Natalie Franke
Hey friends, welcome back to the independent business podcast today we are talking about one of the most important subjects that is a differentiator in the self made success equation and that is community. Now, if you heard that word and immediately thought, I’m gonna pick another episode, I’m going to scroll on community, it’s a nice to have, it’s fluffy. It’s it’s not necessary to my business. My bottom line, I want you to stop right there. And I want you to tune into this episode, and I want you to listen closely because community friends, it is not a nice to have. It is a requirement. It is a foundation from which all success is built as a business owner. And the longer that I’ve built businesses, the more that that has become apparent to me. Today, we are talking with a community builder that I respect immensely. IRAM Dantooine. eyerim is an Orlando based photographer and creative community builder. He works full time at Pexels, building communities across the United States through events, meetups and challenges, we’re gonna get to talk with him and dig deep into everything that you need to know, as an independent business owner. Hey, everyone, this is your host, Natalie Frank, and you’re listening to the independent business podcast, more people than ever are working for themselves and building profitable businesses in the process. So on this show, I sit down with some of the most influential authors, entrepreneurs and creators to break down the science of self made success so that you can achieve it.
Natalie Franke
Hey, Ira, thank you so much for joining me,
Airam Dato-on
of course. Thank you for having me today.
Natalie Franke
All right, I want to jump right in and ask you, what has your journey been to get to where you are today? For folks who don’t know, you wear a lot of hats. You wear a lot of hats, photographer, creator, community builder, you work at PAX feels like you do a lot of things. I would love to know a little bit about what is your journey looked like to getting to where you are today? And what role has community played in that?
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, my boss always asked me Are you are you doing okay, like, Is this too much? But yeah, I think I’ve worn a lot of hats since I like, even during college, I feel like that’s, that’s when it started. But yeah, so community where I started and where I’ve been right out of college actually started working in community. And I was working with university students and helping them figure out what they want to do after college, just getting them together to like, hang out with each other, and basically just be around other college students and talk about what they’re going through what they’re going to do. And that’s where it started for me. And from then I left that job and started doing graphic design and more desk job. And then when I moved back to Orlando, I was really trying to figure out like, Man, I, I want to be in a creative business. I’ve never done this independently. And I was mainly doing a desk job for a company, nonprofit. And moving to Orlando, there was no plans and I had nothing. I had no network in Orlando, no professional network. And so I just started connecting with other photographers, because I know I wanted to be a photographer. My background was in graphic design. And I started getting into photography. And I just connected with people, Facebook groups, to messaging people on Instagram and looking for Orlando photographer, and just connecting with them. And when I arrived, I started to just hang out with people and made sure that I knew people and got to meet them and got myself into the Orlando community. And that was 2019 August. So by the time the pandemic hit, I had a strong crew of people within that six months that I was here. So it was good to have that foundation. So by the time that the pandemic, it was really a little bit easier to deal with, because I had people to lean on to while everything was happening here. Yeah,
Natalie Franke
and that’s the thing. A lot of folks I don’t I don’t think we always realize when we’re running a business, this community is not just a nice to have. And it’s not just the thing we need when things are going well, right. It’s when everything falls apart that we realize just how critical it is.
Airam Dato-on
Correct? Yeah, totally.
Natalie Franke
Yeah. And in your journey, you know, you mentioned you’ve created communities. It sounds like you’re kind of a natural, community oriented person. I’m really curious, where does that stem from for you? Why do you care about community like what is it for you? Have you ever thought about it? Like what is it for you that draws you to that and that has kind of led you to seek others in you know, all of your career journeys.
Airam Dato-on
I think my background and going through college in graphic design, art history, mainly the graphic design and the studio art aspect. We were like thorough into classes where we’re bouncing off ideas where we’re telling each other, hey, you need to be better at this. This is some some place where you can grow in a lot of the critiques and a lot of the just leaning on to each other. And I think that really formed that community. Like, even though you’re in a class, it’s something that you everyone is going through together. And I think having a place to lean on to and for feedback, but also for brainstorming and having people to tell you, you know, like, Hey, you should be better. I think that really helped me and I crave that community, I crave that interaction with a group of people.
