Latest / Creative Roots Podcast / 10 Years of Alan Lux Studios - Shamar | Ep. 66

Transcript

10 Years of Alan Lux Studios - Shamar | Ep. 66 · Creative Roots Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_03: We are sitting here 10 years on paper.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: On paper.
0:05
SPEAKER_03: 10 years on paper.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: We have ups and downs, and during those down moments, you sitting there thinking, hey, you're not thinking, can I continue to go on?
0:14
SPEAKER_01: It's like, all right, how do I get this done?
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Because I got them little ones in there that's dependent upon me.
0:19
SPEAKER_03: I can't go up to half our clients and be like, what's up, bruh?
0:22
SPEAKER_03: What's good, bruh?
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Because that's that's not gonna work.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing that to any of our clients?
0:26
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why I know that too, or why I'm thinking about that is because so what else happened?
0:31
SPEAKER_03: Truth in the air, let it speak.
0:44
SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
0:45
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
0:46
SPEAKER_03: Uh Shamar Allen, Mr.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: Allen Lux Studios himself, Mr.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: Your favorite photographer's photographer, your photographer's favorite photographer.
0:58
SPEAKER_03: Your favorite photographer's physical.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: I know like Mr.
1:02
SPEAKER_03: Hold on, Mr.
1:04
SPEAKER_03: Who you think you talking to?
1:06
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
1:07
SPEAKER_03: I know how to do this.
1:08
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
1:10
SPEAKER_03: Y'all better learn.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: You better ask somebody.
1:14
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
1:15
SPEAKER_03: When I speak, I know I'm gonna be right.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: I know what I'm talking about.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: See, you're messing them up.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to that other one, though.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: It's the your photographer's favorite photographer.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Also, correct time.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: My bad.
1:27
SPEAKER_03: I know what I'll be doing on most days.
1:31
SPEAKER_03: Listen, listen, listen.
1:34
SPEAKER_03: We are here, and if you've been watching the episodes, you have noticed something instantly.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: It's all red up in here.
1:44
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes.
1:46
SPEAKER_04: You feel me?
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Nice to see you.
1:51
SPEAKER_03: Let's get it.
1:53
SPEAKER_03: Today we are celebrating 10 whole years of Allen Lux Studios.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: Yes, and of course, I have none other than the man himself sitting right across from me.
2:12
SPEAKER_03: It's been a long time since y'all seen both of us on camera, too.
2:15
SPEAKER_03: I know, I know, I know.
2:16
SPEAKER_03: Because he won't let me get on there.
2:18
SPEAKER_03: But I'm here.
2:19
SPEAKER_03: He was on here just a couple weeks ago with his cousin, so that's an act.
2:23
SPEAKER_04: That was a takeover.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: That was a takeover.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: You weren't even here.
2:27
SPEAKER_03: I was here in spirit.
2:32
SPEAKER_03: So listen, y'all, let's go ahead and give a round of applause because you already know we would like to thank us.
2:40
SPEAKER_03: Us, absolutely.
2:42
SPEAKER_03: And we would like to thank y'all, one, for the support, two, for being clients, and three for doing both at the same dang time.
2:52
SPEAKER_03: We appreciate everything that y'all have done.
2:54
SPEAKER_03: We appreciate everything that y'all will continue to do.
2:57
SPEAKER_03: And how y'all people holler at us?
3:01
SPEAKER_03: You gonna let me talk?
3:02
SPEAKER_04: So let's get this round of applause.
3:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
3:10
SPEAKER_03: We are sitting here 10 years on paper.
3:13
SPEAKER_04: On paper.
3:14
SPEAKER_03: 10 years on paper.
3:15
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: You can do all the talking now.
3:17
SPEAKER_03: I'm done.
3:17
SPEAKER_03: That's all I need.
3:18
SPEAKER_03: That's it.
3:18
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
3:19
SPEAKER_04: Hey, the DJ don't talk all the time.
3:21
SPEAKER_04: Oh, you the DJ, the MC of the whole thing.
3:24
SPEAKER_03: I hate man.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
3:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh, you know, I had that in me.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, see.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: Listen.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: I had to give him a little caffeine in, you know, because I was on a down, uh downward climb.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: Is it decline?
3:36
SPEAKER_01: That's the word I was looking for.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Downward climb.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So high weird.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: So it just coincidentally falling on Thursdays because y'all know Tay has been consistently putting out.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: I think it's 67 episodes now.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: I think I saw that.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: This probably makes 68.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I think this makes 67.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: What's today?
3:59
SPEAKER_03: See, now I gotta go fact check.
4:01
SPEAKER_03: I think to I think this is episode 67.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: No, I think 66.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Yesterday was 67.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: So now we're gonna sit here awkward pause until Tay.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: No, you can talk, but I'm that crazy introduction, by the way.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all, this is the Core Creates, and I'm here with Charlotte Podcast.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me tell you about this Podcast Central.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: This place is so dope.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Not only will you be able to come here and create and have your stuff done, they will edit, record, and ship it right off to you.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: So you guys don't even have to do nothing but come sit and look pretty.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Make sure y'all book today.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Get here fast because I'm telling y'all, with this new space that they got coming up, they're gonna be super busy and you want to make sure that you get your stuff booked and ready.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Peace.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: That crazy introduction, by the way.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: He's right.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I do know lighting.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I don't speak unless I know what I'm talking about.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I am your photographer's favorite photographer.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: This is episode 66.
5:09
SPEAKER_03: 66?
5:10
SPEAKER_03: Coming to you strong.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Do you have anything that's private?
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Because I saw 67.
5:17
SPEAKER_03: Method's block.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: You just dispelled that uh myth.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Every time I open my mouth, I know what I'm talking about.
5:26
SPEAKER_03: You know, we talk about that quite a bit, but nah, this is episode.
5:33
SPEAKER_03: That might be what you saw.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what I saw.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
5:37
unknown: Yeah.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: That's not episodes.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: That's not easy.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Got it.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, I knew I saw 67.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: So partially right.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: That's why I am Shamar Tay's trusty sidekick, you know.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: The half that I know, the partial that I know, he knows the partial that I don't.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: So it works.
5:58
SPEAKER_03: It works very well, people.
6:00
SPEAKER_03: It works very well.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: Did we uh welcome them back to Creative Roots?
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to another episode of Creative Roots Podcast where C Song Become Visions Grown.
6:08
SPEAKER_03: I am your host, Tay.
6:10
SPEAKER_03: And I am Shamar Tay's trusty sidekick.
6:13
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: Welcome back.
6:18
SPEAKER_03: We know y'all love that.
6:20
SPEAKER_03: I love that part too.
6:21
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, like I said, this is 10 years.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: Oh, today.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Today.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: Today.
6:28
SPEAKER_03: Not the day of recording, but the day that y'all are watching this.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: The day, well, that most of them are watching.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: That it drops.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to get to that.
6:36
SPEAKER_04: The day the episode comes out.
6:38
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
6:38
SPEAKER_04: The day the episode airs.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: July 30th, 2026.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Ten years ago, July 30th, 2020.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait a minute.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: 2016 had to carry the one, drop the one, whatever.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, that's the day all this stuff began.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: I remember too.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: It was at um Charlotte Art League.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: And that was over.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: It's no longer there.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: They move.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say they're no longer there.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: They move.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: You remember where um uh Chicken Coop was on Camden?
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: So that's where it was.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: It was like a block up the street from Chicken Coop.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: So we did an event there for the project Natty Girls.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: Um I had 12, 13 models, I don't remember.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: All women with natural hair.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: They came through, had uh cupcakes with the Allen Lux logo on it, gave out gift bags, sold VIP tickets.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: It was a whole art gallery, it was a whole thing.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Seemed like yesterday, but then it seemed so far away.
7:43
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the memories, the things we remember.
7:48
SPEAKER_03: That's not a song.
7:49
SPEAKER_03: I just made that up.
7:50
SPEAKER_03: Oh can you tell?
7:51
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because neither one of us knows that song.
7:54
SPEAKER_03: Neither one of us.
7:55
SPEAKER_03: Neither one, neither we know it.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, man.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: So ask me some stuff.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm trying to.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm just getting in there.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: So 10 years, 10 years, 10 years.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: Launch day.
8:10
SPEAKER_03: We have natty girls.
8:11
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
8:12
SPEAKER_04: Girl.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: No nanny girl.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: Well, the models.
8:18
SPEAKER_04: Natty girls, women's.
8:20
SPEAKER_04: We had the women's.
8:21
SPEAKER_04: The women, women, women, women's.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: So how was that experience?
8:30
SPEAKER_03: Let's let's because I don't think we've ever really deep dived into the full experience.
8:38
SPEAKER_03: And when I say the experience, I mean the back office stuff, you know, the the preparation.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: Cause I've been here, we've done that for uh a multitude of events.
8:50
SPEAKER_03: But that's part of this the process that people don't see.
8:53
SPEAKER_03: They just see us standing here with a smile, not realizing that we're running off a 30-minute nap, you know, for the past two days.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: Right.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: And that's not 30 minutes each.
9:03
SPEAKER_03: That's 30 minutes total for the past two weeks.
9:06
SPEAKER_03: Collectively.
9:07
SPEAKER_03: So can you can let's talk about this process, everything that took place leading up to that event?
9:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: So uh it's funny because I uh had dinner um last night with a client and they were asking, you know, how I get involved.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were specifically asking about video.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I was talking about uh, because they said, Did you always know you were gonna do video or were you photography?
9:35
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I said, Well, it was for me, it was just photography.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't even see myself going on the video side.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I had to look at myself, I had to look at the lighting because I was like, Do I look a little dark?
9:47
SPEAKER_01: You are dark.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute, say, but um it's like, did I uh know that I was gonna go on the video side?
9:55
SPEAKER_01: Was it just photography?
9:56
SPEAKER_01: I said for me, it was just photography, it was one of my clients that kind of pushed that video piece on, and I'm glad I listened.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: But I say all that to say, further, the question was asked, how did I get into uh the business as a whole?
10:09
SPEAKER_01: And it was I took a class in high school, you know, photography class, that's when it was filmed, the dark room, all of that.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: We said that in probably episode number two.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: See, I knew, uh, I knew.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so um, it was always a hobby or interest of mine.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: But then when I went off to college, my mother um uh she was the empty nester, she went, uh, took some photography courses and stuff.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And so she started getting good at it.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: But then what happened is all her friends, ooh, I got such and such going on.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, I got this birthday party.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: So she was shooting all this stuff and she wasn't getting no money.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wait a minute, we ain't doing that.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: We ain't not doing that.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: No.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I was like, okay, I love the fact that she's doing things, but that was when it was film again, guys.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: It was film.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, she didn't have Photoshop and then just digitally send the photos.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: She would go actually have them developed and all that stuff, which cost her money.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: And then it was just like, okay, well, uh, you getting money?
11:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, they probably they said they was gonna pay me.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Stop it.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's how I got into it.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: I was living in Dallas, but I moved back here to Charlotte.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: So, what how did it lead up to that?
11:19
SPEAKER_01: I knew I had intention that I was gonna start a photography business.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: I started taking classes, and as I'm taking those classes, I did an internship as well.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: And then the thing was I knew that I was gonna launch, but it was just like, how do I launch?
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Because I wanted to do it in a big way, you know, um, not just posting on social media, hey, I'm a photographer, book me, you know.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: So um, my mom had just did a big chop of her hair and went natural.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Some several of her co-workers did as well.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: And then I knew a couple of people.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: My friend did a uh big chop and stuff.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, she was like, my mom said, Why don't you do a project about uh women with natural hair?
