Nobody launches a business with the idea that it will be simple. Today, we are extremely fortunate to have this lovely guest on the show, Wil Sitarz, the owner and creator of video production at 80AVisuals. If you're considering opening a video production company in Denver, tune in as this episode is for you!
Wil Sitarz, a military veteran who is now a company owner, kindly shares his journey to success with us. Listen to this podcast as we explore Wil's transformation from migrating from one place to another to where he is today.
What lessons can we learn from his extensive journey? Listen to find out more!
Key Takeaways:
[01:14] Not a quick series of events: Wil recounts his journey before he got to Denver.
[09:01] What inspired Wil to start his videography business?
[13:48] Ian delves deeper into Wil's journey, turning challenges into a profitable business.
[18:57] Be genuine, and you will attract more genuine people.
[22:15] Wil imparts knowledge on how to deal with your work environment.
[25:30] Started from the ground up and are now enjoying the fruits of their labor.
[31:10] What can work ethics do to help a project succeed?
[39:28] Building relationships with the community is critical for business.
[44:38] Wil recalls his experience working with real estate agents.
[56:35] Visit Wil Sitarz’s social media accounts!
Resources:
Stay in touch with Ian Jimeno and Wil Sitarz’s social media handles and follow them for more real estate with a dash of lifestyle goodness!
Wil Sitarz
80AVisuals
Ian Jimeno
Nobody launches a business with the idea that it will be simple. Today, we are extremely fortunate to have this lovely guest on the show, Wil Sitarz, the owner and creator of video production at 80AVisuals. If you're considering opening a video production company in Denver, tune in as this episode is for you!
Wil Sitarz, a military veteran who is now a company owner, kindly shares his journey to success with us. Listen to this podcast as we explore Wil's transformation from migrating from one place to another to where he is today.
What lessons can we learn from his extensive journey? Listen to find out more!
Key Takeaways:
[01:14] Not a quick series of events: Wil recounts his journey before he got to Denver.
[09:01] What inspired Wil to start his videography business?
[13:48] Ian delves deeper into Wil's journey, turning challenges into a profitable business.
[18:57] Be genuine, and you will attract more genuine people.
[22:15] Wil imparts knowledge on how to deal with your work environment.
[25:30] Started from the ground up and are now enjoying the fruits of their labor.
[31:10] What can work ethics do to help a project succeed?
[39:28] Building relationships with the community is critical for business.
[44:38] Wil recalls his experience working with real estate agents.
[56:35] Visit Wil Sitarz’s social media accounts!
Resources:
Stay in touch with Ian Jimeno and Wil Sitarz’s social media handles and follow them for more real estate with a dash of lifestyle goodness!
Wil Sitarz
80AVisuals
Ian Jimeno
Wil: How's it going? I'm Wil Sitarz. I'm out here in Lyons, Colorado, but I live in between Estes Park and Lyons, in the Piney Woods Springs area. I'm the owner and creator of a video production company that I call the 80A Visuals — the number 80, the letter A, and the word visuals. Yeah, I guess, I'm here to talk about myself and the Colorado area.
Ian: Love it, man. I'd say that's a sweet intro, man. I appreciate—
Wil: I get you.
Ian: I dig it. I appreciate you even just hanging out with me and talking about 80A Visuals and all that good stuff. I was looking at all of your websites, Instagram stuff. Everything you post is quality stuff. So, I'm really excited to have you on here.
Especially, going from the Drake Sitarz, I have his episode coming up, at the time of this recording, tomorrow. I'm really excited to hear his and what he thinks of it. I'm really excited to get you on here, a fellow Sitarz brother on the podcast. Stoked on it, man. I guess, initially, in order for people to get to know you a little bit more, where did you grow up and maybe a quick series of events that led you to the Denver area?
Wil: Sure. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a quick series of events that led me here. But I was born in Chicago, Illinois. We moved down to a little farm town, middle of nowhere, when I was really young, in a place called Wilmington, Illinois. So, we just grew up there.
What brought me to Colorado was, when I turned 18, I joined the Air Force. I was stationed out in Spokane, Washington and just loved it out there. While I was in the military, I started a family when I was really young. So, I moved back to Wilmington after the Air Force. Ever since then, I wanted to go back to Colorado, or not Colorado. I wanted to go back to the mountains. I wanted to go snowboarding. I wanted to go skateboarding. In farm town, in Wilmington, there isn't a whole lot of that, obviously.
Nine years later, my family moved out here to — where do we move to? We moved to Lewisville. I got a job in Boulder. I worked in there for pharmaceutical companies for calibrating stuff out, calibrating electronics and stuff like that. Then just kind of moving around a little bit from there. I moved to Frederick. The housing market went through the roof, so we cashed out after two years living in Frederick. Now we're here in the Pinewood Springs close to Estes Park and Lyons. We got our dream home. It's beautiful out here. We couldn't be happier.
Ian: Yeah, it seems like you're very tied to either the wilderness or just being out there and not necessarily within the city. So, from Spokane and — I noticed some of your Instagram pictures or videos as well — you have some time over in the Idaho area as well. I know Spokane is pretty close to Coeur d’Alene. I find that to be a beautiful place as well. I haven't been there myself, but it's a fantastic-looking place. Yeah?
