Studio Pod, w/ Joseph West

Hey friend, welcome to Houston Mate, a show where I, Rusty Gates, get to talk with local Houston-based entrepreneurs and business owners about what it's like to be in the middle of that journey, and selfishly gain insights as I build my own businesses. I am incredibly excited to share this week's guest with you. That Joseph West has been kind of a little bit of a legend in my world for, gosh, eight years now, give or take. When I moved to Houston, I got a job at this kind of startup, and there weren't a lot of people who worked there, so we were all really pretty close friends, and about five or six of my co-workers were friends with Joseph, with Joe, and I think right around the time that I started working there, he had just thrown this epic birthday party, which, like, I was not invited to, of course, because I didn't know him, but I remember all my co-workers coming back to the office and talking about this party and talking about Joe, and I just remember being so deeply interested in who this guy was. I think because even then, long before I ever dreamed about becoming an entrepreneur before I ever dreamed about starting my own business, real estate, long, long before I ever really wanted to pick up a camera. Joe was living the kind of life that I wanted to live, which was he was doing creative work, traveling, getting to meet all kinds of new people all the time, and maybe not most importantly, but also worth noting, was throwing awesome birthday parties, and that just kind of sounds like life goals for me. And I think that even back then, I really wanted to know him and get, I wanted to pick his brain because, I don't know, maybe I kind of sensed a kindred spirit in some ways. And we honestly didn't even meet until years after that, I mean, maybe six years. Maybe, let's see, eight years, maybe five years after that. And even then, it wasn't a real great chance to kind of pick his brain like I really wanted to. So whenever I launched Houston made, his name was one of the first people I put down on my list. I had reached out to him about season one, and he wasn't able to make it work. But then when we came around to season two, I asked him, and he was very gracious and said, yes. And so here's what you need to know about Joe. He is a award-winning wedding photographer. He is an investor in all kinds of things, including a beautiful short-term rental out in Marfa, called the Juniper Moonhouse, which we talk a little bit about that. And he's got a really cool new tech startup that is doing some really big things right now. So I'll stop rambling and you can listen to Joe. He's just a great guy. He's incredibly generous. And I don't just say that because he says a bunch of nice things to me and about me, which he does. But he's generous in the way that he shares his wisdom and his experience and how much he's willing to just lay that out there for anybody who wants to hear it. So listen in as Joseph and I discussed how he went from feeding chickens on his grandparents farm to winning awards for his wedding photography, how he always tries to sneak in personal projects while doing client work, and how he's changing the way headshots are being taken through his tech startup, StudioPod. Joe, Joseph, West. What's up, Rusty Gades? Photographer, extraordinaire. Man, first off, thank you for sitting down with me. I said this before we started recording. I've said it before. I basically just want to be you when I grow up. This is an interview that I have wanted to do for a long time. I think I asked you last season, you're like, "No, you did." No thanks. I didn't mean to be like a hot girl that I said, "No, not right now." It's totally fine, but from my perspective, and this is, you can kind of walk me through and walk our guests through who you are and what you do, but you do a little bit of everything. And I think that that's why I say I want to be you when I grow up because you are a award-winning wedding photographer, right? You were recognized as a rangefinder rising star of weddings. You run a studio, a photography studio, you've had a couple in the history of things. You own and run the Juniper Moonhouse, short-term rental house out in Marfa, and most recently I think you co-founded the studio pot, a kind of mobile headshot studio, but that lives in this kind of tech, entrepreneurial startup world, right? Maybe a little bit outside of just the typical photography thing. Yeah. And I'm sure you do other stuff. And your husband and a father and-- And you say it like that. And it makes me feel like I need to slow down a little bit. To be honest with you. I'm like, "Holy cow, it's a lot." Yeah. So you do all of those things. I mean, it's kind of all a little bit centered around photography and creative work. So, okay. How would you describe yourself to the audience? I think you did a great job. I don't like the award-winning part so much. But regardless, yeah, so I kind of dabble in a bunch of stuff. And then creativity. I found photography in 2008, so I was in tech previously. So computer science, kind of a computer nerd. That's how I grew up. I grew up in East Texas, so how I got out of the country was computers, frankly. There wasn't a lot of kids doing it, so it was kind of my way out. So that was kind of cool for me to be able to pop out. But through that, moved to Houston and kind of was a cog in the wheel. I worked for a large JP Morgan Chase and then went to a small company. That was cool. Yeah. Go for it. Yeah. Wow. You did do your research. Jesus. Jesus. So, just worked doing network and just a bunch of geeky nerdy stuff, but I enjoyed it. But there was some boardiness that kind of came over time and I had a friend who gave me a buddy, Sam Cole gave me a Yashika, oh, F-35 or something like that, it was a black and white. It was a film camera. Yeah. Cool story, but he gave me the camera and I always had to have something to do, just like I do now. So I would play, like football, softball, I just at, you know, after work and broke my ankle two seasons in a row. And it was like, okay, I was in a boot and I was like, how could you do something else? Yeah. Yeah. And just fell in love. Super competitive. I went there two years out of teacher named Amy Blightmore who's, I think, still there. Yeah. Who's amazing. The type of teacher that says this sucks. Most everything I made, she said sucked. Yeah. But I like that. Yeah. I kind of enjoyed that kind of push from her. And yeah, I started shooting weddings so I was in 10 and it kind of blew up on me. Frankly, I did things a little bit differently here in Houston, which is more of a classic traditional vibe of our town, mostly in 2010. There weren't all these Instagram kids yet. Yeah. I think Instagram was like 2012. 2012 and I remember getting it. Yeah. So I think it came out in 2012 because I think Twitter was OA. But we didn't have that kind of push from, it was just, you had these film kids that were coming out of film going into digital. But I had a unique perspective of having the tech background, the ability to do SEO. So I kind of made myself within, I want to say within eight months, I was number one on Google for use in wedding photography. That's crazy. Yeah. Especially back then. A year in my career. I mean, every marketer, especially within the real estate world, I can't tell you how many, I mean, basically bots spam emails that we get every day. It's like increase your SEO. Absolutely. So as if I at this point is late in the game, I'm going to become the number one SEO realtor. Not a 44,000 realtor's in Houston. Well, you can. Yeah. It's got to pay a lot of money. As if that guy, he's cold. You're bailing me. That's going to get me there. No, he's not going to do that. But you did that super early. I did that very early. Like, I think 2011, I had people who were like photographers who really didn't know where it was, it was emailing me like, how did you do this? Yeah. It kind of helped push my career quite a bit of just learning really fast in the sense of shooting a lot. Yeah. And also working full time. I had a job that I work up, trying to work up to an executive position. And so I didn't meet my wife until, I don't know if I'm going to tell this. No, she knew about