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Colleen, welcome to the show.
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Hi. Thank you so much.
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So happy to be to be back back with my guys
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back of the Spiro podcast I love it.
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Thank you for having me.
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Always great to have you on, Colleen.
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You just, you were able to get away a little bit not long ago, right?
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Yes. Tim and I, my husband, Tim,
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we just went on a weeklong vacation.
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We got back, two days ago, we went to Roatan, Honduras.
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So it's an island off the coast of Honduras.
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And, it was the very first time that that we've left,
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and we've truly, like, left everything behind, like, left everything in the dust.
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Like my slack was silence.
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My open phone. Well, my open phones are silenced.
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My email was silenced.
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I told the team, if you need me, reach out to me directly.
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And they never did.
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So it was a true, vacation.
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And it was really great.
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And it was a special vacation for us because it's just one of my favorite
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places in the world. And I used to live there.
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And so I got to show it to Tim for the first time.
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What life was like on the island.
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And a lot, a lot of things have changed, and a lot of things were the same
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and saw a lot of friends, and it was just, it was great.
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It felt good.
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I felt like there was a couple times where I'm like,
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I have this urge to like, just check in on the team.
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And I refrained because I that is something that I need to work on,
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is sometimes I like, will insert myself like when I don't need to be
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and it's a new problem.
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So I really held off and it was great.
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I was going to ask you
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if there were any sort of like withdrawal symptoms for me again.
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No, it's that's a real thing.
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Yeah.
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No, there, there definitely, were just like the urge to check in on the team.
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And what book.
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But it talks about, like, the owners just, like, self-sabotaging
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by, like, everything's going good, so they have to, like, jump in and, like,
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micromanage something and like, I'm like, shoot, that's me.
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But, like, I'm aware of it, so, like, I don't I don't do it.
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And I didn't do it and they were great.
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And I had a meeting with my admin, Jensen,
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when we got back, and she was like, goodness, everything went great.
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And I was like, yay, great!
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That is so awesome.
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And Colleen, remind everyone again how long you've been doing this for,
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because it's not very long to get to that pay off, which is so exciting.
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Yes, we filed for our LLC in August of 2022.
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Probably had our first shoot around November.
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I mean, it took us a while to get a client.
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But yeah, just just since 2022.
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So we'll be three years old this year in August.
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And which we should mention,
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Colleen and your husband's name again.
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I'm sorry.
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Tim. Yep.
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owners of Three Palms Media, in Florida.
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What? What's your main market, Colleen?
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Southwest Florida.
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So, like.
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Yeah, we're, like two hours south of Tampa.
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We're port Charlotte all the way down to Marco Island.
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Awesome.
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That's so great.
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And one thing where, Colleen is growing really quick, they shoot.
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It's not like it's just they shoot fabulous homes
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like huge homes, like high end homes.
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So I always love her insight because with Wow, we're a little bit different
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as to where in the Midwest, in Ohio, I mean, the homes are great here,
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but they're not like what Colleen shoots. So, wow.
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You know, we're more of a, a volume based business as to where
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Colleen is still doing a lot of volume, but doing high end as well.
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So, you know, and to grow it in that short time is is just fabulous.
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So congrats on that, Colleen.
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Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it's been great.
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A lot of hard work, but a lot of good times to.
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Yeah.
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Now, Colleen for a listener out there saying oh
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vacation.
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What's that
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I could never I could never imagine leaving.
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I remember some of those trips very early on when I left and we vacation,
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that it was like having to call back to the States from out of the country.
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And there was it wasn't like you got on the internet message, like you dialed out
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like $2 a minute and talk to someone in the US
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and like, you know, you pull your phone out of the room
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safe in the morning and you, you know, call back or I would call back.
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And it just that feeling of like, oh my goodness, what's happening?
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And like all the pre-planning.
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So for our listeners out there going like, I don't think I could ever vacation.
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Like I'm shooting everything, I'm selling
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everything, I'm making sure everything gets done.
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I'm the answering service, I'm the quality control, I'm the support.
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And I just feel a little bit stuck in my business.
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You know, there.
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That's a real thing.
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I remember those days as well.
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I remember when I was six months behind on billing,
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and I was running as fast as I could, and I was happy
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because the business was doing good, but it was taking over my life,
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and I just felt stuck
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and then realized that I had to depend on others
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to help actually grow the business, to get unstuck, to actually move faster,
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to get to the goal of why I started my business.
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So I remember you all out there, started a business for some reason.
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Just remember those reasons of why you started the business.
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But regardless of what your reason is, stay aligned with that.
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But you're going to have to depend on others,
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and you can't do everything in your business
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or you are going to crash and burn.
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You're going to hate your business.
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You're going to feel like you're a prisoner of your business
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and you're going to start saying things again like, hey,
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what if I just had a 9 to 5 job?
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If I remember when you started
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your business, you were complaining about working a 9 to 5 job.
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So our brains do silly things like that to us.
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It's okay. It happens to all of us.
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We're here to help you today.
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Colleen's here to help you because she has become fabulous.
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A master at building a team.
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Her ability to build relationships is incredible.
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But we're going to talk specifically about a hiring process
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for your photographers and the team.
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So, Colleen, why is it so important to grow
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your, like, if you want to grow your business
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and you want to
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get out of your business, step out of it so your business can work for you.
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Why is it important to depend on others, or is this is something that I only think?
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Do you align with these ideas
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It's important to depend on others so you can go on vacation.
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That's why that like literally is the reason that I started my own business.
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Because I am just appalled with only 3
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or 4 weeks, or some people have two weeks of vacation.
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I just couldn't I mean, I couldn't, I couldn't do it.
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So I mean, that's why,
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you know, if you listen to the first podcast,
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that's why I quit my job and travel the world
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for two years because I needed more vacation.
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So that was a big reason that I, that I wanted,
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just ownership over my life in general.
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But it is difficult when you, you, you jump ship and you start building
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your business and it's going great and you're getting busy
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and it's your baby, it's your child, it's my child.
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And I can no one can babysit it but me.
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So, that that was a real struggle for me.
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Is is letting go and coming to terms with the fact that nobody
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is going to love your baby as much as you like.
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It's impossible. Like it's not.
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It's impossible.
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So you need to recognize that.
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And you just need to find people that you can pour into that
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you kind of give life to and, and, see them
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and not just worry about them seeing you and your business and,
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let go, like, you just need somebody
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that can do things maybe like what, like 80% as good as you?
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I don't know, I'm just throwing that fat out there.
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It's never going to be 100%. And then.
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But but I've also found a lot of joy in
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building a team and mentoring people
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and coaching people and walking them through some of the things
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that I had to walk myself through.
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Like when you make mistakes, shooting or whatever,
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and just knowing that it's all part of the process
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and that we expect that and that we're not perfect,
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it's really just about how we can learn and grow from there.
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So yeah, you have you have to let go.
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It's it's hard.
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It is hard, but you absolutely have to let go,
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or else you will be in a prison that you created for yourself.
