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Connect with Taylor
https://www.taylorboone.com/
https://www.instagram.com/1taylorboone/
https://www.facebook.com/1taylorboone

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

Introduction: [00:00:00] Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns: [00:00:10] I really need to start recording the pre shows and the post shows and in between the shows because there's so much great content that is created as a result of the conversations I have with the pirates and the guests and the new pirates. Taylor, good morning. How are you doing my friend?

Taylor Boone: [00:00:28] I'm doing awesome. I'm spending my morning with you, so I'm awesome.

Russ Johns: [00:00:31] It's so funny. Our parallel universe is we used to probably know each other at some point in time and it's one of these things that it's crazy how lives connect and through the introductions and through difference ways and means. And so for those that don't know you, we all have passion for video and branding and a few things like that. But for people that don't know, you give them a snapshot of what you're doing and how they could get to know you better.

Taylor Boone: [00:01:00] Oh, my gosh. I've been doing photography, had a camera in my hands since I was 13. So everybody in my circle knows I'm always snapping photos and professionally been doing it for 20 years. So it's just second nature. Telling stories. I truly love telling stories. I tell client stories and I tell Disney and Oprah stories. So I truly am a storyteller. And I love telling a story through the visual elements of photos and videos. So that's me, in a nutshell. I'm also a bookworm. I love absorbing books and it's not fiction. I love understanding the human mind and how we think and how we process stuff. Because I think that also helps with branding and with consumer products. I love understanding the psychological steps basically that a consumer goes through when they're going to make a purchase. So I think having that part of me that I want to call it  CSI, wanting to understand the brain. And then the visual elements. I truly love getting my hands on a product for a client and really diving in and going, ok, where can we take this? But the one thing a lot of clients don't know is I don't work with everybody. I really have to feel something and I have someone on my team that she'll say, hey, I met a client. They're interested in talking with you. Before the introduction happens, it's ok go look at their website, go look at their social media and if there's a feeling I have where I can start to visualize what I want to create for them, then it's okay, connect me with them. I want to do this. So I've got to have a kind of an inner core feeling.

Russ Johns: [00:02:26] I love that. I love that. One thought that came to mind when you were saying that and talking through that, the CSI piece is, do you ever walk into a store like a Dollar Tree or a Home Depot or any kind of store like that, where there's lots of products on the shelves and you're just walking down the aisle and you're looking at things, seeing how they could improve it. The thought process for myself, it's so different than most people probably because it's just oh, look at a completely different perspective. Has that ever happened to you?

Taylor Boone: [00:02:57] All the time, I can't go shopping or can't watch the commercial where I'm like, do they not understand that there's no emotional connection there? No one's going to buy this product, or no one's going to grab that label because it's so off putting, I look at it and I'm confused, but what it's saying to me is  telling me it's for my pet or it's for me.

Russ Johns: [00:03:13] Yeah. Yeah. It's funny too, because my brand, I've been all over the map, and sometimes the pickle can't read the label when they're inside the jar. You need someone like yourself to see a new perspective a lot of times. And like you mentioned, if you can get an essence of where they're headed and you can actually feel like you can enhance that and add value, then it's a much better journey when you actually can understand what the product is and where it needs to go. 

Taylor Boone: [00:03:45] One, I think, just speaking for myself, I can't brand myself.  I know who I am. I know I keep everything super simple on my side, but looking like you said, you fear the pickle in the jar. You really can't see the outside world. And I think I've run into it all the time. When a company or a product, they see the internal, but they don't see that external. And that's what consumer sees is the external. So I love figuring out what does that audience see to see on the external, and is that client shopping Chanel? Or are they shopping Cheerios?  Like, where are they at on this? And what are you saying to them through your images and through video content. And we all know everything's visual. You can't go to checkout stand without looking at the magazines, and if you choose to pick up one it's because  the texts grabbed you aliens have entered the white house. You grabbed that, that headline and there's a photo that you're just, you're mostly moved by that photo. We all know that time life magazine cover of a girl with blue eyes. She's got a burgundy shawl around her head. And when I described that, every time I do a speaking engagement, when I described that, I'm like, do you guys know that photo? And everybody raises their hands. I'm like, and how many of you picked up the magazine? And they all raised their hands. So it, again, it's having an image that is emotional, that grabs you and pulls you in, then having the content, the text really speak about the elements of the product.

