January 22, 2025 • 51 mins
An awesome attitude in life goes a long way in not just your personal life, but also in your business. Todd and Craig welcome special guest, Tyler Graham, owner of Weston Media, and a REPP 2024 Panel Speaker. Tyler shares his beginnings as a Real Estate Media Photographer and business owner in the Myrtle Beach, SC market, and how he grew at the rate that he did. He makes growth look easy...but is it?
Tyler's Instagram: @ItsTylerGraham
Chapter Timestamps:
0:00 Episode Open
02:47 Spiro Updates
06:27 How to Upvote Spiro Features
07:54 Owner Spotlight: Tyler Graham
50:29 Episode wrap-up
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Coming up on this episodeof The Spiro podcast.
(00:04):
and I think this takes it back towhen I got that business coach.
They were trying to learn about meand how I got to 75,000
in my first yearand we brought it all back to trust.
Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
Managing your real estate photographyand videography business
(00:24):
with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
and Craig Magrum
Hi, and welcome to the Spiro podcast,
managing your real estate photographyand videography business.
Spiro.
As we've mentioned in the past,is a software platform
designed to help youmanage your day to day
real estate, media, businessand really ultimately help it grow.
(00:45):
That's that's our goal on this podcastto help you build a strong business
and help your business grow.
So welcome back to another week.
Each and every week, our co-hostand or founder and owner of Spiro
Todd Kivimaki. Welcome back, Todd.
Craig It's great to be here.
Happy New Year, everyone.
If you're just tuning infor the first time, we have an exciting
(01:05):
lineup, an amazing individual on today.
So we will get to him shortly.
But it's great to be here with you all.
Also, I wanted to mention that it is greatto hear from all of you.
We love hearing from our listeners.
It is incredible.Don't hesitate to reach out to us.
You can leave a commentif you are watching this on YouTube.
hello@spiro.media.
(01:27):
If you like email or if you are a Spirouser, join us over in the Spiro
Superuser group on the Facebook
- the facebook- and we will. the Facebook.
is that like the Google.
Yes, it is like the Ohio State University.
I like what you’re doing there
Yeah, I kinda say the face, the Facebook.
(01:49):
It's kind of like a an older like I.
I don't know what I'm doing,but go ahead, Craig.
Well, you said the Ohio State University.
Now, for those of you that may not know,Todd and I were Wow video tours
and Spiro is in Ohio,we're both unabashedly Buckeye fans.
Of course, the national championshiphappening on Monday.
We record this on Friday. So.
(02:10):
Todd,you saying the Ohio State University?
I hope that we actually pull off the winand can still proudly
say the Ohio State University
This is probably being publishedTuesday morning.
So we'll we'll see what happens.
Yes, either all of Ohio is burningor we're celebrating.
So it's one or the other.
That's the way we do football in Ohio.
(02:32):
It's like you could win every game but one.
And you had a losing year.
That's true.
There's really only one gamethat really matters.
And we lost it last year.
Anyway, we're getting off trackvery quickly, so.
Spiro, let’s dive intoSpiro updates, Todd
Spiro Update Thank you, Craig.
Save the sinking ship. Here we go.
(02:53):
We just pushed them.There was ten of them for you.
I'm going to read them real quick.
One of the biggest one is we hear fromyou and your
you guys say, hey,this is like we sell this as our system
and we want our brandto shine a little bit more.
And I actually love thatyou sell it as your system
because I've sold it as my systemto our clients.
(03:13):
A Wow for 21 years.
And the ownership, I am justI love that idea.
So what we've done iswe've put your brand a little more forward
and that we have taken the primary colorthat you have set.
And now it is in moreplaces throughout the system.
So like the little pink loading
(03:35):
icon that load when the page loads, it'snow your primary colors, not pink anymore.
And we've removed that pinkand we've replaced your primary
color and various portionsthroughout the system.
Another one of those portionsis the tracking website for your clients.
This is where subscribers
go to get text messageor to get updates on the appointment.
(03:55):
They also get text message update.
But this is like the Domino'sPizza Tracker.
It's now your brand colors.
So the third thing is property website.
If you scroll all the way to the bottomof a branded property website
we use to say powered by Spyro
and you could clickSpiro and go to the Spiro website.
And some of you are like, Hey,can you just remove that?
(04:16):
And we removed it.
So we're not partial to our brand.
We appreciate you guys all pushing ourbrand out there, but we understand that
that property website's for you guysand we were happy to remove that.
So finally you can renamesome of the pages that your agents use.
So like the download page,
you could put your company name in thereand a couple of other pages,
(04:39):
so be sure to check out settings,my company and branding for those updates.
A few other notable ones.
I won't cover all of them,but unit numbers are now everywhere.
If your address has a unit number, we'veput it everywhere that the address shows.
So that was a big onethat you guys asked for
and just a quality of life updateAnd we have heard you on that one
(05:00):
invoice reminders, options.
Also, we've heard from you on this oneand we're happy to put this update out.
You can now set your own invoicereminder schedule.
How many times does a clientget an invoice before it's due
and after it is due?
So you can set that in your invoicingsection.
You can now turn off a display pageor and or a download page.
(05:24):
Some you said, Hey,
I do headshotsand I load them in the spiro
and it doesn't really make sense to givethem a property website of the headshots.
Can I turn the property website off?
Yes, you can.
Now some of your clientsmight want a full property
website of their head on the page.
I don't know.I've worked with agents for a long time.
Many of them don't.
Anyways, the power is in your hands.
Some other.
(05:45):
We did over 25 refinements in the mobileoptimization the UI and the UX.
Now when you sort
and when you edit a bundle,the order of your services will stick.
They used to go back to alphabetical.You're like, Whoa, wait a minute.
I had them in an order that I liked.
They now stick.
We did things with taxes, click viewing,quick viewing of client invoices.
(06:07):
We enhanced a few reportsand we also automatically have added
the first 15 images in the image slideron the property website.
So it feels more like a videothat's scrolling to your clients.
Craig Way more than a minute,but I'll pay the bill.
That's okay.
That's a lot of updates and I love,
you know, the advantage that we have is
(06:29):
being Spiro is we're Wow video toursthat built Spiro, Right?
So we get we get what you're talking aboutwith the suggestions that you're making,
making the page your branding colorsinstead of Spiro’s Branding colors.
There is a
feature where you can upvote thingsthat you're looking for
in the in the softwareor what's called feature base.
(06:51):
I believe that it's called.
So for those that aren’t familiar with that.
Can you explain that real quick?
And then we'll get to our topic this week.
Yeah, so it's a page and this is basedon your feedback that you all said, Hey,
where can I see where can I suggestsomething and see what you're working on?
And so if you go to spiromedia.featurebase.app
(07:12):
we'll put it in the show notes.
Also, if you're in Spiro, the upper righthand corner, there's a feedback icon.
Just click on that.It will take you directly.
But on this board,you can see what others have suggested
and you can see the number of timesthat it has been upvoted
and you cannot vote for itif you like that suggestion.
(07:33):
Also, there's a tabwhere you can see what we are working on
and what has been completed.
So just a nice way to go engagewith the community there.
And we naturally work
on the featuresthat the most of you want out there.
It's an awesome feature.
We try to be responsive.
-We do.- All right.
(07:54):
Well, so this year we'vewe started actually the end of last year.
We started to invite some more guests onbecause we we want to hear
from the real estate media community,the successes that they're having,
the things that they're learning
and implementing in their businesses,things that are helping them grow.
So we're trying to incorporate more guestson the Spiro podcast to highlight
(08:18):
other areas of our industry,other other owners that are doing
some pretty fantastic thingsin their businesses.
And this week is no exception.
We do have a guest this weekthat Todd, I'm going to let you introduce
our guests this weekand kind of get this episode set up here.
Yes, it'd be my pleasure.
So this individualis just a firecracker of energy.
(08:39):
And also the thing that I want youall to take away today
is how he uses that energyto build relationships.
This might be a wordthat Craig and I use the most on here.
And if you ask a question,
typicallyif I respond, you say on Facebook
and it's about building business,like growing your business.
(09:01):
My answer generally always has.
You have to build more relationships,build better relationships.
This individual might be the kingof building relationships.
Just the warmth and the sincerity
and he's built withhis clients is amazing.
So that is the biggest thing todaythat if you are out there at the beginning
(09:22):
of 2025 saying,Hey, I have these new big goals
that I want to hit, how am I goingto get more agents to understand that
I want to work and can work for themand I can help their business stand out?
It is truly relationship building 100%.
And so I'm excited today.
(09:43):
Without further ado.
Tyler Graham of Weston Mediais on the show today.
Welcome, Tyler. How are you?
I am doing fantastic.
Thank you guys for having me.
pleasure to have you on here today.
Tyler, if you wouldn't mindjust starting off, if you could just give
everyone who doesn't know you on the showjust a little background
(10:04):
about how you came into real estate media,where you're at with your business,
just to bring us up to speedwith your history in real estate media.
Yeah, I'll try to be really quick on this,
but honestly,I feel like it takes the whole story.
So I got into photography in like 2020.
During COVID, I took my stimuluscheck $800 and bought a Nikon D800
(10:29):
on Facebook,and I grew up in the horse industry.
Hunter jumperswhere they jump the sticks. Yes.
And I did that through collegeto make money on the side on the weekends.
And that kind of built up.
And I bought some new gear, had some gearstolen and all kinds of other stuff.
So finally, I like I mentioned,I grew up in the horse industry.
(10:50):
I was finishing up my bachelor's,starting to get my masters,
and I was working at a farmriding about 8 to 10 horses
a day, shovelinghorse crap, all that other good stuff.
But once I was about midwaythrough my masters, I was like, okay,
I'm about to have my masters.I cannot be doing this.
So I was like, okay, you have all thiscamera equipment, what can you do?
(11:14):
And I started seeing stuff on Instagram
about photographers,how they can make money with real estate.
And so 11:00 at night, one night
I clicked on this ad bought this course,
learned real estate photographyand March of 2023.
I did that.
January,March of 2023 was my first paid shoot.
(11:38):
2023 I did about
$75,000 in revenue.
- Wow. - Good for you.
Yeah. And I mean,
first year
that was without, like,that was based on what I learned.
I mean, the coursewas basically set up like YouTube
and then so I did all that
(11:58):
and that was based on referralsand just kind of building my business.
And then January of 2024
and at the timeI was using Aryeo or whatever,
and then I got a business coachand we kind of talked about goals
and everything,and I was like, okay, I want to hit.
I think I said like $14,000 a month.