Natalie Franke
Yeah, it’s a huge differentiator and a huge competitive advantage as a business owner, when you have that loving pushback that like well intentioned critique and encouragement to do better and to strive for more, because I think, you know, rarely do we realize just just how critical that can be to kind of push us to the next level. And you mentioned a lot of good things about community. I would love to know from you. Have you ever experienced any pain points? Have you ever kind of struggled to find your community? Find your people? Tell us a little bit about that? Because I know a lot of us have dealt with like, yes, the good, but also it’s hard. It’s so hard.
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, totally. I think the main ones and the main pain points would be like, especially in the photographer community is who to trust? And who do people who other people trust us? Well, and I think a lot of it comes down to just asking people like, hey, like, Who’s this guy? Like? What is his deal? Who’s this person? And what do they like to do? And kind of getting a feel for what other people know about a person? And, like, if I think the main ones that really that kind of you kind of feel it is, when someone’s just asking you questions, when it feels like they should be paying for this kind of service. For me, I think it’s when it’s more of a one way thing of, they just want to get from me instead of also give, and it becomes more of I should be consulting, you should be a client. I think that’s when it kind of feels weird, in a way. And it’s, it’s tough for me, because I’m a very giving person at the same time. So I answer everyone’s questions. So but I think there’s some times where it feels like I’m being used, or a community is being used by one person or several people. So yeah, I think those are some of the pain points that we go through in community. And I think it’s, it’s easy to be resolved, because the community is supposed to be helping each other. But I think the harder part is trusting some people in the community. And what do you do when you tell them, Hey, we got to kick you out. And I think having guidelines even within the community, whether it’s a discord community, or a Facebook group there moderators that are just as in person, a little bit harder to deal with, but it’s very doable.
Natalie Franke
That’s one of the things that took me a long time, I think to accept as someone who is like a loving people pleaser, sees the best in everyone, my friends call me a gummy bear, because I really, I like I’m a squishy lover of people. And as a community builder, that’s great. But also, you need to have those guidelines and you can’t create like a safe, creative, beautiful space, if you don’t have those structures in place to tell some folks like, Hey, that’s not tolerated, and you can’t you can’t do that you can’t. Right. And so it’s it’s a challenge, I think, for me, and it has been just if I’m being really vulnerable, because I it kills me when I hurt somebody’s feelings and tell them like, hey, like, you know, that was against the guidelines, you can’t say that you can’t even you know, we’ve had self promotion rules, for example. And we lifted those during the pandemic, within our communities because of the need to collaborate digitally, it just it’s skyrocket, and we’re like, Hey, we’ve got the ability, let’s allow people to do it. But it was like prior to that, that was one of the things that killed me. Like, you know, what, it’s just seeking the self promotion and someone’s not contributing, you know, equally and giving value. They’re just you take it, it’s,
Airam Dato-on
it’s hard. Yes, totally. It’s so, so
Natalie Franke
hard. And I think part of that, too, illuminates that our idea, like the meaning of community, what it really means to us as independent business owners has evolved, especially over the last couple of years. Would you agree with that, you know, how do you think your experience of building community at Pexels and you’ve been there I think almost two years, right.
Airam Dato-on
Is that right? Yeah. About a year and a half, two years, almost. Yeah.
Natalie Franke
Yeah. How have you seen you know the way That community’s been built evolve, even in that time, because I would say even in the last year, it’s changed a lot.
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, whether it’s pixels, but I think it started for me when I started to jump on to Tik Tok, even though like, on Instagram,
Natalie Franke
tell me about it. Let’s go here. Let’s go, here I am, let’s go here.
Airam Dato-on
I know you want it to go here, you know I did, we’re starting here. Starting on Instagram, a lot of the people that I connected with were more local, like within the net within my community here in a low in the local Orlando area. And when Tiktok started, for me, in terms of like, during, right before the pandemic is when I jumped on, and even more so during the pandemic, like March, April, May, is when people started to get on even more. And I was finding people from everywhere. And I was just connecting with them. I was messaging them, I was DMing them, we are all connecting with each other friends from in New York City, San Francisco, LA, everywhere, just because of TiC tock. And it was a crazy thing that happened, where these group of people also were getting connected with each other because they’re being thrown to each other’s feeds. And it was so cool to just see a group of people connecting the way that they wouldn’t have had before. And some of these people I’ve met several times, I’ve hung out with them. And we’ve gone to, I’ve gone to travel to them, and they’ve gone to travel to me and we make sure like, Hey, are you around? I’m in Florida, or hey, I’m in LA, are you around, and we make sure we put time and effort to see each other and these are people that like, I probably wouldn’t really have connected at all. And we are just like how we’re connected. I feel like really? Through Tiktok and Instagram.