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Okay.
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When you want to just vacation like it's crazy.
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Yeah.
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So, Colleen, I think that the thing that I've run into
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and I think a lot of us have run into when we're starting to grow
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a team and trying to step back a little bit and work
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on our business instead of in our business,
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is that challenge of the relationships that you've developed with your clients?
18:43
Go deep. Right?
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They trust you as their photographer, their videographer, whatever.
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And the second you try to introduce a new person
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to that process or a new person to the team, that
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that, initial pushback of, well, no, I hired you.
19:00
I didn't hire your teammate or your new member
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because what
19:06
what how have you handled that is is you started to grow your team?
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I sometimes I feel like people forget that our clients are like people too.
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And like, they have goals and dreams too, and that you can be honest with them.
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It's not like all business.
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So we really shared a lot of our goals with our clients.
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We called up our clients.
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We told told them about what our dreams were for our business,
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how excited we were about so-and-so that we just brought on,
19:37
that we wanted their feedback on them, things like that.
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We share a lot about it on our Instagram, too.
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We're, you know, our Instagram isn't perfect or anything, but I do
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try to, like, get on there and talk as just like a person.
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And I show us training our team.
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I, I'm like, hey, we're at a video workshop today
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where the whole team's here and we're training them on X, y, Z.
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I do behind the scenes of our team meetings,
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like we did, like an award ceremony twice.
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Last year.
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So, like, I shared that, I'm like, you know, Julien got the whatever award
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so that people see us, like, with our team and how much we're pouring into our team
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and that they really are an extension of us.
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We're not just like signing people and just like throwing them out there.
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We're training them or mentoring them or guiding them.
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So I think sharing that a lot and talking about it,
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and just being open about the fact that this is what we are trying to do
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instead of trying to, like, kind of just slip a new photographer in there.
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We found that just that transparency has worked really well for us.
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And yes, there are still the people that are just like, no
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hard stop me, Tim.
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And something that I had to get over and realize and come to terms with,
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and kind of remove the ego part of it
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is that you are going to lose clients as you grow, and that's totally fine.
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Like the clients that built you
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to your first level of business
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are the ones that are going to get you to your second level.
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So there's a couple people out there they want just to see Tim every day.
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They want just to see, you know, Craig
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like you're their guy and they want that one on one relationship.
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And so when we can no longer provide that,
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if they choose to go somewhere else, like, I just had to learn to be fine with that
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because I'm going to gain ten more clients,
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like the teams that we work with now.
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We can never work with, absolutes, if it was just Tim.
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They need people that can do shoot at the same time,
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like we're shooting for them three times at 10 a.m., and things like that.
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I've never been able to work with them
21:34
when we were solo shooter and then vice versa.
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So just recognizing that there's different clients for different
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different types of businesses, and as you grow, you're going to have to shed,
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but you're also going to gain, things that you couldn't do solo.
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I love that so much.
21:48
Colleen, you said that your first clients are not the type of clients are going
21:52
to take you to like, your tier two in business, and I think that's so true.
21:57
Goodness, there's so much to dive in there.
21:59
They're one thing that I love is your transparency and your honesty.
22:02
That was one thing that I, I struggle with, not so much the honesty,
22:05
but the transparency of sharing that as to where
22:09
early on as like we'd grow is like, okay, we're just going to send Ryan.
22:13
I really like Ryan, and Ryan's really good.
22:15
And and maybe they'll just think that it's actually Todd, even though it's
22:19
Ryan and Ryan, you know, eight inches shorter and looks completely different.
22:23
And it's so I think that's so smart about being transparent.
22:28
And then also look at this fabulous tool that we all have with social media.
22:32
We're showing that and being transparent about those items.
22:37
So I love that idea.
22:38
Showing the behind the scenes, showing the training, sharing the goals.
22:42
Because one thing also to remember is that our
22:45
clients have those same goals, Realtors, it's their goal.
22:48
They want to grow.
22:49
Many of them say, I want to be the number one realtor
22:51
or the number one team,
22:52
or I want to sell this much like they're on this journey with us as well.
22:56
And being transparent, I can tell you, has moved us so far along.
23:01
And in fact, that's one thing that
23:03
right after we launched Spiro
23:04
that you all told me like, hey, we really want to know what's going on.
23:07
Like, you know, we're in the system. We love it.
23:10
We want to feel connected.
23:11
Just, you know,
23:12
you don't have to do everything we say, but can you tell us what's going on?
23:15
So I completely agree with the transparency.
23:18
You got to like, make people part of, like, your community,
23:21
like, bring them along for the ride, like, have them feel like they're involved.
23:24
So I think being transparent and, like, showing, showing
23:27
all that kind of makes them feel like, you know, they're like, oh, I was
23:31
I was there from the beginning when it was just Tim.
23:33
And they're like, they like think it's so cool to like, watch us grow.
23:37
Not only from a client perspective Colleen, but from a team perspective.
23:40
Do you find that that transparency like new photographers coming in.
23:44
I'm sure they search you.
23:46
They look you up on Instagram. Do they find these things.
23:48
Is that give them some insight as to how great your company is to.
23:52
And do you think that increases the demand for them wanting to work for you?
23:57
- Oh the employees that. - Yeah. The employees.
24:00
Yeah. Yeah.
24:01
We get people that reach out to us and ask for a job, which is crazy.
24:06
People definitely
24:07
see what we're doing and they want to work
24:10
at Three Palms Media, which is just something I never expected.
24:13
I'm like, wait, so you.
24:15
I'll be gone for three months.
24:16
Maybe. Awesome.
24:18
So that has definitely been helpful.
24:19
And then in the interview process,
24:23
and even even from the job description right off the bat,
24:25
like we talk about that, I want them to understand
24:28
that this is like more than just a photography job.
24:32
First of all, it's like literally not a photography job, actually.
24:35
But, it's more than just that.
24:37
And you're going to get this whole team and, you know, we meet as a team
24:41
every other week and we go out on outings and our slack channel pops off.
24:47
And, you know, there's just a lot of camaraderie here.
24:50
And that is something we get feedback on all the time from our team.
24:55
Is that they love being a part of Three Palms Media.
24:58
Again Craig, we go back to this almost every week for something.
25:01
We talk about ties back to relationships and the importance
25:05
of relationships and the importance that humans just want to connect.
25:08
And they want to have belonging and they want to belong somewhere.
25:13
And I believe as a whole, people want to do good
25:18
and want to do good for you as an employer.
25:21
And building those relationships is so important.
25:24
being real and authentic with people and finding that
25:27
in, in the marketplace every day, marketplace or workplace,
25:31
I think is more rare than we realize,
25:35
like true authenticity.
25:37
And human to human relationship building.
25:41
Colleen, I was sharing with the team this morning at, during our staff meeting
25:45
that I just joined an association up here in, in my market that,
25:51
I, I'm the minority in the room
25:54
and the warmness and authenticity
25:59
of this group of people in a welcoming, welcoming me as a new member,
26:03
just his struck me, you know, in a very profound way.
