The Dead Pixels Society podcast

Uncharted Path: Noah Hutton's Transformation from Enthusiast to Entrepreneur

July 13, 2023 Noah Hutton Season 4 Episode 123
Uncharted Path: Noah Hutton's Transformation from Enthusiast to Entrepreneur
The Dead Pixels Society podcast
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The Dead Pixels Society podcast
Uncharted Path: Noah Hutton's Transformation from Enthusiast to Entrepreneur
Jul 13, 2023 Season 4 Episode 123
Noah Hutton

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Imagine being a high school student with a simple passion for photography, only to discover that this passion could become your business. That's exactly what happened to our guest, Noah Hutton, the creative behind NTH Productions. As he takes us on his journey, we learn about his transition from a typical nine-to-five job seeker to a confident entrepreneur. His story is one of tenacity, adaptability, and a willingness to face challenges head-on.

Hutton's foray into real estate photography proved to be a game changer, opening up opportunities for video work. We chat about how equipment like the Sony a7 III camera and Zhiyun Crane 3s gimbal has played a vital role in his work. Plus, he gives us a glimpse into his strategy of incorporating community elements into his videos. We also discuss the practicalities of business, such as Noah's FAA 's Small UAS Rule (Part 107) certification, which allows him to use drone technology for business purposes.

Then, Hutton touches on the importance of building long-term relationships and making calculated decisions for business growth. He shares his plans of focusing more on the business development side of his work and hiring a creative director to take over the creative tasks. 

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Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning

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Have an idea or tip? Send us a text!

Imagine being a high school student with a simple passion for photography, only to discover that this passion could become your business. That's exactly what happened to our guest, Noah Hutton, the creative behind NTH Productions. As he takes us on his journey, we learn about his transition from a typical nine-to-five job seeker to a confident entrepreneur. His story is one of tenacity, adaptability, and a willingness to face challenges head-on.

Hutton's foray into real estate photography proved to be a game changer, opening up opportunities for video work. We chat about how equipment like the Sony a7 III camera and Zhiyun Crane 3s gimbal has played a vital role in his work. Plus, he gives us a glimpse into his strategy of incorporating community elements into his videos. We also discuss the practicalities of business, such as Noah's FAA 's Small UAS Rule (Part 107) certification, which allows him to use drone technology for business purposes.

Then, Hutton touches on the importance of building long-term relationships and making calculated decisions for business growth. He shares his plans of focusing more on the business development side of his work and hiring a creative director to take over the creative tasks. 

Energize your sales with Shareme.chat, the proven texting platform. 

ShareMe.Chat 
ShareMe.Chat platform uses chat-to-text on your website to keep your customers connected and buying!

Mediaclip
Mediaclip strives to continuously enhance the user experience while dramatically increasing revenue.

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Visual 1st
Visual 1st is the premier global conference focused on the photo and video ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the Show.

Sign up for the Dead Pixels Society newsletter at http://bit.ly/DeadPixelsSignUp.

Contact us at gary@thedeadpixelssociety.com

Visit our LinkedIn group, Photo/Digital Imaging Network, and Facebook group, The Dead Pixels Society.

Leave a review on Apple and Podchaser.

Are you interested in being a guest? Click here for details.

Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning

Erin Manning:

Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast, the photo imaging industry's leading news source. Here's your host, gary Peugeot. The Dead Pixel Society podcast is brought to you by MediaClip, advertek Printing and IP Labs.

Gary Pageau:

Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast. I'm your host, gary Peugeot, and today we're joined by Noah Hutton of NTH Productions. He's a podcaster, creative innovator and entrepreneur. Hi, noah, how are you today?

Noah Hutton:

Good, i am excited to be on here. How are you doing?

Gary Pageau:

Doing great. today You're a little different than my normal guest because you are not in the business per se of serving other people. You're actually the people that my audience likes to serve, right? The young entrepreneur who's starting out in imaging business. Can you talk a little bit about your story, of what brought you into this field?

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, so I first picked up a camera in high school I would say is kind of the starting point. I took photography just to, kind of as a blow off class. I needed an art credit and I was like I don't want to draw, so I'll just take the pictures, and I ended up falling in love with it. I took it for three semesters. I ended up switching my major from web design to film at Purdue University here in Indiana and just kind of went on that track of learning the video side of it learning video editing, learning all of that, doing videos here and there for different organizations or clients and different projects like that.