Wil: Oh, it is. Coeur d’Alene, yeah, the Idaho, that whole Western Idaho is just gorgeous. I didn't go to college right away during the Air Force. So, my college years while I was in the military was there in Spokane or Coeur d’Alene and just exploring that area as young airman. It was just so fun. I just have such fond memories of that place.
I love going back. I'm actually going back at the end of the month. We're going to do another shoot for the Seattle Seahawks. So, yeah, I'm really excited about that. Just anytime, any opportunity to go back to Washington State and just see my old friends is just awesome. It's such a blast.
Ian: With Spokane being on the very far east side of Washington, and Seattle Seahawks, I assume, is in Seattle, that's quite a bit of ways to travel. Would you drive that, or would you fly there?
Wil: Well, actually, you could do both. It's about a three-hour drive from Spokane to Seattle, so it's not terrible. You can get up early in the morning and be there by nine o'clock, ten o'clock.
Ian: Got you.
Wil: So, it's not terrible at all.
Ian: Yeah, me being from the San Diego area, I'm so used to eight-hour drives from San Diego to the Bay Area or Santa Cruz or something like that. Three-hour drive, that's almost like a trip to work. It's almost pretty normal to me.
Wil: Yeah, it's a piece of cake. That's not bad at all.
Ian: No joke. Coming from the Chicagoland area, Drake definitely put in some work on his top five favorite pizza places in the Denver area or even in the Front Range area. Him being a pizza guy himself — you're smiling right now. I could tell that maybe you can relate to that. With Drake being Drake, he's very passionate about his food and things like that. But I know maybe Denver has some catching up to do in the food space. But is there anything that really keeps you in the Front Range? Yeah?
Wil: Yeah, I mean, food out here. I love Denver Biscuit. They got this fried chicken with an egg, and then biscuits. It's like a sandwich. Then they pour like gravy over it. It's amazing.
Ian: Damn.
Wil: It's so good. So, anytime I'm in Denver, I try to make a stop at Denver Biscuit. I'm not exploring the food world out here. It's just kind of whatever comes to me. I love the Mexican food out here as opposed to what's in Chicago. That's what I noticed. It's like I never paid attention to Mexican food before. It's all just the same to me. But coming out here, it's so good. Anytime we go out, it's like, let's just go to Mexican restaurant because the thing is insane. Yeah, I love it.
Ian: It's funny you say that. Because coming from Chicago to Denver, you have that sort of hatch green chili situation.
Wil: I've never even heard of that before. I didn't know what that was.
Ian: No joke. Me coming from San Diego, that's almost all I ate. I mean, that was the drunk food I ate. I would have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I would not get tired of burritos. Then coming to Denver, it's a little bit of different situation. You got to find your proper Mexican food places, at least personally, whether it's food trucks or restaurants. Not everyone is a gem, but there are certain ones that I know. I would go to those ones without a doubt, for sure.
Wil: Oh, yeah, so many people have their favorite food truck. Since I'm hanging out in the wilderness most of the time, I don't have the opportunity to explore that world. But I know they're everywhere. I know there are just people out here that love the food trucks. It's a huge staple.
Ian: Yeah, and it's great that they could just go to these breweries. Wow, it's right there in front of the place. I love it.
Wil: Yeah, it's cool, man. That's a cool setup out here, just the way everything is. Especially coming from Illinois, it's such a different culture. Everyone is outside. Everyone is out and about. I always joke around. When you come from a little Midwest town, you see an adult man on a bike. More than likely, the situation is, he legally cannot drive anymore because he made some poor decisions behind the wheel. Right here in Colorado, people are on their bikes because they want to be on bikes. It's just totally different. It's so active out here, and I really like that about this place.
Ian: I love it, man. That's a really good, accurate presentation, too. I have not met more beautiful people per capita than here in Denver. They take care of themselves here.
Wil: Oh, we're talking physically, yeah.
Ian: For sure. It's a whole different place out here and a whole different culture. Going into the business portion of it, 80A Visuals and how you started it, I know after doing a whole bunch of research on what you guys do and everything like that, it's a really good business to even start. The stuff that you make is also beautiful itself. So, I want to tell people about the world — I want to tell the world about this stuff, or at least the Denver community. What even sparked the idea of it, to even start a videography business?
Wil: Oh, man. So, I've always loved just being behind the camera and editing ever since I got my first camera, like a little Sony handycam. Probably when I was like 15, my grandpa bought me this camera. I'm not even sure why he bought it for me. But it's the perfect storm. Back when I was 15 years old, I discovered the world of skateboarding. I met some other kids in the neighborhood that also skated. I got this camera. Then also, what are we watching on MTV back in 1999? It's Jackass, right?
Ian: Right.
Wil: So, they're skateboarders, and they're just always bullshitting around just trying to make each other laugh with this camera. That's what we did, man. We rode around town on our boards trying to be good. We'd make dumb little movies. My friends were also in bands. So, we'd shoot little dumb music videos and stuff like that.
That's just something that's always carried over. When I joined the military when I was 18 and I got sent out to Spokane, I kept up with skating. I'd just get off work, it's just like a normal nine to five. I'm going to go to the skate park. I met some guys down there. They would have their camera in their hand. They're always filming stuff. So, the filming just never went away.
I have a stepbrother. His name is Richard. He lives out in Phoenix right now. Him and I grew up together. We were always filming. He loves editing. That's one thing I noticed. It's that when we would do these little stupid movies and stuff, he would just spend hours editing, editing, editing. Then what came out of it was just like, oh, my gosh. How did you even do this? I was not expecting this to look good. We're just messing around, and this looks phenomenal.