26:08
And I jumped in.
26:10
I thought I was going to be the newbie that just kind of flew under the radar
26:13
for a little while and kind of got to know the group.
26:15
And somehow I found myself on the Public Relations Committee.
26:19
Immediately.
26:22
But it was because of
26:24
just the warmness and the authenticity and the,
26:29
the immediate relationship building that this group was doing.
26:33
And it made me want to be a part of this and help promote its mission.
26:37
And I think it's the same thing when you're when you're hiring a team,
26:40
the authenticity and, and, just warmness that you as the owner can extend
26:46
to potential new team members will have
26:49
a huge, huge impact on people's lives.
26:52
Yeah.
26:53
And that has been one of my favorite parts.
26:55
Like I have team members that will tell me in their one on ones
26:59
or just randomly like how much Tim or I or both of us,
27:03
have just impacted their their lives because I mean, in their one on ones,
27:09
we do one on ones with all of our team members,
27:11
every other month about,
27:14
and of course, we talk about business
27:17
and stuff, but the majority of it is really just about their personal goals,
27:21
where they're at, what's truly holding them back.
27:25
What?
27:25
You know, okay, maybe they maybe they have arrived late a few times.
27:32
It's not because they can't set their alarm.
27:33
Like, why?
27:34
Why are you actually, like, why are you actually being late?
27:37
Like, what is it that you're, like, holding yourself back on?
27:40
And, we, I peel back the layers on that and a lot of times
27:45
it's just a confidence issue or just something they're not, you know,
27:49
feeling like themselves, things like that.
27:51
So we really dive into a lot of that and I think that that's
27:54
then that's something that not maybe a lot of people experience
27:59
when they're talking to their employer or their their man, their leader,
28:02
things like that.
28:03
But that's something that we really, really focus on because
28:08
I think that's really what matters.
28:10
And if that can help make them a better person or more comfortable
28:14
in their life, then they're automatically going to be a better,
28:18
you know, part team member of Three Palms Media.
28:22
Absolutely. So we focus a lot on that.
28:24
And I think really being generous
28:27
with our time and just anything like I think as we grow,
28:30
just the more we give, the more generous we are, the more things come back.
28:34
So whether that's, you know, compensating them
28:37
extra hours for doing something or,
28:41
just spending more time talking to them,
28:43
calling them things like that, I think is really important.
28:46
I think a lot of times, you know, you just want to hire people
28:50
and just let them go and not really have to, like, nurture them.
28:54
But I don't think that that's going to get you the results
28:56
that you ultimately want, because when we show them how much we care about them,
29:00
they begin to just be much more about our clients and how they're doing
29:05
and things like that. And it's all just very full circle.
29:07
Yeah.
29:07
I think that's such a huge advantage.
29:10
And, and the way you're doing it is so smart.
29:13
Colleen, I when I started off, at least I thought
29:17
being a boss was telling people what to do.
29:20
And it's like, hey, I,
29:21
I'm going to tell people what to do, and I'm going to be ultra professional,
29:25
and I'm going to make sure that they know what they're to do.
29:27
And as I flip that and just turn it
29:30
into, you're really like Colleen said, peeling back those layers,
29:35
like don't hurt.
29:37
Like if they've been late or they've done something wrong, don't jump
29:41
to the conclusions that they did it
29:43
because they wanted your company not to be great.
29:46
Like there are so many reasons underneath that.
29:48
And that's typically typically what you'll find.
29:50
They don't want to let you down.
29:52
That's why I had a lot of like, I really don't want to let you down.
29:54
And then you get some,
29:56
you get some
29:57
things that come from working, not wanting to let someone down
30:01
that can be negative and really
30:04
the real core issue was they didn't want to let you down.
30:07
Also, the other thing to think about those are your employees.
30:10
They don't have this.
30:10
They have different mindset than what you have.
30:13
So you might work one way, but they don't want to work that way
30:17
or they don't think that's important.
30:19
The relationship is important.
30:20
Understand they belong somewhere is important.
30:23
You know, a lot of times I would have talks
30:25
with some of my other leaders a while and they'd be like, I would never do that.
30:27
It's like, well, no, I get that.
30:31
We don't need to find some.
30:32
Like, we're not finding you like this was the individual
30:35
as a head of our training them
30:36
at the company a very long time, like I get that you've done this for ten years
30:40
now, like I get you don't want to go and do that.
30:42
We just need to find people who find that exciting, you know?
30:46
And specifically what the photographers of, you know, as you drive
30:49
like, let's all be honest, as you start shooting less,
30:54
the idea of driving 40,000
30:56
miles again becomes kind of not so attractive, right?
31:00
I mean, it's like, yeah, I don't want to send the car for that long,
31:05
but there are people that love to go see houses and see how people live
31:11
and build relationships with realtors and get to create this fabulous media
31:15
that helps realtors advertise houses, that gets people to sell.
31:20
And yeah, yeah, Craig, and you love it too.
31:23
And now you're, you're you've kind of shifted a little bit into a hybrid role.
31:26
So it's like you get a good you get a good mix of different things.
31:31
But that's growth y'all. That's just really growth.
31:33
And that's a fabulous thing.
31:35
So don't assume that your thoughts are your employees thoughts right.
31:41
So Colleen at REPP 2024,
31:44
part of the material that you shared was was growing your dream team.
31:49
So we've we've talked a lot about, you know, relationships and authenticity
31:52
and that's great.
31:53
But let's kind of drill down on your method of growing your dream team.
31:58
Can you kind of step us through what you've developed
32:02
and how you hire and and find the right team members
32:06
and kind of break that down in some practical steps for, for people?
32:10
Yes, I can definitely do that.
32:12
So we've always done job postings on indeed.
32:18
That's just the only place I've ever posted.
32:20
When I think about creating or job posting,
32:23
I want it to feel like I want them to get that feeling
32:27
that is Three Palms Media when they're reading it.
32:29
I try not to make it
32:31
so much like all the other job postings maybe that you see on there
32:35
that just kind of lack personality and and things like that.
32:39
So that's where I first start.
32:41
I want every part of the process to give you like a different feeling.
32:46
And then I really utilize, like those questions on there
32:50
that they have to answer like little things like,
32:55
you know, are you willing to commute to this area?
32:58
Do you have a reliable car or are you do you understand that this is a variable?
33:01
Our job like these little things that like, I don't want to like
33:05
get on the phone and talk to you about and realize you're like, oh, I, you know,
33:08
I variable hours doesn't work for me or I don't have,
33:12
you know, reliable transportation, whatever, things like that.
33:15
So I, I list out all these questions to make them like, I want them to work
33:19
to put in an application, not just apply.
33:22
So they have to answer all of these questions that I put on there.
33:25
And then I put in our job posting a couple things.
33:28
One, I hide a little secret message at the end that says
33:32
if you if you've made it this far, in your response, right.
33:36
I love palm trees.
