00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29UnknownWhere are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.00;00;14;29 - 00;00;40;03UnknownWelcome to hometown, Jax. I'm here today with Scott Gomez. Scott, we are a Jacksonville based, podcast, and I'm interviewing people that have interesting stories around Jacksonville and, are tied into our community. So I'm glad to have you on the show here. I appreciate the invite and that you consider my story interesting. Yeah, I do, so let's get into it a little bit.00;00;40;03 - 00;01;00;13UnknownSo you are a real estate media company? Yes. What is a real estate media company? Thanks for saying that. It's so much easier to say real estate photographer, but it is media because it's so much more than just the photos. And so any, listing out there are, our job is to work with the listing agent to provide the media to, market that listing.00;01;00;13 - 00;01;19;01UnknownSo the photos that you would see on the MLS or on Zillow, video that they can use to help build their brand, but also publicize their new listing or floor plans, 3D tours drone a little bit. That's awesome. So it's it's a lot more than just taking photos, throwing them up there 100%. I think that's what it used to be, but not anymore.00;01;19;05 - 00;01;34;27UnknownI mean, if you're a real estate media company and you're only doing photos, I think you're missing the boat here. It's now standard to have drone photos. Is that a shoot this morning? If you don't have a drone for the oceanfront condo you're missing. Oh, you're missing out on. So, anyway, it's a lot of fun.00;01;35;02 - 00;01;57;02UnknownThat's awesome. So, with that being said, the real estate industry has changed quite a bit over the last even couple of years. So with with that being said, I mean, a lot of people are looking online before they go see properties and stuff like that. So you guys have a, huge niche, that, that fills with that.00;01;57;02 - 00;02;16;08UnknownYeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's the first impression that any buyer gets. I think it's a great representation of the realtor. Are they investing in their media? And if you're looking to to list a house, I can tell you this story later. But when we were looking to list our house in Pittsburgh, we chose our realtor based on the quality of her photos.00;02;16;08 - 00;02;30;10UnknownReally, I had no clue that this was an industry, that people had a job taking photos of houses, but we chose a realtor that way. And when I met her photographer, that's when things kind of started. Like, really? I think I can do this. Okay, so let's go into that a little bit. So how long you been in Jacksonville?00;02;30;10 - 00;02;50;05UnknownSo we moved here March of 23. So we're coming up on two years. Two years. Yeah. So and and I heard you say Pittsburgh. Yes. So I'm a little partial to that. Let's go. Yeah I'm a little partial to that. I, I grew up in Ohio, right across the PA border. So the question I have with that is.00;02;50;05 - 00;03;11;28UnknownSo you meet your, you meet your your photographer. Yeah. Right. And then you moved to Jacksonville, and then how how does this evolve? So we didn't know what work was going to be. We just knew we wanted to move south. Okay. And so literally when we met our realtors photographer, that's when sort of clicking like, okay, I've had a camera in my hands before.00;03;12;01 - 00;03;33;20UnknownThis is something I think I could do, you know? And so did a deep dive into the industry. And then that's, that's how it all started. So once we moved to Jacksonville, there was no plan B, this was plan A, it had to work. My wife was transitioning to stay at home. She had had a natural health office in PA, but we were going to be doing some transitioning into this.00;03;33;20 - 00;03;52;01UnknownHad to work. Yeah. And so just went all out as soon as we moved down here. I think it was the next day I sort of reaching out to realtors on Instagram, offering a free shoot as a way that they could see the quality of our work that would allow me to build my portfolio. And that was really what helped kind of ignite business early on.00;03;52;01 - 00;04;12;04UnknownI like I like that, I like what you said, you know, a lot of businesses, they, you know, want to get paid first and then show it to you. And, and I've seen a ton of realtors different companies like value give value first hundred percent. And it sounds like you nailed that. Yeah. Lead with value.00;04;12;04 - 00;04;36;09UnknownIt's no risk to the listing agent to use you. Yeah. Other than potentially, you really just ruin it. And they have to bring their normal photographer out. Right? Outside of that, there's no risk in. So if you can just get your foot in the door, that's what allowed kind of business to start. So, on Instagram, I think we reached out to and by week I reached out to, you know, 350 agents.00;04;36;09 - 00;05;01;02UnknownYeah. How many took you up on it? Pretty quickly, 50% responded. Yes. No. Part of the message thumbs up something, but so 50% response, 50% is huge with prompt with that. And then it was one out of every ten messages I sent, whether they respond or not, one out of every ten took me up on the free offer, and I could go through that client list now and still see a number of the, agents that I initially reached out to.00;05;01;06 - 00;05;20;24UnknownObviously so thankful for them to allow me to to get a shot and do it. But that's how things started. So that's that's huge because I'm sure that by that one free value add, you know, one free. Hey, check me out. You know, like now you've had you know, that that client or the realtor for a client for probably a couple of years now.00;05;20;24 - 00;05;39;23UnknownAnd just in the nature of what we do, our work is always out there. And other agents are checking on other agents Instagram profiles. Hey, who took your photos? Who did your video? And that has opened up so many doors, even to to people that I didn't necessarily offer that initial free shoot to them. They saw somebody else's free shoot and then had reached out.00;05;39;23 - 00;06;03;09UnknownAnd so then referrals have, come from that. And yeah, it's been a wild ride. That's awesome. So you're, you know, I'm thinking like, okay, so how does one get involved with shooting houses or shoot it? Did you have did you have some experience with that. So I had some video experience okay. But I had zero photo experience okay.00;06;03;09 - 00;06;34;02UnknownAnd so from a photo perspective, men just did a deep dive on YouTube. There's a couple people that personalities that have kind of established themselves and just try to learn as much as I could from them, joined a coaching program that was huge. But my background, I got to work with a lot of sports teams in Pittsburgh for about ten years, graduated from Robert Morris, a small school by the airport, interned and then