Noah Hutton:

And then after college I knew I wanted to do this as a business on my own, but I also knew that I wanted some stability. I wanted to get out of Indiana, i wanted to get a nine to five and I really like advertising and marketing. So I was trying to get into the ad tech business, actually going out to LA and working in that business, And I graduated in May 2022. I graduated last year and I didn't get a single offer out of college And so I was like, what am I going to do? because I need to make money. I don't really want to move home Here. I am living at home, but I was like you, gotta do what you gotta do.

Noah Hutton:

Exactly, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I started doing real estate photography in college just to see if I liked it, and I really enjoyed it. I really like working with agents and I still do And so I started to see a little bit of traction with that in the summer. I spent half my summer out in Los Angeles with family, but then I came back here and started to see a little bit of traction with my business And I was like I'm living at home no rent, barely any food money that I need to spend on, so might as well just try this out, see where it goes. I was still applying to her jobs every once in a while, but I was seeing zero results. Just thank you for your application.

Noah Hutton:

We chose to move on to a different candidate at this time, over and over again, and so I kept going with my business, made a lot of connections last year that are paying off this year, and here I am I'm going to go full time with my business in May officially. And so I went from wanting that nine to five and doing the real estate stuff on the side to not wanting a nine to five at all, never wanting to go back to that life and wanting to own my business and grow my business to where it is today and to grow it into the future.

Gary Pageau:

So, unlike some folks who come out of that educational side and they go to LA to find something, you didn't want to be in front of the camera, obviously, yeah, why was that? I mean, obviously you're articulate, you have a podcast, you know trouble expressing yourself. What about it? being on that side of it didn't appeal to you.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah. So I mean I will also just say this like I've changed so much since I started college. When I got out of high school into college, i was the quietest person ever. I didn't want to go out, i didn't want to go to parties, i didn't want to do anything like that, and I'm still introverted a little bit today.

Noah Hutton:

But I realized, especially when I was growing my business, that I really needed to switch that in my life, because you can't grow a business Just kind of in the background. You have to be, especially if you're the only person, you're a solopreneur, you have to be the face of the company, you have to talk to people in network. And so I still don't like being on camera. I still, you know, when I edit my podcast, i hate hearing myself. I play back and play back in two times because I don't want to hear myself.

Noah Hutton:

But I kind of just made a switch of like you know, i don't want to be like talent, i don't want to be an actor, i don't want to be in different things. But I was like I'm okay in front of the camera, i can talk. I like to talk a lot, especially when I'm comfortable and talking about what I enjoy. So I kind of had to make a switch of like. If I'm going to do this, i need to talk to people in network And the podcast thing thing is also like I need to be on camera and do the video side of it. And so I just kind of made a switch of like. I can't keep, you know, being the guy in the back, that's you know, running the camera. I have to be in on camera a little bit to grow my business and evolve that.

Gary Pageau:

Because part of the things I think a young entrepreneur runs into is they get into a creative field, like maybe music or film or photography or video, because they like to do it And they have an aptitude toward and they get positive feedback from it. But on the other hand, that alone will not build your business. What resources and things did you turn to to kind of bring yourself out of a shell? Did you read a book? or did you just say, oh my gosh, I just, I just got to go out and network.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah. So I think that you hit on a really great point with a lot of creative entrepreneurs, especially as we cannot market ourselves. We, you know, because we spend so much time marketing other people. We, you know, we do video. We make videos for other people to as advertising. Or we, you know, if we run a creative agency, we run ads for them or things like that. We market other people, we can't market ourselves, and so my kind of story of how I got to the realization that I needed to do this is it was literally last December.

Noah Hutton:

So this past December I went to a bunch of Christmas parties that I got invited to. You know, it was a real estate brokerage. It was a couple of real estate associations here locally And I was the quietest one in the room. I barely talked to anybody. I was like sitting at a table waiting for people to talk to me, like I just I was.

