April 7, 2025 • 36 mins
Ever wondered how a life-threatening wildfire could inspire a thriving business? In episode 152 of the Carlsbad: People, Purpose, and Impact podcast, I sit down with Rachel Arbuckle, the remarkable owner of 2000 Paces Photo Organizing. From her childhood as a Navy brat, through her service as a neuropsychiatric technician, to her entrepreneurial journey, Rachel shares her fascinating story and the pivotal moment that led to the creation of her company.
Join us as we explore how Rachel transformed the anxiety of nearly losing precious photo memories during the 2014 Cocos Fire into a mission to help others preserve their cherished moments. Discover the innovative services 2000 Paces offers, from digitizing and organizing photos to creating personalized photo books that reconnect clients with their memories in meaningful ways.
Rachel also sheds light on the emotional power of photos, sharing heartwarming stories of clients finding solace in their organized collections. Plus, learn about the cutting-edge technology her company employs to streamline the organization process, making it easier than ever to create keepsakes for the future.
Tune in to uncover how Rachel’s passion for preserving memories can help you focus on what truly matters, even during life’s most challenging times.
Rachel's Bio
Rachel Arbuckle is the Founder and CEO of 2000 Paces Photo Organizing—a company born from a personal crisis turned into a passion for preserving memories. In 2014, when a series of fierce fires roared through San Diego County—with the largest igniting on the mountain behind her home—Rachel’s instinct to protect her family’s cherished photos was put to the test. Amid the chaos of scattered boxes, picture frames, and albums, she realized that her precious memories were vulnerable. This pivotal moment not only solidified her commitment to safeguarding her family’s legacy but also inspired her to establish a service that would help others secure their own irreplaceable moments.
At 2000 Paces Photo Organizing, Rachel and her dedicated, experienced team understand that many of us have at least a few shoeboxes or legal boxes filled with treasured yet disorganized family photos, memorabilia, and home videos stored on outdated media. Their approach is simple yet effective: they listen carefully to each client’s unique photo organizing goals and provide personalized suggestions and solutions that transform overwhelming piles into beautifully organized archives.
With print and digital photo organizing services designed to help you easily locate and enjoy your memories, along with digitization services that convert physical items into digital files for long-term preservation and accessibility, Rachel and her team are passionate about reconnecting people with their memories and history. The commitment to protecting and sharing your stories drives every project, ensuring that each memory is treasured for years to come.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an
essential podcast for those wholive, work, visit, and play in
Carlsbad.
Bret Schanzenbach (00:14):
Good morning and welcome everyone. My name is
Brett Schonsenbach. I'm thePresident and CEO of Carlsbad
Chamber of Commerce, and I'm thehost today. And I'm excited to
have with me Rachel Arbuckle,who is the owner of two thousand
Paces Photo Organizing. Goodmorning, Rachel.
Rachel Arbuckle (00:30):
Good morning, Brett. Happy to be Yeah,
Bret Schanzenbach (00:33):
thanks for joining me. It's great to have
you. I was slinking around yourLinkedIn profile and your
website and stuff. So it lookslike you were a Poway kid who
ended up at SDSU, is that right?
Rachel Arbuckle (00:50):
That's right. I grew up in Poway. Was a Navy
brat, so we lived all over theworld, Japan and Maryland and
Washington, and then ended up inPoway where my dad got
stationed, and then ended upactually joining the military.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:05):
I saw that. And the Navy yourself, right?
Rachel Arbuckle (01:07):
The Navy, that's right. Third generation.
And while I was in the Navy, Iattended San Diego State and got
my undergrad and went tograduate school there as well.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:16):
Very cool. Well, thank you for your
service. Course. Appreciatethat. I saw while you were in
the Navy, it said somethinglike, something really scary,
like neurological, psychologicaltechnician.
What was that all about?
Rachel Arbuckle (01:28):
Yeah, it's just a bunch of big words. So I was a
corpsman. I was enlisted. Iwent, you know, again, right
after high school. And I worked,for the military in a couple of
different capacities and theneventually became what's called
a psych tech or neuropsychiatrictechnician.
But, so I worked in the psychdepartment at Belleville
Hospital, actually, NavalHospital San Diego for a number
of years. Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:49):
All right. So, you weren't like, you know,
putting probes in people andlike shock therapy? Nothing I
Rachel Arbuckle (01:56):
can talk about here. No, no, it was great. It
wonderful to have theopportunity to do that. I had
obviously some medicalexperience, but along with that,
you know, any opportunity tobetter understand people's
personalities and how tointeract with people. And I
think that, interestinglyenough, at that time, I had
(02:20):
never had a vision of starting abusiness.
But in hindsight, I think thathas really helped me in dealing
with, you know, all differentkinds of personalities, whether
it be colleagues, clients,employees, and working with
photos. There's a lot ofemotions behind that.
Bret Schanzenbach (02:36):
Yeah, for sure.
Rachel Arbuckle (02:37):
So, yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (02:38):
For sure. Now, after, the military and
graduating at San Diego State,you know, go Aztecs, it looks
like you had a few stops alongthe way before you even got to
2,000 paces. Tell us about thatjourney and what were some of
the things that you were doingprofessionally.
Rachel Arbuckle (02:58):
Yeah, it seems like a lifetime ago, right? When
we look at this before business,after business. Yeah. I both my
degrees are in geographicinformation systems. And so it
was always my intent to, youknow, work in that field.
So I did work for Sandag. Iworked for an environmental
consulting firm. And I really Ienjoyed the work I was doing,
(03:20):
but it was just a computer inme.
Bret Schanzenbach (03:22):
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (03:23):
And I needed that people component, you know?
I really I missed talking topeople. And, so I hired a
headhunter at that time andsaid, Listen, I want a job in
which I can, you know, utilizemy personality and and be out
there working with people. And Iended up, funny enough, working
in life insurance and wealthmanagement, on the marketing
(03:44):
side of things. And so that kindof took me down a different path
where, I think that's where thatbusiness acumen came in and
being able to, to understand,you know, how a business works.
And, I just, that's when Irecognized that that was
something that I could seemyself doing.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:02):
Yeah, for sure. So the GIS stuff was just
too computer and not enoughhuman.
Rachel Arbuckle (04:07):
That's right. That's right.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:09):
To analytical and analysis. Not that you I'm
sure you were good at it, but Iget you. And that's like, I need
to talk to somebody. Soroundabout, it looks like yeah,
twenty fifteen Well, actually, Iknow, because you and I have
chatted. I know this storystarts in 2014 with the fires
(04:31):
that hit all of North County.
Almost all of North County wasburning in 2014. We had the
Poinsettia fire in Carlsbad, andWhat was it called in San
Marcos?
Rachel Arbuckle (04:41):
The Cocos Fire.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:42):
Cocos Fire in San Marcos. Then some of our
other neighbors had their ownfires. That was a crazy time. It
was May, beginning of May orMay.
Rachel Arbuckle (04:53):
It was around May, June.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:56):
And I remember because of what the
effects had on what I wasinvolved in at that time.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:01):
Oh, wow.
Bret Schanzenbach (05:02):
But So those fires hit, and I would love for
you to pick up the story andshare how what you experienced,
going through those fires ledyou to what is now two thousand
Paces photo organizing.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:20):
Yeah, absolutely. As I said, it was
not my intent through this youknow, journey in my life to
start a business. I think Ialways had an entrepreneurial
spirit. Even when I was in theNavy, actually, I, I started a
little side business, doing giftbaskets,
Bret Schanzenbach (05:37):
Nice.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:38):
For dental offices and things like that.
And, and it was a short lived,but I could, I could feel that
excitement and energy, but it,it wasn't my intent. And then as
you said, the, the fires thatjust, it ravaged through all of
North County, you know, you'd,you'd say, I'm going to go to my
cousin's house in Carlsbad. Andshe'd say, Well, I'm being
evacuated too. Right?
And you remember that.
Bret Schanzenbach (05:57):
Was everywhere.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:58):
It was, it was everywhere. And the Cocos fire
started about a hundred yardsfrom our home. And so our
neighbor knocked on the door andshe just pointed to the fire and
ran back in our house. This wasbefore the fire trucks were even
there. There was no officialevacuation.
It was so fast. Right?
Bret Schanzenbach (06:13):
And the wind's blowing.
Rachel Arbuckle (06:15):
Oh, right.
Bret Schanzenbach (06:16):
TIM
Rachel Arbuckle (06:17):
It's very scary. And when you see it right
there, you know, coming down thehill towards your home, growing
up, spending most of my youth inSan Diego, of course, we all
have been most of us have beenevacuated. We know the drill.
You grab your stuff, put it in acar, you know, you go stay
somewhere and you go back toyour home.
Bret Schanzenbach (06:34):
Yeah. And everything's fine. Right. You
know, and, and you have thewarning and, you know
Rachel Arbuckle (06:39):
Exactly. And you just go, you know, the worst
thing about it is now I've gotto put all this stuff away. And
it's more of a nuisance in, inthat regard. Right? But this
particular one, we didn't havetime to grab anything beyond, of
course, our family and our pets.