11:56
SPEAKER_01: And so that's how it came to be.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: So the behind the scenes or the pre-production was uh scouting models.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to MUA artists, MUA A stands for artists, makeup artists, um to try to see how we can pull this off.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Had all the ladies show up to the studio.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a full production day, uh played music, they getting their makeup done, just shooting everybody, so I had a good time.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: But then I was like, okay, I knew I wanted to do it different.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to just now we're in digital age.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just uh take the digitals and post them online.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh, let's create an event around it.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: I love doing an event, getting people together and stuff.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: So that's uh I was like, okay, we'll take these pictures, put it in a um book, you know, do large prints as well, and kind of uh make them uh uh different variations of it.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Some photos went into the book, some photos were only print, you know, like a um uh canvas.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: So it was just like, you know, they encouraged them to buy it all because I was still thinking about money.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna have an event, but hey, we gotta launch this business or we gotta get some seed money because everything leading up to that was my own money, you know.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: So that's mostly the behind-the-scenes stuff, and then securing the venue.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: I wanted it at Charlotte Artley because this is uh, you know, art, you know, and I wanted to be amongst the other uh artists in the community.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: So they invited people out and stuff like that too.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: So that's how it all happened.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: And boom, just like that.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Straight like that.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: So it um talking about so it was the pre-production and sourcing the models, it was the production doing the production day shooting, and then the post-production was me editing the stuff and then putting it into the book and everything.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: So you're talking about hours, because uh, as we disclose or as I disclose to the audience, you know, work a full-time job.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: So I go to work uh during the day, and then all night long I'm just cranking out edits and trying to figure out because this is my first time doing it, so I'm figuring out a lot of stuff along the way.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
13:49
SPEAKER_01: So I literally probably get two hours of sleep per night, and that was for two months.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: So it was a great relief when July 30th came.
14:00
SPEAKER_03: So and boom.
14:03
SPEAKER_03: So number one, it is possible to have a day job and run a business, and you've been doing this for 10 years on paper.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: On paper.
14:17
SPEAKER_03: On paper.
14:18
SPEAKER_03: So let's do that on paper.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't get it.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: What's up with on paper?
14:22
SPEAKER_03: So what I mean is on paper is like for me, I've been doing videography since like 2008, 2010.
14:29
SPEAKER_03: But I didn't do my business paperwork until 2016.
14:35
SPEAKER_03: I got it.
14:36
SPEAKER_03: You know, so yes.
14:40
SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's that's what I mean by on paper.
14:43
SPEAKER_03: You know, that makes sense to y'all.
14:45
SPEAKER_03: I hope that makes sense.
14:47
SPEAKER_03: It makes sense to me.
14:48
SPEAKER_03: Probably because I said it.
14:49
SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna hope it would.
14:53
SPEAKER_03: Right.
14:54
SPEAKER_03: So you got nanny girl.
14:58
SPEAKER_03: Right after that, right after you you you able to breathe and the event is over.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: What happened?
15:09
SPEAKER_01: I had to do it for the fellas.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: They said that at the event, so I didn't get to breathe.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: I immediately went in production for, you know, um, well, pre-production, figuring out what kind of um project I was gonna do for the guys and then source them and all that.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: So Natigir happened on July uh 30th, and him series happened November 5th.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: 5th.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're gonna go with.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why I know that too, or why I'm thinking about that, is because so what else happened?
15:47
SPEAKER_01: After Natty Girl did a couple of shoots, did one with um uh client that had fitness apparel.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: She had a model there.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, small world, as always.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: So I worked with the model, and then I was told about the model was hosting a um or planning a charity event, you know, for her church.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Um so I asked her, hey, y'all got a photographer?
16:11
SPEAKER_01: She was like, no, but we don't have a budget for one either.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: I said, hey, well, if you put my logo on there, I'll come shoot it.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, I needed experience.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm straight out the gate.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Met her husband at that event, and then um that event was in late August, and then September, we did the family, their family portrait.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: And then that's when I was asked to go to Puerto Rico to shoot a conference.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: You want to know what that conference is?
16:39
SPEAKER_01: International Conference on Urban Education IQ.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't go because I had the hymn series.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: It was already scheduled, I already sold tickets.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, so fast forward, and we did an uh event, and then only two months later, I get invited to come out and shoot a conference uh in Puerto Rico.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: And I had to tell the client, uh, I can't do it.
17:06
SPEAKER_03: So let's let's take a pause right there because there's a lot that that's in that that can be unpacked.
17:13
SPEAKER_03: We don't have to go into everything.
17:15
SPEAKER_03: But like you said, I just started, I had an event, two months later, I'm actually going to Puerto Rico to take pictures at a conference.
17:29
SPEAKER_03: Two months later.
17:32
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm about to start fussing a little bit.
17:34
SPEAKER_03: Yet some of us sit here for two years trying to figure it out.
17:38
SPEAKER_03: Okay, why are we trying to figure out how we're doing?
17:40
SPEAKER_03: Why are we doing that?
17:41
SPEAKER_03: I have to.
17:43
SPEAKER_03: What I'm getting at is you don't have to quote unquote take that downtime.
17:48
SPEAKER_03: You didn't take downtime.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: You did Natty Girl and went straight into the him series.
17:54
SPEAKER_03: And in the midst of that, you were taking family portraits for the client and then got asked to go to Puerto Rico.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: First, I did a free gig charity event.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: So from the charity event was the uh family portrait.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: From the family portrait was Puerto Rico.
18:14
SPEAKER_04: Oh, Puerto Rico.
18:17
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
18:19
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, man, that's crazy.
18:22
SPEAKER_04: That I didn't get to go to, by the way.
18:24
SPEAKER_04: Remember.
18:24
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't matter.
18:26
SPEAKER_03: I know, I know, I know it doesn't matter.
18:27
SPEAKER_03: I just want you to know, like, remember, you know.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: You didn't get to go because you already had something pre-scheduled.
18:34
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
18:35
SPEAKER_03: Not because it was brought to your attention and you declined it.
18:39
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, no.
18:40
SPEAKER_03: Or not you declined it, but they declined you.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, seriously.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's the thing.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: And so I told him, I said, man, if I would not have already sold tickets for the event, then I would have pushed the event back, you know.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: But it happened, people already committed.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: And I and and I think so.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: When people know, how how did you get that uh particular client or that gig or this and that?
19:06
SPEAKER_01: To me, it's all relationship building.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with uh skill set as far as uh holding a camera and stuff like that.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: When I say nothing, I'm saying it very loosely, so don't hold me to the fire.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: But seriously, is relationship building is because we we know in this building, how many photographers are in this building?
19:26
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
19:27
SPEAKER_01: How many uh videographers are in here and stuff?
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Same thing when the uh uh the go-to um analogy is go to the grocery store, go on a bread out.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: How many different uh types of bread or brands of bread are in there?
19:40
SPEAKER_01: So you can get anybody to provide this service, but people buy into you, you know?
19:47
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that relationship building, I I do write, I provide service with an integrity, authenticity, and I do write by the client.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: If there's a screw up, hey, I ain't sure how to fix it.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: How to how do we make this right for you?
20:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, um, and I just did not see it wasn't fair to me to cancel that event just because I had an opportunity to go to Puerto Rico, because that was unfair to those people, you know.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: But I think that that also spoke to that client as well.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Because knowing that, hey, I'm not just uh pick up if I commit to doing something with you, I'm gonna do it.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: And fast forward, uh, you all, Tay knows the story, but fast forward for you all, we're getting ready to go in two, what is it, three months now, go to uh Dominican Republic with that same client.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: So offered uh Puerto Rico, turned that down because of a uh conflict, went to Bahamas, went to Cancun twice, and then now going to Dominican Republic.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: So you can it's okay to turn it down when you know, legitimate, authentic, and there's integrity behind it.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: And I agree.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: Because if you'd have jumped, what would that have said to everyone else?
21:05
SPEAKER_03: Then that would have been book number two, in a sense, cancel, which would not have led to all the other ones.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: And him series was the most profitable event as well.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: Until it came to y'all resonance, and Dina came in here and just Right.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: Cause Dina, Dina G came up in here and was like, her people came in here and bought everything from everybody.
21:32
SPEAKER_03: They was doing a bidding war.
21:34
SPEAKER_03: Like they was seriously like, uh-uh, no, that's mine.
21:38
SPEAKER_03: Like, they were taking the pictures off the wall so nobody else could buy them, waiting to pay.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was crazy.
21:46
SPEAKER_03: It was enjoyable, yeah.
21:48
SPEAKER_03: But that was crazy.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: And speaking of that, for those that don't know what he's talking about, we uh did a residency program, and that was just any aspiring shooter um that wanted to get into To the field.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: We worked together.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: I taught them uh photography, but I gave them the same framework.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: The same thing that I did.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, this is how I started my business.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: I gave them that same framework.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Come up with a project, shoot that project, draft a book, um, do prints, create an art gallery space, invite your family and friends, and they're gonna buy up everything.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: And it worked like a charm, you know.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: So they bought everything.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Stuff was on back order.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: I had to sit there for fill stuff after the fact.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: So that was beautiful.
22:32
SPEAKER_03: Yes, because people even ordered things out of the book.
22:36
SPEAKER_03: Um they were trying to take our posters that had everybody else's signatures on them.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: How much for this?
22:46
SPEAKER_03: Nothing.
22:46
SPEAKER_03: It is priceless.
22:47
SPEAKER_03: It is going to my house.
22:49
SPEAKER_03: You can't have this.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: This is for me.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: So it was a it was a portrait of Tay and the other residents.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that was just for keepsake for them, like he said.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: So the guests would come and sign those, uh, you know, wishing them well and stuff like that.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: And that was supposed to be for the residents to take home, and people wanted to buy it.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: It's not the cover.
23:09
SPEAKER_03: I think the reason they thought that they could buy it, because that's like the last page of our sections.
23:18
SPEAKER_03: No, but I can sign one in your book.
23:20
SPEAKER_03: You're not getting one on the wall.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: That's mine.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: I'm taking that home.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Now, how did that feel with uh people wanting your autograph and stuff?
23:27
SPEAKER_01: Because that had happened to me at various one of my events, and I'm like, what in the world?
23:31
SPEAKER_01: So, how did you feel about that?
23:33
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the first time.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: But sorry, it tastes a legend out here.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm used to it guys.
23:41
SPEAKER_03: Just a little bit, just a little bit, you know.
23:43
SPEAKER_03: But it wasn't the first time, but it was the first time in a while.
23:48
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
23:49
SPEAKER_03: And to be asked that, it's like, oh, you really cherish this project, these pictures, you know, sign the back, sign the front.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: Can you write me a message?
24:03
SPEAKER_03: And it's like I wasn't prepared for that.
24:06
SPEAKER_03: Right.
24:07
SPEAKER_03: Is it's definitely something that uh increases your self-esteem and increases your the way you think.
24:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, because I haven't done photography in five, ten years at that point.
24:26
SPEAKER_03: But when I saw what Dina G did, I said, Shaman, ain't no way.
24:30
SPEAKER_03: I said, your boy would have to jump in on this.
24:32
SPEAKER_03: She is not getting ready to uh outshine my thoughts.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: And I put together my mood board, I sent it, and Shaman was like, run it.
24:43
SPEAKER_03: And I ran it.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: And even in the midst of it, I was still like, this one look good, but I don't know.
24:51
SPEAKER_03: And we sat, we talked about everything, and pushed forward, we put the magazine out, and I'm just like, oh, okay, I like this.
25:03
SPEAKER_03: And then somebody to say, can you sign this?
25:09
SPEAKER_03: I need everybody to sign the bag of all my pictures.
25:13
SPEAKER_03: I need that official uh signature.
25:16
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I don't even know what I'm supposed to write.
25:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
25:20
SPEAKER_03: It's very I remember that.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: So speaking of that, though, talking about everybody signing, I remember one event where, you know, not only did they ask me to sign the book, they because I always invited all the models out to the event and stuff.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: So most of them, not 100% will come, but most of them will come.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: So that same person went around and get all the models to sign their own picture and stuff like that.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: So the models felt like celebrities in that moment too.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, look at here, creating legends out here.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Straight legendary.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, so um I'm gonna back up.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you had questions, but I'm gonna uh kind of talk, you know, some of the journey with the business.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: And it kind of goes hand in hand with that original story of the client inviting us to uh Puerto Rico and wasn't able to go.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, I the bulk of the clients came from that.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: We we all know and people say it, you know, word of mouth is the strongest uh um uh advertisement you can do for your business, you know.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: And again, that goes to the whole thing of uh doing right by your clients.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you if you provide excellent service to your clients, they're gonna speak about it.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: If you provide horrible service, they're gonna speak about it too.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
26:32
SPEAKER_03: Oh, they definitely gonna tell people.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So they're gonna talk regardless.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: So what you want them to say, you know.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: So it's always focusing on delivering uh excellence to the clients.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: And so that one that um, you know, invited to Puerto Rico and doing this international conference ever since, uh, he's at a university here uh in Charlotte and he produces other um PhD, PhD candidates.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: So he produces a lot of black PhD candidates.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess they they they're not candidates anymore.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: They graduated.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: He produces those PhDs, produces black doctors, you know, in the field of urban education yearly.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of the clients have come from that.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: So they've seen us at not only were we doing an international conference, he would do things at school.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: This is pre-COVID at that time, so they were doing a lot of events and stuff.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Every event I was there, shooting it.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, he had a writing retreat up in the mountains.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: I drove up there and did that.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: But but throughout the course of this, now these are PhD students, and a lot of them have already been in the education field for years.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: So they're not like they're in their early 20s, these are adults as well, and they have their own businesses and things like that.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: They've seen me all the time at these events, so they've gotten familiar.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: So they call on me, hey Shmore, I got this going on.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, can you capture this?