me. We have a cool story where she knew about me. And then I think we met in 2012 and I had a photo booth business, which kind of probably pushes back into the studio, but eventually. But I did a, she worked for Lisa and downtown Alliance, and so on non-profit. So I think I did an event with her kind of saw her, worked with her, like legitimately worked with her and remembered her and we had a kind of a, she was getting into photography and she asked me, basically, let's go to coffee, let's talk about it, let's talk shout, let's talk cameras and all of it. And so apparently I talked to myself the whole time, is what she reminded me of the whole time, now we're going to go to Catholic Brazil or something like that. And so we hit it off, but it was kind of a very platonic thing for a very long time. We were best friends for. for about 10 months, which is kind of an amazing thing for that time in my life to find this woman who just wanted to listen to me talk about myself. - Sure. - No, but we would like go to lunch and go to dinner and talk about who we were seeing. - Yeah. - So it became this very honest, transparent relationship. And then I went to India, or she went to India and I went to Puerto Rico in Tunisia and then we just both missed each other. - Yeah. - And so we texted that around the same time, came back and we've been together ever since. - That's amazing. - So yeah, it's kind of a cool little journey. We got married in 15. - But before all of that, I mean, you were working full time. So I asked because when you think about working a full time job and then building a business on the side, the nights, because most people I don't think about it, whenever you see anybody with a camera, doing photography or videography. They were like, oh yeah, no, you're here. And you do that. But then they don't think about all the editing hours. And our mutual friend and former podcast guest, Jeff Gilmer, who's the one who's the best, he's amazing. - He's amazing. - He was the one who like really kind of taught me about like how much editing would go into photography. He was like, well yeah, I'm shooting this, this, this, this. But then I'm gonna spend the next four weeks every night of the week, maybe with a football match on an editing. It's all over doing. And so when you think about doing wedding photography and doing a lot of wedding photography while doing a full time job, you couldn't, you don't have a lot of time to do it. - I do. - A bunch of anything else. - I didn't. - So you're doing all of it on the side and you get into wedding photography. You say on, I think one of your websites, you said we all have these moments. These moments where we can look back and see a distinct point where our path of life changed, our future redirected. One of those moments for me was the day I documented my first wedding. - Yeah. - How did that happen? How did you get your first wedding? You have a camera, you're going to school for it. And. - You know, my best friend kind of connected me. I would say it's my third wedding actually. And this guy actually reached out to me. So it was VJ, VJ Nicole. I was out of my league of knowing what to do. - Sure. - I, I responded to a request on Craigslist. And I went to, this guy, I mean, I mean, he looked at my website, he can still see it. 'Cause it blew up, it went viral for me. So long hair, poet, I think now he does some real estate is developing all these, you know, all these buildings now. But interviewed me downstairs as apartment building, very swanky place, but he's a creative. So pointed direct technical questions. I'm a technical guy. So I was on the hot seat. Like I said down on the hot seat. And I think it was like an hour just asking these crazy questions. I mean, they're both beautiful people. And before Nicole was walking down, I guess it was kind of a cool experience where he's like, we're good, just tells it we're good. Shoot the wedding, they're madly in love. And I was just, it just kind of, there's a synergy that happened between us and them. And I killed it, frankly, I can't really put it into words. Like some of my favorite images still to this day was that third wedding until 2010. And I used that wedding to build my career for the next three years. With SEO, had an album, every single meeting I went to, I brought that wedding. They would text me for a few years and be like, I'm at Barnes & Noble's and someone just came up to me and said, I saw you on the way, you know, just was Instagram or website or whatever. So there was, because they both have very distinct looks also. But that was my chapter change, you know, 100%. And like you said, I think I shot 2012, I think I shot probably 30, 35 weddings with working 50, 60 hours a week at a full time. And you're right, all the editing that goes into it. Back then mostly, because it was Photoshop. Not Lightroom. Yeah, you're doing mostly, because you're moving sliders around. Yeah, it was tough. But I think that kind of goes back into the relationship and the list of she understood. Frankly, she just, she got it. She got it. She wanted to do it herself. She started shooting around the same time I did. So we both could work simultaneously together. And we both would have deadlines. She had a full time job, had a full time job. So we kind of worked this life of this together. And then we could, okay, let's take off and go do something. Yeah. And so there wasn't this poll. And that's why I have a lot of my clients. You're like, they're both doctors. They're both attorneys or they're both this or that. Because you have similar lifestyles that are kind of, they're not always fun. Yeah, they look fun from the outside. Sure. Maybe you make it a little bit of cash, but at the same time itself on lifestyle behind the scenes. Yeah, right. And so we kind of both connected on that. And I watched her build her business, which she's now is, you know, absolutely killing it. And she watched me build mine. And we kind of helped each other in the process. We're super cool. Well, to have that support, not only of like, hey, go for it. Yeah. But hey, I'm doing it with you and get the headaches. And you know, when you come home to complain about work or whatever it is, not that that's what you do all the time. But if and when you feel like, yeah, I get it. That's insane. Or it's like, hey, that's not crazy. Maybe that was you. Yeah, yeah, we both do that. Yeah, maybe you could handle that. I mean, I'll talk to her and, I mean, we both go back and forth. Where it's like, yeah, maybe you could handle is to seem a little bit different. And then so it's, it's nice. And she has a journalism background. So I do not end ever since, well, you know, just a simple period, very statement driven person. Yeah. So she's kind of helped me just be a bit more eloquent and, you know, how I speak and kind of get rid of some of the ain'ts and this and that until I drink. Yeah. And then it comes out. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. That's a great segue. Let's talk about East Texas. Yeah. Where in East Texas? Kirbyville. Kirbyville. Which is North of Belmont. Okay. East Texas. It's very southeast. I get it. So Cajun. Cajun Texan. So my family, so I grew up in Dallas, but my dad's side of the family where I spent all my summers, winters, every break is East Texas out in D-Berry, Texas, which is North of Carthage, Texas, of course. And so I'm half Mexican and what I say is I'm half Mexican, I'm half red net. And that's how you get a tan like this and a name like Rusty Joe. So that's like, I know. That's where your name was Rusty. Yeah. It was Rusty Joe. Rusty Joe gets. I love that. So my first thing was Randall. So I always made fun of like, you know, Randall Joe Dodge or Randall West Dodge or something like that. So that's amazing. Yeah. Joe, it's that thing that gets you. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I was like, maybe Joe's soup. I changed my name to Joe's soup when I moved to Houston to give you an idea. Yeah. Let me give it. Let's take a break. I was a little Joe growing up like in the Cajun. This is what people call me. It's amazing. Yeah. There's something about, there's something about the culture out there. I mean, it's still, I still love it and go out to visit and have family that still lives out there. You bring your kids. Yeah. Yeah. It's peaceful. It's amazing. It's a cool way to grow up. I grew up on, you know, a hundred acres, you know, it was a dairy farm working, but my job Fabian was to go out and before I took the bus to school, I had to go feed the horses and cows and chickens and pigs and if they didn't get fed or, you know, watered, which sometimes they didn't. My grandpa knew. Because guess what? They were still waiting on me when I got home at 3.30 off the bus. So I learned not to lie very quickly because what I did, I got caught because the animals will tell my grandfather what's going on. So I think just that consistency, every single day of waking up, you have these duties. Like that was my choice. And I just think back of just those little things, it wasn't so much a rat race, which we live in today. Yeah. I'm like, do you want your kids to grow up with this or that or maybe a little bit of both? Yeah. You know, I struggle with it quite a bit. My hope is just a dash of exposure will help. I agree. Yeah. Hey, at least just know there's a different way to live. Sent them off during the summer. Yeah. And it can be slower and for me, you know, I'd go out there and visit my grandparents and my dad and they, you know, they had three channels on antenna, you know, so I got really excited when Will Fortune and Jeopardy came on because it was finally after all the soap operas had turned off on the channels that we had. But before that, it was like, well, let's go out and walk around in the sticks. I know. With a 22 and see what I can shoot. I'm Mike. So my son is watching Sesame Street, much, I didn't watch growing up because it's on PBS. And my wife is like blown away, she grew up here in the city. Like, what do you mean? Like, we didn't just have Sesame Street. It didn't happen. Yeah. It was fuzzy. Sorry. But I'm enjoying Sesame Street right now. I'm like first. It's so well done. Yeah. It's a legacy. It was a pretty incredible bike. Okay. But then you, you, I get the need to get out of there. I have cousins who grew up with their show for me. I had a foot in both worlds. I was in Dallas, Dallas, proper, you know, in the city. And then I would be go out there and I'd get kind of getting that exposure a little bit. But I definitely had cousins out there that just, you know, I think struggled with opportunities because they just weren't around, you know, you hear you can go a business on every corner. You want to do something different, walk into one of these businesses and get a job out there. It's like, whoa, there's three shops in town. Yeah. I know everybody. Yeah. And so you get out. You talk about the technical side of things quite a bit. Are you, which can consider yourself an introvert, extrovert, is that on the line? I'm on down the line. I have the ability to be an extrovert, obviously. I think I've tuned it with the wedding stuff Kind of part of that world is how You can connect with people. Yeah, right? And so I remember the first of my winter meetings I I mean, I really wasn't that great at just talking to anybody. Yeah, but over time when you meet with 400 people sit down with two people And you ask them like how they came to be you start learning little pieces of how to speak to different personalities. Yeah And so when I'm finally tuned. I'm really good at it. Yeah, I will say I'm really good, but I get really tired Yeah, like after a wedding day. I'm like I'm just done. Yeah, you know, not only are you mentally on for 10 to 12 hours Which I think is pretty unique for a job. When are you ever truly on all day? I don't think it's I think it's pretty rare But you also are moving your body. So it's a physical and mental Well, you've got you've got the people aspect of it. Yeah, and then you've got the technique you have a camera You're you've got settings. You're adjusting for lighting. Yeah, movement and okay, we're doing all this and then You're thinking certainly not only the camera, but you're thinking it's not shot. Yeah, what did I get? What do I need to get what's coming up? That's it's a lot. It is I love it Yeah, I'm a ADD. I mean, you know, so I'm a freak with that Yeah, and now at the kind of level I'm doing things you're managing people to so I usually have a team of you know Maybe two three four people. Yeah, so you're like, okay, those are my favorite days Today's that I can kind of be more of a production where I'm like making sure all the whole the gaps are filled Those are days I love and I strive the best It's a days. I'm probably by myself and it's just me. I have to add myself up a little bit more certainly You know, it's like I'm meditating beforehand or I'm doing this, but if it stays that I Know that the budget's incredible. Yeah, I'm like a lot of Pressures on me. I'm like cool. I got this. Yeah, I love those days That's awesome, man. Yeah, well and you talk about being on and kind of building those connections with people One of the things that I found in video work. I probably am not as technical of a person I think that I naturally lean towards the people the extroversion building relationships That's my strong suit and everything else. I'm like filling in gaps Yeah, okay, how like I need to become competent. We've got to work on some basic competency here You're doing great. Thank you very much. And what I found though at least with the video work That I've been doing for the last year. I mean, we talked a little bit about this before we started recording that over the last year Really through this podcast the video work for me has exploded and I think the show. Thank you all of you listeners and the guests Has really expedited that process for me. It's got me to a place now where I wouldn't have been without the show Which is to say you know this week. I'm finishing up and submitting a video for no label brewing out in Katie Yeah, I got a contract with yeah, and as you talked about getting that one wedding and then parling that into other deals That's how that happened. Did you not know that was gonna happen? No, I wanted to told you that was gonna. I mean I shot I shot I was there shooting an event for some friends Yeah, and then I shot a free video for some guys who were making tacos there Yeah, I think it's just like one of those things like we just played the camera at it. So gorgeous. What they're doing. Yeah This is art like I'm just capturing the moment of the way they cook these tacos and it's greasy in it But it's beautiful and you saw like well, I'm waiting for my tacos I'm just gonna sit here and make this thing and I give it to them. It's like hey, this is for you Like so you tacos for a phenomenal. I love what y'all are doing enjoy this Of course, they shared that and then no label saw that and said hey, that was really cool We would would you make a video for us? We have like a week turnaround time. I was like sure Let me send you a production agreement and so I'm I shot that and I'm finishing it up, but all that to say of What I think has led to a lot of that is being an extrovert by At my core, right? I genuinely love people. It's why I do this is get to sit that like this whole podcast It's just an excuse for me to sit down with people. I want to talk to you. Yeah Is that I There I think there are people who know they're infinitely there are so many people who know how to work a camera better than I do But I think what I can do is I can bring stuff out of the people that I'm shooting 100% and that's why I said that I Expected it because when I listen to I think I listen to Jeff's or Bob's was like you're creating a brand Mm-hmm, and that's the most genius thing. I applaud you for by doing this and When I saw you do it, I was like, oh, that's pretty pretty smart. I wish I would have thought of that. I'm not as extroverted you So I mean, it's it's something I think I've always like I want to podcast But I don't have the the energy. Yeah, you know to do I like to do kind of things more behind the scenes But you've now created this little brand of your own name, which I also because I heard I listen to the last one the other day Just to hear hear your voice again, but you're now you're building this brand of your name Which then you become