Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shance Ware and Virginia Ridgers of Ware Media. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ware Media, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

In the depths of Covid, Virginia noticed young Nashville comedian Joshua Black on Instagram. His hilarious videos poking fun at local hipsters weren’t just funny, but also had something to say about the changing landscape of his hometown.

One cold email later and a meetup with the ever charming Shance – always a win – and the rest was history. The relationship in any project is key, if you don’t mesh, you won’t produce good work. Josh had already built a significant following on his own, but we wanted to help him level up the quality of his shoots. Ware Media were also keen to build a professional family in Nashville, one that has something to say and makes waves in our community. While we may have taken his video content from iPhone to Pro, the content and the talent is all him.

It’s been a joy to watch Josh rise from internet side hustle to sold out shows at Zanies, as well as launching his art career and opening his first exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery. He’s currently working on a large mural in his childhood neighborhood North Nashville, which was also be the site of his inaugural “Good Vibez Festival” featuring musicians, artists, comedians and activists from across the city on October 15th 2022. We couldn’t be more proud.

Ware Media, 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?

Like many small business ideas, Ware Media grew out of Covid. After Shance was laid off from his corporate retail job in 2020, he began creating videos for fellow musicians in the Nashville scene. Coupled with Virginia and her decade long career as a freelance print and video Producer, Ware Media was born. Together, they began to expand from music into food photography, portraits, small business commercials and events. Virginia loves the culinary work, Shance loves the music and anything ‘nerd’ related but they’re open to whatever comes their way!

While income is key to any growing business, Ware Media prides itself on offering a sliding scale per project. They’d much rather a business gets the marketing content they need at a price that is reasonable for them, than go without because they can’t afford it. Equally, they love working with charities and community activists to promote a positive message for Nashville. When someone comes to Ware Media with a passion project, if they’re willing to put in the effort to prepare the content, they’re happy to film it just to see it come alive.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Social media is not everything. Sometimes you can get caught up in trying to get followers or think your business isn’t successful if that’s not happening. The truth is, only a small percentage of your online following are “true” customers who will spend money on your product. We’ve spent time nurturing clients in person and building a word of mouth following. Those are the clients that truly keep coming back.

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

We certainly didn’t start with top of the line gear. To begin with, Shance was shooting on one Canon M50, but over time we’ve picked up better kit. You learn pretty quickly that cheap is not the way to go when you’re using the same gear again and again. Currently, we have a great set-up that we feel confident produces quality work, but there’s always something newer and better coming out. We’re still saving up for that R5! We shoot a ton of food photography and it’s great finding products that really level up the quality like Bessie Bakes Backdrops. We bring them everywhere and they’re a perfect example of how you can make any space work with the right tools. They’re also really affordable and locally made, so that’s a bonus. We built a relationship with the vendor and purchase slightly damaged boards that still work great but allow us to have more options when shooting.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.waremediagroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waremedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waremediagroup
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/waremedia

Image Credits
Corey Rainey, East Nashvillian and Jeff Vallee