worked for the Steelers, work for the Pirates, work for the Penguins, and then also Pitt football.00;06;34;04 - 00;07;01;02UnknownAnd had some just really cool experiences there. All right, so that's where we're going. Let's go. Yeah. So you were a videographer. Yeah. For let's just let's just say the NFL. Yep. So you're a videographer with the NFL. So you have you have access. You're on the sidelines. What are you on the sidelines. Yeah. So Steve stable NFL films I mean he's the guy that is the he's the goat.00;07;01;03 - 00;07;20;27UnknownHe's the goat. So when I grew up, I knew I wanted to do some sort of sort of sports video. If you wanna be a basketball player, you want to be Michael Jordan growing up or whatever. Steve Sabl was my Michael Jordan. Really? Wow. So I got to intern for Steve, at NFL films headquarters in Mount Laurel, new Jersey.00;07;20;29 - 00;07;36;28UnknownEnded up in the camera department. No real clue that I was going to shoot. I just wanted to learn. I took a an old camera that they had out to, like, a flag football game in the area just so I could shoot. Ask the main guy, hey, can I get some feedback? I just want to see how it could be better.00;07;36;28 - 00;07;52;09UnknownAgain. No thought of ever working for them. He watched two minutes and said, we want you to try out. That stuff's good, really? And that's how it started. And so for ten years, traveled to different stadiums and shot on the sidelines. Was there when the players were running out of the tunnel, got to shoot a Super Bowl.00;07;52;09 - 00;08;11;00UnknownThe second time the Patriots and Giants played was on the sideline. I had a terrible outfit on play, shorts. So if you ever see photos, you could see it. But next time you watch an NFL game, yeah, you'll see guys wearing like a blue vest. And if you see that blue vest that identifies NFL films. Got it.00;08;11;02 - 00;08;27;02UnknownI always looked at them as they're the cream of the crop and they're the best of the best. Telling a story. Getting that miked up. All access. And I got to be part of that crew for ten years. It was insane. That's that's insane. So, can you is there any is there any crazy stories with that?00;08;27;05 - 00;08;44;21UnknownI mean, maybe coleslaw? Cool. Crazy. But you could say. I'm sure. You know, a lot of people would ask, like, you know, what's what's been like or, you know, you didn't really have that interaction, that one on one interaction, though I was this far away from him for every home game for ten years. Yeah. We're not talking like we're talking.00;08;44;21 - 00;09;04;22UnknownIt was in game mode, you know? And so there's just a lot of cool moments, you know, like when, the Steelers beat the Ravens on Christmas Eve to seal the AFC North on an Antonio Brown touchdown. Yeah, I shot that. I was there for that really Antonio Brown catching on the side of his helmet with one hand was in the corner shooting that.00;09;04;24 - 00;09;22;21UnknownThat's like you're in the best seat in the house. No I mean you can pay for whatever ticket you want. But to sit on the sideline and they pay you to do it was insane. So you get. Yeah. Now obviously you can tell I'm a I'm a big NFL game, big Steeler guy too. But I mean, no overall like just sports in general.00;09;22;24 - 00;09;40;24UnknownI think that's like, you know, a lot of our dreams, you know, so that's that's amazing. You got the opportunity to do that. The fun part of shooting sports is there are no redos. Right. If you mess up the shot in the house and you can re click the shot in the house, you can't bend to throw another touchdown, you have to have it.00;09;40;27 - 00;10;01;17UnknownSo as they perform, you two have to perform. And I love that I love that pressure to do that. And so sports was a lot of fun to shoot telling stories. So just real quick NFL films, there's a crew of maybe two cameras. It's not like the broadcast level where there might be 10 to 20 cameras.00;10;01;19 - 00;10;23;04UnknownIt's just it's two different ways of documenting the sport. NFL films. They literally gave you the camera, basically no instruction and said, we trust you. Go do your thing. That's wild. That's pretty exciting. I got to shoot, Pirates baseball and Penguins hockey for broadcast television. Got it. This is a much more of a teamwork thing where they're cutting to different angles.00;10;23;04 - 00;10;43;07UnknownYeah. You have an assignment in the director. Your, should be able to cut to you without you, without even seeing your camera. Because he knows that you're going to be exactly where you're supposed to be, and he makes it cut. So it's kind of a teamwork field anyway. Then ten years, there's a lot of cool things. The Super Bowl is wild, a lot of playoff games.00;10;43;10 - 00;11;02;09UnknownBut it was a great season of life. Yeah. You know, with kids it was nights, weekends, holidays. Yeah. We were moving south. No clue what work was going to be. And now I get to sit, this podcast with you. Let's go. Hometown jacks. The hometown jacks. Let's go. That's really cool. So was it with the the the shift on that?00;11;02;09 - 00;11;19;17UnknownWas it was it, more time with the family? It was a lot of travel. What was the what was the shift that you that you decided it's not going to be NFL, or, you know, sports it's going to going to shift. Yeah. I mean, there's there are a number of things. But it was it was time to transition.00;11;19;17 - 00;11;39;17UnknownYou know, it. That was my dream job. Yeah. And so to ever leave it felt weird. But it also it wasn't matching priorities anymore. Gotcha. And it was time to pivot. And so then coming down here, it was like, well, I still get to have a camera in my hand. Yeah, I still get to make videos and do cool things that all of this decade of experience, I feel like has been building.00;11;39;22 - 00;12;02;03UnknownI could have never known to real estate photography, but here we are. That's cool. Yeah. So, you know, I think, you know, just just thinking about myself, on the business world, I thought, oh, man, be so cool to travel, be so awesome to see so many different spots. Yeah. And I had a little bit of, taste of that when I was young, and I was like, oh, I don't want to do that.00;12;02;07 - 00;12;18;22UnknownSo it's priorities shift, and I'm like, okay, sounds incredible. Yep. And I think that there is a season of life that if you can swing it, it is really cool. Yeah. But yeah, it just it ends up not being as cool as you think the more you do it. Yeah. It was. I was ready to kind of just be,00;12;18;25 - 00;12;45;04UnknownWell, that's, that definitely gave you some, some serious, you know, background. Yeah. For what? What you're kind of transitioning into, you know, now, but let's talk about let's talk about your business now, here in Jacksonville. So the first thing you said is an industry is there an industry for real estate photography? I've met so many real estate