trusted which is such a I mean, I don't know if you did it on purpose or not But now you see a formula. Yeah, they're like, oh, this is how even if you mess up a few times Your then going to be known is the person people can trust which is an amazing way to yeah, it's kind of build a business So it's so far so good. No, you're doing great. Thank you. And It's just it's so much fun and It's been it's been a lot of fun to learn how to use these cameras how about light and the science that goes into why am I using this lens versus another lens and these settings and it That part has been a good challenge to say you talk about the teacher that kind of gives you a hard time I mean the the cameras will do that. Yeah, of course. It's like well that didn't turn out didn't record He said earlier too that you you improved because you were shooting a lot. Yeah, that's totally that's one of the things that That another way that this show has really helped me is I'm recording Mm-hmm, and I was like well, I got to create these social media clips And so I set up these cameras and well, I'll get some things otherwise I knew really early on Well, no one's gonna stumble across this show So I like I have to to some degree put it out there in social media such a good platform Yeah, and so every week recording the show I was editing the audio but then I started adding video clips And it just it helped to expedite all of this stuff. It's just on YouTube. So how do you learn more of it? Yeah, oh, yeah YouTube Academy for sure and also The friending people I mean again, it's that's my superpower. So this will be a shout out to one I don't know if he he actually listens to the show, but he was guy found on tiktok It's younger than me by like seven years you look at those people who are just like they know how to do everything for their head Oh, I love it. I love it. Yeah, if I had started back then. Yeah But he was doing basic tutorials on like here's how to do this thing in After Effects and And he was technically so much further along than I was but also wasn't so big that I could still like get a message Do him correct, and so I just reached out to him. It's like hey man. I really really love your stuff if you ever have a time I'd really love to like just get on a zoom call with you and hang out for 30 45 minutes if you're up for it. I just pestered him For a little bit and then like a month later We got on a zoom call and talked for 90 minutes That's awesome and became buds. Yeah, I would say and friends and so We text each other probably Six seven times a week like there's probably six days a week they were texting that's awesome about step and so He's like an anyogram five. So he's super well Research he digs deep into any purchase so that's a good friend to have almost yeah And as somebody who just like is like what are you running? Okay, go. I'll do that. Yeah, just buy the first thing I see yeah, I mean most of my camera gear has been his recommendations and I go I need a light because one you did a great job But that's that's one of those ways of learning which is just to say hey, I don't know. How do I do this trust and source? It trusted source yeah, and I try to again support promote him however I can yeah He's out of florist anybody if we have any listeners out there one's your guy and But before we started recording I mentioned that when I was working the desk job I spent all this time watching YouTube watching Casey Neistat Peter McKinan dressy drift with and all these Photographers and videographers who really found a lot of success on YouTube and one of the things that I noted Is that they were constantly in one another's videos, right? So they were supporting each other and they really rose together as one of them found success They raised the level for all it's a mastermind. Yeah, and so I just like well Why can't that be me? Yeah, and a part of that was okay Well, how do I find those people who are not you know? Super far ahead or not super far behind but are kind of in my class as it were and maybe we can support each other in Grow together and Anyway, that's been that's been a big part of I think all of this success That's find people that are willing to give you time and try to find relationships. I think that are mutually beneficial There's some certainly some generous folks out there that really will just be like I'll give this to you You don't have anything to offer. Yeah, but I'll give this to you and that's that's awesome But if you can find friends and I think I've seen that in your businesses I mean studio pod this maybe you could spot the transition as you started with a friend I did who is also a photographer. Yes. Yes, okay, so let's let's talk about studio pod and talk about the friendship in the midst of it Perfect. Yeah, so I co-founded studio pod in 2019 for the friend and competitor slash photographer. Yeah, I guess Bailey So, we met years ago, he's kind of from UT, art student, built a really beautiful business really fast here in Houston, respect everything about the guys, very hardworking, but he's kind of a, came out of nowhere and I'm going to re-assume to go to coffee, ask me some questions. I had no idea who he was, but I was super stressed. So, how was that coffee request? I mean, I'm all about it, I love one-on-ones, I don't, you know, have been asked to do like, I've done little workshops here and there, I'm not, because of the lack of wanting to be an extrovert, I'd prefer to be one-on-one mentor, like let me find out your issue, what do you want to hear from me, and I'm an open book at this point in my life. Caught me seven, eight years ago, probably was a bit more protective, but in time and age you kind of realize that anybody can do everything, it's, it really is like, even if I give you a tool, good luck. Right, I mean, it's kind of like, if you want to put in the hours, I, I would love for you too, because you know, kind of want other people to be successful, certainly. Yeah, certainly. And there's room at the top for everybody, if you want to say where you are, right, you know, I had, I had a mentor at one point, I was like, how do I be like you? And he wouldn't really give me much at all, because he was very competitive, but he did tell me that, he's like, there's a room up here, like, no matter where, you know, where you are, there's a room up here. And so that was insightful enough for me. And then once I got to a point where I felt like I was successful, at least in what I do, I was like, oh, yeah, there's plenty of room. Yeah, there's plenty to go around. And that's in every business. Yeah. Right. So we know the economy's a massive thing, and we're in a good city, which is great. Anyway, so we met great coffee, became friends playing, you play, I think we played golf a few times. Yeah. And he brought up the idea to me, and I was like, that's pretty fascinating. I was like, that's awesome. And at the time, I had West Studios took half my, you know, part of my time, and my wife and I were in Paris, decided to close it down, or like, you know, it's kind of, I like to call it a little prison, just like any event venue. Yeah. It takes your time, no matter what, 24/7, right? And we were done with it. I use it almost like you're using this. I, Melissa and I saw it as more of a branding project. So I'd always wanted to studio. I wanted to be able to kind of pop into editorial work a bit more. And I was like, I don't want to rent this. How can I like offset the cost? And you know, meet people, hire people, kind of manage that creativity side, and that's why we built it. Yeah. And in the end, it worked. It was, you know, suddenly people knew who we were, we didn't really have an issue reaching out to people any longer, which was a fascinating thing. And so we were deciding to shut that down, and Chris was getting a lot of technical consultation from me. Yeah. Because it's a more of a tech company, my opinion. So yeah. And then he, I think I was dropping to Marfa News like, Texan News like I want to be a part of this. And I was like, I want to be a part of this too. So we started in 2019. So the idea, generally, is it's an automated headshot pod. You know, every day, you know, I'm a photographer. I'm charging $1.99 for a headshot