Noah Hutton:

I did not like it, i didn't enjoy it at all And I'm still like very introverted. Parties are not my thing. But I came out of those meetings and I was like that was awful and a waste of my time And like, and here's missed opportunity. Exactly, it was a missed opportunity, like there were so many like especially in real estate, like it's all about who you know And like all these agents in there that I had the opportunity to talk to all of them and I didn't talk to maybe a single one, i think I maybe to talk to one agent and the rest of them were like loan officers and mortgage people and inspectors and like people that weren't necessarily who I wanted to work for, who I could work for, and so they probably know people who could exactly.

Noah Hutton:

So you know there were some connections I made there, but I mean it was just kind of wasted opportunity. You know it's. It's led to a little bit of business here and there and different connections, but I could have done a lot better and I plan to do a lot better this year. But that was kind of my turning point of like that was awful, like I was kind of like not embarrassed to myself, but I was like there's always wasted opportunity And so that's really where I was like 2023.

Noah Hutton:

I need to be, you know, putting myself out there more, going to networking events, going to entrepreneur socials, meeting other entrepreneurs through my podcast. I've met people all over the world, all over the country with that podcast And that's another way. That's helped me kind of network and grow and stuff like that. And so I just really had a turning point. There is like I'm not going to be that, you know, quiet person in the room And again because like that's just a waste of time And if I'm going to be doing that, then why? why do I expect my business to grow So right?

Gary Pageau:

Now I'm just curious. you know you are. you changed your major to the creative arts at Purdue, yeah, so you know you don't have to provide any like business side of the creative field courses or anything to help along with that.

Noah Hutton:

So it's kind of funny. you asked that because I've learned this after I graduated. So I Purdue, kind of to preface. I studied marketing and film. So I was in the business school and the liberal arts school. So I got the business side of it because I chose to be in a business major.

Noah Hutton:

But if I had just been a film person, you rarely get any business education there. Like they don't really teach you because the program of Purdue at least right now when I was there very Hollywood focused. It's very much like you're gonna be on a set, you're gonna be working in Hollywood or on these big productions And that's fine for a lot of people. but a lot of people wanna go work as a producer for a YouTuber or they wanna go work in video at a large company and make content that way, and so they didn't really teach that. But I've learned kind of later on that the mass communication major at Purdue was really where I should have been, because they're teaching, they're doing classes on podcasting, they're doing classes on freelancing, they're doing classes on social media, video production, like that's kind of where that education came from. So if I hadn't taken the marketing and business classes at Purdue I probably wouldn't have gotten a business education had I not pursued it on my own.

Gary Pageau:

Okay, so I guess there was an opportunity there, that you just needed a counselor or somebody to steer you into the right place.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, and I mean it kind of got to the point where I was like two years in then the pandemic hit and I was like I don't even wanna try to change anything because it's so open the air now And so because I was in my sophomore year when that happened, so it was just a whole different, like beast of a college at that point.

Gary Pageau:

Yeah, it was. yeah, Yeah, you probably had a very atypical experience.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah.

Gary Pageau:

From that. Now, did you get into real estate photography because you couldn't photograph people Cause I've heard some people got into, you know, product photography, real estate photography, because you know, because of the pandemic, there were no people to photograph, or at least close up.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, so I've never really enjoyed photographing people, and part of it is because I don't like telling people how to pose and like kind of like directing people And like there I know tons of people that are great at it, like I have, that are senior picture photographers or they do like headshots or they do like team photos And like I love all of their work. They do so much good work. But for me, like it is, i have such a hard time telling people how to pose and like where to stand and doing the lighting and all this kind of things. So it was partly I just didn't want to. I did like a few like like my dad is a valuable coach and so like everyone's like he'll be like Hey, can you do this like team photo for us Or can we do like a video to celebrate our seniors? And that was like the extent of what I wanted to do. But I never really like did anything past that.

Noah Hutton:

So I got into real estate mainly because I saw it as a way to get more video work and upgrade my portfolio. Because at the time I had just got out of dance marathon, i did dance marathon at Purdue for three years, absolutely loved it. It was like all of my video work was in dance marathon And so when I left, i was like I don't have any more video gigs, i can't. I'm not doing anything with video, so I needed something to do. So one of my friends he was getting out of real estate and he suggested that I do real estate just to see how it was, cause he really enjoyed it And I loved his work in real estate, so I got a couple of things that in them for free, just to get myself out there, build a portfolio, and I really enjoyed it.

