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TBC Podcast Episode 7: Elevating the image of the Tree Care Industry with Media Maverick Joel Spooner
96 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back to another insightful episode of The Better Contractor Podcast! In this episode, we delve into the world of tree care and media with our special guest, Joel Spooner, founder of InTree Media.
Discover the power of visual storytelling to transform the perception of tree care, highlighting the essential blend of safety, emotion, and professionalism that elevates our industry? Join us as we uncover the passion and purpose behind Joel's journey and his mission in the tree care industry.
From climbing trees in his childhood backyard to mentoring under industry experts and arborists like Matt Beaty, Elliot Wright, and Dan Holliday. Joel shares how his diverse background in forestry and photography led to the creation of InTree Media. Learn how Joel's innovative approach is reshaping the way tree care companies present themselves to the world.
We discover the importance of culture and mentorship in fostering employee engagement and business growth. We also explore practical strategies for leveraging media to build trust, connect with customers, and stand out in a competitive market.
Whether you're a tree care professional, business owner, or simply curious about the intersection of media and industry, this episode offers valuable insights and inspiration for anyone looking to make a meaningful impact.
Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below! How are you leveraging media to elevate your business or industry? We'd love to hear from you.
Don't miss out on this enlightening discussion. Hit play now and embark on a journey to reimagine the tree care industry through the lens of media innovation. Let's grow together!
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Transcript
00:00:12
Speaker
All right.
Introduction of Guests
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of The Better Contractor. Today, I am joined by my usual Travis. How are you, Travis? Fantastic. And we have a guest today, Joel Spooner with Entry Media. Hi, Joel. Hello. How are you? I'm doing very well. Very well. As you can tell, Joel's got a slight
Joel's Journey from England to Canada
00:00:32
Speaker
accident. So Joel, tell me a little bit about you, where you've lived, how life got you to where you are today. The short version.
00:00:41
Speaker
So I'm originally from England, from South East England, Kent. I'm quite close to Dover, not far from my home. I've lived in quite a few different places. So I grew up there, that's where my family home is. And then I went to study forestry in Bangor, North Wales. And then I did my second year of my forestry degree at UBC in Vancouver. So first came
00:01:10
Speaker
here where I am now to Vancouver when I was 19. And then I've spent a year living in Australia and did a few months in New Zealand.
00:01:24
Speaker
back to the UK and now living in Vancouver, BC. So back to Vancouver, beautiful place by the way. Oh yeah, absolutely. The mountains and the forests and the water were just cooling too much. Oh yeah. I've been through there a couple of times and every time I'm like, man, if it wasn't so cold here, I would definitely live here. Do you have any siblings? Yeah, I've got an older brother who's two and a half years older than me. And I've got a younger sister who's four and a half, five years younger than me.
Inspiration from the Woodlands
00:01:50
Speaker
Was anybody in the family
00:01:53
Speaker
in kind of the forestry industry or like what, what made you go that direct? Cause it sounds like at least at a, at a primary school, that's the direction you went. Like what took you that direction? Yeah. So grew up in the countryside. So we were very lucky. We didn't own it, but there was a woodland at the bottom of our garden and we had a pathway that went into it. Um, so I used to play in the woods all the time as a kid. My best friend lived up the road and we would just like walk through the woods, find each other, build camps, climb trees.
00:02:23
Speaker
literally had the best childhood in that regard. And then yes, my family are not sort of, my dad works in environment or worked in environmental consultancy, international development and sustainability. And my mum is a adventurous Chinese herbalist and works in Shatsu. So no sort of like family lineage of working with trees or forests. And
00:02:52
Speaker
that really came from a very good family friend of ours called Sam, who is a forester. And he used to do, he lives in Southwest England in Devon, and he used to come up and do a lot of work in Southeast England where we lived. And he would often come and stop by at our house. And I just, I really, I still got a lot of respect and time to Sam, but I really, really liked him. And so he'd always come by and he'd be off doing forestry stuff.
