We were lucky to catch up with Paxton Conners recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Paxton, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I would say starting my business was the biggest risk I had to take in life. It was the timing at situation I was in that made it extremely controversial amongst my family and peers. The sacrifices my wife and I had to make in order for the business to become reality were life changing and a lot of people just wouldn’t be able to do it or even be willing to do it. Our situation is ours and everyone has a different story of their own people will judge and question but that’s ok it doesn’t bother me at all. In order to get what I want I had to give up the only life I knew for the past twenty years. This decision would require me to move 1800 miles away from my wife and children, move to a city where I had no connections and a very limited portfolio. I had dip into our savings because living in two states at once is extremely expensive even if I’m living frugally.

At first it was a lot getting turned down and spending money to rub elbows and become a familiar face but eventually I was able to hustle my way into my first longterm contract. Then COVID hit and my wife and I lost everything. I didn’t have an income and my wife had gotten laid off. I’m thankful we had a lot large savings so we were able to maintain but we did spent 95% of it during those 11 months which hurt. I honestly felt like because of a childish “dream” that I had ruined the life of everyone around me, That was the first time I had seriously thought about throwing in the towel. I felt as if it was the universe was telling me to just stick to my lane. I had no income, no savings and started working part time gigs to keep the house hold going, It was rough. This was the most depressed I had ever been in my life, even worse than the career I felt stuck in prior to starting this venture. I remember telling my wife that I was throwing in the towel and she immediately grabbed my face with both of her hands and without any hesitation and said then “then what was the point of losing everything?” “We’ll figure this out.” So I came back to Austin and lived even more frugally and pushed forward. I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was rough rebuilding. A lot of connections I made had struggles of their own. A lot of people moved on to different careers and even moved out of state. So I basically had to start over again but this time with a lot less money and didn’t have the capital to go out and rub elbows. So I had to curb my strategy a bit to get in front of the right potential clients. It took quite a bit longer than the first time I came out but towards the end of last year things started falling into place with this year being the most lucrative yet. My client list has grown quite a bit with 75% returning for more work and now my company is building out long term content creation contracts. I think one of the most important things to being successful is to not forget why you started your journey in the first place. If you constantly remind yourself than you’ll always push forward. It’s definitely worked for my business so far.

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

My company’s goal is to help people and businesses excite their brand through creating custom short and long form content. This is accomplished through consulting the client, figuring out their goals and expectations, deciding which medium (photography or videography) best fits the project and finally the best route for executing the project. I also provide consolation packages that assist with idea development as well as advertising and branding strategies.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The only way that I could put capitol together was by getting a credit card and maxing out with the equipment that needed to get it started. It’s probably a little unconventional but it was the only way I could do it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

This one I would have to put into a list:

1.. Create friendships by always being around. Hang out where your clients hang out and network

3. I tend to hang out a lot on social media platforms, commenting on posts and direct messaging. So far that’s been a winning strategy for me.

3. Advertise, advertise, advertise hahaha     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fogocontent.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/paxton_loves_u

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me