photographers.00;12;45;06 - 00;13;05;05UnknownIt is unbelievable to not know that it was an industry to now have personal connections with, I don't know, 250 or more, just on my social media. But yeah, every town is going to have a real estate media company and who would have known? Here's why. It's a great industry too. There's three R's to this isn't my lingo, it's somebody else's.00;13;05;05 - 00;13;24;17UnknownBut we'll use it here. The three R's where it's a referral based. Right. If you do a good job I mean it's kind of true in all of real estate, if you do the job, realtors will ideally refer you to somebody else. Required, though professional media isn't necessarily required. It kind of is. It's a reflection on your business.00;13;24;17 - 00;13;41;04UnknownAnd so, it's required. And then the third hours, it's repeat business. And again, maybe this applies to just real estate in general, not just real estate photography, but it's repeat business in. So if you show up you smile, you do a great job. You deliver the product on time, you're available when they need you. It's a great industry.00;13;41;05 - 00;13;58;19UnknownI think that can just naturally grow that. Yeah. I had no idea there was an industry. We were talking, a little bit before there was a conference that you got to. Yeah. Conference for real estate photography. Yeah, I heard the real estate photographer conference. I have not considered it an international sensation. Yeah. Yeah, I got an opportunity.00;13;58;25 - 00;14;19;12UnknownI was invited to speak, this year in Las Vegas. I've never been so intimidated in my life. Really? I enjoy speaking. I feel comfortable right now. Speaking with you, but you're asked to go speak to 250 of your colleagues, kind of, across the country who've been doing it longer than you have been, more successful than you.00;14;19;12 - 00;14;40;20UnknownWhat could you possibly say to that person and the person just starting in? So that took a lot of headspace for a while of preparing, what to say. But man, am I thankful that it's over. I think it worked really well. Good, good feedback on it. But, what a cool spot to meet just like minded people who understand the day to day and you're just bouncing ideas back and forth.00;14;40;20 - 00;14;57;17UnknownI think it's true with, like any conference, not only is there value in the speakers, but it's the breakfast, the lunch and the dinner that is just as valuable, connecting with people that. So that's a huge thing. And I think that's with with any industry, it's like the, you know, the speakers are great and everything like that.00;14;57;17 - 00;15;21;07UnknownBut man, I've met a ton of people that have given me a ton of insight. And just from the breakout sessions or, you know, breakfast dinners and stuff like that. So that's cool. Yeah. So now I know that there is a real estate photography conference. Here we go. So yes, let's, let's pivot a little bit just to the, the, the entrepreneur side.00;15;21;11 - 00;15;40;27UnknownRight. So, I know you're your business has grown. It's not just you anymore. Yeah. So what does that look like now? Yes. We now have a team of four part time photographers that work for us. Who all do a great job. Yeah. I don't know that I went into this thinking that we would grow a team in scale.00;15;41;00 - 00;15;59;06UnknownBut it got to a point where my availability. I was booked out about five days, and that's just a little bit too long. Whenever an agent sitting down, you know, at a listing agreement meeting, they get the paperwork signed. If they want to roll, they don't want to wait five days. And so the only way to grow so it's just a speed.00;15;59;08 - 00;16;21;10UnknownSpeed is a is an important part of your business. Yeah. So we hire and we will continue to hire to maintain 48 hour availability. Okay. A lot of agents don't need that. But when they do, when we have somebody ready to rock. And so, availability is huge. And then also your turnaround time. And so everybody gets their media next day by noon, generally like by 8 a.m. they have it.00;16;21;13 - 00;16;41;07UnknownBut that's that's faster. Yeah. Yeah. That's tell you here's yeah, here's the life of a real estate photo. Got it. So the photo I just took today of Jack speech I'm going to upload. It's going to go to our editing team in Vietnam. They're going to edit it. And then our virtual assistant Jim is going to grab those edited photos from Vietnam.00;16;41;10 - 00;16;57;25UnknownHe lives in the Philippines. They're about 12 hours difference. 13 hours difference. So our night, they're working whenever I wake up, he'll have everything set and it's delivered. So it literally goes around the world before it hits the realtors inbox the next morning. Yeah, that's the world we're in, right? Yeah. And so that's how we can do it.00;16;57;25 - 00;17;24;03UnknownOtherwise you couldn't do it. Couldn't write your own photos, you couldn't edit in the evening, you wouldn't sleep. And so that's industry standard is to have an editing team overseas and. Yeah. Yeah. So, with that being said, I mean, I, we in our business, we, we use Vas for, you know, the, the, the editing part, on some of our media, I mean, I feel like it's become, you know, more standard.00;17;24;03 - 00;17;44;04UnknownOne of our, one of our guys is in the Philippines and, I mean, we've we've been working with him for two years. He's like part of the family. He's like, you know, 100%. Yeah. So they're I mean, they're like the backbone. So we have two virtual assistants, one more focused on quality control and delivery of media, and one who's more focused on, social media in some outreach.00;17;44;04 - 00;18;09;05UnknownAnd there's some overlap in their work. But between the two of them, yeah. They've provided so much value to me. Yeah. In our company. And I think at first as a little hesitant, I'm sure I was. Yeah, initial hesitations for, for whatever reason. But, my goodness, they've been incredible. Yeah. That's awesome. So, in in your business with, you know, with a realtor, let's say, let's say I'm a realtor and I've got a listing agreement.00;18;09;05 - 00;18;32;29UnknownI mean, that speed is that speeds huge. Because if I'm if I'm a client, I want my house to go on the market quick. Right? Yeah. So your company delivers that super quick? Yes. If if I'm a realtor, you know, what are some of the things that I'm looking for? Other than the speed, when I'm when I'm hiring a company like yours.00;18;33;01 - 00;18;50;03UnknownYeah, I think, one thing is you want your photographer to show up and be part of your team. Yeah, right. And that's how we train our team. We're no longer the real estate ography is when we show up. We are part of your team in your your marketing team. And so that's one thing. I mean, the simple things, right?00;18;50;03 - 00;19;12;10UnknownIf you show up on time, you're easy to work with. It's easy to place an order. It's