Episode 15 - REAL ESTATE Photo & Video feat. Tyler Fraser | FREE to Fee Method

0:00

All right, we're rolling.

We are rolling.

Is audio rolling too?

It's been rolling.

Yeah, we're rolling.

And C Cam's rolling.

Rolling.

Absolutely.

Sweet.

Sweet.

So it wouldn't be a Faith and Frames podcast episode without a dad joke.

Hit me on this beautiful morning.

0:18

Who was the most business savvy woman in the Bible?

I have my gut reaction.

Yeah, well.

Spill your guts.

Actually, I don't have a gut reaction, all right.

Pharaoh's daughter.

0:35

She went down to the Bank of the Nile and pulled out a little.

Profit.

Pretty good.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

All.

Good one on.

This.

Yeah.

Good one on this morning.

Very good, captain.

Very good.

So you.

You you prefaced and and sort of prepped our audience.

0:52

On one SO.

To Go said that we were going to have a guest on and he has agreed to come.

I'm excited for this one.

He's here.

We'll introduce him here in just a minute.

He's in the he's in the media world.

He's in video and photo production, just a little bit different niche.

1:08

Well, a very specific.

Niche.

Very specific niche, too.

And that.

Speaks to the importance of niching, yes?

Finding, finding niches or in the niches, as they say.

That's a good one.

Write that down, folks.

I.

Don't like saying niches though?

Like it's a niche to me, yeah.

1:25

And say the riches are in the niches.

It just doesn't, you know.

Tomato, tomato, potato, potato.

I don't think anybody says potato, but if they do, they need to do their they're weird.

I'm sorry.

See themselves on out.

Yeah, but I'm, I'm excited for our guest today and we'll get to get to him after the sponsored bit.

1:42

But it I I believe this is just me trying to foreshadow and foretell.

I believe that he is currently changing the face of that niche and is probably going to be the spearhead of what it may look like in the future.

Not only here locally, but I would say that whole genre specifically I think no different than you and I have talked about a a certain, I'm going to say advertising scheme that is ready for a shaking.

2:11

That's an industry that's an industry ready to be disrupted.

Yeah, I I, I certainly believe that that industry is ready to be disrupted.

But so is this one and this guy that we're going to have on is the spearhead of that in my opinion.

So I'm excited to hear his thoughts today about that.

2:27

So this is the second episode of the year 2024 and we're excited for what's to come.

Thank everybody for listening.

Good morning.

Good afternoon, wherever you find yourself.

Wherever you find yourself in life.

Wherever you find yourself in life, hey, let us know.

2:44

Actually, we're curious.

So we've conducted a couple polls by now, but we we always like feedback.

Where are you listening to this app?

Yeah, AI mean I want to know what platform?

Spotify.

Podcasts from Apple?

YouTube, whatever.

Secondarily, what are you listening to us with Hold the Phone because?

3:04

We have, we have some of those metrics and we've been informed that YouTube is our most listened to platform, which is crazy because generally Spotify and Apple are your bigger podcasting platforms, yeah.

But I'm curious, like, are you listening to us with headphones?

Are you listening to us in your car?

3:20

Are you in your bicycle?

Are you layering it on a television?

Don't care where you are, but I would like to know, yeah.

Because that lets us know kind of how we can tweak things from an audio perspective, visuals, all those things.

Correct?

Correct.

It all helps.

Let's just go ahead and thank our week's sponsor.

3:38

This week's Sponsor Episode 2 of Season 2 here on Faith frames none other than animals West of Greenville, Tennessee.

At Animals W your pets are our passion.

Our dedicated team offers personalized care, advanced treatments, and a warm, loving environment because of animals.

3:56

W every tale tells a story.

Tony, Amanda and the crew down on the Newport Highway thank you for sponsoring this week's episode.

Thank you for sponsoring Faith and frames Jared and myself here at Motion Creative Media.

Thank you folks.

If you're poochies, if you're kitties, if you're.

4:12

I'm not going to say horses and cows because I said that in the last episode, but if your animals need any sort of care, take them to Animals West in Greenville, TX no further.

I take my animals there.

I don't have animals.

Well, I have kids, but they go to the doctor's office.

You used to have animals anyways.

4:27

Our animals are patients and patrons of that establishment.

I can speak from personal experience.

They'll take care of you.

Well, your pets anyways.

Meat and potatoes.

Jared, get us the meat.

Potatoes.

This morning.

So we got a guest, another guest who agreed to come on this.

Podcast for whatever reason.

4:44

Help us educate the world and entertain the world.

Tyler Fraser.

Good morning, Sir.

Good morning.

Tyler Fraser Real Estate.

Photography.

Oh, you just told the world what he does.

Which is OK.

That's a drawback of having you know my name in the in the business like that.

5:03

I mean, but it is your business and and it's a business that I believe you've built up to be fairly, fairly, I'm going to call it an empire at this point, Tom.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

The the real estate, the market.

Locally for sure, yeah.

Absolutely, Tyler.

5:18

We talked a little bit off camera whenever you got here, but I guess for our audience because you are in the video, we'll just call it media because you do photography and video in real estate.

But because you are in the media industry, I wanted to give our our audience a little bit different view because obviously with Jared and myself we do a lot of social media content, we do commercial work, You do primarily the real estate market which is a I think it's a booming niche one that you have from what I can tell made it a very good mark on.

5:53

So can you give us a little bit of background we'll we'll go back a little bit further, but can you give us a background a on what you, what got you into media First off and then secondly kind of ease that into why did you choose real estate specifically as the niche?

6:09

Yeah, yeah.

So actually got into media in general because I was in the cars.

So I bought a brand new Mustang.

Nice, nice, And I started rapidly doing stuff to it.

Wheels, tires, suspension, whatever.

6:25

After running over crowds.

Exactly at this point in my life, it really mattered to me looking cool.

So what I'd done How old was?

Tyler at this point in time, by the way. 20, OK.

I got you.

Understandable says it's like 8 years ago.