to $2.99. I would go shoot these old gas C-suite guys and girls. And they don't want the rest of 200 employees photographs, so they would just have somebody do it with an iPhone, which isn't consistent. Yeah. It's not beautiful. It's just not flattering. And it is in the day, like we're living a visual world, right? Yeah. Perceptions reality. You're in LinkedIn using a terrible photo. What do people think about you? Yeah. It's probably not, it's probably not great, comparably. Yeah. Certainly. And so what we, what I think we built, and I like to think of it more bottom, bottom up of we have a product you can do $50 a headshot, you know, we have multiple brick and mortar. So you can just schedule a line, walk in, built by photographers. So the lighting is absolutely gorgeous. Yeah. And we can have multiple lighting settings, which is what we have patent pending right now. But it makes it more accessible for everybody. Certainly. So I think about me as a kid who didn't really grow up with that much. And I'm like, at 18, I could have afforded this. Yeah. Which is really cool. And then I could throw this on LinkedIn and look like just like the guys who maybe didn't guys and girls didn't grow up the way I did. Yeah. To me, it kind of brings that visual piece back to a level playing field, which in the business world is massive. Oh, certainly. You're showing up with your resume and you're trying to make a first impression. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously I did stacking for a long time. There you go. You understand. Yeah. Yeah. So we, you know, you, there are a lot of intangibles that go into that equation when you're considering someone for a job. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's a very cool thing to do. You know, it's a very cool thing to do. fit? Are you going to fit in here? Correct. And, uh, reality or perception is reality. And that, And it is a fact that, yeah, I wear my skateboard shoes and wear them in backwards hat, and he pretty much everywhere that I go. And I also am not trying to get a job at Halliburton. - Correct. - And if I were trying to get a job at Halliburton, - You wouldn't wear that. - I wouldn't wear that. I would present myself differently. And I think that that's really cool. Similarly, as a kid who, you know, grew up for a while with a single mom, and, you know, I attended a private school, but was certainly there on financially. and even my, we had uniforms so that, you know, it was like, again, they were like, even the playing field, but even my uniforms are like off brand. And it was so like-- - Oh, I trust me, single mom too, so I get it. - Yeah, so it was just like, even then it was like, oh, why is this? My maybe blue shirt is like three shades just off. - Yeah. - And so yeah, that fitting in to some degree, I understand that we don't all need to fit in and we don't all need to like conform, But there are times when being able to have a seat at the table and present yourself in a certain light really does help. And a beautiful way. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what, you know, in a flattering, and I think most of our clients as a coolest part is in the selfie culture today, you could do it yourself. Yeah. Right. So you don't have to, you know, I don't like to, I'm not uncomfortable, you know, but some photographers are like, I've been photographed sometimes and I didn't always feel comfortable. Sure. You know, I think for our women clients, it is definitely they feel safe and comfortable. and for the man it's convenience and speed. And for everybody there's affordability. So, you know, we work with corporate clients, some of the bigger ones, like bigger bots here in Houston, you know, Dell's a client of ours. We got like Waterbird. We got a lot of these big clients which was really cool. So it was a validation and product market fit there for us. And then we just like, I had a guy the other day, a plumber team of plumbers came in, like a vape team came in. You know, it's like, yeah. This is a new startup, I need headshots. but the accessibility of Weed of Gentlemen last week that I think her, his EA called us and was like, "Hey, he has a press release, doing two hours." He was flying in from New York, booked us online, got us a shot, and you have about time you get to your car. And so there's just a unique piece of this that usually a photographer's gonna take a week that you get it within seconds from us. And it was just, we saw a gap in the market and was like, "How do we achieve this?" You gotta be creative to be able to do it. - Yep, so the creative part was the first part. The technical part was just now from then on. You know, we kind of have the creative part handled, but now it's like, how do we, you know, it's the scale part, you know, how do we get to different cities and everyone else, but now we're used to born startup at this point, so. - I love it. - That's, I think that it's important to distinguish for people who haven't seen it, 'cause I've fallen along with the journey and y'all now like won startup competition and all of this, but I think for people listening, it might be, it might be tempting to assume that you're thinking of like if you've been at a wedding or a party that has a photo booth, you're like, "Oh, well, it's that." It's like, no, no, no, no, no. Because it is a pod, and you said it's got lighting that is angled, and it's at the right angles, at the right temperature, and the right lighting, and it's not a super bright, just blind you flash, and it's not taking three snaps, snaps, snaps. - Yeah, that is a, it's really kind of a, I don't know, is it here? - It's not here. - Yeah, I don't think I've seen it in person. I need to, I keep-- - Well, come by, yeah, come by the studio. - My whole thing was that I was going to record it, like do some shoots, and then I was going to like, not be professional. So we're, I'm actually talking to another startup that maybe licensed you get in two weeks, and because we can do video inside of it. So they are a company, I won't tell divulge your name right now, but they do pitches for screeners or people with your previous job. So it's a way to walk into that, you would per se walk into the pod. - Oh my gosh. - You would pitch who you are and pitch what your job description is or what you do for a job. And it's like you give that in a 60 second little pitch, but it's all in beautiful lighting, that's super flattering, that you feel comfortable in a private pod. - That is, that'll be a hit. - We'll see. - I mean, first off with as many staffing companies, I mean, I know Bob Sutton, a previous guest, has been a mutual friend, he works for a staffing company now. And one of the big issues we were constantly running into is trying to get candidates to do video interviews. For themselves, hey, answer these three questions for us. It'll really save us a lot of time, so we don't have to spend an hour with you. And there was somewhat of an unfair playing field for people who understood lighting, cameras, angles, 100%. Because there would be people who were recording their answers their nose with their phone that looks like they're in the bathroom. That's the idea. The app is doing really well, but their issue is 75% of their users do it in a non-flattering way. Yeah. So you're just shooting yourself in the foot of like, "Hey, I'm really good this job, but I don't know how to work a camera, which isn't relevant to the job and yet it's going to totally sabotage your interview. Well, it's like using Comic Sans on your resume at this point, right? I mean, I don't know if it works the same way nowadays in staffing, but back then, when I would review resumes, I'm like, if it came and it was visually not a beautiful thing, it was something had to stick out for me to keep going. Yeah, right. And so you check all the boxes you can in today's world. And again, when it comes to leveling the playing field, that's such a, it's such a noble purpose. I mean, like, it's really what it is. And most people maybe don't see the value in that, but for some of us who have had to fight to kind of like fit some norms. Yeah, my heart's in that. I mean, my partner definitely, you know, I think he connects more with the corporate