A couple of years ago, he came down and visited me in Colorado. He actually moved out to California right when my family moved to Colorado. He was just like, "You know what? I'm going to quit my job. I'm just going to do editing full time." I was just like, "Dude, do it, man. You're so good. You're so meticulous." He has a billionaire's work ethic, this guy. He's doing that.
Then during that time, my wife started her own business where she's working. She has her own clinic. It's called Side by Side Nutrition. She started out with one client. I'm sorry. She started out with one employee. Then now it seems like it keeps building. Now she needs a second one, and a third one, and then a fourth one. Now, all of a sudden, she needs an office. We're watching this business blow up. Oh my gosh. What is happening? Now she has two offices. Now three offices. Now she's got five of them with 15 employees.
During this time, I'm supporting the family. I'm an electrician. I got my degree in electrical automation. So, I'm just a blue-collar worker just making enough to enjoy our lives just like everybody else. Her business was blowing up. She was just like, "Yeah, well, you can do whatever you want now. If you don't want to be an electrician anymore—"
At the time, I really wasn't enjoying my job. It's working by myself. I don't know. So, I started thinking about it. I've never had this opportunity before. I don't know. I don't know what I want to do. I know skateboarding. So, would I own a skate shop? Well, that sounds stupid, right? If you talk to any skate shop owner, they'll probably tell you like, "Yeah, don't do it."
I was just thinking about it. I'm like, yeah, I love being behind the camera. My brother out in California loves the editing part. So, maybe we can make something with that. So, I'm like, "You know what? I'm going to be a videographer. That's what I'm going to do." My wife gave me her credit card. She was just like, "Buy whatever you need." That's behind me right over there, just tons of equipment, like $20,000 of equipment. It's a big responsibility, too. When you're handed 20 grand, "All right. Get what you need," it's like, I better do some research. This is a big responsibility. It's fun, but I better know what I'm doing.
I thought, okay, I'm going to start doing videos. How do you even start doing that? I don't know. I started listening to some podcasts. They're explaining how to get clients. You got to do some free work just to show future clients, this is what I can do. This is what I can provide to you visually with editing and everything. It's kind of cool how it worked out, because I started reaching out to some friends.
There's a couple skateboard events that I filmed and edited. During that time, my stepbrother, we would just Zoom call almost every day. He would teach me how to do or work with Adobe Premiere. Because that software is not super intuitive. It's not terrible. But we became each other's checks and balances. So, I'd sent him an edit. Before I even send it to the client, I'd send it to him. What do you think? He's meticulous. He's like, "Change this. Change this. Change this. Change this." I'm like, okay. Then he'd send me his edits. They're always awesome, so there's not much to say.
Ian: Pristine.
Wil: They're pristine, man. Go ahead.
Ian: Yeah, I guess, before we try to go too far away from the skating scene, I know that you see those, I guess, older skate videos of Chad Muska or even Tony Hawk. Even with Tony Hawk Pro Skater, I grew up with that game. It's funny, I was looking at this old video with these skateboarders that I would play all the time on Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Little did I realize that they actually have personalities in real life. It's not that they just have the dark slide on Tony Hawk Pro Skater. They actually had a life and they had a following. Some of these guys were legends.
I'm curious how much you followed that. Were you looking at fisheye lenses? Were you looking at things that were mainly skating prevalence, or were you filming other things at the same time? I mean, maybe even Jackass-related, right?
Wil: Well, growing up, when I got my first camera, I didn't care about that. I didn't care about what lens I had or anything like that. It's just like, here's the camera. Let's just film funny stuff, make each other laugh. Obviously, when you start your own video production company, yeah, that all matters a ton. To be honest, I love skating. I will always love it. But that's not what I'm pursuing at all. I don't care to film that stuff. It's fun, but it's just not something to chase. There's no money in it. Skateboarders don't make money.
Ian: Sure.
Wil: They just don't. That's the sad truth. They used to. They used to make a ton of money. But with Instagram and social media, it's just completely changed. So, that became just everything to me. Being 16 years old, growing up in farm town Illinois, it's just football and baseball and sports — which I love. I'm pretty athletic, and I love doing that stuff. But I always had a problem with organized sports. I didn't get along with anyone on the team. They're all jerks, honestly. They didn't like me. It didn't go well.
I found skating and punk music and Jackass and Tom Green, it all just hit me all at once. I love it all. I was just completely invested in reading the magazines, buying the VHS tapes, popping them in. Even with the personalities, I read Tony Hawk books, like autobiographies and stuff like that. I was just totally obsessed with it.
One guy who has really inspired me was Spike Jones. Because if you know anything about Spike Jones, he started out filming in BMX. He started out filming skate videos, but he also filmed Beastie Boys' music videos. He did — I forgot. He did a video with Christopher Walken where he's just like dancing around a mall or something like that. Then he's an Oscar-winning director on top of that. So, this dude started out as a little skate rat, filming BMX and skating. Now he's this director and Oscar-winning. His movies are amazing. This is the guy that just jumped on any opportunity he could, and he fell in with the right people.
I think when you do that, I think when you're a genuine person, and you're an authentic person, you're going to find more authentic people. That just builds and builds and builds. That's the way you meet the right people. So, that guy is a big inspiration to me, for sure.
