We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Victor Tavares a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Victor, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

I would utilize social media more and share content frequently, try not to be a perfectionist with the content I share. In doing so I increase my exposure on different platforms at no cost to me. Rather than questioning my quality and not sharing it because it is to my standards. Reposting, sharing, referrals are what have grown my business to where it is now, and it’s been at zero cost.

Victor, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Victor, I am 27 years old. I am based in Lancaster California with my fiancé, we’ve been together for almost 10 years. We have two fur babies, Osita and Yogi. I’m the youngest of 3 and extremely family oriented. Being the only son of two extremely hard working immigrants, I started “working” at a pretty young age. My summers were spent landscaping with my dad to learn the value of a dollar. I would then spend my earned money to buy a box of chocolates at Costco, to flip and make more money. I even started selling my old toy’s to kids around the neighborhood to make money. Another hobby I picked up as a kid was recording over priceless home videos, so that I could direct and film my friends and family.

After getting my first official job back in 2013, I invested my second paycheck on my first camera, as a hobby! My cousin and I drove around all day, and I took photos all over the AV. I still have those photos to this day. To start, I would just take my camera to family events or anytime we traveled. In 2017 I sold my “starter” camera and invested in a professional camera. I’m very lucky to have supportive parents, and they helped me invest in myself to get the camera I wanted. My dad is an entrepreneur and a successful owner of two restaurants, so I’ve always felt this pressure to not disappoint my father being his only son. This is when I really started to improve my photography skills by learning the in’s and outs of photography.

Around the same time, I got a new job opportunity and joined ALLBRiGHT PAINTING as an apprentice. I was determined to prove myself and show my willingness to learn the painting trade, so I hung my camera up for a while. It wasn’t until the end of 2019, that I had the idea to start shooting before and after photos and videos for the company here and there. The owner was very impressed! Then COVID hit and changed the world as we knew it. Like the rest of the country I found myself at home “unemployed” for about a month, and this time allowed me to reflect on “this hobby of mine”. This is when “Vics Visuals” was born. I started with my logo and would go out everyday getting content to promote myself on social media. This allowed me to start building clientele and getting more with referrals. I was lucky enough that my clients were keeping me pretty busy, I debated on going back to ALLBRiGHT once things started to open up again. I expressed this to the owner of the company and he offered me a newly created position to run their social media marketing full-time. I promised myself this time that I would continue pursuing my own business.

Vic’s Visuals has been busy almost every wednesday since. From photoshoots, filming anything from music videos for underground artists, commercials for business, real estate videos, to all sorts of parties! I make sure to ask my clients what their vision is during our sessions, but I also make sure to provide my professional experience to ensure they are satisfied with the end result. My fiancé has always been my number one supporter and personal assistant during all of these events. She was so happy with the way Vic’s Visuals has grown, she felt a little stagnant and wanted to do more and challenge herself as I did. I helped her start her own business “Les-Party Photo booth”. We are quickly growing in that industry as well with all of my marketing experience. We even book events together now and are booked through the end of the year!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth has impacted my businesses in such a positive way! It’s also extremely rewarding knowing a previous client was so happy with not just the quality of work provided but the service they received as well to let their loved ones know about Vic’s Visuals!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Times are tough and everyone is so busy and don’t always take the time to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us, being able to share what I capture through my lens is very rewarding. Also share the end result with the client or follower and seeing/hearing their reaction is priceless. As an artist sometimes we can see the end result before the client, and being able to make that come alive or it being more than they anticipated is an indescribable feeling.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vics_visuals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vicsvisual
• Other: Our other business: https://www.instagram.com/lespartyphotobooth/