33:37
So that's I love to use detail oriented.
33:40
Right.
33:40
That that's
33:41
so excited about this job that they're reading the entire job description
33:45
and then they'll write, I love palm trees in there.
33:47
And I immediately I'm like, okay, I can interview you.
33:50
I just kind of also ask them to,
33:53
send me a video, answering a three questions.
33:57
The questions are typically tell me about yourself and what you love.
34:01
And I always like how people answer that because people will answer
34:04
that so many different ways.
34:05
Like when I say, tell me what you love, like so many different answers,
34:08
feel like they get to tell.
34:09
Tells me a lot about the person.
34:11
And then I ask,
34:13
something like, you know, why does this job interest you?
34:18
And then, like, what are you your goals or what are you looking for?
34:20
Something like that?
34:21
I want them to put in the work to actually apply.
34:25
I want them to be excited about it.
34:26
So they send a video and then I, and then I'll do, like 15 minute.
34:32
I have calendly, so I'll, I'll do like a 15 or
34:35
20 minute calendly and I'll, I'll send out that link and I'll say, hey,
34:39
let's jump on
34:40
a phone call or whatever, a video call, video
34:44
specifically I need to see either like it cannot be just over the phone.
34:47
And, so we do that.
34:49
And my goal for that is that I'm not talking.
34:52
They are.
34:52
So I need to understand who they are, what their I call it.
34:57
I'm trying to figure out what their destination is.
35:02
What do they desire?
35:04
Do they want to be working full time?
35:06
Do they want to be part time
35:07
because they also want to be like half stay at home dad?
35:10
Like what are they actually looking for?
35:13
What is their desired end state?
35:16
Because it needs to line up with what we need for
35:18
just the uniqueness of this job.
35:21
So I'm having them talk, and then I will move on
35:23
to in person, 90 minute.
35:27
Usually they go about 90 minutes or 90 minutes in person interviews.
35:31
And there's where we'll really dive into more of the job and things like that.
35:35
Like they don't need to
35:36
I don't need to tell them every little detail about the job
35:39
on the 15 minute phone interview.
35:41
It's really like me understanding
35:43
what they want and need to see if that lines up with us,
35:45
and then we can go and really talk about everything after that.
35:48
So we meet up in person, we talk, we keep it conversational.
35:53
I'm looking for do you have good eye contact?
35:57
I'm looking for, you know,
35:58
did you walk into the room with confidence?
36:00
Because walking into these different houses every day
36:03
isn't actually easy at all.
36:05
Like you're walking into a new environment every single day.
36:07
So I'm looking for those things I do not care
36:10
if you've ever touched a camera before, do not care.
36:13
I don't care about media or anything like that.
36:16
I really care about them as a person.
36:20
And their
36:21
if their schedule works for their life.
36:24
Now, sometimes people just really want to be a photographer and videographer
36:27
and they will say that the schedule works for their life and it does.
36:31
So that is why it's so important for you to understand,
36:34
like what is their actual destination before you start talking about the job?
36:39
So that's kind of our interview process.
36:43
I'll just pause there.
36:45
I can talk about training and stuff too, but I didn't want to go too long.
36:48
If you have any questions or comments on that,
36:50
I have, I have a few.
36:51
Colleen, I love the idea of using that word destination.
36:54
I'm going to borrow a miss, steal that from you and start using that.
36:57
I think that's so important to understand what the individual do. You.
37:03
So during this process,
37:08
Are there times
37:09
where you begin to maybe bend or flex
37:13
on what you need because you feel so you can't find people to do it?
37:18
Or is there?
37:19
I know looking back at Wow, like sometimes you're like,
37:21
oh, we're going to take a flier on this person.
37:24
It's just like, we don't know if people really want to do this.
37:27
I guess that's maybe a better question.
37:28
Do you find that
37:30
with that process there and making people work
37:33
during the interview process, which I think is really smart,
37:36
but like kind of some of these,
37:37
for the lack of a better term, hoops to jump through, do people do that?
37:41
You are there people out there wanting to do this job?
37:44
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely people out there that that want to do it.
37:49
And I just don't have time to like waste on the people that just are mass applying.
37:53
And, you know, they see a higher hourly rate.
37:58
Because we're W-2 and we pay hourly and things like that.
38:01
And, but it's variable, right. So,
38:05
I get a lot of job applicants because they're
38:08
they'd be like, oh, 30, $35 an hour, things like that.
38:12
So that attracts a lot of people.
38:14
But you do have to make sure that they actually want to, to do this job.
38:17
But there is people get excited about not being behind a desk.
38:21
People get excited about working for a local small like business.
38:24
People get excited about, like you said earlier, Todd
38:27
getting to explore beautiful Ohio or Southwest Florida.
38:32
They want to be out and about.
38:34
We want to see stuff.
38:35
They want to talk to people every day.
38:37
They're like, oh my God, I get to fly a drone.
38:39
And sometimes I think about I'm like, this job is pretty cool.
38:42
It's cool. It is.
38:44
You know, there's definitely people out there
38:46
and people that it works for their life because it is.
38:49
So that's the biggest thing. I'm looking forward, like destination, like
38:53
this is a variable.
38:53
Our job for us.
38:54
I cannot guarantee ours. I can not hire you full time.
38:57
That's not part of our business model.
38:59
So examples of people on our team are a wedding photographer,
39:04
wedding or a DJ,
39:07
a guy whose wife works full time and he wants to,
39:12
like, have a lot of flexibility to be like a dad to his four year old kid.
39:16
And but but loves the idea of, like, going out and being creative.
39:19
He used to actually run a whole.
39:21
He was a creative director, like a big marketing like thing.
39:25
And he's like, I no longer became the creative.
39:27
I just became the manager.
39:28
I want to be hands on and I want to be a dad.
39:30
I'm like, oh, that's a good fit.
39:32
Like, you think that these people don't exist, but they actually do.
39:36
And then
39:37
what are some other, you know, people in school on our team?
39:42
And then there is people that do rely on Three Palms Media
39:45
for the majority of their, income.
39:48
And they do they work like 30 something, 35 hours a week or so.
39:52
And that that works for them,
39:55
at people that want to learn how to use a camera, things like that.
39:58
So there is a lot of good things, about it.
40:01
The biggest one is we can not gaurantee hours.
40:04
That's what we really have to uncover.
40:06
Is that going to work for you or not?
40:09
Yeah, I think those those expectations
40:11
and communication up front will save you so much in the end.
40:15
And I know many times
40:16
again, I was like, oh, I might I'm going to compromise on this
40:19
because I feel like we didn't get really good applicants.
40:22
Like, please, y'all do not compromise.
40:25
You're not going to find a perfect person.
40:26
I'm not saying that.
40:28
But if there is something that is core
40:30
to the job, like don't hire them.
40:34
You're someone who needs full time work with seasonal variable.