00:03:22
Speaker
I actually don't know, but there's obviously a point where I was kind of like, Oh, I love what Sam does. I really like what he does. And, um, I remember when I was 14, I don't know how I was so iconic in terms of like thinking about what I wanted to do, but I remember I was 14 standing in our back garden, garden being a yard. Um, not yet, not the US audience. Um,
00:03:45
Speaker
And I was chatting to him and just asking him what A levels he did. So that would be the exams you do before you go to university. And so he was telling me what he did. So I really kind of followed in his footsteps. So he went to Bangor University and then came out and set up his own woodland management consultancy business. And then ended up going off into renewable energy in Woodfield and Woodchip. So he was very much my mentor, really, without me really knowing it.
00:04:15
Speaker
into the forestry world. And yeah, that's kind of how I went that route. And then as soon as I went, I went to go look at Bangor University when I was like 16, I think, and I realized I could go to Vancouver. I was like, I want to do, it was basically I was going to go do photography or forestry at university.
Birth of Entry Media
00:04:42
Speaker
And I was just like, which one do I want to do? And I was like, well,
00:04:45
Speaker
One's creative and I love it. I could probably teach myself. And the other one is like scientific. It's probably gonna set me up with some sort of like good abilities to do research and meet deadlines and understand those sorts of things. So at that time I chose to go to that one, but it was definitely like, I can go to Vancouver. I was like, I'm doing forestry. Vancouver was on the roadmap or all the way back then? When I was 16, yeah.
00:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, I even came up, we came out here on a family holiday because we had some family who are considering moving over here. And I went to UBC to go and meet the forestry profs at like 16. So I was like, I'm going here. That's cool. You got lost to Australia on your way. That's cool. And then you mentioned as a kid, you climbed trees in the garden or backyard and then, uh, then, uh, you met Sam.
00:05:42
Speaker
who mentored you and then you kind of tied it all together. And, uh, which this will tie in a little bit to your current business and trees. So you mentioned you love doing photography. You love doing forestry. So this is a good tie-in moment for, so what is entry? Well, I'll go back to just one little step as well, because it's kind of interesting when I look back on my life. So Sam, very pivotal mentor in terms of forestry and trees side of things. Um, at the age, well, from a, from a young child, really. Um, and then.
00:06:10
Speaker
a very good friend of mine now, an Australian guy who moved to our area when I was 16. And I was doing photography at college at that point. And he is a director of photography. And so every Wednesday I had off college, I would go and work with him on film sets doing TVs, dramas, documentaries. So at 16, I had this forestry interest, trees,
00:06:36
Speaker
And I was also doing photography and also working with another mentor effectively in video production. And so I was just getting already like these two areas of interest of mine kind of started bubbling up. And then so there's a whole backstory to it, but ultimately now where I've kind of come to is that I've blended the film, photography, forestry, arboriculture into entry media, which is effectively a blending of the two things I really enjoy doing.
00:07:05
Speaker
an entry media produces video and photography content for the tree care industry. I like it. And I once I know real quick, I love how important the mentorship has been to you. So
00:07:20
Speaker
Mentorship is something that's important to me. I enjoy providing it. I always have enjoyed getting it. So I think that's so cool that you had mentors in these different aspects of your life who helped guide you and push you to where you are today. And for you guys listening, girls listening, that's such a huge thing. I can only imagine how that's helped you, Joel. But mentorship as a whole, if someone's 20 years ahead of you in life,
00:07:47
Speaker
they've got 20 years of experience on your half a year, whatever you got. If they can teach you all of those things they've learned over those 20 years, you're basically should if you're listening and applying what they're teaching you, you can shorten that 20 years for yourself by using them as a mentor. So if you can take that 20 years, you know, and that takes you now five years to do, obviously, you're going to be far more successful in life or should be theoretically speaking. But
00:08:12
Speaker
So anyway, side note of mentorship, super powerful. Obviously, you're an example of that. So entry, tell us a little bit more about it and what it does and kind of how you got that started and going.
Enhancing Arborists' Image
00:08:25
Speaker
So the whole purpose of entry is to elevate the image of the tree care industry. That's why I set it up. And that being that out there at the moment, and especially eight years ago when I was looking into doing something like this,
00:08:42
Speaker
the amount of content that was out there representing the tree care industry was very minimal. So if you say went on to any stock photo website, type 10 arborist.