27:49
SPEAKER_01: They're in organizations, they're in sororities, they're in different, you know, um doing different fundraising things.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: So they call us for that as well.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and then um our client, they do the annual family portrait, the family portrait that led to the Puerto Rico guys, y'all stay with us here.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: So they do their family portrait every year.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: They send out their uh their cards to everybody.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Who do y'all pictures?
28:12
SPEAKER_01: Shamar Allen Luxe Studios.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: So now they want to call because they love seeing those.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: And so that, even though our logo is not on their family portrait card when it goes out, they that is part of our marketing.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: That card goes out every year.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: They consistently send it to the same people and those same people.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Who did your photos?
28:30
SPEAKER_01: Who did you?
28:31
SPEAKER_01: And then they call us every year.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: It's always gonna be somebody that gets referred by them because they send their card out.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Dan said it out last year.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And I got on her yesterday about that.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, we're not doing that again this year.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you gotta send them cards out.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but she didn't even take a portrait last year because uh now the girls are um their daughters are one is in college and one is in um grad school.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: So you know, they're older now.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: I said, but uh-uh, everybody gotta come next year.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna do it meaning this year.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: So the importance of relationship.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: The importance.
29:06
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
29:07
SPEAKER_03: Importance.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: Anybody can have a conversation, anybody can tell what they do, how they do it.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Let me dial back because most people can't tell how.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: Most people can just tell what they do.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: Um but when you build in a relationship, it's more than just what you can do, it's helping find a solution.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: Because we are solution-based.
29:38
SPEAKER_03: We have to be.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: You have to be able to project the solution.
29:44
SPEAKER_03: First, you have to understand the problem.
29:48
SPEAKER_03: Because a lot of clients are not gonna be able to directly feed that to you.
29:53
SPEAKER_03: You have to actually listen.
29:56
SPEAKER_03: So when it comes to building relationships, are you instantly listening for the problem, or is it just I'm gonna build this relationship?
30:08
SPEAKER_03: And then when I feel I can slide in, these are the things that I do.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: That's when you drop the drop.
30:14
SPEAKER_04: Are these known or unknown people to me?
30:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I think that, you know, in general, being an entrepreneur, being a business owner, being in business for yourself, you generate your own income.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: You're always going to advertise yourself, if you will.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
30:42
SPEAKER_01: It just comes up in natural conversations, not like it's forced or anything, but you know, the standard around here, when we was in school, what school do you go to?
30:49
SPEAKER_01: What do you study?
30:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, what uh fraternity are you in?
30:53
SPEAKER_01: When you graduate, well, what do you do?
30:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, now that's kind of the thing going forward.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
30:58
SPEAKER_01: So people ask.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you ask, I'll tell you.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, but um even to your point, you you you may uh you said that um sometimes you have to tell them their problem.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: I think, I think that people are aware of their known problem, but then there is an undertone or a problem that they aren't even aware of, or they might think this is the problem, but it's really not, it's this.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you help get them there.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: But anytime that you help them identify the problem and then offer a solution to the problem, they find value in that, you know.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, so no, I don't enter every conversation of how I'm going to sell to them, but I do enter with conversations, especially when it's like our ideal client.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear, you know, what it is uh their pain points are or how could we service them?
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Because even if it's not them directly, they've given me something for the next one that we identify as our ideal client.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: Did I answer the question?
32:03
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna say sure.
32:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
32:05
SPEAKER_04: Do you remember the question?
32:06
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna say sure.
32:09
SPEAKER_03: It was um when you're building a relationship, are you always searching for the problem or and telling people what you do, or is it just well, again, I don't know what relationship we're talking about.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: If it's in business, here's the thing.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I because okay, we'll go with business.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: In general, when people are aware of what it is that you do or find out what you do, I'll tell them, you know, hey, this is what it is that we do, you know, here's the some of the problems that we solve, stuff like that.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: But we're not gonna, I'm not gonna have no whole uh pitch ready for somebody I just met or anything.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: But what happens as well that I find is that people move in circles and stuff.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna be my last time seeing them.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Especially if I see them at an event that I'm working, or if they come to the studio with somebody that is a client.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna be your last time seeing them.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: So it's not like you have to oversell or anything like that.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: And in all honesty, most of the times they come to you.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I've been seeing you do this.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: I need that help.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: I need you to do that for me too, you know.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: So it's not an oversell, in my opinion.
33:21
SPEAKER_03: So the word sale, sometimes I'll be feeling some type of way about that word.
33:27
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
33:28
SPEAKER_03: Because I don't like selling myself, if that makes sense.
33:33
SPEAKER_03: I don't like the feeling of having to dump all these credentials on people.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: You feel like you have to do that?
33:47
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes.
33:48
SPEAKER_03: Really?
33:49
SPEAKER_03: That's not your client.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
33:51
SPEAKER_03: That's what I was getting at.
33:52
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
33:53
SPEAKER_03: So there's the answer to that.
33:54
SPEAKER_03: So when you when you have to oversell, what does that mean to you?
33:58
SPEAKER_03: Never mind.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: You're that's not your client.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: No.
34:00
SPEAKER_03: Check.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Tell you my shorts getting shorter and shorter, up in this dog on screen.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: My goodness, that my falling in the seat.
34:09
SPEAKER_03: Or is the camera falling?
34:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh, it might be.
34:14
SPEAKER_03: Look, I ain't as tall as I was either.
34:16
SPEAKER_03: Look at all this ass face.
34:18
SPEAKER_03: They're gonna be like, what in the world are they talking about?
34:21
SPEAKER_03: See that right there?
34:22
SPEAKER_03: I see that.
34:24
SPEAKER_03: I know I done failed.
34:27
SPEAKER_03: So with that being said, knowing your client, right?
34:33
SPEAKER_03: You have to know what you do in order to know who you're doing it for, right?
34:40
SPEAKER_03: Can you speak on that?
34:42
SPEAKER_03: Because we know we've had people that we thought could be our client, but found out they ain't.
34:52
SPEAKER_03: Not they're not.
34:54
SPEAKER_03: Right.
34:54
SPEAKER_03: But they ain't.
34:55
SPEAKER_04: They ain't.
34:55
SPEAKER_04: They ain't.
34:56
SPEAKER_04: Can you say you know people catch those things?
34:59
SPEAKER_04: You don't have to tell them.
35:00
SPEAKER_04: No, it's supposed to happen.
35:01
SPEAKER_03: I have to say it that way.
35:03
SPEAKER_03: It only makes it just a little more enhanced and a little bit more, hmm.
35:09
SPEAKER_03: Not they not.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: They ain't.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, not they not, they ain't intentional.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: So can you explain or talk about how over the last 10 years you've known who was and who was not our client?
35:29
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a good question.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you you have to figure it out along the way as well.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: So immediately, I think first in the beginning, it was you you threw a big old fishing net out there to see, you know, what you could catch, right?
35:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then it went from that to, and I've done a variety of gigs, you know.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: Am I boring you?
35:54
SPEAKER_01: This is supposed to be a party tape.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: This is our anniversary tape.
35:59
SPEAKER_03: Listen, y'all, your boy got the yawning over here.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm still alive and I'm awake.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: No, um, you throw the big uh fishing net out there to see what you can catch.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: You do a lot of different gigs.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, the residents, I told them shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot as much as you possibly can, anything that you can.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: That way you can learn what you like, what you don't like.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, and the same thing with these various clients in the beginning.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: You work with someone like, oh, I can work with them.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: Never again.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, even with people that you uh hire on or contract into your business and stuff, you realize, oh, can't work with that type of person no more.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, you update your policies.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: You update your policies after a bad client and after a bad contractor.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that that helps you quickly identify.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: That's just in business shouldn't be any different than personal life, in my opinion.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: And I say that because like we should be managing our households like we would manage a business.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: You have revenue that comes in or income, and then you have money that goes out, bills and all of that.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Same thing with business.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: How well are you performing in your personal life?
37:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, that might be a good indicator of how well you perform in your business, and vice versa.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
37:21
SPEAKER_01: So if you're successful in one, you should be successful in the other, but then it's the same thing.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm using that analogy because it's the same thing.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: You're saying identify clients.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: That's the same way you identify people in your personal life that you click with and who you don't.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: You know the type of person where you're like, that's definitely a um uh uh hello situation, keep on moving, you know?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Or this is someone that I can sit and connect with.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to talk to them all the time, but when we do, we could connect, we have a good time, etc.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing, the same vibe because everybody is not meant to be connected with each other.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's we're not a good fit for you, you know?
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:56
SPEAKER_03: And that's what some people say um they were only there for a season.
38:02
SPEAKER_03: Now, that season might not necessarily be the cold months, but it's also not the opposite.
38:10
SPEAKER_03: I put it this way: anybody can plant a seed.
38:12
SPEAKER_03: The question is, is it good or bad?
38:15
SPEAKER_01: When these seeds are planted, I heard something.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, I heard something yesterday.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: You want, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: I hate to jump in there, but it's not the seed that's good or bad.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: Because the seed is the seed.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: It's four different soils that the seed is planted in.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: And that depends upon how that seed grows.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't remember all four soils, but one of them was hey, it's so dense and so compact that as soon as the seed hit the ground, the birds immediately catch it.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: The birds immediately feed off of it.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: That seed never got to, you know, root, sprout, none of that.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Then you have one that a soil that is um in a uh weed, a heavily weeded area and stuff.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: So therefore, the roots can only be, they're shallow, you know, they never really get deeply rooted, you know.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, there was a third one, I don't remember that one, but then the perfect soil, if you will.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the one where that seed gets planted in.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: That's the receptive one.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: That's the one that it has all the nutrients in the soil, it gets the proper amount of water, that thing gets the root and it roots deep, it sprouts, and it grows huge.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna say it's the seed.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where you were going with that, but I just heard that yesterday.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: So that's in the Bible.
39:34
SPEAKER_04: I know he took it from the Bible.
39:35
SPEAKER_04: It was Omar.
39:37
SPEAKER_04: I figured that.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I already knew where you were going when you said that planting seed on stony ground.
39:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he ain't gonna catch nothing.
39:46
SPEAKER_04: Well, he can say it like that, but I know it's me though.
39:51
SPEAKER_03: Come on now, I know.
39:53
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, you know, even with that, I guess it depends on I guess the soil you present when that seed is being tossed out.
40:11
SPEAKER_03: But most of us will classify ourselves as the good soil.
40:17
SPEAKER_03: Most of us are not gonna say I'm gonna start.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: We're always self-aware or we're not always truthful.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: Because guess who we lie to the most?
40:25
SPEAKER_01: Ourselves.
40:25
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: And then y'all, I'm joking.
40:31
SPEAKER_03: I'm joking.
40:33
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, we will tell ourselves anything and everything in order to do or not to do something.
40:40
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: And that's where you have things like imposter syndrome and uh uh what's the other?
40:46
SPEAKER_03: What's another big one that plays on your your mental?
40:52
SPEAKER_03: I don't remember what it is.
40:53
SPEAKER_03: But either way, we do things and it's either gonna help or hurt ourselves.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, stop lying to yourselves, man.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: Stop it.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: 10 years.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, then you you just identify because you go through the exercise of saying who is your ideal client?
41:14
SPEAKER_01: You list it out what are their characteristics, what do they do, where do they work, what type of careers do they have, you know, what type of events do they go to?
41:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, you identify them, but then you give them a name, you know, and that's who you seek out and stuff.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: And to me, the ones that we've done great business with have all been in line with what we describe the ideal client to be.
41:37
SPEAKER_03: I heard one of these phones beep, something just beeped.
41:42
SPEAKER_03: Nope, it ain't me.
41:43
SPEAKER_03: It must be you.
41:47
SPEAKER_03: Well, it came from over there.
41:50
SPEAKER_03: Maybe not.
41:52
SPEAKER_03: So identify your ideal client.
41:56
SPEAKER_03: Who do you want to work with?
41:58
SPEAKER_03: Make sure that's who you really want to work with.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: Right.
42:01
SPEAKER_03: Because I've had moments where I'm like, oh yeah, I I wanna get into that bag.
42:10
SPEAKER_03: And just in the planning process.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the problem that I've had to learn.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: Probably just now accepting it here lately.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: You say get in that bag.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: We shouldn't be chasing money.
42:23
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I didn't say chase money.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: I know you didn't say it, but that's good.
42:29
SPEAKER_01: I want to get into that bag.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: That's what it sounds like.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: That's what I heard anyway.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: But I should have asked you finish.
42:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, good.
42:35
SPEAKER_03: I wanna go down this lane.
42:36
SPEAKER_03: I want to take this lane and see what this journey is gonna be like.
42:39
SPEAKER_03: Thinking you're about to run a 1600 meter by yourself, only to realize you ain't even trying to sprint to the whole 100 meter because you find out halfway there this ain't it.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: Yo, he ain't sprinting nowhere.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: He ain't running, he ain't jogging.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: It's an analogy.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: I know.
42:56
SPEAKER_01: Why use that analogy?
42:58
SPEAKER_03: He ain't running running, whatever.
43:01
SPEAKER_03: That's gotta be a very high-paying client for me to run.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: But you know, you just like we've been saying, you have to just go.
43:12
SPEAKER_03: You just have to do.
43:14
SPEAKER_03: But sometimes you find yourself in those positions and those predicaments that's like, this ain't it.
43:21
SPEAKER_03: You know, people, oh, I heard you do music videos.
43:23
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, yeah, well, how much you charge?
43:25
SPEAKER_03: It depends on what you need.
43:28
SPEAKER_03: Send me the song.
43:30
SPEAKER_03: Now, at some point, you could be like, Yeah, I charge this, yeah, we can do this and do that, and then you get the song, and you you don't like the song.
43:39
SPEAKER_03: The song doesn't do anything to you for you.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: And that was one of the moments where I was like, listen, I need to hear the song first.
43:51
SPEAKER_03: And if I can get with it, then we can do something, you know, compared to just jumping and Always trying to help the next artist get out there.
44:06
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, you you gotta know what you want.
44:10
SPEAKER_03: I have no problem doing a music video, but when I instantly hear you running me around, um, you don't know what you want.
44:19
SPEAKER_03: That to me, it's not instantly a problem, but it's an issue if I have to come up with everything.
44:25
SPEAKER_03: And at one point I will come up with everything, like the the treatment, the pre-treatment.
44:30
SPEAKER_03: You know, hey, you scout these places that you want to shoot.
44:34
SPEAKER_03: Oh man, I ain't got time.
44:35
SPEAKER_03: Okay, well then I'll go.
44:36
SPEAKER_03: And I do all these things only to find out that you know what, I need to start charging.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I ain't gonna scout nothing.
44:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because at first I wasn't I wasn't doing any of that.
44:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
44:50
SPEAKER_03: You know, I've I've scripted out and done treatments for music uh videos to be done, only to be like, I ain't gonna be, we can't, I ain't, I can't do it now.
45:01
SPEAKER_03: Whatever the excuse is, it is just bruh, come on.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
45:05
SPEAKER_03: I done wasted two weeks of my time putting this thing together because you quote unquote rushing me to get it done, and then yeah.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: Well, see, when when I I had to learn in the beginning, when the first question out of a potential client's mouth is how much, that's not a client, you know, uh for me anyway, because of the simple fact that what you just kind of described, like, hold on, I don't even know what it is that you're wanting, you know, you're just wanting a price.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: So that's what they're focused on.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: They're literally focused on the cost of something.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: I like clients that focus on the value of something because, you know, they understand that there is going to be a cost associated with them hiring our services.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: They understand and they know what it is that they want.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: We have that conversation first.
45:57
SPEAKER_01: Hey, here's what my needs are.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, here's my problem.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: If they said the problem, or we identify what it is, and then we provide that solution and they understand that it comes with a cost, you know, and then when you share what that cost would be, they see the value in it.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, I'm more than willing to pay that to solve this problem that I have.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: So anyone that is focused on a cost, how much, and ain't even tell you what they want, versus someone that tells you list out their requirements and then you tell them the cost and they see the value, that's the one I lean towards.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: Because that question doesn't come up until after y'all go through the whole discovery call.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Because they know you're gonna tell them.
46:42
SPEAKER_01: Because you are going to expect to get paid.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: They know you're gonna tell them how much it is.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: But someone coming from the door, how much you trying to decide based off of a price point if you're gonna use my services.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: No, it don't work.
46:57
SPEAKER_03: No, because regardless of what I'm charging you, okay, I'll say number one, you showed up for two reasons.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: One, a referral, or two, you've seen my work.
47:10
SPEAKER_03: And if you've seen my work, and the first question you ask me is, how much do you charge?
47:16
SPEAKER_03: And I know you see my work.
47:19
SPEAKER_03: Hold on now, because if you know well enough, then you know I need to know what you need.
47:24
SPEAKER_03: It depends.
47:25
SPEAKER_03: Those are my favorite two words when it comes to anybody asking something.
47:30
SPEAKER_03: If the price is not already listed, it depends.
47:34
SPEAKER_03: I say how much, I say for what?
47:36
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
47:38
SPEAKER_03: For what?
47:39
SPEAKER_03: Right.
47:40
SPEAKER_03: Like, what do you want?
47:41
SPEAKER_03: You can't say, oh, I just need pictures.
47:45
SPEAKER_03: Pictures of what?
47:46
SPEAKER_03: Pictures of who?
47:47
SPEAKER_03: When, where, how?
47:49
SPEAKER_03: Day or night.
47:50
SPEAKER_03: Am I bringing things besides my camera and a flash?
47:54
SPEAKER_03: Am I packing up?
47:55
SPEAKER_03: Do I need to bring, you know, somebody else?
47:57
SPEAKER_03: Like, what you need?
48:00
SPEAKER_03: It depends.
48:01
SPEAKER_03: For what?
48:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, we don't wrestle with people no more.
48:08
SPEAKER_03: I need to know some details.
48:09
SPEAKER_03: And I am a very detailed person.
48:11
SPEAKER_03: If you cannot tell, I am a very detailed person.
48:15
SPEAKER_03: And then when I don't give details, then people be looking at me like, huh?
48:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying.
48:23
SPEAKER_03: So to retrieve clients, the majority of our clients come from word of mouth.
48:32
SPEAKER_03: Outside of that, when it comes to I guess it's the same term, marketing, promotion, putting things out.
48:44
SPEAKER_03: Um how do you see what do you think is the easiest thing to do?
48:52
SPEAKER_03: Because I know if we're talking to people that are looking at watching and it's like, yeah, I've been doing this for 10 years, I'm just getting started.
49:00
SPEAKER_03: Or 10 years, what can I do now with little to no money?
49:07
SPEAKER_03: What what would you tell people is a way to get this whole marketing and promotion thing going?
49:14
SPEAKER_03: Is that making sense?
49:16
SPEAKER_03: Because I know I did a lot of talking right there.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: I think so.
49:19
SPEAKER_01: Um because if you're saying marketing promotions and people saying they don't have any cash, I don't have any cash.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: Um to them they feel like that uh cuts them out.
49:31
SPEAKER_01: But again, we just said that the most the most lucrative, profitable, trusted source of advertising is word of mouth.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: So the first thing that you can do is do what you say you're gonna do and perform at your best for each client that you have today.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: And they'll do the work for you.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: Seriously.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: Hone in on, you know, creating those authentic, long-lasting working relationships.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: You're going to, you know, get people, even if they don't ask, like I said, because there's people that come to our client stuff all the time.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: We do some of the same events every year.
50:16
SPEAKER_01: We know we're gonna see some of the same people every year.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: They know they're gonna, they know I'm gonna be there.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: I know they're gonna be there.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, so then that's when they'll start coming up to you as well.
50:28
SPEAKER_01: They'll start talking one, and now you're building relationships with them.
50:32
SPEAKER_01: And so even if, like, so it's a client that you have, you do their daughter's birthday shoot.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing that happens as well.
50:41
SPEAKER_01: So we still start up with that client, you know, in the education space, but they got families, they got birthdays, they got daughters, they got graduations.
50:50
SPEAKER_01: We do their personal stuff as well.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: They entrust you in their business, they're gonna entrust you in their personal as well, you know.
50:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you show up for the birthday party and stuff, did a sweet 16 of their daughter.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: Three, four, four sweet 16s came immediately after that because those four people attended that sweet 16 party.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: The children aren't even the one making the decision.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, what's happening though is that our client entrusted us to capture the sweet 16 party.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: These children came.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Now, it didn't have nothing to do with me as far as the events and activities and stuff like that.
51:32
SPEAKER_01: But what happens is you get lumped into that because the children go home and they tell their parents, oh my God, we had such an amazing time at their party and this and that.
51:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, when mine comes next week, I want to do a next month, I want to do this, X, and what happens, these families, these parents know each other, they're gonna reach out.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you know, I'm planning my daughter's sweet 16.
51:53
SPEAKER_01: They loved everything that you did at yours.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, who can you refer your vendors and this and that?
51:58
SPEAKER_01: You get lumped into that.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: I ain't do not one piece of decoration, I ain't do not one piece of food.
52:02
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
52:03
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't even the DJs, I just took pictures of it.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
52:07
SPEAKER_01: And then that's what happens too, though.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: Now that you say that, I think about that, because they share the pictures from the event.
52:13
SPEAKER_01: So they see all the DJ, the vendors, all the food, they see all of that stuff, but they don't see us, but they're seeing our work.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: Who was a photographer?
52:22
SPEAKER_01: So it's just like that that's the best thing that you can do.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: Even if, you know, your first uh shoot, because you know, somebody gave you a T3I, you don't have no money, you a student, whatever, your first shoot is free.
52:36
SPEAKER_01: Just go out there and ensure your client has a great time.
52:39
SPEAKER_01: And because see, honestly speaking, in that moment, let's say that they book for a photo shoot or for a birthday photo shoot or something, yeah, they want that photo so that they can post it on their birthday or whatever.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: But in all honesty, you're not selling photos.
52:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm not selling photography.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: You're selling an experience.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, my thing is, you know, we say that with storytellers, with the photography side, I've always said that I see the beauty and things that others may not.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: And that's even including themselves, you know, and and yes, that translates into the image that I give them, but more importantly, that is they feel that when they come in for the shoot or we meet them on location for the shoot, they're having a ball, they're having a great time, whether we have the music playing, you know, I'm interacting with them.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you want a bottle of water, or hey, you know, I'm catching things that they may not catch.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you got a flyaway.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hold on, fix your necklace, do this, you know.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: They remember that stuff, and that's the stuff that they talk about.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: They don't talk about the pictures, they talk about the experience.
53:44
SPEAKER_01: The experience.
53:45
SPEAKER_01: So handle the people that you currently have with care, even the ones that get on your nerves now, you even them.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: You just need to handle it professionally and with care, finish that project out.
53:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
53:58
SPEAKER_03: And then fire them.
54:00
SPEAKER_03: Fire the client if it ain't your client.
54:03
SPEAKER_03: If you're already here, you already been tracking, you might as well go ahead and finish the project.
54:09
SPEAKER_03: That way you ain't adding no extra dirt to your name and keep it moving.
54:15
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, the experience.
54:17
SPEAKER_03: Everything to me is about so far um relationships and experience.
54:25
SPEAKER_03: Because even with building a relationship, what experience are they getting from you?
54:30
SPEAKER_03: Are you standoffish?
54:32
SPEAKER_03: Are you actually communicating?