Hey, I was 20 with a Mustang as well.

That's right.

That's right.

So I wanted to get good photos of this done.

6:43

So I just found like a like a a local guy who was doing car photography and he charged like 50 bucks.

To do this.

And I had him come out like several times because I was just rapidly doing things, this car like changing every time, every time I wanted to, you know, or I made a change.

7:00

I just kind of come out eventually.

I was like, I'm spending 50 bucks every time.

I could probably just buy a camera.

I'm sure at this point, I've already paid for the camera.

I was like, I've got an eye for this.

I'm sure it can be that hard.

So I bought a camera and I started doing my own.

And then I got pretty good at, you know, shooting cars because it was something I was passionate about.

7:20

And then other people started to hire me.

Hey, do you do this?

And I was like, yeah, 50 bucks, whatever.

So then I started charging 50 bucks and that instant passive money.

I was like dude, this is like kind of cool, this is awesome.

So I started doing that and then I got into people like I wanted to shoot portraits and I got really into big in like off camera flash work just because it looks like magazines.

7:42

I was.

Going to say that's what a lot of magazines go.

For it's just very like polished.

And I was like, I'm I'm able to do this, it's cool.

And I've done a few of it, you know, paid gigs.

And I loved it because it was paying a little bit more.

Maybe like 150 bucks, You know, 200.

Bucks man racking it.

Up, I know.

7:57

I thought I was because that's what I made in a whole day, you know, working in a factory.

I was like, I just made a whole day's worth of, you know, an hour an.

Hour.

Yeah, so I love that.

But I couldn't get consistent with it because there was already people like Nathan Mays.

8:13

Oh yeah, in the space.

He's one of my best friends.

In the area.

I I mean, I could never compete with him.

There's no way he'd been doing it for 15 years.

There's no way.

So I was just getting crushed by not being able to do it full time.

So I was just like, yeah, it's just a hobby and just stuck as a hobby.

And it stayed a hobby for a couple years, you know?

8:31

And then I was just stuck working as a welder in this factory.

And I just knew I wanted to do something else.

And I was like, what is this burning desire that I have?

You know what that was?

I wanted to be a real estate agent.

There you go.

8:47

That's how I was like, I was like, I could be a realtor.

I could definitely do that.

So I've got ADHD pretty good, right?

So most perfixated, I hyperfixated on becoming a real estate agent.

I did the full 90 hour course.

9:03

In like 2 hours.

In 10 days I did nothing but this course for 10 days went and passed.

Went and took the test and passed it first try.

And then I already had all this camera stuff and I didn't even think.

9:19

But I was like I could take my own photos of these houses.

That I'm gonna save some dollars.

I could save some money.

I know I can do it.

I'm sure I've never done it before, but I know I can.

I'm sure I can.

I've.

Got a camera?

Why can I not?

So then my hyper fixation switched.

It went.

I don't know how to shoot real estate photography at all whatsoever, so I went to YouTube and books and forums.

9:41

YouTube University.

And I was like, I want to do this.

I was absolutely terrible, the worst real estate photography you've ever seen in your life.

And that bothered me.

I was like, I have to get better at this, have to.

There's no way I can suck at this.

9:57

So that's what I've done and I just hyper fixated on that.

And then?

Got ADHD?

Literally, it's a superpower.

Some people see it as negatives at at times.

It can certainly be a pause.

You can't focus.

Yeah, Drew.

Yeah, it's bad, but so I wanted to become the best for my own sake.

10:15

And then what I started doing, I was like, I just need more practice at this.

So I just started reaching out to agents and being like, hey, I want to, I'm just trying to build portfolio for my own sake.

Hey, what's that principle, the 1000 hour principle or something?

10,000 hour, 10,000 hour concept, though you needed more reps.

10:32

Yeah, I needed more reps with it, 'cause I was bad at it.

But then I started getting good and I was like, I know I'm good at it, but I still need more like portfolio and practice for my own sake.

But as I was doing this, I've slowly, you know, started shooting for some other people.

10:47

And at first it was for free, just for portfolio.

And then other people were like, I got to pay you, you know, for these.

These are unbelievable.

Like, these are great.

I got to pay you.

I slowly went away like I was like, I don't even want to do real estate now because I was like, that's that quick change of money again.

11:07

Yeah, you went back to the car day.

I was back to the day of shooting cars.

It it has a need.

It's not a want.

People want weddings, people want portraits.

Agents need this type of stuff, need good pictures.

And I saw a need for it in the area because no one was doing real estate media that was worth anything.

11:25

Nobody was doing it.

Well, it was there, but it wasn't good.

It was like merged HDR looked pretty bad and I was like, there's this higher level, luxury quality stuff that no one has seen around here.

No one's doing it.

I was like and I could be the first you.

Found a hole.

Yeah.

11:41

And I'll never forget the my big break.

I was reaching out to a bunch of agents and being like, hey, I'll, you know, let me work for free.

Just, you know get some portfolio.

And I was on the Zillow and I was searching for real estate listings that had phone pictures.

12:00

There was a $2,000,000 listing in Bluff City this giant 13,000 square foot house.

With phone, with phone photos.

It had five photos and they were all taken from a phone, clearly, because I'm like obviously just like pointing out the ground and stuff, but it had like marble statues in it, you could tell.

12:18

And I was like.

This House has not been done justice.

I was like, what is this?

What is it?

So I went to the bottom of the page and I found the guy, Michael Carter, and I called him and I said hey, I just looked at this listing you have in Bluff City and I noticed that it had phone pictures.

12:34

Please let me come take photos.

Let me help you for.

Free.

At this point, I'll probably pay you to let me do this because of how unbelievable this is.

And until this day, it's still the like, one of the nicest homes I've done, and it was one of my first.

I'd shot like maybe 6-7 homes at this point.

12:50

Like split voyeurs, double wides, whatever, You know this was.

A2 Millie.

Yeah, A2 Millie home.

So I went there, shot the whole house, and the photos were amazing.

I mean, still great.