easy to receive the media. Everything works. I think that quality is certainly important. I think another thing that's really important is, the time on site, right? That it's, you don't want to inconvenience the realtor or the homeowner if they choose to be there by being there so long looking for the perfect angle.00;19;12;10 - 00;19;29;12UnknownYou go in, you go with a plan without rushing things. You're going to you're going to be efficient. And so I think all of those things is what a realtor is looking for. It's not just the quality of the photo, it's how easy it is to work with you and, if you're going to be a good representation of their brand.00;19;29;12 - 00;19;53;08UnknownAwesome. And so I can imagine that, you know, the relationships you have with, with these agents, I mean, they appreciate that tremendously. Yeah, I think so. Because it's it's up to them, you know, like, it's, we are representing the realtor into that seller. We're an extension of them. And so we have to be a good, representation of them.00;19;53;08 - 00;20;21;22UnknownAnd so it's simple as, like showing up. We're taking our shoes off, you know, when we're leaving, we're helping reset the house, how it was. And if there's, a little bit of work that needs to be done, then we can help, you know, put some things away if we need to. And so just trying to be easy to work with, I think I can take I mean, we've had some, you know, things and events and stuff like that that we put on that you're you and your team come and it it's it's always very seamless and it's always you guys are.00;20;21;24 - 00;20;48;17UnknownYeah. You're happy to be there and and, it's it's, it's been great on that end. So appreciate that and appreciate those opportunities. That was early on when when we were getting started. So. Yeah. Yeah. So with, with the entrepreneur side. Yeah. Okay. What what do you what do you see? You know, right now, I mean, let's, you know, let's be honest with with actual real estate photography, and listings and stuff like that.00;20;48;17 - 00;21;12;06UnknownIt's, it's it's been off for the last, you know, year, two years. So that's good to hear. So yeah. So that's been, that's, that's been, you know, that's been off. What does it look like for your company. Let's say, you know, let's say rates drop. Let's say, you know, housing starts really booming again. What does that look like for you as an entrepreneur?00;21;12;08 - 00;21;32;22UnknownI'm excited for that. The the cool part is I didn't know any differently in so to start two years ago. Yeah. And to have had some you know, success has been awesome and I'm excited for that. Boom. Yeah. When it happens, we'll be, we'll be ready to rock. I think something that's cool about real estate media is whether the market is hot or not.00;21;32;22 - 00;21;49;23UnknownYeah, you can always make an argument for why you need media, right? And so if there's so many listings that are going out there, great. Then it's a ton of listings and that's going to be good for business. If there aren't so many listings, then it creates a little bit of competition for the realtor to say, here's why you should use me.00;21;49;27 - 00;22;10;07UnknownHere's our marketing team and what we're going to do, and they're going to present maybe a larger package that they're going to do to the seller. So this is only what I've heard from my coaches. But either way, real estate media feels like it's a pretty good spot. That is almost required. Well, a lot of changes in the real estate, you know, Avenue last year.00;22;10;07 - 00;22;39;08UnknownYeah. And that is definitely something that I've heard from, you know, agents that, that, I work with is that, you know, when they go to a listing presentation, they are selling their, you know, their, their team, and you're part of their team. So that's just for you and everybody, you know. Yeah. So I mean, but that, you know, that part I, I, one thing that, is, you know, just all of, you know, different people we've, we've sat down with, we know technology's here, right.00;22;39;11 - 00;23;06;24UnknownAnd it's it's not only here, but, you know, there's a lot of things from the AI world. There's a lot of things that are rapidly changing. Yeah. Right. So is there anything in your industry that you see? You know, being, being something that you'll take advantage of or, you know, is there is is there something I know one part of it is like, you, you can't you can't shoot the house if you're not there.00;23;06;24 - 00;23;26;16UnknownSo you do have the physical aspect, you know, of that. Yeah. So there's a couple different AI platforms that are, just really helpful that are out there right now. I think the biggest thing that's on the brink for like real estate media is AI editing. Yeah. In real estate's a little bit more tricky than just the photo there are.00;23;26;16 - 00;23;42;24UnknownGood. I like single photos, but with real estate media. Imagine you're in the living room and you're shooting out of a window. The window is going to be bright, but you want to see that view. Like today we had the ocean view. You want to see that, but you also want to see what's inside. You want that exposure to match.00;23;42;27 - 00;23;59;29UnknownAnd so you take three images a normal one, a dark one and a bright one to get AI to master that blending has been tricky and nobody has done it yet. But in Vegas at this conference for the industry. Yeah, I met this guy and, I think he's going to be the first to bring it really together.00;23;59;29 - 00;24;24;25UnknownWe were doing some some testing with him. Now, it's probably 50% good, 50%. It wouldn't deliver. So we're not using that now, but I could see, a year from now for sure telling you. Yeah, I think we're going to do it. I think that I think the, that AI industry, you know, just from what, what we see on a, you know, on a very small level because our industry has not adapted yet.00;24;24;28 - 00;24;46;10UnknownBut what's out there is crazy. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a guy that I'm like, if it can make us better, if it can make us quicker. Yeah. And we can deliver things cheaper. Right? Then let's do it. So I saw your son walking in, let me see if I get this right. Technology won't replace you, but those that use technology will.00;24;46;10 - 00;25;07;26UnknownAbsolutely. Yeah, I think it's 100% right. I don't think that anyone has to get too nervous with. I think it's more. Embrace it. Yep. It's going to help your systems no matter what field you're in. If it can help you be faster and provide a good product and save you time. Okay, great. I, that's something that, I mean, I just, I know that it's it's here.00;25;07;26 - 00;25;29;04UnknownIt's not going anywhere, so might as well might as well learn some of it. Yeah. I mean, we've used, I've seen opus clip, which, you know, again, we're not video editors, anything like that. But a lot of industries have to go. Yeah, we go to social. We have social for, for business purposes. So, you know, something like Opus clip even.00;25;29;04 - 00;25;46;29UnknownIt's like you can, you know, upload a YouTube video, cut you shorts and rate some and all kinds of stuff. So it's pretty crazy. Even in like, Photoshop or Lightroom, you know, you forget to move one thing. It's no longer what Photoshop used to be of having to, like, erase that image and recreate what was back there.00;25;47;01 - 00;26;03;05UnknownHe's like, click over with AI and say remove and it's gone. That's amazing. Yeah, the simplicity of it is pretty wild. There's a lot of other cool programs out there. This is an AI, but something I wanted to bring up is many chat. I don't know if you've heard of this or use this at all. I'd like to use more of it in 2025.00;26;03;08 - 00;26;19;06UnknownBut it's like, if you get somebody to comment a word, you know, if they say hometown jacks or whatever, podcast, and you want all the information, say podcast down below, and then it sees it and it based on how you build it, it will send something out to them. And so that's been something I've been trying to use a little bit more.00;26;19;06 - 00;26;43;04UnknownYeah. So I'm actually familiar with it. It's going back on this. Is this a story is that I was looking at mini chat, and I have, a buddy, Brian Decker, who's. I mean, dude's a mastermind at it. You know, a lot of the the Instagram stuff, and and he he's like, hey. And he linked me up, you know, basically to a person.00;26;43;04 - 00;27;10;23UnknownAnd we actually rebuild our entire CRM from that one conversation about many chat. To where now, in our, platform, we use it's go high level, you know, base, but basically they have that, mini chat feature built in. So yeah, it's it's it's awesome. So very cool. So let's, let's talk about, you know, we've talked about the business, we've talked about a little bit about you.00;27;10;27 - 00;27;30;07UnknownYou said you moved. You said you moved, that you just moved to an office. Let's go. This is breaking news. So goods, for the last year about 20 months that we've been here, I've been working from home. And that's been great. The proof of concept early on, a lot of times I was out shooting and not necessarily at home working.00;27;30;09 - 00;27;50;02UnknownThis year I'm transitioning more into owner admin role and less shooting role. And for the last couple months I've been in that. And so I've been working from home, which sounds great and I think can be good. Yep. Well, we have a five year old who's my wife is homeschooling. He's in kindergarten, and it's going great.00;27;50;09 - 00;28;08;11UnknownBut you you hear it, you know, in the tension of our one year old crying. And I know that I can be working, but you also hear that it's it's a pull and that would pull you in. It's hard for me to turn off work or start work. It just kind of feels like it just runs all the time.00;28;08;11 - 00;28;26;13UnknownAnd if your whole house is your office, then it's hard to shut it down. And so started just kind of like, sending out some feelers, you know? What am I looking? I don't need a whole suite. I need a room. Yeah. You know, and got connected with somebody. And so that's. I'm actually just two miles down from from you guys.00;28;26;13 - 00;28;43;01UnknownIt's awesome. And it's ten minutes away from home. We live in Jointing Creek. Yep. And so to have a place, I just feel like I'll be better at work and I'll be better at home because it will be like, just stay in the flow. And then when you're home, you know, put aside work. Maybe you have to check in at one point, but it's not like this all consuming.00;28;43;01 - 00;28;59;29UnknownThat's what I'm trying to get to. And I think the office having a set of part office is going to help that. That's awesome. Well, congratulations on that. I mean, that's a that's a pretty short period of time in, in, in, you know, an industry that that you wouldn't think, okay, well I need some office space. But you guys, you know, you guys have grown.00;29;00;05 - 00;29;20;06UnknownHow many how many homes do you think you've shot? So I know that number. Yeah, just across it. 1000 homes. Awesome, awesome. So we just crossed that, that number, which is exciting right now. Well, you're doing something right, because there. I mean, that's a lot of homes to be shot in a less than two year period.00;29;20;11 - 00;29;40;29UnknownYeah. I mean, that includes, like the very slow March in April in a little bit faster May. So. Right now we're doing, about 60 homes a month. And so we have the capacity and we are going to at least double that, this year, get to a point that we're doing 120 homes a month. That's amazing.00;29;40;29 - 00;30;05;10UnknownYeah. I had it down on my notes. You touched on it, but I thought it was so, interesting in regards to choosing your realtor because of the way that that it looks. And, I mean, that's to me, that's a that's a testament that you don't come with your iPhone, you know. Yeah. You don't come with your iPhone as an agent and just, you know, snap pictures and put them up.00;30;05;11 - 00;30;34;15UnknownRight. You know. Yeah. I think it's a reflection on your, on your brand. I think ten years ago, maybe it wasn't standard to pay for real estate photography. Maybe that was set apart to the rock star agents. I think now across the board it's standard to at least have professional photos. And so yeah, I think if you're a realtor trying to grow your brand, working with a real estate media company is a great way to start because everybody's looking right.00;30;34;17 - 00;30;55;11UnknownI heard this Josh Rogers. I've talked to him 2 or 3 times since being down here. He has his own real estate media company, so it's never even for shoots. But he's just offered some great insight and wisdom. And one of the things I heard him say was people go on Zillow to find houses. And then people go on social media to find realtors.00;30;55;14 - 00;31;22;00UnknownAnd I think that that is coming from him, a rockstar, northeast Florida, that every realtor should hear that that you can grow your brand on Instagram and win more listings. By working with a good real estate media company. That's awesome. So with with that being said, as far as, as far as the whole, evolution of things, I think, I mean, just in general, like think about a website, right?00;31;22;00 - 00;31;37;08UnknownEverything's like, go to my website, go to my website, go to my website. When's the last time you went to a website? Know just go to your Instagram, right? Yeah. So you know, for me, I'm, I'm, I'm older than you. So it's Facebook but you know, it's that's where that's where you go. That's where you find information out.00;31;37;13 - 00;32;03;12UnknownYeah. I know a lot of your stuff is, is, you know, word of mouth, referral, things like that. Are you doing anything on, Instagram