We were lucky to catch up with Jeff Ayers recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jeff , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?
The beginning of this year, I hired an incredibly talented local photographer by the name of Wialexka Nery to help with social media content. Social media has never been my strongpoint and in a way I tend to reject it. She has brought an incredible amount of knowledge and style to the position and I couldn’t be happier with what she’s done so far. Our sense of humor also aligns, which makes for great content. I think if I was forced to give advice – ask yourself this first, are you over 30? If so, hire someone else!
My main advice is the same advice I give to agents who are nervous about being on camera – just be yourself. In the world of social media, you are your brand. We fall into this endless loop of modeling ourselves after others who appear to be successful on social media – don’t do that. Understand your personality and then go show it to the world. You will attract the clientele you are supposed to attract – you can’t win over every customer. Social media in my opinion is somewhat of a separate reality. Don’t take it too seriously, people are always going to judge you. Be comfortable in your skin – none of us are impenetrable. Find your people, and ignore everyone else.
Jeff , 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?
Well, I have been a lifelong musician so I have always had that burning question of “why” in everything I do. It never goes away, and haunts me in my sleep. For me, I try to find purpose in everything and sometimes it can drive you mad. I was working a blue collar job at the time and knew it wasn’t going to be long term – it was soul crushing. I ended up buying a drone for fun and slowly got my commercial license. Over a period of a couple years I had given away enough free work for a few people to trust me. I got in with a few real estate agents that were unhappy with their current photographer so I taught myself real estate photography through Youtube University. Four years later, here we are! We offer a wide variety of services to real estate agents to help market themselves, and their listings. Photos, video, drone, 3D tours, social media branding content, you name it. I think the thing I am most proud of is our core values as a company, we are interested in the relationships more than anything. We have had parallel growth along side some of our agents and it lets me know we are doing our job correctly. We are less interested about making a quick buck, and more interested in getting to know someone completely and being able to adjust our media services towards their long term goals.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I believe you really have to care about people – you have to be able to put them first and understand that they may not share the same passion as you do. I think a lot of people who start businesses want everyone to share the same internal fire as they have and it’s just not always the case. I think first, you have to find the right people that connect with your ideas and vision. Secondly, you need to be the emotional dam that stops the chaos from over-flowing. Your team needs direction, and a clear indication that the person leading them can be calm and collected in stressful times. If you can’t regulate your emotions, should we expect them to? I’ve always believed that morale comes naturally if people know you have their backs, and don’t treat them like they are disposable.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I was going to shoot a luxury listing and she was helping a family member clean and get it ready for photos. I asked her to move her car and we started talking because I had my drone in my hand. She told me she was a photographer and showed me some of her work, I was absolutely amazed! She was 10x the photographer I was and I was blown away by her creativity. At that moment, I knew I had to work with her in some capacity. I didn’t know how but – when you know you know!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getayerborne/
