Bio: Martin Moore is a Commercial/Lifestyle Photographer and Filmmaker based out of Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Quote: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
Social: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Website
So your story is pretty inspiring, tell us how you went from working on cars for 20 years to shooting all of the Commercials and Photo’s for a company like Koss.
Martin Moore: I started my photography business ‘Martin Moore Photography’’ in 2012. Now in the grand scheme of things my business is about as meaningless as Crystal Pepsi. That being said, my business was really the catalyst for my journey from Honda Mechanic to working full-time for Koss Headphones shooting all their Commercials and Photography.
I’ve always been two things, a creator and an entertainer. Whether I was doing magic as a child, or playing in bands at Summerfest as a young adult, or recently, making YouTube Videos; creating… entertaining… that is what has defined me and carried me throughout this absolutely insane story that is my life.
I was kicked out of my parents house in 1999 right after high school. I went to local college for one semester before I dropped out to work for Honda as a car mechanic asI needed money and college just wasn’t cutting it for me. I worked on cars all the way up until May of 2017 when Koss Headphones discovered a video I made on YouTube and brought me on full time to shoot all of their Product/Lifestyle Photography and Direct/Shoot/Edit all of their Commercials/Video Ads.
It was around 2012 when my automotive career started taking a turn for the worst and my interest in Photography/Filmmaking started taking rise. I started my business, but more importantly my brand, ‘Martin Moore.’ Whether it was daily vlogging, podcasts, interviews/features, networking or Snapchat, reaching my apotheosis, and creating an opportunity for myself where I could get out of working on cars and do what I love wasn’t a goal or an obsession, it was what I needed to live and breath.
How did you promote your company/brand in the early days?
Martin Moore: When I was first building my photography company and my brand it was about 75% social media 25% mailers.
I would create these really cool genere-oriented mailers for car dealers, restaurants, hotels ect. The mailers would features photos of my work, a personalized card and some free swag in hopes that whoever received them would need new shots of their showroom, or renovated hotel rooms/bar ect. It kind of worked, I remember I got a few jobs from them.
On the Social Media side I started off with a wordpress blog (which you can still find if you google it), twitter, facebook, instagram.
In 2015 I hadn’t booked a single wedding or commercial shoot and it was super frustrating. I felt like the first few years of starting my photography business were off to a good start, but going in to 2015 it felt like I was going backwards. I felt creatively dead and had virtually no clients booked.
I don’t know where I got the idea, but I hopped on YouTube and searched ‘Milwaukee Vloggers’ and was surprised when one person came up. Now this was back when Vlogging was in it’s infancy and people just talked in front of their iMac. In Milwaukee, there was NO ONE making real actual consistent lifestyle vlogs about their story or the city.
Now this was right around the time Instagram was getting huge. As a photographer it was very enticing, I wanted to hop on the Urban Exploring band wagon but it just didn’t feel right. I felt like I’d just be creating what everyone else was already creating. So, I saw an opportunity on YouTube to do something different, something no one else was doing in Milwaukee. An opportunity to stand out. And stand out I did. It took about 6 months before I started working with local companies and was being featured by local newspapers and blogs.
My YouTube Channel and the podcasts, speaking engagements and media features that came along with it, that was my business card, that’s how I’d promote myself, and still do today.
How have you been able to grow your business/brand?
Martin Moore: Word of mouth. Social Media.
Tesla is a great example of a brand who has a $0.00 marketing budget. They are 100% word of mouth and social media. This is a concept I wholeheartedly subscribe to. My goal has always been to get into the back of people’s minds so that when they need photos, or a video, or someone for their podcast or speaking engagement, the first person that pops in their head is Martin Moore. And more importantly, that they never even consider someone else.
I do that through my social media. By being Honest. Entertaining. Knowledgeable. Accessable. Those four things are like the pillars that hold up my brand. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Instagram Story or Facebook post. A YouTube Vlog or photo on Twitter.
What are some social media secrets to virality/sales in your most successful platform
Martin Moore: Give people a reason to care and engage.
The biggest mistake I see brands and businesses make is dictating on social media. Here’s our product, buy it. Here’s our message, listen to it.
Why? Who fucking cares? Why should anyone care?
Create content that people can either empathize with or sympathize with, and you’ll find success with virality, sales and engagement.
Teach us something we don’t know about {internet marketing, social media ads, fundraising, volunteering, yoga, sales funnels or another topic you pick}
Martin Moore: Standing Out. Look at what everyone else is doing, and do the opposite. This is something that’s defined my career. There are a million other people trying to do the exact same thing as you. The same product as you. The same idea. The same content. The only way you’re going to stand out in the sea of everyone else trying to do the same thing is to take a long hard look at what the mass is doing, and try to do it different.