That immediately went on my business cards and everything.

It was a great portfolio.

13:06

And then I started sharing it on Facebook.

That was like, check out this home I shot.

I made a business page.

I didn't tell no one about it.

I added a bunch of agents on Facebook.

There you go.

Which you mentioned in one of your last YouTube videos.

This is that's how I figured out that that works.

And we'll get it.

13:21

We'll get to that here in a second.

Because I want to, I want to ask you some questions about that too.

Yeah, so.

I started posting this on Facebook and it it went viral because first of all, a couple things.

I mean, the house itself, I mean, it's a $2,000,000 house in Bluff City, TN.

That's weird, right?

That's like the most expensive.

13:36

It's the biggest house, probably there by square foot.

Oh yeah, not.

Sure, I was gonna say there's only five other homes in bluff cities.

There's. 5 And that's one of them.

That's three of them, actually.

Not a big town, Not a big town.

Bluff City, TN.

Yeah.

So they kind of blew up and then that's when the momentum shift.

13:52

It was then agents were like, who is this guy and what?

Like I never knew that this was possible.

So then.

And why do I start going the other way to send him all of my money?

Exactly.

Then it started going the other way.

Because they're like, I want my photos to look like that.

Bingo.

And then it the rest really is just, you know, history.

14:11

As they said so that was the beginning of the Empire.

That was the beginning, that house and he's still a client today.

Him and his dad are still clients actually shot one for him like last week.

So it's it's been really neat And then and just grown from there.

It started out as me and now I've.

14:28

Got a small team?

Yep, I've got two full time photographers, full time video editor, and a full team of photo editors.

So.

You you mentioned something that I I want to revisit because I think it can transcend more than just real estate.

It's really anything and and and honestly it's anything that you want to start out doing.

14:44

You started doing it for free.

Yeah, that free to fee method.

Yeah, Why was that your vehicle?

Because I I see a lot of people specifically with photography.

They'll pick up a camera and they'll immediately start charging for work.

Now I.

Didn't do that I.

Didn't do that, and it sounds like you didn't do that.

15:01

I felt.

I honestly felt as though.

I felt inadequate.

I felt inadequate.

I did not want someone to spend their dollars on something that I'm still learning because, like, I didn't feel as though my work was good.

I felt like I could get good at it, but I was totally fine with giving it for free.

15:17

Yeah.

I think at this point, when I started reaching out, it was just, it wasn't that I was not good enough because I practiced enough in my own home at this point, like when I said I was bad at it, that was in my own home, I was bad.

And then I got good at it in my own home.

So I was like, I'm good at this.

15:34

And I knew that this was already better than what you were in industry standard.

So I wasn't coming in into it with like, I don't want to charge, 'cause I'm not good enough.

I knew I was good.

It was a selfish reason.

I was like, I want that home in My Portfolio, yeah.

That's it.

I think that's very I'm.

15:50

Exchanging the fact that I can take these photos and advertise it and get people to to now spend money with me, There you go for their listings.

So that was the trade off.

It wasn't that I feel like I wasn't good enough.

I knew at that point I knew I was better than most.

What was out there?

Actually it's arrogant to say, but I was better, like I was the best option and no one knew it yet, so I had to do it for free just to get the content.

16:13

You needed the exposure.

Right.

And and that is a very important thing in our industry because and I think we all three of us understand it because we've had to go through it.

There is something to be said for what we call spec work, which is and in our industry it's very common.

16:29

If if I want to do work, I have to show my potential audience that I have experience with that specific type of work.

For example, I'm, I'm, I'm wearing an Adidas hat right now.

If I want to shoot an Adidas commercial, they are never going to hire me.

16:44

If they've only ever seen me shoot, we'll we'll just say real estate.

If they've only ever seen me shoot real estate but never a commercial that is in their niche, they're never going to hire me for it.

So there there's importance there in having that portfolio work and and a lot of it is free at times.

17:02

I still do free work.

I mean, I I just made a post yesterday I said who has a luxury listing over $1,000,000 because I got some new stuff I want to try and it's just like new gear trying out some other techniques, different editing style, and I don't want to wait on it.

Super important because like you, you you're you build credibility through that portfolio.

17:26

For instance, like when you were first approaching these real estate agents who had decent sized listings, if you had nothing to back up you, you're you almost have zero trust with that person if you ask for money.

But if you're coming to the table saying, look, I'm, I think I'm good at what I do.

I know I'm good at what I do.

17:42

I'm not going to say that to you, but I'm good at what I do.

Let me do this for free.

I think that slowly starts to build trust with these people because they see what you did, they they're going to see the return on it because it's probably going to sell faster.

Definitely more eyeballs too.

Definitely more eyeballs to it versus cell phone content.

17:59

But you you build portfolio, you also build trust and now you have a portfolio that when you come to that agent or that agent comes to you like no, they they've seen what you can do and it makes sense.

Yeah, there's, like I said, getting started out.

18:18

I had to do it for free.

You just you just to get proof of work.

Just to get it, yeah.

We've all had to and and again it's it's very specific for each niche and and we learned that way back in the in the wedding game.

Weddings begat weddings.

Yeah weddings begat weddings and and we were in a phase where we kind of wanted to shoot some other things and we were like Dang.

18:39

People should be able to look at our wedding work and say, yeah, you guys can shoot a commercial, but nobody was they.

They have to see themselves in that seat.

If they can't see themselves in that seat, they're never going to hire you for the thing that you want to do.

Yeah, No one knows what you do until you tell them.

18:56

Until you show them exactly.

You have to show them you just like.

That with your back story.

Yeah, you started shooting cars.

Guess what you were starting to get inquiries for?

Yeah, automotive stuff.

Just because I was posting it people, you know, people you.

Guys.

That's what they're seeing you do.

You just got to get the ball rolling any way you can.

You know, actually it's funny.

19:13

Before I actually started shooting actual listings, I went to Clayton Homes.

That was like, hey, because I've, I've been there before and I'd like they most of their, you know, big, nice, double eyed, you know, showcase trailers have staging in them And I was like and they look pretty good.

