Show Notes
If you own a real estate media company and have photographers or videographers working for you, this is probably one of your biggest unspoken fears:
What happens if you train someone… and they leave, start competing with you, and take your clients with them?
That’s exactly the situation Mark and Reed unpacked on Upmarket’s recent episode, “The Ultimate Betrayal.” After listening, we immediately knew we wanted to continue the conversation.
Alex and Oliver get into what this looks like from the perspective of two real estate media business owners who have hired shooters, built teams, lost employees, dealt with competitors—and had team members openly tell them they eventually want to start their own companies.
We talk about non-competes, moonlighting shooters, client loyalty, employee culture, protecting key accounts, hiring future entrepreneurs, and the uncomfortable reality that sometimes your photographer has a stronger relationship with your agent than you do.
But the bigger question is:
How do you build a real estate media company that’s incredibly difficult to compete with?
Not because you’ve locked everyone down—but because your systems, service, relationships, culture and brand are so good that clients and employees genuinely don’t want to leave.
We also turn the microscope on our own companies and ask: If a competitor wanted to steal our best clients tomorrow, where would they attack?
Huge credit to Mark and Reed for putting such a difficult situation out publicly. It gave the entire real estate media industry something worth talking about—and learning from.
If you have a team—or want one someday—this episode is for you.
OUTWORK — Build the business. Escape the average.
This episode of OUTWORK is brought to you by HDPhotoHub — the platform built for real estate photographers to deliver media, create property websites, and run their real estate media business.
More from OUTWORK
What does it take to build the biggest gathering of real estate photographers and media creators in the world? In this episode of OUTWORK, Oliver Ward and Alex Coombs sit down with Brandon Cooper, founder and creator of PMRE — the Photo + Media for Real Estate Conference. Brandon takes us behind the scenes of his journey from real estate photographer and business owner to building a conference that has become one of the most important meeting places for the real estate media industry. We talk about the early days of PMRE, how the conference evolved from a technical photography event into something much bigger, and why community, connection and sharing ideas with other real estate media professionals have become such a huge part of its purpose. We also get into what it actually takes to run a real estate media company while building PMRE, the challenges behind growing both, lessons Brandon has learned along the way, and why he continues putting the conference together year after year. If you’re a real estate photographer, videographer, media company owner or entrepreneur trying to grow a real estate media business, this conversation is a look at the people, relationships and community behind the industry. ABOUT PMRE PMRE — Photo + Media for Real Estate — brings real estate photographers and media creators from around the world together to connect, learn and grow. Learn more about PMRE, the conference, speakers and tickets: https://www.pmreconference.com/ SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR OUTWORK is proudly supported by HDPhotoHub — an all-in-one platform built for real estate media businesses, including online ordering, scheduling, payment collection, media delivery and marketing tools. https://hdphotohub.com/ CREDITS Guest: Brandon Cooper — Founder & Creator - https://www.pmreconference.com/ OUTWORK Hosts: Oliver Ward - https://www.instagram.com/oliwoodmedia Alex Coombs - https://www.instagram.com/alex__coombs Produced by: OUTWORK Topics: real estate photography, real estate media, PMRE Conference, Brandon Cooper, photography business, real estate videography, entrepreneurship, growing a photography business, real estate media business, community, networking and business growth.
Our first-ever OUTWORK guest! 🍸 This week, Alex and Oliver sit down with Phil Maurion, founder of Visual Advantage, one of the longest-running real estate media companies in Canada. Phil started Visual Advantage nearly two decades ago and has grown it into a team of around 20 people — with some photographers sticking with him for 10–15+ years. So we wanted to know: what the hell is he doing differently? Over a few martinis, we get into the stuff that actually matters when you’re trying to turn a real estate photography job into a real business: hiring and keeping great people, separating photographers from editing, scaling without destroying your life, competing in crowded markets, customer service, building systems, and creating a company that can actually operate without you. But the conversation eventually gets bigger than real estate media. How big do you actually want your business to become? When is enough… enough? And what are you building the business for in the first place? Phil has a pretty great perspective on balancing growth with actually enjoying your life — which is exactly what OUTWORK is about. Huge thank you to Big Phil for inviting us into his home, pouring the martinis, and being our first guest. Check out Phil + Visual Advantage: Visual Advantage - https://visualadvantage.ca Follow Visual Advantage on Instagram www.instagram.com/visual_advantage_ca OUTWORK is proudly sponsored by HDPhotoHub Check out HDPhotoHub - https://hdphotohub.com/ OUTWORK is a podcast about real estate media, entrepreneurship, and building a business that actually supports the life you want to live. Hosted by Oliver Ward & Alex Coombs. #RealEstatePhotography #RealEstateMedia #PhotographyBusiness #Entrepreneurship #OUTWORK
We had an adult sleepover… and things got personal.
Can you really shoot a $5 million luxury home on an iPhone? Oliver does—and he shoots his real estate videos handheld.
Before Alex Coombs built Northern Spruce Media, she did a little bit of everything. DJing. Creative work. Academia. Plans to become a professor. Different jobs, different ideas, and a whole lot of hunger to figure out where she belonged. Looking back, all those side quests were building toward something. In Episode 2 of OUTWORK, Alex tells the story of how she found real estate media and turned that creative drive into a successful business. Then we flip the conversation: knowing everything she knows now, what would Alex do if she had to start her real estate media business again from absolute zero? We get into finding your first clients, what she’d focus on, what she’d ignore, and how she’d approach building the business today. Part origin story. Part playbook for starting over. OUTWORK is about building the business — and figuring out the life you actually want it to create. Supporting Sponsor: HDPhotoHub New episodes weekly.