What do you think you do better than most people? How are you able to do it?
Martin Moore: Work Hard…. I have a saying that I always tell people who ask me this question: ‘Work Hard. Then Work Harder.’ That’s really the mantra I’ve lived by my entire life. I’m not the best photographer, or the best filmmaker or the best creator, but the one thing I can do, the one thing that levels the playing field, is work harder than you. I’ll be up before you, and I’ll go to bed after you.
What are some of the best books you’ve ever read?
Martin Moore: I actually don’t read books. It’s never been my thing. Swear to god, the last book I ever read from cover to cover was ‘The Chipmunk’s Great Adventure.’ I listen to A LOT of podcasts though. Death Sex & Money, Crooked Conversations, How I Built This, Pod Save America, Reply All, Stuff You Should Know. I’m an audio/visual guy so books just don’t do it for me.
Write your own question (and answer it)
Martin Moore: “Why?” – My favorite quote is by an actress by Mae West, and it goes ‘You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.’
I live by this quote every single day of my life. There isn’t a minute that goes by in which I don’t think about it consciously or subconsciously. I actually have plans to get it tattooed on my left arm.. Ha.
I love this quote, because for me, it answers that age old question of ‘Why?’ Why do something… Why do anything… And for me, there isn’t a single thing I’ve done in my life that I regret. What I fear the most; is regretting NOT doing something. What if? That question, and it’s answer more importantly, is what has fueled my drive and my ambition to take life by the balls. To be the driver, not the passenger. There was no question as to ‘If’ I would ever achieve my dream, it was ‘When.
Where do you see yourself in a couple years?
Martin Moore: I don’t have any superficial goals of taking over the world or doing a TED Talks. My dream, my future goals are to just continue on the path that I’ve been on. Never turn down opportunity, and you’ll be rewarded with success. I have a weekly radio show now on 620 WTMJ here in Milwaukee with Steve Scaffidi and that’s something that has never even crossed my mind as in the realm of possible.
For me, opportunity is everything.
I look at my future, and my dreams like this; Everything I don’t like about where I am, whether it’s my life, my career, what I create, my brand is like the Titanic sinking and the shore is where I want to be, where I NEED TO BE.
In between those two points are lifeboats (opportunities) to get me from that sinking ship to the shore. Every lifeboat I get into, every opportunity I take, gets me one step closer to the shore. Every lifeboat I don’t get into, every opportunity I pass up on, there is someone in the water right next to me treading for their life who would gladly take my place.
That is a mindset I’ve always subscribed to. There is a myriad of paths we can all take that lead from where we are to where we want to be, but none of those paths are possible if you don’t take advantage of opportunities. Some of my biggest triumphs in my career have stemmed from some of the smallest opportunities I’ve taken.
What has been your biggest barrier?
Martin Moore: Time. During this entire 5ish year process of trying to create an opportunity for myself where I could do what I love for a living, time was my biggest enemy.
I worked 50hrs a week on cars. Along with that I had to get up at 5:00am every day. Get downtown by 6:00am to film the beginning of the Vlog. Be at work by 7:00am. Skip my lunch break, head back downtown to film the middle of the Vlog. Head back to work until 5:00pm. Head back downtown to finishing filming the end of the vlog. Edit until 1:00am. Go to bed. Wake up at 5:00am and repete. Every Single Day. On holidays, on vacations, and weekends. I made a Vlog every single day for 88 days in a row. Worked 50hrs a week. Also ran my photography business shooting weddings and commercials shoots. Went to meetings, networking events ect.
Not having the time to match my ambition was a huge struggle, and that’s probably a common theme you’ll hear amongst people like me. Ha. But that’s what it took.
Nobody was going to hand me a degree, or hand me a new life. I had to get it myself.
I always say “There are two kinds of people in life. Those who want it, and those who get it.’ So many people want Fame, Fortune, Success but don’t want the blood, sweat and tears that come along with it. You have to love the process more than the end result our you’ll be eaten alive by people who want it more.
Final question, what’s one piece of advice you would give someone looking to do what you did whether it’s starting a business, working their dream job or branding themselves?
Martin Moore: Why? Take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself that question. Is it because you truly believe entrepreneurship is what defines you, or is it because you’re all jacked up from the last Gary Vee podcast you just listen too? Do you want to be a YouTuber because you feel you have a genuine story to share, or do you just think Peter McKinnon and Casey Neistat are dope? Your intentions have to be genuine. It’s a long journey and you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. You have to love the emails, and lack of sleep, networking, creating, haters, trolls, people doing better than you. You have to enjoy the Process more than the end result, and unfortunately the end result is what most people strive for.
So my advice is ‘Why?’ If you can answer that without hesitation, then you shouldn’t started yesterday.