Natalie Franke
Yeah, yeah. 100%. Alright, give it to me completely straight with this next question. Yeah. Do you show up the same way on Instagram as you do on Tik Tok?
Airam Dato-on
100%?
Natalie Franke
Yes. Okay. Next question, Instagram or Tiktok?
Airam Dato-on
Yes. I would always tell people, yes to both and strategies.
Natalie Franke
Let’s, let’s hear it. What are those strategies
Airam Dato-on
tick tock is very local oriented, like a local discoverability. But also, you can just be shown to anyone at the same time. And so it has a potential of growing a strong community. But you have to have a place for them to go to, to reach you. Because let’s say tick tock DMS is not the best. So it’s not and we all know that. So a way for you to do that is to get them from tick tock to your Instagram. And maybe your Instagram leads you to a mailing list. Another community, a discord community, a lot of people use these bigger platforms to get people to a funnel that leads them to where like, the real interactions happen. And I feel like I’ve moved people from Tik Tok into my Instagram really well, to really get a sense of connection. And I always say yes, because there are different strategies for both.
Natalie Franke
I was not expecting that answer. And I’m pleasantly surprised. Like that was I was expecting a tick tock, but you name it like you nailed the truth there. That is the truth. They were talking about the science of self made success. That is the truth. The reality is both platforms have incredible value for you as an independent business. They’re different, they’re truly different. And, you know, I think about when I first jumped on, and I feel like that’s when I really started to follow your work. And I don’t live in Orlando, but I was getting word for like your photography content. And it’s interesting to me too, with tick tock like, you can create such a wide variety of content and different kinds of things that you’re passionate about things you want to talk about. Like as a business owner, I do some content on business, I talk about Paw Patrol, I talk about all of the random things that it almost throws out some of the old advice of like niching down that I had been, it’s just been drilled into us when it came to Instagram like niche, niche niche, you’re like you’re not niche enough, you can never be niche enough. But on tick tock, it throws you into a cold audience based on the content not necessarily based on you. So you know, when I post about Paw Patrol, all these parents are seeing it on a post about small business all these business owners are seeing it. Have you also experienced that is that kind of why you’re feeling your feet. It’s like so diverse in content. It’s so content rich, and so How many different kinds of avenues?
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, what Tiktok has done is basically you are your own niche. And that’s, and only some people have gotten to really understand that. And people who understood stood that in the beginning, who’s like, why are people telling me to, like, do all these things when I can just do everything. And I think it’s just this year that people started or this year and last year, people started to understand with tick tock, you are your own niche, you just create what you as a brand or as a person love, and it will go because they see and feel the passion in the content that you’re creating. Especially if you’re creating content that you’re still trying to figure out. And you might not know you’re not going to, you’re not going to be passionate about making it and people are going to understand, hey, this is not good, because I can feel that they’re not feeling it too. But when you’re feeling it, people will feel it as well. And it really like just exudes from that. And I’m gonna plug sushi. And she’s like, one of the best examples of you are your own niche, and you just go for it. She’s traveled everywhere. She’s created content, whether it’s food, and it’s all about her, like, what she thinks about other things. And it just flows from that. That’s how she markets as well as brands people. Yeah.
Natalie Franke
For listeners who don’t know who Sookie is. It’s Alison Sugihara. She is a dear friend of both of ours, a mutual friend that we have and she actually came on to the rising tide global Tuesdays together that we hosted on Tik Tok, and help to teach our community a little bit about tick tock as a platform. She’s amazing. So we will make sure to link her in the show notes. So you can go follow for sure IRAM and Alison over there on tick tock and kind of see some of this in action for for anyone listening who is like, Okay, you’re selling me on this idea of like, social media can be a means to connect with people, you’re talking about Instagram, we’re talking about tick tock, for a business owner who doesn’t know where to start? Who truly is like, Okay, I need community, I don’t know enough business owners in my area, or in my niche, or, you know, I just I need to expand and find a place that really fits my values. What recommendations do you have for that first step?
