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Make sure you listen in, as on this podcast, Matt interviews Everardo Keeme, who is a certified professional photographer and also a professional snorer. Everardo got into photography on accident. He was working a corporate j
Make sure you listen in, as
Everardo got into photography on accident. He was working a corporate job, loved it, won a trip to Greece and didn’t have a camera. Since he didn’t have any pictures from that trip, he bought a camera, started photographing cycling events, applied to photograph the Phoenix Open (having never been or photographed golf), got the job and has been a photographer ever since.
He got into senior portraits when his daughter got into high school, hence Twelve Year Senior Portraits. He wanted a studio for senior pictures, hence Photo Fusion Studio. Everardo is very passionate about education and is excited about all of the conferences and workshops available now.
Overall, photographers are very good at sharing information with each other. He’s also excited about using mirrorless camera technology and how that’s only going to keep making us better.
Read the full transcript
Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.
Speaker 1: 00:01 Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.
Matt: 00:16 Hey everybody. Welcome to from nothing to profit so today will be a little bit different because
Matt: 01:01 But then you’re the owner of photo fusion studios and the twelfth and twelfth year senior portraits. So welcome man. I appreciate you being on the show. Yeah, of course, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. So I have to tell everybody a little bit of a backstory about when we went to sync together and I’ll throw you under the bus and totally embarrass you. But that’s how we, that’s how we start every podcast around here is we try to handle it. I’m a big boy so we all stayed. Joy verts has a condo down by where sync is hosted. So um, every year we go down there and we tend to stay at her, her condo, and you know, some people can make it every year, some people can’t or whatever. So at the last minute a bunch of people said they could go and enjoy, had already kind of filled up the condo. So what happened is that we started like having to like move people around a little bit and Everardo and I were the only two guys that were staying at the condo that day because I think mentioned Shaylon will actually, we’re staying in a different condo and uh, so we ended up having to share a room. So we had two twin beds and shared a room together. And I’ll tell you what, man, you’re the loudest store I’ve ever, I’ve ever hung out with.
Matt: 02:09 It was, it was actually impressive. I felt like at moments that you were yelling at me, you start so loud. Well, I’ve always taught and uh, and kind of learned if you’re going to do something, do it right. Yeah, right. Yeah. I would say you figured out how to Snore, but all joking aside, obviously that was a super fun year in a super fund conferences always in. Um, I’m glad we got to do that. So. And now, you know, hopefully my parents live in Phoenix now where you live and so hopefully we can connect more and more every year as you know, since you’re in Phoenix. I’m definitely looking forward to it. And you know, and that’s the, one of the great things about living in Phoenix is um, we have about eight to nine months sometimes of perfect weather. And so, um, there’s always this old saying and I don’t know who to attribute the quote to, but it says, hey, don’t knock the weather because four to five people can start a conversation without it. Yes, that’s absolutely true. So is there anything else you want to share with the audience about yourself
Everardo: 03:00 or elaborate on what I said with your studio or anything like that? I’m just so they know a little more about you. Well, yeah, that was a good introduction. I mean really, I started photography by accident. I was working at a corporate job and I really liked it and they enjoyed it and I thought I was just going to be corporate for life and you know, doing the 401k thing and all that kinda good stuff. And um, I was in sales at the time and went on a vacation to, I won a as part of my bonus, a vacation to Greece and so here I am and like the, you know, the center of history for many different things and cultures and I don’t have a camera and I’m, the euro was really high, so the cheapy crappy little point and shoot camera that I had just wasn’t going to cut it and wasn’t really actually working well.
Everardo: 03:43 Um, and this is before cell phones were they started getting used as cameras and so I had a blackberry. And um, so long story short of that is, um, I have no pictures from that vacation. And so the next year it was like, alright, I need to get a camera. And I actually just rented one and then I was racing bicycles at the time. And um, it kind of evolved into this thing of taking pictures at the races and because I had been involved in cycling and racing for pretty much my whole entire life, I was kind of well connected in the cycling community and just on a whim, just went to go photograph the tour to Utah and the tour of California. And that just kind of what launched me into photography. And it was, I guess the funny thing is a very, very good friend of mine, her name is Mary Schwamm.