54:35
SPEAKER_03: How well are you communicating what you can do?
54:38
SPEAKER_03: Because all of our clients are not on the same speaking level, you know, the same mental level.
54:47
SPEAKER_03: You know, again, like you said, some of these people are doctorates, they have their doctorates, you know, but we have clients that are, in a sense, quote unquote fresh out of high school.
54:57
SPEAKER_03: We have some that are getting ready to be college graduates or in college.
55:03
SPEAKER_03: You know, they work in different industries.
55:05
SPEAKER_03: So you have to be able to know how to um, what's the word?
55:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh you have to be able to know how to speak, articulate to each individual person.
55:18
SPEAKER_03: Like, I can't go up to half our clients and be like, what's up, bruh?
55:21
SPEAKER_03: What's good, bruh?
55:22
SPEAKER_03: Because that's that's not gonna work.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing that to any of our clients?
55:26
SPEAKER_01: No.
55:26
SPEAKER_01: Hold on, y'all.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: We got a team meeting.
55:32
SPEAKER_03: See, now you got me thinking, I don't think I do.
55:34
SPEAKER_04: Hey, what up, bruh?
55:36
SPEAKER_03: What up, though?
55:37
SPEAKER_03: Hey, cuz, hey, homie, hey, bruh.
55:40
SPEAKER_03: Nah, I don't do that.
55:42
SPEAKER_03: I don't do that.
55:43
SPEAKER_03: Because there's also a line of respect.
55:46
SPEAKER_03: And neither of us do that, you know, in that conversational exchange.
55:53
SPEAKER_03: You know, you might get one or two that are, you know, the the younger ones that may, what's up, bruh?
56:01
SPEAKER_03: And at that point, you know, it's just what up, you know.
56:05
SPEAKER_03: But for the most part, nah.
56:09
SPEAKER_03: So communication, that that's what we at now.
56:12
SPEAKER_03: Communicating, even in the midst of it being a quote unquote, I don't know.
56:19
SPEAKER_03: I want to dial back because I want to make sure I choose my words wisely.
56:23
SPEAKER_03: Regardless of the client, the communication has to be there.
56:31
SPEAKER_03: When you experience that quote unquote bad client, how can you explain how the line of communication may or may not change?
56:46
SPEAKER_03: Like, how do you articulate things when you like if a client pissed you off?
56:51
SPEAKER_03: How do you articulate that?
56:53
SPEAKER_03: If if everything is smooth selling, is it the same, steady?
56:59
SPEAKER_01: No, if it's during if it's in the middle of the project, absolutely.
57:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't uh just like we say of people, you don't take your uh uh your what is it?
57:10
SPEAKER_01: You don't take your emotions to work or you leave your life at the door when you come into work.
57:15
SPEAKER_01: I forgot the saying, but yeah, like so.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: If there's conflict in it, I'm gonna again try to resolve that.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, hey, you know, asking, especially if the client has been vocal about it, you know.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, I want to resolve that.
57:28
SPEAKER_01: And hey, what is the best solution um for us right now to move past this conflict?
57:33
SPEAKER_01: But if it's something that they're doing that's pissing me off during the middle of the project, I'm not gonna disclose that.
57:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna show that to them.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's time to finish.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: We need to finish this project.
57:43
SPEAKER_01: We need to get to the other side because we're gonna give everybody excellent service, you know.
57:48
SPEAKER_01: But then, yeah, for future reference, you know, we're not a good fit.
57:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, same difference as in a contractor or a work employee and stuff.
57:58
SPEAKER_01: You you work through that, and then when you realize that it's not a good fit, that's when you turn the relationship.
58:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
58:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
58:07
SPEAKER_03: Choosing words wisely, especially when you already got paid.
58:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
58:12
SPEAKER_03: And even in the midst of that, you know, do what you can.
58:16
SPEAKER_03: And and and the reason I brought that up is because I know sometimes we're like, I don't know about this one.
58:23
SPEAKER_03: And and then they pay.
58:25
SPEAKER_03: And then that's when the, for lack of words, the Bradyzilla comes out, you know, and it's like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
58:33
SPEAKER_03: We didn't discuss this, we didn't discuss that.
58:37
SPEAKER_03: When did that never happen?
58:39
SPEAKER_03: That was never said, but we have to sit and say, okay, let's let's find mutual ground and let's walk this path together.
58:52
SPEAKER_03: And you can't just be like, you ain't paid for that, so no, you know, we have to okay, well, we can do that, um, but we will have to charge the fee for it.
59:04
SPEAKER_03: Or what however those conversations go.
59:06
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not gonna say we'd be like, oh well, it's okay, we'll just do it for free, because no, right.
59:12
SPEAKER_03: Um so to those that are in that space, you know what's gonna keep you paid, and what's gonna keep at least them using you or referring you for uh by word of mouth, at the end of the day, like you said, it's not just about the person you're talking to, it's about the people that come in with them or the people that come to their event.
59:40
SPEAKER_03: And if you get into a verbal squabble in front of these people or behind closed doors, again, good or bad experience, they're gonna tell.
59:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
59:53
SPEAKER_01: So and then on the flip side, hold on, before you drive something home to them, you pointed at the camera, you was about to tell them, fuss at them again.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_03: No, I was just gonna say, be mindful of your speech.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: How you talking about the flip side, it ain't even that it is it is you know, just like I know, because what we say, we all have them in our family.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: We all have that one cousin, that one auntie.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_01: We know, we know what they do.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's paying them attention, but they're looking at you.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_01: So you come to my family situation.
1:00:24
SPEAKER_01: I already know how my aunt gives it up, you know what I mean?
1:00:27
SPEAKER_01: And everybody in there knows her, is you that we watch and see how you handle that.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:00:35
SPEAKER_01: So let's say a client coming here hosting an event.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_01: Then people that came to her event know exactly how she is, you know.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna handle her?
1:00:44
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes people they see that, especially if you handle with care and your professional XYZ, they'll still choose you because they'd be like, I know she's a piece of work, but I liked how you handled that.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_03: Because it couldn't have been me, is what they say.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying that we have that experience, but I'm just saying, you know, when you watch movies and TVs, they'd be like, mm-mm, not me.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_04: Right.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_01: So we we talked about a lot of the the good stuff.
1:01:14
SPEAKER_01: Did we?
1:01:15
SPEAKER_01: I feel like you've been fussing at these people.
1:01:16
SPEAKER_01: My hand itching.
1:01:17
SPEAKER_01: That means more money coming.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hope.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_01: Hey, rub that plant.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_01: Is that a money plant?
1:01:21
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_01: Don't touch it.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_03: That's a pothos.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_03: Don't touch it.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_03: It might be uh mosquito.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_03: I think I done got bit, been out in the hallway.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_03: But listen, it's we talked about a lot of good things, and a lot of gems have already been dropped.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_03: You know, how to run the business, how to pick up and go, how to the way I'm looking at it too, not look back.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_04: I don't teach people how to.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_03: Huh?
1:01:43
SPEAKER_04: I don't teach people how to.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_01: I've learned that too, along the way.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_01: Teaching people the how-to that gets nowhere.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_01: Because then you get bogged down in that because you and I can go over here and work Excel.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get to that task a different way than I am.
1:02:04
SPEAKER_01: You might right-click on something, do it, menu.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do control C, you know, whatever.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_01: So doing the how-to, and no one will ever be able to do it like you do it.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_01: No one will be able to do it the way I do it, you know.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: So, given that how-to, there's so many different sources out here to tell you how to do.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_01: My thing is the what, because people ask that, well, how do you get to go on this trip?
1:02:28
SPEAKER_01: How do y'all do that?
1:02:30
SPEAKER_01: Shoot, how are you still in business 10 years later?
1:02:32
SPEAKER_01: How you been in that studio for three years, you know, whatever.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_01: When they ask the how, I still give them the what.
1:02:42
SPEAKER_01: I ain't tell not nobody, not one time how to set their cameras, you know, didn't tell them one time what software to use for editing.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_01: I just told them building relationships, maintaining relationships, being mindful of how you show up, being mindful of the people that you work with, being mindful of people work with in business and work with as clients, being mindful of all of them.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_01: That's how you do it, but it's really the what.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_04: You know what I mean?
1:03:13
SPEAKER_03: So I stand corrected.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_03: And then so you don't you don't say how to.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_03: You give the what.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_03: We talked about a lot of good stuff.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_03: What?
1:03:34
SPEAKER_03: What are some of the things that have not gone well?
1:03:41
SPEAKER_01: I remember, I don't even remember what year it was.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_01: It was early on in business.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_01: Um the I ain't even gonna say what organization it was, but it was a sorority.
1:03:53
SPEAKER_01: They were doing their annual um Christmas party.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_01: They did it at the um at a hotel uptown Charlotte.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, she asked me to do photos for it.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_01: Cause they wanted to give it Miss Keepsakes.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, all right, cool.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_01: And I just gave a number that I thought was big.
1:04:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't mind telling y'all.
1:04:18
SPEAKER_01: I know this was very a lot of years ago, FY.
1:04:21
SPEAKER_01: It probably was first year of business or second, one or the other.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_01: But to me, that was a lot of money.
1:04:27
SPEAKER_01: I charged$800 for that two hour, and I'm like, ooh, this is good money.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_01: And she said, okay.
1:04:35
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I was out so out of my league.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_01: I had bought a uh professional printer that prints photos quickly, but I had I didn't have Wi-Fi on my camera at that time.
1:04:45
SPEAKER_01: I had the um whatever camera was.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_01: Something itching.
1:04:53
SPEAKER_01: Hold up.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
1:04:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, whatever camera it was, I didn't have Wi-Fi capability.
1:04:59
SPEAKER_01: Like it wasn't like I could instantly I shoot, and then the photos instantly went to the printer, not like that.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_01: So I was shooting and I had a team with me, two people.
1:05:08
SPEAKER_01: Neither one of them could shoot.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_01: My bad.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_01: Neither one of them could shoot, nor could they edit.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_01: So they were just pretty much crowd um maintaining the crowd.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_01: I would go over there, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_01: And I would go over there, edit so I can print.
1:05:21
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't even edit, it was just simple upload this to the computer so that I can print and stuff.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_01: Got so far behind, and it was.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to walk out of there.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_01: It was embarrassing.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_01: It was embarrassing.
1:05:33
SPEAKER_01: And some of my clients was there that I've shot with before.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Shamon, you got my picture?
1:05:38
SPEAKER_01: No, girl, I don't have your picture.
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: Ah, Shaman, I know he got mine.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_01: That's my photography, girl.
1:05:42
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell nobody else that right now.
1:05:44
SPEAKER_01: They're not liking me too much.
1:05:47
SPEAKER_01: Don't you say nothing.
1:05:48
SPEAKER_01: And the client was very displeased.
1:05:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I offered money back.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_01: Now we got all the photos of everybody that.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: We took pictures of, we got all the photos done.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_01: I just couldn't print them all that night so that they can take them with them.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: So after the event, I had to take them to the client's um office.
1:06:11
SPEAKER_01: But it's just like now she got to deal with figuring out who's who and mailing them out to these people.
1:06:16
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't a good thing.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: I ain't done nothing like that since.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_03: I tell you what, your boy ain't trying to do nothing like that.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_03: That would have to definitely be a very quick and in a sense self-sufficient process.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like a photo booth now.
1:06:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, back then they have all that technology and stuff, nor did I understand or was I equipped to handle that uh large volume in a you know short window because you're talking about two hours and it was 300 people.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, yeah, that ain't gonna happen.
1:06:55
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_03: No, it's it's not.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_03: Nah, that's a lot.
1:07:02
SPEAKER_03: Because printers then were kind of slow.
1:07:06
SPEAKER_03: Even if it's a a quick print, you know, it still gotta, you know, as thick as the the print head is, is how old that it can print.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_03: So first year or two, this this is the experience.
1:07:23
SPEAKER_03: Everything is going great.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_03: Had to turn down Puerto Rico, and I got 300 people in two hours.
1:07:33
SPEAKER_03: You mentioned paying some money back.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_03: You offer money back.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_03: Can you explain why?
1:07:41
SPEAKER_03: Because I know some people are like, I wouldn't offer nothing.
1:07:45
SPEAKER_01: Because I didn't deliver.