(12:20):
I wanted to double my revenuebecause my highest revenue was November
23 with 7000.
And they were like, okay, let's do it.
I did that the next month.
So February.
Yeah, it was it was really great.
And I switched over to Spiro,
right in February.
So we're coming up on in a month, I'llbe at my one year anniversary with Spiro.
(12:41):
But in 2024, I did
a quarter of $1,000,000 in revenue.
So that was so crazy
to like and May considering.
May was,whenever I was in the hiring process
and I did 30,000 of revenue just on my ownwithout other photographers.
(13:01):
as a solo shooter.
You did 30,000 in a month.
Yeah.
And I remember like looking at my Spiroreports and stuff and I was like,
This is crazy.
Did you sleep at all during that time?
I mean,
I slept on coffee,
right?
(13:22):
I literally started I mean, I was in such
a routine of wake up,
drink coffee,and then I would pack my energy, drink,
and then I would pack my little kind barsin the car with me.
And I was doing sunrise shoots all dayshoots,
ending with Sunset shoots.
(13:45):
And then obviously on the weekendsI was going out with friends and stuff.
So I just turned 25 last week.
So it's been a great year,two years in the business, I should say.
Here we are now I've got two photographers,
two VA is working on a third VA,and really my VA should be where I am
because they do my Spiromore than I do. So,
(14:08):
Todd, do you remember the days of at 25and having that kind of energy?
I do, yeah.
Therethere are more distance and distant past,
it’s startingto fade a little bit for me.
- Yeah- Tyler, that's fantastic, man.
That is.
And I think one thing, one thing that
I want you all to be aware of.
(14:29):
And at the end of the day, Tylermakes this seem very easy.
And the thing that I wantyou to pick up on here is the amount
of relationship building and hard workthat he's willing to put in
just pull up your boots and work hard,like you said, like when it was horses
and it was the way that he was makingmoney. Like what?
I'm going to shovel
horse crap to get, you know,whatever I can do to build the business.
(14:52):
And then he went all in on real estatephotography and from 75k
in the first year, which is incredible.
And then to go to a quarter of a millionin the second year is just insane.
So one thing.
Yeah, go ahead, Craig
One thing that popped out to methat you said, Tyler immediately.
Todd, did you notice one year inhe hired a business coach
(15:13):
after just one yearof doing it. and the investment.
Okay.
So the, the expenditure outlay forthat can be
steep sometimes,but look at the ROI on that.
That he got.
Dude. Tyler that's awesome.
Smart, smart business move.
it was no question.
So the business coachwas a six month thing, and as soon as that
(15:34):
six months ended, they were like,okay, do you want to start up again?
I was like, Take my money.
So I mean, I spent in the first yearI got like a little bit of a discount
for the second time around,but I spent 25,000
coaching my first year, so
definitely worth it.
And Tyler,you also mentioned about your masters.
(15:55):
So why is education so important to you?
So for me,it was kind of like just growing up,
and I know a lot of peoplego through different scenarios,
but I mean, we were like dirt poor.
Like my dad literally sold
like farm animals to pay rentto our landlord and stuff growing up.
And it was me,my dad and my older brother Colton.
(16:19):
And then we met our step mom
right around the age of like 11and both of their incomes.
We ended up renting another housewhile our house was being built.
We built our farm by hand, basically,
and did little by little, and it just
I was grateful for everythingI had at the time.
I didn't realize what I didn't have, but
(16:41):
nobody in my familyother than my step mom, had an education
and so I wanted to continue my educationand I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I thought that I wanted to be in a 9
to 5 Monday through Fridayfull benefit type job.
Like, that's whatI thought I was going to be doing.
And this was supposed to be a little side
(17:03):
gig while I was doing the horse shows,finishing up my masters.
Because when I started in January of 2023,I didn't finish my Masters until
July.
So I still, while I was making $30,000a month, I was doing my finals.
- Oh, my goodness.- For my masters.
So it's it'sbeen like seriously such a crazy thing.
(17:26):
But like you mentioned the energyand knowing that the finish line
was right there till I set my next goal,meeting the goals is what it's all about.
And then setting those higher goalsfor me.
Plus energy drinks on top of coffeedoesn't hurt with the Energy Department.
Yes,
you off, you offset what's in theenergy drinks with the kind bar, right?
(17:47):
That kind of is the counteract.
Yeah.
I mean, I was like,I put on this jacket this morning
and I felt something in my pocketfrom Christmas and I was like,
I got a Dunkin card and a Starbucks cardthat's like still in my pocket.
That's great, but hard work.
And I just want to make this point.
Tyler, where are you coming from us?
(18:10):
Where are you coming to us right nowon this podcast?
So I am based out of Myrtle Beach,South Carolina.
And the funny story is, is rightbefore I started the real estate
in January, October, I had reached outto a local real estate company
because I followed themand I love their work.
And I was like,Oh my gosh, I can see myself doing this.
They put out a job postingand we communicated and it was great
(18:35):
and I thoughtI was actually going to join their team.
And then they ultimately felt likemy horse show photography
was going to intervenewith some of their scheduling and stuff.
So they I think they saidthat it wasn't going to be a good fit.
And I was like,okay, So I went start mine and then
three
months into starting my business,I got a DM saying,
(18:55):
Hey, we would love for you to dissolveyour business and join us.
I'm like, No, thank you.
I mean, that's that's where you're like,my hard work paid off, right?
Yeah.
I mean, if I were to join their team,I mean, I would have felt
a disservice to themto, like, cut off and do my own thing.
So I'm glad that I never did that.
(19:16):
You know, Todd, if you remember,we did an episode long time ago
on the question of brokerage exclusivity.
When a brokerage wants you exclusivelyto themselves and do you do that?
Do you not do that?
And I think we concluded
you really don't want to do that.
So yeah, but so Tyler, let's let's dive
(19:37):
into even a little bit deeperon where you're coming from this morning,
specifically exact locationwhere you're recording this podcast from,
because I think this is afirst in the history of the Spiro podcast.
I am recording from a vacant listing
I'm not even Imay or may not be sitting on a table, but
(20:01):
so what led to this
January
I last January was super slow.
It was time. I mean, it wasI just hired the business coach.
I was doing $7,000 a monthand I thought that I was going to have
this month to really get more systemsin place to set up for May of 2025.
(20:22):
But it turns out we are fully booked
and we had been fully bookedfor the past three weeks
and we are for the very first time
in like ten years,supposed to be getting snow next week.
So everyone's like freaking out.
So the thingthat, the thing I just love about you Tyler
again, back to hard work,it's at our company, it's core value.
Number two is hard work.
(20:44):
And I always say if it was easy,anyone would do it.
And the thing I want youor your listeners out there to be careful.
Tyler disguises it very wellbecause he doesn't want anyone to feel
that hard work he's going throughand he's got this great personality.
But think about this.
He was a superwe record early in the morning.
(21:05):
He was upsuper early to keep a client happy.
He's at the listing,so he can get it done.
He's fitting in this podcast.
So it's just that idea of of tryingto always take care of your clients.
And I think ultimately that'swhy you've scaled so quickly.
Tyler There's there's a storyhe was telling us off
air before thisand I think I think this is like a goal.
(21:28):
I would love to make it a goal of mine.
So Tyler just had a birthdaya couple of weeks ago and on
in his invite list,he had just as many realtors as he did
friends that are not realtors.
And he would call those realtors friends.
I thinkall of his realtors are friends of his.
And the thing about it is, ishow do you build relationships so well,
(21:50):
like Tyler, that you have other realtorsthat you work for
that want to be on the invite listto your birthday party?
I think that just speaks a testament.
And he's telling usthat as he was shooting other houses,
they were like, Hey,how you know, the birthday?
I didn't get on the invite list.
Like, think about that, y'all.
Your clients want tocome to your birthday party.
(22:14):
- That blows my mind, Craig,- That I know.
I'm starting to think, should I do that?
Like, my 50th is coming up in a yearalmost, you know, just over a year.
Yeah
You do it so naturally.
But for those of those listeners out there
that are a little bitterrified or introverted and
(22:34):
can't even fathom how they would even
build those relationships,
what is your what's your secret sauce?
What's your strategy?
Where wouldwhere should somebody start today
to begin building better relationships?
Yeah, and I think this takes it back towhen I got that business coach.
(22:56):
They were trying to learn about meand how I got to 75,000
in my first yearand we brought it all back to trust.
Like they trusted me with their listingsand basically what they're going
to end up paying for their media.
And that's because I wasn't going to bedoing more than a listing needed,
(23:17):
nor was I going to be scared to say,Hey, let's upgrade you and
loyalty.
I everyone's always like, Oh, I'm loyal.
I'm well, I don't care if you're loyal.
Like, if you want to go useanother photographer, that's fine.
The agent that was here today,she's a broker and she was mentioned to
me, she's like, Do you want to come doa brokerage presentation?
(23:40):
And I said, I would love to.
She's like, Yeah, I think a lot of ouragents will switch to you.
They're they're really loyal.
And I said, Well, listen,I work with plenty of agents
who only use me for certain listingsfor certain things.
I'm not going to force someone or try
to make them feel uncomfortable tryingto switch them from another photographer.
(24:01):
And I've had agents that have switched
to other photographersthat I'm still friends with.
I am a part of my local women's council.
I'm a part of my localYoung Professionals network.
I am a platinum sponsor for my CCAR
or local organization,which is a $10,000 sponsorship.
I am a part of my B and I group.
(24:25):
I am a part of so many organizations,caffeinated closers.
They have a coffee group for real estatethat I am a part of that
and so many of them workwith so many different people,
but they still all know meand like yesterday
I did headshots and lifestyle shootsbecause they knew
that I was going to help themfeel comfortable in front of the camera.
And then they wentand did their listing photos
(24:46):
that afternoonwith their other photographer.
And I don't feel some type of waynow greater when I see photos
that aren't mine that I'm like,Oh shoot, that sucks.
But I am like, okay,let me just go get five more clients.
Like this month. It's January 17th.
And I checked my Spiro this morningand I messaged my photographers
and I was like, Can you believe that?
(25:07):
We've already have 15 new clientsthis month.
Like, it's so wild.
And we're just looking at numbersand everything else
and so, yeah, just,just building that trust and
having a simple conversation,letting them know that, listen,
if it doesn't work out,we don't have to, you know, be awkward.
(25:27):
But, like, if you need a video,I'm going to do a video.
And if you can't afford a video,
I'm going to do it for youanyways and give it to you for free.