Airam Dato-on
I think if networking like in person, networking is daunting for some people. And I always tell people, community starts with just two people, you and another person. Yeah, and you just find that other person in your community in your local area, or online. There’s people that I’ve just met, like two days ago, and we’ve been connected, like three years on Instagram. But we’ve been in community for like, three years really like talking about content, what kind of content we should make talking about life and the struggles that we’re having. And I think it starts with one person that you just pour into, and from there it grows, where you’re like, Hey, do you know and other people that would want to talk about the same thing that we’re talking about, and you start a group chat. And it grows from there, again, other people start inviting people to these things where then you go into starting meetups with them, and it becomes in person from there, you’ve created a networking event that you were scared of doing before. And I think it really just starts with, find that one person, talk to them, yes, some things might happen. Find another person. And I think the best way is to just start small. And don’t be scared of being vulnerable with other people.
Natalie Franke
That’s such a key part being vulnerable, like being willing to truly allow yourself to be seen, I talk a lot about, you know, the difference between belonging and fitting in and that they are, in many ways the complete opposite. And I think, as creators, as independents, it can be easy to feel this need to fit in and to kind of model yourself to be a certain type in a certain space. But what I’m really hearing is like, No, you need to show up as yourself in these spaces, and truly, like show up as you to find a space where you can really belong and be yourself and allow that vulnerability to be safely received. And so I’d love to know, you know, is that something that you’ve learned as a photographer, or maybe a furthering of that question would be, you know, how has your experience actually working in the community building space at Pexels as like a, you know, not a photographer just in search of community, but actually a community builder in search of cultivating communities for other photographers. You know, what have you learned by doing that? Is there anything that you kind of discovered in that process?
Airam Dato-on
I think it’s more about like What I’ve learned is people aren’t going to be where they are. And you meet them where they are, especially with the Pexels. Community. We have different levels of creators, photographers, videographers are models, where we start, they’re just starting out. And there’s people that are already like, 10, year, 10 years in. And it’s figuring out where they are and talking to them, and understanding their needs. And how can we help you? How can we help you feel more like you belong to this community? Whether it’s your new or you’ve been around for so long? How do we make sure we value your presence, whether it’s online, or in person, and just making sure that they feel like a hero. They’re like, a super person. And I think that’s make like, that’s what it means to like, feel like you belong here. And it’s as easy as me telling them, Hey, I’m glad you’re part of our community. And it just meets them where they might be lacking, because they’re like, oh, my gosh, I’m part of something. Yes, it it’s words are powerful. And the way that you say, and making sure like they feel welcome is a big part of making sure people feel like they’re here.
Natalie Franke
I see you and I hear you are two of the most important sentences that have ever been said to me, and I think so many others. And it’s very clear that you care deeply about that, as a community builder and ensuring that people really feel seen and they feel heard. And I’m curious, you know, have there been any major shifts or changes that you’ve seen, you know, at Pexels, as y’all have cultivated community, I know that you care deeply as well about like inclusivity and community and really creating spaces where, you know, people can show up as their authentic selves and be accepted and embraced and loved for who they are. Anything that, you know, you’re willing to share around, like, how do you do that? How, how have you done that? How do you encourage photographers as well to build these types of spaces in their own businesses and lives?
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, I, there’s in terms of inclusivity, and understanding, like, where some people are, we have neurodivergent Pexels, house meetup hosts, and I try to figure out, hey, like, how can I help you? How do I make sure the structures are there for you, to where it fits how you are as a person, so I’m making sure like, I have specially with our hosts, they’re the ones running the community and ground in their local community, not just like, hey, here’s what you should say. But like word for word, I’ll write it down. Because some people do need that some people don’t, they just use it as a structure. But I make sure like, there’s ones where it’s timed. That schedule is there for them, I give them things, making sure that they’re not in a very crowded place where it’s harder to corral community for in person events. So understanding that way for in person events. And I actually want to do more virtual events for people who might not be able to show up physically, to some events, whether it’s, we’re not in their location, or they are not able to physically as well, whether it’s it’s hard to get to their two hours away, or they have any disabilities or things that hurdles that prevent them from going to some event. So I want to make sure I have events for everyone, because there’s a lot of people that DM us, and we’re like, Hey, can we have an event here? Can we have an event there? I’m like, I’m sorry, we don’t have a host there yet. So I’m trying to figure out how to do more virtual events because we’ve done virtual Hangouts. But there are more sparse, but I want to make sure that we start getting them almost in a bi monthly basis, or at least once a quarter for people.
