We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Citlalli Beltran a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Citlalli, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
Everything that I have, everything that I’ve accomplished, and everything that I am is because of my parents. My parents came to this country with nothing to give me everything. “To be an American” is the title of my life. When I go to school or to work, I remind myself, “This is what it’s like to be an American.” because this is something my parents repeated to me many times growing up. The notion that I am privileged is at the forefront of my brain because right next to it is the reminder that my parents did not receive the same opportunities as me when they lived in Mexico. This fuels me; it influences every move I make on American Soil, especially with my photography and videography business. I always take every opportunity that presents itself because I always remember that my parents would have died to have had those same opportunities growing up.
My parents may have not physically sat me down to explain the importance of working and fighting for my dreams, but instead, they showed me with their actions every single day. Listening to them wake up at 5:00 AM every morning, and seeing them get home late at night, instilled a thought in my brain that hard work is fulfilling, in and of itself. That it teaches valuable life lessons. As an adult, Somnium Films has taught me determination, attentiveness, responsibility, and problem-solving. Without them even realizing it, my parents became my mentors, and their work ethic became my shining example for how I work, and manage my business today.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
From an early age, I’ve always thought of stories to have the ability to modify and refine your mind. Whether it is a fairytale, a tragedy, or just simply a tale told around the campfire, a story has the ability to give significant meaning to every person listening or watching. Stories serve as nourishment for the brain and they influence me to an extraordinary extent. They are my inspiration, the reason for my creativity, my imagination, and my originality. Stories are like banks of morals, and ideas; they are my reason to progress and to be righteous. They are my catalyst to flourish.
As an adult, rapidly that adoration for stories transformed into a love for stories told through film, and quickly that love transferred into event videography and even began to incorporate the craft of photography. Not only did I begin to appreciate the beauty of filmmaking and photography, but I also began to appreciate the beauty of documenting actual events. I arrived where I am today as a result of that. I now understand that media production is one of the most incredible, unparalleled gifts of documentation. Since I have gotten my degree in cinematography, I have shot every occasion from newborn photos to senior photos, quinceañeras, weddings, etc. This art form has given me the freedom to be unrestricted and unrestrained in a work environment, enabling me to give my clients high-quality photos and videos that aren’t just visually appealing but also something that genuinely evokes strong emotions in the viewers and encapsulates a memory through film or photography to forever be looked back at.
Somnium Films provides post-production, photography, and videography services. The features include some of the best technology and equipment: cameras, mics, lenses, and so forth. Additionally, we offer production services that include interviews, audio recordings, location shoots, and more. This guarantees that each client receives audio and images of high quality that meet their expectations.
Some of the best software for editing and color grading are included in the post-production features. We can add text, logos, and color grades. We can also sound design, edit music, and finally give the client the tape or photos in any aspect ratio they want. Somnium Films is dedicated to conveying the genuine emotion and significance of the footage and images, whether it be a brief highlight reel of the event, a lengthy and precise video of the majority of the event, or even just photographs.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Despite the fact that the world seems to revolve around social media, it can be extremely challenging to grow your audience on any platform. As I recall, when I first created my Facebook, Instagram, and other business profiles, it actually took me weeks to post anything about my photography and videography. I put it off for a very long time because I was afraid that no one would see my posts or like or share them. When I finally had the courage to post on Facebook for the first time, I was thrilled to see how many of my friends and family had liked and shared my business profile. This level of attention lasted for a few weeks before I started to notice that the number of people who were liking my page was slowly decreasing. My anxiety returned, and my first thought was that my business would fail. When you first start to build your social media presence, it’s easy to get discouraged. However, there are ways to not only build your social media audience but also KEEP IT.
My biggest advice to those who are just starting out is to post, post, post, but with purpose. Get the word out and showcase your business. Actively engage with your audience. If you’re a photographer or videographer I recommend posting extra content from a client’s session, whether it’s BTS of the actual shoot or in editing. This will give your audience a deeper understanding of how you work with clients, and most importantly share your skills and abilities. Also, I would highly suggest investing in professional-looking content to stand out, and not be shy to pay to boost your posts to gain a bigger audience. Lastly, utilize surveys, polls, and analytical data to find out which kinds of content perform best, what kind of content customers enjoy the most, and what they simply don’t like. This reveals their interests and all the more significantly, reveals what drives them away. This will help anyone who is starting to build their social media presence to build their audience and maintain it.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
There are no words in the dictionary which explain the true worth and meaning of a good business book. One of the most amazing resources I had for the growth of my business was “Hurdle, The Book on Business Planning” by Tim Berry. This book is wonderful and arguably one of the most insightful and thorough books I have ever read about understanding how to build a business plan. This text provided me with endless resources to start my videography and photography business and for that, I am forever thankful. Early on, Berry instills the idea that an essential and strategic tool for entrepreneurs is a business plan. In addition to helping entrepreneurs concentrate on the particular actions required for their business ideas to succeed, he shows us that a strong business plan enables us to meet both short- and long-term goals. This book significantly altered my entrepreneurial thinking by discovering how truly important it is to conduct a market analysis, discover the state of the market at the present time, recognize my competitors, identify my strengths and weaknesses, and formulate a marketing strategy. All of these steps greatly helped me with building my business plan from the ground up and ultimately helped me really understand exactly what I wanted to accomplish and how.
Contact Info:
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