40:38
All of the things that come into real estate photography,
40:42
like don't
40:44
bend on that because they're going to get through a busy season
40:46
and they're going to realize like, hey, they're slow season
40:50
and they're going to go find something else that they need.
40:53
So please don't compromise on some core aspects of
40:57
of what we all need as real estate photographers or real estate
41:00
photography business owners.
41:01
I keep getting these emojis coming up.
41:03
I don't know what I'm doing you all, but I oh my goodness, these emojis.
41:06
This is just like I there's probably a setting somewhere.
41:09
I do have one more question, Colleen.
41:12
What can our.
41:13
So someone hiring for the first time posting
41:16
on that great idea of be personable with the job description.
41:20
Use questions appropriately.
41:22
Go back you all and listen.
41:23
She gave you what she does. Do that.
41:27
What is the idea of like top of funnel?
41:29
How many people come in?
41:30
How many people do you come down to?
41:32
How many people do you have to talk to?
41:34
What is just from a numbers standpoint, can you give us just a rough estimate
41:38
of kind of numbers of people that need to apply, people
41:41
that you review their questions,
41:42
that actually answer the questions, people that you talked to 15 minutes
41:46
and then down to like that hour and a half interview.
41:50
Yeah.
41:50
Well, first of all, it has like the more first of all,
41:52
the more you hire people, the better you're going to be at it.
41:55
And I have made multiple mistakes.
41:58
I probably hired 3 or 4 people against my gut and none of them have worked out.
42:01
I learned no longer that like Todd just said, do not compromise.
42:05
But it's really hard.
42:06
Like the first person I hired, he was super creative
42:08
and I thought he was going to make amazing videos.
42:10
And he was, you know, he was
42:14
absolutely not good at anything else.
42:16
Like,
42:17
you know, the organization, the accountability,
42:19
the emotional intelligence. None of that was there.
42:21
I was blinded by, like, knowing how creative this person was. So,
42:27
and then you learn more like, it can be a painful process.
42:30
Like, I, it's very hard to just get it right.
42:32
Like, the even times where I'm like, okay, I'm a pro now.
42:35
Like, I know how to hire people and I would still make a mistake.
42:38
So I give myself a little bit of grace there, but it varies.
42:43
I have gotten as many as like 70-100 applicants like on indeed.
42:48
And then there's the times when I have phone interview
42:51
like.
42:54
12 to 20 people at times.
42:57
It's not always like that.
42:58
It wasn't like that this last round.
43:00
But, you, you learn and having that video them send you that video
43:05
and that wasn't something I always did that is really helpful to cutting down
43:09
on my time, because if I can see somebody talking and on a video
43:14
that's almost as good as that
43:15
15 minute phone call, it's almost as good. So
43:20
that has really helped me cut back on, like doing like 20, 15 minute phone calls.
43:25
I don't do group interviews.
43:26
I know a lot of people suggest that we don't do it.
43:28
It's not my vibe.
43:30
I, you know, and I've also never really tried it so I could be missing out.
43:33
But we don't do that.
43:36
And then I will interview in person
43:38
if I'm looking for one photographer, I will interview,
43:42
at least four, four people in person.
43:45
So talk in person. Okay.
43:47
We were interviewing about four in person, 4 or 5, and we're hiring 1
43:51
or 2, at a time as typically what we've been doing.
43:56
Gotcha.
43:56
And then after your, your interview, Colleen,
43:59
is that the final interview and you decide or to someone else in your team
44:02
get them. How does that look?
44:04
It is right now.
44:05
It is the final interview.
44:08
I will know after that interview.
44:10
I think as we're growing now, if we'd like to bring a team member or so,
44:14
kind of call them up a little bit, I don't know when that is, no idea when that is.
44:19
And involve them more in that, like what we're looking for and things like that.
44:23
But, so far just got one interview and then we're, we're, we're good to go.
44:27
Now when I hired my admin, there was it was more involved.
44:31
I felt like that was a
44:33
bigger job I interview for.
44:35
So I interviewed too many people in person.
44:36
I think I interviewed eight people and I was looking for one,
44:38
and it's because I was so nervous about, like getting this one right.
44:42
And, you know, the truth is I found the person that I wanted, like right away.
44:47
But I kept going because I felt like I, I was so scarred.
44:49
Sometimes you, like, go so far the opposite way. Right?
44:52
I was so scarred for making a mistake with my first photographer.
44:55
Even though I was probably on my fourth
44:56
photographer at the time before I hired my admin.
45:00
But it was painful.
45:01
But I always call people in person.
45:03
I cried, I cried when I had to call these admin people.
45:08
A lot of them are really great, but Tim and I just believe that
45:11
if you interview them in person,
45:12
you have to give them a phone call and not just an email.
45:15
And so I had to call seven people and tell them they didn't get the job.
45:18
And it was it was awful.
45:20
So I don't want to interview that many people again for a job like.
45:24
Yeah, I agree 100%.
45:25
You should
45:26
you should call them if they came.
45:28
And they have got to that point
45:29
and they spent an hour, hour and a half with you.
45:32
You should call them.
45:33
You never know.
45:33
You might hire these people down the road, right.
45:36
You know, don't if they got to that step, they're pretty good.
45:41
So don't write it off.
45:43
Some things might change back.
45:44
We've caught a couple.
45:46
Our first guy that I hired and fired, the guy that I didn't hire, Julian.
45:52
I had to call him back, a couple months later and be like, I need you on the team.
45:57
Like. And this was before I fired the first guy.
45:59
I just.
45:59
I knew I made a mistake, I called him, he was still intrested,
46:02
like, when we, you know, told him we didn't get the job.
46:04
We call him stuff like that.
46:06
I've had, a girl on my team. Faith.
46:09
I made a mistake.
46:10
I didn't hire her.
46:11
I hired somebody else based on the wrong reasons.
46:13
And I called her, told her she didn't get the job.
46:15
A day later, I called her, and I said I made a mistake.
46:19
I really, really think that I'd love to have you on the team.
46:22
And honestly, that kind of almost made the it like, stronger, the relationship
46:26
a little bit stronger.
46:27
Now she's an awesome member of our team. So
46:31
give yourself some grace.
46:32
If you're out there and you're trying to hire like it is not easy, it is difficult.
46:36
But you learn.
46:37
And I'm just big on going with my gut and every time I don't, I regret it.
46:42
What just struck me, Colleen, is
46:45
you called Faith back and said I made a mistake.
46:48
Yeah,
46:48
I've never heard an employer do or say that before,
46:52
and so I'm just trying to put myself in Faith's position right now.
46:56
Craig.
46:57
I've never made any mistakes at least during your time here, so that's just.
47:02
I wasn't trying to say anything there about that. No,
47:07
no, but I'm just I'm trying to think, like, how would I process that
47:10
as a potential employee that this employer was that,
47:16
transparent and
47:17
honest, like, no, seriously, like that would make me want
47:21
to get to know that employer better and work for them, that they're willing,
47:25
even in the interview process, to say, hey, I messed this up.
47:29
I would respect that incredibly.