Ian: I don't want to say that you, I guess, strayed away from the skate scene. Because you still do a couple of videos like event promos and just a lot of good material just doing skate retreats. I forgot. I don't even know the general term for it. Camp Good Buddy was an awesome video that I saw over on your website.
Wil: Oh, thank you.
Ian: It looks like such a good time, man. Everyone was just hanging out in the middle of nowhere. You got quarter ramps Ramsay. You got half pipes. It's so sick over there. Maybe just tell the audience a little bit about what is Camp Good Buddy. Are they having it again? How did you even get in contact with the founder to do this video?
Wil: Yeah, so, pretty much, there's a guy in Colorado. He runs a website called SpeakEasy. He goes from skate park to skate park, and documents it. He puts up like a nice little video that just shows the rest of the world, what's going on at the skate park. It gives the full details. Do they have lights on at night? Are helmets required? Stuff like that.
So, I hit him up. I'm like, "You do pretty cool stuff. I'm looking just to create a couple of edits. Can I make an edit, or interview you, and stuff like that?" He was like, "Well, I'm not really interested in that. But I am putting on an event." So, he put on an event in Aurora. I went and filmed and edited that. Then all the guys, they're just like, "Hey, there's another event coming up called Camp Good Buddy. You should film that one, too." I was just like, "Okay, great."
So, I just showed up. That's funny, when you're older. When you're an older guy and you're approaching these younger people, and you have a video camera, no one really ask questions. So, that's kind of it, to be honest. I showed up to the event. I knew a couple of people from the previous event. I'm like, I'm filming whatever.
It was cool because my edit was in competition with another filmer that came out. He flew out with this pro skateboarder, Andy Roy. He's like Andy Roy's personal filmer and stuff. So, I'm like, "I'm going to compete with this guy." In my head, I'm going to pull this dude out of the water. I just know I am. So, he showed up, and I met all those guys.
Then I met the owner of Camp Good Buddy. He had no idea who I was. I was just like, "Hey, I'm Wil. I'm filming this." He was just like, "Okay." I'm like, "Let's go do some interviews." He's like, "Okay. Cool." So, I filmed the interviews and everything. When you got a camera and you're filming these events, you just have to get in the middle of it and not care if you get in the way, not care if anyone — just act like you belong there. No one's going to say anything. That's kind of the rule of life. It's just act like you belong. Have some freaking confidence, and good things are going to happen.
I'm not even saying fake it till you make it, because I know what I'm filming is going to be amazing. I know whoever's going to watch it would be like, "I never expected anything close to this." That's a good feeling.
Ian: Where was this? Because this place was so beautiful and pristine. Isn't that in Colorado, still? Yeah?
Wil: Yeah, it was up in Drake, Colorado. I think that's like 20 minutes northeast of Estes Park. I drove to Loveland, and once you get into Loveland, you just take these little back mountain roads until you reach this camp. There's all kinds of camps out here, especially in the Estes Park area. There's just all kinds of little ranches.
Camp Good Buddy was actually renting out or leasing this property, so they don't own it. It was actually Sky Corral Ranch. It's the name of the ranch that they're kind of — but they let them build these huge ramps and all this stuff. It's really cool how they do that.
Ian: There were rails and ramps even on the tennis court. The whole place was just decked out for skaters. It was cool.
Wil: Oh, dude, it was an event. It was just awesome. I felt really lucky to be a part of that, and just to film such talented skateboarders. That's the coolest part about it. It's just like, these are locals. There's this dude named Bryant Chapo. He's a Native American guy from Albuquerque. He is just a ripper. He just doesn't mess. He doesn't mess up. Just filming him and then filming another guy — I can't remember his name. But man, they're just so talented. It was just a blast. Yeah, it was just a blast to put together, and just a fun experience overall.
Ian: That's cool, not even the event space but you also do businesses too. I noticed you do some work still in the skating realm but DB Skate Designs. I forgot his name, but he does woodworking and custom designs for the decks. It was funny. His story, when I watched the video, it was all about him starting the business from the first stimulus check when COVID happened.
It's funny how many people or how many local businesses really took advantage of that stimulus check, and like, you know what? I'm out of a job. I can't be a server anymore in this COVID area. I might as well just bet on myself and start my own business. It's amazing that people are doing this stuff. I love the, "I'm betting on myself. I can't trust anyone else. I might as well just go for it. This is the time to do it." It's cool.
Wil: Absolutely, yeah. Just bet on yourself, man. Just seeing my wife start her own business from the ground up, it's just wow. It's a lot of work, but it's so achievable. Just do it, man. Just always, always bet on yourself.
Dale, he's an Army veteran, actually. So, we clicked pretty well. He does really cool stuff. He's pretty successful on social media. He's just a sweet guy. Just interviewing him, he was just really comfortable. He has such a cool story. He's got PTSD from his deployments and stuff like that. I understand his world of, "I have to skate. I literally have to do this for my mental health. It's like taking a medicine. I can't not do this." I totally understand that. I really do.
His story was really cool. I think that edit turned out really well. I've had a lot of businesses say, "Oh, I watched the DB Skate. Now I want to hire you." So, that was a good one to do. Because I'm filming him. I'm like, this is bringing me to tears right now. Because he's so open and honest in his interview. I was just like, ugh. He did such a good job. I love the edit.