00:08:51
Speaker
might be about 3,000 photographs of those. There might be 10% that are kind of showing an arborist, but the majority of those would be very old school practices or practices that, you know, where the people aren't wearing any PPE or anything like that. And it just didn't kind of sit with me. I was like, there's a gap here where we are not being represented as arborists as
00:09:13
Speaker
and respected trades people respected skilled workers who are good at what we do and are professional and it's a skilled skilled trade and
00:09:25
Speaker
And because I'd been photographing filming for some time, I was like, OK, there's a gap here. And I could actually just flood this whole market with high quality images that showcase good work practice and really just put the industry's best foot forward. And so I then made it my mission to to go and do that. But the it kind of really. The idea. The idea kind of really evolved
00:09:55
Speaker
Because I've always loved doing, I've always loved creating my own game, my own business and having autonomy of my time and creativity. They're really important things to me. And I was very fortunate when I moved to Vancouver. Well, fortunate and unfortunate. I came here and I was like, I don't want to be in arboriculture anymore. I'd done some photography work in Australia. And I was like, I'm a photographer. That's what I'm doing. That's my career.
00:10:23
Speaker
just hell bent on that. But I had no portfolio. I had no contacts. I had no relationships. I had very little going for me in that sense. And so it was actually a real struggle to try and even get work or set myself up. And one of my very good friends worked at Bartlett Tree Experts here in Vancouver. Went out for beers with a bunch of them. And then one of them was like, oh, we're calling out for Arbours. Do you want to come and work for us? I just went, OK, I need the money. I just need this.
00:10:52
Speaker
Even though it wasn't the direction I wanted to go in, it transpired to be probably the best thing for me because I ended up meeting some really, really, really great people. And just very high caliber arborists at the top of their game. There's people like Matt Beatty, Tiger Devine, Elliot Wright, and then Dan Holliday from Climbing Arborist was also there. And I didn't actually know what Dan did at the time.
00:11:20
Speaker
Anyway, I was working with him and I remember pruning a Japanese maple with him, you know, just like a teeny tiny one with both on the ground, pruning away. And I was just chatting to him asking what he does, getting to know him.
00:11:30
Speaker
And he was telling me that he creates educational videos for the industry. And I was like, I love what he's doing, like his whole values around like safe working practice. And I just really respected what he did. So I just said to him, I was like, if you ever want some help, I can totally come and help you film stuff. And so he was like, that would be really cool. So I went out and started shooting some stuff.
00:11:53
Speaker
for Dan there and just elevating his production value and then a really strong friendship started to form out of that and then obviously spending more time with him putting together some different productions and then other good friends of ours as well got involved and it's just like ah I'm really kind of finding my place here and building really good friendships with people who are also creative who also got vision and then
00:12:20
Speaker
I just started shooting tree climbing competitions. Other good friends of mine were doing conservation work, climbing big trees, doing research in big trees. So I'd go out and photograph those. So I just kind of just basically like started putting myself in places where it's like, this is really fun. And I started learning a lot more techniques as an arborist because where I was before, I wasn't thinking very progressively with arboriculture where my mindset completely shifted because again, mentors,
00:12:46
Speaker
here were much more encouraging in terms of different climbing techniques, how to get out there and work in trees and different things you can do as an arborist. So my whole mind opened. And then through doing that, just different opportunities opened up. So I was at a climbing competition.
00:13:02
Speaker
And someone came to me and said, oh, can you make a video for my business? And I was like, I could. And then I started chatting to them like, do you even have a website? He's like, kind of, but it's not operating that great. I have enough of an understanding about web development and all of that at the time that I was like, well, let's have a look at your website first. And I'm like, you haven't even got any photographs to actually represent your company and some of the stuff you've got on there is maybe not showcasing you. He was looking to grow his business to sell it.
00:13:30
Speaker
So I have a strategic business mind as well. And so I said, look, I'll come out, I'll work with you for five days as an arborist and I'll bring my camera gear and I'll help you redesign and rebuild your website before we even start thinking about video. And he is still now a client today, seven years later. And that was basically, he was my first paying client that showed me people value what I can provide.
00:14:00
Speaker
And then from that point, I was like, okay, this needs to become an entity because this is bigger than me. This is actually something that can change or support change within the industry. And so there was an expo that was happening in Vancouver in October 2018.