19:29

I was like this looks great actually.

Absolutely.

What a playground I.

Was like, can I come in here and just take some photos for you guys?

It's just for I'm just practicing, but you can have the photos every single time they say yeah.

He's like, they're not going to say no to that.

When I train new employees, we go straight to Clayton.

There you go.

Really.

Yeah.

19:45

Totally like them.

And then, like, loves homes and case court.

Yeah.

Because at this point I'm like, hey, there's an uninterrupted space that has pretty decent looking staging in it.

Yeah, and you get free marketing material and I know it's going to be good.

20:00

Like, back then I was like, I don't know, I was like, can I just use the place?

And they're like, I don't care, dude.

What's cool about that too is you're actually able to use it as a training ground, which for us, we we talk a bit about this all the time.

I have to learn through experience.

20:16

I have to learn through doing.

You know I can watch a million videos or I can read a million books on a subject and I will know about that subject.

But until I put my fingers and my hands to the work, I don't know about that piece.

So I think that's cool that you're able to use it for a training ground as well.

20:33

And that's something that you did for yourself from the beginning.

Very cool.

So you're able to pass your knowledge, pass your skill set on to a new generation, and hopefully on some folks that can eventually maybe help work you out of a a shooter's position, if if that's something that you desire within your business.

20:51

Well, it's hands on.

It's hands on education and training and that's the that's the best way I think in in our industry specifically learn, make, repeat is the thing, right?

Like you've got to do it.

Look back at it a week or two later, critique it and not make that mistake.

21:10

Again, and that's that's what I'm doing right now with like, like I said, trying to find a nice luxury listing to do some different video stuff on because I'm trying a different style out.

Never done it before.

It's very catchy and no one's seen it from around here before.

It's like, it's like Beverly Hills quality and I'm going to bring it here.

21:27

I'm going.

To attempt to.

I don't.

I mean, like I said, it's one of those things like, I'm always learning.

I don't know.

I mean, I'm very confident that I can do it.

And I've dissected it and I've studied what this looks like.

Can I bring it to a cabin, right, instead of a $15 million Belair home, right.

21:46

Maybe we'll see.

I think we can.

I think you.

Can, and this is a cool segue because that was going to be another one of my questions from the outside.

I have noticed that you do things differently than a lot of real estate videographers do.

You had and and I'm not saying that that other videographers in real estate don't understand this, but I think you have like a deeper understanding of like cinema, you know movies and and and lighting for movies, mood, things like that, that a lot of real estate, at least from my experience, my short stint shooting real estate work, they don't understand it yet.

22:23

What does that look like for you though?

So this new direction is it more of a a quote, quote, cinematic without having to use that buzzword style?

We all love that word.

Yeah we all love it here on YouTube and everything.

But what does that style look like and and how do you feel moving into that?

22:42

What will help help your business and help differentiate you?

Yeah, so this new type of way of filming definitely does have some cinematic techniques to it.

It's more about selling the vibe and the feel of a house than the four walls.

23:01

Because you could just walk through, you know, do a normal video walkthrough with some music, some generic pop happy Sound of Music.

It's just sterile.

It checks all the boxes for the most part for the standard, but it doesn't make you feel anything I want to bring if you were watching this makes you want to live there.

23:23

There you go.

I want to raise a family there.

Yeah.

Or, you know if it's.

You become attached to it.

Yeah, you know something that you can see yourself there and using literal actors in there to do so, showing the family and the family.

Rooms.

See where you go.

This higher like lifestyle type of video, we've done lifestyle type of photos but not the video part of it yet.

23:44

So I think that's the, you know, the the direction I want to go with it because no one's seen that kind of work here.

It makes sense because you're essentially staging the home, but you're staging the home.

No different than someone paying for furniture staging you are.

24:03

You are literally giving the viewer an A further and a deeper way to relate and put themselves in it right.

They can visualize versus an empty living room with no couches or anything like that.

OK, now we fixed that with furniture staging.

24:19

OK, cool.

Now I see the furniture, but there's no but now I see a family.

On it.

That's rad.

That's that's I.

Like, so you can do two things.

You can sell the vibe of the house and then this is a huge opportunity to also the listing agent.

You can sell their brand.

24:36

So they're using their face.

They're guiding you through this with the main points of it, talking about it to help like, you know, bring a bring a brand to them.

Because real estate agents, their whole brand is their face.

Yeah, yeah, I I think, and I think if I go back, because I've been following your Your Business page for a while, if I go back, I remember you making subtle little hints in this direction.

25:00

I remember specifically there was a cabin that you shot.

I think you took your daughter with you and you guys took some shots out by the fire pit and and some shots inside.

That.

Was that kind of like a foreshadowing of what was to come with more of the lifestyle content?

Because that idea like, absolutely intrigues me.

25:16

That's awesome because I think that the real estate market needs something like that.

It needs something beyond your traditional clinical clean.

Like there's nothing wrong with it, but it it it's getting to a point where it's turning stale, at least for me now.

I'm not in the home market right now, but if I were that to me, if I saw a family almost going through an evening in the living room, I'd be like, Oh my gosh, I can see my family in that spot right there.

25:43

Yeah, you're just taking, you know, selling features of the home like a pool or an outdoor, you know, area with like a fire pit and string lights and everything, you know, nice areas and you're just bringing an emotion to there instead of just a visual.

There's the there's the pole but if you can see like a kid you know doing a cannonball in there or.

26:03

Someone having fun?

Yeah, someone just diving in or you just having like a, you know, a glass of wine out by the whatever.

That's bringing emotion to it, where whereas it's emotionless, it's just like you're walking to the house and it's like, yeah, there's not much imagination to it there.

26:21

Well, that comes.

I mean, that comes from literally cinema.

A movie is shot in order to convey a feeling and emotion.

So sure, with you bringing that to a a traditionally clinical genre niche I I think that's awesome.

26:38

That's really cool.