Russ Johns: [00:05:09] It's absolutely true. And as someone that carries a camera since she was 13, I have to imagine that it's much different today than it was then. Developing film in 35 millimeter and having to frame the image in the capture, the film, and, make sure that everything is just right to the degree that you can versus today where you can snap off a dozen pictures in a matter of seconds. And actually see what transpires when it comes back on the screen. And so how has that impacted on your photography process? How have you been impacted by the changes in photography, in general?

Taylor Boone: [00:05:55] I won. I'm grateful I was raised on film because I still have the mindset that I only have 30 to 35. What was it? 30 to 35 shots. I don't have more than that. So I'm very particular about lighting in the set. I always look and make sure everything's 90% where I want it. Before I even pick up my camera and then picking up my camera, I want to be 99% there. I look at the shot. We want to spend less time in the editing process. We want to have it there from the very beginning. So I'm grateful for the film era and it really did change much going into the digital world, because at first I struggled with looking at it on a computer and then I had a great professor that I  mentored me through, you know, 10 years of my career. And he can start looking at your computer as the dark room. Pretend it's the dark room, bring things back in there. And I miss that emotional connection of seeing something blank turned into something. So I have to have that same mindset when I'm uploading my images and through the software and going, okay, I have to look at this and it's, it hasn't really changed that much. And it's so funny that when digital first came out, we held a workshop and we had 15 photographers and we all said were going to photograph the same thing and see if we come up with the same image and none of us did. And I think that's the fun part about photography still to this day, you could have, 50, 60 people with their cell phones, say, hey, we're going to photograph the same thing and no one's going to get it. There's an art to photography that I think is part of who you are. I think it's part of my DNA. As I see things I'm constantly shaping things. I'm constantly, I can't watch a TV show or a movie. My family hates it. Cause it'll pause and go did you see that? Did you see that slide? Did you see that transition? Did you see that emotional piece that just took place, pull you in deeper? I'm constantly looking at that. And I think that's the part of an artist as a photographer versus just a photographer and they're, they both hold the same value, but I think the artist looks for the emotional connection and someone that's just taking a photo is documenting something.

Russ Johns: [00:07:58] I find that same feeling in the music. In the transition and how the music plays into the, without even looking at the screen, I can tell when the mood is being changed in the movie, in any kind of element there, and it's just so emotional and it goes back to what emotion are we drawing out of this image?  Jeff Young has a great question, good morning pirates. What are Taylor's best practices for building a brand visually?

Taylor Boone: [00:08:32] Gosh, my best practices first figuring out what's the company story. Why did they do this? I think we all start with why did we create this product? Because there's stuff in that why that I think is very important to pull out elements in the branding.  And it doesn't have to actually be like a headline, but there's something that took place. My biggest thing I sit down and ask is why did you create this product? What was the problem you wanted to solve with it? Was something personal and then extracting that and then building. It's a ladder, so to speak. Your starting here and building it up and then figuring out the other things. Who's your target market? Who do you think is buying this product?

Russ Johns: [00:09:09] It's so important to understand what that connection is because with all the noise and as many products, you can go shopping on Amazon and YouTube and Facebook and all the platforms, and there's just so much noise out there. It's really important to get a crystal clear message on who you want to attract and who you want to engage. Just like you were talking about your clients, some clients you don't resonate with, some clients that are like, I'm not really sure that they're where they need to be in order to accomplish a goal with them. And so it's really important for us to understand that we need to have something that triggers us.