00:14:20
Speaker
And I remember being, that is my opportunity. That's my accountability point. I need to set up a business. Cause I had to have a business to be able to be at the expo. So I established entry media in April, 2018. And I had until October to sort out my messaging, my branding and everything. So I could turn up and go, Hey. Yeah.
00:14:42
Speaker
We do photography, video, web development, all these things for the tree care industry. So that's. I like it. If you look at the tree care industry, I've always thought there's kind of two, from a marketing perspective, there's two issues. One is, and this, I've noticed in regions of the country, regions of the world is a little bit different, like where we are at. It seems like there's more that do not value the marketing. Don't value the safety. Uh, and they're really, really cheap. Then there's a few that do it really, really well.
00:15:12
Speaker
But I think two industries in marketing in this industry as a whole, one of them is how they portray themselves. So like what you're talking about, the social or the media, social media, website, photography, video, they're just not doing it. Or if they are doing it, they're shooting it and it's not, you can tell it's not quality. Or they're doing that a little bit, not well, but a little bit. And then in field, they're actually not matching what they're portraying themselves as on social media. So it's kind of, you know, it's a two kind of a two handed thing there.
00:15:40
Speaker
Um, but I like what you're doing, where it is elevating the industry. Cause to me, if we can make changes like that to elevate the industry, we can then charge a little bit more because we're more professional. Instead of just a dude with a pickup truck and a chainsaw and, you know, climbing gear.
00:15:56
Speaker
but we can actually elevate the industry, charge more for it, weed out some of those cheap ones that are pretty likely to drop limbs, trees on a home. But I like what you're doing. Because that's one aspect of that I think that is sorely missing is the storytelling of video, which is what you're doing with entry, providing actually quality photos that a lot of these guys are not using their website. So I really like that. Travis, it looked like you were getting ready to say something right when I did. So it was kind of timely. We came across.
00:16:25
Speaker
that says we were doing a few marketing releases over the past couple of weeks, came across like three or four photos that were presented to us as part of the marketing. And it was almost comical for it was like, no, that guy's cutting with the chainsaw, head level, no PPE, no, any safety precautions for if that thing kicks back, like, okay, next photo. I forget, it was like,
00:16:54
Speaker
Oh, there were so many and we're lucky enough. We're just big enough where we can have an in-house videographer and photographer and stuff. But we still use a marketing firm as well for some stuff. But yeah, we were going through some, I don't know if it was, well, I won't name drop on here, but online websites where you can buy stock photography. And it wasn't entry by the way, guys. Definitely not entry, but it was ridiculous looking through it. I'm like, okay, there's so many safety hazards in that photo that are obviously not mitigated. That guy doesn't know what he's doing. That's probably actually a homeowner or
00:17:24
Speaker
a dude with one chainsaw and a buddy out there doing this work. So anyway, but yeah. That was literally like in the last week or two. I was like, Joel, I get it, man. So what's, what's been kind of the industry feedback as you enter the market, you're providing this, what's been the kind of the reception, finding those who are all on board and see the values, they're common things that they're finding.
00:17:54
Speaker
and what's driving their interest? Yeah, so it's definitely well received.
Industry Challenges with Professional Content
00:18:01
Speaker
And very often, all the conversations I have is, oh, we need this. The industry needs this. So I'm hearing that a lot, definitely. And then it's just how people go about actually taking action on that. And because there's kind of like two,
00:18:24
Speaker
There's kind of two components to entry media. There's entry media, which is very much custom content, which primarily shoots the manufacturers of equipment, like Samsung, Plogger, Recoil, and shoots the equipment suppliers and training organizations. And we also shoot for some tree care companies as well. And then there's entry stock, which is the stock photo website, which is ultimately the more easily accessible price point, at least,
00:18:52
Speaker
for arborists to access and not just for arborists but for insurance companies and associations to access high quality content of arboriculture and arborists at work. And so there's kind of like two different avenues in which I'm talking and there's this need that I'm seeing. And I think this is just partly more down to my marketing thing. So I'm having lots of conversations, I go to lots of events and I talk to people.
