We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dominic Swoopes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dominic, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
With shattered confidence and a heavy heart, I found my purpose through my desire to be a become a better father. In a broken economy, during COVID-19’s introduction, I was a sales consultant for Ford. I made great money, and I was around cars all day, so I was successfully distracted from the things I valued most. It took a few years, and my first born daughter moving to Colorado, for me to realize that although I was distracted during the day, I was not happy, nor was I fulfilled.
As someone who highly values family time, I was torn between making good money in sales and not being home, or making less money than I know I’m capable of while spending more time with my kids. Either way, I felt that I wouldn’t be entirely full by picking one of those two options.
The third option I created, was to turn my hobby of photography into a full time business. This would allow me to work from home doing something I loved, while also chasing a dream. The only dream I had for my business was for it to pay the bills, and for my family to not have to stress and struggle from my choice to step away from my current career path at the time.
So far, my business has been running for about 2.5 years. In that time, we’ve been blessed with numerous unimaginable opportunities for jobs. I’ve been able to relive some of the most memorable moments from my childhood in completely different ways. Growing up, I LOVED attending rodeos. Being able to stand and create content in the arena for the performers I watched as a kid is a surreal experience. My camera has taken me to more states in the past 2 years, than I’ve been to in my 25 years of living combined. I’m definitely glad to say that I’ve found my purpose in work, which allows me to fulfill my purpose in life with my family.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
With no prior business ownership knowledge, I created what I now call Kustom Kapture, where we specialize in visual storytelling. Whether its through 6k aerial videography, or 30mp handheld still photos, we promise to tell your story in a unique and impactful way. We have successfully kaptured the most heart pounding moments of the rodeo, the most intimate parts of weddings, the grittiest hours of construction jobs, the lightning fast hands of amateur boxers, and even the surgical precision that professional drifters compete with.
My business name is spelled with 2 K’s for my 2 daughters who were at the front of my mind when creating this business, Kylie (4) and Kaela (3). It wasn’t until later, that I had 2 boys who’s names also start with K, Kaden and Kameron. Together, they provide me with the motivation I need to keep growing and expanding this company, while not even feeling like I’m working. This year, we’ll be branching off to kapture water sports in North Carolina, before traveling the US to 4 or 5 different states shooting professional motorsports.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
In my opinion, there’s many important qualities that must be present in order for someone to successfully run a business. The top 3 qualities you focus on however, will influence the majority of your business’s persona.
Personally, I chose to study what makes a good sharp photograph as number 1. If I ever found myself in competition, and landing a gig came down to who can shoot a sharper photo, I wanted to make sure I would nail a sharp photo 10 times out of 10, that was free from any unusual distortions or aberrations, For the first year of my business, I specialized in corporate work and large prints. I was more than likely obsessed with seeing the results of one of my photos blown up to the size of a poster I would order online or buy in stores.
The second quality I was most impacted by was time management. Given that I still fight with this today, it is safe to say that this can either make or break a business start-up. With the start-up part behind us, I can still say that finding a healthy balance between working, and spending what I feel is adequate time with my family, is by far the hardest part of what I do. Calendars, schedules, reminders, alerts, and notes have all become far too common in my everyday life. However, I couldn’t do any of it nearly as effectively without my partner, Madelyn.
Last, but certainly not least, is the ability to first believe in yourself, before attempting to ask someone else to. This is the base concept of self-marketing as a small business. With little to no budget, how do you stand out and attract clients that want to work with you?
If you ask someone to hire you for a job, you’re asking them to trust and believe in you, and the product your company delivers. This is easiest to do when you know exactly what it is that you can offer them, how they can benefit from it, and how you can simplify the process or make it better than the next person who could provide the same service. Without this quality, most small business owners feel like they’re selling a useless product. The only difference between a useless product and a priceless one, is how its marketed, and who it’s marketed to.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I have never had a fall back plan. Every time I have an idea or a desire to do something, I have to do it. Having this mindset may seem reckless to some, but for me, it’s always worked. Thinking in such a way has forced me to work on my weaknesses, to often try to build a new baseline of strength in said area. Becoming ambidextrous in many things, speaking or understanding new languages, employing new business concepts, exploring new hobbies… there’s something to be learned from everything. And the closer you look at something, the more you’ll learn or discover about it.
In my opinion, as the world continues to grow and revolve around us, we must do the same with it. The inability or refusal to grow with the world around you is quite literally the definition of stagnation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kustomkapture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kustomkapture/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicswoopes/
Image Credits
Dominic Swoopes