Craig, this the thing
I can just think about to tie this in towhat Tyler does is
he truly serves his clients
with no expectations in mind.
Right
(25:48):
And that does build a basis of trust.
Can I share a quick story that kind ofties into how Tyler is doing things?
So yesterday I went outand did a shoot for a client
that I've shot for for a whileand have a really good relationship with.
While She tried their in-housemarketing department's photographer
for a new construction builtand she ended up
(26:11):
having me come out and reshoot itbecause she wasn't happy with the results
and was telling me what her concerns were.
One of them was,you know, color cast, things like that.
But I said, Well, without seeing itmyself, you know, I can't really judge
that.
But, you know, we'll do our best for you.
So I got to the to the shoot andsome of the color concerns that she had.
(26:32):
I actually agreed with our competitionwith the way they added to them.
So after I was done with a shoot,
I called her and said,Hey, Nancy, there's three things
I want to go over with youthat you had mentioned to me.
And I went through item by itemwhere I thought
our competition was actually correctand how they initially edited things
and said, this is what I saw with my eyes.
(26:52):
There are brown undertonesto this gray stain.
So actually they were kind of correctand how they edited that.
And she said, I appreciate that.
You know, if I owe them, you know, creditwhere credit's due, then I'll do that.
And that's what I respect about youwith being a professional,
having a professional eyesand being honest honest with me.
(27:13):
So I don't want to lose the the business.
But if we establish ourselvesas professionals, that act with integrity
and honesty in how we do our businessand interact with our clients,
the dividends of that long term, as is
Tyler, is is sharing with us will pay off.
You might have clientsthat do wander from time to time,
(27:37):
but because they know they can trust you,they're going to come back at some point.
You took the time to be honest with them
and to build relationship with themand people respect that.
- So, Tyler, kudos to you.- thank you.
Yeah, Yeah.
It's just offering that
first free shoot like,I mean, I still do that to this day.
(27:59):
I mean, I don't need to offerthe free shoot, but I do.
And that's also helped build trust
because they see they're like,Can you send me something to work?
And I'm like,Just go to this link. It's my Instagram.
And they're like,You're offering free shoots.
I'm like, Yeah.
I'm like, It's an opportunityfor you to test out the services and
(28:20):
we'll go from there.
Yeah, that and nobody loves a pressure.
I mean, what consumer loves to buyunder pressure?
Nobody. It's so smart.
It's, it's such contrary
to the way everyone else operatesand it's so smart to do it that way. Yes.
You might takea little bit of a hit upfront,
but remember we all started our businessnot to run it for six months.
(28:41):
We started to do it for the restof our life or potentially exit from it
or grow a team or not or nothave anything to do with it.
So if you think short term
you will never like that, that will never
equate in your brain.
But thinking long term iswhere that begins to make
a world of sense.
(29:02):
There's two things, Todd,if you don't mind
that I'd like to kind of key onwith with Tyler. one,
how he handled all the hiringthat he had to do, the growing pains.
Tyler That's something I want to kind ofget your input on.
But but, Todd,do you mind kind of introducing how
you even met Tyler and whywe have him on the podcast right now?
Because we didn't, we didn't give muchof an introduction there.
(29:24):
Yeah.
So Tyler is
Tyler is a Spiro userand Tyler is also active
in and engaging of big surprise, right?
in Eli Jones's group, the REPP group.
So we met through there and then we metin person this year in Vegas.
(29:44):
So Tyler was a speaker on stageat the conference
and he spoke about growing his business.
And as I sat there,like the things that he was doing
and he share with you todayand there's many more is amazing.
And actually Tyler and I, we crossedpaths in between a break or going to
and from a room and justhe is who he is everywhere
(30:08):
so this is not like an on stageor on podcasts
like the beautiful thing about Tyler ishe is who he is and he's so genuine
and he makes you feel so warm and
and in there engaging with Tyler,
there is so much to learnand I think we hear all the time.
So that's whyI thought it was so important
to have him on the podcastis because if you can begin to learn on
(30:31):
some of these things and even script itand you don't have to be Tyler,
but if you can start to put
some of these things into your own wordsand feel comfortable with things
like what he's doing, itworks, every one listen.
And his first year, less than a full year,he did 75 K and then scaled
to four times that to 250,000.
So this is where it's like simplebut not easy.
(30:53):
You might be like,yeah, it's it's easy for Tyler.
It's really not.
He disguises it and I justI want to say that too, because I,
I want you to be careful to thinklike Tyler doesn't
want you to feel like he'sdoing a lot of work, but he actually is.
And I say thatbecause I've talked to some of you
and after the conferenceand some of you are like, Man, Tyler,
(31:15):
it feels like he'snot even doing anything.
But and I can't get my business offthe ground.
It's like, no, Tyler is doing a ton.
He just makes it seem easy
and all the little hard workthat he puts in is super important.
So that's why I thoughtit was so important to have him on today.
Absolutely.
So that's a great setup then.
(31:35):
Tyler, to what I'm I'm really curiousabout because of how fast you grew.
I mean, there's,you know, physically growing.
There's there's growing pains.
So what what were thoseinitial really strong pains you felt?
Can you describemaybe two or three of those
and then how how you address thosefor somebody that maybe is experiencing
(31:55):
similar growth,how did you navigate those growing pains
and specifically,what did you do to handle those?
I can easily say the topthree growing pains that I experience was
one growing too fast in. two,
going fast with the systemsthat I had in place.
As far as me waking up at 4 a.m.
(32:18):
in the morning just to deliver.
I remember doing that last yearand when I got my business coach
and they were talking about my schedule
and I'm like, okay,well I'm waking up at four and usually
on my way to my first shoot by 7:00, 7:30,
and they're like,okay, so we need to get you a VA
And I was like,I knew I heard about the VA’s,
(32:40):
but I didn't know what it really was.
So then I got a VAand I spent like two weeks
teaching them Aryeoand they started doing stuff on that.
And then the coach was talking aboutcertain things that we could implement
into the business to make things easier,online booking and other stuff like that.
(33:03):
So then on time I'd be like,okay, are you ready to switch?
So then we got another system in place.
Spiro and kind of navigating the transition
from the clients through there into Spiro.
And that's actually wheneverI had my initial contact with Todd, same
as like I'm sure a lot of peoplewe were emailing and chatting about like,
(33:24):
you, here's my new contact this,
Oh, I'm not switched over to Spiro yet,but I got like ten new clients.
And Aryeo,can you please take these clients?
I don't want to duplicate them.
I remember that one really well.
And so finally we've got that in line.
And then building out Spiro,
any anything switching systemsis never going to be a walk in the park.
And I think everyone needs to understandthat because everyone always like,
(33:48):
Oh, I need to switch. Like, I need to.
It's just I don't want to change.
You got to change.
You got to makethe change is just one of those things
that you have to do in a business.
I mean, a local photographerwho is my competitor, but
also one of my best friends and I met himthrough obviously real estate.
He had he uses Spiro, but he doesn'tutilize it to its full capabilities.
(34:08):
And he's like,oh, I need to get my order up and running.
I need to build these order pages.
And he's like,I do you know, if your VA would,
like, build out my stuff or do you knowif I can hire someone to build it out?
I said, John, stop it.
You need to go home
and you need to build this out yourself
because how are you going to be able
to manage your companyif you don't even know what it does?
And he was like, No, you're right,you're right.
(34:29):
And then his wife,like, told him the same thing.
And then we came in to Maywhenever I knew that I needed to hire.
And my coach was telling me in Marchto look like, let's hire, like let's hire.
And I was like, Oh, I'm busy.
I'm busy.
And well, then I like, fired and hired
(34:49):
like three people, actually.
Oh, three and a half.
All at once.
And in this time I was giving John shoots
because I couldn't do all of my and,and I've done some for him,
but I mean he just was ableto take on some of mine thankfully
and see like thatwas another part of relationship and trust
(35:10):
even like outside of realtors,just the community in general.
But then finally, like hiring,
thankfully one out of the other oneswas like, perfect.
She's still with me today and she's like,My ride or die in the business.
And the other two, they workedand they were good, but
(35:31):
it didn't work out, which is fine,
I should’t try to hire three peopleall at once.
That was crazy.
And then fast forward a little bit,I got another photographer
and they do some part time stuffand now I actually just put out another
indie posting last weekthat they've been asking me,
my coach has been asking meto put out for ever
(35:52):
for two more positions,but definitely going to hire one.
And then once
that one gets trained up with Kamila,
then I can work ongetting the other one in place.
But it's just really playing catch up.
I mean, there really is no such thingas growing too fast and you don't want to.
You've got to make surethat you can compensate for that volume
so that you don't justify qualityand the trust with the others.
(36:14):
Because we've been also doinga lot of reshoots
and a lot of mistakes do happenwhenever we get super crazy like this
and it's
people get sick this time of yearand we make mistakes and trying to correct
those mistakes while also getting 15new clients is it's a lot.
Yeah, a lot to manage.
(36:37):
Do you?
Okay so I love the idea of I just seerelationships in everything you do.
It's I know I keep saying it, y'all,but it's so impactful.
The relationshipshe built with other photographers in town,
like many of us, again,we think, Oh, that's our competition.
And like, you know, we were like,Give him a mean face If we pass him
by in the grocery store,you know, like it's like, you know, like
(36:59):
we don't want them to knowanything about us.
And Tyler is like,Hey, he's my buddy. Like, I'm helping him.
I'm helping him out.
And like, by the way, like,
Hey, I'm going to send you shoots like,help me help you kind of thing.
And I'm
I assume that transitions into let's go alittle bit deeper in that hiring process.
And how important are relationshipsyou build with
then your photographers and your staff?
(37:21):
So I have a really hard timewith boundaries.
Like she's like everyone's a frenemy.
I mean, until you give me a reasonnot to be your friend.
So I feel like in my next stepof hiring you,
do I want to create those boundariesor not?
But Camilla also never has oversteppedany boundaries
(37:43):
to where I feel likeit's an invasion of privacy.
But just as people have
trust in me, I have trust in her.
Switching this year has been so many.
There's been so many changes.
I can't personallykeep up with everything alone,
because what people also don't understandis I'm still running another horse
(38:04):
show photography business on the sidethat also does six figures a year.
So I have to do that too.
But Camilla, she has full accessto everything she sees.
What we make,she knows how many shoots we do. She
Like if she wantedto, she could take me down.
But just,
(38:24):
I don't know, I just really love
people and I love working with peoplethat want to work with me.
So I don't want to limit our boundaries.