Everardo: 04:26 I’m going to give her a shout out. She is, I believe the only or one of the only female photographers inducted into the nfl hall of fame. And so I would always pick her brain for advice for photography. And for awhile there I was asking, it was like, Hey, can you give me some feedback and give, give me some advice, like how am I doing? I don’t want to do this full time. I just, you know, trying to be a better photographer. And she didn’t really respond. And about a month went by me sending her photos every week. And finally I just said, hey, come on, I need some feedback please. She’s like, well, I’ve been trying to figure out if you’re lucky or good. And she’s like, you know, why have you never thought of doing this? I’m like, I didn’t know I could make money doing it.
Everardo: 05:00 And so that’s kind of how I got into photography as it went by accident and I’m right place right time, wrong time, I guess how you look at it sometimes as you know, I’m in the interview for the Phoenix Open. I don’t even know how I got it. Like I’m barely just starting out to have a portfolio and experiment and the guy’s interviewing. He’s like, all right, cool. Well we’ll tell me what’s one of your favorite things about the tournament and being here. I’m like, uh, I’ve never been a kind of chuckled. And he was like, really? You’ve never been to the tournament but you want to be at the tournament photographer? It’s like, no, I just, I don’t like big crowds. I like other. I’ve been to other tournaments at that point. He’s like, okay, well, you know, we can, we can get through that somehow.
Everardo: 05:39 And I said, but I know everything about the tournament, like quiz me on it and asked me about the course or ask me about past winners or things like that. And so he kinda did and he was like, okay, well I guess he does know his stuff and he does know golf and he’s looking at my portfolio and he was like, you know, well you’ve got some good shots in here, so where’s the golf shots? My, I don’t have any golf shots. And he kind of looks at me again. He’s like, again, do you know what you’re applying for? And I go, look man, I know the game. I love the game. I liked the tournament, it’s in my backyard, but you know, gave me a shot. That’s all I’m asking for and if you don’t want to, I totally respect it if I’m in over my head.
Everardo: 06:11 I said, but you know, I’m also coming at this with a, a corporate background and a good work ethic and I’ve been working full time ever since I was 13 years old. So like, I can do the job, you know, if you just give me a chance I can do it and if I don’t then how about this, you can ruin my name and my reputation around town. And he’s like, alright, well, you know, we’ll give it a shot. And so yeah, now it’s been coming up to nine years now of doing the tournament photography. That’s awesome. So how did you get into senior portraits and stuff like that? Uh, that really started with my daughter, um, my niece and my daughter are about the same age and when they were going through high school kind of same thing as through cycling and through sports and through everything, you know, he’d slowly evolve into becoming a portrait photographer.
Everardo: 06:55 And so since I started with sports and started with events, it just kind of came natural to ask, well, can you take a headshot or can you take a portrait of someone? And so again, because it was sports related, I started working with the cheer team at the high school that I graduated from and I, I knew the cheer coach, uh, my niece was on the school at the time and, and then like I said, my niece and my daughter about the same age and going through high school together. And so I just started actually working with the team and it was really just not even about senior portraits. It was just about taking the action shots of them on the field or the activities that they’re going out and doing in the community and car washes and food drives and you know, uh, bringing toys to the needy during Christmas time and stuff like that.
Everardo: 07:35 And then that’s what it turned into was, you know, well, can you take senior pictures? And like every photographer starting out the answers like, yeah, absolutely. And then behind the scenes you’re like, oh crap, how do I figure this out? And so you just call a bunch of friends and call her resources. And I think luckily enough, and I attribute my business, I commend to, you know, it was really good at networking at the time and reaching out to other photographers and presenting myself in a way that I’m not a threat. I’m not out there to hurt their business, if anything, I’m out to try to help and influence their business if I can and you know, in return can you help me out with how to do some portraits or how to work with seniors. So it just kind of evolved from there. And I did it.