Natalie Franke
I absolutely love that I think prioritizing accessibility and meeting the community needs where they are instead of expecting community members to adapt to the structure of how an organization is run. That’s a human centered approach that I believe is critical and necessary. And you know, even in our experience, we during the during like the first two years as COVID kind of swept across were completely virtual that we moved to hybrid in terms of how we gather and support our community. And what was really interesting is we just had such an outpouring of gratitude from folks that you know, we had only been in person prior to that very limited virtual resources. Then we go all virtual then we go hybrid, but from So many community members that said like, Hey, I have a disability, and I haven’t been able to show up in person I, you know, am immune compromised of a chronic illness. I can’t, you know, in half of the year during cold and flu season, even prior to COVID. It’s not safe for me to be in large groups of people, busy parents, single parents, I could go on and on and on with just like a multitude of different reasons that folks, you know, maybe never felt like community was truly for them. And they had been excluded. They had been kept out, not intentionally, but the impact was felt. And so I love that you’re all y’all are leaning into, you know, the wanting to do this hybrid virtual and in person, because I do think it opens up the door for more people to have access to one of the most critical factors in running a business, which is community, it is necessary, it is so key and so important. And it’s just music to my ears. I love that our values align on that, because, you know, it’s it’s better for everyone in the community When access is increased, right?
Airam Dato-on
Correct. Yeah, totally. Yeah, it’s something that with Meanwhile, my wife being a bit more immunocompromised as well, it’s something that’s very dear to our hearts of making sure people are part of this. And she’s even had, there’s a new, either it’s an app or software or website called COVID meetups, that she is like, connected with people with and whether it’s, oh, let’s go play Minecraft online. And that’s, that’s where community starts is that it doesn’t have to be in person, there’s things that you can do to make it accessible for people.
Natalie Franke
100%. And I agree with that, too. I mean, I neurodivergent and have dealt with my fair share of chronic and health issues, but I had brain tumor, and all of the repercussions of my surgery to remove it. And so, yes, I agree, I relate. And I think it’s incredible for us to be living in a world where community is a click away. Community is a couple keyboard strokes. And you can find people that are passionate about what you’re passionate about that, you know, agree with kind of like your your dreams and your goals and align with that in their own lives and kind of be on that journey with you. And we’ve, again, we’ve now it’s this is very much an exciting time to be alive. Because, you know, it used to be if you were really, really passionate about a certain topic, and it was super nice, you might be the only person in your entire area that you’ve ever spoken to, that cares about something. I’ll give an example. My husband, my husband, who is super, super passionate about crosswalks. And I know that’s obscure and sort of niche. But this is like his thing, like when I tell you he has had four crosswalks installed in our neighborhood out of reaching out to government officials to increase accessibility. Like that’s his thing. He wants safe pedestrian spaces and more accessible pedestrian. That’s like he just has decided that’s his passion. If you had told me that, and when he first told me it was getting really into this, I’m like, Okay, I’ve never met anyone in my life. Who is a warrior for crosswalks, I’ve just, I’ve never met anyone. There are massive communities of people that are so passionate about the same things that my husband is passionate about. And he has access to that by going and looking and searching the internet and finding other folks that are passionate about these issues that have templates for reaching out to your local government officials for I could go on and on and on. And so something that at one point seemed so niche to the point where I was like, I mean, you’re alone on this one buddy, like whew, you are the only one come to find out how wrong I was. And yet again, like that is something that I hear, you know, we’re talking about communities and in your case with pixels for photographers, with HoneyBook we’re working with independent businesses a little bit of a larger niche. But even within that, like if you are, you know, a very specific type of creator. If you’re passionate about a very specific type of thing, all of this advice applies, like, you know, go and figure out where you can find your folks start on the internet start online. You know, I just think it’s it’s such an exciting time to really lean into that
Airam Dato-on
truly is truly is I need to connect with you because yeah, we need more crosswalks here in Orlando. We don’t tell her no the places don’t tell him that he will. We’ll be on the next plane. My wife and I are like also do the same. Like we need a crosswalk here. Like there are places where we know we can and also you need to go to Hong Kong just for you to experience the crosswalks over there. Whether lists it’s a very iconic crosswalk from the sounds like accessibility sounds to the way things are put together. Yeah.
Natalie Franke
That’s awesome. Yeah, Hong Kong is on my list. I’m very, very jealous. I saw you mentioned that that you’ve gone and gosh, it’s it’s definitely a dream to go when we look into the future, the future We have work, we can take this so many different directions. I mean, the future of work the future as a creative or as an independent business owner, the future of community. Can you just tell me like, give me some of the things that you see coming towards us? Like, what what do you what are you excited about? What are you nervous about? What do you think the future looks like, in all the arenas that this community lives in and is facing?