side of things of just the accessibility and really they're like, how do we can, how not conform, but make everything consistent, which I think all companies are trying to do, right? But there's a lot of pieces. There's a lot of ways to use this. I mean, we're definitely more of a B2C director, you know, director consumer, but every consumer works for a company. Yeah. So in the end, we end up, you know, I think we have about a hundred businesses here in use and so far that are of corporate clients, which it's grown so fast. Well, we launched the 2020 and then January. Yeah. Think of it. So we, you know, it was a, we had time to go back to the drawing board, you know, as a startup and go, okay, what, how do we do this? And so we kind of pivoted a little bit with the brick and mortar idea. I grew the SEO. Uh, so I kind of used my talent there. Actually, I still have those styles, I guess. So I had to dive back in. I wasn't shooting a lot. And so I think we were number, well, I don't know, top page use and headshots and that by the first three or four months. So that built the business Q1, Q2 of 2021. And then Q3, things start opening back up in our world. And then it, this is kind of lots from them. So, well, and I mean, yeah, there's the COVID thing. So now they, they, this can be a really good alternative to 100%. This is kind of, this is safe. But beyond that, I mean, as I look at my video work and getting to the point where my video work could replace my real estate income, right? That's how quickly things have taken off. I'm now having to look at it like, oh, I need to like some short term disability insurance or something. So if I get hit like in a car accident, you absolutely should have that. Yeah, I like reach out to my insurance broker and be like, hey, man, can you like, yeah, because yeah, if I get break my hand or break my leg and I'm going to be able to shoot for a few months, like that could be devastating to my income. So, and if you have a schedule shoot and you get sick, you can get the flu. Like, hey, you know what, we've got this thing. It's there. I'm not, I don't even need to be there. I don't need your photographer. You're not sending somebody else that you they don't know or don't trust or all of that. I think removing that risk or the human element of that is such a great opportunity for you, for the businesses that are hiring you, for all of it. And it goes the other way. I mean, we have probably only about five percent, but five percent of clients reschedule because they weren't feeling great that day. Yeah, their hair wasn't perfect or this or that. And maybe they, you know, they had a meeting that ran late. Yeah, they literally can just go reschedule. You know, there's little, it usually takes about 15 minutes to walk through it. So, there's a lot of in today's world. There's just a lot of convenience that adds to it. Yeah. Well, you talk about the consistency of if you have 150 employees who are trying to get headshots. Yeah. How many of them are going to be able to be there? Yeah. A given day within a certain time frame. Oh, trust me. Yeah. Not a lot. Not a lot. And, you know, a percentage. And then, okay, so wait, you're going to come back another day, but now the lighting is different and the room is changed. Well, yeah, because the photographer is going to is a human. And then you have to reset that those lighting pieces of the background. Everything's going to be perfect. We're talking to a couple of large hospitals here that have just that very issue where they contract out all their headshots. And, you know, no matter how well you do, it's still very different people. Yeah, it's just a little bit. You go and it's, you know, further with a piece of lighting, it's going to look a little bit different. And the way we've designed this, we just don't have those issues. You know, we're designed specifically for that. So yeah, exciting. You've done, you've done so many different things and the IT world and now multiple businesses kind of as an entrepreneur. I, I often think that I kind of am selling the word, or I'm watering down the word entrepreneur because I think that they connotates or at least it denotes like somebody who's starting multiple businesses, but like for most of us now, it's like, well, did you start a business? Cool entrepreneur. You did it. But you really have, you start, started multiple businesses. Many of those are still running. Some of them, you've walked away from, are there lessons that you have taken from doing one and another? Obviously, you know, the SEO skills you learned early on. Yeah, those are still relevant. So there's this cumulative effect. Does it get easier? Does it get faster to start something new? I think it gets faster just foundationally of, as a technical guy, I kind of have a leg up, which is good when it comes to making websites and various things like that. Is there something I, you know, I think now at this point in my career, it's, I think I was talking to you about turning 35. This is a good, I can, I can wake you up a little bit. I did this to my friend on a recent feature. Which is, it's this year for me. Yeah, it's November and I'm planning the party, but that's how it came from. Yeah, I'm invited, apparently. Yes, now I'm just kidding. When I hit 35, something happened with me where I clicked and realized I'm 15 years and 50. That number, 50, for how we grew up, in our time, 50 is now probably like, I don't know, their 50 is now like 70. By the way, we all run and work out a ton and do this and try to keep ourselves healthy, but 50 to me was like, oh, my life, I need to have my like figured out. You probably don't, let's just be real. Yeah. You probably can still be figuring a lot of things out. But when that happened to me, I think I really had to stop and think everything I'm going to do now has to kind of have, you know, a plan in a mission, you know. So when the Sugarpod thing, I think it's a perfect example of, can I do this after photography? Can I do this with photography? This is a scalable option. Is this something I like to build? Yeah. I like to create and build. Is this something I can build? I don't waste my time anymore. You know, for a while, I probably would just be, that's a good idea. Let me just, let me throw something at that and see what happens. But I quickly move on. I don't, I probably don't take as much time into something if it's not showing promise. And if I don't love it, you know, if I don't love it, it is, it's not going to have me at all. Yeah. So I quickly can, I think, decipher my feelings and my want to of going, do I keep doing this? And my gut says no, and I go. So yeah, I think that's a simple way to say it. I mean, there's a, there's a lot of wisdom and I think there's a lot, I think multiple nuggets in all of that of trying things, say, hey, we're going to just do this. It seems like it's going to work. Let's try it. If it doesn't, that's fine. Move on. But yeah, I think that the cumulative effect of projects, there are so many Instagram TikTok inspiration pages, just get out there and do it. Admittedly, I've asked for people guests on this show to share advice. And more often not, it's try it. Do something. Go for it. Do it. And I think that this, the benefits that aren't often talked about is because this is going to prepare you for the things six things from now. As you don't know that it's going to prepare you for the things six things from now. I mean, I had, I've talked about, I've come from church world, worked at churches in Denver and really had achieved a lot that I wanted in that kind of career field when I was in Denver was like making a name for myself, getting speaking opportunities. And then I moved down here to Cyprus and a little to Houston, but really out to Cyprus is where we really were. And no one knew who I was. No one cared who I was. All of that clout and influence and connection that I had built was just gone. Like just like crickets. I was just here and could live and die here and no one would have known at the time. Like sure people would have missed me. But and in an attempt really in retrospect, an attempt just to stay relevant, I started a podcast. Yeah. It's like, hey, I've got all this knowledge and