Noah Hutton:

So, and the housing market was hot then too. Yeah, it was hot And I honestly like, if I was where I was now back then I would be doing a lot better. Like the housing market is pretty cold right now, so it's not as great. I and the other thing was like I was only pursuing the big listings, which there aren't that many in Indiana. Like I was only pursuing a million dollar houses, which is a mistake that I made early on. Yeah, so I just I just enjoyed real estate, but I It doesn't make that $200,000 house.

Noah Hutton:

Look like a million dollars house Exactly, and that's what I. that's what I do now, that it's like part of my job now. but in the beginning I was like I only want to do million dollar houses cause it's not worth it to do the $150,000 house, and I was so wrong about thinking. but that was just kind of where I started.

Gary Pageau:

Well, I mean, you've learned a thing. I mean that's thing, as you're young, you learn a thing. So talk a little bit about the video piece in real estate photography. Is there really enough photography? I remember you were a drone master, Are you? how are you doing that?

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, so I started in video I'd use, you know, in you're generally using a camera on a gimbal, so I use. I have an, a Sony a7 III was my favorite camera that I've ever used for now, and then I have a zian crane 3s Gamble and so whenever I do real estate video it's not as popular where I live to do video. Some agents really like it, a lot of agents don't, and so I've had a hard time getting that sell for now. But what I do it's you know, it's on there. I mean they're doing vertical social media content style video. Or on some of the bigger houses are on air bean bees. We're doing a full like property showcase video, like a three minute kind of going through the whole house And then we're maybe taking the drone up.

Noah Hutton:

I am part 107 certified So I do fly my drone for my business. We'll take, we'll take the drone out and we'll a lot of lakes around here So we'll get Lake footage. I've been up on Lake Michigan. We've gotten footage of Lake Michigan with the drone, which is amazing, showing some of the community as well. So one of our do, especially air bean bees that are in like a lake community, because that's a lot of what we have around here is where I live in Warsaw. We have one over Lake which is right next to us, and we have an amazing coffee shop, an amazing ice cream shop, amazing restaurants, shopping, park trails, like all these different things that are very community oriented.

Noah Hutton:

So if you're getting renting an air bean Being one out of Lake which a lot of people do in the summer you're also interacting with the whole community, and so when air bean bee owners contact me, we want to also showcase The community, and that is something that I really encourage whenever I do video for these people, because so that's something you kind of Prompt, that sort of using the marketing piece of your background says you know, not only do you want to sell The stay at the home, but you also want to sell what you're going to do around there for staying there, for any significant Like the time yeah, anytime I go into a community whether it's a community I live in or whether it's community that I've, you know, don't live in, and I'm going traveling to shoot there This thing there, there be me I always ask them, like what are the restaurants around here that everybody goes to, or where's the beach, or where's the you know The boat rental company that people can rent?

Noah Hutton:

you know jet skis and boats and stuff like that? and I'm like, do you want to add that into your video? because Part of it is. I think it's a really good idea for the video. The other part is they usually ask me for a two to three minute video or a three to four minute video, and I kind of have to educate them and just say like three to four minutes, a really long video.

Noah Hutton:

I know it doesn't sound like a really long video, but for what we're creating it is a very long video to keep people's attention. So if you want to hit that length, i can hit that length. I don't think it'll be as good at three or four minutes, but I can't that length. We just need other topics to add to the video and that is you know, a restaurant, or footage of the lake or, you know, taking the boat out and doing some things with that. Like, we just need to figure out some of the things to add, and so it's a little double-edged sword there which, what we used to call B, roll back in.

Gary Pageau:

Yes.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, yeah B roll, yep, i had to be rolling to the. I mean It's kind of all B roll in a way, because when I think of a roll It's more like people on screen, and most of the videos I do are not any talent video. It's just so. It's really all just kind of B roll and, in a sense, a montage, kind of B roll video.

Gary Pageau:

So let's talk about kind of your you know shopping preferences as a young person, getting in this business right. Yeah, i recently came from a conference of traditional camera store types and a lot of them are talking about getting into You know serving content creators, even having classes for them. You know they have been carrying video forever and many of them carry drones and they're getting into the 360 cameras and all that.