And we got out very quickly andit was terrifying. I remember I
was in my car. My husband was inhis car because we were trying
(07:00):
to fill it up with as much as wecould. And we were in a gated
community. And so I kept tryingto get out and I looked in my
rearview mirror and I could seethe fire in my rearview mirror.
Bret Schanzenbach (07:10):
Oh, wow. And- That's so scary.
Rachel Arbuckle (07:12):
It was, it was really scary at the time. And
then I, I was at the bottom ofthe hill by Cal State San Marcos
because it was right behindthere. And my husband and I were
looking up and we truly thoughtwe were going to lose
everything. And the windsshifted. We got very lucky that
our community was spared.
Obviously, as we all know, thereare many others that lost their
homes. Yes. Right? And that firein my heart goes out to all of
(07:34):
them. I can't even imagine.
The nuisance of putting thingsaway is small compared to what,
you know, they've But as I stooddown there and looked up and I
was thinking about, there'salways a memory keeper in the
family, I like to say, right?There's one person that just is
really passionate about, andnostalgic about keeping those
(07:54):
memories, whether they want tobe the memory keeper or not. Are
people listening going, Yep,that's me.
Bret Schanzenbach (07:58):
That's me. Yep.
Rachel Arbuckle (07:59):
And everybody drops off the photos and things.
And that was me. And so I had myparents' childhood photos. I had
my grandpa's journals from whenhe was a pilot in the Navy.
Bret Schanzenbach (08:07):
Oh, wow.
Rachel Arbuckle (08:08):
Right. I had these journals from the eighteen
hundreds. My, even just my kids'artwork and their preschool
drawings and things like that. Ididn't have time to grab that.
And I started thinking about allthe old computers I've kept that
have photos on them and, theframe photos on the walls and,
and just everything was all overthe place.
And the anxiety I felt, duringthat period of time.
Bret Schanzenbach (08:30):
Thinking you might lose all of that.
Rachel Arbuckle (08:32):
Absolutely. And it, it just, it terrified me
because I we're so connected toour photo memories, you And, so
in that moment, I, I said to myhusband, if our memories
survive, I need to find a way topreserve these. So I started
looking around and I didn't findanything that I thought our
photos deserved. That sort of,excuse the pun, but sparked
(08:55):
this, idea to help other peopleavoid that anxiety and fear that
I experienced during the Cocosfire.
Bret Schanzenbach (09:02):
Yeah, this is, just yesterday, we were
hosting We had 26 middle schoolstudents here at the chamber,
and we were talking aboutentrepreneurism. And they're in
a five week course with uscalled Future CEO.
Rachel Arbuckle (09:19):
Very cool.
Bret Schanzenbach (09:20):
Yeah. And the session yesterday about
entrepreneurism is exactly whatyou're saying. Like, look for a
need, look for something that'smissing or something that you
see that you can do better orsomething like that. And that's,
you know, to be your spark for abusiness idea. And that's
exactly what you did, right?
You saw this, something thatwasn't being fulfilled, and you
(09:42):
looked for it, couldn't find it,and you're like, Then I'm gonna
start it. That's right. Youknow? It doesn't exist, so it
needs to exist. Absolutely.
Because you knew what youexperienced with that whole fear
of losing all those memories, soyou wanted to create something
that would help others who wouldexperience the same thing. So
with that, tell us what 2,000does.
Rachel Arbuckle (10:08):
Oh my goodness. You know, really it's about
reconnecting. The overall goalis to reconnect our clients with
their photo memories, in a waythat, that kind of captures
their journey. 2,000 paces in,the Old Testament or the Torah,
depending on your affiliation,represents a day's journey. And
(10:30):
so that's where the name twothousand paces comes from.
Journey. Right? So we're, we'retrying to capture that journey.
And so the idea is that we takeall those photos that, that you
have in albums and envelopesand, you know, that are at risk.
Bret Schanzenbach (10:44):
Boxes.
Rachel Arbuckle (10:44):
Boxes. Right? They're in the garage or they're
in the attic or they're in thebasement. And and then all the
digital photos that are on, youknow, CDs and floppy disks and
all that old technology. And weconsolidate everything together.
We get rid of duplicates and thenon storytelling photos. Right?
The ones where we gave our kidsa disposable camera to go to
(11:04):
camp and they took photos oftheir feet by accident. And, and
Bret Schanzenbach (11:10):
Or six photos of the same flower.
Rachel Arbuckle (11:12):
Right.
Bret Schanzenbach (11:13):
Okay.
Rachel Arbuckle (11:14):
Right. You know, because we were trying to
be, you know, so creative then.And that's before we had the
opportunity to look at ourdigital phone. But digital
phones, I mean, that's a hugeissue too. People who have, you
know, screenshots and photos offabric and recipes, and it just,
it feels chaotic, and peoplecan't enjoy those memories.
So our goal is to help youpreserve them and protect them
(11:35):
so future generations can enjoythem, and organize them in a way
that you can find them and sharethem.
Bret Schanzenbach (11:43):
Perfect. We are going to take a brief pause.
We're talking to RachelArbuckle, the owner of two
thousand Paces Photo Organizing.When we come back, we're going
to dig into this deeper to talkabout how they do what they do.
So stick with us, we'll be rightback.
(12:57):
So Rachel, before we took abreak, we were just getting to
the point where you were talkingabout what you guys do. And so I
want kind of get into thedetails of this a little bit
more. So full disclosure to thelistening audience: You helped
us at the Chamber.
Rachel Arbuckle (13:13):
Yes.
Bret Schanzenbach (13:13):
A little over a year ago. Well, you and I
started this a year and a halfago, probably, because the
Chamber was celebrating its onehundredth anniversary as an
organization.
Rachel Arbuckle (13:24):
Right.
Bret Schanzenbach (13:26):
And I don't know how many of your clients
are dealing with a hundred yearsworth of history that you're
trying to help them organize,but it was intimidating to me.
And as you pointed out, I mean,were stuff in albums. There were
stuff in boxes. There's stuff onhard drives. There's stuff on
(13:46):
phones.
And your words you used rightbefore we took a break was so
apropos, it's chaos. And as asteward of an organization like
the chamber, we want to preserveall of that in a meaningful way.
I hope the chamber is here foranother hundred years, and
somebody's doing theirbicentennial. But they have a
(14:10):
way to easily kind of pullphotos and memories from various
years out. So you got involvedand helped so much.
Talk about, you know, thesedifferent things like that you
can take, I guess we call itdigitizing. We take the physical
and make it digital. Right. Andthen you can take the digital
(14:32):
and make it meaningful. So goahead and walk us through how
you do what you do.
Rachel Arbuckle (14:35):
Right. Well, you know, and it was such an
honor to work with the chamber,particularly for such an
incredible event. I mean,hundred years of such history.
And that's, that's what we wantto capture and remember, whether
that is, a family's personalhistory or a business. And we
work with both consumers as wellas businesses.
(14:57):
And the idea is that for thechamber, for example, that you
can look back and see, well,what were we doing then? Where
did we start? And it was areally interesting evolution for
me and for my team to see. Itwas so small. The buildings were
small.
To see what Carlsbad Chamber hasbecome. You know, think
sometimes in life we were in themoment and we think, Oh, I've
(15:19):
got so many things on mychecklist, or I haven't
accomplished these goals. Butwhen you look back and you look
at this journey that the Chamberexperienced, it's pretty
remarkable. And so we lovetelling that story. So there
were, for example, a number ofscrapbooks with newspaper
articles, And handwriting frompeople.
And that's something that'sreally powerful, particularly
(15:39):
now when, people aren't writingletters like we used to, right?
I mean, it's very rare to get asnail mail, if you will.
Bret Schanzenbach (15:47):
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (15:48):
So when we look at these scrapbooks that our
clients have, and they havehandwriting from their
grandmother or their greatgrandmother or their great,
great grandmother, back in theeighteen hundreds and to capture
that story as well. So it's notjust about digitizing the photos
or converting home movies,right? It's about telling the
story so that you, you can kindof see where you came from.
(16:13):
Yeah. You know, there was, if Icould share, we had a client
who, hurt, she had lost her mom,many years ago and had kind of
put everything aside.
She lost her mom, when her momwas far too young. And she'd
kind of put everything asidebecause of course it's very
painful to revisit thosememories. We deal with a lot of
that. We've got a lot of tissueAnd, we were going through the
(16:37):
photos, you know, when we weredone and she had picked up one
photo in which she and hersister were wearing, you know, a
really nice dress. And it wasn'ta particularly interesting photo
from somebody who didn'texperience it.
It was just two girls, you know,wearing little dresses. But she
just brightened up. And I said,what's the story behind this
(16:57):
photo? And she said, this isback when we had to dress nice
to get on the plane. Right?
No yoga pants and sweats.