or doing anything on social to, to kind of build your business a bit more exposure. So, at a certain point last year, I took away that free offer. I just, I there were too many shoots coming in to also do the free shoot.00;32;03;12 - 00;32;20;20UnknownSo we changed it to 50% off. Then at one point we did $50 off. It was good outreach, but not nearly as many conversions. Right? To be able to offer a free photo shoot shoot is huge. Now that we have the team in place and everybody's trained and ready to go, we are going back to that free shoot model.00;32;20;22 - 00;32;35;09UnknownThat works so well for us when we started. Very cool to just offer that to any agent we haven't worked for. Or worked with before. Here's a risk free way to to see the quality of our work and see how we can help you listen. Okay, so for our viewers and people who are listening. Yeah. That's huge.00;32;35;09 - 00;32;54;09UnknownYeah. Right. So I mean, that's that's awesome because if you're a realtor, we haven't had a connecting point yet. Please feel free to reach out to us for the real estate ography on social media, on Instagram. Or you can just search Scott. Me, you can reach out to me and be happy to extend that offer to you. That's very cool.00;32;54;12 - 00;33;18;25UnknownSo let's talk about Jacksonville. Yeah. This is a Jax podcast. You know, my partner Aaron and I, I mean, we just we when we rolled out the podcast for like, we love Jacksonville. We love the city. There's so many different aspects about it. But for somebody that hasn't been here, you know, you're, you're contributing a huge, you know, in a huge way to, to our city.00;33;18;28 - 00;33;39;05UnknownIn a short period of time. What are some things that, that you and the family like about Jacksonville? I know the weather. I know the weather. Well, I know this in Ohio. Yeah. And coming from Pittsburgh, there's a lot of gray. There's rain, there's a lot of slush. It's not that pretty white snow, you know. And so, that was one thing we just we wanted to weather.00;33;39;05 - 00;33;54;17UnknownWe wanted to come down, we wanted the ocean. And instead of it being a, once a year vacation to the beach, sure. We wanted it to be a once a week. Whenever you want to go kind of thing. We had some friends that were building down here, and we didn't move because of them. But Florida is a big state.00;33;54;17 - 00;34;11;19UnknownWe wanted Florida. You check the housing prices, you just kind of go all the way around the state of Virginia. Like in Northeast Florida. It's like really affordable, comparable to like, comparing to other parts of Florida. And so that's how we landed in this area. We'd come down twice just to kind of explore it. And but we love it.00;34;11;19 - 00;34;28;14UnknownI mean, we go we go to the beach. We were there New Year's Eve, and it's just unbelievable that that's not a vacation, that this is home. And so that's that's one we live in Johnson Creek. Yep. I feel like we kind of hit the jackpot without knowing it. When we moved down. We're a half hour from Jacksonville.00;34;28;14 - 00;34;46;03UnknownHalf hour time, like, LA's about 35, 40 minutes to Saint Augustine. And just to explore all of those areas, has been awesome. Yeah, just with the nature of our family. We love adventures, we love parks. And, it's been an awesome place to call home. What a what a great place to, you know, when you're into that stuff.00;34;46;03 - 00;35;06;15UnknownI mean, the thing I, the thing that I love about Jacksonville, again, I'm not originally from, but, been here for going on 13 years, but the thing I love is, man, you could be at the beach. You could be downtown. There's so many different areas and different things. You know, obviously the biggest city in the country.00;35;06;15 - 00;35;30;04UnknownYeah. But that's awesome. Is there is there anything that sticks out in your mind? Any favorite restaurants? Any favorite? Oh, I got a shout out. Oh, cool. Yeah. Okay, so our friends, own mechanism coffee. Okay. And, it's right there by Ikea. After Gate Parkway exit. And so if you were to get off there within 30s to a minute, you'd be at Mechanism Coffee.00;35;30;06 - 00;35;46;23UnknownThey two move down. They beat us by a couple months, but they lived in Jamestown, New York, had an awesome coffee shop up there. And then when they moved, they opened one down here in, in, I don't know, like 16 months. It's just blown up, really. So you got to check out mechanism coffee. Mechanism coffee. I've never been.00;35;46;29 - 00;36;07;24UnknownSo I'm going to I'm definitely excited to go. That coffee's on me. Oh cool. I'll I'll let them know that, 37. So, I really on the media side. Right. Let's, let's shift a little bit to someone that, you know, because I mean, do do younger people, you know, do younger people go, you know what? I want to be a photographer when I grew up.00;36;07;24 - 00;36;22;11UnknownI want to be a videographer when I grow up. I mean, you it sounds like you had kind of that path. I mean, what what does that look like? I mean, is it is it a business that, you know, is that a profession that, you know, people can look at and say, this is, you know, something to do?00;36;22;13 - 00;36;40;05UnknownYeah. I think, so, yeah, I had that dream growing up. I wanted to work in sports, in like TV sports. And so that was very much my dream. I think a lot of people say that they like to take photos and, want to get into photography. I think you just have to ask, like, how are you going to apply that to actually make a living?00;36;40;05 - 00;36;58;22UnknownYou can take some really sweet photos, but how are you going to, earn money doing that? And so, that would be my challenge to anybody out there that once you know, to take pictures for a living, I'd encourage you to check out real estate photography. It's just a really cool industry that I think that there's a need for.00;36;58;25 - 00;37;21;12UnknownBut at NFL films, his name was Hank Way, the director of photography. He said, you just need reps. It didn't matter if it was flag football or if it was middle school, high school, college, NFL football. You just got to get reps of following that ball in the air. Same thing with real estate photography. So whatever photography or videography you want to get into, it doesn't matter what equipment you have, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it.00;37;21;12 - 00;37;41;23UnknownIt's literally go get reps. Yeah. Go shoot. Go study someone else's stuff. Go try and recreate what they did. You're going to fail. Move on, and that's all you have to do. Just go do it. So if you want to take portraits for a living, but you better start just taking as many portraits as you can, teaching yourself online, maybe eventually getting a coach.00;37;41;23 - 00;38;02;16UnknownBut like that work is there. Just don't sit around waiting for that business to come. Go get it and offer free get feedback. Yeah. And