Now, granted, my new photographerswill not have access to Spiro
like Camilla, but if there's anythingI can say, I know that
when she moves on to her next positionbecause she's moves in May,
she said she she knows everything.
(38:47):
And I'm super happy for her.
So let me askif I can pick your brain on this.
You mentioned that there's
two photographers that you had hiredthat ultimately ended up not working out.
So approaching relationshipsthe way you deal with with friendships,
how do you handle letting somebody goThat is a friend
because that's, I mean, that's kindof hard, I would think.
(39:08):
Yeah.
So being supertransparent through the whole process
was something that the coach made surethat I was aware of.
And I was to the extentas much as I felt that I could be,
because I've never hired anyoneI mean, for my horses,
I hired contractors,but they also do what I do
(39:29):
and I just gave them moneyat the end of the weekend
this though the one photographer is
was no longer with mebecause she worked a little bit
and she also wasa real estate photographer.
So she was just kind of picking outshoots for me.
And I was in the very beginning stagesand the pay did not fit her
(39:51):
criteria, which is totally fine.
She was with mefor probably two months and
our parting texts were great.
I sent her her W-2 this morningand I was like, Hey, hope you're well
because she moved to South Dakotaor something like that.
But when she messaged methat this wasn't going to work out,
she thanked mefor all the knowledge and like,
(40:13):
because I taught her Spiro,
because she didn't havea delivery platform, I was like, get this,
it's per job,especially if you're going to,
because I knew she was going to moveat some point in the future.
I said, This jobor this platform is based on volume,
so you only pay for what you you provide.
So she learned all that.
So she got a lot of knowledge out of itand she thank me for that.
(40:34):
And the other guy,
I don't know, it just
was more of like a communicationtype issue
and hopefully he doesn't watch us.
But I remembertraining him for a long time and just
little things here and there.
And then I think the final thingwas just like walking in
and he was shooting room with the fan onand I was like, Oh,
this is not going to work.
(40:58):
And like, it is what it is.
And I am all about giving chances.
I mean,I think in real estate photography,
we all have issues at somewhere,especially with editing.
At some point
in time in like I give chanceafter chance, after chance after chance,
but it's just such a big changethat you want to give them the chance
(41:18):
to make a difference because it'sgoing to be more hard work on your end.
But I had to switch three editorsthis last year just because the volume,
it wasn't anythingthat they were really doing on air.
And other than the factthat I was getting jobs too late,
like it wasn't,I couldn't critique them on their work.
I told them, Listen,I need this by 6 a.m.,
6 a.m., and I was getting stuffseven, eight, nine.
(41:39):
And it just it didn't work for me.
One thing we say
here at the office, Tyler, is
we always suggest that everyoneis generous with their information.
And I think that's what you've done.
And the thing is, is that
if you have an individualthat's an employee,
and even if that employee crosses overto being a friend, I have hired friends,
(42:03):
I have hired family members,I have worked with them.
And I think it's importantthat if they're not doing something
the way you would like it to be done,don't assume they're doing it on purpose.
Don't assume they're doing itbecause they want to snub you or
are angry at youor want to mess up your business.
(42:24):
I have done that in the pastbecause I assume that what was in
my head was automaticallyand that employees head
and that is a big thought airthat is very incorrect.
And so we always use here
the idea of being generouswith information
and we use it that way because many of usare a high C personality
(42:46):
where we want everyone else to be okay,We'll take things on our shoulders
to give them the benefit of the doubt.
But I think one thing that's important isyou're actually not helping anybody.
And yes, that conversationmight seem a little awkward to have,
but if you're not generous, then
you are being,you know, greedy with the information.
(43:10):
And I think that helps me at least whenI am like, oh, I need to tell this person.
Like, just tell themand don't have biased with it.
Don't assume that they are doingthat thing to hurt you.
They probably are doing itfor a very good reason.
Just a quick story.
We have a photographerin one of our cities
and he was not communicatingwell back to the office
(43:33):
and he was doing thingslike he was picking up shoots on his own.
An agent was like, Hey, I've got a housetwo blocks over. Can you shoot it?
He was not giving me notesabout shooting a video
and vertical versushorizontal orientation.
And those were all thingsthat sent production and scheduling
for a little bit of a loop.
But we would we dug in with himand we actually realized that
(43:55):
he picked up the shootfor the benefit of the doubt of the agent.
And he had in mind like, Hey,I'm going to get one more shoot.
It's right there. I know my schedule.
I'm just going to go and do it now.
He still needed to communicate.
And the other reason the other thingwith the vertical video is the agent
told him like, Hey, this,I'm going to use it on Instagram.
And he just automatically knewthat he needed to do vertical.
(44:18):
It wasn't it wasn't communicated properly.
So that's just where then we
we really had to dig inbecause like always doing it
again, he's doing it to get like,no, let's not assume he's doing it again.
Like he actually had our backs.
Yes. His communication was not correct,but he was thinking about us first.
He actually was had to arrange someoneto pick up his son
(44:38):
to shoot that extra shoot for us.
He was going out of our way to help us.
He wasn't communicating very well.
So sometimes ya’ll.when you don't go in biased to a situation
and you just are generous with information
and you truly try to understandwhat's in the other person's head,
I think you can accomplish so much moreand you can learn
(44:59):
so much more about that person.
And then you go, Oh, wait a minute,This is really a simple, simple fix.
We just need to talk this one through.
I definitely see myselfkind of with a lot more obstacles
coming with new hires in the futurebecause I don't want to give
someone the access to change orders,you know, discount stuff.
(45:22):
It's just like I mentioned,growing so fast.
I wanted to trust.
If you're going to havesomeone on your team,
you need to be able to trust them.
And that was super big with Camilaand the fact that I'm able to trust her
and be relieved that she's moreof almost a photographer slash admin
than really a photographer,
because I know that she's going to doright and she's going to, you know,
(45:44):
if it's a first time agent,we add that discount in there.
If she did less than what
we they order,we change their order for them.
If they weren't happy with something weshe did it without me
really having to ask her toor she would ask me
if she needs to do thisand I would say yes or no.
(46:04):
And like today I had two people book.
At the very end of the day,
I put them in for super basic shoots,but they're just exteriors.
So I said, Hey,change their orders before you submit.
So she she's got my back, so.
Our guest is Tyler Graham of Weston Media
in the South Carolina and a little bitof North Carolina to Tyler.
(46:24):
Yeah, we cover kind of like the coastright there Ocean Isle type area.
Awesome. Yeah.
And he was a panel speaker at the REPP 2024
conference just as a reminder.
So, Tyler,we're getting a little bit close
to the end of the episode hereand I always like to ask
if if you were to speakto another real estate photographer
(46:46):
or media company with youbeing relatively new, it would be easy.
I'm going to twist things up a little bit.
It would be easy to encourageother new photographers
with what you're learningand give them some advice.
But what about the veteran
real estate media people?
What's something that you would encouragethose that have been in the business
(47:06):
for a long time to remember
anything come to mind?
I just would be open to change.
I mean, we are constantly changingthe way we do things,
and just because this is the way we did it
ten plus years ago, I mean, technologyitself, Spiro, is changing all the time
and I loveso like my VA will literally message me.
(47:30):
He's like, Hey, Spiro has these updates,so we want to implement them.
I'm like, Yes, do it.
Like when the Cubicasaand or like, I'll get the email
and I'll say,Hey Spiro, send an email about updates.
Can you please implement the Cubicasa?
When they didthe thing about the Dropbox videos,
I didn't even see that he was like, TylerGood news.
Spiro did the Dropbox things.
(47:50):
So that's what I meant by likethey know Spiro better than I know Spiro
and he did.
He started at the same timeI did, but just be open to change and
think about think about the positive sidesof the situations
before you think of the negative.
It's good.
Yeah, that that is really good.
Tyler,thank you so much for your insight today.
(48:11):
Just incredible. So much to learn.
We need to do this again because I feelwe barely scratched the surface.
You are a master at building relationshipsand managing those
and making people feel good.
And and that is, in my opinionthe true key to your success.
So thank you so much for your insighttoday.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
(48:32):
Tyler, again,thank you so much for for joining us this week
your energyand your enthusiasm is contagious
I even never met you in person but I can tell
it might be a little bit of the caffeineissue you've got going on there too.
But yeah,
but it's just awesome and a pleasurejust to hear your enthusiasm and the joy.
I can tell you're a joyful type of guy,
which is that can carry businessa long way to loving what you do.
(48:56):
So if if somebody would wantedto get a hold of you,
maybe pick your brain on some things.
Are you open to that?
Of course.
Definitely My Instagram is weston.media
That's my real estate photography one.
So check it out and hit me up on there.
And I would love to answer any questionsor just be another friend in the business.
(49:20):
Awesome.
I love the communitythat we're building here, Todd.
With with guys like with with Tylerand the various guests we've had on.
So, Tyler, thanks for being a part of it.
I did have one more question.
Just and you mentionedcoaching a few times.
I think we would not be doing it.
We would be doing a disserviceto not mention I think people can assume
(49:40):
because we love the REPP Group,but just what coaching are you using?
- And I think, - Yeah, I just didn't want to overstep any boundaries,
but I used Eli Jones's courselike you mentioned before.
REPP I started with their video coursebefore I switched over to their coaching.
Kenny Cubas was my coachand he is my coach right now.
(50:01):
But don't tell anybodybecause you're not supposed to be.
But yeah, definitely.
If you're interested in coaching, you can.
I actually have an ambassador account
through them to kind of speak about stuffin my daily life.
Spiro, Open phone, stuff like thatthat Instagram is itstylergraham
and you can follow me on there as well andI go over some tips and tricks on Spiro.
(50:26):
Well, guys, that wraps upanother episode of the Spiro podcast.
And again,thank you so much for joining us.
If your first time
listener or viewer welcome to the podcast,we would love to hear from you.
If you've got some
real estate, media based questions
about the business of real estate media,we would love to hear from you.
We're open to those those questionsas topics for the podcast
(50:48):
because we want this to benefit you.
So feel free to drop us an email.
It's hello@spiro.media.
If you'd like to learn moreabout the Spiro platform,
we invite you to to visit the website.
It's very easyjust spiro.media so we will be back
next week and Todd, it'sgood to be getting off on a good foot
(51:09):
here at the first,you know, the first of the year.
Well, not the first.
It's the second episode,but the beginning of the year.
And we're excited.
We're excited to see what 2025 brings.
All right.
Well, guys, that's going to wrap up.
We always like to remind youduring this slower quote
unquote, slower time of year,not in Tyler's case, but
(51:29):
make sure that you take the timeto be thankful
for the blessings in your lifeand make sure you take a breath.