Taylor Boone: [00:09:48] And again, consumers want to spend money. They want to buy, they'll buy stuff just to buy because it's an emotional pull. How many things do I have in my closet that I bought because it was an emotional pull. Never touched it. It's you know, there's no re there's no reason for people not to buy it's figuring out what's make them buy and buy it for the right reasons and then get them to share what they bought because right now we live in a world of social influence where all of us are social influencers. If I buy something and I'm crazy about it, I'm going to post about it. I'm going to share it to my audience and someone in my audience could share it to their audience. So there's that organic piece that I always stress to my clients too. Let's find something that strikes a match that someone just has to share this, and then that builds on the video testimonials. There's so many variables that can take place. I could blab on for hours on how that ladder can just develop and really grow for a brand and a product quickly.

Russ Johns: [00:10:39] If you can get your buyers to announce to their friends that they're amazed and they're excited about buying this product and they're excited about sharing this product, that's Gold to anybody that's in product development and marketing. Well, we met through Marcia Reece, so she's going to be on the show tomorrow and we're going to be talking about her product, which we are both fans of. It's okay. Stay Well is an amazing product. I got the card right here, it's like, she's been going up on this battle and her story and her background is equally amazing.

Taylor Boone: [00:11:16] Finding out what her why is in, why she created this product makes you fall in love with the product right away.

Russ Johns: [00:11:21] I know. And it's amazing. I want to give a shout out to a couple of people that are in the room here. Sheila Chamberlin, good morning from Memphis, Tennessee. And DJ from Florida. Hello, how are you doing? And Michael Baker also from Florida. Thank you so much. It's the connection to it. Absolutely. To develop it takes time. That is so true. Mission and purpose presentation, images play such a role in that. Absolutely. Totally agree, Taylor, other people set your brand. Be real and never doubt for you. And it starts with your why and your reputation.

Taylor Boone: [00:12:08] Exactly. I think that's another key thing is the reputation. Why you created this? I feel like we all have this inner purpose. We want to make this world better than the way we found it. We want to do something. We want to know what we're doing matters and sticking to that, regardless if you have a hater. Another valuable point of just it through just if this is something you totally believe in, I look at Spanx. Spanx is a product that no one wanted. She was turned down from more stores and everyone said we don't need another girdle. And I love when she talks about there's a million dollar idea in everybody. There's a million dollar idea in your product, but it will not come overnight. You have to stay at it. You'll have to persevere and push and you have to believe in it and then find the people, surround yourself with people that believe in it and build a brand off of those values.

Russ Johns: [00:12:54] Absolutely. I love that Michael Baker says focus on how the product fulfills the need. Spanx is a perfect example of that. Somebody that had a multimillion dollar idea and she just stuck to it. She just stuck to it and said, I know that this is valuable. This is worthy of sharing, and I'm going to continue to share it with the world. Same way with Marcia and the Stay Well product and the copper. And it's just one of those things that it solved the problem that she had. It proved that she could do it, and she's been able to stick with it and continue to grow it. And that's what we could all do. Just like photography. The more you do it, it's the creative process. You continue the creative process. You learn a little bit. You continue to pursue it. You learn a little bit more than you learn what you like about it, and you learn how to navigate through it, and then you can continue to help other people. And that's the beauty of it. It's you have to keep the creative process going. So what do you do for your own creativity, your own release or your own hobbies? What is it that you enjoy doing.

