 and welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting, and I am your host for this program. Sorry about that. Think Tech Hawaii is live streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com as well as on Think Tech Hawaii's Facebook and YouTube pages. And viewers like you have the opportunity to ask those questions by sending them to questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. So now that we've gotten that intro out of the way, I am very pleased to have my friend Jeff Haw, creative director of A Red Content Solutions on the show today to talk about how he built his company during the pandemic. So welcome Jeff to the show. Thank you. Great to be here. Yes, it's great to have you on. So tell us about yourself and your background. Sure. Yeah. By trade, I'm a photographer. I have been, I study photography and that's been my career path since I graduated in 2006. So it's very much a part of me like an arm or a hand is. I mean, I've shot a variety of different things. Shot some adventure travel and which sports and things like that was kind of my main concentration for a lot of years. Now it's traveling all over Europe, Canada, the Southern Hemisphere. It was a fun decade or so, the sum of it, right? And one thing I've always kind of shot on the side is architecture and some real estate and things like that. So that's always kind of been a side project and shot a variety of different things. But in a nutshell, yeah, that's kind of my background. I was born on the mainland, ended up here in Hawaii in 2014 and I've been getting to know the community and the islands ever since. And I do want to let the viewers know that Jeff and I met because he was a journalist for one of Hawaii's popular publications. So you're also a writer, not only do you do photography, but you're also a writer. Yeah, that's true. So yeah, I was working at Hawaii Business Magazine for three years. I took the editor position there and my writing came as a, I guess, a bit of a side card to photography initially at least because I would end up on a project or end up somewhere where they hadn't planned to do a store, a magazine had not planned to do a story. And I would come back with these photos and then tell them the stories I was sharing the photos and they would want to print that story to go with the photos. And so I started getting coached to write by editors of various different magazines that I was shooting for when these sorts of instances would come up. And I just started gaining traction as a person who could both write and take good photos. And that led to a lot of assignments opened a lot of doors because there's a, you know, the right combo package, if you will. So fast forward to days when I was freelancing for Hawaii Business Magazine. And an opportunity came up and asked me if I would be interested. And then through that, I just learned an incredible amount of information, met some amazing people, Kathleen being one, and just, you know, really got to know the community that much better because Hawaii Business is such a trusted partner of the community, the business community and whatnot. So yeah, it was, it was, it was great working for them. And that, like you said, that's where we met. And you also do videography. So we talked about you being a photographer by training and trade and being gaining experience through Hawaii Business Magazine as an editor and writer and a videography. So go into that a bit before we delve into a read content solutions. Sure. Yeah. I mean, in a way, the two really go hand in hand and more so all the time with the advances in cameras and digital technology. Stepping back, I studied film as well as photography, but was more focused on photography. But I see that the two are so similar. So I had a great interest in both fast forward to when, you know, digital cameras started taking great video as well. And therefore I didn't need a whole another set of expensive equipment. So I started doing a lot more video work, you know, really basic video stuff. No, at the time, you know, initially wasn't doing large productions or anything, just a basic experimenting, learning how to combo the two, experimenting with projects that would be stills and video all wrapped up into one presentation, things like that. And the video skills just kind of grew from there. With my photography work, I'd done a lot of, or I'd been a part of a lot of different film shoots and whatnot as a still photographer. So I had a lot of friends that, you know, had the technical knowledge. And so I would pick their brain and ask questions and borrow tools. And it just has been an organic growth into, you know, creating and producing videos as well. And just taking, so taking up small projects and things like that that I knew I was capable of managing. And then also looking for ways to kind of combo the two for clients to give you a full impact of digital media. You may, in my mind, you may as well be using all the avenues or sorry, all the mediums that you can, because it's so easy to present them all on the web or, you know, mobile platform, whatever the end product is going to be. Well, let's, let's delve into that. Speaking of end product, we have a video for ARED content solutions. So if we can bring that up before Jeff goes into what exactly he does, video with the greatest images, Jeff, so tell us about ARED solutions. And, hey, what does ARED stand for? Sure. Yeah, well, thank you. ARED is an acronym and essential architecture, real estate and design. It shows that name because it just was very fitting and honestly very straightforward as to what this company focuses on. And that is, you know, creating multimedia photography, video and writing. And, you know, when the need presents itself for architects, real estate professionals, be that residential and commercial and design being interior design. And also just, you know, a lot of builders are designers as well, right? People that remodel itch-ins or bathrooms or whole homes, whatever that may be, that incorporates design as well. So almost essentially in a nutshell, it's the real estate and building industries and all the media needs that come from that. And that tends to be really focused mostly on the end product, right? Their flagship home or the wonderful, you know, design and build that went into a bank lobby or something like that. And so we look