47:32
And I can't help but think that once they're on the team
47:36
and you continue that kind of culture, that they just get
47:39
totally bought in to your mission in and your business.
47:43
And yeah, it might not be to the level of it's their baby as well.
47:46
But man, that that kind of transparency and honesty,
47:50
I would respect that in a leader.
47:53
And that's awesome that you, you said that.
47:57
Yeah, it worked out and it did.
47:58
It created like I created a different vibe.
48:02
Yeah. With her. So
48:03
for sure.
48:04
Amazing. Colleen, we're getting close to the end.
48:07
I, I maybe you could give us just the cliff note version on what the timeline.
48:12
So you've made a decision to the final candidate, and you have
48:16
someone you're excited to bring on you to, a team that works for them.
48:20
You've qualified them.
48:21
You know, that whole process,
48:23
maybe just a cliff note version of what that training like.
48:27
Now what I've done, the tremendous task of finding someone.
48:31
I'm excited about them.
48:32
Now, how do I get them to actually go out there and do what I need them to do?
48:37
Because at this point, you all, you're not out of the woods.
48:39
You've actually created more work for yourself.
48:42
You're getting you're getting closer to freeing up your time.
48:45
So don't stop now.
48:47
But how does someone go, Colleen from
48:50
I've got the candidate now, how do I put my brain into their brain?
48:54
What do I give them?
48:55
What do I do? What does that timeline look like?
48:57
Just so our listeners know kind of what to expect?
49:01
Yeah, absolutely.
49:02
So we have them start.
49:03
We're always ready for them to start like the next day.
49:05
So it's really about them too.
49:06
They have to put like what are they going to do.
49:09
And we send them
49:11
like a onboarding checklist
49:14
that they need to do before they get to their first day.
49:17
And that is things like,
49:19
you know, I'll invite them to slack, signing them to Spiro.
49:22
Get having them download the, you know, five dozen apps
49:25
that they need like the Zillow tours and Matterport and whatever.
49:29
All that logging because they don't need to do that in front of me.
49:32
Like that is just,
49:33
you know, so get anything that they can done like admin side done.
49:37
Before that we use gusto to onboard them.
49:39
We send them an offer letter. They accept.
49:42
We kind of go through that process with them.
49:44
And then we have Tim calls it Christmas Day is their first day
49:48
because they get all of their, equipment.
49:51
So we we supply their equipment, it through comms media.
49:53
So they get all their equipment.
49:54
Tim walks them through all of the equipment.
49:57
Most of these people are seeing this equipment for the very first time.
50:00
They don't have experience with the camera.
50:02
So, Tim, spending quality time walking them through all of these things,
50:07
teaching them how to take care of their equipment,
50:09
how to, you know, things like that.
50:11
We're big on that. So that's a big part of it.
50:14
And just some admin stuff on that first day
50:17
after that, we do a second day where we,
50:21
Tim is working with them in a vacant house.
50:24
Sometimes it's my parents house.
50:26
By vacant, I just mean no.
50:28
You know, clients are there,
50:30
and is showing them how to do all of those things,
50:34
and then they will then go out and shadow Tim.
50:37
Or now they shadow our lead photographer.
50:40
So we've got Julian and Justin on our team that do this
50:43
training now, like we'll say, okay, Faith, Julian,
50:46
Faith and Julian, you're a pair Julian go off and and train her.
50:50
And that's part of him.
50:51
He's now a lead photographer.
50:53
So we have them shadow us for a little bit.
50:56
Kind of like that first week from Christmas Day to Shadow is a week,
51:00
and then that next week, we're kind of shadowing them.
51:03
And we are trying to get them up to speed on photos, floor
51:07
plans, Zillow tours, and we're teaching them drone.
51:11
And meanwhile, the very first day we were telling them,
51:14
you need to get your drone license, like now, like start setting now.
51:17
We give them all the shiny material they need.
51:19
They go off, they take this.
51:21
We talk about this a lot in the interview process.
51:23
You're going to have to take a test.
51:24
It is not an easy test.
51:26
Are you up for this task?
51:27
Use all the resources here and then use our team members who have all
51:31
taken this test to ask questions, so we make sure they get signed up for that.
51:35
That's a big part of it. But we're teaching them drone.
51:37
And our goal is about, you know, three weeks in or so that they can be, out
51:43
doing photos, floorplans, Zillow tours, stuff like that on their own, hopefully drone.
51:48
We say that they have to get the drone within the first 30 days.
51:51
Some get it sooner than others.
51:54
And that is the the process.
51:56
And we want them to get really good of that with that.
51:59
So then we send them out.
52:00
And like the hardest part of the job is finding your flow and like learning
52:03
how to work with the clients and stuff like that.
52:05
So we let them do that for a little bit. Everyone's different.
52:08
It is not one training timeline for every person.
52:11
We, while we're doing that, we are doing a loom.
52:14
Every night looms over there.
52:17
Their shoots could have done better here, could have done better here.
52:19
This is what we do. We are.
52:21
You're dead honest with the feedback.
52:23
I mean, we make sure that they know that a big a question that we ask
52:26
in the interview process is how do you handle, you know,
52:29
constructive feedback and things like that?
52:32
That we find is really helpful.
52:34
Like don't sleep on the, the looms that those really help.
52:38
I was behind on one of our team members and I did a bunch of looms for her.
52:41
And then the next day, her photos immediately got better.
52:44
So you just need to stack those.
52:46
Those building blocks is they can't learn at all just from watching Tim.
52:50
You got to get them out there and then continue to give them feedback
52:53
once they're really in a flow and they've got the drone license,
52:56
they're doing drone.
52:57
Then we layer on reels and video.
53:01
And then we have a video certification at Three Palms Media
53:03
that is just us saying your video certified. And,
53:07
we all do some video workshops sometimes, like talk about broader training.
53:11
We'll, we'll block half a day.
53:13
We'll bring the team, we'll break them into two groups,
53:16
and then we'll have different people training each other on video.
53:19
And they love those workshops because they get to hang out with the team.
53:23
One, they get to learn from each other, which they love.
53:26
And, we have seen those immediately upskill their videos
53:31
directly after the video workshops, but that's kind of our process,
53:35
and it really is about checking in with them.
53:37
How do you feel like you're doing?
53:39
We have a 30, 60, 90 day formal check in with all of our new hires,
53:43
things like that.
53:44
And you will know after the first couple to learn to work out or not.
53:47
And you do need to let them go fast if they're not going to work out.
53:50
So with working out
53:53
for your company,
53:56
does this mean, like the first mistake they make or
53:59
how do you handle mistakes and how do you you've already said this a little bit.
54:02
I think it's super important with how you handle these, especially very early on.
54:07
What, what and maybe a little bit
54:08
more on your strategy for that feedback and those mistakes.
54:12
We let them know that mistakes are a rite of passage,
54:15
and we expect them to make mistakes and that we don't care about the mistakes,
54:18
we care about what they can learn and how they can rebound from them.