I think it'll definitely shake it up.

The only hurdle now getting people to pay for it because it's a lot more work, obviously, because it's not just.

Yeah.

And even if you're not even doing that, if you, if you just you the talent is the agent.

26:54

It's still it's like houses are hard to shoot.

Lighting is huge.

We can't bring in external lighting like how we have here.

You are dealt, you know you have to deal with what you're you're given and it takes some pre planning like where's the sun going to be positioned, which rooms are going to look better because like some rooms are going to look great at at you know in the morning and then the back of the house might look great at night.

27:20

So now there's two times we have to shoot.

So it's going.

To be a little bit of a undertaking.

Yeah, there's more time there.

So if the budget's there, the price, you know, is is reflective of that, then it shouldn't be an issue.

And I I mean, I've seen that now we're the most expensive option.

27:38

And you're still booking like crazy.

Yeah.

And for a good reason, because you're going to get a better quality product.

But with this, it's going to be if they're used to paying $350.00 for a video and we just show up whenever like, oh, it's just you were scheduled when we're available or you know, based on when they want to go.

27:56

If they if they say, hey, we got to be there at 1:00, we're showing up at 1:00 and then I would not pick 1:00 to shoot.

One, Yeah, it's a it's a pretty tough time, pretty tough time of day.

You're you're paying for 3:50.

You might get lucky, might be a cloudy day, and we might just have beautiful interiors.

And it might just, you might just get lucky.

28:12

But for this product you get priority timing, priority lighting, there you go.

Maybe multiple trips, maybe three trips like a pre planned trip to see where products are at you're.

Going to do some scouting.

And then that's then it falls into like commercial it's not.

It goes into commercial and.

28:28

Anymore.

I think too.

I think people appreciate that because again, even even going back to your business model now, I can tell that you put a lot into what you do.

You care about your clients.

You care about how their listings look, but I think that takes it to another level because people enjoy custom tailored things.

28:44

They love, things that they feel like and and things that are custom tailored to them.

Feel catered to.

Yeah, you feel catered to.

It's it's a luxury thing and and one thing that not only from a buyer's perspective, but I think a a home owner that is selling their home.

29:00

If I'm selling my home, that could be one of my last things.

One of my last memories of that home is, man, that was a really good video that Tyler did.

I'm going to go tell all my buddies, Hey, when you're selling your home, this is the guy, this is the guy that you need to call and this is the product you need from this guy because it's going to be different than, you know, Joe Blow.

29:20

That's just going to come in and walk around the tripod.

Yeah, We've actually had a lot of business gained just from other homeowners because there's there's a lot of people that just follow our, you know, business page that aren't even looking for a house.

But they've saw, seen what we've done.

29:37

And then they tell their agent, even if it's a, you know, an agent that isn't a client of us, of ours, they say, hey, I saw this video and I want the same.

So when we list our house, we have to use this guy.

29:53

So that's pretty neat that I'm getting clientele from homeowners because of what we've done instead of the agents.

And you mentioned that in one of your in your recent YouTube videos is most of your advertising has been either you reaching out and adding agents or it's just been word of mouth because you're good to people.

30:13

Yeah, you you take care of them, you're kind to them and and again that's things that I've noticed from the outside looking in is your business model from what I can tell is pretty perpetual in the sense that it's self generates.

It really does it's self.

Generating clients, which is awesome.

Yeah, we.

30:29

I mean, I could try harder to, you know, people were like, when are you going to get into North Carolina and stuff?

I'm like, well, I don't want to grow too fast.

Yeah.

You can overextend if.

You can't handle the growth.

You're going to lose it.

So I was like, and I don't want to be a disservice to the people that are in the tri-cities, in Knoxville, in the great Swaggie Mountains.

30:45

We're already covering like 300 miles.

Nashville, don't you?

Not quite Nashville, pretty close.

We've been to Cookeville, it's pretty close.

So and it really just depends on if we're already in Knoxville, we can go another, you know, hour, sure.

But typically it's, you know, tri-cities, Knoxville in the Great Smoky Mountains.

31:03

But yeah, I figure what we're talking about now.

Well, going going back to referrals, yeah, referrals and that that luxury of of you taking care of people, I think that's been great for your business model.

So beyond that though, I know obviously your goal is to build your business can continue to grow at A at a sustainable rate.

31:21

Sustainable rate the The long term goal is just to probably do some kind of coaching.

I don't really want to do a course.

Actually I made a course.

I made a course about two years ago, but I rushed it.

31:37

Everything that I said was good, but for me I just felt like the quality that I did.

It was lacking.

You want to.

Put it out.

Yeah.

And I just didn't.

And that's a whole separate business in itself.

Itself is pushing out an educational.

Oh my gosh E courses.

Are.

Huge.

31:53

And it's it's a lot of advertising and a lot of it's a lot more work.

It's a lot of work.

The the cool thing though with a course, you know, we we've helped clients in the past UE courses.

We ourselves have started planning a course for the future, but the cool thing with courses is it offers you the opportunity for some passive income, which once generated, frees you up to do other things that you enjoy doing.

32:18

Maybe it frees you up the opportunity to instead instead of having to go out and personally shoot properties, you can spend time in the office training others how to shoot properties full time because you're already training and shooting.

But then at that point in time, you've afforded yourself the opportunity to maybe step back from one of those positions.

32:34

Passive, passive income opportunities are awesome in our industry.

I see a lot of folks who have spent time as cinematographers or business owners move into that coaching space and that's all they do full time.

I I think that's a pretty cool dream to have.

Because here's the thing.

32:50

We all have problems.

We all need solutions.

Yes, and someone is welding with a camera.

They're in your shoes where you were, so you can help.

You can help someone maybe avoid some mistakes that you made.

33:06

Oh yeah, for sure.

I respect you for that, for wanting to educate a new generation because we we have some of the same mentalities.

Like, there's I've been self-employed for a while, and I always tell folks that I would be a horrible employee now.

Oh, I'd be the worst.