You have a great week.
Thank you for joining usfor the Spiro Podcast, managing
your real estate photographyand videography Business.
This is a production of Spiroand Wow video you can find out more about.
Spiro is real estate, media, businessmanagement software at our website.
(51:52):
spiro.media.
Coming up on this episodeof The Spiro podcast.
(00:04):
and I think this takes it back towhen I got that business coach.
They were trying to learn about meand how I got to 75,000
in my first yearand we brought it all back to trust.
Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
Managing your real estate photographyand videography business
(00:24):
with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
and Craig Magrum
Hi, and welcome to the Spiro podcast,
managing your real estate photographyand videography business.
Spiro.
As we've mentioned in the past,is a software platform
designed to help youmanage your day to day
real estate, media, businessand really ultimately help it grow.
(00:45):
That's that's our goal on this podcastto help you build a strong business
and help your business grow.
So welcome back to another week.
Each and every week, our co-hostand or founder and owner of Spiro
Todd Kivimaki. Welcome back, Todd.
Craig It's great to be here.
Happy New Year, everyone.
If you're just tuning infor the first time, we have an exciting
(01:05):
lineup, an amazing individual on today.
So we will get to him shortly.
But it's great to be here with you all.
Also, I wanted to mention that it is greatto hear from all of you.
We love hearing from our listeners.
It is incredible.Don't hesitate to reach out to us.
You can leave a commentif you are watching this on YouTube.
hello@spiro.media.
(01:27):
If you like email or if you are a Spirouser, join us over in the Spiro
Superuser group on the Facebook
- the facebook- and we will. the Facebook.
is that like the Google.
Yes, it is like the Ohio State University.
I like what you’re doing there
Yeah, I kinda say the face, the Facebook.
(01:49):
It's kind of like a an older like I.
I don't know what I'm doing,but go ahead, Craig.
Well, you said the Ohio State University.
Now, for those of you that may not know,Todd and I were Wow video tours
and Spiro is in Ohio,we're both unabashedly Buckeye fans.
Of course, the national championshiphappening on Monday.
We record this on Friday. So.
(02:10):
Todd,you saying the Ohio State University?
I hope that we actually pull off the winand can still proudly
say the Ohio State University
This is probably being publishedTuesday morning.
So we'll we'll see what happens.
Yes, either all of Ohio is burningor we're celebrating.
So it's one or the other.
That's the way we do football in Ohio.
(02:32):
It's like you could win every game but one.
And you had a losing year.
That's true.
There's really only one gamethat really matters.
And we lost it last year.
Anyway, we're getting off trackvery quickly, so.
Spiro, let’s dive intoSpiro updates, Todd
Spiro Update Thank you, Craig.
Save the sinking ship. Here we go.
(02:53):
We just pushed them.There was ten of them for you.
I'm going to read them real quick.
One of the biggest one is we hear fromyou and your
you guys say, hey,this is like we sell this as our system
and we want our brandto shine a little bit more.
And I actually love thatyou sell it as your system
because I've sold it as my systemto our clients.
(03:13):
A Wow for 21 years.
And the ownership, I am justI love that idea.
So what we've done iswe've put your brand a little more forward
and that we have taken the primary colorthat you have set.
And now it is in moreplaces throughout the system.
So like the little pink loading
(03:35):
icon that load when the page loads, it'snow your primary colors, not pink anymore.
And we've removed that pinkand we've replaced your primary
color and various portionsthroughout the system.
Another one of those portionsis the tracking website for your clients.
This is where subscribers
go to get text messageor to get updates on the appointment.
(03:55):
They also get text message update.
But this is like the Domino'sPizza Tracker.
It's now your brand colors.
So the third thing is property website.
If you scroll all the way to the bottomof a branded property website
we use to say powered by Spyro
and you could clickSpiro and go to the Spiro website.
And some of you are like, Hey,can you just remove that?
(04:16):
And we removed it.
So we're not partial to our brand.
We appreciate you guys all pushing ourbrand out there, but we understand that
that property website's for you guysand we were happy to remove that.
So finally you can renamesome of the pages that your agents use.
So like the download page,
you could put your company name in thereand a couple of other pages,
(04:39):
so be sure to check out settings,my company and branding for those updates.
A few other notable ones.
I won't cover all of them,but unit numbers are now everywhere.
If your address has a unit number, we'veput it everywhere that the address shows.
So that was a big onethat you guys asked for
and just a quality of life updateAnd we have heard you on that one
(05:00):
invoice reminders, options.
Also, we've heard from you on this oneand we're happy to put this update out.
You can now set your own invoicereminder schedule.
How many times does a clientget an invoice before it's due
and after it is due?
So you can set that in your invoicingsection.
You can now turn off a display pageor and or a download page.
(05:24):
Some you said, Hey,
I do headshotsand I load them in the spiro
and it doesn't really make sense to givethem a property website of the headshots.
Can I turn the property website off?
Yes, you can.
Now some of your clientsmight want a full property
website of their head on the page.
I don't know.I've worked with agents for a long time.
Many of them don't.
Anyways, the power is in your hands.
Some other.
(05:45):
We did over 25 refinements in the mobileoptimization the UI and the UX.
Now when you sort
and when you edit a bundle,the order of your services will stick.
They used to go back to alphabetical.You're like, Whoa, wait a minute.
I had them in an order that I liked.
They now stick.
We did things with taxes, click viewing,quick viewing of client invoices.
(06:07):
We enhanced a few reportsand we also automatically have added
the first 15 images in the image slideron the property website.
So it feels more like a videothat's scrolling to your clients.
Craig Way more than a minute,but I'll pay the bill.
That's okay.
That's a lot of updates and I love,
you know, the advantage that we have is
(06:29):
being Spiro is we're Wow video toursthat built Spiro, Right?
So we get we get what you're talking aboutwith the suggestions that you're making,
making the page your branding colorsinstead of Spiro’s Branding colors.
There is a
feature where you can upvote thingsthat you're looking for
in the in the softwareor what's called feature base.
(06:51):
I believe that it's called.
So for those that aren’t familiar with that.
Can you explain that real quick?
And then we'll get to our topic this week.
Yeah, so it's a page and this is basedon your feedback that you all said, Hey,
where can I see where can I suggestsomething and see what you're working on?
And so if you go to spiromedia.featurebase.app
(07:12):
we'll put it in the show notes.
Also, if you're in Spiro, the upper righthand corner, there's a feedback icon.
Just click on that.It will take you directly.
But on this board,you can see what others have suggested
and you can see the number of timesthat it has been upvoted
and you cannot vote for itif you like that suggestion.
(07:33):
Also, there's a tabwhere you can see what we are working on
and what has been completed.
So just a nice way to go engagewith the community there.
And we naturally work
on the featuresthat the most of you want out there.
It's an awesome feature.
We try to be responsive.
-We do.- All right.
(07:54):
Well, so this year we'vewe started actually the end of last year.
We started to invite some more guests onbecause we we want to hear
from the real estate media community,the successes that they're having,
the things that they're learning
and implementing in their businesses,things that are helping them grow.
So we're trying to incorporate more guestson the Spiro podcast to highlight
(08:18):
other areas of our industry,other other owners that are doing
some pretty fantastic thingsin their businesses.
And this week is no exception.
We do have a guest this weekthat Todd, I'm going to let you introduce
our guests this weekand kind of get this episode set up here.
Yes, it'd be my pleasure.
So this individualis just a firecracker of energy.
(08:39):
And also the thing that I want youall to take away today
is how he uses that energyto build relationships.
This might be a wordthat Craig and I use the most on here.
And if you ask a question,
typicallyif I respond, you say on Facebook
and it's about building business,like growing your business.
(09:01):
My answer generally always has.
You have to build more relationships,build better relationships.
This individual might be the kingof building relationships.
Just the warmth and the sincerity
and he's built withhis clients is amazing.
So that is the biggest thing todaythat if you are out there at the beginning
(09:22):
of 2025 saying,Hey, I have these new big goals
that I want to hit, how am I goingto get more agents to understand that
I want to work and can work for themand I can help their business stand out?
It is truly relationship building 100%.
And so I'm excited today.
(09:43):
Without further ado.
Tyler Graham of Weston Mediais on the show today.
Welcome, Tyler. How are you?
I am doing fantastic.
Thank you guys for having me.
pleasure to have you on here today.
Tyler, if you wouldn't mindjust starting off, if you could just give
everyone who doesn't know you on the showjust a little background
(10:04):
about how you came into real estate media,where you're at with your business,
just to bring us up to speedwith your history in real estate media.
Yeah, I'll try to be really quick on this,
but honestly,I feel like it takes the whole story.
So I got into photography in like 2020.
During COVID, I took my stimuluscheck $800 and bought a Nikon D800
(10:29):
on Facebook,and I grew up in the horse industry.
Hunter jumperswhere they jump the sticks. Yes.
And I did that through collegeto make money on the side on the weekends.
And that kind of built up.
And I bought some new gear, had some gearstolen and all kinds of other stuff.
So finally, I like I mentioned,I grew up in the horse industry.
(10:50):
I was finishing up my bachelor's,starting to get my masters,
and I was working at a farmriding about 8 to 10 horses
a day, shovelinghorse crap, all that other good stuff.
But once I was about midwaythrough my masters, I was like, okay,
I'm about to have my masters.I cannot be doing this.
So I was like, okay, you have all thiscamera equipment, what can you do?
(11:14):
And I started seeing stuff on Instagram
about photographers,how they can make money with real estate.
And so 11:00 at night, one night
I clicked on this ad bought this course,
learned real estate photographyand March of 2023.
I did that.
January,March of 2023 was my first paid shoot.
(11:38):
2023 I did about
$75,000 in revenue.
- Wow. - Good for you.
Yeah. And I mean,
first year
that was without, like,that was based on what I learned.
I mean, the coursewas basically set up like YouTube
and then so I did all that
(11:58):
and that was based on referralsand just kind of building my business.
And then January of 2024
and at the timeI was using Aryeo or whatever,
and then I got a business coachand we kind of talked about goals
and everything,and I was like, okay, I want to hit.
I think I said like $14,000 a month.
(12:20):
I wanted to double my revenuebecause my highest revenue was November
23 with 7000.
And they were like, okay, let's do it.
I did that the next month.
So February.
Yeah, it was it was really great.
And I switched over to Spiro,
right in February.
So we're coming up on in a month, I'llbe at my one year anniversary with Spiro.