54:22
So we'll have people be like, I'm not going to miss anything.
54:24
And I'm like, you will miss,
54:27
you will.
54:28
Don't be too hard on yourself when you do.
54:30
And then they do.
54:31
And some of them get upset. Some of them, you know,
54:33
that's a conversation that we have to to talk about.
54:36
And that's where personalities come into to play differently.
54:41
So we, we embrace mistakes.
54:43
We champion mistakes.
54:46
We talk about them a lot because it is actually impossible for them
54:49
to not make mistakes.
54:50
So we are very you know,
54:53
that's our talk track around that and then we'll share mistakes
54:57
that team members have made with like the whole group.
55:01
Which can sound brutal, but we like if I,
55:05
do a loom.
55:06
And there was things that I see so many new photographers make that mistake
55:10
or whatever, or I'm going to put it in the chat and,
55:14
talk about it that way.
55:15
Same when they do something really great as well.
55:18
But we encourage people to learn from each other's mistakes.
55:20
So we talk about that.
55:21
And then like one of my favorite stories is my
55:24
my first photographer, Julian, who's great, he is fantastic.
55:28
And one day he was on site
55:29
and he dropped his camera and it shattered the whole LCD screen.
55:33
And, I can only imagine just the sheer
55:37
terror that went through his mind when this happened.
55:40
And anyways, we didn't know about it.
55:42
He called us later that day and said, hey guys, this is what happened.
55:46
I dropped my camera, shattered the LCD screen.
55:49
I am so sorry.
55:51
But, based
55:53
on where I was, I knew team member Leanne wasn't working today.
55:56
I called her up.
55:57
I went and got her camera. I came back to the job.
55:59
I got the job done.
56:00
I got all my job done this day. And,
56:04
you know, I'm so sorry.
56:05
And, you know, tell me what the next steps are.
56:07
And I was like, Julian.
56:09
I was like, I, I'm so sorry that you dropped the camera.
56:13
Like, we know you.
56:14
We know that that uncharacteristic
56:16
I said, I just want to point out like, this is exactly what I'm looking for.
56:19
You came to me with a solution.
56:20
You didn't come to me with a problem. You figured it out.
56:22
You got it done.
56:23
I said, that's incredible.
56:25
And I couldn't ask for anything more.
56:26
So I really flipped it into a positive, which I truly believe that it was.
56:30
Share that with the team.
56:31
And that's a story that I feel like demonstrates exactly what I am
56:34
looking for.
56:36
You know, they crash a drone.
56:38
We figured out if you crashing three drones, there's a problem.
56:41
But, you know, I never made them pay for the equipment or anything like that.
56:45
We always kind of made it with kindness.
56:47
And, if it's a continuous mistake, then there's a problem.
56:50
But we've already talked about it.
56:51
So we talk about everything exactly. When it happens.
56:54
Yeah.
56:55
That's so important.
56:55
That's that's a great way to handle that Colleen and then use it.
56:58
Use it for good and use it
57:00
for a learning experience down the road with the rest of your team.
57:04
Yeah, definitely.
57:05
So yeah, that's that's how we do it.
57:08
And we encourage a lot of camaraderie between the team.
57:10
So we've got a photographer support chat and slack where like that's
57:13
where the photographers can hop in and be like,
57:15
my drone's not working or whatever or hey, you shot this video.
57:18
You guys think about it.
57:20
And we encourage that chat to pop off.
57:23
And and it does.
57:24
So there's a lot of camaraderie in there too.
57:27
And people will share their mistakes.
57:28
People will share their wins.
57:30
So that we can all like kind of, you know, learn from each other.
57:33
So, Colleen, if a listeners out there going, hey, I,
57:36
I don't know about this hiring thing, I hired one,
57:39
and that individual is a bad.
57:42
Should they try it again?
57:43
Is it worth hiring?
57:46
Yes. You should try it again.
57:47
It is worth hiring.
57:48
And when you
57:49
find somebody that loves your company and loves working alongside of you
57:52
and loves learning from you and their life changes because of you,
57:57
I mean, I mean, that's way better than anything else like that.
58:01
So, so rewarding,
58:05
and you know, also like that's that's very me and that's very Tim.
58:08
That's a reason that we want day one.
58:10
We wanted to grow a team.
58:11
So that aligns with our vision,
58:16
and our goals for our business from the very start.
58:20
I think that there is plenty of people that they love shooting like, great.
58:24
You don't need to hire any
58:25
anybody else to shoot. I would suggest that
58:27
you still need to hire, even if you want to be a solo shooter.
58:30
I think you need to hire an excellent virtual assistant.
58:33
I go through the same interview processes with my virtual assistants.
58:36
I find them myself.
58:38
We pour into them.
58:38
We make them know that they're part of a team.
58:41
Or maybe you need an admin or something like that
58:43
so you can't do it alone, even if you plan to shoot alone.
58:48
So, I think it's an important thing for anybody to try and learn.
58:52
And I mean, what I said, I've hired four people that didn't work out.
58:56
Maybe more.
58:57
First person didn't work out, people that you think are going to work out,
59:00
and then their life changes when they leave.
59:01
And it's devastating.
59:04
You know,
59:05
first person leave that I was just like, like truly heartbroken over.
59:10
And he left because his family moved to Nashville
59:13
and he wanted to be in Nashville
59:14
and that's what was going to propel his life forward.
59:17
He said, I love what I do.
59:20
Do you know anyone that I could go work for in Nashville?
59:22
And I said, yes, I absolutely do.
59:24
So now he's working at National Media Co with Kevin up in Nashville
59:29
and, you know, it's heartbreaking to see him go.
59:32
But Tim, Tim always says as Tim says, you know, our whole goal is to leave.
59:37
If that person leaves like better and we can like
59:40
get them to their next steppingstone, then we've done our job.
59:42
You really can't hang on to people, either.
59:45
So, we did everything that we could to get him set up,
59:48
according to what he wanted and how grateful he was for that.
59:53
It's just like that. That, to me, is like what it's all about.
59:55
So I would say, I mean, everything you've done in your business so far, right?
59:59
Is scary. Like, starting your business is scary.
1:00:01
Getting clients is scary.
1:00:03
Having your first mistakes is scary.
1:00:04
Like it all is uncomfortable.
1:00:07
So you just kind of gotta keep doing it and you will get better.
1:00:10
Like the first time
1:00:11
that we Tim picked up a video camera to go shoot like the video starts.
1:00:15
You know, the first time we hired, we sucked at it.
1:00:18
So we you're going to suck until you just keep kind of keep doing it.
1:00:22
But so many people that one bad experience change their whole perspective
1:00:26
or their whole view and something that, like Eli Jones has always said is like,
1:00:31
don't, don't change 100% of your processes for like 2% of like mistakes.
1:00:37
I don't know.
1:00:38
He says it more eloquently, but it's basically like if one little thing
1:00:41
goes wrong, don't change everything about your life because of that.