Ian: Yeah, so raw. I didn't even know that about it, man. That's the thing, even with interviews like this and getting to know the face or the person behind the business — if it's a solo practice, or you got a couple of co-founders — people don't know the face or the person behind it. Getting an interview and getting the podcast, and having people open up to be like, "Hey, this is my story. This is how I came to be," people can really relate to that stuff. Hey, this guy's working hard. You're bringing it to the next level. So, I'm glad that you're able to capture that with Dale.
Wil: Yeah, even capturing that with Dale. Every business owner has that story. No one starts a business, and it's easy. Everyone has their personal reasons for starting this business. There are these special qualities about their business as these struggles about their business. Any successful business you see has a story like that, where there is struggle and there is like, can this happen? Can this really happen? Then it finally does. It's just amazing. These business owners go through so much.
I know every one of them has a story to tell. That's what I really love about, I guess, creating these promotional videos for themselves. It's because it is special. It is unique, and it is worth telling. So, I'd love to be able to provide that for my clients.
I did an edit for a promotional video, for En Face Dance Studios. When I approached her — her name is Joanne. She runs En Fance Dance Studios in Frederick. I was just talking to her about it. It'd be cool to get some dance shots and some interviews and stuff like that. But once I delve into that, the studio, and I got interviews of the girls who are the students, and just hearing their story and hearing the struggles and just hearing how special this place is to them, it was so cool. Then to be able to throw that together.
Then I showed Joanne. Okay. Joanne, here's the edit. It brought her to tears. Her students were brought to tears. At the end of the shoot, she gave me this big hug. This was so fun. Thank you so much. It's such a rewarding feeling to come into these people's home essentially, and give them this — I don't know. It's just kind of a gift. I know that they're paying me to do it, but it's just cool I can make these people look like rock stars essentially. They are. They absolutely are, 100%. Then I can provide that and give them this. This is what you are, man. You are this cool. You are this good.
Ian: They see themselves as one way, like looking at yourself in the mirror is one way. It's almost like they compare their own blooper reels with other people's highlight reels.
Wil: Oh my God. Absolutely.
Ian: They never see their own highlight reel. You're there to capture it, as if someone else was looking at them and capturing that highlight reel. All these girls dancing, just dancing their heart out and performing their hearts out, you're capturing that. You're making almost like a photo album for them. So, it's very emotional what you're doing at the same time.
Wil: It is. It absolutely is.
Ian: That's another reason why people love just getting that captured and having a professional edit this stuff. There's no way they would be able to capture it on their own.
Wil: No, there's no way.
Ian: It's a good thing, what you're doing, man. It's cool.
Wil: I appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate it. There's one more story about it, especially with this dance studio.
Ian: Yeah, let's hear it.
Wil: I remember these girls were just — you can tell how much time they put into this. I'm a father of a 14-year-old girl. So, I have a heart for these for these kids. I can just see how hard they're working and how much time and effort they put into this to do these routines. I don't know. It's a skill, but work. I remember this girl. She's wearing her shoes or little dance ballerina slippers or whatever. It's just got a hole in her toe. Her toes are just dangling out. It really does emphasize the work ethic that these kids are putting in. Jesus Christ, man, with just the wear and tear. It's just awesome. It's just a really cool experience.
Ian: That is really cool. It's cool what you also capture from these big events over at Camp Good Buddy. Then DB Skate Designs, you got something a little bit more small, business-friendly. Then I noticed also that you have music videos, more specifically with Fur Trader, the artist. It's almost like you really are following Spike Jonze's footsteps, man. You're going through everything that he was capturing as well.
So, I guess, tell about your experience with even the music video portion of it. Because I guess, I take it for granted how much it — I love watching the visual with the audio nowadays, because I was watching it so much back with Fuse or MTV. I felt that it's no longer here. We're on YouTube. There are so many other things that I have to do, and I have to prioritize other things. But after watching those music videos that you were putting on, it really brought it back. Okay. There's still a scene for this stuff. So, what was that like working with Fur Trader and just doing music videos?
Wil: Oh, I love shooting music videos. This is a good time for my stepbrother who was out in Arizona right now. This is when we collaborate. Because he specializes in these motion graphics and these heavy effects. I'm more about going out and getting clients. I can set up and edit for him, but he'll really take it home with these edits. I love collaborating with him. When you can collaborate with a friend and a family member that you have common interests with, that's what it's all about, man. There's so much — it's awesome.
Anyways, working with Fur Trader, he's another Chicago transplant. He went out to Los Angeles. This is my tie into the music scene out there in Los Angeles. Growing up, one of my friends who we did movies with and skated with and played music with, he ended up becoming a pretty successful music producer. He's out in Los Angeles right now doing albums for — I guess, the older bands, like washed up. I don't know if they're washed up — Blink 182 and Avril Lavigne. What else is he doing? He does pop music now. He just does a lot of pop music.
At the time, my brother, the editor, was living with him. So, they're tied into the music scene out there. So, my brother, Richard, had done a couple music videos for him already. But I just got all this gear. I was like, "Hey, I can contribute to these videos you're doing. I can make something. We can make something very cinematic. If MTV still play music videos, it would be on MTV."