Gary Pageau:

Yeah so so I mean they've got the gear. What do you think as a as a recent graduate, is building career? What could they do to appeal to a young creator to get them involved in that store?

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, it's really hard because, you know, camera stores traditionally are going to be for the people that are really into cameras, as opposed to like the influencer person or the content creator. They're going to be just like searching on Amazon and buying you know the cheapest little camera. So it is really hard, i think for them And I totally understand, like for me, like I want to be in a camera store. I wish there was one in my community because I want to go in there and ask them, like Hey, is the Tamron okay, or should I get the Sony lens? Or like, is the, should I get the Sigma lens? Like all these different things. I want to ask them all these questions And we don't really have anything around here. So I think it's hard.

Noah Hutton:

I mean, i think I think the biggest thing for them is partnering with local creators. You know, ever if you're getting into content creation, the gold standard is direct sponsorships for, like, monetizing your content. I'm searching for that from my podcast right now finding partners for that. Content creators wanting to be sent, get or, you know, free media kits or just like being paid to create content. They want to be, have things to create content about, and so if you're a local camera store, find the production house that is has a podcast to, or find the local influencer that is maybe in the cameras or maybe you know, isn't but they could be and send them, you know, eos R10 or something like that. Or send them a Sony ZVE 10, i think was called the little vlogging camera.

Noah Hutton:

Right, yeah, send them a little media kit, send them a creator kit, send them a camera and a ring light or whatever and ask like Hey, can we sponsor your next video Or can we be a title sponsor in your podcast? And you know, because a lot of these camera stores they are, you know, national in the sense that they can ship stuff out too. So you know you're going to. You're not just reaching the local person. If you're like completely local, that's one thing, but if you're trying to drive just business in general, you can reach a national audience and drive more traffic to your store in person or online.

Noah Hutton:

So I think the biggest thing is is sponsorships, is those direct sponsorships, because a lot of us content creators, we see like the numbers and people will say like you need to have this number of subscribers or this number of you know daily, or active viewers, or these numbers to get sponsorships and to reach out to people from them to take you serious. But if you see a creator that is like, really, that either is a longtime customer of your store or is somebody that you really want to target their audience, reach out to them and be like Hey, how can you make this work Cause I guarantee they will be overjoyed and really excited to work with you and share about your content. So I don't know if that's a great answer for them or if they want to.

Gary Pageau:

No, i think that's because what was interesting was at the conference I was at, there was a lot of discussion of how to do this And they were saying well, you know, find that 20 something person on your staff and make them your creator. Not one person had mentioned find an influence in your area, and I think that's actually kind of interesting. I mean, i'm not personally sold on it from a standpoint of doesn't move boxes right, are people going to actually, you know, transact? but it is sort of a way for that retailer to become relevant to that audience segment.

Gary Pageau:

Which I think is the biggest concern is because, you're right, people of a certain age, you know, i'd say 40 and under you know their first thing they're going to do is go to Amazon And you know many of these folks have Amazon stores. So you know they understand the game. You don't necessarily have to have the brick and mortar only type of environment. I mean, these guys are all very digital and they're great retailers. But I think you hit on an interesting point where you know that's sort of an out of the box way of looking to reach that market is actually get involved with these influencers. Like I said, don't be looking for the person who's got a million followers, because they may not be relevant to your locale.

Noah Hutton:

I think it's also like looking at it is more of a long term play.

Noah Hutton:

I know, like moving boxes is very important and that should be your concern, but you know, if you you know, hey, we're going to make three videos and that's going to generate us, you know, 500 sales or whatever Like, that's just not realistic And so I think it's really important to wherever you're looking at marketing right now, if you want quick results, maybe run Google ads and Facebook ads. Those might drive a little more like leads. But if you want to build more of a partnership and do a more branding kind of content is, you know, sponsor, the influencer, that's, you know, growing or reach out to them or do a like, a pop up or something with like all these different things, it's way more of a long term brand play than it is a leads play, and I think that's something that's really hard for a lot of businesses to see. But it's also really important when you're growing your business to see it as a branded, not just a like a warehouse that sells boxes of cameras. I think that's it's a really hard thing to think about.

