We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rich Denning & Mark Simonson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rich & Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.
We landed our first client honestly by being ourselves. We learned about a car meet from one of our friends we knew from high school in Clayton, NC. The car meet had a few locations so everyone met at one spot then cruised to the next and so on. At the final stop of the car meet everyone drove to the Walmart in Clayton. The parking lot was packed!! You could see old school Vette’s and Mustangs, Hellcats, custom BMW’s, Fast and the Furious Honda’s, it was nice. We get there and started getting footage of our favorite cars and talking to the owners. We believe in showing love and giving credit. We would tell the owners what we loved about their cars and ask questions about their vehicle mods. We spotted this nice blue Dodge Charger Hellcat with a crazy Superwoman wrap on it. I heard the owner say she wanted to pose for some pictures so we captured it for her. After that we exchanged social media’s and she became our first client right after. Showing love and being genuine makes people want to give you a chance.
Rich & Mark, 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?
We have always had a passion for creativity in both photography and videography. My first experience with video production was back in middle school when I was tasked with creating a project of my choice to share with the class. Inspired by the show Fear Factor, I used an old camcorder to recreate some of the daring tasks from the show. I enjoyed the process so much that I would often choose to watch my own project over regular TV shows.
In high school, our friend Andre Mcneil created a highlight video that I helped edit, which introduced me to the world of manipulating raw footage. In college at Fayetteville State, I combined my filming and editing skills to create a music video for a friend, titled ‘Fly Guys.’ The video gained popularity on campus, and the positive feedback I received was incredibly rewarding.
These three experiences played a crucial role in shaping me into the videographer I am today. However, at that time, I didn’t consider pursuing videography as a career because I hadn’t seen anyone make a living from it. Looking back, I now realize how wrong I was, and I regret not chasing my dream and realizing my talent earlier.
On the other hand, Rich’s love for photography began with the rise of camera phones. People often asked him to take photos, and they admired his unique angles and experimental approach. He continued to explore photography as a hobby until he purchased his first camera, which allowed him to delve into editing and composition techniques.
After working with our first paid client, we made the decision to focus entirely on perfecting our craft in the automotive media sector. We dedicated ourselves to studying and learning everything possible to accelerate our growth and ensure long-term success as a team. Today, we have partnered with King Tutt Graphics, a local automotive wrap shop, and consistently provide content for them. We have also worked in various other fields such as food and beverage, sports, portraiture, and real estate. Our expertise lies in helping businesses effectively position themselves and generate creative content that resonates with their audience, particularly through social media. We strive to understand our clients’ unique challenges and goals, and combine our creativity and industry experience to deliver outstanding results.
What sets us apart is the deep bond we share as friends and collaborators for over 15 years. Our constant communication, support, and shared passion for excellence enable us to bring our best to every project. We take pride in pushing each other to improve, learning from one another’s discoveries and innovations. For instance, I have been inspired by Rich’s skill in editing photos, which led me to explore the same process in video format, expanding my knowledge in how colors affect a final delivery. We are two men who truly love what we do and embrace the challenges of continuous growth. Building new connections and transforming our clients’ ideas into reality brings us immense joy. Witnessing their reactions to our creative process and final product is an unparalleled satisfaction.
Above all, we are proud that we had the courage to take the leap and start our entrepreneurial journey. Starting out is often the scariest part, but we overcame that fear and committed ourselves to our respective crafts. We believe this dedication and our unique partnership provide a truly exceptional experience for our clients, from the beginning to the end.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Rich: Hmm. Mark and I met in high school at Word of God. I used to see him and clown him A LOT. Nothing crazy or disrespectful. It was all friendly banter. Mark played football and I was a hooper.
My brother JD was his teammate so he was closer to Mark than I was back then. Fast forward a couple years later, Mark was an incoming freshman at FSU. I was a transfer student to FSU the same year.
I only knew a few people at the school and Mark and my brother JD were two of them. Mark and I linked up my first day on campus in the cafe and we’ve been locked in ever since. I can’t forget, clowning each other ever since. We’ve been looking at each other as brothers for over 10 years now.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
The one close call that we had was back in November 2022. We rented a Tesla on Turo app just to try out and cruise to our client shoot in Rockingham. The person we were renting the car from was running late. Luckily that didn’t matter since we made sure we were way ahead of schedule. Turns out that did matter.
He wouldn’t stop talking while showing us how to operate the car. At this point we have the car loaded with our equipment and Rich is in the driver’s seat ready to pull off. After finally being able to leave, we noticed the car was on 50% battery.
Midway through the journey we had no choice but to stop at a hotel to use their charger. Time was ticking. We’re watching the clock like ball player in the 4th quarter. Oh yea, the charger wasn’t a super charger so the car was charging extremely slow. TIME WAS TICKING!! We had to reach out to our client for plan alterations. We ended up arriving about 10 minutes after we had scheduled for the car show. We gave our client extras to make up for the mishap.
Contact Info:
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