1:07:47
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I did not perform at the level of excellence that I do in other things.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_01: Plus, I met her as a referral from another client where she was at another client event and stuff like that.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_01: And my thing is again, still back to these relationships.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_01: That's just like if it's very rare, but if I'm late, oh, I'm gonna offer you a discount, I'm gonna offer you something, you know, because I know how I am about my time and I don't want you wasting mine.
1:08:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna waste yours.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, how many people go to the barbershop, you got an appointment and the barber's late, or your hairstylist and she's late or whatever, you know.
1:08:26
SPEAKER_01: You will now at the barber shop and hairstylist, or even at the dentist, if you will, if you're late for an appointment or you miss one, there's a fee.
1:08:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, because they held that spot for you and you didn't hold up to that time.
1:08:38
SPEAKER_01: So if a barber hairstylist is charging you a late fee, why don't they give you something when they're late?
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: You know?
1:08:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_01: So same thing with me.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have policies in place.
1:08:51
SPEAKER_01: If you you pay your deposit, if you miss your appointment, then you could possibly you could reschedule within 30 days, but you're not getting that deposit back.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_01: And then if you reschedule uh within that 30 days and then you still miss that one, you forfeit everything.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:09:06
SPEAKER_01: So if we have that in place for us to hold them accountable and ensure that they're there on time, why wouldn't we do the same thing if in the event something happens on our end that makes us late?
1:09:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, or in that particular situation, I fumbled majorly.
1:09:21
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, no, integrity.
1:09:24
SPEAKER_01: Remember, that's what I said.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_01: I operate off of integrity, authenticity, because that's what I would want.
1:09:31
SPEAKER_03: And let's take note, we don't be late.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_01: Mm-mm.
1:09:35
SPEAKER_01: I knew I was one time, one time, and um, you know who it is too.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_01: I tell you off camera.
1:09:43
SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I was late that one time.
1:09:45
SPEAKER_01: One, because that client just texts me and stuff.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_01: I like stuff to go through the CRM.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_01: I like it to go through the things of the things.
1:09:56
SPEAKER_01: And the CRM ensures it gets on the calendar.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_01: You texted me in the middle of the night.
1:10:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm not about to remember that.
1:10:03
SPEAKER_01: I forgot she had an appointment.
1:10:05
SPEAKER_01: And I said, say what?
1:10:07
SPEAKER_01: And I said, All right, I'm on my way.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I'm in route.
1:10:09
SPEAKER_01: I ain't even say I'm on my way.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm in route.
1:10:13
SPEAKER_01: They was here, and I got here 15 minutes later.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_01: I felt so bad.
1:10:17
SPEAKER_01: I felt so bad.
1:10:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:20
SPEAKER_03: The only way to feel bad is because it's outside of the norm.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_01: And she said that too.
1:10:26
SPEAKER_01: She was fine.
1:10:26
SPEAKER_01: She was like, I knew something was uh something had to happen because ain't nowhere in the world.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because we we we typically show up 30 minutes to an hour before the client.
1:10:38
SPEAKER_03: And it depends on where we're going and the type of the event.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_03: Um I know when we did uh the birthday party, I think it was in Concord, one of those sweet 16s.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_03: I think we had to be there, I don't know, let's just say 3:30.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I ain't never been there.
1:10:57
SPEAKER_03: And even though GPS is telling me it's gonna take me this long, I got there at 3 o'clock.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_03: You know, and I'm like, okay, well, everybody else gonna be here this early.
1:11:06
SPEAKER_03: Well, it was one of my first events while here.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_03: First of all, I ain't trying to be late.
1:11:12
SPEAKER_03: And I know where I got to drive from.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_03: And anything can happen.
1:11:17
SPEAKER_03: And I always plan that extra 15, 20, sometimes 30 minutes, depending on how far out I'm going.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, but we're not, we're, I'm gonna say we're never late.
1:11:30
SPEAKER_03: And I know never is like an absolute, but we don't be late.
1:11:35
SPEAKER_03: If we late, something happened on the road.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_03: We ain't late because we overslept or you know, something crazy, because we be on it.
1:11:43
SPEAKER_03: So keep that in mind.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_03: We're always on time.
1:11:46
SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
1:11:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying, hey, we we working, we working.
1:11:54
SPEAKER_03: So when it comes to jump in and finding my words because I gotta make sure I word this correctly.
1:12:04
SPEAKER_03: We talked about dealing with the clients, the bad experiences.
1:12:10
SPEAKER_03: How we gonna what's the worst client experience that you can remember?
1:12:22
SPEAKER_01: Clients?
1:12:23
SPEAKER_01: How they treated us?
1:12:25
SPEAKER_01: Or what do you ask?
1:12:26
SPEAKER_03: Just a bad experience with a client.
1:12:27
SPEAKER_01: That holiday party, that was that's my number one worst experience.
1:12:31
SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't like the client did anything.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_01: But that's still no fault of hers.
1:12:42
SPEAKER_01: That was the worst experience.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_01: I ain't never had no client that was just nasty or rude.
1:12:49
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so then rude, but that's when I walk out the room because uh no.
1:12:59
SPEAKER_03: So the worst experience is this this holiday party, 400 people more than what was expected.
1:13:06
SPEAKER_03: From that experience, what did you learn?
1:13:10
SPEAKER_01: I learned that I need to be uh again, that was back when taking any and every job that came along the way.
1:13:17
SPEAKER_01: I learned what I like to do, what I'm qualified to do, and I learned how to assess my team and who I need to take with me for certain things.
1:13:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I learned a lot that day.
1:13:29
SPEAKER_01: And learned when to say, even when you get into something, you feel like you're well prepared.
1:13:34
SPEAKER_01: If you're not, say something.
1:13:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I should have said something to her in the middle of that, like, hey, this ain't it.
1:13:41
SPEAKER_01: It ain't about to happen, you know?
1:13:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you told me a hundred.
1:13:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm looking at 400 different faces outside of that hundred.
1:13:51
SPEAKER_03: That's that's that's a lot of people.
1:13:54
SPEAKER_03: That's a lot.
1:13:55
SPEAKER_03: And we've had events that are 300, 500 people.
1:14:02
SPEAKER_01: But have you ever had it when they were all in the line coming to do a step and repeat?
1:14:07
SPEAKER_01: See, that's different.
1:14:08
SPEAKER_01: And you gotta print it.
1:14:09
SPEAKER_01: That is not you know how, you know why?
1:14:12
SPEAKER_01: Because I learned my lesson and I ain't never brought that business back in here.
1:14:17
SPEAKER_01: Shoot.
1:14:18
SPEAKER_01: You ain't gonna you ain't gonna experience that.
1:14:20
SPEAKER_01: Mm-mm.
1:14:21
SPEAKER_01: That was a nightmare.
1:14:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm not touching that.
1:14:24
SPEAKER_03: I'm calling out that day in advance.
1:14:28
SPEAKER_03: Tay O.
1:14:30
SPEAKER_03: Out of office.
1:14:33
SPEAKER_03: So the bad.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_03: I I I feel there's not, well, since I've been here, there's not been much bad.
1:14:45
SPEAKER_03: But since we talked about the people that we work for, let's talk about the people we work with.
1:14:53
SPEAKER_01: What about them?
1:14:54
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_01: This is messy.
1:14:59
SPEAKER_01: Don't blame me for anything that this man asked.
1:15:02
SPEAKER_03: Dina G, you are safe.
1:15:04
SPEAKER_03: No, because I know since I've been here, we have gone through team members, and I'm not saying that like it's been a lot, but we've had our fair share of people that we have chosen to no longer work with.
1:15:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:15:21
SPEAKER_03: Can you explain or just talk about how to choose a team member and knowing where they fit?
1:15:31
SPEAKER_03: Because to preface it, you have a saying that's like, um, how do you word it?
1:15:37
SPEAKER_03: Find your lane and stay in it, find your place and own it or earn it, or something like that, right?
1:15:45
SPEAKER_03: And I feel a lot of people since I've been here have come in trying to own a spot like you said that they're not qualified for.
1:15:55
SPEAKER_03: You know, know what you're qualified for.
1:15:56
SPEAKER_03: Don't just come in and say, hey, I can do this, and then you really can't.
1:16:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:16:03
SPEAKER_03: So and I'll even say this too.
1:16:08
SPEAKER_03: We don't take resumes.
1:16:09
SPEAKER_03: We want to see what you can do compared to what you put on paper.
1:16:13
SPEAKER_03: For people or someone that is looking to hire somebody, what advice can you give to that?
1:16:24
SPEAKER_01: And cut.
1:16:27
SPEAKER_01: Listen, listen, I think, listen, it's no different than um on the client side.
1:16:33
SPEAKER_01: The thing about it is that you you have to understand what it is that you need, you know, and then you have to identify that skill set, you know, and then it ain't even just that, because we can find any videographer out here, we can find any photographer out here.
1:16:49
SPEAKER_01: Are they a good fit for me and the team?
1:16:52
SPEAKER_01: That's important.
1:16:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, where where are we, you know, mentally and our willingness to be a part of a team, you know?
1:17:03
SPEAKER_01: And is it is your goal to, hey, I'm just in it to do this one-time project and freelance and then go on my own business, or are you in it to help continue to build this and take this further?
1:17:15
SPEAKER_01: If you say that you're in it to help build this and take this further, then that's what the expectation is.
1:17:20
SPEAKER_01: If you're here just for a one-off project, then that would be what it is.
1:17:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, all right, cool.
1:17:25
SPEAKER_01: Do what you need to do on this project, going about your way, you're gonna get paid.
1:17:29
SPEAKER_01: But don't uh say that you invested or you in it, and then you come in and be a cancer to the whole thing and it starts to spread.
1:17:36
SPEAKER_01: Because when I see it spread, I'm gonna kill it.
1:17:39
SPEAKER_03: Me too.
1:17:42
SPEAKER_03: Cancers, parasites, leeches, gotta get rid of all of them.
1:17:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:17:48
SPEAKER_03: Cause I know we had somebody come in here and they were taking notes about what we do.
1:17:59
SPEAKER_03: And I just sat there like, I am no longer a part of this conversation.
1:18:04
SPEAKER_03: And I know you backed out in that conversation too, because you tried to pass them off to me.
1:18:10
SPEAKER_03: And my response was, nah, see what we ain't gonna do.
1:18:17
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what he's talking about.
1:18:19
SPEAKER_03: I tell you off camera, because I know.
1:18:22
SPEAKER_03: I and I know you know because you made a face.
1:18:26
SPEAKER_03: Listen, we don't have a problem giving out advice, we don't have a problem helping.
1:18:32
SPEAKER_03: We don't gatekeep, right?
1:18:34
SPEAKER_03: We constantly make that known.
1:18:37
SPEAKER_03: We don't gatekeep, but there's only so much free information that we're gonna give you, number one.
1:18:42
SPEAKER_03: And number two, I don't have a problem if you're taking notes, but in the midst of you taking these notes, you're basically telling us, hey, that's the lane I want to run into.
1:18:56
SPEAKER_03: To an extent, that's like you instantly telling me you're my competitor.
1:19:02
SPEAKER_03: But we also don't believe in the word comp uh competition.
1:19:07
SPEAKER_03: It's how you word it, it's something over collaboration, collaboration, over competition, over competition.
1:19:18
SPEAKER_03: We strongly believe that, but when we feel like you're me personally, I'm gonna speak for me.
1:19:24
SPEAKER_03: When I feel you're coming in to be the competition, that's when I have a problem.
1:19:30
SPEAKER_03: Again, we can grab any photographer, any videographer, but how well do you mesh with the team?
1:19:39
SPEAKER_03: You know, it ain't even necessarily, you know, in an age thing.
1:19:44
SPEAKER_03: It's more of a maturity mental mindset when it comes to business.
1:19:53
SPEAKER_03: We we joke, we play around, you know, we we do all that stuff, but when we are at an event, there's not time for pranks.
1:20:01
SPEAKER_03: Not saying that we've experienced that, but I'm just saying, you know, when you especially when you're wearing somebody else's name on your shirt, what they call that, uh whitelisting?
1:20:10
SPEAKER_01: Label.
1:20:11
SPEAKER_03: White label.
