 Welcome back to Geeks are sexy. I'm Jason Laduke your host for the fourth Friday of every month talking about business success And all the things you need to do to have a great business here in Las Vegas. I'm back with all of my guests We're doing our panel discussion KCJ from KCJ photo and Anna Aberley and Rachel West from Aberley West marketing and design And what's great about this? This is the first time we've ever really had a theme for our show because all of these businesses that are here today are about visuals and graphics and Branding through visuals and graphics, and I want to I want to ask all of you All of your businesses are based on image and the ideas and emotions that images convey Why do you think that these images are so important to marketing a business branding a business and doing business? Especially here in Las Vegas So you got to stand out you got to stand out whether it's visually or making a bull type You got to make a statement to even be heard here in Las Vegas And how are you wanting your audience to perceive you and are they perceiving it in the right way? And to be professional and consistent So if you don't have professional imagery if you don't have a professional logo, you're not showing up how you should for your ideal client Yeah, so Professional is an interesting word because there are a lot of very successful businesses that that their Imagery and branding is almost on purpose to decide to be amateur and what what do you think of businesses that do that? Can you give me an example because I'm not I'm not I'm trying to think you know and and my point is it's usually very deliberate that they're Retro or like half-priced lawyers like half-priced lawyers are really great If you're not from Las Vegas, you don't you don't know what this is But there's big billboards all over town for half-priced lawyers And I'll just leave it at that But yeah, it's it's very cartoony and it it it doesn't look like a lot has been put into it They do have a really really really annoying and get stuck in your head quickly jingle because now it's stuck in my head Just because you guys had it. I didn't even know they had a jingle or they are they like out on TV and I know their phone number Let's just say that So clear so clearly as we're getting through this theme whether whether you are very slick and produced in some case In some cases people might say overproduced or you look like it's kind of amateur and thrown together depending on Depending on what your brand is right that can be really effective since clearly you know this number Yep, and and their branding is good now most of us myself included don't have the talented Eye that you all have for graphics and images What can business owners do to prepare themselves to work with a graphic designer or a photographer to help with their business in The best light what do they need to come to you with and we talked a little bit about this for you guys in the last segment but but what do they really need to come to you with In order to be ready to work with you so that you can help the most effectively I think what helps most is to have a really clear vision of what they want their business to represent and where they want their business to Go and who their ideal client is okay So when they have that we can come together with a series of ideas on marketing and branding strategies That will help them win instead of us sitting down and having a conversation to define those three things When we're supposed to be defining how we can help them with their imagery I totally agree with you. I couldn't have said it better than myself Now what now up now? Let's say a business owner Because business has a lot of things are thinking about the thing about how you know getting out there and networking the thing about Bringing that revenue in and again not everybody is that that visually minded or that emotionally minded type And that's really what I want to dig into is how do you how do you as? imagery people Help help business owners who don't have that eye They don't necessarily have that sense of aesthetic or that sense of really who they are and what they're all about How can you how can you help them bring that out? So by asking him just series of questions where who are you trying to market to? Okay, so half price lawyers. Who do you think they're marketing to they're marketing to maybe a lower class income families They can't afford a full lawyer that to me that would be more appealing. Oh my god I'm gonna call half price lawyers So who are they trying to market to because if they want to do high-end business You wouldn't go to a half price lawyers to do you deal with your CEO, right? So so so before the internet gets all mad at me about this because I know they're gonna be I Just want everyone know I didn't bring up half price lawyers and I didn't say any of this stuff So so send your cards and letters. Do people still do that? Send them to Anna Just calm down internet. It's gonna be okay, right? So and then you do that a little bit different way with the photography, right? You so how do you you guys approach it through a very much a I don't want to call it a Discovery process. What is your business about who your ideal clients that kind of thing? But you go about that a little bit different way with your clients, right? I do I do ask them a series of questions to get to know who they are and what they want To accomplish but also I have them bring in a vision board or a mood board So um Pinterest is really really really handy for putting together a series of things that they either like or the images a Lot of times my clients won't know what they like about the image But if they have a series of images that they can show me that they like all of these images I can pull common themes to show them that this is what they like about this image This is what they like about this image it visually tells me a story without having them to tell me a story So it's easier for me to get visual clues out of that and to start in what they would the mood or the type of photography They like okay, is there is an example you can give us since you asked me for an example. I'm gonna ask you Potato No, definitely um so I had a Actually this week. I am doing a senior photography shoot and The girl is a senior in high school. She's gonna be graduating going to college in Florida and her mom Was suggesting a bunch of different ideas for her shoot She was sitting over here going Right shut up. So I she was a little bit shy She was a little bit it felt like an intervention kind of like everybody was like talking at her So I was like, hey, I know you like Photoshop. I know you like fantasy images Like is there a way that you could just send me some images on Pinterest that you like that you might want to like ideas You might want to play with So when I looked at her Pinterest board, it was absolutely completely opposite of what everybody had come up with before She wanted to do something very pin-up-y themed and every single thing in her images was in nature So everything was surrounded by greenery. So the only way I would have ever been able to discern that would have been through those Images because that's what she wants to portray if I asked her where she would want to shoot in town. She'd go Downtown's kind of cool But by seeing all of the greenery in her images I figured out I need to take her someplace where I can have that same effect and and