then I think if you're in the right industry, you can get it. Here's the last thing is there's a lot of wedding photographers and that's a great industry to be in. But unlike real estate, you likely don't have a client.00;38;02;19 - 00;38;19;26UnknownYou might have a referral to the family or a friend that is there, but it's a little bit of a harder industry. Because of that, you're constantly looking for the one wedding. And so if you can find, something that is weekends and is repeat business, I think that you, you can have a great offer and videographer.00;38;19;26 - 00;38;47;11UnknownYeah, that's a that's a great tip. There's a lot of lot of things you said there that, that are really, you know, not even industry specific. I mean there's, there's a, there's a lot there. One thing, you're a charismatic person. I've met you a few times or you've been great on this show. You know, at the end of the day to their sales, you know, there's, there's the that piece where if you took 2 to 2 of you and somebody just didn't like people.00;38;47;12 - 00;39;15;10UnknownYeah. Didn't want to talk to people. I mean, that's it's going to be tough too. So for sure. So, yeah, that, that part of it, it doesn't matter what business you're in, you to just got to be personal for sure. We talked a bit a little bit about, you know, connecting with you, I think, you know, follow Scott his company on, on, on Instagram and, and, you know, realtors, I mean, if you haven't worked with his company, you know, you got your gets first one free.00;39;15;13 - 00;39;34;01UnknownYeah. Which is, which is amazing. Absolutely. Have reach out. Be happy to to honor that. And, Yeah, I'm just so thankful there's there's a number of clients that we have. Just they've called us for their, all of their listings. And man, am I just thankful for that. And, it's been a really cool experience. A roller coaster, though.00;39;34;02 - 00;39;52;25UnknownIt hasn't been just perfect and easy. Oh, it has it now. That's another Josh Rogers kid. He I had talked to him and I told him at this point it was kind of a low point. It was a slower month. Started to question like, is the business still alive? And clearly it was. But like and he said, you know, what we call people like you.00;39;52;27 - 00;40;07;18UnknownHe said normal. He said, what do you think? You were just going to go up into the rent. Just keep going up, up, up. You know. He said that's untrue. There's going to be highs and lows. And so anyway, so, one of the thing that I, that I wanted to touch on, this is on the personal side.00;40;07;18 - 00;40;28;25UnknownYeah. It's we we talked, in, you know, you you were talking about healing from Crohn's. Yeah. And I think that is, you know, tell me a little bit about that, okay? You know, it's you if one on some of my notes here, it was naturally. So I, I appreciate the opportunity. Share this. This is, quite a testimony.00;40;28;25 - 00;40;51;28UnknownSo in fifth grade in 1997, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. At one point in high school, I was on 49 pills a day. In, eighth and ninth grade, I missed, like, 45 days of school. I mean, that's like at nine weeks, isn't it? Like that? I missed a quarter of the school year, home sick in the hospital.00;40;51;28 - 00;41;11;19UnknownAnd so, at one point I got put on an infusion, and that was every eight weeks it's dose to your insurance as a low dose, chemo, into every eight weeks would go in for my infusion. Now, after coming off 49 pills a day and coming off of, like, being sick for a long time. Hey, this infusion is working great.00;41;11;19 - 00;41;37;01UnknownI'm all in. Let's do it. Well, then we're like 13 years into the infusion. I don't have any symptoms, but I am just getting this infusion all the time, and, started to experience some side effects and had connected with some other people, that also have Crohn's disease that had mentioned similar things. And so, just started to explore, like, is it possible to live without medication.00;41;37;04 - 00;42;09;08UnknownYou at least explored because for my whole life I didn't know that that was an option. So we we reached out to a natural path doctor. And the idea there is to build your, your body to, have everything it needs. It maybe slowly wean off the medication. And so, man, this was on Valentine's Day, I think 2017 went in and, told the doctors, just like absolute faith in prayer and confidence of, I don't need this anymore.00;42;09;11 - 00;42;30;07UnknownMy wife was like, we dove in everything, and totally on the same page. And it was as though they had never heard that conversation before. And they're like, well, here's all the reasons you have to stay on it. Anyway. I am, was is 25. We are approaching eight years medication and symptom free. Which is just spirits.00;42;30;07 - 00;42;51;03UnknownIncredible a blessing. And to do it, it was eating right. It was supplementing deficiencies with, you know, supplements along the way. But just, like, getting my body right, how can we keep the inflammation out of my body? And so was really intense on diet for a long time. It was a focused season of life.00;42;51;06 - 00;43;12;07UnknownSince then, I mean, I've been good for so long. I have slept in my diet and workout routine. But it's it's time to get back to it. Because, anyway, it's it was a miracle. Thankful for that answer prayer. So, yeah, I'd like to say it happened naturally. I've never gotten a call from anyone again.00;43;12;07 - 00;43;33;06UnknownLike, hey, how are you doing? It just never, never went again. Never heard from again. And here we are. Wow. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah, very. I'm glad to hear that. That's pretty awesome. So, wrapping up, anything else you want to. You want to talk about what, a loaded question? Yeah. How long is this thing going? Let's keep going.00;43;33;08 - 00;43;54;07UnknownHere's one thing that I'd like to to throw out is, maybe if you're a realtor and you're doing this alone, or you're just don't feel like you've got the support. From my perspective, I had a group of real estate photographers all kind of starting at the same time, and we have grown together in different parts of the country.00;43;54;09 - 00;44;14;03UnknownAnd to have that crew has been really helpful, because when September came and the hurricane came and things, I'm looking at our data like, man, things have really slowed down. What's going on? To have a crew to like, reach out to is super helpful. And so I would just encourage you to find that group that you can grow with.00;44;14;03 - 00;44;32;02UnknownAnd maybe it's a mentor, you know, somebody that's been doing it for a while that can feed into you. Maybe it's a paid coach. I had a coach. I mean, help, help me bypass so many mistakes along the way and save time. But also part of that, if it's not a mentor coach, just to have a crew to grow with, it would be my encouragement.00;44;32;02 - 00;44;53;25UnknownThat's awesome. So one and just feeding off of that same idea, I think that, you know, one thing that we do in our business is we don't, you know, we don't care if you copy it. You know, just if you have the mentality that, you know, I'm going to help somebody, even if they're at a different company, and I'm just going to help them, and you're going to get something out of it, too, you know?00;44;53;29 - 00;45;17;15UnknownAnd and if everyone can be on that same page where you just, you know, you just share as much information as you possibly can and everyone, everyone wins. Yeah. It's like this. You hold it by yourself and do life alone or this and you do 100%. 