00:19:18
Speaker
And everyone's like, yeah, yeah, we really, really need this. And then there's someone in that chain of command who's then the decision maker. Okay, yes, we need this, we need this, we need this, but then it might come down to actually price point. Oh, we can't afford to do this right now or a perceived thing. Like they may not even go in to go look, they just might think, oh, high quality, professional, expensive. So there might be a disconnect there somewhere, but I haven't done enough research in this right now to kind of really understand what that is. And then just hearing you Brent talk
00:19:48
Speaker
you're at a position where you can afford to have an on-staff photographer-videographer, that would be the goal for everyone. If you can get to that position, and that's quite often what I suggest to people, because quite often, arborists are creatives. More often than not, arborists are creatives. And there will be someone who actually loves doing photography and video. And if you can actually empower them on your crew to actually do that. So instead of shutting people down and be like, stop doing selfies, stop doing this, if someone's picking up the camera naturally and going, I want to keep taking photographs,
00:20:18
Speaker
like harness that, really utilize that and see that as part of production as opposed to like limiting production. Because if you've got someone on your cruise who actually loves shooting, then put them on the crew because they can shoot for a period of time and then they can help drag brush. They can go up, they can prune a tree and instead of coming down, they can wait until the next person has pruned the tree adjacent to them. So you can actually like
00:20:41
Speaker
If I was running my own Tree Care company, I would be employing someone who is creative and wants to do that as well. And building it into how we price our jobs, how we go out and do things like that. It's a really good example. So a good buddy of mine, Shrathko and a Tree Care in Vancouver Island, he's got a wicked guy who's really, really good for sort of a really good big offer and wants to get into art. And so he's building his experience as an artist. And so he's now able to produce high quality content for marketing. There are
00:21:10
Speaker
they're three guys at the moment. So it's possible at any level. And I think it's just how you think about it and who's on your team and how you empower people within that, especially in this day and age. So that's a slight tangent, but that's what I think is just like a really
00:21:26
Speaker
Like, it's just important hearing you say that, Brent, that you've got the capabilities of doing that. And I don't think you have to be a big company to be able to actually access that. That's actually a really good idea as well. What you just said, like having, if you got someone who's naturally good at it, you know, give them some actual legit camera gear, whatever, and embrace that drive that they had to do it. And yeah, that's actually actually a great idea.
00:21:51
Speaker
It goes back into a lot of our focus for a lot of the media for the past month has been talent. Attraction, acquisition, retention. And it's a big challenge across the board for almost everybody in the industry and most industries in general is finding good talent. That is one of the key things is keeping people engaged, finding passions, allowing them to tap into it.
00:22:18
Speaker
creating career paths for them.
Nurturing Creative Talents
00:22:20
Speaker
And then there's also another element, too, in that if they're a part of your crew, you know who they are. You've worked with them. You know, the personality, they get along, they have the same values. So finding other avenues for them to add value is going to be way more impactful to leverage them and get them buy in in a different way into the company and them adding value in a unique way that taps into their passion.
00:22:47
Speaker
But you also, they're a known entity. It's not somebody that you're taking a chance on on a resume or something. So like, yeah, I love that as far as finding the talent in house and empowering them and giving them career options. Love that. Being an arborist is an amazing job. There can be parts of it that are repetitive and you might lose steam and energy in there and it's kind of like,
00:23:10
Speaker
as you were saying, retaining employees is actually one of the biggest challenges and then also then like hiring new employees. So if you're able to create a culture and a structure within your business that is stimulating and empowering and opens opportunities for training or career development, then you're basically setting up a stronger future for yourself that's going to be more sustainable. And so for example, like if you're interested in going through the whole ISA credentials, say you've got someone who's
00:23:38
Speaker
wanting to go to their ISA and you're like, okay, we'll pay you an extra dollar an hour if you get your ISA. That's one incentive. The other thing could be as well. It's like, how about you write blogs for our website? Okay. So while studying for the ISA, you actually write blogs that are going to help you understand what you need to do for the ISA exam. So you could be writing blogs about cabling and bracing. So instead of having just be like, oh, I've got to go study this because I'm going to get an extra dollar an hour. It's like, actually go,
00:24:07
Speaker
Wow, I get to learn. Oh cool. I'm going to write blogs for the business for the company. I'm involved in this. This is like people I'm speaking for myself, but I believe like a number of people feel like this, like people want to own something. They want to have some form of ownership and creative control or capacity over something. And so if, if you find that within someone and you can empower them to go out, photograph someone cable embracing now go write a blog about it.