Because I've I've experienced that freedom, and one of my goals among many, is to help as many people as I can experience that same freedom.

33:29

I don't care if you pick up a camera or not, Whatever you want to do, whatever that passion is.

Our buddy Brandon Franklin, he's a bladesmith if you want to be a.

Bladesmith.

Yeah, if you want to be a bladesmith, I want you to be the best bladesmith that you can possibly be.

And I want to inspire you to get away from that, that corporate world.

33:46

And it's not for everyone. self-employment is very tough.

I think we all understand that.

There are certain.

Roses and.

Yeah, it's it's not all roads.

There's certainly days where I'm like Dang, I'm ready to go work at Dollar General.

But at the end of the day, I want everyone to at least have the opportunity to experience that freedom.

34:05

So I appreciate you you for that because as your training, your training Tyler four years ago that was welding and hating his life and and and basically stuck to that factory.

Yeah, there is a lot of people that gatekeep a lot of the the quote UN quote secrets of of.

Is it really a secret though?

34:21

I was going to say plot you learned.

It from somewhere.

I think it's a secret until you know it.

Well, plot twist.

There are no secrets because information is so readily available.

These days, it is you.

Can find it, yeah.

I think.

I think a lot of people want to gatekeep this information because they're afraid that they're going to have their clients taken and no one is ever going to take your clientele because they like you.

34:43

Right.

I was going to say you, you are.

We we talked about this a lot like you are the brand.

If you are kind to people and take care of people, you are the brand.

People will come back to you.

Treat them like a person.

Yeah, treat them like a human, Be nice to them.

But I I believe there's people that work with us because we've made a a big conscious effort just to try to be good to people.

35:04

Yeah, maybe I'm not.

Yeah, maybe I'm not the best director, cinematographer, videographer, whatever.

But because I've treated you kindly that it causes you to come back.

I'm that way when I buy.

You know, if, if I buy from somebody, if you've taken care of me, I'm going to come back to you time and time again.

35:20

That's the first thing people recognize, too.

Their their first impression and their experience with you.

Everything that you delivered and everything that's that's going to be good.

If you're doing the right things, that's going to be good, and it's going to be good probably anywhere.

But they're going to come to you because they're like you and people are creatures that have it too.

35:39

Absolutely so like.

Yeah, you become comfortable to them.

I have.

Confidence.

Now that my loyal clientele that have used me for years, they're probably not just going to up and switch unless I start being mean or my quality sucks now, or our turn around time starts slipping or just any.

35:57

But if everything is how it should be in the business, and I'm the person that they've known for years, why would they switch everything?

We spoke to is the experience though.

It's the experience with you.

If that aspect of it starts to slip in any shape, form, factor or whatever, that may cause somebody to do it.

36:15

But as long as you're keeping that experience up, they have no.

Reason too.

Well, improving and it and it goes back to a saying that I learned in in the other industry people, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

36:31

So you can have all of this knowledge on real estate photography.

You can know the best angles, you can know when to throw the drone up.

You can know how high to put your tripod when you're shooting interiors.

They don't care if you don't make them feel good.

It it goes back to that experience like Jared said.

The human, the human, The human side of things, Yeah, I need to know.

36:51

Well, that's just like anything.

Everybody wants to feel loved.

They want to feel I.

Want to feel taken care of?

Absolutely, and if you can offer that in addition to a top notch quality product and deliverable.

Yeah, you're a jugger at that point, that's for sure.

You're.

A juggernaut.

It's going to work every time.

And at the end of that sentence, at that point, it doesn't matter what you charge.

37:10

Bingo.

No, Bingo.

That.

That's very true.

Because we'll be the best at everything, the best customer service, the best quality, turn around time, the amount of things that we offer.

But I'll never be the cheapest because you can't have all that and be the cheapest.

37:27

It goes back to the impossible triangle, the the impossible property we talked about.

You got to be fast, cheap and good.

You got to pick a couple.

But I think, I think through that service, through that, that experience you earn that, I mean you.

You're building enough value there to where the dollar amount doesn't matter.

37:43

The the dollar amount doesn't matter.

And and people understand that.

No, this guy has put in the time, he's put in the work.

He knows what he's talking about.

He's given me a great experience.

He's taking care of us.

He he earned that.

You you've you have earned that yield at that point in time.

There's a reason.

There's a reason in Hollywood why people they hire Rodger Deacons.

38:03

He's a good guy.

He takes care of his crew and he's he's probably one of the best that's ever done it there, you know?

There's also a reason Rodger.

'S not cheap.

Right.

There's I I tell this to people, too.

You can buy a Toyota Corolla, a used 2014 Corolla, and it's going to drive you from A to B perfectly fine.

38:20

It sure will cause some people will still buy the brand new BMW.

Why 'cause that's more value.

Doesn't matter what it costs.

But it's it's nicer, it's newer, it's better.

Maybe the buying process was better.

You know, you're you're catered to better.

Well, it's about that experience.

Yeah, people are still going to buy the BMW.

38:36

People love.

Experience.

That's their thing.

The ultimate driving experience.

Or wait.

Do I literally.

That's the ultimate.

I thought it was.

The ultimate driving experience.

Hey, listen, I understand it.

I've.

I've had a beamer.

I'm now daily a Subaru Forester, and I love my Forester.

It'll go 4 million miles.

38:52

Yeah, but the M3 was fun.

Yeah, it it was fun.

And I bought it as a young dumb kid who wanted an experience I I wanted.

You saw the value in it, yeah?

For me at the time, I saw value in, you know, having 500 horses at the wheels.

It's it's fun.

Off camera you mentioned something that I believe is one of your.

39:10

It's an additional differentiator.

I believe we were talking about how important it is.

I don't care what it is.

Yours is specifically with real estate with us.

It's working with businesses and you know, trying to create good advertisement pieces for them, social media, whatever.

39:29

But you mentioned off camera, you said your probably initial question is OK, who's your target audience?

What is the goal of this piece?