Everardo: 08:13 I’m not quite full time because I was still juggling the corporate jobs, still juggling the event work in the corporate work. And then doing senior portraits was probably about 25, maybe 30 percent of the business. Um, and then I just eventually got to busy after a couple years and really had to scale down and follow the corporate photography track. Um, and now with photo fusion studio, what happened there was we were a, I needed a studio at some point because the senior portraits I wanted to work in the studio and control the environment and learn about lighting and stuff like that. So I just became a member of a Co op studio and at first it was just renting it hourly as I needed it. And then as I got busier it turned into, you know, I’m renting a hours a week and then it turned into, well we have monthly memberships available.
Everardo: 08:59 Why don’t you just join the studio from monthly? Um, did that for a couple of years. And then there was an opportunity where the studio owner actually had expressed interest and said, you know what, you’re, you’re always in the studio and you’re always helping the other photographers that are here with things. Do you want to split the business? Do you want to be more involved? She was a little bit more introverted. I’m a little bit more extroverted and so we partnered together and we co own the studio for about five years. And then just this year, recently she said, you know what, I’m, I’m Kinda done with the studio, I don’t need it anymore for the work that she does is mostly stock photography. And she was losing out or kind of widdling down some of the client work that she was doing. And so photo fusion had been running as this co op to help other photographers help them grow their businesses.
Everardo: 09:43 We would mentor some photographers with their business, give them coaching, give them. And so it wasn’t just as a place to photograph out of it was actually, you know, revolved around the business because if their business thrived they will also stay a part of the studio too. So that’s, that’s the ulterior motive to it. But in the end, Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the U. s there’s enough work to go around. We’re not really stepping on each other’s toes. So with my partner leaving, so with my partner leaving and that makes sense. Um, I just really had to make that quick decision of, okay, am I going to keep the studio or you know, just let it die. And I wasn’t quite ready for it to die even though I was doing probably 80 to 90 percent of my work outside of the studio, I was still using it as like an office space or to work out over there, um, host client meetings or to meet with people.
Everardo: 10:31 And so it was still nice to have a professional standpoint from it. Plus also I worked from home with my corporate job, but I didn’t have to entertain clients. Like I always went outside. I always took my clients out to restaurants or other activities. So I, I liked it. The idea that my home was my home and that way when I was done with work I could just leave it be. So that’s when I made the decision this summer to remodel the studio and remodel it specifically for high school seniors and were. So we’re kind of. Where is it located in Phoenix, like a east west side of town where you guys were about as central as we can get just a little bit north of the Phoenix airport. We’re a little bit east of downtown. The exact area or neighborhood is kind of called the biltmore and we kind of on the border of another neighborhood called Arcadia, which I know you’re familiar with because you’re from the area, but um, I guess for others to kind of get the reference from his, uh, and that was the other reason why I liked the studio two is we’re about as central as we can get.
Everardo: 11:30 So, you know, I’d have clients coming out from Peoria, which is the northwest side of town, and I’d have clients coming in from anthem which is really far north and, you know, then I’d have clients coming out of Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert Chandler, which is on the East valley. Uh, so it’s, it’s really nice having a nice centralized location. Yeah, that’s, that’s awesome. I didn’t realize that you had remodeled the studio to come see it. Um, when I come down there in the spring for sure. So tell me, just kind of tell me a story of what you think is working right now in your business or what you think is working right now in the industry because that’s kind of the goal of this podcast always is to share these ideas with our audience. Well, as I talked to and I network with other photographers and I really am thankful of my corporate job because I knew at some point that photography was going to take over.