I actually drove out to California. I drove out to Los Angeles. I've never even been there before. From Colorado to LA, it's like a 16-hour drive. I loaded up my car with all the gear. He had rented an Airbnb at the Joshua Tree National Park, like that area. It's just basically the desert. That area is super cool. I never realized that. If you watch old Looney Tunes cartoons, I'm pretty sure they based it off the desert, the California desert out there. That's where they made those cartoons. So many movies have been filmed out there. I'm like, dude, I recognize this place. Holy cow. It was so cool.
So, we rented an Airbnb in the desert, and I had all my gear. We got there at about 11 o'clock in the morning. We just started filming. It was super hot out. I felt like crap just being in the desert. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do this. All my video equipment started to go overheating immediately. The camera was like, nope, can't do it.
I was a little nervous. Because I just drove 16 hours, so I just wasn't rested at all. Then I'm here in the desert just feeling awful. But it's on me to make sure we get all the shots and everything. It's do or die. Either make it happen, or go home. That's not an option, right?
Ian: That's right.
Wil: So, I have started filming. I was filming and walking around the desert. There were rattlesnake holes everywhere. We were hearing little like — So, it's just like, I hope no one gets bit. There were some weird neighbors yelling at us for something. I don't know. It was kind of sketchy being around desert people.
We filmed up until — we actually knocked it all out in one day. We filmed up till one in the morning. They wanted to film until the sun went down, but I told them like, "No, I got this lighting. We need to film at night, too. We need a day shot and a night shot. I got this lighting that's going to blow you guys away." It did. They're like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe how—" Then once he started editing, he was just like, "I can't believe how good this is. It's so awesome."
Ian: Yeah, it's awesome.
Wil: It turned out really good. I didn't edit that one. Richard ended up editing it, but I did all the filming for it. It's just when you do stuff like that, it reminds me, it's such a connection even to the client or a stranger. I don't know. When you collaborate on a project like that, it's just a bond. It's just an instant bond between you and the person. It's just such a cool experience. It's even more rewarding when you get called back.
I did an edit for Stirlini Coffee, this new coffee shop that opened up in Frederick. I came in there, and we set everything up. I did the promo for one minute long, like a commercial. They loved it. I was like, cool. You build a friendship out of that. Honestly, it is. It is a friendship. You hit them up like, "Hey, hope you're doing well. Let me know if you have any more video stuff coming up." Then he's like, "Yeah, actually, we do. Come on down. We'll talk about it." So, I got something in the works with them. They're doing a canned Martini drink. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. But they're doing a special project, and they want to do a lifestyle video, which is what I love.
I feel like I understand the Colorado culture and how to make a lifestyle video, just working with lifestyle brands like the Pacific Northwest right here. That's what I always throw to them. It's like, let's do a lifestyle video. Let's take your new drink. Let's film what the local Colorado people love to do, so you have that connection with the community.
Because that's what a business wants. A business wants a connection with the community. If you have no connection with the community, you don't have anything. You really don't. I don't care how cool your shirt is. I don't care how cool your hat looks. I don't care how good your food is. Well, maybe not food. If your food is good, people are going to come.
But if you're not connected with the community, you don't have anything. If you're not relatable, you don't have anything. I have had clients like that where it's just like, yeah, I can make something awesome for you, but you need to work on that connection. You, as a business, need to make sure what you're putting out is understandable, it makes sense, that is not vague. You can't have that as a business, you can't have some vague message. It's not going to click with anybody. So, I think these lifestyle videos are really important too for these businesses. How do I incorporate what I'm selling with the people of Colorado? So, with this — yeah, go ahead.
Ian: It makes a lot of sense having these lifestyle shots. Now that you mentioned it, I almost take it for granted whenever I watch these promo videos or commercials even of like, yeah, built for tough. They're going up the mountains, four by four, things like that. Yeah, you get to relate to the people. But you got to have an awesome product to make sure that those people buy your product. You can only lead a horse to water, right?
Wil: Right. That's it.
Ian: With all that being said, it seems like a lot of the companies that you're working with, it's almost like you vet them a little bit more, or at least maybe you vet them when you meet them in person after all these emails or after all the phone calls and things like that when you meet them in person. Sure, you do the work for them. But what kind of vetting do you do with the company or the business to make sure that, okay, this is going to be a good chemistry, good fit, we understand each other's responsibilities and things like that? What makes you want to work with a certain client versus others?
Wil: Well, to be honest, I'm not going to say no to a client. If they want to pay me to shoot a video for them, I'm going to do it. I know I can find something with their personality, with what they're selling. That's what takes some time: it's to get on that same level and understanding, okay, this is what you want. This is what the video is for. Sometimes, they don't know what the video is for. They know it's important to make a video. Every business knows video is extremely important. The best businesses out there have the best video.
I've had a client with absolutely no following. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus or anything like that. He's a great person. But they're like, "I'm going to hire you, and you're going to make these videos. This is going to get my following. I'm going to build followers." They had this impression that—
Ian: You are the silver bullet getting them into the market.
Wil: I'm the silver bullet, and their personality is going to really shine through. It's kind of a vanity project that they think people are going to jump on. It just doesn't work that way. Just because you have a video, it doesn't mean you're going to blow up. Just because you have something that looks really cinematic, it doesn't mean people are going to pay attention.
You have to have that connection with the community, like I was saying. This is a great tool. This is something you're going to need, but this is just one ingredient in the recipe. Some people don't realize that. Some businesses don't know what all the ingredients are to get to where they need to get to. Sometimes, the rest of their ingredients suck.