(12:41):
But in 2024, I did
a quarter of $1,000,000 in revenue.
So that was so crazy
to like and May considering.
May was,whenever I was in the hiring process
and I did 30,000 of revenue just on my ownwithout other photographers.
(13:01):
as a solo shooter.
You did 30,000 in a month.
Yeah.
And I remember like looking at my Spiroreports and stuff and I was like,
This is crazy.
Did you sleep at all during that time?
I mean,
I slept on coffee,
right?
(13:22):
I literally started I mean, I was in such
a routine of wake up,
drink coffee,and then I would pack my energy, drink,
and then I would pack my little kind barsin the car with me.
And I was doing sunrise shoots all dayshoots,
ending with Sunset shoots.
(13:45):
And then obviously on the weekendsI was going out with friends and stuff.
So I just turned 25 last week.
So it's been a great year,two years in the business, I should say.
Here we are now I've got two photographers,
two VA is working on a third VA,and really my VA should be where I am
because they do my Spiromore than I do. So,
(14:08):
Todd, do you remember the days of at 25and having that kind of energy?
I do, yeah.
Therethere are more distance and distant past,
it’s startingto fade a little bit for me.
- Yeah- Tyler, that's fantastic, man.
That is.
And I think one thing, one thing that
I want you all to be aware of.
(14:29):
And at the end of the day, Tylermakes this seem very easy.
And the thing that I wantyou to pick up on here is the amount
of relationship building and hard workthat he's willing to put in
just pull up your boots and work hard,like you said, like when it was horses
and it was the way that he was makingmoney. Like what?
I'm going to shovel
horse crap to get, you know,whatever I can do to build the business.
(14:52):
And then he went all in on real estatephotography and from 75k
in the first year, which is incredible.
And then to go to a quarter of a millionin the second year is just insane.
So one thing.
Yeah, go ahead, Craig
One thing that popped out to methat you said, Tyler immediately.
Todd, did you notice one year inhe hired a business coach
(15:13):
after just one yearof doing it. and the investment.
Okay.
So the, the expenditure outlay forthat can be
steep sometimes,but look at the ROI on that.
That he got.
Dude. Tyler that's awesome.
Smart, smart business move.
it was no question.
So the business coachwas a six month thing, and as soon as that
(15:34):
six months ended, they were like,okay, do you want to start up again?
I was like, Take my money.
So I mean, I spent in the first yearI got like a little bit of a discount
for the second time around,but I spent 25,000
coaching my first year, so
definitely worth it.
And Tyler,you also mentioned about your masters.
(15:55):
So why is education so important to you?
So for me,it was kind of like just growing up,
and I know a lot of peoplego through different scenarios,
but I mean, we were like dirt poor.
Like my dad literally sold
like farm animals to pay rentto our landlord and stuff growing up.
And it was me,my dad and my older brother Colton.
(16:19):
And then we met our step mom
right around the age of like 11and both of their incomes.
We ended up renting another housewhile our house was being built.
We built our farm by hand, basically,
and did little by little, and it just
I was grateful for everythingI had at the time.
I didn't realize what I didn't have, but
(16:41):
nobody in my familyother than my step mom, had an education
and so I wanted to continue my educationand I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I thought that I wanted to be in a 9
to 5 Monday through Fridayfull benefit type job.
Like, that's whatI thought I was going to be doing.
And this was supposed to be a little side
(17:03):
gig while I was doing the horse shows,finishing up my masters.
Because when I started in January of 2023,I didn't finish my Masters until
July.
So I still, while I was making $30,000a month, I was doing my finals.
- Oh, my goodness.- For my masters.
So it's it'sbeen like seriously such a crazy thing.
(17:26):
But like you mentioned the energyand knowing that the finish line
was right there till I set my next goal,meeting the goals is what it's all about.
And then setting those higher goalsfor me.
Plus energy drinks on top of coffeedoesn't hurt with the Energy Department.
Yes,
you off, you offset what's in theenergy drinks with the kind bar, right?
(17:47):
That kind of is the counteract.
Yeah.
I mean, I was like,I put on this jacket this morning
and I felt something in my pocketfrom Christmas and I was like,
I got a Dunkin card and a Starbucks cardthat's like still in my pocket.
That's great, but hard work.
And I just want to make this point.
Tyler, where are you coming from us?
(18:10):
Where are you coming to us right nowon this podcast?
So I am based out of Myrtle Beach,South Carolina.
And the funny story is, is rightbefore I started the real estate
in January, October, I had reached outto a local real estate company
because I followed themand I love their work.
And I was like,Oh my gosh, I can see myself doing this.
They put out a job postingand we communicated and it was great
(18:35):
and I thoughtI was actually going to join their team.
And then they ultimately felt likemy horse show photography
was going to intervenewith some of their scheduling and stuff.
So they I think they saidthat it wasn't going to be a good fit.
And I was like,okay, So I went start mine and then
three
months into starting my business,I got a DM saying,
(18:55):
Hey, we would love for you to dissolveyour business and join us.
I'm like, No, thank you.
I mean, that's that's where you're like,my hard work paid off, right?
Yeah.
I mean, if I were to join their team,I mean, I would have felt
a disservice to themto, like, cut off and do my own thing.
So I'm glad that I never did that.
(19:16):
You know, Todd, if you remember,we did an episode long time ago
on the question of brokerage exclusivity.
When a brokerage wants you exclusivelyto themselves and do you do that?
Do you not do that?
And I think we concluded
you really don't want to do that.
So yeah, but so Tyler, let's let's dive
(19:37):
into even a little bit deeperon where you're coming from this morning,
specifically exact locationwhere you're recording this podcast from,
because I think this is afirst in the history of the Spiro podcast.
I am recording from a vacant listing
I'm not even Imay or may not be sitting on a table, but
(20:01):
so what led to this
January
I last January was super slow.
It was time. I mean, it wasI just hired the business coach.
I was doing $7,000 a monthand I thought that I was going to have
this month to really get more systemsin place to set up for May of 2025.
(20:22):
But it turns out we are fully booked
and we had been fully bookedfor the past three weeks
and we are for the very first time
in like ten years,supposed to be getting snow next week.
So everyone's like freaking out.
So the thingthat, the thing I just love about you Tyler
again, back to hard work,it's at our company, it's core value.
Number two is hard work.
(20:44):
And I always say if it was easy,anyone would do it.
And the thing I want youor your listeners out there to be careful.
Tyler disguises it very wellbecause he doesn't want anyone to feel
that hard work he's going throughand he's got this great personality.
But think about this.
He was a superwe record early in the morning.
(21:05):
He was upsuper early to keep a client happy.
He's at the listing,so he can get it done.
He's fitting in this podcast.
So it's just that idea of of tryingto always take care of your clients.
And I think ultimately that'swhy you've scaled so quickly.
Tyler There's there's a storyhe was telling us off
air before thisand I think I think this is like a goal.
(21:28):
I would love to make it a goal of mine.
So Tyler just had a birthdaya couple of weeks ago and on
in his invite list,he had just as many realtors as he did
friends that are not realtors.
And he would call those realtors friends.
I thinkall of his realtors are friends of his.
And the thing about it is, ishow do you build relationships so well,
(21:50):
like Tyler, that you have other realtorsthat you work for
that want to be on the invite listto your birthday party?
I think that just speaks a testament.
And he's telling usthat as he was shooting other houses,
they were like, Hey,how you know, the birthday?
I didn't get on the invite list.
Like, think about that, y'all.
Your clients want tocome to your birthday party.
(22:14):
- That blows my mind, Craig,- That I know.
I'm starting to think, should I do that?
Like, my 50th is coming up in a yearalmost, you know, just over a year.
Yeah
You do it so naturally.
But for those of those listeners out there
that are a little bitterrified or introverted and
(22:34):
can't even fathom how they would even
build those relationships,
what is your what's your secret sauce?
What's your strategy?
Where wouldwhere should somebody start today
to begin building better relationships?
Yeah, and I think this takes it back towhen I got that business coach.
(22:56):
They were trying to learn about meand how I got to 75,000
in my first yearand we brought it all back to trust.
Like they trusted me with their listingsand basically what they're going
to end up paying for their media.
And that's because I wasn't going to bedoing more than a listing needed,
(23:17):
nor was I going to be scared to say,Hey, let's upgrade you and
loyalty.
I everyone's always like, Oh, I'm loyal.
I'm well, I don't care if you're loyal.
Like, if you want to go useanother photographer, that's fine.
The agent that was here today,she's a broker and she was mentioned to
me, she's like, Do you want to come doa brokerage presentation?
(23:40):
And I said, I would love to.
She's like, Yeah, I think a lot of ouragents will switch to you.
They're they're really loyal.
And I said, Well, listen,I work with plenty of agents
who only use me for certain listingsfor certain things.
I'm not going to force someone or try
to make them feel uncomfortable tryingto switch them from another photographer.
(24:01):
And I've had agents that have switched
to other photographersthat I'm still friends with.
I am a part of my local women's council.
I'm a part of my localYoung Professionals network.
I am a platinum sponsor for my CCAR
or local organization,which is a $10,000 sponsorship.
I am a part of my B and I group.
(24:25):
I am a part of so many organizations,caffeinated closers.
They have a coffee group for real estatethat I am a part of that
and so many of them workwith so many different people,
but they still all know meand like yesterday
I did headshots and lifestyle shootsbecause they knew
that I was going to help themfeel comfortable in front of the camera.
And then they wentand did their listing photos
(24:46):
that afternoonwith their other photographer.
And I don't feel some type of waynow greater when I see photos
that aren't mine that I'm like,Oh shoot, that sucks.
But I am like, okay,let me just go get five more clients.
Like this month. It's January 17th.
And I checked my Spiro this morningand I messaged my photographers
and I was like, Can you believe that?
(25:07):
We've already have 15 new clientsthis month.
Like, it's so wild.
And we're just looking at numbersand everything else
and so, yeah, just,just building that trust and
having a simple conversation,letting them know that, listen,
if it doesn't work out,we don't have to, you know, be awkward.
(25:27):
But, like, if you need a video,I'm going to do a video.
And if you can't afford a video,
I'm going to do it for youanyways and give it to you for free.
Craig, this the thing
I can just think about to tie this in towhat Tyler does is
he truly serves his clients
with no expectations in mind.
Right
(25:48):
And that does build a basis of trust.
Can I share a quick story that kind ofties into how Tyler is doing things?
So yesterday I went outand did a shoot for a client
that I've shot for for a whileand have a really good relationship with.