Everardo: 12:20 And so in the process of kind of dwindling down the corporate job, um, and really in the end I didn’t quit. I was laid off so it was actually a good thing. Um, I wasn’t sad about losing the job. Sometimes you got to be pushed out the door to make that right decision, you know? Yeah, exactly. I mean, because you could sit there building the parachute all day long, but you’re really going to take time to do it. And so when you get that push out the door, you’re like, okay, well we gotta make this work. And as I’ve talked to photographers and big towns and small towns, the more that we actually work together and partner together, the better everyone’s going to be an a. and I know that’s the whole premise of and white organizations and kind of these moments of like rising tide have started, is because people are starting to realize that that as they work together, everyone gets better.
Everardo: 13:05 And you know, at the end of the day, Matt, if you’re another commercial photographer here in Phoenix and you take one of my clients than you deserved it. And so did I, because I wasn’t taking care of my clients. You know, if I’m not providing good service, if I’m not providing a good product, then I don’t deserve to keep the clients I have. And, and that hurts. And that stinks sometimes. And you know, now that I have to pay 100 percent of the rent of the studio and other things like, uh, you know, puts a lot of stress on me. But at the end of the day, like what I’ve learned is when we are community and we work together, you, yourself as an individual. Actually thrive more, I’m at a, I’m a big part of this networking organization called Bni and one of their main, or they’re, they’re pretty much main top driven philosophy is givers gain and if you give to others the reciprocity and everything does come back to you at some point and you know, and it’s tough because like I said, sometimes you, sometimes I turn over a job to another, another photographer or refer another photographer that might be better and attack the exact same moment that I need to make my car payment or need to do something else.
Everardo: 14:12 But in the end I’m not going to service that client the best that I possibly can. I’m not going to be the best for them. And in the end, what that’ll do is actually hurt my reputation. If I take a job that I don’t do well at or don’t give it 100 percent versus if I turn over a job and that client realizes, hey, you know what? And I’ve heard this from people actually who I’ve turned away and who’ve have not hired me, they’ve actually come back saying, hey, you know what? This is why we like Everardo because he’s honest enough to say yes, he can do it or no, he can’t do it, so let’s just go ahead and. Yeah, I mean I have some clients that I’m like their go Goto I guess referral person because they’ve caught up and said, hey, I’m looking for a newborn photographer.
Everardo: 14:50 I, it’s not something you do, but who can you recommend? That makes a lot of sense and yeah. And I believe it and that’s a really hard thing to, to deal with, you know, like giving work away and not an admitting that you may not be the best person for that person. But like you said, once you get comfortable doing it a couple times, you realize it is the best and that’s what I love seeing that. But the industry is. I mean that’s always kind of been there and people have always kind of set it, you know, behind the scenes are a little bit or they’ve said it publicly. Like oh I’m, I’m happy. And then behind the scenes you see that they don’t kind of adhere to that policy. And what we find with those people that say that publicly but don’t follow it and the real life, they eventually burn themselves out and it only hurts them in the long run.
Everardo: 15:34 Yeah, I agree with that completely. Um, okay. So the next segment that we always cover, I say we, because Kyle is normally here, but as like, what’s one thing that you’re fired up about the industry? Um, another way I like to say this is like if there’s something that you hold true about the industry, what does that I love and part of it is maybe just my educational background or how I grew up in the family I have is. But education, I love that there’s conferences just sprouting up all over and, and you know, some people will kind of blew their nose on it and say, well they’re only doing a conference because they want to make money or they’re going to make better money as a conference person or an an educator than an actual photographer. And my answer to that is good because the days of us judging other photographers for expanding their businesses and trying to give back whether the meeting is genuine or disingenuous, if they genuinely help someone, then it’s a good thing.