I want to do something creative. I don't have a job. I've got all this free time. So I'll do a podcast. So I did a podcast for at least a solid year. It's called the audio liturgy podcast. I don't think it's out there anymore. Maybe it is. I don't think it's host. Maybe it's like hosted in India somewhere. Somebody bootled copies of it. But it was just a creative expression of like, let's walk through different themes and I would invite people to submit songs or poetry readings or stories from their life. And then I would try to like weave them together in this, you know, audio liturgy. And it was fine. It didn't keep me relevant, per se. Like, didn't keep me really in the church world, which was fine. But so much of what I'm doing now comes from that. Yeah. Comes from learning how to edit audio back then in Garage Band. So much of my ability to work with video footage came from the same thing. It's like, oh, I know this. This is, I know what a cut tool does. We felt comfortable. Yeah. So when you thought of this idea, you're like, oh, I can do that. Yeah. So a part of that was checked. Yeah. Already. Absolutely. The cumulative effect of, oh, okay. I mean, this, I've thought of this a lot recently. It's a really common quote that Luck is when preparation meets opportunity and it's a great quote, oh, it's so good Which is to say like you the SEO thing right like you were prepared to do that and the opportunity was ripe for it Yeah, you started in wedding photography not everybody in their mom was no one was technical. Yeah, to be honest Not in my town not here in Houston Yeah, and not anybody that also wanted to start a business correct, right? So to be had want to do wedding photography, but also I know how the internet works at this infant stage of SEO That's huge. Yeah, and I think similarly this show like this show Like sometimes the timing just works out and the opportunity presents itself and if you're ready for it It works. Yeah, well, so part of what I did I love that preparation because that's a little piece of You know, I'm kind of not saying I passed that but there is a little as a creative You kind of how do I put this? I'm still growing, but there's points at the beginning where you're growing exponentially And you're in you're soaking everything up every movie to me is more cinema Yeah, there was a lot of like I was obsessed with these 16th century old painters Rembrandt and all these other guys That were just these portraits they would create so I would start bringing projects to each wedding And so my my preparation was I literally would stare at these paintings I think it was pre-pinsure stays maybe it was right when pictures. Yeah. Yeah, but I was yeah, I was a Pinterest Bro like 2016. I don't even know when it was we needed some for that Yeah, oh, yeah, I love my pictures. It's a bit it's incredible But I would literally I brought a project. I think it's 2015 called on black So every single wedding I would go to I had like a black foam core And I would bring that to a wedding which most of the time to my clients were like what what are you doing with this? It was literally just a I stand with a clip in a foam core. Yeah, I would find a room You know that maybe a hotel room or the reception that just had nice window light And I would shoot every single client no matter if they wanted to or not On the part of the deal. It was a part of the deal and I think I did like 25 or 26 shoots But it taught me in that process number one. I got some really gorgeous portraits that won awards At the I think WPI print competition, but number two it taught me to force My what I wanted to do creatively on to other people. Yeah, and to get really good at it in the process So when by year two I had clients hiring me for that specific portrait Of the grooms or the brides like I mean, I think I can think of like 10 off top my head There's like I won't one of those in my my husband And so that kind of started something worse for me, but then it became for them Yeah, and the next year I did an on white which is Richard Avedon I think you had a book called it into the American West where he drove around the country and shot American West On literally on white background. So I did the same thing on white Which women beautifully are shot on white. It's just a gorgeous on white black and white. It's very simple I can't feel like I was cheating Do you know what I mean? Because the on black is really difficult to pull off because you don't have a lot of bounce Yeah, right. It's just you'll lose people. Yeah, I just and I had to figure out how to retouch properly for the on black How to make them look like an old painting. So it was a lot of Photoshop skills that I learned doing that But the on white was like this is I just I had like a preset. They'll just make everybody just look glorious And then I did a few others You know, it's kind of how I learned each thing that I know creatively photography wise was certainly a project from 2000 I take to 2015 to 2019 every single year out of project at weddings and I would go this is for me Yeah, because you know a lot of the weddings for them. It's not for us. Sure You know, arrogantly. I was like I gotta do something for myself And so that's what I would bring, you know, I learned how to do more motion photographs And you know learn different lighting here and there but from that it kind of created this body of work The you know people would become to they kind of became to know me They came to know me because of that. Yeah, it's like oh, we create these and then I would transition to something else in transition But now I'm going to a wedding and there's a black building and like I know how to do this Yeah, I can make this look sick And so I created these tools, but I was intentional about it did just come naturally Maybe I think I have creative friends who I think they do have the ability for it to come naturally Yeah, those are those friends I hate the most and I love the most of the same time. Yeah, but I didn't have that ability I had to build that you know, I was like but What I learned is you can you know with time and energy In a little bit of like and once and I think that's what I said earlier about About kind of continuing. I kind of treated these almost as little businesses Because once I was done. I was done. Yeah, I had a client who was like I want to be on black I was like I don't I don't think I want to do that. Yeah, I was like it's not me anymore. Yeah I think I still did it because I like to make people happy But I was not into it. Yeah And so that's kind of how I roll of once my guts my guts in it 100% and then after that I'm like All right, I've learned it. I don't do this. I love that I love the idea of Including the projects within the project. Yeah, so you're not just having to go out and be like oh, I do this But now I've got to go get studio space to shoot my own personal project and find somebody to come and be a model And like we know you have people here 100% you're doing this take advantage on yeah, yeah, I um I feel like that instinct of listening to the oh man. I should have done that in doing it. It is such a important thing I don't think anybody's ever called that out in the way that you have of Bob our mutual friend Holly tape I She's come. I think she's come up in the last three interviews. So she's just she's gonna have to be a rock. Yeah Yeah, and thing to talk about she we can talk about statesmen again, which is fine But uh, we were We were helping uh Bob move He's come up a couple times in this conversation and we were it was raining. We were all like soaking wet moving stuff From his apartment to this moving truck into his new place and And just throughout the day, I was like we've I've got to get selfies of this like and right even the way that I talk about is like no I don't need pictures of this. I need selfies of this specifically of that And uh got a couple and I love those photos from that day and I was like you're just like you're so good at social media. I was like Not I don't think I'm good at social you are good at social. Well, thank you. Yeah, again We all have our standards that we're judging that is true. Um and yet I I was like, I think I'm good at this this one thing