Ian: Yeah, you got to make sure that you get some good stuff before you promote that stuff on, like advertising, marketing, and all that.
Wil: You have to have it planned.
Ian: Yeah, it makes sense, too. I know we were talking about this a little bit earlier. I, myself, am a realtor. I know I have my niche. I have a certain type of person that I would love to work with. I'd work with anyone. But honestly, there's a certain type of person or certain type of clients that like, okay, you are my ideal client. This is the type of video that I'm producing for.
I know you do some real estate marketing as well. Say, other people that are listening to this, I know a lot of investors or agents that are listening to this as well, do you have any stories in that regard? What type of videos do you, I guess, have seen work over time, or maybe the person really shines through with a certain type of listing video or something like that? What experience do you have with working with real estate agents in that regard?
Wil: I've worked with — I know a real estate videographer. He started bringing me on some shoots when I first started this. He just keeps calling me back. He likes my editing a lot. He likes my filming. He's more of a photographer than a videographer. He does these luxury homes. He used to work — when I was doing that more, it was for Sotheby's. It's like luxury homes real estate group. So, he called me up. It's like, "Okay. We got to shoot out this $3 million mansion out by Mount Evans."
Where did we go? The first one we did was in Evergreen. So, we went out there. We met up with a realtor. We went over the game plan, and just started shooting inside these beautiful homes. Oh my gosh, they're just incredible. The first video we did, or the first shoot I did for real estate was a really funny one, where the person who owns the home should not be there. They need to get out of the house and let the photographer and the videographer do their thing, right?
Ian: For sure.
Wil: Well, this gentleman decided to stay behind. He did not like that we were there in the first place. It was really strange. So, we're filming the house. Maybe every 15 minutes, he'd walk up to us and be like, "Hey, are you guys almost done?" I'm like, no, we're trying to sell your house, dude. Why do you want us to leave? We're trying to sell your house, so you can get out of here. That's the whole point of this, right? I told him, "Okay. Maybe we got a couple of hours."
A couple hours go by, and I hear this guy in the background, in a completely different room, screaming at the top of his lungs. "They said two hours. They said they're going to get out of here, and they're not gone yet," which obviously makes it very, very uncomfortable. I got on my buddy. I'm like, "Dude, should we get out of here? What do you think?" He's just like, "Let's just finish up and go. Let's just get out of here."
Ten minutes later, five minutes later, this guy walks up to me — after I heard him screaming about us in a different room — and he's like, "Hey, you want some pizza?" I'm like, what? You want us to go, and now you're offering me pizza? Then he starts insisting that we eat his pizza. I'm like, "No, no, no, no. I don't want any pizza. Thank you, though. We're just going to keep filming, and then we're getting out."
No, no, no, I want you to eat the pizza. I want you to eat the pizza. You should eat this pizza. Then I'm just like, oh my god. So, I'm just like, "Alright, dude. I'll eat some pizza with you." Also, I sat down. I sat at his table after his screaming and swearing in some different room. I was just eating the pizza. I was like, "Yeah, it's good. Thank you." That's uncomfortable. I'm going to go back to work now. Then 10 minutes later, he's screaming again about us still being in there.
Then he's got these dogs. He has let the dogs around the house. He's got this Blue Heeler. The Blue Heeler is biting me as I'm trying to film. It's nipping at my leg trying to herd me. Because, I guess, that's the nature of a Blue Heeler. They just want to herd things. I'm filming in this house, in this beautiful mansion, and being herded by a Blue Heeler. I'm like, your dog is biting me right now. It was hilarious. It was so funny. I love that I have that experience. It was just awesome. Hey, but the video turned out great. I don't have it posted.
Ian: Did he sell the house?
Wil: Oh, that's a whole another story. Some realtor, he went to jail. I don't know. That's a whole another podcast story. Because my buddy ended up going back to that house because it hadn't sold, and there were some shady people. Someone went to jail for a really long time. I'm not sure. I'm not that tied to that house or that situation to really understand it. But I heard there's some shady stuff going on. I don't know.
Ian: I'm glad that you're not tied that deep into that property. It's a mess to begin with, just telling you it's waiting to happen.
Wil: It was, man. But it was so fun. It's hilarious.
Ian: Nice. You got the experience. You got to say that, "Hey, I work with real estate agents now." Rule number one guys, do not have your lister or your seller not be in the property while they're filming the stuff.
Wil: Get them out of there. Let's say, the millionaires because they're a little weird, I think. They're not really tied to reality. They're millionaires. They can say and do whatever they want. Because we're out at this dude's driveway. He grabs a hose. He's like, "I want you to drink this hose water because it's coming from a well, an artesian well 1000s of feet below the ground. You got to taste this water." So, we we're just like, oh my god. Would I grab the hose? Am I drinking the water? Yeah, it's good water, man. Thank you.
Ian: Crisp from the mountains. This is amazing.
Wil: Thank you for that, sir. Yeah, that's funny.
Ian: Oh my gosh. Wil, dude, this has been a pleasure, man. I feel like you really do capture a lot of the people's emotion with the work that you do. The events, the music videos, everything about it, it seems like quality stuff, man. I don't know the work, the blood, sweat, and tears behind it all. But I do know that you make a really great product.
Wil: Thank you so much.