Everardo: 16:33 And so when there’s other photographers that are starting up education or teaching others and you know, like one of the things that I always hold near to dear is his business, the business side of things. I mean, I started in the corporate world. I started as a kind of a businessperson. I did sales and consulting and manage staff and uh, you know, so I always approach photography as a business standpoint. If you look at my photography, there’s far more photographers that are way more talented than I am, but they can’t run a business and they can’t stay afloat. And when we can give an education to each other, like I go to other photographers that I can learn how to be a better photographer so I can learn better techniques and how to do things better. And in the end of the day, I mean I’m learning techniques from, you know, Jerry Eunice is a wedding photographer that are ultimately helped me out as a portrait photographer and I’m going to learn techniques from joy who’s very business savvy and hose running her business is very good from that standpoint.
Everardo: 17:29 Great. I can take little tidbits of that and learn from there. You know, and I, it’s one of the things I admire about you and allison. Allison is very creative. She’s very good at that point and you know, she couldn’t have gotten where she was by herself without being business savvy too. But it took to the point where like you can come in and you’re the systems guy. I mean, you know how to get other things done and you know, you and I have have met and chatted like infusion soft conference and we can both geek out about stuff like that. But yet we can also geek out about the creative side of it too.
Matt: 17:58 Right? Yeah. I agree. And Yeah, I think this the secret of education and if anybody’s listening to this, that’s the thing, or I get in an education or that isn’t an into education, I think the secret is to stay true to who you are so that you are teaching something that you’re really good at, you know, try not to, you know, you don’t need to teach everything, you know, if you’re good at, if you’re good at posing, good at posing, just teach about that you don’t need to teach about lighting or if you’re good at lighting that you don’t have to teach about posing or if you’re good at business, you don’t have to teach about shooting it all. So I think that’s one of the, I think the secrets to being a good educator, but also I think that naturally happens in our, in our industry too, which is awesome because yeah, you talked to people in other industries and there isn’t as much education as there is in our, in our industry. So I think it’s definitely a good thing. I mean, I wish it was a little less expensive because I would travel every weekend if I could, but I’d have to pick and choose, you know. Yeah. I’m the same as you.
Everardo: 18:52 When I had the corporate job I was really spoiled because I would always travel and um, was able to kind of go to these conferences a lot of times on someone else’s dime. Um, but yeah, as I am involved with like Bni and chambers and other networking groups and I realize photographers really habit. Luckily like overall we are a group are very good about sharing information with each other. So I, I kind of, you know, give a big pat on the back to our industry for that. Yeah. So
Matt: 19:20 similar question and I didn’t really prepare you for this one, but, so where do you think the industry’s going, you know, or what, what are you watching about the industry that you think is a good thing or a bad thing? It doesn’t really matter, just where do you think that
Everardo: 19:34 going? I see the proliferation of technology really taken off even more so, um, everything that technology does is to make people’s lives easier. And so a lot of people cry and whine sometimes of, oh my gosh, there’s so many new photographers are, there’s so many new daddy photographers and mommy photographers that are buying account camera at Costco and doing it and I applaud them and I say, you know, what, go for it because as technology makes it easier for us to do things in general and makes it better for everyone else and easier to get these shots, then that just elevates our craft because there again, like, you know, going back to that, that kind of thought of if you take my client because I’m not delivering a good product or good service, then you deserve it. And so I, I like that technology is they’re driving us all to be better.
Everardo: 20:20 Um, that could be better photographers, that could be better business people, that could be better communicators, it could be better listeners. It’s just gonna make us better in the long run. I mean, my own personal geekdom is I’m really interested in and really like the mirrorless camera movement and, and what that’s allowed me to do. I’ve switched cameras systems after nine years and I went to something lighter and smaller and you know, a lot of people push back on me and they said, well why’d you do that? Or Gosh, or you know, your clients are going to hate it and they’re not going to your work anymore in your work is going to suffer. And I did a lot of jobs side by side, you know, and I would give my work to the clients and I’d ask him, Hey, can you tell me like I, I switched camera systems and I actually use two different cameras on your job.
