We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jared Battle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jared below.

Alright, Jared thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

When I started my media company in 2020, I only took photographs of my friends for about $40 a shoot. That quickly became insufficient in profit, as you could imagine. Two years later, with many referrals and networking, I’ve been able to have a constant stream of clientele and increase my rate with the addition of videography services. I used my Instagram page to showcase my work as an online portfolio, bringing in new clients with various jobs. Since then, I would say Instagram is how I get 75% of my bookings.

A tactic I used to boost my service appeal was by going to the extreme amount of celebrity and influencer events around Atlanta and posting my content. This tactic generated a buzz for a growing following interested in these individuals. After doing this, when people book with Jaynextdoor, they want the celebrity experience. In the beginning, the quality of my content wasn’t the best, but my urge to keep elevating my work has gotten the work of art that my page is now.

Two years may seem like a short amount of time, but it has given me a chance to learn how to fundamentally run an actual legal business. My camera generated a full-time income business that I can regulate when I work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Thank you for choosing to read my feature. I am Jared Battle, aka Jaynextdoor, and I own the company “The Jaynextdoor Experience,” which handles your content needs for your business or significant life events. I specialize in social media, real estate, travel videography, and studio photography. You may know my work with Sierra Glam, Brittni Mealy, and rapper Polo G’s family Stacia Mac & Leilani Capalot.

What sets my company apart is my attention to detail in my videos. Businesses hire media companies like mine to curate content to market on social media and bring in their intended audience. My business has seen a large influx of Instagram reels style video inquiries. Reels have recently become one of the most pushed forms of media, and companies/influencers are taking advantage of this. Half of my videography bookings have been for brands and small businesses. FromBritt, Unicorn Universe, Ghetto Girlz Eat, and Shae Jordan Co are a few regular companies I provide their social media videographer content.

I am proud of my ability to turn a passion into a full-time income job that allows me to profit from traveling and the type of clients I have worked with. My brand has put me in a position to grow out of the small world of the entertainment business and branch into other types of businesses such as real estate, culinary, and fashion.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I graduated high school in May of 2020, and as a graduation gift, my parents gave me $1000 in cash to fund whatever I wanted to do professionally. I took that money, and after a lot of research, I bought my first camera (Sony A6400) and started my rollout to create a profitable business. At first, I was very aggressive financially when investing in my equipment. If I had six shoots in a week, I would put all that money into the next equipment purchase. After two camera body upgrades, I don’t put my whole check into equipment purchases. My business funds are going towards my future plans which is owning my own photography studio in the city.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built a social media presence by ensuring I was in the right places at the right time. I was 18, going on 19, to celebrity events for 21 Savage, Diddy, Metro Boomin, and many other notable figures. These events themselves brought a lot of traffic to my Instagram stories which I capitalize on by posting exclusive photos and recap videos from the events. I did this for about four months and built a brand for the page as the guy in the know. I enjoyed this but didn’t want to sneak into these events anymore. I wanted to be the one hired to be there! After that realization, I sought to change that by going around to everyone except the person I wanted to work with: managers, party planners, DJs, and other photographers.

This networking allowed me to work with the people I wanted. Working with these people made a small exchange of followers. Ex, I just recently posted Ari Fletcher’s private makeup brand diner, and many air fans followed me and a few of my friends who didn’t know who she was. Using prominent figures to “gain clout” is a fast way to built an audience as a photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jaynextdoor.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jaynextdoor?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Image Credits
Jaynextdoor