00:24:31
Speaker
Now you've got yourself some marketing content that didn't actually cost you anything. More and above. And I would still say pay them. Like, you know, if you were employing them, it's not that you don't pay them. They're just not doing tree work. They're doing marketing work for your tree care company. And they're going to have a much deeper understanding, more intimate knowledge than say hiring someone else to write blogs for you. And so I just think there's that really quite clever ways that you can work with people to help them improve their career and also help you
00:25:01
Speaker
get content, because it's one of the hardest things. And you have to produce so much content nowadays in order to kind of be algorithms, in order to beat Google and all of their paid ads setups. It's just ongoing. So instead of getting lost in, oh, how are we going to do this, just focus on how we work with our crews to actually do all of the components that we now need in order to market ourselves. Because it's not as simple as just go down the local pub
00:25:29
Speaker
hey, I'm an arborist who needs their trees cut down and chat to a few people. It's now like you're talking to tens of thousands of people and there's many, many other arborists out there. So it's how are you gonna stand out and build that trust and confidence with these 10,000 other people whilst you've got a bunch of other arborists also out there saying, hey, we do this. So it's, I think that would be like, and it's also exciting because then you build camaraderie, you build a team and it's like much more input into it as opposed to like business owner
00:25:58
Speaker
workers. Yeah, it's a really good leadership example as well. What we just gave if you look at, you know, as a leader, you know, you should be trying to see, you know, hey, this employee, yeah, he's an operator, or he's a tree climber, he's whatever right now. But gosh, I see these little nuggets of passion in here. If you can harness that, you know, you're going to, well, so the big thing now with you know, retaining employees is obviously culture. So if an organization has no culture, like what you just talked about where you have the leader,
00:26:28
Speaker
and you have all the doers, you know, in the field, if that's all it is and there's no buy-in, there's no, like you said, like that relationship, then you're just another tree care company that's cutting trees. Meaning that when they get mad at you, they're going to go apply somewhere else because you're no different than anybody else. But like what you're saying where you're getting that engagement, you're harnessing their actual passion and skill, they may love doing trees, but if you can do like the blog or if they love to write,
00:26:54
Speaker
if you can do the photography or the video or many other things, if you can harness that and embrace and say, hey, you're really good at this. You can provide this value for our organization, build your own skill as well. And who knows, maybe one day that's what you're doing on your own. And we would love to see you do that because we want to see you succeed. So there's a huge leadership thing there as well.
00:27:16
Speaker
Yeah. And that really just comes into elevating the image of the industry. So it's not just about like us producing high quality content, video and photography. It's actually about elevating people as individuals, empowering that opportunity to grow and just like trying to shift that whole sort of just how we respect ourselves as individuals, as arborists.
00:27:39
Speaker
I think just like if that can start to change and shift, you then shift how we then see externally as well. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, yeah, it definitely goes back to, you know, the overall marketing but so I just curious because we love to give the audience a little nugget something that can take away from each
Empowering Employee Input
00:27:54
Speaker
podcast. It's like, oh, that actually can transform my business or that one little piece of advice completely changed how I do whatever it is.
00:28:02
Speaker
Obviously, you've got an awesome marketing background. It sounds like even though maybe you're not necessarily in a leadership position with like 35, 40, 50, 60, 100 employees, you have a leadership mind and a culture building mind. So I'm curious with all of that, what's one nugget that you might impart? I think it's kind of what I've been speaking to there.
00:28:27
Speaker
It's almost a question. It's like, if I was a business owner, the question would be, how can I do things differently? And how can I work with my employees? How can I empower my employees? And I would be asking myself those questions. And if you don't have the answers, it's then talking with other business owners and actually not doing it in silo and even talking with your employees. You're actually going, OK, this is talking with your employees, building a business with your employees.
00:28:58
Speaker
I like that. The last sentence, building the business with your employees. I like that a lot. It goes back to your culture. And it gets talked about, it was Peter Drucker, the business, he said something like, culture will eat strategy for breakfast. You have the best strategy, your culture sucks. It doesn't matter. Yes, even more so in today's world, I feel like the last several years, like if you don't have a culture,
00:29:27
Speaker
I don't, to me, companies that do not have culture will cease to exist in a few years to me. I don't know. And it changes with every, so every generation and everything that's happening in the marketplace, what's happening in the industry. I mean, nothing stagnant. It's always changing. Everything's evolving around you. And so what might've been the cultural norms and acceptance and what empowered you 10 years ago.