Everardo: 20:59 Can you take a look at the pictures and tell me which ones you liked more than the other. And they couldn’t tell the difference. So it’s because we’re, you know, once it’s like that question of once you meet someone at a networking event or you meet another photographer, they go, what do you shoot? What’s it matter like? I don’t go to Gordon Ramsey and say, hey, what’s your knife like, you know, you stopped talking about the equipment and the tool set and you start talking more about the skill set. Yeah, no, that makes. That makes complete sense. No, and I think, yeah, the mirrorless a movement is really interested in and sometimes maybe even people don’t pay attention to it enough because these, these camera companies are so good at putting out a product that works and it doesn’t have a lot of friction to it.
Everardo: 21:39 But I think when we look back in five years we’re going to realize how big the shift really was, you know? Yeah. I think that’s probably technology. I was probably one of the biggest things that’s coming in or to, you know, it’s probably the biggest game changer as far as like the camera itself, you know, going from film to digital. And I think Maryland is kind of on that level, like once more of those system starting to adopt and you know, unfortunately the two big ones or little late to the game, but they’re also still the two biggest ones out there. So, uh, you know, people may not like their first offerings, but they’re not gonna just die away. Yeah, no, I completely agree. Okay. So the next section we do is we call the lightening round. So these are kind of designed to be kind of quick answers.
Everardo: 22:21 The truth is sometimes these end up being the longest answers and we’ve got plenty of time because we’re, we’re doing, we’re doing great on time. So if you didn’t want to go a little longer on these, you’re more than welcome to. But. So you kind of elaborated a little bit on this, but if you kind of want to finish your thought on it. So what was holding you back from becoming a full time photographer? The money. I mean I just got really spoiled. I’m at the end. I was with that company for 15 years and then prior to that I was in other corporations for probably seven years before that. So again, I started working when I was 13, so I’ve got a little bit of a head start on some people, but it was really that like I, I was lazy, you know, I had someone else that could at the time when I left I was a consultant more of a role, so I did trainings, I did a little bit of sales, but I’d have a lot of client interactions and, and I really liked that.
Everardo: 23:11 I really enjoyed that. I traveled a ton, which, you know, so kind of harmful for family life and relationships and things like that. On the same note so far now I’ve been to 47 states. I haven’t been able to meet and network with other people in all different industries and all different areas. I pretty much have friends wherever I go, wherever I go I can just reach out and just say, Hey, I’m in town. I know worst case scenario, and I haven’t done this in a long time, but worst case scenario, if I said, hey, I’m in town on India, cash a couch to crash on, I can find one. So really it was that, it was, even though I knew the business side of things and understanding, I still wasn’t making as much revenue as I wanted with photography. So it’s that catch 22, like I could only work so much with photography before it would effect the day job and I can only do the day job so much before it affects the photography side.
Everardo: 23:57 So without having that push out the door, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened. Yeah, that makes sense. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? You have two ears and one mouth, so listen more and talk less. And it’s funny, I get kind of chatty on these podcasts, but um, yeah, I think that I, I’ve sometimes, and I still get a little self conscious of it sometimes, but a lot of times I get the feedback from people that I’m kind of aloof, like I’m not paying attention or that maybe I’m dumb and it’s not. I’m just actually studying the heck out of you. Someone gave me a funny note card one time and it was about virgos and you know, I don’t really study astrology that much, but as a virgo I’m like, well, let’s, you know, let’s find out. And uh, the note said something like, it’s not that we’re not paying attention, we’re actually just studying you and silently and we’re going to pounce on you later.
Everardo: 24:44 It was something to that effect, but it’s, you know, I listened a lot to what people say and then I just, I don’t always do it. I’m not always a great person to have it, but I tried to choose my words carefully and then try to speak when it needs to be. Yeah. No, I think that’s good advice. I’ve heard that a number of times and I don’t know, probably people told me that because I probably talked too much and so they were actually trying to tell me to listen more. But um, I think that is really, really good advice. What’s one personal habit you think contributes to your success? I am ethically just the way I was brought up in the way I was raised. I work hard a lot of times. I won’t. Sometimes I work too hard to. That’s actually a fault too.