Airam Dato-on
I’m, I’m excited, I’m really excited for what community is about to be going towards, I think people are just starting, whether it’s companies starting to figure out community is what they need. And it’s part it’s their biggest, it’s their consumer base. And they need to find a way to connect those people in order to grow their company in order to grow, what they’re trying to do for their mission and vision to go forward. They need the community to go along with them. And I think, slowly, and I think with the help of Yelp, being, I think, a great example of a company that was really built on community and a group of people getting to review restaurants, they’re like, cool, they’re reviewing restaurants. But what if we gathered them, and from there, it doesn’t gross. And a lot of people hire community builders, or community managers, and they’re from Yelp. And so you see what the impact of Yelp is in terms of community and they started 10 years ago, and people are just catching on in the last five, eight years, I feel like, and it’s just about to grow harder than it did in the past 10 years.
Natalie Franke
Yes, first person I reported to at honey book, way back in the day, when I started about seven and a half years ago, was Lauren Esler. She’s now the VP of community at Reddit, she came from Yelp, she was a Yelp community leader and had been instrumental in actually building out so much of the Yelp model of community. And so it’s so funny that you say that, because she really set the gold standard for me, as you know, in the early days of growing rising tide, and just thinking about community development on the grassroots level in local communities, and how do you approach the fact that every community is different, their needs are different, you know, and like all of these big questions, and she was such a great resource. And so it’s so funny that you say that and I’m also I love Yelp as a just a way to support small business, I’m like a big, if I eat at a small independent restaurant, if I go to a local coffee shop, while I’m traveling, if I, I love being a part of that community, because it’s one, you know, tool in my toolkit for advocating for independent businesses just by writing a review. And I built my own community that way, I’ve met, you know, restaurant tours locally, a food truck owner, who I kept going every weekend, and I kept posting these updated photos of what they were baking, and we connected now we’re very close friends, we text all the time, you know, I think it’s incredible. When other companies and brands, you’re right, are investing in community and facilitating these spaces, so that as an independent business, we then get to benefit whether that’s Pexels, whether that’s HoneyBook, whether that’s Yelp or what have you, it is a really exciting future ahead. I do have a question for you. And this is something that I’ve really challenged or been challenged with as a community builder. But how do you measure the ROI of community? Like, like, how do you are you’re laughing because this, this is a hard one. And as a business owner, so I’m asking this from the lens of community builder, because anyone who’s built a community worked in a company, you kind of prove out to folks like, the value in what you’re doing and the work you do every day. But even as an independent, you know, as an independent business owner, you’re like, Okay, if I go spend time investing in relationships, if I go and show up to this meetup, if I go to the pet Pexels networking event, or the HoneyBook, you know, conference one day that I’m dreaming up for the future, you heard it here first. I mean, there’s no plans, but I’m just gonna keep saying it until it manifests into reality, all of these things. What is the ROI? Is it worth my time as a business owner, when you’re working for a company, and you’re building it, you know, it’s like, how do you quantify the return on that investment? How do you think about it?
Airam Dato-on
Yeah, I don’t know. I think we still try to figure that out. For Yeah, I mean, there’s the numbers. There’s the numbers of, oh, this is how many people we’ve grown. Cool, but what is the impact? Like we can, we can all get the stats of this is how many downloads this person got. This is how many uploads we’ve gotten in the past year, which we are able to count that that’s a good ROI for us, but I think there’s more to community than just numbers, and it’s the impact of what Each what we’re doing for each other is and what I’ve seen within my community and the community we’re building is people collaborating after a meetup people getting together, telling people, Hey, I can’t do this gig, can you do it? So it’s like, it’s becoming a very synergistic community. And I think it comes from that hearsay of, you’re hearing from other people. And that’s what I report or report to my boss and be like, Hey, check this out. Check this out. And it’s all those little tiny stories that we might not see in the stat line that shows up in the real ROI of community. That’s, that’s a book that’s a book that like, that needs to be written. I’m
Natalie Franke
gonna write a book. Yes, yes. You’re gonna know, maybe I, I could not agree more. And for anyone who’s listening and not watching the YouTube version of this, you didn’t see the furious nodding, and, you know, fake hand snapping that I was doing behind the scenes with every mic drop moment that I room just said here? Because, yes, like, I have nothing else to add. Yes, it’s, you know, done that. 100% Correct. And we sometimes forget, one relationship has the power to change our entire life. Meeting one person could change your entire life. And when you think back on your business, I’m curious, like, have you had any relationships like that? Have you had anybody that opened a door for you or that you know it because you said yourself community is to people, you know, it starts there, it starts with one relationship. I would love to know if you’ve had any, any real community moments in your career that have been transformative.