at creative ways to really make those elements that are most important in that design stand out. And then on the real estate side, it's really looking at creative ways to make the property listing stand out, right? So someone is interested and they want to see the property after they view our video and photos, you know, makes it look good, captivates people's attention. Also, we try to make something that fits the brand of whoever our client may be and hopefully elevates their brand at the same time. So let's bring up the first three photos. And while we're doing that, Jeff, tell us about why you focused on the particular sectors that ARED stands for. Yeah, I think, I mean, to really sum it up, I'm just, I enjoy photographing spaces. I'm intrigued by them, you know, the manmade structures that we surround ourselves with every day. I feel like there's a lot of design that is just beautiful and it moves me. I find myself lost in spaces, find myself gravitating back towards spaces that I know that I like, you know. And so it's kind of a natural extension of fascination and study of well-designed and built structures. And so that's, you know, that's kind of what drives the creative side of it. And then there's, you know, those are healthy industry and market here. The building industry is strong, real estate market is strong. So there's a need for this media as well. And so it's, to me, it's somewhat of a no-brainer to combo my interest with, you know, people's needs for this type of work. That's wonderful. So this was, let me dial it back. You started this company last year. And it was during, was it technically, it was the very start of 2021. The seed fruit was planted last year, but yeah. Okay. Tell us about that process. What was it about last year? And I always think that, let me take it back, not always, but I believe that the pandemic provided an opportunity for people to be more introspective and reflective of what they wanted to do. That being said, there, you know, I know a lot of people that have started businesses. And I wanted to delve into your own process. So how did that come about? And that now we have a red cap. How did the pandemic influence you wanting to go on your own and start a business? That's a good question. I think it, not so much was it a deciding actor, but it definitely was a big motivator and shaper in how I went about it. I had in plans, started these plans in 2019 and was looking at a launch date in 2020. It was going to be a couple months after the pandemic hit, short of the long. And it definitely diverted my timing, delayed my timing because of enough obvious reasons. I don't think I need to explain those too much. Launching a company at the start of it I think would have been, especially a company doing what I'm doing would have been a recipe for disaster. So, but it did give me time to really refocus and really think about what my offerings were going to be. And also really a lot of, those changed a bit. What I thought I was going to be doing when I initially launched it was a slightly different focus. And then through the midst of the pandemic paying attention to everything that was going on, trying to keep up with how the economy was doing, what markets were surviving or just tanking, it definitely reshaped the focus. And I think it gave me some time to really hammer out what would be a viable business model in this because it's a media production and whatnot. It's a fairly saturated market as far as people offering my services. So it really gave me some time to dig down into a niche that I could get into that there was room for my services, if you will. And then it just turned everything over. I mean, a lot of people that I had plans to be working with at the start of the pandemic still got those relationships, but we aren't working together because of all the different changes and stuff that happened and things that dried up. And so just everything got tumbled. And so now it's kind of trying to figure out, find a new groove a little bit, if you will. That's been challenging for sure. At times it's been a bit distressed about it, but you just, you got to make the most of it. The cards that are well out of my hands. That is so true and very optimistic. And speaking of challenges, we will delve into that when we return after the break. So stay tuned. And welcome back to Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee and our guest for today is Jeff Ha, who is the creative director for ARED content solutions. So when we left off, we were, Jeff had mentioned challenges. So let's go into that. What were some challenges that you can talk about that you ran into and starting your business? Yeah, I was talking about just the disruption and the challenges, but there's been some, I mean, in the midst of the pandemic and in the height of it, if you will, photo shoots and whatnot were only happening if they're essential, right? So a lot of people put on hold documenting projects and getting the photos that they need for quite a while. So there was a bit of a slow start out of the gate because I founded the company in January of this year. So there was definitely a few months where people just weren't bringing, we weren't getting together, we weren't gathering in person. We weren't even trying to avoid being in the same room if we did need to. So short of the long, what I'm getting at is that people weren't booking photo shoots. So it was a slow start. And so, again, the challenge in that is just maintaining the confidence and the faith that this will work. And once vaccination started happening, a lot of people started feeling safe. So that started to pick up. I found that finding financing was a little challenging. And I don't know if that was necessarily the result of the pandemic, but I had a feeling that because of the shape of the economy, a small business starting up, finance people in a position to finance it, maybe a little, just scrutinizing things a little bit more as far as the business model and whatnot. So there's some small challenges there. These were all able to work out. But in those, there were silver linings, right? I mean, not having many bookings, I get out of the gate, gave me a lot of time to get the business organized, get marketing plans and all of that. So all of, you know, whenever there's challenge, I think there's also opportunity in that. And that's