Bret Schanzenbach (17:03):
And you
Rachel Arbuckle (17:04):
had to dress nice. And they were going on
this trip. And she said, my momwas adamant that my sister and I
wore this really nice dress. Andshe said, I was sick. And I,
excuse me, but threw up all overmy dress.
And I made this big mess. And mymom's only focus was when we got
off the plane, we had to go buya new dress because, you know,
and it just, it brought her asmile because it was that
(17:25):
connection. It was the storybehind that photo that was so
powerful for her.
Bret Schanzenbach (17:31):
One of the stories that, came back to the
surface that when you guys werehelping us go through all the
chamber history, it's just afunny back and forth letter that
went between Carlsbad Chamber inCalifornia and the Carlsbad
(17:52):
Chamber in Carlsbad, New Mexico,and this little rivalry about
who was the better Carlsbad andall this stuff. And it was
hilarious seeing these lettersback and forth with the
competition. And it's awesomethat we've been here a hundred
years, but I've only been here,you know, six and a half. So I
didn't have that. I didn't youknow, I can't even remember what
(18:14):
year that was, but I wanna sayit was like in the fifties or
Rachel Arbuckle (18:16):
It was. I think forties or fifties. Yeah. It was
a few years ago.
Bret Schanzenbach (18:19):
Yeah. It was a while back. If you don't take
the time to unearth stuff likethat and revisit it, it gets
lost.
Rachel Arbuckle (18:26):
That's right.
Bret Schanzenbach (18:27):
But it was great. And the other thing I
like about what you helped us dois some of it now we framed and
put on our walls, you know? Andso I think you saw in our
conference room just a fewmonths ago, we got some of that
stuff that you helped us withframed up, and so it's there.
(18:47):
And, you know, when we putsomething on our walls, it
usually lasts for five, tenyears because then changing it's
too big of a task. So it'sprobably going to be there a
while.
But it's great. It's got thathistorical stuff there. So I
love that. And I thought of itbecause, like you were saying,
(19:07):
you're helping us reconnect withour story.
Rachel Arbuckle (19:09):
That's right. That's right. And it's
interesting that you bring upwith the frames that are on the
walls. We have so many clientsthat say, you know, one of the
motivations and I always ask,you know, what prompted you to
come work with us? Sometimes,I've heard, I have these photos
on the walls, that are sundamaged.
They've been up there forever,and it was my kids in fourth
(19:29):
grade, and now they'regraduating high school. Right?
And so part of what we're doingis organizing photos in a way
that allows you to update thosebetter. So for example, we do
things like assigned facialrecognition. We rename every
file rather than the IMG 1234,right?
We name it with the date it wastaken. We add keywords. So, for
(19:54):
example, every year, of course,now I have to give my parents a
photo book.
Bret Schanzenbach (19:57):
Of course you do.
Rachel Arbuckle (19:59):
I kind of dug a hole for myself on that And
after doing this for quite a fewyears, I had to get creative.
And now this past year, I wasable to type the word
Thanksgiving, and I typedcertain family members in
because I'd done facialrecognition. And I was able to
put together a photo book of allof the Thanksgivings and give
that as a gift. Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (20:18):
That's very cool.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:19):
Isn't it fun?
Bret Schanzenbach (20:20):
That reminds So, for a couple years in a row,
I did, you know, like onShutterfly or whatever, I did
personalized calendars for, youknow, the grandparents. It's a
lot of work. And like you said,the files on the phones and the
computers aren't don't have thelabeling changed, and so you're,
(20:40):
like, looking at every stinkingpicture. And so, this year, I
didn't do it.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:44):
Oh, no.
Bret Schanzenbach (20:45):
And then I felt kind of bad. I'm like, oh,
I should have put the effort in.But you know, it's a big lift.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:49):
It is. It's a it is. And I think that's that's
one of the powers of what we do.It's not just about, we're going
to digitize it for right now.It's about creating a system
that allows you to, do thingslike that moving forward.
So I will give you a quick tipon that. So the calendar,
because I know a lot of peopledo this, I actually, of course,
have to make a calendar for myfamily every year as well. And
(21:13):
the tip is that as you're goingthrough your photos, so if
you've got them organized, and,and you've got them labeled by
name, what's kind of nice is ifthey're organized by date, you
can pick a few from every monthand then you can bring them into
something like Shutterfly andthey have what's called a
storyboard. And so you can say,I want to throw these in
(21:33):
January. I want to throw thesein February.
If you've already gotten rid ofthose non storytelling photos,
right? The recipes, thescreenshots, the receipts, you
don't have as much to siftthrough. But a little tip, even
if you're not working with aprofessional organizer is when
you find photos you really like,create an album on your phone
that's called calendar. And whenyou have a few photos that you
think these are great, just putthose right in there. So at the
(21:56):
end of the year
Bret Schanzenbach (21:57):
You're ready.
Rachel Arbuckle (21:57):
Makes your process a lot easier.
Bret Schanzenbach (21:59):
That's a good idea. There you go.
Rachel Arbuckle (22:00):
So you're ready for next year.
Bret Schanzenbach (22:01):
I know. I should do that. I should start
now proactively. Now, we've beentalking a lot about photos, but
I did see that you have videoconversion services as well. So
talk about that.
Rachel Arbuckle (22:14):
So, you know, when I first started, it was,
obviously this is a newerindustry. Tell people, sometimes
I'll be asked if we're afranchise. And I take that as a
compliment. It means that itsounds like we look like we know
what we're doing. And I think wedo.
There was no blueprint. So Istarted with a piece of paper.
Now we have three fifty pages ofoperating procedures. So it's
(22:35):
creating this whole process.
Bret Schanzenbach (22:38):
Yeah. The video conversion or VHS to,
Rachel Arbuckle (22:43):
Right. So, yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry.
It's so exciting talking aboutthis. My brain just goes No,
that's okay.
So the, you know, my point inbringing that up is that I
wanted it to be a one stop shopbecause it really, it takes a
lot of courage, believe it ornot, for clients to hand over
(23:04):
these precious memories.
Bret Schanzenbach (23:06):
Yes.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:06):
It's difficult for them to say, Here, I'm going
to give you everything. And wewe actually we work with clients
all over the country. So we'rethrilled to work with local
clients. They can come in theoffice. We can meet with them,
and it's wonderful.
But we're really honored that wehave clients all over the
country. And we had a client inNew Jersey, but he was so
nervous to ship his stuff thathe hired somebody at his golf
(23:28):
club to drive all of his photosfrom New Jersey to San Diego for
us to work on them. It was suchan honor to do that. I was
thrilled. He just trusted us somuch.
So anyway, getting to your
Bret Schanzenbach (23:40):
He trusted you, but not UPS. That's right.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:43):
Or FedEx or any
Bret Schanzenbach (23:44):
of these others.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:45):
Absolutely. Because that's how precious
these photos are to us and toour clients.
Bret Schanzenbach (23:50):
Yeah. If they screw it up and they just, you
know, Oh, here, we'll file aninsurance claim. That doesn't
replace They're gone forever.
Rachel Arbuckle (24:00):
You're absolutely right, Brett. And I'm
glad you brought that up.Working in insurance before
this, although I was on themarketing side, one of the
things is you cannot insure yourphotos. Can insure your art, you
know, you can insure jewelry,your car, your home. But we
can't insure what's mostprecious to us.
You know, you you hear, withunfortunately, so many people
lost homes in the Palisadesfires. And of course, we've
(24:21):
gotten a lot of calls frompeople who grabbed whatever they
could. But when you hear it onthe news, they say, I even John
Mayer, he posted on social mediathat he grabbed one little box
that was his dad's, you know,letters and journal, and that's
what was most important to him.So circling back to your
question about the videos, Iwanted to make sure that I
(24:42):
learned that it's once we earnthe trust of our clients, I
don't want them to feel likethey have to go somewhere else
with these other services. So wedid we didn't start that way,
but now, we have for quite a fewyears, we offer video
conversion.
So that's you're right. The VHStapes, the VHS C, the Hi8, the
Mini DV, even the audiocassettes that we all used to
(25:03):
have. And the micro cassettes,do you remember for answering
machines? There's those littletiny Yeah. You'd be surprised
how many people have them.
And they're really cool becausethose have, you know, our voices
when we were younger. And theneven the old film reels, you
know, those old projectors. Likeeight millimeters? Eight
millimeters. Exactly.
Yeah. And what, what I loveabout it is you can watch these
(25:27):
home movies, and we've got thisreally cool program, that allows
you to watch movies on your TV.And, it's I actually went back
to Kansas where my family lives,for Thanksgiving. There were 22
of us. And I was able to putthese film reels that I had
converted on the TV, on thisapp, and all of us sat there,
(25:47):
ate snacks, and watched.
Wow. Memories from the forties,fifties, sixties, seventies. It
was really, really fun to beable to do that because it's
outdated. We can't watch thatstuff, right?