Gary Pageau:

Now speaking of boxes and things, what is you know for someone who is getting into this type of business? so it's what's flipping away from the retailers and talk to someone like yourself getting into it. Yeah, you know, you've got to have gear right. What do you think is like the minimum set up To go out? I mean, you probably have to have a mirrorless camera of some sort and a lens, but I mean you don't need to have everything right away. or do you have to go full bore and have all the stuff?

Noah Hutton:

I mean it's. It's hard and I'm gonna say the quote that I really hate people saying, but it's so true It was the best camera is the one in your pocket. You know, if it's your iPhone, it's your iPhone right now And you're gonna find a way to create whatever it is right now And then if that generates some money, then you buy the mirrorless camera. And also, the other thing is like I think that I was kind of Influenced a little bit too much by the idea of how important full frame is. You know, i, whenever I bought my camera, i was like it has to be full frame. I will never consider anything that is under that or like smaller than that, because I just didn't want it and I don't think That's the right mindset to have. If you only have the money to buy a Sony a6400 and a kit lens, then buy that and create with that, be creative. You know, work like constraints, build creativity And so work with that. If you are willing to invest a little more, there is options to. You know You buy a camera lens if you want to do video content. I think a gimbal is really important and you can get a really, you know, by a smaller camera by smaller gimbal. There's like ZUN is a great option for a lot of people there. Their gimbals are Well below the DJI prices like 200 300 dollars cheaper usually, or more. I think you don't necessarily need to go to the full business route.

Noah Hutton:

I have built a. You know my gear. It's like behind me some of the just behind me, even though we're not on video. I built my gear out over time. You know I started with a drone. Actually was my first purchase And I think the DJI mini 3 is a great option. It's a lot cheaper than a bigger one. It's still a fantastic drone.

Noah Hutton:

So, I started with a drone and then I had a realtor Specifically telling me like hey, i see you're using your phone, which for real estate photography. I do not think that's good option at all. Your phone is not good in that sense, but they were like I see you're using your phone. We really like when people have a real camera and I was always planning on getting a real camera, but that kind of pushed me to make that purchase. So you know, i think it's just whatever your budget is, by the nicest thing You possibly get. I think that's the biggest kind of thing that I'm talking. I'm saying here is, if your budget is 800 bucks, you can find a way to work in that. If your budget is 1500 dollars, even better, you can find a way to work in that budget by the nicest thing. You possibly buy that budget and look at it as an investment as opposed to just a purchase. Because, like my a7 III is gonna be fine for the next three years if I really want it to be. I hope I can upgrade by then. But you know, if I didn't have to, i think it's still a great camera.

Noah Hutton:

My gimbal I'm actually downsizing my gimbal because I bought too big. So I think the other thing is like look at what you actually need, as because my mind says always buy the biggest, nicest thing you can and then that'll like save you like time or money in the future. But I bought the ZU and crane 3s, which is like their biggest gimbal, and it was way too big for me. It's way too heavy, way too big, so I'm downsizing that. So Make really educated decisions, do the research and find what really works for you and look at it as an investment as opposed to Just a purchase, because you see that number of like cameras twenty five hundred dollars or a lens is twelve hundred dollars. That's so expensive, but especially with lenses in particular, you're gonna use those for five, ten years in the future. So it's really important to look at them as investments.

Gary Pageau:

Have you looked at renting equipment?

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, so I actually I rent everyone once in a while For real estate.

Gary Pageau:

I'm kind of you have a favorite or yeah.

Noah Hutton:

So I've rented local Once I use it's called camera lens rentals out of Anderson, indiana. I use them. They were fantastic. I actually I needed it like day of or day like next day, so I drove all the way down to Anderson was like a two-hour drive and picked it up from them and they were fantastic. I've used lens rentals just because it was like last minute and I knew that they could give me something. But there are like a couple local like rental places here and like around India and stuff like that in Chicago too. But I've always found that I'm kind of Constrained just by where I am like I would love to like be able to go to a camera shop and rent from a local camera shop, but I just don't have any around here. So I generally like lean towards the lens rentals, calm or the You know bigger players.

Gary Pageau:

Yeah, you know, lens rentals is a solid.

