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

Alvin, appreciate you joining us today. If you’re open to it, can you talk to us about the best (or worst) investment you’ve made. What’s the backstory and the relevant context behind why you made the investment

This, is a phenomenal question and the answer is something share with everyone:

Investing in a mentor.
Even so, with a twist, during the COVID shutdown in 2020.

Let’s rewind a bit leading up to this moment – Long story short; I’ve always been subconsciously into photography. Even in high school when Instagram first made it debut, I was always taking photos of everything around me for the fun of it (and now I had somewhere to share my view of the world.)

Didn’t think much about it except “this is cool, I’m gonna take a photo with my phone.” and enjoyed capturing the moment.

Took a ton of art classes through high school, went to a graphic design class at a tech trade school taught by professor who was actively freelancing, and attended a photography class in college.

Both the class and college in entirety I dropped out of.
DIdn’t feel. like I was learning much in the class and felt unfulfilled on campus. This is 2016

College dropout. Unfulfilled. Lost in the world. Working full-time and living on my own with 2 roommates and not the happiest parents to break the news to.

Still enjoyed taking photos for fun while I worked, going from job to job finding my way.

End of 2017 I got my first camera as a gift – a Canon Powershot SX 530 HS (a point and shoot), and it inspired me immensely to take more photos.

After doing everything for fun – I was booked for my first session by one of my closest friends, who paid a number that I blurted out without much thought and he deemed a very good price. This was the day where it clicked – “I can ACTUALLY make an income doing this?”

Making money with art? Not something I heard of. So this a huge paradigm shift on what I believed.

A ton of shoots, even more sessions, more practicing, attending YouTube University (a more enticing school that I had free access to) and working jobs that I used to fund my passion.

Now, it’s fall of 2019, I was working this job as a manager that was taking a toll on my mental. Mainly because I felt more and more of my time to take photos was being stripped by work – deep down I couldn’t have that.

So, I left. Not giving up on my dream of doing this full-time. Months went by and I ended up getting back into another high position job (for some reason my gut told me to take the job.)

Got interviewed, they loved the work ethic and attitude, immediately hired me.

Officially started February 2020, the world shut down in April that same year.

Was blessed enough to still maintain a paycheck even during the pandemic – giving me true freedom to work on my craft.

It was the perfect condition for me to really focus on myself and how to flesh out this “photography thing.”

But where do I go from here?

This is where we get to the mentor.

While scrolling on Instagram, a local YouTuber popped up on my feed. At the time YouTuber’s where everywhere except in Virginia Beach where I operate out of, so it was awesome to see someone pursuing that career in my area.

He immediately earned a follow. Watched him work and give tips and advice on photography and I was invested in him (as a photographer, a business operator, and just a brand was an overall cool guy).

Then, August, he posted on his story that he had 5 slots open to those who wanted a mentorship for a month.

One phone/video call per week for 4 weeks. $300.

I gave it some thought. I never really paid for a mentor, but I had one I hung out with during my early stages for free since I was a second shooter for him – he enjoyed my ethic and attitude and was always happy to share his insight on shoots.

But this I had to pay for. I trusted him, but was it legit? How do I know if I’ll benefit?

I full sent it. I sent the message “I want in.”

We got on a call, talked about what would be offered and what we would talk about, and how it would improve my business.

“Cool, how can I send the money? Let’s get started.”

I learned in a month knowledge that he amassed in several years.

Call that a quantum leap in progress.

It basically 10x’d what I would have been doing had I not invested and a short time after, I booked a session that made the $300 back, times 3.

That’s how when I understood the power of investing in a mentor.

Can you imagine shrinking 3, 4, or 10 years of experience, of avoiding certain failures, and gaining knowledge in only a fraction of the time.

It’s made me a way better photographer and an even better business owner.

It changed everything for me.

That’s what made it the best investment I ever made.

Alvin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

How I got into this is always an interesting question for me.

I’d like to think that I fell into this by “accident,” but when I reflect on the series of events, choices I made, and skills that I unconsciously picked up on along the way – it could very much come down to the path was just meant for me to take.

I always loved art and 100% gained a lot of my inspiration from movies, anime, and non-fiction books I would read that really dove deep into storytelling without me paying much attention to how it was influencing the way I drew.

When I was old enough to put a career path on the kind of art I wanted to create, I gravitated to graphic design, which is where I took a 2 year course in graphic design at Advanced Technology Academy here in Virginia Beach and what was the North Star when I was attending college.

All-throughout, starting in very early high school, I was taking photos of the world around me with my phone. They were just snippets of what I saw and never thought much about it – until graphic design didn’t feel like the path anymore and I had received a camera as a gift not long after the shift in direction.

That’s where taking photos seriously started. Telling more and more stories from pictures and until it turned into capturing people, and even now translating into video.

Now, I work with brands & businesses who need content to gain attention. With attention through social media being the modern day source of success, content is the funnel to obtain attention.

With that being the goal, I use my skill of storytelling with photography and videography to provide these businesses cinematic solutions to gaining attention.

Honestly, I don’t think I’m much different from a lot of other creatives that are in a similar space, but I can provide my own perspective and experience to my work and I think that is truly what sets me a part. I look at obstacles as opportunities and use that filter to come up with solutions that really hit the core of the problem for brands/businesses.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I recommend 3 books that changed everything about how I’ve approached the day-to-day’s of business (especially in my field)

“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield
“The One Thing” by Keller & Papasan
“See You at the Top” Zig Ziglar

(despite the message above here is a bonus book – “Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill)

All of these taught me the value of:
– Overcoming doubt and executing on the things “I didn’t want to do.”
– Prioritizing what truly matters (both in life and business) and allocating energy into one funnel for efficiency
– Attitude and what it means to have a positive and welcoming attitude (for personal growth and business reasons)
– Mindset, growth, and finances as a whole

All of these are what leads to success, and what they taught me is that greatness and success stems from improvement of self. If you can improve your own self, you can change the very world around you.

Any advice for managing a team?

1. Find out their why.

I haven’t built my business (yet) for multiple employees, but the experience I had working as a manager taught me that everyone has their own reason and motivation for why they work as hard as they do AND what they love to work on (since it comes easy to them.)

If you can hone in on what makes people tick (because not everyone will be invested in the business mentally & emotionally as you do), then you will know where they can be the most effective

2. Show appreciation for the effort they put in

All of us in some way or another want to know that the effort we put in is worth it – in some form or another. When you have a team with you working towards the goal – going out of your way to say “I appreciate you for your efforts and how hard you have been working.” can go a long way.

It helps when times a great, it helps when times are not as great – even more so when there is more resistance in the work/employees to accomplish the goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kxdda.com
• Instagram: @_kxdda
• Facebook: Alvin Parker Jr.
• Linkedin: Alvin Parker
• Twitter: TheKxdd
• Youtube: Alvin Parker

Image Credits
Travel Addicts Collection brand Picozza: Pizza & Burrito Bar Mountain Valley Water / Melvin Roy (talent) Kayla Hermiz (talent)