1:20:12
SPEAKER_03: See, I'm still working on my terms.
1:20:14
SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
1:20:15
SPEAKER_03: I'm not getting ready to go to somebody else and be white label and be out there cutting the fool.
1:20:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's say it differently.
1:20:24
SPEAKER_01: White labeling.
1:20:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm not about to be white labeling onto someone else's brand and cut the fool.
1:20:30
SPEAKER_01: I just want these people.
1:20:31
SPEAKER_01: No, I need to say it was it's not a poll, Tay.
1:20:33
SPEAKER_01: It is not a poll.
1:20:35
SPEAKER_03: It's a C-stand today.
1:20:37
SPEAKER_03: It's a C-stand tomorrow poll.
1:20:40
SPEAKER_03: But when you're hiring somebody or you're looking at working with somebody, it can't be one of those DMs on Instagram or TikTok or any other social media platform say, hey, I love to work with you because you don't know how that person is outside of what they're showing you.
1:20:59
SPEAKER_03: Hey, you know, I love to sit down, have a conversation.
1:21:03
SPEAKER_03: Now, me and Shamar didn't sit down and have no conversation in theory.
1:21:09
SPEAKER_03: It was like, we don't need to.
1:21:12
SPEAKER_03: You said what?
1:21:13
SPEAKER_01: Ain't nobody want to sit down with you.
1:21:14
SPEAKER_01: Ain't nobody, he ain't wanna sit down.
1:21:16
SPEAKER_03: But I can tell you that I'm pretty sure he's glad he did because I'm still here.
1:21:25
SPEAKER_03: You know, so when it comes to like the long-term relationships, leaning into the is that right?
1:21:36
SPEAKER_01: That's money walking.
1:21:37
SPEAKER_03: Oh, leaning into the thing of you being told like you're never gonna find somebody that has the same business mindset as you, or nobody that's gonna see the vision the way you do.
1:21:50
SPEAKER_03: How do you deal with people that see the vision but don't see the vision?
1:21:56
SPEAKER_03: Or those that want to be here and help, but they they for lack of words, they can't.
1:22:05
SPEAKER_03: Um You say, how do I deal with it?
1:22:09
SPEAKER_03: Well, how what what what do you what goes on in that space?
1:22:15
SPEAKER_01: You you have to make the decision for them, you know.
1:22:18
SPEAKER_01: Because people are always eager.
1:22:20
SPEAKER_01: They see you do stuff and they want to be a part of it for whatever reason, sometimes it's selfish reasons, you know.
1:22:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's up to you because again, you got to know what it is that you need and be able to identify that in someone or identify that they don't have it.
1:22:36
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you you keep it moving.
1:22:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, definitely not a gatekeeper.
1:22:40
SPEAKER_01: I think I do, I'm always offering myself to others in this space, and for them to be able to thrive, you don't have to do it with me, you know, because I'm I'm gonna do it regardless.
1:22:52
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:22:53
SPEAKER_01: So I try my best, but there's a thing with me as well.
1:22:57
SPEAKER_01: It's a fine line between, you know, me helping you advance and you taking advantage.
1:23:03
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:23:04
SPEAKER_01: When it gets to that point and you cross over, all right, you gotta go.
1:23:08
SPEAKER_01: You know?
1:23:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's the best way I can answer that.
1:23:14
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna let that sit.
1:23:18
SPEAKER_03: I have no problem helping you advance.
1:23:23
SPEAKER_03: But you're not getting ready to take advantage.
1:23:28
SPEAKER_03: And it is a very fine thin line.
1:23:31
SPEAKER_03: And I think though they call people like that uh, what do they call opportunists?
1:23:36
SPEAKER_03: I think that's the word.
1:23:37
SPEAKER_01: When you go with that, yep.
1:23:38
SPEAKER_03: You know, you're you're only here to now it's different if you come in and say, hey, I want to learn because I'm starting my own business and I want to talk to another business owner, you know, about what's going on.
1:23:56
SPEAKER_03: Because something that we constantly say too is there's a lot of businesses, and we all don't shoot the same way.
1:24:05
SPEAKER_03: You know, there are a multitude of videographers that do things way different than me.
1:24:12
SPEAKER_03: I don't know any videographer that does exactly what I do.
1:24:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, um, same thing with a photographer.
1:24:20
SPEAKER_03: They don't all shoot the way you shoot.
1:24:24
SPEAKER_03: We got it's what, four of us here, five of us that take pictures.
1:24:30
SPEAKER_03: And we don't all take pictures the same way.
1:24:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:24:34
SPEAKER_03: Because we all see different, we all live life different, and a lot of times that's what comes out in what we capture.
1:24:42
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we have no problem giving advice.
1:24:46
SPEAKER_03: We've been giving advice for collectively almost three decades.
1:24:52
SPEAKER_03: That's a long time.
1:24:54
SPEAKER_03: Long time, man.
1:24:56
SPEAKER_03: Long, long time.
1:24:58
SPEAKER_03: So we talked about the good, we talked about the bad, and we're just gonna go ahead and lump the ugly in there with the bad.
1:25:07
SPEAKER_03: Ten years later, here we are.
1:25:10
SPEAKER_03: We have two studios.
1:25:12
SPEAKER_03: Um we're doing what needs to be done, and we know that there is still work to be done.
1:25:22
SPEAKER_03: When you think about everything that is taking place, um, I'll say within the last five years, because you know sometimes they say the first five years is the the rough the rough space.
1:25:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:25:34
SPEAKER_03: These last five years, how has what have you seen that changed in the industry that helped push you uh further and helped you or make you keep going?
1:25:51
SPEAKER_04: Well, I wasn't prepared for that question, Tay.
1:25:53
SPEAKER_01: Hold on.
1:25:54
SPEAKER_04: You're welcome, welcome, welcome.
1:25:56
SPEAKER_04: Let me sit up.
1:25:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh what have I seen?
1:25:59
SPEAKER_01: Oh what have I seen in the industry that has helped me what grow and keep going in the last five years?
1:26:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even gonna say, excuse me, y'all, these shorts are killing me.
1:26:20
SPEAKER_01: Cut the cut your camera, Tay.
1:26:21
SPEAKER_01: Cut the camera.
1:26:22
SPEAKER_03: So now that he's doing that, we're on a commercial break.
1:26:25
SPEAKER_03: We would like to give a shout out to Alan Lux Studios.
1:26:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I would like to thank us.
1:26:31
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna give a shout out to Charlotte Podcast Studio and Artbox Charlotte.
1:26:36
SPEAKER_03: Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
1:26:39
SPEAKER_03: So, Shamar.
1:26:43
SPEAKER_03: Five years.
1:26:45
SPEAKER_03: And if for those that don't understand, let me throw this in there.
1:26:49
SPEAKER_03: We're talking about since COVID.
1:26:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pre-COVID.
1:26:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're in the mid talking.
1:26:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're talking about this five years, yeah.
1:26:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the the past five years from now.
1:26:58
SPEAKER_03: We're talking like almost COVID, almost post-COVID.
1:27:04
SPEAKER_03: I guess we'll go back to that time.
1:27:06
SPEAKER_03: Let's go back to this, this late, what was that?
1:27:10
SPEAKER_03: 2019, 2020?
1:27:11
SPEAKER_03: It was 2020.
1:27:12
SPEAKER_03: When there was no socialization.
1:27:18
SPEAKER_03: What did you, what was that that took place that helped you grow and continue going?
1:27:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, my desire to want to be successful.
1:27:28
SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't know what was gonna happen, you know, because we were all shut down.
1:27:36
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's booking me for events, nobody's booking for photo shoots or anything like that.
1:27:41
SPEAKER_01: But for whatever reason, I think it was uh divine intervention.
1:27:45
SPEAKER_01: Because literally before we got shut down, I had a model that was like, oh, I want to do this mask.
1:27:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, so uh we talked about that, and I I bought some off of Amazon for that shoot.
1:27:57
SPEAKER_01: We got shut down.
1:28:00
SPEAKER_01: What I'm gonna do with these mads?
1:28:01
SPEAKER_01: I just put my logo on and I started selling it.
1:28:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because 2020 up till 2020, that was the most successful year in the business.
1:28:13
SPEAKER_01: 2020.
1:28:14
SPEAKER_01: Not one photo shoot.
1:28:16
SPEAKER_01: And I say, say, say what now?
1:28:19
SPEAKER_01: How how how?
1:28:20
SPEAKER_01: How sway?
1:28:21
SPEAKER_01: How'd that happen?
1:28:22
SPEAKER_01: Didn't do not one photo shoot, not one event photography, not one event that we shot uh for, but made more money than any year prior to that.
1:28:32
SPEAKER_01: And all years was supposed to be the booming years, you know what I mean?
1:28:36
SPEAKER_01: So um that showed me that I have a gift at this, you know, being able to pivot, being able to see, assess the market.
1:28:46
SPEAKER_01: That's how Charlotte Podcast Studio came to be.
1:28:49
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't supposed to be a thing, but I saw what happened in the market and I listened to it.
1:28:54
SPEAKER_01: I just listened to the market.
1:28:56
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't think that I've seen anything personally in the industry that has motivated me to keep going.
1:29:09
SPEAKER_01: But if you ask, you know, what has motivated me in general, it's because I feel like I have too many people dependent upon me.
1:29:16
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:29:17
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I it's not just me.
1:29:20
SPEAKER_01: And I've, you know, maybe selfishly, I designed it that way so that I can be held accountable, so that I can keep going.
1:29:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, most parents that I know, they say they do it for their kids.
1:29:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:29:33
SPEAKER_01: Well, you created them.
1:29:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, you created them little shits.
1:29:39
SPEAKER_04: One.
1:29:42
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, they and Tay don't edit.
1:29:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh my bad.
1:29:52
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, you created them, and now, you know, so that's why I say I guess maybe selfishly I did that.
1:29:58
SPEAKER_01: I I designed Allen Lux to be, you know, a firm.
1:30:02
SPEAKER_01: I wanted more than just me.
1:30:05
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't Shamar Allen photography, you know.
1:30:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's been helpful because it keeps me going.
1:30:12
SPEAKER_01: So the same way sometimes when parents, you have ups and downs, and during those down moments, you sit in there thinking, hey, you're not thinking, can I continue to go on?
1:30:22
SPEAKER_01: It's like, all right, how do I get this done?
1:30:24
SPEAKER_01: Because I got them little ones in there that's dependent upon me.
1:30:28
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, excuse me.
1:30:31
SPEAKER_01: It's no different.
1:30:32
SPEAKER_01: I think that um also carrying that forward.
1:30:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, um, carrying that for, I thought he was gonna say something, people.
1:30:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, carrying that forward, yes, we're in a new space as well, second space.
1:30:44
SPEAKER_01: And it is anytime you do another move is scary because I remember when I first got into this space three years ago, um, before this space, paid a third of what the rent was here.
1:31:01
SPEAKER_01: I was scared, like the rent, I'm gonna triple the rent, and I gotta be responsible for it by myself.
1:31:07
SPEAKER_01: And on top of that, utilities, things that I didn't have to worry about back then.
1:31:10
SPEAKER_01: It was all inclusive.
1:31:12
SPEAKER_01: I paid, you know, this little couple of dollars here, and I know every time I go in there, the light's gonna be on, the water's gonna be on, it's gonna be clean.
1:31:19
SPEAKER_01: I knew everything.
1:31:21
SPEAKER_01: But it's like I gotta triple my uh rent.
1:31:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm the only one responsible.
1:31:25
SPEAKER_01: I gotta get keep the lights on, I gotta keep the uh water on, and clearly I gotta clean too, because don't nobody round here clean.
1:31:35
SPEAKER_01: We'll have that discussion off camera.
1:31:40
SPEAKER_01: But it has not been an issue.
1:31:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, it was scary, but it hadn't been an issue, you know.
1:31:47
SPEAKER_01: Shoot, three years later, everything's been fine.
1:31:51
SPEAKER_01: And even with the new space, 212, you know, it's scary.
1:31:54
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh my goodness, it's another space, and now you got to do everything in that new space that you did in this one, you know.
1:32:02
SPEAKER_01: So that pretty much doubles all your responsibilities and stuff and double your cleaning.
1:32:08
SPEAKER_01: Who knew?
