We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Trevor Sweaza a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Trevor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

Aloha my name is Trevor. I’m a real estate photography/videography business owner in Kaua’i, Hawaii. I started my business 2 yrs ago in 2021. If I could go back in time I wish I would have started my business sooner. At the time I had a full time career as a Auto Body Paint Refinisher and had done that for about 15 yrs. It was a stable job with a consistent paycheck and good benefits. I had been doing photography as a hobby/passion for quite some time and had always dreamt about starting my own photography business. I wanted to get paid to do what I love. It’s not work right if you’re doing what you love and are passionate about! Being that I had that stable job there was definitely a fear of quitting my auto body job to start my own photography business. Living in Kaua’i is definitely not cheap. Going into the unknown, no consistent weekly paycheck or benefits was a definitely daunting. Finally I was at a point where my career had plateaued, I was getting burnt out from my Mon-Fri 9-5 job, wanting more money and success, my own schedule and being my own boss. Finally the time had come and some things had happened at the auto body company I was at and this is where my opportunity to start my photography business was becoming a reality. So I just went for it. I quit my auto body job and officially started my photography business. At first, myself and my family had fear of the unknown. Mostly the financial unknown and not having much clientele or portfolio work. But I hit the ground running and hustled my a$$ off. Started a real estate photography website, business cards, branding, marketing, business insurance, getting some certifications i.e Part 107 commercial drone license etc! What I really believed in and made an effort in was going out to all the real estate brokerages in person, networking, meeting all the agents face to face, showing my personality and drive to do what I love and offering my skills and services. After 2 yrs of owning my business this is really paying off. I’ve built a beautiful portfolio and have built some great client relationships and business is doing great! I also didn’t stop at just real estate photography. Kauai is a tourist destination i I also capitalized on, and do Family and Couples portraits and other commercial photography for a lot of the tourist adventure companies as well (boat tour companies, zipline companies, the Kauai marathon etc, atv companies and other businesses) Lots of work here on Kaua’i, staying versatile and am finally making a name for myself here. I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth and I absolutely love what I do! It’s not work anymore, a monotonous auto body job! I make my own schedule, take time for myself whenever I want, get to be creative and there’s always something new and different. This work keeps me on my toes. If I could go back I would definitely have started my business sooner. Any advice I can give is, if you’re passionate about starting a business on what you love and are passionate about and have the drive, you gotta go for it. As long as you put in the hard work, it will pay off. It’s not all rainbows, waterfalls and unicorns but getting through those hard times will pay off down the road. Keep a positive attitude, communicate and take customer satisfaction and feedback very serious. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story and experience.

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

See initial question and answer. I pretty much answered my entire questionnaire on the previous page. I didn’t realize there would be more. I answered fully on the previous question/page.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Going out and hustling to get clients and work and not waiting for them to come to me. Meet and greet, network, cold calls and emails etc.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Slowly but surely as the work poured in the the finished products came out and as the portfolio grew. I posted everything I was doing on my real estate Instagram page regularly and consistently. I put out reels and fun, trendy videos that people want to see. I believe social media is a game changer In marketing your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: photoskauai.com
• Instagram: realestate.808
• Facebook: Trevor Sweaza Photography
• Linkedin: Trevor Sweaza
• Other: Other instagrams @tmack808 and @photoskauai.808

Image Credits
Trevor Sweaza, @realestate.808