1:00:46
Know.
1:00:47
So I think it's the same with your first hire.
1:00:50
Your second hire, your first two Vas don't work out.
1:00:53
Doesn't mean that,
1:00:55
you know, they're not going to work out.
1:00:57
I always look at, like, what did I do wrong?
1:00:59
Like, I like Craig.
1:01:00
When you were, like, I called her and said I made a mistake.
1:01:03
Like, you have to take ownership of everything.
1:01:05
It is your business.
1:01:06
I don't blame my photographers when they make a mistake.
1:01:08
I don't blame them.
1:01:09
I'm like, what did I do wrong?
1:01:11
We sent a photographer out the other day to early to a top client,
1:01:14
and they didn't communicate to us that it was this, like huge $17
1:01:17
million listing that they need, blah blah, blah, like crazy. And
1:01:23
it got messed up and it was my fault.
1:01:25
I sent him out too soon.
1:01:27
And things like that.
1:01:28
We had to go out on site three times until we figured it out.
1:01:31
So it was just one of those
1:01:33
that I got really doubt about it a couple of weeks ago, because I just,
1:01:37
I felt like I dropped the ball, you know, and then I just had to pick myself
1:01:40
back up and be like,
1:01:41
you know, let's just, you know, learn from this and move forward.
1:01:45
And I talked to the guy on our team and was like, you're great.
1:01:48
You're doing great. Like, these are the mistakes I made.
1:01:50
Here's where you can improve and like, let's just crush it going forward.
1:01:53
Like I was like, how much did you learn in these three days? He's like a lot.
1:01:57
Yep. So yeah.
1:02:01
Well, our guest, our guest this week, Colleen Kydd,
1:02:04
co-owner of Three Palms Media in southwest Florida,
1:02:08
Colleen was the one of the guest speakers at the REPP 2024 concert.
1:02:12
Concert? How about conference?
1:02:14
Was there a concert?
1:02:15
I don't know, maybe there was,
1:02:17
but sharing a growing your dream team.
1:02:19
Kelly, thank you so much.
1:02:21
Just for sharing your knowledge and your experience with us in
1:02:26
for for those that are looking to grow their teams,
1:02:29
just awesome, awesome material.
1:02:31
You are welcome.
1:02:32
And I do have my job descriptions, that I gave away to people all the time.
1:02:37
So if you want our job description, I'll send it to you.
1:02:40
Just,
1:02:41
DM me at Three Palms Media on Instagram.
1:02:44
Or you can reach out to me at Colleen.
1:02:47
Colleen@ThreePalmsMedia.net
1:02:51
It's T H R E E palms media dot net.
1:02:55
Thank you Colleen for that.
1:02:56
That they can get that from you.
1:02:58
So yeah wow what a giveaway.
1:03:01
Thank you for that.
1:03:01
And then y'all go back and re listen to this.
1:03:04
And she gave you the procedure for hiring.
1:03:07
Just write that all down step by step.
1:03:09
Create a quick document so you know what to do.
1:03:12
You can always come back and listen to this or listen to her presentation at Rep.
1:03:15
But write it all down.
1:03:16
That will make things a little bit quicker for you and a step by step.
1:03:19
And then that's just a draft. It doesn't have to be perfect.
1:03:22
You can come back as you learn things, add to that draft,
1:03:25
but that's kind of given to you on a on a plate there.
1:03:28
Thank you Colleen, so much for everything you shared today.
1:03:31
You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Love it.
1:03:33
As always.
1:03:35
It's our our privilege.
1:03:37
We love having you on and we'll do it again.
1:03:40
Looking forward to it. Awesome.
1:03:42
Well, Todd, any closing thoughts from you before we, wrap things up here?
1:03:46
There's so many good ones in there.
1:03:48
Craig, I think one of the things that I just love, that the point
1:03:52
that Colleen made is just it's not always going to be easy with growth.
1:03:56
You know, you're going to screw things up and that's okay.
1:03:58
I screw things up every day.
1:04:00
We unfortunately don't really live in a world
1:04:03
with a lot of media that it looks like people screw things up.
1:04:07
We do screwed up every day.
1:04:10
It's just a natural part of growth.
1:04:12
So begin to embrace that and don't be surprised by it.
1:04:16
When you're surprised by it, your left brain kicks up.
1:04:19
You get these emotions that get triggered, and then you go, oh my goodness,
1:04:23
I should close down my business.
1:04:26
On the flip side of that, if
1:04:27
you expect that and embrace the idea that screwing something up
1:04:32
and learning from it is growth, it can just allow you to move
1:04:35
along so much easier, not even just faster will allow you to move along faster.
1:04:40
But it's the ease of the idea of like a lot of us as business
1:04:43
owners, it's just us out there and we feel like we're on an island.
1:04:47
We feel like we're alone.
1:04:48
The cool thing is, is when you get this process down
1:04:51
and you grow a team, it's so just rewarding
1:04:55
to see your team take that on and to have a community around you.
1:04:59
They love the community, you love it.
1:05:00
It just there's so much that feeds into it.
1:05:02
So please just keep trying.
1:05:04
Yeah, I like the way Colleen couched it in terms of mistakes.
1:05:08
It's a rite of passage
1:05:10
is such a positive way of looking at it.
1:05:12
So awesome.
1:05:14
Well guys, thank you so much, guys, ladies,
1:05:18
all of you, for, watching or listening this week.
1:05:21
We really do count it a privilege to be able to be part of your sphere, and
1:05:26
hopefully add some value to the business that you're growing and working in.
1:05:30
Not just working on, but working in and on, each and every week.
1:05:34
We don't take that for granted.
1:05:35
So thank you for your time.
1:05:37
If you have any, thoughts or comments, please be sure to share
1:05:41
those, here on the YouTube channel, or feel free to drop us an email.
1:05:44
Hello@spiro.media.
1:05:46
We would love to hear from you.
1:05:48
And, don't forget about that book giveaway.
1:05:51
The first person to messages on the Spiro pink chat bubble did I?
1:05:55
Yeah, I said that right.
1:05:56
Yes, I forget what you renamed it, but I forget what I renamed it.
1:05:59
Yeah, right.
1:06:01
But we would love to hear from you.
1:06:02
It's, John Maxwell's Developing the leader within you 2.0.
1:06:06
We would love to just, bless you with that book as well
1:06:09
and help you continue to grow in your leadership of your business,
1:06:12
that you're running and growing and developing.
1:06:15
Guys, thank you again so much.
1:06:17
Make sure you take some time to be thankful for the blessings in your life.
1:06:21
You got to make that time each and every day
1:06:23
and make sure you take a breath as well.
1:06:25
You have a great week.
1:06:26
Thank you for joining us for the Spiro Podcast,
1:06:29
managing your real estate, photography and videography business.
1:06:33
This is a production of Spiro and Wow video tours.
1:06:36
You can find out more about Spiro
1:06:38
is Real Estate Media Business management software at our website.
1:06:42
Spiro.media.