Ian: With that being said, man, I do want people to reach out to you. But before that, I want to give you the mic. I want to turn the tables over, and have you interview me for maybe two-ish questions. So, if you got anything for me, anything at all, I would love to answer them.
Wil: Yeah, okay. Well, here's an obvious one. What brought you to Colorado? Here's two parts. Where in Colorado are you right now?
Ian: Yeah, for sure. I was born and raised in San Diego. I lived there for 30-ish years. In 2020, my wife and I decided to move over to Denver because, number one, we were just — a lot of people tell us that, "You're insane for leaving San Diego. This is the best weather of all time." We only have two seasons: spring and summer.
We were like, we have no idea what that means because we haven't tried anything else. We haven't lived anywhere else. So, we were like, okay. Number one, it's just for a change of pace. Number two, we wanted to go to someplace beautiful. My brother moved here previous, and my parents are here as well. So, at least, we know some family here as well.
I think having that Denver scene be very similar to what San Diego's attitude is like, it's still really laid back but you also get the Midwestern vibes of the hospitality, I want to get to know you. So, it was a really nice fit now that I've been here for two and a half years, give or take. Yeah, that was the main reason why. It's just a change of pace and going to a similar beauty area as San Diego. So, I'm freaking loving this Denver scene.
Wil: Good. Yeah, I'm happy for you, man. Have you skied? Are you a skier, a snowboarder?
Ian: Yeah, I'm a snowboarder. I got a whole bunch when I was over in the Big Bear area in LA, if you're familiar. It sounds like you were in LA for a little bit.
Wil: A little bit, yeah.
Ian: Big Bear Mountain high over in California. But over here in Colorado, to be honest, man, I haven't gone yet.
Wil: Oh.
Ian: I know, man. I feel like I'm doing an injustice here. But it is on my itinerary for this coming season, for sure.
Wil: Okay. Great. All right. Let me see if I have another question for you. I have one. As a real estate agent, how do you set yourself apart from other real estate agents? Because I know it's competitive out here.
Ian: It is competitive. I noticed that. I, myself, am working with a real estate agent in the Estes Park area. So, I'm actually looking for my next investment property over in that area just because it's a beautiful place. It's really close to Rocky Mountain National Park.
The reason why I want to work with someone else, even though I'm licensed in Colorado, is because they know the market way better than I do. This person has been living there for 10, almost 15 years, and they specialize in short-term rentals. The thing is that this agent is only — all they did was set up an initial call with me. They're like, "Great. I'll set you up on the criteria that you said: two-bed, one- bath for $400,000 budget," and just sent me on my way. Never checked on me for the past two months. I was like, dude, is this really the standard for real estate agents? If that's the case, then I'm about to shine right now.
I send out these weekly newsletters. I have a YouTube channel that features home tours, especially with that ideal client that I was mentioning you about. I work with house hackers — basically, people that use the low money down, 5% down option and then rent out each of the rooms to generate income on their primary residence.
Let's say, even here in Denver, they got basements here. So, you can live upstairs and have someone live downstairs, and never have to see them. Only in the driveway. So, I verify like, "Hey, this is the potential income you can get. These are the leases that I use." I, myself, am a house hacker as well. I live in the basement with my wife. Upstairs is operated as a short-term rental, as an Airbnb. So, our mortgage is almost living — we're living for free in our place.
Wil: That is so cool.
Ian: I know, with a lot of people, their mortgage is like 30% or more of their income. Why not just eliminate that expense and have yourself live for free? Now you can save that 30% for a future expense, or even your next investment property. So, that's how I set myself apart. I have a YouTube channel. I have this podcast, just getting people in the know with what's happening in Denver and getting people excited about it.
Wil: Okay. Yeah, that's so cool. Also, I probably have some clients to send your way—
Ian: Genius, man.
Wil: —who are looking to move here or move within the state. So, we'll just talk about that afterwards.
Ian: I dig it, man. I appreciate that. Well, dude, again, I appreciate everything that you're doing here. I mean, this is something that a lot of people just need to know about. Video is the thing nowadays. Especially for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, video is the best way to even connect with people. Sure, audio is a great form, but this is going on YouTube because I know people like watching stuff.
Wil: Right.
Ian: This is the next best thing. The quality that you do set yourself apart from everyone trying to do video these days.
Wil: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
Ian: Yeah, of course. So, with that being said, if people want to work with you, how do people reach out to you, Wil?
Wil: You can go to my Instagram. It's @80A.visuals on the old IG. You can go to my website, www.80Avisuals. We're doing a little reconstruction currently right now. You can go to my website 80Avisuals.com. Yeah, call me. 779-230-1189.
Ian: There you go. Can't wait for the spam, man. I love it. To be clear again, guys, it's 80A Visuals. I know that 80A — when I was searching on Google, it's like, is this 8DA? I don't know what this is. But it's 80A, just to be completely clear with you guys.
As for me, if you want to reach out to me, I'm ian.realestateagent on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. I post up weekly videos, like I mentioned with Wil, just providing a lot of value for my clients and for people that want to house hack in the Denver area.
Let's get rid of your expense on the mortgage side, and let's get you generating that income and building that financial independence. I want to make you rich in the end. So, with that being said, thank you so much, Wil, for being on the Invest in Denver Podcast, featured by or produced by the FI Team. Thanks so much, man. I appreciate it.
Wil: Dude, thank you so much. I had a blast.