Everardo: 25:23 But um, I remember Joel Grimes talking about this and several of his presentations and he says, look, you may be more talented with me, you may have better connections with me, but you’re not going to work me. So that’s probably my biggest thing is that I am not afraid to work and get into it. Yeah. No, I think that’s one of those habits of if you can figure it out, you know, it does. I mean, Alison, I built our business where we are now because we just outworked everybody, you know, we didn’t have more resources or more talent or anything like that. We just, we just worked harder and outlasted everybody, you know. So, Internet resources, is there any internet resources that you’d love to share with our audience? I’m maybe I, yeah, anything, you know, facebook groups or anything that you use online? Funny. I try to stay away from facebook groups.
Everardo: 26:10 Um, what I find is like when I meet a speaker or I sign up for a program and they say, Hey, well, you know, then we’ll join you as part of our facebook community. I usually steer away from them because I don’t want to learn it. It sounds counterproductive sometimes, but I kind of want to learn from other people like me who are struggling. I want to learn from the actual people who lead the group. So a lot of times when I go to resources like that, I try to get as best connection to, I tried to do the mentorships or whatever they can with directly with that person. Outside of that, I’m a huge podcaster. I listen to podcasts all the time because of running around or driving or flying or whatever the case is. Like I can always listen to a podcast. I would love to be a better reader than I am.
Everardo: 26:52 Um, I buy a ton of books but don’t actually get to read them or finish them a. So podcast is probably my biggest fan and my most favorite tool. Any inparticular podcasts that you want to share that you like yours? Of course, outside of that, I don’t know. The list kind of varies. Um, there’s one in particular listened to from Stacey, Stacey Brown Randall. Hers is a lot with developing relationships and how true referral marketing actually works. I’m steph curry powder is a good one. She’s with the fizzle company and she’s got one under hers. Uh, the courage of clarity. And then there’s a couple others I see funny enough, and I can’t remember the author’s name, but just as like a sheer mindless one just to kind of like unplugged. Sometimes there’s this one that’s called everything is alive and so the person will actually have a mock interview with someone who is like a balloon or the interview that Jackie Leonard or uh, the last, the most recent one I think is a subway seat.
Everardo: 27:51 And so those are, that’s one just to kind of like completely unplug and disconnect from the business world. The things, but usually it’s business related, some sort of networking or referrals are another good one that I listened to is um, just about the different personality types of like the disc profile or the Myers Briggs profiles and just understanding, you know, the better I understand my own personality in my own little quirks, you know, hopefully I can explain that better to others or the better understand others’ personalities. Hopefully I can make a better connection to them. It doesn’t always work, but at least you’ve got a headstart. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. And the podcast that I’m kind of into right now is a entrepreneur on fire by a John Lee Dumas. Oh yeah, that’s a good one. Yeah, his is good. There’s definitely been some really, really interesting ones that he’s done.
Everardo: 28:37 So that’s another good one. Books that you want to share with our audience. Uh, the most recent one that I’m actually, I’m actually reading this one, so this is good, but it stacey brown randall, so it goes along with her podcast and it’s, um, it’s pretty much the five core ways of, of getting referrals. I’m huge on referrals. It’s how I built pretty much 100 percent of my business. I really haven’t done a whole lot of formal marketing as far as facebook ads or things like that. I mean I, I dabble here and there and I’m ramping up to do it more next year, but referrals is it. It’s developing those relationships with people and connections and listening to what they need and trying to be a connector and just being there and top of mind when people need it to be. So that book is really helpful.