this is this is the reason You want to bring in pros when it comes to graph design when it comes to photography When you're doing your branding imagery Because especially guys like me, we don't always know what it is. We're trying to say what it is We're trying to get across we want so, you know If you're if you're really sure you're gonna speed the process up But if you're not or you just have kind of have some ideas or in a lot of cases business I don't have any ideas like I I want to do this business, but I don't I don't know what I want to do I don't know what I like right. I just need help. These are your girls. I'll add your girls and So Nobody does business alone Even if you are the only person working if you're a sole proprietor and the only person working your business Nobody does business alone. You guys are in a partnership We talked a little bit about that but tell us a little bit about how you've built a team around you What you've learned about building a team around you with your business and and who are the people you've brought in on your team To help your businesses out Do you guys We grow through networking and do a lot of networking throughout town and Get connections through that and and everybody that we've met is very supportive and help helping us grow as well Yeah, do you guys outsource anything? Yes, we do see so who was the first person that you guys brought on to your team Like who was the first person that you guys hired in your team like to outsource something so we outsource our printing So they do it locally through Las Vegas just because it makes it nice and easy for a client to get their stuff now Absolutely versus waiting 45 days. So this way it kind of helps our client if they're in a crunch To be able to rely on us to be able to help them with the printing So and we use the local printer print solutions here in Las Vegas. We have a really good relationship with them So okay, and who's on your team? I don't have a team per se. I haven't Really outsourced anything. I kind of still wear all of my hats I am looking at hiring a bookkeeper and figuring out somebody to outsource some of my edits, too Okay, I have not passed that torch yet. Well, if you're a bookkeeper or a photo editor That girl, I hope you enjoyed asking them a question, too That's the last question you're gonna get to ask. I this is my show. I asked the questions here, okay All right, so so it's springtime in Las Vegas is actually a gorgeous day here We've had we've had a lot of craziness with our weather here, but it's a gorgeous day here in Las Vegas What are the must-do or must-see things people need to do in springtime in Las Vegas? Definitely check out Lake Las Vegas with all of their activities over on the lake They have the little like rocket propelled things you can do above the water where you're kind of like floating They have a bunch of different things you can do on the lake like the little stand-up paddle board thing I don't know what's called paddle board I don't know You can rent canoes you can do dragon boating Yeah, this is a weather also for hiking or camping if any of you guys are actually the perfect time I know I was like it's not gonna be too cold at night, but it's not gonna be too hot down the day Yeah, you got like you got like three days of this Las Vegas, so go enjoy it right before it gets too hot now Yeah, my boyfriend's going out camping a lake like me at this weekend Nice very cool What's what's something on your list to get to get to get to for people to see in the spring here in Las Vegas? Hoover Dam, Hoover Dam is a great one It's something no Hoover Dam is really one of those things everyone should see that once in their life Oh, yeah, I'm always amazed every time I go. It's an incredible engineering marvel It's a lot easier to get to and kind of get around now They don't let cars drive over it that often anymore It's a if you go down inside the inside the dam you'd see all the the turbines and generators and all that kind of stuff It's really super cool, and it's amazing. They built something so massive Almost a hundred years ago. It was the 1930s. They built that so it's a it's really kind of a marvel of engineering So one of the things I like to ask all of our guests before they go your all business owners What is one piece of practical advice you can give to our audience about starting a business or having a business? You've that you've learned since you've had your business Have an accountability partner, especially if you're doing it alone. I know you guys are partners. So that's awesome Having somebody to run your ideas by Having somebody to help keep you accountable is absolutely huge and you want somebody that lifts you up not is super negative So you want somebody who is going to help you achieve your dreams and help make you the best business owner that you can be Definitely. Wow. Okay. I would say a little bit more flexibility the more flexible you are in your business The more you you are able to help your clients Any advice take it slow One step at a time Yeah, one step at a time being flexible one step at a time actually it really is great advice because I think we all We started our business as we had this idea of the business is going to be this and the clients are going to be this And this is how I'm going to get them and it's all gonna like this is all these are all the steps It's going to go and success is just at the end of these steps and then and then you find out that step one didn't quite go as planned and and You know now now it's it's not steps in an order in a sequential order But it's a lot of a lot of plates are spinning all at once So so I think that's great advice as well as having accountability partner telling people what you're doing and having them You know checking it with the man and say weren't you going to do this other thing too? And so great great advice Thank you so much. All right, so we're running out of time but I want each of you to tell us where our viewers can find you how they can get a hold of you and Because I want them all to get a hold of you and get some pictures taken and get some graph design and web design awesome Well, you can find us at abriley west calm and I really west on all social medias Facebook Twitter and Instagram Or phone number our office number is seven zero two nine two zero six two one five nice And I am at Casey Jade photo on all social medias WW dot Casey Jade photo comm and if you'd like to text me or call me any time seven oh two eight five six nine zero six five All right, you can give the phone numbers out very very 20th century You got our digits now. You don't have to worry about long-distance calling. That's true. We have cell phones true. It's true So anyway, thank you everybody for watching. Thank you for watching us on Facebook live as well This was the first time we were trying this today. So there were there a little bit of growing pain So to the to Katie and Travis. Thank you for watching if you're still watching I didn't acknowledge you when you came in I meant to tell everyone if you've got questions type them into Facebook live So I'll remember do that next time. That's something I've learned from this episode speaking of when things don't go as planned in the In the order of the steps you planned. I'm Jason Laduke from evil genius leadership for consultants Thank you for watching geeks are sexy today and we'll see you next month on the fourth Friday of April