Airam Dato-on
So I’m gonna give my friend Reggie Ballesteros a shout out here because he’s, we’ve kind of grown so at read up photo, we’re adding people in the show notes like left and
Natalie Franke
right. It’s gonna be long, great show notes for this one.
Airam Dato-on
Read up photo. We were watching. He was part of the future with Christo. And I was just watching one of Korea’s Cristos videos back in 2020. And we were trying to figure out how content was changing for photographers and for Instagram. So we were working together, we were working separately actually, that almost the same kind of content trajectory. We were creating educational content on Instagram, for photographers, and I was like, this was never this is nowhere to be found on Instagram. Why is it going on YouTube? When photographers are on Instagram, and that’s when I started creating carousels. 10 slides that would educate someone, and he was doing the same thing. And we found each other and connected with each other. And just grew from that, when real started to hit. He was asking me questions about how to get into short form. I was asking him questions about carousels. It became a very symbiotic relationship of like, growing together on Instagram, we were growing almost the same rate on Instagram and building a community. And his goal is to educate a million photographers. And he’s like, set on that goal. Yeah,
Natalie Franke
surround yourself with people who push you like that, right? Like that is such a key aspect in the success equation and surround yourself with people that have big goals like yours, and also are willing to fight to help see you win, right community doesn’t have to be a space where you’re afraid or you feel other people are a threat or you can’t trust like we’ve touched on that fear that scarcity mindset, whatever it is for you. You can truly believe in community over competition, you can adopt a mindset of saying, Hey, we do similar things. We’re creating similar content. What if we actually helped each other? What if we shared our learnings? What if we support each other with with both of you sounds like you did. And that is so powerful. That’s so incredible. Well, listen, I would talk to you all day, if I could. And I would keep you and just keep chatting. But I want to kind of bring us to a little bit of a wrap up. And I have a question that I love to ask at the end of episodes that everyone has had a different answer for. And I can’t wait to hear what yours is. It could be related to what we talked about. It could be totally something different. But this is a podcast about the science of self made success. And so I wanted to ask, What do you think is the biggest thing that differentiates the businesses that succeed from the ones that fail?
Airam Dato-on
I think it’s about whether it’s a small business or a bigger business. I think you have to compete with yourself. I think you have to stop comparing with others, even though yes, you do. If you’re a big, bigger business, you kind of have to You understand your competition. But as a self made business, as an independent creator, you have to understand at the very beginning to at the very end where you’re wanting to be. You need to compete with yourself and look at where you’ve gone, and where you’re going and stop looking at others. Because then you’ll start losing sight of where you’re going when you start looking and comparing with others.
Natalie Franke
With that mic drop, everyone. Oh, so good. I remember, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast, I have no doubt that everyone is going to want to know more about where they can find you. And hear about the work you’ve been doing with Pexels and these amazing meetups that I keep hearing whispers about. And so I want to turn it over to you where can folks learn more
Airam Dato-on
for the meetups, go [email protected] on Instagram, or pexels.com/meetups. And you’ll find them all over there. And we have meetups all over the world. We have community managers in Latin America, we have community managers in Brazil, Turkey, and we’re growing our team. And so we also have a global community manager role that is open on Pexels as well. But if you want to join us in person meetups and hopefully to a virtual event, just go to app pexels.us For all those
Natalie Franke
amazing and then if folks want to follow you on tic tac, where can they go to see this awesome content? Yes, so
Airam Dato-on
at RMD photo on Tiktok, and Instagram.
Natalie Franke
Amazing. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.
Airam Dato-on
Thank you for having me.
Natalie Franke
That ends our episode of The Independent Business Podcast. Everything that we’ve discussed today can be [email protected]. Head to our website for access to show notes, relevant links and all of the resources that you need to level up. And if you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss our future content. Drop us a review and leave our guests some love on social. Thanks again for listening
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