1:32:10
SPEAKER_01: Who would have thought?
1:32:12
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and I I and that's one thing about it too.
1:32:16
SPEAKER_01: So when people, because people compare entrepreneurship to nine to fivers and things like that.
1:32:22
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I think that you know, I know you have to have both for this economy to be successful.
1:32:30
SPEAKER_01: Because entrepreneurs need nine to fivers to work for them.
1:32:34
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:32:34
SPEAKER_01: So you have to have both.
1:32:36
SPEAKER_01: One thing that I do know and I've learned is that entrepreneurs have a unique appetite for risk.
1:32:47
SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of things that we decide to do, a lot of people won't do.
1:32:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, taking on a second space, doubling it, taking on this first space was tripled the rent.
1:32:57
SPEAKER_01: Now doubling that that rent into a new space as well, and not even you can see the vision.
1:33:05
SPEAKER_01: You don't know how you're gonna get there.
1:33:07
SPEAKER_01: You know, but you just told, hey, do this.
1:33:09
SPEAKER_01: And I do it.
1:33:11
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it gets a little scary, but it still always works out, you know.
1:33:16
SPEAKER_01: But that's because I have an appetite for risk.
1:33:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm okay with it.
1:33:20
SPEAKER_01: I would take way more if I didn't have uh people dependent upon me, but I think it's a good balance because I'd be out there.
1:33:29
SPEAKER_03: And I'd be sitting here like, I tried to tell them.
1:33:33
SPEAKER_03: I tried to tell them.
1:33:35
SPEAKER_03: So the new space, studio 212.
1:33:38
SPEAKER_03: 212, literally three doors down from where we are right now.
1:33:43
SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
1:33:44
SPEAKER_03: We are at the cusp, the ending of creating the final setup.
1:33:54
SPEAKER_03: I know getting that space, it was it was a little, like you say, it was a little scary because it's like, are we ready for this?
1:34:05
SPEAKER_03: But I know the reason that we got it is because there were scheduling conflicts, you know, people wanting to book a photo session right after a podcast client books, and it's hard to do both in the same space realistically and uh respectfully.
1:34:28
SPEAKER_03: So having this new space, knowing the things that we've gone through within the last couple of months, because oh Jesus Lord, it's been a lot.
1:34:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, knowing that we're right here at the end, and by the way, Studio 212 is open and available right now.
1:34:45
SPEAKER_03: I don't care what he's about to say.
1:34:47
SPEAKER_03: How do you feel about the way everything has gone on?
1:34:51
SPEAKER_03: Because I know personally visit AlanLustudios.com to book Studio 212.
1:34:56
SPEAKER_03: I don't think he said that loud enough, but you heard what he said.
1:35:00
SPEAKER_03: Listen, how how what do you stand on an emotional level?
1:35:09
SPEAKER_03: I don't even know if I want to ask that question about 212.
1:35:14
SPEAKER_04: What do you mean?
1:35:15
SPEAKER_04: What do I stand emotionally about it?
1:35:16
SPEAKER_04: Like how do I feel about it?
1:35:18
SPEAKER_03: Like, I know for me, coming in, you already here for a year.
1:35:22
SPEAKER_03: So this is already established.
1:35:23
SPEAKER_03: I don't get to see we have been here that long.
1:35:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
1:35:28
SPEAKER_01: Hey.
1:35:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
1:35:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:35:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:35:33
SPEAKER_03: I've been here right before, I think right before, right after year one.
1:35:38
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
1:35:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right after year one.
1:35:41
SPEAKER_01: Like a month after.
1:35:43
SPEAKER_03: Oh, shout out to me.
1:35:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I know when it comes to me, it's like, oh man, we're about to get the second spot.
1:35:56
SPEAKER_03: What we gonna do?
1:35:58
SPEAKER_03: And I know I said a plethora of things.
1:36:03
SPEAKER_03: Let's just get it going.
1:36:05
SPEAKER_03: You know, but then we take the time to paint new lights, um connecting things with smart plugs and making it more wholesome, making it more us, putting our stamp and our brand on it, um, our personalities.
1:36:24
SPEAKER_03: And that studio does look darn good, if I must say so myself.
1:36:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes, indeed.
1:36:31
SPEAKER_03: For those that are even thinking about picking up and getting their own first studio, can you I guess explain or just talk about how setting up a studio works?
1:36:48
SPEAKER_03: And I know we don't do how-tos, but can you That is very high.
1:36:51
SPEAKER_04: What you want me to do a high level?
1:36:53
SPEAKER_04: What do you mean how it works?
1:36:55
SPEAKER_04: Not necessarily how okay.
1:36:57
SPEAKER_04: I'm looking at getting my first studio.
1:37:00
SPEAKER_01: Know your why.
1:37:01
SPEAKER_01: I know where you're going.
1:37:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, just know your why.
1:37:04
SPEAKER_01: You know, because there will be times of excitement, there'll be times of nervousness, anxiety, you know, and then there'll be times of, oh crap, why am I doing this?
1:37:15
SPEAKER_01: Why am I here?
1:37:16
SPEAKER_01: What is going on?
1:37:17
SPEAKER_01: What's gonna happen next?
1:37:18
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:37:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, and if you remember your why and you hold on to it, it helps you get through it and navigate it.
1:37:23
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
1:37:24
SPEAKER_01: So, like, um, why?
1:37:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, is that the best thing for you is to have your own.
1:37:31
SPEAKER_01: Can you go find a uh a co-op place like I started, you know?
1:37:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, and being in that co-op for so many years helped me understand I want my own, you know, because I want our brand on the door.
1:37:44
SPEAKER_01: I want our policies to be the one that's followed.
1:37:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to follow these other people because they don't keep house like I do or whatever, you know, all the various things.
1:37:53
SPEAKER_01: And I knew I just wanted to grow.
1:37:54
SPEAKER_01: And I remember that, you know.
1:37:56
SPEAKER_01: So even when I came here complaining that I'm the only one to clean, well, you said you wanted to grow, so get in there and clean, you know?
1:38:02
SPEAKER_01: So know you why.
1:38:06
SPEAKER_01: And there will be great times, there will be tough times.
1:38:10
SPEAKER_01: Jewel weather the storm.
1:38:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I'll say the experience is what you make it.
1:38:16
SPEAKER_03: So if it's stressful, what are you doing to make it stressful?
1:38:21
SPEAKER_03: Because everything isn't about nobody's booking.
1:38:24
SPEAKER_03: It's why is nobody booking?
1:38:27
SPEAKER_03: And you're getting stressed out because you're not doing certain things that you used to, or you're doing the same thing that you used to, and it's not working anymore because the economy and people have evolved.
1:38:42
SPEAKER_03: You know, anybody can pick up a camera, but everybody can't do what you do.
1:38:45
SPEAKER_03: What makes you different, you know?
1:38:48
SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, there there have been days where all of those emotions have been lumped up into one.
1:38:56
SPEAKER_03: And it causes a great anxiety attack.
1:38:58
SPEAKER_03: Because you think about all the great things, all the bad things, all the trial and error, then you say this ain't working.
1:39:10
SPEAKER_03: And that's one of the quickest things you'll say before you really analyze is it really working?
1:39:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, everybody doesn't need their own studio.
1:39:22
SPEAKER_03: You know, it might be too much for you.
1:39:25
SPEAKER_03: You might think you want it.
1:39:27
SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's only two ways to find out do your research or just jump the gun.
1:39:33
SPEAKER_03: And with that, um Studio 212 is available.
1:39:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh if you are looking for a space to just shoot, Allen Luxudios.com.
1:39:45
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
1:39:46
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to do your co-op experience with us, we got the place.
1:39:50
SPEAKER_01: And it comes with the resource, the know-how, the experience of somebody that's done it for many, many years.
1:39:57
SPEAKER_01: So, Allen Luxtudios.com.
1:40:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we also have a space upstairs for you to host classes if that's something you want to do as well in there.
1:40:06
SPEAKER_03: So you don't necessarily have to just be a shooter.
1:40:10
SPEAKER_03: We got a loft upstairs with tables and chairs, um, things like that.
1:40:16
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
1:40:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, shameless plug.
1:40:20
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
1:40:21
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna get this information.
1:40:24
SPEAKER_03: All right, so at this point, we we covered a lot.
1:40:28
SPEAKER_03: And we covered the the 10 years.
1:40:33
SPEAKER_03: We covered 10 years worth of knowledge with these questions.
1:40:38
SPEAKER_03: A lot of gems have been dropped.
1:40:42
SPEAKER_03: A whole lot of gems have been dropped.
1:40:44
SPEAKER_03: Tate Vente talk and jump.
1:40:47
SPEAKER_03: You know, it is what it is.
1:40:49
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to another episode of Creative Fruits Podcast.
1:40:53
SPEAKER_03: Dave, if you don't land this plane.
1:40:57
SPEAKER_03: With that being said, what what final piece of advice can you can you offer to people about tenure?
1:41:10
SPEAKER_03: Tenure or ten year?
1:41:12
SPEAKER_01: Tenure.
1:41:13
SPEAKER_01: Longevity.
1:41:14
unknown: Okay.
1:41:15
SPEAKER_01: Listen, uh, I want to speak directly to you know our long-term supporters, our cheerleaders from afar, that's here, near and dear, and afar, our clients over the years.
1:41:28
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great ride.
1:41:29
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great ride.
1:41:30
SPEAKER_01: I've enjoyed it.
1:41:31
SPEAKER_01: I've learned a lot from uh each and every one of you.
1:41:34
SPEAKER_01: Um I've learned a lot from the people that are uh that that have been a part of this journey as well on the team.
1:41:41
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, again, a great ride, and I'm looking forward to many more years as well, and for looking forward to the people that we're gonna meet on this journey as well.
1:41:52
SPEAKER_01: Also, um any uh advice, again, I I just have to start with know your why.
1:42:00
SPEAKER_01: Um surround yourself with some good people, surround yourself with people that know more than you.
1:42:08
SPEAKER_01: It makes life easier for you.
1:42:10
SPEAKER_03: I promise you, I promise you, you know, and um what I ain't said nothing, I'm just agreeing in silence.
1:42:20
SPEAKER_01: So um, and listen, enjoy the ride.
1:42:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a journey, right?
1:42:29
SPEAKER_01: You gotta enjoy it.
1:42:30
SPEAKER_01: The ups, the downs, the wins, the losses, everything that Tay sat here and talked about that you experienced.
1:42:37
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy all of it because there's a lesson in every single thing, you know.
1:42:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, that's about all I got.
1:42:44
SPEAKER_01: And just keep going, you know.
1:42:46
SPEAKER_01: Hey, hit me up if you uh ever want to talk too, because I like to talk about uh business and stuff.
1:42:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't have all the answers, I'm still figuring it out, but I like to talk about it.
1:42:55
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's what I got.
1:42:59
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's all we got for this episode.
1:43:02
SPEAKER_03: I would say Schmidt, I appreciate you for coming out, but he was already here.
1:43:08
SPEAKER_04: And I ain't going nowhere.
1:43:09
SPEAKER_03: He ain't going nowhere.
1:43:11
SPEAKER_03: But listen, make sure y'all check out Allen Lux Studios.
1:43:15
SPEAKER_03: Uh, look at 212.
1:43:17
SPEAKER_03: As far as I'm concerned, contact us if you want to set up a tour so you can see it.
1:43:20
SPEAKER_03: If you just want to go ahead and straight book, AllenLux Studios.com.
1:43:24
SPEAKER_03: Um anything else we need to tell them about Studio 212 that I'm missing.
1:43:31
SPEAKER_01: It's three doors down.
1:43:32
SPEAKER_01: Y'all come knock on this door if y'all need help.
1:43:34
SPEAKER_01: That's about it.
1:43:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that's it.
1:43:36
SPEAKER_03: Thank y'all for tuning in to another episode of Creative Roots Podcast where Steam Stone become visions grown.
1:43:41
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Allen Lux Studios, Charlotte Podcast Studio, and Art Bot Charlotte and Studio 212.
1:43:48
SPEAKER_03: We would like to thank us.
1:43:51
SPEAKER_03: That's it for this episode.
1:43:52
SPEAKER_03: We will catch y'all in the next one.
1:43:54
SPEAKER_03: Peace.