Because I love selfies. I have That my one of my groomsman and like started the hashtag hashtag rusty love selfies And now that I think I have close to 200 like selfies with people that's incredible Like is me taking a picture of us doing that and It can be an awkward thing in the moment to be like hey, we need to get a selfie right that sometimes there that a feeling like Oh, I don't want to we're you know, we're moving right now. Yeah, so many moving is yeah But more and more people like they get it and you just ask that they expect it from you For sure, like why aren't I getting? Yeah, why are you talking about that woman? I'm not on this hashtag and uh But I just and then there were a lot of moments where I walked away. Oh, she'd got a selfie because just to commemorate that moment that day that That thing I Have a tattoo on my leg that says remember and or no forgetfulness leads to exile Remembrances the secret of redemption is this old Jewish kind of proverb that Basically says that we get ourselves into trouble. We wander when we forget and One of the yes, there's a lot of downfall social media and it's corrupting our brains in all the ways that it is But also It's an amazing tool for remembering it is where we've been who we were yeah, who we who we've become and who we were with and connecting in the connections So those selfies um, I'm gonna I now have a new The new in stacks Polaroid or this hot Polaroid put the new in stacks instant camera that you can Print out photos from digital means or solos and uh, like I plan on printing just buying They're ridiculously expensive amount of film to print those out So they have hard copies and make a selfie wall. Yeah, like this is this is something. This is This is special. Well, it's kind of your life story and a little bit. It's a little slideshow But you've done which is really cool to have yeah, and you're in it. Yeah, you know I was just in a trip with a few friends with some first personal trip. I've taken in almost like two years And I took a picture of all my boys and I wasn't in it. I felt okay about that Yeah, but one of the guys is like no, no, no, like let's do a selfie and it was like okay Now I like to be eating in the photo at the same time. I was like okay, but in the moment. I was like I don't want to do it Yeah, but I think that yeah, that instinct of if you feel like oh, I should have like use that as a Opportunity to do it next time hundred percent of those little projects and the preparation though is so you don't forget Yes, right? So I have a little sketchbook that and I don't do this anymore But these are like I said, I'm 12 years into this a lot of these things are really ingrained in how I work But I had this I had a sketch. I do have a sketchbook that Before a wedding or before a shoot, I would you know, let's say I watch the movie I would pull screens and various things like that Throwing in like I need a little Dropbox folder and I would sketch out what What I wanted the shoot to look like yeah, let's say it's three different poses if I felt like the clients liked more an editorial approach, but I would have visuals with my terrible sketching ability and I can think of, I don't know, 30 or 40 that I executed and several of them are my favorite photos of everything because they went from thought, you know, from mind to actually me practically doing them. And when I did it, I knew exactly what I wanted because I'd already prepared, I'd already sketched it. The client was like, okay, that was for me, but they felt like it was for them. So it was kind of a give and take there. And I was so prepared that it did make some of the best work. It wasn't just on the fly. Yeah, you know, so. Well, man, I could have you here all day and talk about all of the things. If you were looking back at a little Randall back, back when he was feeding the chickens just itching to get out of East Texas, is there any advice that you'd give him? Knowing everything you know now, you get to go back in time, sit down with him for a few minutes. What do you share? Oh, just be patient. You know, I think that's, enjoy what you got around you. Be patient. I think that's the biggest thing in the groups. The slow down piece. I don't, I'm terrible at it. Sure. I think having my son is probably, it is the best thing to happen to me. It's changed the way I think and it's forced me to be patient, which I'm very thankful for. And so with you with kids, you understand that. Yeah. So with me, I'm like, all right, I can, I can slow down. This is about him now, not about me now. Now, so whatever I do is for him, which is a fascinating way your brain can change with a birth of a little one. So. Yeah. Well, yeah. And, you know, before my boys, everything I did was the legacy. I got it. I got to stir all this stuff up. Yeah, spray paint it everywhere. Here we go. Totally. And, uh, and more and more. It's, okay, no, I want to build things and I want to create things, but I want to show them what's possible. Yeah. And show them. You can do whatever you want to do. And eat some work, some preparation, when opportunities will present themselves. And you'll have a good time. But absolutely, I think that I, it used to be, it used to be that I wanted to go, go, go all the time. And I certainly do. But I think that real estate videography in both industries, they're jobs that give me the opportunity to get out and have fun and meet people and all that. But 80% of the time is at home. Right. Yeah. Editing, doing contract work, doing searches, doing whatever it is. And it, it gives me time at home that it's like, Hey, yeah, I know I've spent eight hours editing, but a lot of times my boys are just like in my office on the floor. And, uh, that's like my, it's so unique. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a lot of my friends work eight to five wonderful jobs. But if I'm at home working, he can roll in data, you know, this is not nothing better than that. Yeah. We can kind of give ourselves that, um, no matter how hard you go. Yeah. Which is cool. So, oh, man, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. If anybody needs a wedding photographer, if they need headshots, headshot, if you want to get out to some of the most beautiful parts of Texas, go to Marphone, have a junior from Renhouse on Airbnb, uh, go check all of that stuff out anything else. What else do we? That's enough. That's enough. Um, all right, man. We'll push people your way. Thanks. All right. Thank you, brother. A huge thank you to Joseph and to you for listening to this episode of Houston, mate. I hope this interview is an encouragement to you. There's someone out there that you admire and you really want to meet. Just keep at it. And maybe one day you'll get to sit down, have a conversation and be friends. If you haven't done so already, go find Joseph on Instagram. He's got a few different pages you can follow to see all the stuff he's got going on. So we'll just go through them. First, you can see more of his wedding photography at Joseph West. You can check out StudioPod at the studio pod. And you can see pictures of in Book of Stay at the best rental property in Marfa at the Juniper Moonhouse. You can also book Joseph to photograph your special day through his website. Joseph was here.com. If this is your first time tuning in, we have interviews available with entrepreneurs from all kinds of backgrounds, including brewery owners, marketing experts, and franchisees. If you're interested in connecting further, you can find me on Instagram @RustyJ Gates or the show @HustonMadePodcast. Let's be friends. Houston made is produced and hosted by me Rusty Gates. The special thanks goes out to Luke Bronner with Million Media for continued support of the show and to MacRion Creative for Collaboration on our artwork. Credit for our theme music goes to old friends, new friends. And Houston made is glad to be a part of the Million Media neighborhood of podcasts and storytellers. We are people who care deeply about human connection. And in our neighborhood, we find that connection by hearing and appreciating one of their stories by sharing our own. To find more shows made by amazing storytellers from all kinds of backgrounds, visit millionmedia.com.