Bret Schanzenbach (25:58):
Yeah, it's very difficult. Yeah. That's
great. So, you mentioned foryour own family that you have to
make photo books every year, butone of the services that you
guys provide is also creatingphoto books for your clients,
which I'm sure is a popularoption. Absolutely.
So many people You know, I thinkthe whole camera on our phone
(26:24):
thing is amazing. Theconvenience is phenomenal, and
the quality has gotten so good.Right?
Rachel Arbuckle (26:29):
But
Bret Schanzenbach (26:31):
now we have untold number of pictures and
videos trapped on this littledevice that we carry around in
our purse or our pocket orwhatever.
Rachel Arbuckle (26:42):
And,
Bret Schanzenbach (26:44):
you know, it's not as easy to actually sit
down and watch them as you justmentioned. It's almost as bad as
the old, old stuff.
Rachel Arbuckle (26:53):
You're right. Well, because it's overwhelming.
Right? It's so overwhelming. Youget on your phone and you think,
Oh, I want to find this videowhere I was swimming with
dolphins in Hawaii, you know,and, and, and you can't find it.
Bret Schanzenbach (27:04):
You're scrolling and scrolling and
Rachel Arbuckle (27:07):
one of the things that's interesting when
you brought up photo books,there have actually been studies
that show that kids who, feelmore connected with their family
history and their roots and sortof their own journey, it
actually provides confidence forthem. You know, like any time
you have those roots, right? Itmakes sense.
Bret Schanzenbach (27:29):
See, this is going back to your psychological
stuff, doesn't That's right. Itall
Rachel Arbuckle (27:32):
comes full circle. And so being able to see
these photos, you know, we usedto look at them in albums,
right? And we've all got thosememories. I hope most of us have
those memories of sitting downwith our parents or grandparents
and flipping the pages of thealbums. Unfortunately, those are
bulky.
You know, those sticky albumsare yellow. They're degrading
our So putting them in a photobook and allowing your kids to
(27:55):
flip through and not have thatdigital component. Yeah. To flip
through a photo book or to flipthrough actual printed photos,
there is a calming that you see.My daughter graduated from high
school almost two years ago now,and we made a photo book, for
her where everybody wroteletters of encouragement and
advice and, and it was marriedwith photos of that person.
(28:19):
And she took it with her tocollege and I wasn't sure what
was going to happen. And, aftershe was at college for a few
weeks, of course, she gothomesick her first year. And she
told me that looking throughthat book brought her some peace
and comfort.
Bret Schanzenbach (28:31):
Awesome.
Rachel Arbuckle (28:32):
It is. And so being able to connect the photos
that way. So once they'reorganized, creating the photo
books is easy. Sure. When you'vegot the keywords and things.
It's also worth mentioning thatthere have been some studies,
that show that, the elderly, youknow, our parents and
grandparents with dementia orearly onset Alzheimer's, by
(28:56):
seeing some of these photos, ithas actually sparked some of
those memories. Because as mostof us are aware, we, when, when
dementia kicks in, it's usuallythe most recent memories we lose
first. So we have, we have heardstories from clients, remarkable
stories, where they've shownthese photos, to their parent
that has dementia and shownphotos of their childhood home
(29:20):
and things they did. And theycan actually talk about those
stories in a way that theyweren't able to communicate
before. So there's so much powerbehind what we're doing.
Bret Schanzenbach (29:31):
That's great.
Rachel Arbuckle (29:32):
Those
Bret Schanzenbach (29:33):
are awesome, awesome stories to share about
the power of this. And I knowyou mentioned it already, you
were just sharing about one ofyour clients, but you know,
another aspect of this is, youknow, if somebody were to kind
of proactively meet with you nowversus waiting for somebody to
(29:56):
pass away. Because when somebodypasses away, I feel like it's
the mad dash. Like, somebody's,you know, like, I gotta put the
PowerPoint together or theslideshow or whatever it is.
Who's got pictures with Papa?
You know? And everybody'slooking through a drawer, a
phone, an album, and it's chaos,and the poor person who's in
(30:18):
charge of putting this alltogether is pulling their hair
out, and versus, you know, ifthey meet with if somebody has
thought this through ahead oftime, you can make their life so
much easier at that point.
Rachel Arbuckle (30:30):
Yeah. You know, Brett, I'm I'm glad you said
that. It's always a sensitivetopic, you know? Prepare for the
future, of losing a parent. It'snot something any of us want to
think about.
But it happens all the time. Weget so many phone calls from
people that say, you know, lostmom, lost dad, lost grandma. And
we've got all these photos. Ofcourse, if it's dad or grandpa,
(30:50):
you know, somebody older,they're going to be in print or
slides or negatives. And it is,it's very frantic.
Recently, it was just a fewweeks ago, actually it was at
the end of last year, we got aphone call from a client who,
you know, that had happened andall the siblings were getting
together and trying to sendphotos and they brought boxes
and our whole team paused on theprojects they were doing and,
(31:13):
you know, full board focused onthis one because it's, we need
to get that done quickly. Butnow what we're having to do in a
very short amount of time is gothrough all the photos, get them
organized, get them digitized,then do facial recognition to
find, you know, mom, then createthe photo slideshow. And that's
fine for us. But the, whatyou're experiencing is that
(31:36):
anxiety of, as you've said,trying to gather the photos and
call people and what do we have?And then you might realize
later, Oh gosh, I didn't evenremember about that album from
my mom's childhood.
I wish I'd grab that. And itbecomes very, there's so much
anxiety already. Right? So forthose clients that, have gotten
them organized, whether theywork with us, another photo
(31:57):
organizer, or do it on theirown, when they have that
prepared, they are able to focuson the healing and the loss and
supporting each other, in thefamily rather than having to
spend the time getting that alldone. So I always encourage
people, although it's difficultto imagine, getting this done
will prepare you for that aswell.
Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (32:18):
Yeah. And like you said, it's not a fun
subject to bring up, but it'sreal. We all deal with it. We
all do, you know? So, it'sbetter to talk about it than to
just pretend it's not going tohappen to us because it's if
somebody is listening today, andI love that you said that you
work with clients all over thecountry, because the beauty of
podcasts is once they'republished, they go everywhere.
(32:39):
Or they can go anywhere. I waslooking at some statistics from
last year to who was listening,it's like, Why do we have
listeners in Ohio?
Rachel Arbuckle (32:52):
What fun!
Bret Schanzenbach (32:52):
Other parts of the country, it's just like,
This is wild. But
Rachel Arbuckle (32:56):
I'm in Carlsbad, Texas, though. I don't
know.
Bret Schanzenbach (32:58):
Oh, you mean Carlsbad, New Mexico?
Rachel Arbuckle (33:00):
Carlsbad, New Mexico, excuse me.
Bret Schanzenbach (33:01):
I don't know. I should have looked at that
closer. Good question. But youwork with clients all over, so
that's wonderful. Anybodylistening today can take
advantage of your services.
But if somebody is hearing this,and it's the first hearing of
2,000 Paces, and they're like, Ireally need to talk to Rachel. I
to know how this process worksand how do we start and all that
(33:24):
stuff. Best place for them tostart their journey with you?
Your website, maybe?
Rachel Arbuckle (33:30):
Absolutely. Just 2000paces.com. So two zero
triple zero P A C E S dot com.You know, you can kind of see
some before and after pictures,see what we're all about, but
there's a consultation button.So one thing is, again,
recognizing how important thesememories are.
And what, what really makes usstand out from sort of the big
(33:50):
box companies where you justship things is we have a
conversation first. And Ipersonally try and have those
conversations. So, by signing upfor a free phone consultation,
we can hop on a call. I love tolisten to, you know, what are
your goals? What are you tryingto achieve?
What's kind of provide, youknow, what's causing that
anxiety for you? Then wecustomize the plan and talk
(34:13):
about it. I share, this is howwe can make those goals become a
reality. And if I give them sometips and they decide to do it on
their own or, they decide tomove forward, either way, it's
just a really enjoyableopportunity to just see what
your options are. A free phoneconsultation.
We also have our number is (760)290-3957. And you can call or
(34:35):
text us. And on our website,there's one of those little bot
features, and you can alwayssubmit questions if you're not
quite ready for a phoneconsultation. So a lot of ways
to get some information and getconnected with us.
Bret Schanzenbach (34:47):
Perfect. So 2000paces.com is a great place
to start, or your phone number,which they just heard and can
pause the podcast and back up,and if they need to hear it
again, write that down. And thenthey can have a consultation
with you. And I love what yousaid. So you start with
conversation to learn whatthey're trying to accomplish,
(35:09):
what their goals are, what theirneeds are, versus just some
anonymous service at whateverbig box store.
So that's great. And I know, youhave a couple of kiddos of your
own. You mentioned yourdaughter's in college, and I
think your son's older, right?Your daughter's the youngest,
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (35:28):
So, my husband and I are married to my best
friend, Dan. And actually, hisdad used to be the president of
the Carlsbad Chamber. So we'vegot a lot of connections here.