Taylor Boone: [00:14:05] I'm smiling because this is where it really dates me. But if I'm not feeling inspired, I go to my vinyl records. I go and pull out Queen or Frank Sinatra. I go from one extreme to the other, or I pull out some 20 year old artists that decided to do vinyl. She does techno music. So I kinda, I go to music first of all for #inspiration. I'm a spiritual person too. So I like to meditate and at the universe for guidance and insight and that's I call it the... what are those things that we used to look through in snap and the photos would spend through. Can't remember what that was called, but that's what I do when I'm meditating and listening to music. I'm like where do I need to go to help this client? And all of a sudden image will start popping, and I'll grab my notebook and write them down and be like, okay. And there's a good percent when I pitched to the client and share with them, they're looking at me scared going, are we really going there? And I'm not, let's backtrack and start the dance over and see why I feel passionate about these images. And if we need to start here, let's start here. But ultimately I want to get over here because this is where I think there's something romantic that's going to happen here with your product and with the client. They're really going to see what you have here. And a lot of times clients don't want to tell their why.They almost feel I'm going to be judged on my why and I'm like, oh, your why is why people will love your product. So I have to give them that gentle push and I always tell them, I'm going to take you to the cliff and I'm going to ask you to jump, but I'm going to jump with you and we're not going to fall. We might feel like we're going to fall for a second, but then all of a sudden, the wind's going to come and pick it up and you're going to be okay. Sharing your why, because I really think a lot of companies that start there's was something personal that took place. And, I think that's where the universe is so magical that something personal took place, something hard and scary, looking at Marcia's story. Something extremely scary and life-threatening, took her,  it hurt enough and it scared her enough that she's there's gotta be a solution for this. And she went and found the solution and now it's a product that can keep us all safe. It can keep us all from getting colds and flus. I know for me, when she told me about the product, I suffered with sinus infections, my entire life. So I did buy the product. Haven't had a sinus infection sense. But it was got to tell your why, you got to share why you did this and it might be scary, but guess what? Somebody is going to feel a connection to that story. We all connect with Walt Disney movies for a reason. There's the universal story in there, right? There's someone that's going through something hard, found a solution, started to climb and then maybe had another drop and then found another solution and started to climb this. I'm not a Spanx fan, but I love her story  and I believe in her product. So it's again, she shared, I think if you're not, if you're scared to share your story, I think that's where the challenge starts. Start there, share your story.

Russ Johns: [00:16:52] I think story is so powerful and it's really one of those things that you can't avoid when you're being just wide open. When you're living life and you're doing what you're doing. There's so many opportunities to share your story. And I believe that everybody has a gift. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a message. And if you're lucky and your willing, you have an opportunity to share that story. Right now we live in the most amazing time in history of mankind, as it relates to being able to tell your story. We would have video just like this. We have audio, just like music. I started a project called track a day where I created a track every single day and I put it up there. I put it out in the universe and it's just a way that we can position and practice our creativity. And everybody has the opportunity to do that. Even if it's bad, eventually goes to improving. And it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be famous or you have to be visible to, to enjoy it. You can actually enjoy lots of different things. You can get very creative with it. And it's really important for people to understand that.

Taylor Boone: [00:18:07] I think that's a part of us being energy beings, right? We're full of energy and energy has to have movement and yeah. Especially, I think last year caused that movement to stop for a lot of businesses. We all felt the world's almost not pivot anymore. I feel like the axle broke for a minute and we all felt paralyzed. And then watching how many people press veered and found a new way of doing what they were doing. Couldn't do it the old way. I've got to do a new way, and I've got to find a new way of doing this. And I truly believe in everything negative in life. Something good comes out of it. And you have to go through that journey to become even stronger, better. And I think, I feel like there's a surge of brands coming. Almost from the rubble and the ashes that are going to be some of the strongest brands we've seen in a long time because of that. They existed before and maybe they are doing okay. Maybe things halted for a while because of COVID and the pandemic. But I feel like there's this inner surge where I'm not going to give up on this. I truly believe in this product. So it's almost that internal energy is being forced, even with more emphasis to it, to create a product that can go out there and be a solution for someone's problem.

Russ Johns: [00:19:16] Absolutely positively. I really believe there are so many things that we can actually develop in ourselves that we haven't. And I think taking action, it awakens that feeling. Sometimes we're like, you're going back.  Like you mentioned, I was stuck. I'll just take a break. I'll go put on an album. I'll listen to some music. I'll change my state of mind. I'll change my thought process. And then all of a sudden things arrive. You have these ideas and these slots and all of a sudden, you didn't have them and now you have them. So it's an amazing process. And we just have to trust that we're going to be doing this. Michael Baker says authenticity and integrity. Sheila says communication development and corporate unity. I love that. Taylor, Jeff asked Taylor. Would you recommend creating and using a branded hashtag?