100%. Yeah, 100%. That's that's huge. Last thing, I want to talk about with you, Mike Tomlin quotes.00;45;17;17 - 00;45;36;20UnknownI say that for the next time. Oh my goodness. So, being it's a Jack's podcast and we were rooting for the home team for you. We will say that, but that is, Yeah, just I'm sure you got a million stories that are just amazing. Tell us one.00;45;36;23 - 00;45;57;18UnknownOkay, so whenever I worked specifically for the Steelers before NFL films, I got to work his weekly press conference. My job was to run the camera for the Steelers, for the press conference. If you haven't listened to a mike Tomlin press conference, go YouTube one. Yeah, it applies to everything in life and one that's right outside the locker room is the standard is the standard.00;45;57;20 - 00;46;17;23UnknownYeah. And so no matter what, I think not no matter what, go look up a mike Tomlin podcast, apply it to your life. And it applies. That's awesome. Yeah. And you, where I was going to go to is you, you own an ice cream shop? Yeah. So I owned an ice cream shop. So you've you've done quite a bit.00;46;17;25 - 00;46;43;14UnknownYou've done you've done a number of different things here. Yeah. So it's been, just a crazy. And we've been married 12 years, going on 13 years. And there's been some really just cool life experiences. I forgot to mention this. Let me tie a bow on the crown steward guy. My wife prepped the meals. Was there every step of the way, changed her diet, changed everything.00;46;43;21 - 00;47;11;16UnknownIt lit a fire under her to see me heal. That. She opened up her own office. She got her own certification. Wow. Open up an office, work with hundreds of people in our area who came in, with similar issues. And she a business came out of healing. And that was incredible. I trust that, so right now she's staying at home and she's totally, like, in, in this season of life, I can see a time where she comes back.00;47;11;16 - 00;47;33;13UnknownIt's it's coming, it's coming. Yeah. It's coming. So she's incredible. That's awesome. That's one thing. The ice cream shop. We're we lived in a small town northwest of Pittsburgh called Ellwood City. And she was born and raised in Ellwood. We bought the house, from her parents. They moved, like, two miles away. So she's literally been in the same house before Jacksonville.00;47;33;13 - 00;47;54;10UnknownGot it her whole life. Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, steel town, steel moves out. Industry and kind of downtowns, kind of fade away. So we're looking around and just had this heart for our downtown and was a parade director was a part of the, Chamber of Commerce, just trying to do anything to help revitalize the town.00;47;54;12 - 00;48;10;17UnknownSo my wife said, well, why don't we why don't we put our money where your mouth is and buy a building? Let me tell you how affordable, affordable it is to buy a building in Ellwood City. So within a week, a for sale sign goes up right on the main block in Ellwood City. Do you want to guess how much is this?00;48;10;17 - 00;48;30;28UnknownGuess I guess hi. Yes, hi. So that I can, 200. We got it for $40,000. Oh my gosh. Okay, you had a commercial unit downstairs and had two apartments upstairs, so we buy it for 40 grand. For 40 grand? No clue what we're going to do with it. And just noone prayerful about it. Trying to think of different business options.00;48;31;00 - 00;48;49;08UnknownYeah. Sister in law owns a gymnastics studio across the street. Parents and kids are just waiting for their family members who are in gymnastics to come out. We're like, man, we need a nice ice cream shop. Give them a place to go. Yeah. This was before the natural natural office, so we did have healthy options. So it was called Sweet Caroline's.00;48;49;08 - 00;49;09;09UnknownMy. My wife is Carolyn, sweet Caroline's, and it was amazing. It was part of the downtown experience. Other businesses kind of opened up in the area. We work with a local dairy farm to sell the ice cream that they made. And so it became like a staple. And it wasn't because we were passionate about ice cream. Right?00;49;09;09 - 00;49;32;00UnknownRight. We were passionate about downtown, being part of its revitalization. And that was our one small way to do it. We just went back over, Christmas to visit family and to drive by the building and just see, remember all the times that we were scooping, you know, massive biceps all the time? That was, there's been a lot of fun seasons of life.00;49;32;00 - 00;49;52;27UnknownThat was just another one of those. That's awesome. Sounds like that. That, that I have heard you say seasons a few times. I love that love that saying, because, you know, it's you've definitely had some experiences, but you also, it sounds like you recognize and appreciate what season you're in. Yeah, I think it's hard because in the moment you think like, this is going to last forever.00;49;52;27 - 00;50;11;24UnknownYeah. And, it's I think it's okay. It's okay that seasons come and go and. Yeah, ice cream was a season. Healing was a season. The Steelers and NFL films was a season. And man, I'm excited that this is the season one right now. That's awesome. Well man, it's been a pleasure. I, I've learned a lot about you.00;50;11;24 - 00;50;33;24UnknownI think that, you know, we're we're happy to have you here, in Jax. You bring, you know, you bring a lot, to us, to the real estate, side of things. And, you know, we'll we'll be cheering you on. I appreciate that. And, you ask me a lot of questions. Yeah. Okay. Maybe sometime we can do lunch and I can ask you a lot of questions because you guys are doing some amazing things.00;50;33;24 - 00;50;47;01UnknownYeah, I'd love to, you know, like I said, share what? What with some some ups, some downs, some pain points. You know, things that I'd love to do. It would be awesome, Barbara. All right. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Thank you.00;50;47;01 - 00;51;01;09UnknownThe Hometown Jack's podcast is recorded and produced by First Coast Mortgage Funding. Located in the heart of Jacksonville. Do you want to be our next guest? Visit our website at Hometown Jack's podcast.com. We can't wait to hear your story.