At Arbuckle and Helen, we are,we're, we're very focused on our
family. We have two kids.
Our son, Isaiah lives up inOregon. And then our daughter,
(35:48):
Darian, is just turned 20, she'sat San Francisco State.
Bret Schanzenbach (35:52):
Wonderful. Yeah. Good stuff. Well, thank
you so much for taking the timeto come down and share with us
about 2,000 Paces. And we lovehaving you in our chamber
family.
I appreciate your services forour chamber, but love having you
here. Your business is so uniqueand is filling a need.
Rachel Arbuckle (36:10):
Thanks, Brett. I love working with you and
everyone in the chamber, and Ireally appreciate that, the
opportunity to be here and sharea little bit about what we do.
Bret Schanzenbach (36:18):
Our pleasure. Thanks for joining us today on
our Carlsbad People, Purpose,Impact podcast. If you got value
out of our episode today, pleasehit the follow button on your
favorite podcast app and pleasetell a friend. Can't wait to see
you next time on CarlsbadPeople, Purpose, and Impact.
Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an
essential podcast for those wholive, work, visit, and play in
Carlsbad.
Bret Schanzenbach (00:14):
Good morning and welcome everyone. My name is
Brett Schonsenbach. I'm thePresident and CEO of Carlsbad
Chamber of Commerce, and I'm thehost today. And I'm excited to
have with me Rachel Arbuckle,who is the owner of two thousand
Paces Photo Organizing. Goodmorning, Rachel.
Rachel Arbuckle (00:30):
Good morning, Brett. Happy to be Yeah,
Bret Schanzenbach (00:33):
thanks for joining me. It's great to have
you. I was slinking around yourLinkedIn profile and your
website and stuff. So it lookslike you were a Poway kid who
ended up at SDSU, is that right?
Rachel Arbuckle (00:50):
That's right. I grew up in Poway. Was a Navy
brat, so we lived all over theworld, Japan and Maryland and
Washington, and then ended up inPoway where my dad got
stationed, and then ended upactually joining the military.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:05):
I saw that. And the Navy yourself, right?
Rachel Arbuckle (01:07):
The Navy, that's right. Third generation.
And while I was in the Navy, Iattended San Diego State and got
my undergrad and went tograduate school there as well.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:16):
Very cool. Well, thank you for your
service. Course. Appreciatethat. I saw while you were in
the Navy, it said somethinglike, something really scary,
like neurological, psychologicaltechnician.
What was that all about?
Rachel Arbuckle (01:28):
Yeah, it's just a bunch of big words. So I was a
corpsman. I was enlisted. Iwent, you know, again, right
after high school. And I worked,for the military in a couple of
different capacities and theneventually became what's called
a psych tech or neuropsychiatrictechnician.
But, so I worked in the psychdepartment at Belleville
Hospital, actually, NavalHospital San Diego for a number
of years. Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (01:49):
All right. So, you weren't like, you know,
putting probes in people andlike shock therapy? Nothing I
Rachel Arbuckle (01:56):
can talk about here. No, no, it was great. It
wonderful to have theopportunity to do that. I had
obviously some medicalexperience, but along with that,
you know, any opportunity tobetter understand people's
personalities and how tointeract with people. And I
think that, interestinglyenough, at that time, I had
(02:20):
never had a vision of starting abusiness.
But in hindsight, I think thathas really helped me in dealing
with, you know, all differentkinds of personalities, whether
it be colleagues, clients,employees, and working with
photos. There's a lot ofemotions behind that.
Bret Schanzenbach (02:36):
Yeah, for sure.
Rachel Arbuckle (02:37):
So, yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (02:38):
For sure. Now, after, the military and
graduating at San Diego State,you know, go Aztecs, it looks
like you had a few stops alongthe way before you even got to
2,000 paces. Tell us about thatjourney and what were some of
the things that you were doingprofessionally.
Rachel Arbuckle (02:58):
Yeah, it seems like a lifetime ago, right? When
we look at this before business,after business. Yeah. I both my
degrees are in geographicinformation systems. And so it
was always my intent to, youknow, work in that field.
So I did work for Sandag. Iworked for an environmental
consulting firm. And I really Ienjoyed the work I was doing,
(03:20):
but it was just a computer inme.
Bret Schanzenbach (03:22):
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (03:23):
And I needed that people component, you know?
I really I missed talking topeople. And, so I hired a
headhunter at that time andsaid, Listen, I want a job in
which I can, you know, utilizemy personality and and be out
there working with people. And Iended up, funny enough, working
in life insurance and wealthmanagement, on the marketing
(03:44):
side of things. And so that kindof took me down a different path
where, I think that's where thatbusiness acumen came in and
being able to, to understand,you know, how a business works.
And, I just, that's when Irecognized that that was
something that I could seemyself doing.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:02):
Yeah, for sure. So the GIS stuff was just
too computer and not enoughhuman.
Rachel Arbuckle (04:07):
That's right. That's right.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:09):
To analytical and analysis. Not that you I'm
sure you were good at it, but Iget you. And that's like, I need
to talk to somebody. Soroundabout, it looks like yeah,
twenty fifteen Well, actually, Iknow, because you and I have
chatted. I know this storystarts in 2014 with the fires
(04:31):
that hit all of North County.
Almost all of North County wasburning in 2014. We had the
Poinsettia fire in Carlsbad, andWhat was it called in San
Marcos?
Rachel Arbuckle (04:41):
The Cocos Fire.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:42):
Cocos Fire in San Marcos. Then some of our
other neighbors had their ownfires. That was a crazy time. It
was May, beginning of May orMay.
Rachel Arbuckle (04:53):
It was around May, June.
Bret Schanzenbach (04:56):
And I remember because of what the
effects had on what I wasinvolved in at that time.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:01):
Oh, wow.
Bret Schanzenbach (05:02):
But So those fires hit, and I would love for
you to pick up the story andshare how what you experienced,
going through those fires ledyou to what is now two thousand
Paces photo organizing.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:20):
Yeah, absolutely. As I said, it was
not my intent through this youknow, journey in my life to
start a business. I think Ialways had an entrepreneurial
spirit. Even when I was in theNavy, actually, I, I started a
little side business, doing giftbaskets,
Bret Schanzenbach (05:37):
Nice.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:38):
For dental offices and things like that.
And, and it was a short lived,but I could, I could feel that
excitement and energy, but it,it wasn't my intent. And then as
you said, the, the fires thatjust, it ravaged through all of
North County, you know, you'd,you'd say, I'm going to go to my
cousin's house in Carlsbad. Andshe'd say, Well, I'm being
evacuated too. Right?
And you remember that.
Bret Schanzenbach (05:57):
Was everywhere.
Rachel Arbuckle (05:58):
It was, it was everywhere. And the Cocos fire
started about a hundred yardsfrom our home. And so our
neighbor knocked on the door andshe just pointed to the fire and
ran back in our house. This wasbefore the fire trucks were even
there. There was no officialevacuation.
It was so fast. Right?
Bret Schanzenbach (06:13):
And the wind's blowing.
Rachel Arbuckle (06:15):
Oh, right.
Bret Schanzenbach (06:16):
TIM
Rachel Arbuckle (06:17):
It's very scary. And when you see it right
there, you know, coming down thehill towards your home, growing
up, spending most of my youth inSan Diego, of course, we all
have been most of us have beenevacuated. We know the drill.
You grab your stuff, put it in acar, you know, you go stay
somewhere and you go back toyour home.
Bret Schanzenbach (06:34):
Yeah. And everything's fine. Right. You
know, and, and you have thewarning and, you know
Rachel Arbuckle (06:39):
Exactly. And you just go, you know, the worst
thing about it is now I've gotto put all this stuff away. And
it's more of a nuisance in, inthat regard. Right? But this
particular one, we didn't havetime to grab anything beyond, of
course, our family and our pets.
And we got out very quickly andit was terrifying. I remember I
was in my car. My husband was inhis car because we were trying
(07:00):
to fill it up with as much as wecould. And we were in a gated
community. And so I kept tryingto get out and I looked in my
rearview mirror and I could seethe fire in my rearview mirror.
Bret Schanzenbach (07:10):
Oh, wow. And- That's so scary.
Rachel Arbuckle (07:12):
It was, it was really scary at the time. And
then I, I was at the bottom ofthe hill by Cal State San Marcos
because it was right behindthere. And my husband and I were
looking up and we truly thoughtwe were going to lose
everything. And the windsshifted. We got very lucky that
our community was spared.
Obviously, as we all know, thereare many others that lost their
homes. Yes. Right? And that firein my heart goes out to all of
(07:34):
them. I can't even imagine.
The nuisance of putting thingsaway is small compared to what,
you know, they've But as I stooddown there and looked up and I
was thinking about, there'salways a memory keeper in the
family, I like to say, right?There's one person that just is
really passionate about, andnostalgic about keeping those
(07:54):
memories, whether they want tobe the memory keeper or not. Are
people listening going, Yep,that's me.