While She tried their in-housemarketing department's photographer
for a new construction builtand she ended up
(26:11):
having me come out and reshoot itbecause she wasn't happy with the results
and was telling me what her concerns were.
One of them was,you know, color cast, things like that.
But I said, Well, without seeing itmyself, you know, I can't really judge
that.
But, you know, we'll do our best for you.
So I got to the to the shoot andsome of the color concerns that she had.
(26:32):
I actually agreed with our competitionwith the way they added to them.
So after I was done with a shoot,
I called her and said,Hey, Nancy, there's three things
I want to go over with youthat you had mentioned to me.
And I went through item by itemwhere I thought
our competition was actually correctand how they initially edited things
and said, this is what I saw with my eyes.
(26:52):
There are brown undertonesto this gray stain.
So actually they were kind of correctand how they edited that.
And she said, I appreciate that.
You know, if I owe them, you know, creditwhere credit's due, then I'll do that.
And that's what I respect about youwith being a professional,
having a professional eyesand being honest honest with me.
(27:13):
So I don't want to lose the the business.
But if we establish ourselvesas professionals, that act with integrity
and honesty in how we do our businessand interact with our clients,
the dividends of that long term, as is
Tyler, is is sharing with us will pay off.
You might have clientsthat do wander from time to time,
(27:37):
but because they know they can trust you,they're going to come back at some point.
You took the time to be honest with them
and to build relationship with themand people respect that.
- So, Tyler, kudos to you.- thank you.
Yeah, Yeah.
It's just offering that
first free shoot like,I mean, I still do that to this day.
(27:59):
I mean, I don't need to offerthe free shoot, but I do.
And that's also helped build trust
because they see they're like,Can you send me something to work?
And I'm like,Just go to this link. It's my Instagram.
And they're like,You're offering free shoots.
I'm like, Yeah.
I'm like, It's an opportunityfor you to test out the services and
(28:20):
we'll go from there.
Yeah, that and nobody loves a pressure.
I mean, what consumer loves to buyunder pressure?
Nobody. It's so smart.
It's, it's such contrary
to the way everyone else operatesand it's so smart to do it that way. Yes.
You might takea little bit of a hit upfront,
but remember we all started our businessnot to run it for six months.
(28:41):
We started to do it for the restof our life or potentially exit from it
or grow a team or not or nothave anything to do with it.
So if you think short term
you will never like that, that will never
equate in your brain.
But thinking long term iswhere that begins to make
a world of sense.
(29:02):
There's two things, Todd,if you don't mind
that I'd like to kind of key onwith with Tyler. one,
how he handled all the hiringthat he had to do, the growing pains.
Tyler That's something I want to kind ofget your input on.
But but, Todd,do you mind kind of introducing how
you even met Tyler and whywe have him on the podcast right now?
Because we didn't, we didn't give muchof an introduction there.
(29:24):
Yeah.
So Tyler is
Tyler is a Spiro userand Tyler is also active
in and engaging of big surprise, right?
in Eli Jones's group, the REPP group.
So we met through there and then we metin person this year in Vegas.
(29:44):
So Tyler was a speaker on stageat the conference
and he spoke about growing his business.
And as I sat there,like the things that he was doing
and he share with you todayand there's many more is amazing.
And actually Tyler and I, we crossedpaths in between a break or going to
and from a room and justhe is who he is everywhere
(30:08):
so this is not like an on stageor on podcasts
like the beautiful thing about Tyler ishe is who he is and he's so genuine
and he makes you feel so warm and
and in there engaging with Tyler,
there is so much to learnand I think we hear all the time.
So that's whyI thought it was so important
to have him on the podcastis because if you can begin to learn on
(30:31):
some of these things and even script itand you don't have to be Tyler,
but if you can start to put
some of these things into your own wordsand feel comfortable with things
like what he's doing, itworks, every one listen.
And his first year, less than a full year,he did 75 K and then scaled
to four times that to 250,000.
So this is where it's like simplebut not easy.
(30:53):
You might be like,yeah, it's it's easy for Tyler.
It's really not.
He disguises it and I justI want to say that too, because I,
I want you to be careful to thinklike Tyler doesn't
want you to feel like he'sdoing a lot of work, but he actually is.
And I say thatbecause I've talked to some of you
and after the conferenceand some of you are like, Man, Tyler,
(31:15):
it feels like he'snot even doing anything.
But and I can't get my business offthe ground.
It's like, no, Tyler is doing a ton.
He just makes it seem easy
and all the little hard workthat he puts in is super important.
So that's why I thoughtit was so important to have him on today.
Absolutely.
So that's a great setup then.
(31:35):
Tyler, to what I'm I'm really curiousabout because of how fast you grew.
I mean, there's,you know, physically growing.
There's there's growing pains.
So what what were thoseinitial really strong pains you felt?
Can you describemaybe two or three of those
and then how how you address thosefor somebody that maybe is experiencing
(31:55):
similar growth,how did you navigate those growing pains
and specifically,what did you do to handle those?
I can easily say the topthree growing pains that I experience was
one growing too fast in. two,
going fast with the systemsthat I had in place.
As far as me waking up at 4 a.m.
(32:18):
in the morning just to deliver.
I remember doing that last yearand when I got my business coach
and they were talking about my schedule
and I'm like, okay,well I'm waking up at four and usually
on my way to my first shoot by 7:00, 7:30,
and they're like,okay, so we need to get you a VA
And I was like,I knew I heard about the VA’s,
(32:40):
but I didn't know what it really was.
So then I got a VAand I spent like two weeks
teaching them Aryeoand they started doing stuff on that.
And then the coach was talking aboutcertain things that we could implement
into the business to make things easier,online booking and other stuff like that.
(33:03):
So then on time I'd be like,okay, are you ready to switch?
So then we got another system in place.
Spiro and kind of navigating the transition
from the clients through there into Spiro.
And that's actually wheneverI had my initial contact with Todd, same
as like I'm sure a lot of peoplewe were emailing and chatting about like,
(33:24):
you, here's my new contact this,
Oh, I'm not switched over to Spiro yet,but I got like ten new clients.
And Aryeo,can you please take these clients?
I don't want to duplicate them.
I remember that one really well.
And so finally we've got that in line.
And then building out Spiro,
any anything switching systemsis never going to be a walk in the park.
And I think everyone needs to understandthat because everyone always like,
(33:48):
Oh, I need to switch. Like, I need to.
It's just I don't want to change.
You got to change.
You got to makethe change is just one of those things
that you have to do in a business.
I mean, a local photographerwho is my competitor, but
also one of my best friends and I met himthrough obviously real estate.
He had he uses Spiro, but he doesn'tutilize it to its full capabilities.
(34:08):
And he's like,oh, I need to get my order up and running.
I need to build these order pages.
And he's like,I do you know, if your VA would,
like, build out my stuff or do you knowif I can hire someone to build it out?
I said, John, stop it.
You need to go home
and you need to build this out yourself
because how are you going to be able
to manage your companyif you don't even know what it does?
And he was like, No, you're right,you're right.
(34:29):
And then his wife,like, told him the same thing.
And then we came in to Maywhenever I knew that I needed to hire.
And my coach was telling me in Marchto look like, let's hire, like let's hire.
And I was like, Oh, I'm busy.
I'm busy.
And well, then I like, fired and hired
(34:49):
like three people, actually.
Oh, three and a half.
All at once.
And in this time I was giving John shoots
because I couldn't do all of my and,and I've done some for him,
but I mean he just was ableto take on some of mine thankfully
and see like thatwas another part of relationship and trust
(35:10):
even like outside of realtors,just the community in general.
But then finally, like hiring,
thankfully one out of the other oneswas like, perfect.
She's still with me today and she's like,My ride or die in the business.
And the other two, they workedand they were good, but
(35:31):
it didn't work out, which is fine,
I should’t try to hire three peopleall at once.
That was crazy.
And then fast forward a little bit,I got another photographer
and they do some part time stuffand now I actually just put out another
indie posting last weekthat they've been asking me,
my coach has been asking meto put out for ever
(35:52):
for two more positions,but definitely going to hire one.
And then once
that one gets trained up with Kamila,
then I can work ongetting the other one in place.
But it's just really playing catch up.
I mean, there really is no such thingas growing too fast and you don't want to.
You've got to make surethat you can compensate for that volume
so that you don't justify qualityand the trust with the others.
(36:14):
Because we've been also doinga lot of reshoots
and a lot of mistakes do happenwhenever we get super crazy like this
and it's
people get sick this time of yearand we make mistakes and trying to correct
those mistakes while also getting 15new clients is it's a lot.
Yeah, a lot to manage.
(36:37):
Do you?
Okay so I love the idea of I just seerelationships in everything you do.
It's I know I keep saying it, y'all,but it's so impactful.
The relationshipshe built with other photographers in town,
like many of us, again,we think, Oh, that's our competition.
And like, you know, we were like,Give him a mean face If we pass him
by in the grocery store,you know, like it's like, you know, like
(36:59):
we don't want them to knowanything about us.
And Tyler is like,Hey, he's my buddy. Like, I'm helping him.
I'm helping him out.
And like, by the way, like,
Hey, I'm going to send you shoots like,help me help you kind of thing.
And I'm
I assume that transitions into let's go alittle bit deeper in that hiring process.
And how important are relationshipsyou build with
then your photographers and your staff?
(37:21):
So I have a really hard timewith boundaries.
Like she's like everyone's a frenemy.
I mean, until you give me a reasonnot to be your friend.
So I feel like in my next stepof hiring you,
do I want to create those boundariesor not?
But Camilla also never has oversteppedany boundaries
(37:43):
to where I feel likeit's an invasion of privacy.
But just as people have
trust in me, I have trust in her.
Switching this year has been so many.
There's been so many changes.
I can't personallykeep up with everything alone,
because what people also don't understandis I'm still running another horse
(38:04):
show photography business on the sidethat also does six figures a year.
So I have to do that too.
But Camilla, she has full accessto everything she sees.
What we make,she knows how many shoots we do. She
Like if she wantedto, she could take me down.
But just,
(38:24):
I don't know, I just really love
people and I love working with peoplethat want to work with me.
So I don't want to limit our boundaries.
Now, granted, my new photographerswill not have access to Spiro
like Camilla, but if there's anythingI can say, I know that
when she moves on to her next positionbecause she's moves in May,
she said she she knows everything.
(38:47):
And I'm super happy for her.
So let me askif I can pick your brain on this.
You mentioned that there's
two photographers that you had hiredthat ultimately ended up not working out.