00:29:55
Speaker
has probably shifted and probably will not have the potency or impact that it used to. Not that it's a complete scrapping of everything, but there's definitely standard principles and practices, treating people well, empowering them. There's other things that are time tested and proven, but there's also nuances on top of that that change with the times.
00:30:22
Speaker
But yeah, even with the younger generations, culture is so important. And they've got different needs, too, based off of their environment, what they've been raised in, the world that they're living in, the pressures that they have. They have different needs and different drives than others of us. Others have more gray hairs that have been around. So culture is so, so important. And I think people recognize, or at least on the surface, that culture is important.
00:30:52
Speaker
uh, recognizing it on the surface and actually implementing a strategy that works. It's a lot harder. Yeah. I think we live in a world where people want, well, there's so much stuff online anymore. You know, we buy everything online and some of us are a little bit older and I can remember a day where that wasn't the case. Uh, but I think what it has done is highlighted that we still are human and we still want a relationship.
00:31:20
Speaker
Uh, it is nice to be able to go somewhere and buy from someone that you actually, maybe it's, uh, they're like-minded or whatever, but there's something about them that makes you want to connect. And I think that's the importance of like what Joel's doing with the photography and video is that storytelling where I can go online, view your website, feel a connection with you because of a video or whatever, uh, or a job site or postings or whatever, but social media.
00:31:46
Speaker
And that there makes me connect with you on a human level and therefore want to buy from you. So you guys listening that do not have active websites, social media, and they're not engaging. Gosh, you're missing a bunch of customers out there. As we wrap this up, Joel, how do we find you?
00:32:01
Speaker
How do you find me? That's one thing I've done. I've hidden behind my brand, which I'm trying to move out of because exactly like what you're talking about, it's about building relationships. I'm very much the in-person go-to events. You'll find me at the TCI Expo. You'll find me at other
00:32:18
Speaker
climate competitions and industry events. That's where I put myself out. Online, I'm being encouraged to put myself out more because people, as you say, they actually build the relationship, they buy the relationship. And by the way, that's how we met, Joel. Yeah, there you go. But that being said, you can find Intramedia at Intramedia.com or Intramedia on Instagram.
00:32:46
Speaker
And then entry stock, which is the stock photo site where you can go on and find high quality images. We're also going to be, we're in the moment, developing website templates that are actually scalable. So instead of like Wix or Square, where you kind of, you buy it, but it's relatively cheap and affordable. Once you come into position of, oh, I want to actually invest in SEO, they have limitations.
00:33:09
Speaker
All of our templates are built on WordPress, which gave you much more flexibility. So we're going to be launching that hopefully March, April time. So the stock site will also have a website template place where you can actually go as an arborist who wants to create a website now at an affordable price, but also wants to scale the business later. So you can find that at intrestock.com. And Intrestock also has an Instagram. Currently, it's just me working on that one. So that one's a little bit quiet.
00:33:39
Speaker
But those are the two places. And then if you want to find me in person, the tree care industry expo, I'm always there, hopefully doing a talk this year at that one on this exact sort of topic around leadership, content development and marketing.
Digital Presence and Business Trust
00:33:53
Speaker
So hopefully I'll get that slot and then you can come find me in person. Nice. I like it. So you guys getting started or don't have a social media presence or immediate presence, you know, online or whatever. Joel's your dude. Hit him up.
00:34:08
Speaker
It's time to, time to pull that trigger. So Travis, you got anything you want to finish up with? Yeah, it's, it's kind of a last. So those of us who digital natives who grown up with technology or we saw the internet come to pass and those. So in their forties, thirties, forties, uh, predominantly their forties are the new homeowners and the business owners are typically leading organizations. There is their study after study that there's an expectation that you can find
00:34:38
Speaker
if you're going to contract out with somebody or hire them, that you find them online. And there's an inherent distrust, whether it's valid or not, for those who don't have a digital presence, that these generations now that we've become so digitally focused, that we don't trust those who don't have a digital presence. Or we think that there's something wrong with them, that they're not as professional, whether it's true or not.