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with them being big it just I prefer to shop local if I possibly can, but sometimes it's not an option.

Gary Pageau:

Well, that's that Indiana sensibility exactly. You've talked a lot about kind of your evolution and what I like about what you're saying is you're saying you're making, trying to make long-term decisions because you know, a lot of times young entrepreneurs are just, you know, very short-term focused because they are just starting out and they need, you know, i need a gig now, i need a thing now. So you really need to make decisions that, long-term, were build up over time.

Noah Hutton:

Yes, absolutely. I'm definitely looking at building relationships way more than just getting gigs. In the beginning I was like, where's my next shoot going to be? But now it's like what agent can I work with long term? or reaching out to them and being like, hey, i want to be your primary photographer. What do I need to work on? What do I need to do? What services do I need to provide to get to that one day where you trust me as being your long term photographer?

Noah Hutton:

My best story in here is I have a client I'm on retainer with to do video content for them every month And that relationship. I met them in July of last year. We did one shoot in October And then I reached out to them in January January like eighth or whatever it was like when everybody kind of got back to work after the holidays And I was like, hey, what is 2023 look like for you? What is looking for our relationship? And she's like okay, now we're ready to do a long term contract. I'm big into networking right now, which you always should be, but really pushing the networking. I'm joining associations, i'm meeting people, i'm asking for introductions. I'm just trying to push that kind of long term focus of they'll hire me eventually if I build this relationship right. And so it's hard sometimes when you don't see that money coming in right away, but in the future you will, and that's really. It's really satisfying when you see that finally happen.

Gary Pageau:

And you find that your satisfaction from doing the business has increased. On the creative side or on the business side, which have you found? you're enjoying the business side more and other traveling more success.

Noah Hutton:

I always say the first thing I'm going to hire out is all the creative side of my business. Like, i really enjoy the biz dev side of it. I always want to be on a shoot and I always want to be on set with anything like. I will still participate in the creative side. But if I had to pick, i know there are tons of people that are way more talented than me with a camera and with, you know, video and video editing especially. That's kind of where I want to hire out. And then I want to focus on growing the business onboarding clients, meeting clients, you know, finding business opportunities. That's kind of really where I want to focus in the future.

Noah Hutton:

So I mean, i'm really hoping to be in a position in the and I'm working to be in a position in the next few years where I could hire maybe somebody like a creative director and kind of that position to. You know, okay, we have this brokerage. What are some ways that we can, you know, design content for them? or we have this, you know, landscaping company. What are some creative ways we can shoot content for them? And sometimes it doesn't always have to be creative, like sometimes it's just, you know, we're going to shoot a course or an how to video or education videos. But I really want to be able to offer more like creative artistic options to clients, and I know a lot of people that I just I see their their mind just works differently and they have all these like creative ideas that I don't necessarily have. So I'm looking to, in the future, maybe step out of the creative side, hire that out and then build the business and the business side of it.

Gary Pageau:

Well, that's great. So, noah, if someone were wanting to reach out to you and learn more about you and your business, where do you want them to go?

Noah Hutton:

Yeah, so my website is Noah dash Huttoncom And you can reach out to me. There's a contact form on there. Fill it out. You can also find me on LinkedIn, my name, noah Hutton, or Instagram. My Instagram for my business is NTH underscore productions And I'm sure you'll have at least my website or something linked in the description.

Noah Hutton:

But so yeah, people can reach out to me there. I'm happy to you know. Just hop on a call and talk about anything really business related, photography related, and just talk to people And then if there's business to be done, we can work that out in the future as well.

Gary Pageau:

And plug your podcast while you're here.

Noah Hutton:

Yes, i'm so bad at that for some reason, but yeah, because I'm always thinking about my business as opposed to my podcast. My podcast is called the rest of us. It is focused on talking to young entrepreneurs and telling their stories and something that's more of a passion project for me right now. But you can look at the rest of us podcasts like a black and pinkish, purple icon, i guess, on Spotify or on any platform.

Gary Pageau:

Great. Well, thank you, noah, great to meet you and to listen to your story and best wishes for the future.

Erin Manning:

Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixels Society podcast. Read more great stories and sign up for the newsletter at wwwthedpixelssocietycom.

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