Taylor Boone: [00:20:10] Definitely. Definitely. And I'm not a social media, I personally don't like social media for myself, but I love it for my clients. And I always stress create your hashtag, you've got one right here probably was #PirateBroadcast™. It's so important to have that hashtag and use it because that's what becomes the piece. Everyone can share becomes a sharable asset. And I always look at what's your sharable asset. What's something that can be attached to this image or this video that becomes a sharable asset and make sure everyone doing it is sharing that because that's, again, you're building, that's part of your brand.

Russ Johns: [00:20:43] It's all part of your brand. How you show up every day. Senor, six in the morning on Russ' #PirateBroadcast. Love you. Thank you. DJ says purple hearts. Hey. Hello. Hello. Hello. So my stories of spanking are fire. DJ. I love this. I feel most creative and most connected I have ever been I met DJ, the first time I met DJ was on a live stream with Gabriel Leal and now she's actually doing live streams. She's doing some great things. All of her creativity is coming out making some wonderful things happen. And that's what I suggest you just take action and you go out there and you start creating something and you figure out, okay, this is something I like, and this is something I don't like, just like your professor had to teach you on how to think about the computer versus the dark room.

Taylor Boone: [00:21:44] And I think it's, again, it's perspective. It's how we look at things. Then I think it's knowing that May is health awareness month, I always am reminded like, it's not just once a month. It's an everyday thing of making sure as entrepreneurs, I think we're harder on ourselves. And I think we tend to take things a little bit more personally, especially when it's something close to our hearts. But it's that, I always say when the haters show up, when fear shows up. Hug them. Thank you for letting me know I'm doing the right thing, because the only reason you're on my path right now, it goes back to Dorothy going along that path of the golden bricks, how many things had to show up to stop her? Because she was going to the right place. She was going where she needed to go. And you grab the people along on the path that are going to help you. But then the ones that are trying to stop you, shake your hand and say, hey, thank you for validating that I'm doing something right. And you don't need to get on this path with me, but thank you for showing up and you can go your way. I'm going to go mine. And I think that's part of taking care of ourselves externally or internally. The external piece of our business is making sure that we're staying true to our passion and our, and surround yourself with people like that want to lift you up and push you forward.

Russ Johns: [00:22:50] And I think sometimes too for myself anyway, is that I have to put enough time and effort into it because I'm one of these individuals that starts things and I have to kind of mold it in order to see where it's going to go, and I have  to play with. It's almost like a piece of music. You have to play with it in order to get the groove in. And once you get the groove in, then it's game over. You just continue to pursue it. And video, especially is the same way for me is, sometimes I take a video and I think this is going to be great. And then I look at it like, oh, this wasn't that great.

Taylor Boone: [00:23:33] But the layer of the process too. And it's the layer of, maybe it's not  right, then you revisit it a couple of weeks later or a couple months later. And it's okay, now that's right. 

Russ Johns: [00:23:41] Yeah. I see it now. Sheri Lally says it's important to take time to create and recharge. Yes. Absolutely. I felt guilty this weekend. It was Mother's Day, took mom out and it was great weekend, not complaining and  I know in the back of my mind, it's like I had this list of things that I had wanted to accomplish. And instead I took some time off to recharge and hopefully that will prove out to be productive this week.

Taylor Boone: [00:24:13] This is my reminder. Every time I start to feel guilty about recharging, I'm like, wait a minute, Oprah recharges all the time. Oprah recharges all the time and look what Oprah's created. So it's ok for me to recharge because I want to build something like Oprah has. She's given permission to recharge. Deepak Chopra's given permission to recharge. They both have amazing brands, so it's okay for me to recharge, and I think, again, it's that internal voice, right? Like you're not doing enough for your business. You're not doing enough for what you're here for, but a part of that enough is taking care of ourselves internally.

Russ Johns: [00:24:45] Yeah. One of the advantages also is being consistent, just like your camera. You've been carrying your camera since you were 13. I've been creating my entire life. And creating something and putting it out there all the time. Every day, you're like this show over 400 episodes in and still showing up every day.