00:35:07
Speaker
that that's usually the first contact you have with your customers is whatever digital presence you have. And so, so important. It's the first impression nowadays. Yeah. Yeah. As opposed to the first time they see your face in the pub. I just love that. That's how we used to do it. That's how we used to do business. But I completely agree with you. It's such a good point. There is, it's the first touch point. And that's where you build trust or break trust.
00:35:33
Speaker
Um, and that's what happened. That's a lot of what I speak to in, in the talk that I give on this is, is that news is all about building trust and that relationship. It's the most powerful thing. Yeah. And you're kind of setting the standard in that moment as well. So absolutely. Yeah. You control it for better. Whatever you put out there or don't put out there. That's what your customer potential customer is going to think about you as most people will. Google docket, whatever will search you immediately, even after meeting you get a business card or whatever.
00:36:03
Speaker
they're going to go look you up online and see if it's a consistent, uh, if who they met in person is consistent online with what they were promoting. They're like, I'm the best company. We have tons of, and they go out and you have no digital presence or very little, or, um, the, the photos or whatever, the website's really crummy. Again, whether it's true or not, they're going to make an instant, uh, assumption about your business and the quality, and it will have an impact on whether
00:36:33
Speaker
they pursue you or not. Just yes, that was so important. Do you say duck it? Like, go? Is that a thing? Are you serious? So that's anybody who doesn't? Are we gonna get trouble with like, whether kids? So a lot of search engines. So what's the old adage of, if it's a digital product, and they don't charge you for it, you are the product. So they're capturing information on you and selling it or whatever. So it's no surprise. And everybody knows that
00:37:02
Speaker
Some of the larger ones track your information, use it, sell it, are marketing towards you, but capturing your information. So DuckDuckGo, as of now, anyway, is a privacy. It's never heard anybody refer to it. Usually it's like, hey, I'm going to Google that. Now it's going to be, I'm going to duck it. It's catching on, man. So it's the privacy search engine. So they don't track you and it keeps the,
00:37:29
Speaker
And it's not for, if you're doing anything wrong, if you just don't think it's moral or ethical that some company is making a lot of money off of tracking you and it's an option. To get to your point there though, on not, not on dot.go, but to get to your point on like scrolling and searching, Hey, I'm trying to find a lawn care company or a tree care company or whatever. I know, uh, recently we, for our house, we hired a different lawn care company for next year.
00:37:57
Speaker
And I spent, I don't know, 20, 30 minutes just typing in and then scrolling through websites, trying to find one that looked reputable. Cause again, that's my first impression. And my thought is if your website is terrible, you didn't put any effort or attention to that.
Website Quality and Company Reliability
00:38:13
Speaker
And I, it's hard to find you. You don't invoice me the way I want invoice, you know, electronically or whatever. To me, you've lacked attention to detail there. So I automatically am assuming you're going to lack attention to detail in my lawn.
00:38:27
Speaker
So I didn't call the places. They may do great work, but your online presence does not say that you do because it's not there. So I just thought that was kind of a good kind of point to what you were saying there, Travis. It's so true. And there's tons of studies and things out there where they pull generation after generation like it or not. That's where we're at. And, and it's probably only going to.
00:38:52
Speaker
index more on that side as far as you have to have a digital present. It has to be consistent with your brand because it will have an impact on the customer's perception of you and whether they do business
Joel's Impact on Tree Care Industry
00:39:03
Speaker
with you. So we're thankful that people like Joel are elevating the image of the tree care industry. Is that the tagline? Out there pushing the boundaries and providing options and helping solve it.
00:39:21
Speaker
People like Joel, you know, that will help change this industry. It can't be him by himself, but a lot of people with that kind of vision, that is what will change this energy. So Joel, thank you for your time. Thank you for being on with us today. It's a pleasure. It's great to be on here. Really appreciate the invite. So thank you very much.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. It's all you guys listening. If you liked the episode, you know, share it with others. You know, obviously we're not charging for this at all. No ads were ran. Um, but the only thing we do ask, please tell other people about it. Um, so Joel, thank you. Let's elevate this tree care game together and we'll catch you guys next time. See ya.