kind of my mindset. So I don't think I've had the major challenges that a lot of other folks have had in the midst of this. Thankfully, I feel lucky there. Yeah, let's pull up the next set of photos. And Jeff, you can keep going about how you founded a red content solution. So what are some lessons that you have learned so far that you'd like to share with people? Yeah, I mean, all this with the grain of salt that I'm, you know, a young company. And so still learning lessons very much. But I think that a really strong business plan, one on paper is good because you can share it with people and convince them that you have thought this through. But to put it down on paper, well, you got to have a really strong plan in your head. And that has been a very important part of the puzzle for me. Just taking the time to really think that out and work through a long kind of strategic plan that looks a few years down the road has been. But yeah, that's definitely been a lesson that, you know, I started as how this is cumbersome. This is going to be such a process, but working through it helped me. Yeah, you really kind of put some things in stone, as far as what I wanted to do with the company. Let's go with that. Let's go with what you want to do with the company. What would be your ideal client, whether it's a business, an organization, or an individual, what would that look like for you? It's business. It's business to business. It's kind of my marketing services. Sorry, the content that I use is for business, whether that's a realtor, real company architect to market their services is essentially what this is. And I think it's going to be a listing agent or something on a house or a commercial property developer or manager who wants to show a building online or use these materials to kind of market what they've got. It's also going to be potentially a person in charge of marketing at a large real estate firm or a small architecture firm or a small architect who's got a project that he just completed that thinks it's his greatest work thus far and he wants to take the time to really photograph it well. Same thing with an interior design side. So it's basically professionals that are working in these industries that know they have something that they need to share and share creatively through digital media. And for viewers out there, not only is Jeff the creative director for A-Rid content solutions but he also has another company, Workat Media. Let's delve into that since we're nearing the end of the show. So tell us about Workat Media. Yeah. So Workat Media is the sister company of A-Rid and it's more of a catch-all. It's not as highly focused as A-Rid is as far as its content. So we do a bit more storytelling. We take a kind of broader scope of clients and different people that we work with. There's some editorial that Workat does. There is a lot of short video and whatnot that maybe interviews and things of that nature. So it's kind of just a catch-all for other things that I have in my wheelhouse or my tool kit as far as types of media that I can create. It's just the broader scope of it. It's a little more creative side of things. It's not as focused on delivering a very specific product. I use Workat as a vehicle to delve into a little bit more creative projects. And then from working with another, often I'll do work with other production teams and whatnot and who may be working on a large production, then Workat is the service that I put that under. And so Workat's also a bit more of a collaborative thing where I've got a number of different people that provide services and whatnot that align well with Workat, but stuff that I don't do. And so I'm using Workat as kind of a collaborative who you if you will to bring work in and then I can bring in my friends and colleagues who have different strengths to tackle larger projects, if you will. That's wonderful. Have we shown all the photos that we have? And if not, we can go ahead and show that now. But Jeff, is there anything else that you would like to add that I didn't ask you about, that you would like to share with the viewers out there, whether it's starting a small business using the knowledge and the experience that you already know or anything? Yeah, I think the big one, that's going to be the part wisdom on the crowd. That question. Anything else you'd like to add? It's like, yes, I want to add a bunch of things, but go for it. I think when it comes down to it, I'd say if anyone watching this or those watching this is in the need for custom media, I encourage you to just give me a call and have a conversation because that's where I like to start things is learning about who my clients are, what their needs are, finding something that's really what they need instead of prescribing it before I understand what their motivations are and if not. So feel free to give me a call. Love to hear from you. Beyond that, I just, coming from my own experience, I think following your, I want to say your dream sounds a little cliche, but just knowing what's inside you and what drives you and following that is super important. That's always been the one driver in my career is that this is, this photography is what I do and I use that as my guiding compass and it's brought a lot of rewarding experiences because of following that. And so I'd love to say if you've got that gumption in you, then chase after it. I love that. I don't know that you've ended it on that. We already showed your website, but if people do want to get ahold of you, what is the website again and do they email you, call you? How would someone get ahold of you? Yeah, email is great. Website is aredcontent.com. You can contact me through there. You can shoot me an email. Hello, H-E-L-O at aredcontent.com. And I think the number's on my website too, so I would say go on there, check out my work and give me a call. That's awesome. I had that on some of my first business cards too, just said hello. So I love that you have that as well. But again, Jeff, thank you for joining us on Connective Business and he is a creative director of ared content solutions. We have the website. Thank you everyone for tuning in today. Thanks to Jay Fidel and the staff at Thanks Tech Hawaii for making this program possible. We had Michael helping us out today. So thank you, Michael. And until next time, thank you for tuning in. Aloha.