Because here's the thing, you said it and and you you might not say it the same way and I'll probably butcher it, but you said I don't care if you spend 150K with me and we give you the best listing video, whatever.

39:50

But if it misses your target audience, if it misses the mark there, then it's it's failed, yeah.

It's done, You know, justice.

Yeah.

So why do you feel that it's so important to nail that down with your clients?

Yeah, asking those questions like who's the intended audience is so important because like I said, you know, it doesn't matter if you made a $50,000 commercial and you were targeting or your intended audience was, let's say people that are wanting to sell their home, right.

40:23

And you want those clients.

If your message goes towards I want to help you buy homes.

You miss your audience by a mile.

Oh yeah, Oh yeah.

And every dollar you just spent is wasted is on a pretty product it's going to be great.

But you're getting the wrong audience.

40:40

You're getting the.

Wrong.

It's not going to be as a.

Message there.

So you have to be clear with people.

Just be honestly, people don't know.

No, they don't.

People.

I have agents all the time, like, hey, I want to make a brand video.

What do we do?

It's like I want some cool shots.

That's part of our job is as as as the experts though.

40:57

We're problem solvers.

Ask those questions.

We are problem solvers.

We help them.

If they don't know their target audience or their intended audience.

We help them learn that.

That way we can build the best piece for them.

Yeah, you got to have some information beforehand like you, you know, who's their audience or do they want to say what's their goal.

41:15

A lot of them don't even know what the actual video is going to entail.

And I think it's our job to take that information that they give us and be like I think we should probably do a brand video, a video business card.

They're going to know who you are, what you do, why you do it and why they should, and why, you know, give them some insight about you, and then they're going to go for it and it's going to end up being good.

41:38

Well and again a branded piece is something that we suggest to a lot of folks and and we suggest it in in a packaged sense with like testimonials because the branded piece is cool to to inform people.

Yeah it's social proof.

Here I am, here's what I do, here's why you should care.

And then the testimonial backs that up from actual customer saying yeah this is who he is.

41:57

He says he is who he is and and it's true we like him because of that reason and then here's why we care.

So those are those are two go, yeah those 2GO hand in hand but the the matter of distribution we'll call it, it is very important again if you shoot the prettiest you know $50,000 commercial but it misses the message and they don't get to that target audience.

42:19

You have wasted their money at that point in time.

We we've had a big reckoning in the past few months with that realization is like we have to get better about questions and asking these folks what the goals actually are.

Because we can put out a movie, but if it's not distributed properly, if the right audience doesn't hear it, if it doesn't cause them to take action we've missed.

42:43

And I think the frequency too, 'cause there's, I get asked quite a lot.

They're like, hey, we have a budget of X amount of dollars and the big budgets, they're like, let's make the best commercial.

Ever.

I'm like, how about we we take that whole budget and let's make a ton?

43:00

That's tough to stay.

That's an older approach.

Yeah.

Sing.

You are a good commercial.

Because unless you're backing it with a lot of ad dollars.

People are going to see it one time, go wow, that's they they really spent the money on that and they're going to go back the about their day because that's how social media works.

43:16

It's scroll, it's quick hits.

But if they keep seeing different things, often you're at the forefront of your client's mind.

That's way more important than one big commercial.

If you had 50 grand to spend, let's instead of one commercial, let's do 20 videos, short form videos or whatever.

43:39

That way you can press them out on multiple different platforms because you can't push a 2 minute commercial but like 2 places.

YouTube and your.

Website your website.

No one like that's a very.

Somebody's already got to be there to get it.

Yeah, you have to send them to this video.

43:56

Instagram won't even accept it.

No, Tik.

T.O.K Well, TikTok will now cut.

It's not going to work.

It'll, it'll cut 60 seconds, though, even if you had a 62nd commercial, no one's watching it horizontally like that's.

And that that goes back to you're missing your audience, Yeah, Where's your audience at?

44:11

It's probably not people going to your website.

It's probably people sitting at the house on Facebook, on Tiktok, on Instagram.

So we talked to.

More important.

You said it in a different set of words, but it's the it's the same reason why, like e-mail marketing, you don't see one e-mail every six months from this company.

44:33

Oh, they're at least sending weekly emails because they're trying to stay top of mind.

You might not buy from every e-mail that you get from them.

Heck, you may not even read half of them.

But if they're constantly in your inbox, or if your video is constantly in someone's feed, that's more exposure and more chances to to reach a new audience.

44:53

Well, on on top of that, the moment they actually need whatever it is that you've been pushing, yeah, you're the guy they come to.

They've.

Already seen you, yeah.

I just saw his e-mail yesterday.

Yeah, exactly.

And a lot of people will shelf that too.

45:08

Like, they'll they'll get an e-mail and then if it's like remember us for your your listing photos or whatever.

And then they don't have anything currently.

But in three weeks, someone's like, hey, I'm wanting to list my house and then they're like, all right, cool, I gotta do all these things.

45:25

I could get photos.

Boom, there's where you're at.

They're not even wondering.

They're not even going.

Oh, who am I going?

To go.

To oh God, I don't even know.

But like, even if you're not even they're not even a client yet.

They're like, I've seen this guy, What was that guy's name?

Let me go back to my e-mail, Let me go back to Facebook, Let me go back to Instagram.

45:41

Wherever there he is, I have to use him because I already mentally said when I get my next listing.

That's the guy I'm going to.

I'm going to go to him and we get that a lot.

We get messages all the time.

They're like, hey, I just started real Estate.

I've seen your stuff.

It's great.

When I get my first listing, I'll call and almost every time when they do, they call us.

45:58

They.

Got 100% kill rate.

Exactly.

And I never wasn't like, reaching out like, hey, please work with us.

It's just, here's what we do, here's why we're great.

There you go, little Nuggets.

Look at it on your own time.

And just, you know, here we are when you need us.

If you're if you're not backing that singular commercial with quite a bit of dollars and AD spend money, yeah, it may not be the most effective use of your of your.

46:25

I don't think it is.

I don't think it is anymore.