Bret Schanzenbach (07:58):
That's me. Yep.
Rachel Arbuckle (07:59):
And everybody drops off the photos and things.
And that was me. And so I had myparents' childhood photos. I had
my grandpa's journals from whenhe was a pilot in the Navy.
Bret Schanzenbach (08:07):
Oh, wow.
Rachel Arbuckle (08:08):
Right. I had these journals from the eighteen
hundreds. My, even just my kids'artwork and their preschool
drawings and things like that. Ididn't have time to grab that.
And I started thinking about allthe old computers I've kept that
have photos on them and, theframe photos on the walls and,
and just everything was all overthe place.
And the anxiety I felt, duringthat period of time.
Bret Schanzenbach (08:30):
Thinking you might lose all of that.
Rachel Arbuckle (08:32):
Absolutely. And it, it just, it terrified me
because I we're so connected toour photo memories, you And, so
in that moment, I, I said to myhusband, if our memories
survive, I need to find a way topreserve these. So I started
looking around and I didn't findanything that I thought our
photos deserved. That sort of,excuse the pun, but sparked
(08:55):
this, idea to help other peopleavoid that anxiety and fear that
I experienced during the Cocosfire.
Bret Schanzenbach (09:02):
Yeah, this is, just yesterday, we were
hosting We had 26 middle schoolstudents here at the chamber,
and we were talking aboutentrepreneurism. And they're in
a five week course with uscalled Future CEO.
Rachel Arbuckle (09:19):
Very cool.
Bret Schanzenbach (09:20):
Yeah. And the session yesterday about
entrepreneurism is exactly whatyou're saying. Like, look for a
need, look for something that'smissing or something that you
see that you can do better orsomething like that. And that's,
you know, to be your spark for abusiness idea. And that's
exactly what you did, right?
You saw this, something thatwasn't being fulfilled, and you
(09:42):
looked for it, couldn't find it,and you're like, Then I'm gonna
start it. That's right. Youknow? It doesn't exist, so it
needs to exist. Absolutely.
Because you knew what youexperienced with that whole fear
of losing all those memories, soyou wanted to create something
that would help others who wouldexperience the same thing. So
with that, tell us what 2,000does.
Rachel Arbuckle (10:08):
Oh my goodness. You know, really it's about
reconnecting. The overall goalis to reconnect our clients with
their photo memories, in a waythat, that kind of captures
their journey. 2,000 paces in,the Old Testament or the Torah,
depending on your affiliation,represents a day's journey. And
(10:30):
so that's where the name twothousand paces comes from.
Journey. Right? So we're, we'retrying to capture that journey.
And so the idea is that we takeall those photos that, that you
have in albums and envelopesand, you know, that are at risk.
Bret Schanzenbach (10:44):
Boxes.
Rachel Arbuckle (10:44):
Boxes. Right? They're in the garage or they're
in the attic or they're in thebasement. And and then all the
digital photos that are on, youknow, CDs and floppy disks and
all that old technology. And weconsolidate everything together.
We get rid of duplicates and thenon storytelling photos. Right?
The ones where we gave our kidsa disposable camera to go to
(11:04):
camp and they took photos oftheir feet by accident. And, and
Bret Schanzenbach (11:10):
Or six photos of the same flower.
Rachel Arbuckle (11:12):
Right.
Bret Schanzenbach (11:13):
Okay.
Rachel Arbuckle (11:14):
Right. You know, because we were trying to
be, you know, so creative then.And that's before we had the
opportunity to look at ourdigital phone. But digital
phones, I mean, that's a hugeissue too. People who have, you
know, screenshots and photos offabric and recipes, and it just,
it feels chaotic, and peoplecan't enjoy those memories.
So our goal is to help youpreserve them and protect them
(11:35):
so future generations can enjoythem, and organize them in a way
that you can find them and sharethem.
Bret Schanzenbach (11:43):
Perfect. We are going to take a brief pause.
We're talking to RachelArbuckle, the owner of two
thousand Paces Photo Organizing.When we come back, we're going
to dig into this deeper to talkabout how they do what they do.
So stick with us, we'll be rightback.
(12:57):
So Rachel, before we took abreak, we were just getting to
the point where you were talkingabout what you guys do. And so I
want kind of get into thedetails of this a little bit
more. So full disclosure to thelistening audience: You helped
us at the Chamber.
Rachel Arbuckle (13:13):
Yes.
Bret Schanzenbach (13:13):
A little over a year ago. Well, you and I
started this a year and a halfago, probably, because the
Chamber was celebrating its onehundredth anniversary as an
organization.
Rachel Arbuckle (13:24):
Right.
Bret Schanzenbach (13:26):
And I don't know how many of your clients
are dealing with a hundred yearsworth of history that you're
trying to help them organize,but it was intimidating to me.
And as you pointed out, I mean,were stuff in albums. There were
stuff in boxes. There's stuff onhard drives. There's stuff on
(13:46):
phones.
And your words you used rightbefore we took a break was so
apropos, it's chaos. And as asteward of an organization like
the chamber, we want to preserveall of that in a meaningful way.
I hope the chamber is here foranother hundred years, and
somebody's doing theirbicentennial. But they have a
(14:10):
way to easily kind of pullphotos and memories from various
years out. So you got involvedand helped so much.
Talk about, you know, thesedifferent things like that you
can take, I guess we call itdigitizing. We take the physical
and make it digital. Right. Andthen you can take the digital
(14:32):
and make it meaningful. So goahead and walk us through how
you do what you do.
Rachel Arbuckle (14:35):
Right. Well, you know, and it was such an
honor to work with the chamber,particularly for such an
incredible event. I mean,hundred years of such history.
And that's, that's what we wantto capture and remember, whether
that is, a family's personalhistory or a business. And we
work with both consumers as wellas businesses.
(14:57):
And the idea is that for thechamber, for example, that you
can look back and see, well,what were we doing then? Where
did we start? And it was areally interesting evolution for
me and for my team to see. Itwas so small. The buildings were
small.
To see what Carlsbad Chamber hasbecome. You know, think
sometimes in life we were in themoment and we think, Oh, I've
(15:19):
got so many things on mychecklist, or I haven't
accomplished these goals. Butwhen you look back and you look
at this journey that the Chamberexperienced, it's pretty
remarkable. And so we lovetelling that story. So there
were, for example, a number ofscrapbooks with newspaper
articles, And handwriting frompeople.
And that's something that'sreally powerful, particularly
(15:39):
now when, people aren't writingletters like we used to, right?
I mean, it's very rare to get asnail mail, if you will.
Bret Schanzenbach (15:47):
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (15:48):
So when we look at these scrapbooks that our
clients have, and they havehandwriting from their
grandmother or their greatgrandmother or their great,
great grandmother, back in theeighteen hundreds and to capture
that story as well. So it's notjust about digitizing the photos
or converting home movies,right? It's about telling the
story so that you, you can kindof see where you came from.
(16:13):
Yeah. You know, there was, if Icould share, we had a client
who, hurt, she had lost her mom,many years ago and had kind of
put everything aside.
She lost her mom, when her momwas far too young. And she'd
kind of put everything asidebecause of course it's very
painful to revisit thosememories. We deal with a lot of
that. We've got a lot of tissueAnd, we were going through the
(16:37):
photos, you know, when we weredone and she had picked up one
photo in which she and hersister were wearing, you know, a
really nice dress. And it wasn'ta particularly interesting photo
from somebody who didn'texperience it.
It was just two girls, you know,wearing little dresses. But she
just brightened up. And I said,what's the story behind this
(16:57):
photo? And she said, this isback when we had to dress nice
to get on the plane. Right?
No yoga pants and sweats.
Bret Schanzenbach (17:03):
And you
Rachel Arbuckle (17:04):
had to dress nice. And they were going on
this trip. And she said, my momwas adamant that my sister and I
wore this really nice dress. Andshe said, I was sick. And I,
excuse me, but threw up all overmy dress.
And I made this big mess. And mymom's only focus was when we got
off the plane, we had to go buya new dress because, you know,
and it just, it brought her asmile because it was that
(17:25):
connection. It was the storybehind that photo that was so
powerful for her.
Bret Schanzenbach (17:31):
One of the stories that, came back to the
surface that when you guys werehelping us go through all the
chamber history, it's just afunny back and forth letter that
went between Carlsbad Chamber inCalifornia and the Carlsbad
(17:52):
Chamber in Carlsbad, New Mexico,and this little rivalry about
who was the better Carlsbad andall this stuff. And it was
hilarious seeing these lettersback and forth with the
competition. And it's awesomethat we've been here a hundred
years, but I've only been here,you know, six and a half. So I
didn't have that. I didn't youknow, I can't even remember what
(18:14):
year that was, but I wanna sayit was like in the fifties or
Rachel Arbuckle (18:16):
It was. I think forties or fifties. Yeah. It was
a few years ago.