Taylor Boone: [00:25:04] One it's I think it's the intention you put into it. And I think that's the part where I look at my camera. When I hold my camera, I have an intention of what I need to create. When I hold my cell phone, I'm documenting. But when I hold my cell phone and they take an internal shift and go, wait a minute, I want to create something here. There's an energy shift within me. And then I feel like that energy comes through and that's where I hold the phone. It's the way I'm now studying. When I'm in a photograph, I might, do a couple adjustments on my phone before I take it. And I look at the photo I took before that was documenting and the photo, I just took that to put intention and to look different, and that's challenging. I want to throw out to the pirate community is when you're documenting stuff with your phone, stop for a minute and go ok this photo, I'm not going to document this photo. I'm going to create something and just put that intention there. And I think you'll see a difference and you'll feel a difference. And I think it comes down to the same thing when we're working on our brands, when we're working we come worker bees, right? We get an emotion of just working through the components of it. But when we stopped for a minute and go what's intention in this? I do every single time before I sit down with my clients and they know I brought them before they get along email for me of what to prepare for the shoot. But they also know when we meet, I'm going to tell you to come into the room with your intentions. You don't come in with the tape of I'm not enough. I have crooked teeth. I have cellulite I'm 20 pounds overweight. You don't come with that list. That stays, that tape is injected. It doesn't come in the room. But when you walk into the room with me, your intentions, what is this going to serve? Where's this going? If I'm photographing someone in person, that's truly what I'm like. What's your intention right here and hold it. Hold where we want to take this. And it's so different. I watched someone just chang right in front of me from holding onto the negative thoughts. All of a sudden their posture, their head shifts. There's a different smile and it's more of the eyes and there's an energy that comes out. And when I get that, that's my favorite part. When I'm documenting a portrait and I'm photographing a portrait, that piece is, you know, and and then we turn around and we do a product, and we do the same thing. We set a product down, we set a chaps tick down and go, okay, what's the intention of this chapstick. And we can just photograph it like this and just show it as a plain chapstick?  What if we take the lid off? What if we do this? What if again, we're putting intention into  an object and it becomes a different photo?  So I think it's just stopping and going, ok let's think about what we really want this to do and how far we want this to go. What's the intent of this product or this phone or this video?

Russ Johns: [00:27:36] It's amazing. Transformation is what we're looking for, ultimately. A transformation to, I see this product to, I want this product. I want to own this product. I want the emotional piece. Taylor, it's been a wonderful time having this conversation, and I love the fact that we're here doing things. And Sheila says motivations, intentions. DJ says all components to it and yes, work it and mold it over time. Lots of comments here. I know we're out of time and I just wanted to thank you so much for being here. I want to be able to say come back and pirates are always welcome back and you can always join in and we can start the conversation. And Marcia, tomorrow is on the show, we'll have to...

Taylor Boone: [00:28:24] I'll be here.

Russ Johns: [00:28:25] We'll have to give a recap and see what she could bring to the table. And  one of our friends that are doing some great things out there. And also, I just want to make sure that people understand how do you like people to reach out to you? What's the best way for them to connect with you?

Taylor Boone: [00:28:40] Just go to TaylorBoone.com.. There's a contact tab there, and that's the easiest way. It'll come right to me. Connects that way.  I would love to hear what you're doing, what products you're working on. And yeah, that's the best way. I dance was social media, but it's a very slow dance and it's not very often.

Russ Johns: [00:28:56] I love that you're here and thank you so much for being a pirate and joining the pirate community.

Taylor Boone: [00:29:02] Thank you. I felt very honored. I'm grateful. Thank you.

Russ Johns: [00:29:06] And we have lots of people in here that I'm sure that  want to meet you and you should meet as well. So connections, conversations, collaborations, all of those good things that happen as a result of one single conversation. And as you guys know, everybody knows #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, so you #enjoytheday. Don't go away.

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