So approaching relationshipsthe way you deal with with friendships,
how do you handle letting somebody goThat is a friend
because that's, I mean, that's kindof hard, I would think.
(39:08):
Yeah.
So being supertransparent through the whole process
was something that the coach made surethat I was aware of.
And I was to the extentas much as I felt that I could be,
because I've never hired anyoneI mean, for my horses,
I hired contractors,but they also do what I do
(39:29):
and I just gave them moneyat the end of the weekend
this though the one photographer is
was no longer with mebecause she worked a little bit
and she also wasa real estate photographer.
So she was just kind of picking outshoots for me.
And I was in the very beginning stagesand the pay did not fit her
(39:51):
criteria, which is totally fine.
She was with mefor probably two months and
our parting texts were great.
I sent her her W-2 this morningand I was like, Hey, hope you're well
because she moved to South Dakotaor something like that.
But when she messaged methat this wasn't going to work out,
she thanked mefor all the knowledge and like,
(40:13):
because I taught her Spiro,
because she didn't havea delivery platform, I was like, get this,
it's per job,especially if you're going to,
because I knew she was going to moveat some point in the future.
I said, This jobor this platform is based on volume,
so you only pay for what you you provide.
So she learned all that.
So she got a lot of knowledge out of itand she thank me for that.
(40:34):
And the other guy,
I don't know, it just
was more of like a communicationtype issue
and hopefully he doesn't watch us.
But I remembertraining him for a long time and just
little things here and there.
And then I think the final thingwas just like walking in
and he was shooting room with the fan onand I was like, Oh,
this is not going to work.
(40:58):
And like, it is what it is.
And I am all about giving chances.
I mean,I think in real estate photography,
we all have issues at somewhere,especially with editing.
At some point
in time in like I give chanceafter chance, after chance after chance,
but it's just such a big changethat you want to give them the chance
(41:18):
to make a difference because it'sgoing to be more hard work on your end.
But I had to switch three editorsthis last year just because the volume,
it wasn't anythingthat they were really doing on air.
And other than the factthat I was getting jobs too late,
like it wasn't,I couldn't critique them on their work.
I told them, Listen,I need this by 6 a.m.,
6 a.m., and I was getting stuffseven, eight, nine.
(41:39):
And it just it didn't work for me.
One thing we say
here at the office, Tyler, is
we always suggest that everyoneis generous with their information.
And I think that's what you've done.
And the thing is, is that
if you have an individualthat's an employee,
and even if that employee crosses overto being a friend, I have hired friends,
(42:03):
I have hired family members,I have worked with them.
And I think it's importantthat if they're not doing something
the way you would like it to be done,don't assume they're doing it on purpose.
Don't assume they're doing itbecause they want to snub you or
are angry at youor want to mess up your business.
(42:24):
I have done that in the pastbecause I assume that what was in
my head was automaticallyand that employees head
and that is a big thought airthat is very incorrect.
And so we always use here
the idea of being generouswith information
and we use it that way because many of usare a high C personality
(42:46):
where we want everyone else to be okay,We'll take things on our shoulders
to give them the benefit of the doubt.
But I think one thing that's important isyou're actually not helping anybody.
And yes, that conversationmight seem a little awkward to have,
but if you're not generous, then
you are being,you know, greedy with the information.
(43:10):
And I think that helps me at least whenI am like, oh, I need to tell this person.
Like, just tell themand don't have biased with it.
Don't assume that they are doingthat thing to hurt you.
They probably are doing itfor a very good reason.
Just a quick story.
We have a photographerin one of our cities
and he was not communicatingwell back to the office
(43:33):
and he was doing thingslike he was picking up shoots on his own.
An agent was like, Hey, I've got a housetwo blocks over. Can you shoot it?
He was not giving me notesabout shooting a video
and vertical versushorizontal orientation.
And those were all thingsthat sent production and scheduling
for a little bit of a loop.
But we would we dug in with himand we actually realized that
(43:55):
he picked up the shootfor the benefit of the doubt of the agent.
And he had in mind like, Hey,I'm going to get one more shoot.
It's right there. I know my schedule.
I'm just going to go and do it now.
He still needed to communicate.
And the other reason the other thingwith the vertical video is the agent
told him like, Hey, this,I'm going to use it on Instagram.
And he just automatically knewthat he needed to do vertical.
(44:18):
It wasn't it wasn't communicated properly.
So that's just where then we
we really had to dig inbecause like always doing it
again, he's doing it to get like,no, let's not assume he's doing it again.
Like he actually had our backs.
Yes. His communication was not correct,but he was thinking about us first.
He actually was had to arrange someoneto pick up his son
(44:38):
to shoot that extra shoot for us.
He was going out of our way to help us.
He wasn't communicating very well.
So sometimes ya’ll.when you don't go in biased to a situation
and you just are generous with information
and you truly try to understandwhat's in the other person's head,
I think you can accomplish so much moreand you can learn
(44:59):
so much more about that person.
And then you go, Oh, wait a minute,This is really a simple, simple fix.
We just need to talk this one through.
I definitely see myselfkind of with a lot more obstacles
coming with new hires in the futurebecause I don't want to give
someone the access to change orders,you know, discount stuff.
(45:22):
It's just like I mentioned,growing so fast.
I wanted to trust.
If you're going to havesomeone on your team,
you need to be able to trust them.
And that was super big with Camilaand the fact that I'm able to trust her
and be relieved that she's moreof almost a photographer slash admin
than really a photographer,
because I know that she's going to doright and she's going to, you know,
(45:44):
if it's a first time agent,we add that discount in there.
If she did less than what
we they order,we change their order for them.
If they weren't happy with something weshe did it without me
really having to ask her toor she would ask me
if she needs to do thisand I would say yes or no.
(46:04):
And like today I had two people book.
At the very end of the day,
I put them in for super basic shoots,but they're just exteriors.
So I said, Hey,change their orders before you submit.
So she she's got my back, so.
Our guest is Tyler Graham of Weston Media
in the South Carolina and a little bitof North Carolina to Tyler.
(46:24):
Yeah, we cover kind of like the coastright there Ocean Isle type area.
Awesome. Yeah.
And he was a panel speaker at the REPP 2024
conference just as a reminder.
So, Tyler,we're getting a little bit close
to the end of the episode hereand I always like to ask
if if you were to speakto another real estate photographer
(46:46):
or media company with youbeing relatively new, it would be easy.
I'm going to twist things up a little bit.
It would be easy to encourageother new photographers
with what you're learningand give them some advice.
But what about the veteran
real estate media people?
What's something that you would encouragethose that have been in the business
(47:06):
for a long time to remember
anything come to mind?
I just would be open to change.
I mean, we are constantly changingthe way we do things,
and just because this is the way we did it
ten plus years ago, I mean, technologyitself, Spiro, is changing all the time
and I loveso like my VA will literally message me.
(47:30):
He's like, Hey, Spiro has these updates,so we want to implement them.
I'm like, Yes, do it.
Like when the Cubicasaand or like, I'll get the email
and I'll say,Hey Spiro, send an email about updates.
Can you please implement the Cubicasa?
When they didthe thing about the Dropbox videos,
I didn't even see that he was like, TylerGood news.
Spiro did the Dropbox things.
(47:50):
So that's what I meant by likethey know Spiro better than I know Spiro
and he did.
He started at the same timeI did, but just be open to change and
think about think about the positive sidesof the situations
before you think of the negative.
It's good.
Yeah, that that is really good.
Tyler,thank you so much for your insight today.
(48:11):
Just incredible. So much to learn.
We need to do this again because I feelwe barely scratched the surface.
You are a master at building relationshipsand managing those
and making people feel good.
And and that is, in my opinionthe true key to your success.
So thank you so much for your insighttoday.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
(48:32):
Tyler, again,thank you so much for for joining us this week
your energyand your enthusiasm is contagious
I even never met you in person but I can tell
it might be a little bit of the caffeineissue you've got going on there too.
But yeah,
but it's just awesome and a pleasurejust to hear your enthusiasm and the joy.
I can tell you're a joyful type of guy,
which is that can carry businessa long way to loving what you do.
(48:56):
So if if somebody would wantedto get a hold of you,
maybe pick your brain on some things.
Are you open to that?
Of course.
Definitely My Instagram is weston.media
That's my real estate photography one.
So check it out and hit me up on there.
And I would love to answer any questionsor just be another friend in the business.
(49:20):
Awesome.
I love the communitythat we're building here, Todd.
With with guys like with with Tylerand the various guests we've had on.
So, Tyler, thanks for being a part of it.
I did have one more question.
Just and you mentionedcoaching a few times.
I think we would not be doing it.
We would be doing a disserviceto not mention I think people can assume
(49:40):
because we love the REPP Group,but just what coaching are you using?
- And I think, - Yeah, I just didn't want to overstep any boundaries,
but I used Eli Jones's courselike you mentioned before.
REPP I started with their video coursebefore I switched over to their coaching.
Kenny Cubas was my coachand he is my coach right now.
(50:01):
But don't tell anybodybecause you're not supposed to be.
But yeah, definitely.
If you're interested in coaching, you can.
I actually have an ambassador account
through them to kind of speak about stuffin my daily life.
Spiro, Open phone, stuff like thatthat Instagram is itstylergraham
and you can follow me on there as well andI go over some tips and tricks on Spiro.
(50:26):
Well, guys, that wraps upanother episode of the Spiro podcast.
And again,thank you so much for joining us.
If your first time
listener or viewer welcome to the podcast,we would love to hear from you.
If you've got some
real estate, media based questions
about the business of real estate media,we would love to hear from you.
We're open to those those questionsas topics for the podcast
(50:48):
because we want this to benefit you.
So feel free to drop us an email.
It's hello@spiro.media.
If you'd like to learn moreabout the Spiro platform,
we invite you to to visit the website.
It's very easyjust spiro.media so we will be back
next week and Todd, it'sgood to be getting off on a good foot
(51:09):
here at the first,you know, the first of the year.
Well, not the first.
It's the second episode,but the beginning of the year.
And we're excited.
We're excited to see what 2025 brings.
All right.
Well, guys, that's going to wrap up.
We always like to remind youduring this slower quote
unquote, slower time of year,not in Tyler's case, but
(51:29):
make sure that you take the timeto be thankful
for the blessings in your lifeand make sure you take a breath.
You have a great week.
Thank you for joining usfor the Spiro Podcast, managing
your real estate photographyand videography Business.
This is a production of Spiroand Wow video you can find out more about.
Spiro is real estate, media, businessmanagement software at our website.
(51:52):
spiro.media.
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