Bret Schanzenbach (18:19):
Yeah. It was a while back. If you don't take
the time to unearth stuff likethat and revisit it, it gets
lost.
Rachel Arbuckle (18:26):
That's right.
Bret Schanzenbach (18:27):
But it was great. And the other thing I
like about what you helped us dois some of it now we framed and
put on our walls, you know? Andso I think you saw in our
conference room just a fewmonths ago, we got some of that
stuff that you helped us withframed up, and so it's there.
(18:47):
And, you know, when we putsomething on our walls, it
usually lasts for five, tenyears because then changing it's
too big of a task. So it'sprobably going to be there a
while.
But it's great. It's got thathistorical stuff there. So I
love that. And I thought of itbecause, like you were saying,
(19:07):
you're helping us reconnect withour story.
Rachel Arbuckle (19:09):
That's right. That's right. And it's
interesting that you bring upwith the frames that are on the
walls. We have so many clientsthat say, you know, one of the
motivations and I always ask,you know, what prompted you to
come work with us? Sometimes,I've heard, I have these photos
on the walls, that are sundamaged.
They've been up there forever,and it was my kids in fourth
(19:29):
grade, and now they'regraduating high school. Right?
And so part of what we're doingis organizing photos in a way
that allows you to update thosebetter. So for example, we do
things like assigned facialrecognition. We rename every
file rather than the IMG 1234,right?
We name it with the date it wastaken. We add keywords. So, for
(19:54):
example, every year, of course,now I have to give my parents a
photo book.
Bret Schanzenbach (19:57):
Of course you do.
Rachel Arbuckle (19:59):
I kind of dug a hole for myself on that And
after doing this for quite a fewyears, I had to get creative.
And now this past year, I wasable to type the word
Thanksgiving, and I typedcertain family members in
because I'd done facialrecognition. And I was able to
put together a photo book of allof the Thanksgivings and give
that as a gift. Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (20:18):
That's very cool.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:19):
Isn't it fun?
Bret Schanzenbach (20:20):
That reminds So, for a couple years in a row,
I did, you know, like onShutterfly or whatever, I did
personalized calendars for, youknow, the grandparents. It's a
lot of work. And like you said,the files on the phones and the
computers aren't don't have thelabeling changed, and so you're,
(20:40):
like, looking at every stinkingpicture. And so, this year, I
didn't do it.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:44):
Oh, no.
Bret Schanzenbach (20:45):
And then I felt kind of bad. I'm like, oh,
I should have put the effort in.But you know, it's a big lift.
Rachel Arbuckle (20:49):
It is. It's a it is. And I think that's that's
one of the powers of what we do.It's not just about, we're going
to digitize it for right now.It's about creating a system
that allows you to, do thingslike that moving forward.
So I will give you a quick tipon that. So the calendar,
because I know a lot of peopledo this, I actually, of course,
have to make a calendar for myfamily every year as well. And
(21:13):
the tip is that as you're goingthrough your photos, so if
you've got them organized, and,and you've got them labeled by
name, what's kind of nice is ifthey're organized by date, you
can pick a few from every monthand then you can bring them into
something like Shutterfly andthey have what's called a
storyboard. And so you can say,I want to throw these in
(21:33):
January. I want to throw thesein February.
If you've already gotten rid ofthose non storytelling photos,
right? The recipes, thescreenshots, the receipts, you
don't have as much to siftthrough. But a little tip, even
if you're not working with aprofessional organizer is when
you find photos you really like,create an album on your phone
that's called calendar. And whenyou have a few photos that you
think these are great, just putthose right in there. So at the
(21:56):
end of the year
Bret Schanzenbach (21:57):
You're ready.
Rachel Arbuckle (21:57):
Makes your process a lot easier.
Bret Schanzenbach (21:59):
That's a good idea. There you go.
Rachel Arbuckle (22:00):
So you're ready for next year.
Bret Schanzenbach (22:01):
I know. I should do that. I should start
now proactively. Now, we've beentalking a lot about photos, but
I did see that you have videoconversion services as well. So
talk about that.
Rachel Arbuckle (22:14):
So, you know, when I first started, it was,
obviously this is a newerindustry. Tell people, sometimes
I'll be asked if we're afranchise. And I take that as a
compliment. It means that itsounds like we look like we know
what we're doing. And I think wedo.
There was no blueprint. So Istarted with a piece of paper.
Now we have three fifty pages ofoperating procedures. So it's
(22:35):
creating this whole process.
Bret Schanzenbach (22:38):
Yeah. The video conversion or VHS to,
Rachel Arbuckle (22:43):
Right. So, yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry.
It's so exciting talking aboutthis. My brain just goes No,
that's okay.
So the, you know, my point inbringing that up is that I
wanted it to be a one stop shopbecause it really, it takes a
lot of courage, believe it ornot, for clients to hand over
(23:04):
these precious memories.
Bret Schanzenbach (23:06):
Yes.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:06):
It's difficult for them to say, Here, I'm going
to give you everything. And wewe actually we work with clients
all over the country. So we'rethrilled to work with local
clients. They can come in theoffice. We can meet with them,
and it's wonderful.
But we're really honored that wehave clients all over the
country. And we had a client inNew Jersey, but he was so
nervous to ship his stuff thathe hired somebody at his golf
(23:28):
club to drive all of his photosfrom New Jersey to San Diego for
us to work on them. It was suchan honor to do that. I was
thrilled. He just trusted us somuch.
So anyway, getting to your
Bret Schanzenbach (23:40):
He trusted you, but not UPS. That's right.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:43):
Or FedEx or any
Bret Schanzenbach (23:44):
of these others.
Rachel Arbuckle (23:45):
Absolutely. Because that's how precious
these photos are to us and toour clients.
Bret Schanzenbach (23:50):
Yeah. If they screw it up and they just, you
know, Oh, here, we'll file aninsurance claim. That doesn't
replace They're gone forever.
Rachel Arbuckle (24:00):
You're absolutely right, Brett. And I'm
glad you brought that up.Working in insurance before
this, although I was on themarketing side, one of the
things is you cannot insure yourphotos. Can insure your art, you
know, you can insure jewelry,your car, your home. But we
can't insure what's mostprecious to us.
You know, you you hear, withunfortunately, so many people
lost homes in the Palisadesfires. And of course, we've
(24:21):
gotten a lot of calls frompeople who grabbed whatever they
could. But when you hear it onthe news, they say, I even John
Mayer, he posted on social mediathat he grabbed one little box
that was his dad's, you know,letters and journal, and that's
what was most important to him.So circling back to your
question about the videos, Iwanted to make sure that I
(24:42):
learned that it's once we earnthe trust of our clients, I
don't want them to feel likethey have to go somewhere else
with these other services. So wedid we didn't start that way,
but now, we have for quite a fewyears, we offer video
conversion.
So that's you're right. The VHStapes, the VHS C, the Hi8, the
Mini DV, even the audiocassettes that we all used to
(25:03):
have. And the micro cassettes,do you remember for answering
machines? There's those littletiny Yeah. You'd be surprised
how many people have them.
And they're really cool becausethose have, you know, our voices
when we were younger. And theneven the old film reels, you
know, those old projectors. Likeeight millimeters? Eight
millimeters. Exactly.
Yeah. And what, what I loveabout it is you can watch these
(25:27):
home movies, and we've got thisreally cool program, that allows
you to watch movies on your TV.And, it's I actually went back
to Kansas where my family lives,for Thanksgiving. There were 22
of us. And I was able to putthese film reels that I had
converted on the TV, on thisapp, and all of us sat there,
(25:47):
ate snacks, and watched.
Wow. Memories from the forties,fifties, sixties, seventies. It
was really, really fun to beable to do that because it's
outdated. We can't watch thatstuff, right?
Bret Schanzenbach (25:58):
Yeah, it's very difficult. Yeah. That's
great. So, you mentioned foryour own family that you have to
make photo books every year, butone of the services that you
guys provide is also creatingphoto books for your clients,
which I'm sure is a popularoption. Absolutely.
So many people You know, I thinkthe whole camera on our phone
(26:24):
thing is amazing. Theconvenience is phenomenal, and
the quality has gotten so good.Right?
Rachel Arbuckle (26:29):
But
Bret Schanzenbach (26:31):
now we have untold number of pictures and
videos trapped on this littledevice that we carry around in
our purse or our pocket orwhatever.
Rachel Arbuckle (26:42):
And,
Bret Schanzenbach (26:44):
you know, it's not as easy to actually sit
down and watch them as you justmentioned. It's almost as bad as
the old, old stuff.
Rachel Arbuckle (26:53):
You're right. Well, because it's overwhelming.
Right? It's so overwhelming. Youget on your phone and you think,
Oh, I want to find this videowhere I was swimming with
dolphins in Hawaii, you know,and, and, and you can't find it.