Because there's a reason why there's now UGC user generated content is big.

People like Adidas are realizing, you know what, I could spend 500K on a singular commercial, Run it for a bit and it'll do well.

Or I could redistribute that 500K to. 500 runners influencers.

46:45

Now I have 500 unique products, 500 new commercials, but they're reaching an audience that may not have seen my stuff.

So yeah.

You're you're exactly.

Right.

It's it's it's smart to keep that in mind and and to be aware that a volume approach may be better today.

47:04

I think so.

Well, and you've done yours basically with no paid ads, correct?

0.

Zero paid ads.

You've built your empire.

I mean.

That speaks to you saying there being a need, though.

Yeah, not necessarily being a want, it is to a degree, because you are the you're you're the more expensive.

47:20

So at that point it's a want, but the need still exists.

I think the need is there when you show them there is a need because there's still agents today in where I service that say, Nah, I'll just use my phone, there you go, I'll just use my phone.

But if I'm like, OK, so let's take your last listing shot on your phone, sat on the market for four months and it was verging on on expiring.

47:43

We come in, take photos under contract.

Now our photos don't sell homes and I know that's crazy people are like, but I thought it didn't know our photos bring more eyeballs.

There you go to your listing, which if more people are seeing it, you have a better chance of people wanting to purchase this thing.

48:02

We've actually had instances where I have posted photos of a house or video or whatever on our Facebook page and it has gotten shared across the country and it has went under contract because they saw my Facebook post.

48:18

There you go.

They weren't even in the market.

Like for instance we shot like a $2,000,000 house in Knoxville and some girl that follows our Facebook page her parents wanted to move to wanted to move to Knoxville.

There you go.

This wasn't even on the MLS yet.

I just posted like a 10 seconds video of like the main entrance or something, those, you know, marble floors and she shared this to her parents and she was like, hey, who's the agent on this one?

48:47

It's like my parents are looking to move.

They want to buy.

I was like here you go.

It went live on the MLS and they got it under contract.

There you go, Same day.

That was the next day.

Yeah, they wanted her contract.

On a $2,000,000 listing.

Yeah.

And I I was like, you can send that referral check to Dollar Fridge Real Estate Photography.

49:07

Thank you.

Now obviously as a disclaimer, can't do that link in.

The description below.

That's that's a joke.

I can't accept that because I'm not an agent, but I can accept tips so.

Tips and steaks We'll take some steaks you.

Just take me on dinner?

No, but that fact alone, the agent they they ended up didn't send me a a gift card until like Starbucks or whatever.

49:27

But they were like your post like that sold the home, we got, you know, we got a buyer for it and they went under contract with for it.

So that's the instances where, well my photo actually did sell it or whatever.

I love it.

I did actually.

That speaks to something that Gary and I have have realized lately and we're we're we're learning to combat.

49:49

The facts are if someone takes cell phone photos with it, we'll just use that example for for this story purpose.

If someone takes cell phone photos of a listing, eventually it'll sell.

Eventually.

Potentially.

50:05

Yeah.

Price, yeah.

So versus you know, you even said I don't make the claim that my photo is going to sell your house.

You have metrics in the back end that's like now you're going to have better success if you support it.

It's the same way with us in in commercial work like OK, so if we look at a client we're like they're they're they're running a not so great commercial.

50:29

It's still serving a purpose, it's having some level of effectiveness.

It's going to get eyeballs, it's going to get eyeballs.

You know, how do we convince and how how do we better position ourselves of being higher quality, getting a better return, those sorts of things.

50:48

So like that's that's something that I, I, I thought was interesting to hear you say.

I think it goes, it goes back to the feeling no different than what you talk about with your your upcoming approach to to even real estate is it's one thing to shoot a home, but it's it's an even further thing to make somebody feel like they want to be in that home.

51:09

And we experienced that with commercial work is like OK, yes there's a million different ways to shoot a commercial, but what is the way that is going to make somebody feel that commercial and take action on on whatever the offer is, whatever the commercial's about?

How do we make them feel like they have to have XYZ.

51:27

You know it goes through by by conveying that emotion.

Absolutely.

I think, I think those are those are all really good points Tyler.

Thank you for coming on.

Yeah, thanks for agreeing to be.

Here with us?

Absolutely.

Listen, if you're an agent or heck, just somebody trying to sell a home, whatever potential seller, we we've now learned that you're getting business that way.

51:50

Reach out to Tower, Frazier Real Estate Photography.

There it is.

Do you get most of your inquiries on Facebook or or how's that work?

Generally the website, that's how we that's where we funnel everybody too.

It usually comes from Facebook, but then we we put them all to website.

What's that domain?

We'll put it in the description.

Link in description below.

52:06

It's the acronym for for its TFR ep.com.

Nice.

Nice.

Quick and easy.

I like it Simple.

Description Below Go give Tyler Frazier a follow on the Facebook Go check out the website If you're a listing agent or somebody potentially wanting to sell your home.

52:22

He'll do your right.

He'll do your right.

Again, thanks for coming on.

We appreciate it.

Hope you've enjoyed the time.

I know I certainly have.

I feel learned.

Yeah, I've I've definitely learned a couple of cool things today here on the episode.

Also, really quick, Jared, our audience, if if this episode has resignated, there are a couple of things that they can do for us that would be much appreciated and help the channel out.

52:43

What are those things?

So feedback in any way, shape or form, via comment, via a review left upon the platform that you're consuming this give us a rating.

Yes, stars and bars.

Absolutely.

Stars and bars, those things mean so much to us, You really don't even know.

53:00

And then we really can't do a good job of explaining how important those things are.

But they help us so much.

And we appreciate it.

Absolutely appreciate everyone of your heart.

Do what now?

I said, here's the hard part.

Oh, is it?

I think so.

Unless you're just going to say it.

I will just catch you guys in the next episode.

53:17

See you guys later.

Appreciate it Tyler.

Thank you again.

Yep.

Appreciate it.

And folks, y'all have a good one.

Be safe.

Bye.