Everardo: 29:18 It’s just kind of reminding me of principles that some of them I already knew or it’s given me another spin on some others. And then outside of that, like as far as other business books, I mean I’ve read the, the Pumpkin plan and I’ve read the purple cow and a couple of those and I kind of go back to him. There was another one actually that joy gave me a long, long time ago and I wish I could remember the name of the book. I’ll have to google it real quick and it’s about this salon who just developed a good customer service base and so he taught his employees and hairstylist and things like that. How to be better communicators and better listeners and how to really nurture your client and how to take care of them today. Have, I’ll find the link and I’ll send it to you so we can maybe include it in the show notes or something.
Everardo: 30:00 But that’s a book that I’ve probably go back to on a regular basis and in Iowa it to joy on that one. Cool. Yeah. No. Um, that reminds me of the book. Hug your customers, which is also as good as this guy that owns a suit store, you know, like, like, uh, toxins, Tuxedo and suit store and uh, he has a whole philosophy on how to treat your customers and stuff. And it’s another amazing book that sounds similar to that. Another similar one is I’m. Charlie trotter was a very famous chef, um, way back when in Chicago. And he developed this book about service. Now. His was primarily directed to restaurants, but you could apply a lot of the same principles on any business. We’re not just photography, but you know, any kind of business. And I mean really the book’s just come down to is if you just listened to your customers, you will help them out in so many different ways if you actually listen to what they need and what they say.
Everardo: 30:51 Yeah. That’s really good. Uh, okay. So let’s wrap it up, um, any parting guidance for the audience and then make sure you share ways that they can follow you and connect with you to, um, I think biggest things for photographers is just what I’ve run into as I’ve gone to bigger conferences like imaging and things like that. And then when you have the smaller conferences like sync is. I know we all want to get into a room and say, oh my gosh, yeah, this is working for me, or oh my gosh, yes or no, this is good. Or I’m so good at this. And I think if we kind of take that little ego off of our shoulder and, and really just kind of be a little more humble, I think that would go a huge, huge way as I’ve reached out to other photographers thinking that, you know, there’s this big deal and oh my gosh, I want to mentor from them and I want to send it to their programs.
Everardo: 31:35 And then later on I find out they’re not really that good at it and that’s okay because they’re, they’re phenomenal and they’re great at something else. And so I liked the humility of it and I’ve tried to practice that a lot for myself of, you know, hey, I’m, I’m not as big as I want to be of course. But I do some things really, really good and there’s a lot of other things that I really struggle out and I really stress out over. And as long as I’m just kind of honest about that, but truly, honestly, not just saying, hey, let’s be authentic to be authentic, because that’s the cool buzzword right now. No, just actually be yourself. Yeah, that’s really good. Um, yeah. So how, how can people follow you on instagram or whatever? What are the best places to find ya? Instagram is probably it. I mean I have facebook pages and twitters there just because twitter is alive still. But instagram, I have a personal page at Everardo, Kimi and then the photography one is Everardo Kimi photography. So I try to keep it really simple. I have a very, very unique name. So when I first started this business, but when you look up your name, like Google for domains light, but it’s always available. Yeah, I mean
Matt: 32:40 there’s, it gets misspelled a lot but sometimes I would buy the misspellings of stuff. But um, that’s the cool thing about it is awesome. I’ll stick with the name and I really like it so I’ll just use those. But instagram is probably the best place on it. Awesome. Well cool. So yeah, we’ll leave it at that. Thanks so much man for being on the show again. I Apologize I couldn’t make it. She’s got a sick kid, but um, yeah, I appreciate everything. Thank you so much for having me on and awesome. Well, everybody, make sure you look up Everardo he’s an awesome guy as you can tell from the, uh, interview here and um, yeah, and we’ll just leave it there and we’ll see you guys next week.
Speaker 1: 33:11 Thank you for listening to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaiya. Be sure to subscribe for more business strategy and ideas to help you create the profitable and successful business you’ve always wanted. See you on the next episode of from nothing to profit.
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