Bret Schanzenbach (27:04):
You're scrolling and scrolling and
Rachel Arbuckle (27:07):
one of the things that's interesting when
you brought up photo books,there have actually been studies
that show that kids who, feelmore connected with their family
history and their roots and sortof their own journey, it
actually provides confidence forthem. You know, like any time
you have those roots, right? Itmakes sense.
Bret Schanzenbach (27:29):
See, this is going back to your psychological
stuff, doesn't That's right. Itall
Rachel Arbuckle (27:32):
comes full circle. And so being able to see
these photos, you know, we usedto look at them in albums,
right? And we've all got thosememories. I hope most of us have
those memories of sitting downwith our parents or grandparents
and flipping the pages of thealbums. Unfortunately, those are
bulky.
You know, those sticky albumsare yellow. They're degrading
our So putting them in a photobook and allowing your kids to
(27:55):
flip through and not have thatdigital component. Yeah. To flip
through a photo book or to flipthrough actual printed photos,
there is a calming that you see.My daughter graduated from high
school almost two years ago now,and we made a photo book, for
her where everybody wroteletters of encouragement and
advice and, and it was marriedwith photos of that person.
(28:19):
And she took it with her tocollege and I wasn't sure what
was going to happen. And, aftershe was at college for a few
weeks, of course, she gothomesick her first year. And she
told me that looking throughthat book brought her some peace
and comfort.
Bret Schanzenbach (28:31):
Awesome.
Rachel Arbuckle (28:32):
It is. And so being able to connect the photos
that way. So once they'reorganized, creating the photo
books is easy. Sure. When you'vegot the keywords and things.
It's also worth mentioning thatthere have been some studies,
that show that, the elderly, youknow, our parents and
grandparents with dementia orearly onset Alzheimer's, by
(28:56):
seeing some of these photos, ithas actually sparked some of
those memories. Because as mostof us are aware, we, when, when
dementia kicks in, it's usuallythe most recent memories we lose
first. So we have, we have heardstories from clients, remarkable
stories, where they've shownthese photos, to their parent
that has dementia and shownphotos of their childhood home
(29:20):
and things they did. And theycan actually talk about those
stories in a way that theyweren't able to communicate
before. So there's so much powerbehind what we're doing.
Bret Schanzenbach (29:31):
That's great.
Rachel Arbuckle (29:32):
Those
Bret Schanzenbach (29:33):
are awesome, awesome stories to share about
the power of this. And I knowyou mentioned it already, you
were just sharing about one ofyour clients, but you know,
another aspect of this is, youknow, if somebody were to kind
of proactively meet with you nowversus waiting for somebody to
(29:56):
pass away. Because when somebodypasses away, I feel like it's
the mad dash. Like, somebody's,you know, like, I gotta put the
PowerPoint together or theslideshow or whatever it is.
Who's got pictures with Papa?
You know? And everybody'slooking through a drawer, a
phone, an album, and it's chaos,and the poor person who's in
(30:18):
charge of putting this alltogether is pulling their hair
out, and versus, you know, ifthey meet with if somebody has
thought this through ahead oftime, you can make their life so
much easier at that point.
Rachel Arbuckle (30:30):
Yeah. You know, Brett, I'm I'm glad you said
that. It's always a sensitivetopic, you know? Prepare for the
future, of losing a parent. It'snot something any of us want to
think about.
But it happens all the time. Weget so many phone calls from
people that say, you know, lostmom, lost dad, lost grandma. And
we've got all these photos. Ofcourse, if it's dad or grandpa,
(30:50):
you know, somebody older,they're going to be in print or
slides or negatives. And it is,it's very frantic.
Recently, it was just a fewweeks ago, actually it was at
the end of last year, we got aphone call from a client who,
you know, that had happened andall the siblings were getting
together and trying to sendphotos and they brought boxes
and our whole team paused on theprojects they were doing and,
(31:13):
you know, full board focused onthis one because it's, we need
to get that done quickly. Butnow what we're having to do in a
very short amount of time is gothrough all the photos, get them
organized, get them digitized,then do facial recognition to
find, you know, mom, then createthe photo slideshow. And that's
fine for us. But the, whatyou're experiencing is that
(31:36):
anxiety of, as you've said,trying to gather the photos and
call people and what do we have?And then you might realize
later, Oh gosh, I didn't evenremember about that album from
my mom's childhood.
I wish I'd grab that. And itbecomes very, there's so much
anxiety already. Right? So forthose clients that, have gotten
them organized, whether theywork with us, another photo
(31:57):
organizer, or do it on theirown, when they have that
prepared, they are able to focuson the healing and the loss and
supporting each other, in thefamily rather than having to
spend the time getting that alldone. So I always encourage
people, although it's difficultto imagine, getting this done
will prepare you for that aswell.
Yeah.
Bret Schanzenbach (32:18):
Yeah. And like you said, it's not a fun
subject to bring up, but it'sreal. We all deal with it. We
all do, you know? So, it'sbetter to talk about it than to
just pretend it's not going tohappen to us because it's if
somebody is listening today, andI love that you said that you
work with clients all over thecountry, because the beauty of
podcasts is once they'republished, they go everywhere.
(32:39):
Or they can go anywhere. I waslooking at some statistics from
last year to who was listening,it's like, Why do we have
listeners in Ohio?
Rachel Arbuckle (32:52):
What fun!
Bret Schanzenbach (32:52):
Other parts of the country, it's just like,
This is wild. But
Rachel Arbuckle (32:56):
I'm in Carlsbad, Texas, though. I don't
know.
Bret Schanzenbach (32:58):
Oh, you mean Carlsbad, New Mexico?
Rachel Arbuckle (33:00):
Carlsbad, New Mexico, excuse me.
Bret Schanzenbach (33:01):
I don't know. I should have looked at that
closer. Good question. But youwork with clients all over, so
that's wonderful. Anybodylistening today can take
advantage of your services.
But if somebody is hearing this,and it's the first hearing of
2,000 Paces, and they're like, Ireally need to talk to Rachel. I
to know how this process worksand how do we start and all that
(33:24):
stuff. Best place for them tostart their journey with you?
Your website, maybe?
Rachel Arbuckle (33:30):
Absolutely. Just 2000paces.com. So two zero
triple zero P A C E S dot com.You know, you can kind of see
some before and after pictures,see what we're all about, but
there's a consultation button.So one thing is, again,
recognizing how important thesememories are.
And what, what really makes usstand out from sort of the big
(33:50):
box companies where you justship things is we have a
conversation first. And Ipersonally try and have those
conversations. So, by signing upfor a free phone consultation,
we can hop on a call. I love tolisten to, you know, what are
your goals? What are you tryingto achieve?
What's kind of provide, youknow, what's causing that
anxiety for you? Then wecustomize the plan and talk
(34:13):
about it. I share, this is howwe can make those goals become a
reality. And if I give them sometips and they decide to do it on
their own or, they decide tomove forward, either way, it's
just a really enjoyableopportunity to just see what
your options are. A free phoneconsultation.
We also have our number is (760)290-3957. And you can call or
(34:35):
text us. And on our website,there's one of those little bot
features, and you can alwayssubmit questions if you're not
quite ready for a phoneconsultation. So a lot of ways
to get some information and getconnected with us.
Bret Schanzenbach (34:47):
Perfect. So 2000paces.com is a great place
to start, or your phone number,which they just heard and can
pause the podcast and back up,and if they need to hear it
again, write that down. And thenthey can have a consultation
with you. And I love what yousaid. So you start with
conversation to learn whatthey're trying to accomplish,
(35:09):
what their goals are, what theirneeds are, versus just some
anonymous service at whateverbig box store.
So that's great. And I know, youhave a couple of kiddos of your
own. You mentioned yourdaughter's in college, and I
think your son's older, right?Your daughter's the youngest,
Yeah.
Rachel Arbuckle (35:28):
So, my husband and I are married to my best
friend, Dan. And actually, hisdad used to be the president of
the Carlsbad Chamber. So we'vegot a lot of connections here.
At Arbuckle and Helen, we are,we're, we're very focused on our
family. We have two kids.
Our son, Isaiah lives up inOregon. And then our daughter,
(35:48):
Darian, is just turned 20, she'sat San Francisco State.
Bret Schanzenbach (35:52):
Wonderful. Yeah. Good stuff. Well, thank
you so much for taking the timeto come down and share with us
about 2,000 Paces. And we lovehaving you in our chamber
family.
I appreciate your services forour chamber, but love having you
here. Your business is so uniqueand is filling a need.
Rachel Arbuckle (36:10):
Thanks, Brett. I love working with you and
everyone in the chamber, and Ireally appreciate that, the
opportunity to be here and sharea little bit about what we do.
Bret Schanzenbach (36:18):
Our pleasure. Thanks for joining us today on
our Carlsbad People, Purpose,Impact podcast. If you got value
out of our episode today, pleasehit the follow button on your
favorite podcast app and pleasetell a friend. Can't wait to see
you next time on CarlsbadPeople, Purpose, and Impact.
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