Believe in YOURSELF with Ben & Cassidy Royall

Imagine stepping into the world of photography with only a pink Polaroid camera in hand and a heart full of passion. This was the humble beginning of Cassidy and Ben Royall, the dynamic duo behind Royall Media. Join us as we unravel their fascinating journey over a glass of Michter's Straight Rye, discussing how Cassidy's teenage obsession with photography flourished into a thriving business. From the moment they first met, to overcoming business challenges, their story serves as an encouraging call to action for anyone teetering on the brink of starting their own venture.

Of course, it’s not just about business. We delve deep into the challenges the Royall's faced that not only propelled their business growth but fortified their marriage as well. We unearth the surprising dominance of women in the photography business and discuss the value of reinvesting in the business, guiding anyone who’s considering starting their own LLC. But it doesn't end there. We also venture into the creative realm, and the key role of consistency and reputation in small business growth.

As we wind down our conversation, we touch on defining success, creating a legacy and how business goals interweave with personal life. For the Royall's, success denotes more than financial gain. It's about radiating a positive impact on their family culture. Delve into their future plans and how their dedication and passion may just inspire their future offspring. So, refill your glass and enjoy some final words of wisdom served neat with another round of whiskey. Just like the Royall's, we hope our conversation leaves you inspired, invigorated and ready to take on the world.

How to Find the Royall's
@royall.media
royall.media

Sway Creations PROMO CODE: WHISKEY
Level Up your Marketing and Social Media Use PROMO CODE: WHISKEY for 10% off your first month.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Thank you all for listening to this week's podcast! If you enjoy listening please consider rating, following, and reviewing the show.

Want to support the show further? Consider subscribing to the show, HERE

How to find us:
Whiskey & Wisdom: @whiskey.and.wisdom
Chris Kellum: @ctkellum
LinkedIn: Christopher Kellum
Tyler Yaw: @tyler_yaw_
LinkedIn: Tyler Yaw

Transcript

Tyler: 0:31

Welcome back to the whiskey wisdom podcast, everyone. This is your cohost

Ben: 0:35

Tyler y'all and Chris Kellum. And today we have Cassidy Royal and her husband, Ben Royal, and

Tyler: 0:42

they are the owners of

Ben: 0:44

Royal media. So that's us. That's what the shutter

Tyler: 0:47

was for. Yeah. Right.

Ben: 0:48

That's what the shutter at the beginning of the series was. We brought props.

Chris: 0:53

Surprisingly enough, we haven't had a photographer on in like almost a

Ben: 0:56

year.

Tyler: 0:56

Yeah, it's been a while. So it was about time to bring you guys on. It's about time.

Cassidy: 1:00

We're

Tyler: 1:00

excited. So if you see any good pictures of us that you typically don't see, it's from these guys over here. 100%.

Cassidy: 1:07

They were not taken on Tyler's phone. They were taken on. Right. Nice camera. Yeah.

Chris: 1:13

Love it. But before we go into the deep dive of your business and how you somehow know Tyler we are sipping on micture straight rye. I didn't realize that they had like a difference between their straight rye and their tenure. This one is surprisingly enough, still a single barrel. It's going to be an 84 proof, so not too crazy. So it'll be good to sip on or mix. Flavor wise it's supposed to kind of have a little peppery notes, citrus, butterscotch and oak. And it's chilled in, you know, the usual fire charred new

Ben: 1:51

American white oak barrels. Sounds good. Let's try it. All right. Let's see. Cheers. Cheerios. Cheers. Oh. Oh. Boom. That's solid.

Chris: 2:03

It's warm.

Ben: 2:05

It's a solid rye. I really like it. Honestly. Like for a bottle that you can probably find just about every time you go to an ABC store in North Carolina. Like I really like it.

Tyler: 2:12

Yeah. And it's relatively affordable for being like a decent rye and everything too. I like mixing that with ginger a

Ben: 2:17

lot. Yeah. It tastes really good. Yeah. Y'all ever had a Sazerac rye? Yes. From Buffalo Trace? That's, yeah. That's another one of my favorites as well. And it's like, you can't ever find it, but like 20 bucks at Buffalo Trace, like, great. 20. So I have friends like running through Kentucky. I'm like, Hey, so cheap.

Chris: 2:35

Like I was coming back from Charlotte a couple months ago and we just stopped in the random liquor store and I'm like, Oh, there's Sazerac

Cassidy: 2:41

cry. I wonder if it was the one that we stopped at that you said was like the

Ben: 2:47

honey hole. It was a honey. There's a honey hole on 74 on the way to Charlotte. Really? Yeah. What's the town, babe. It's where Elvis is, Elvis or Randy Travis or something like that. It's he's like, right, there's like a building with his like, It's the birthplace of Elvis. No, it's Randy Travis. It's Randy Travis.

Cassidy: 3:02

Randy Travis for

Ben: 3:03

sure. Two very different people. When I think Elvis, I definitely think Randy Travis. Yeah, there, yeah. That's basically one of them. I think it is Randy Travis and he's like, there's a, if you're going up 74 to Charlotte from Wilmington. There's a town and there's a Randy Chavis mural and then right up there there's like an old bank that was converted Huh? Marshfield. Marshfield. Yes, dude. It's a honey hole. They had it. It's they have everything Like I

Chris: 3:29

never go through there Because it's right before Wing it.

Ben: 3:34

Yes. And so I think Chelsea told me to stop by there. Chelsea

Cassidy: 3:38

and Cameron knew. They know about it.

Ben: 3:39

They knew exactly where we're talking. They know about it. I know what you're talking about now. Yeah. They know about it. Yeah. It's a honey hole. I was walking around and I was like, babe, I gotta spend money in here. Right. I'm sorry, but it's right before the bypass. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Y'all actually mind if I pour myself a little bit? Oh, please. Yeah. As much as you want. Okay. Trust me. I mean.

Chris: 4:00

We have enough whiskey. Tyler will take it home and drink more of it. I won't.

Ben: 4:04

Okay. No, I won't bring it home either. If,

Chris: 4:06

if you ever end up on the podcast or swing by or watch our YouTube videos, you'll see behind pretty much every guest, there are quite a few bottles and not a lot drinking out of them. Yeah. Because yes, we like a whiskey podcast, but we're not alcoholics.

Cassidy: 4:21

It's good to clarify

Ben: 4:22

these things. Exactly. You never know. I actually find that like most people who have the most whiskey at their house are always the most responsible drinkers. Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? As long as you don't see a bunch of empty bottles. Right. There's a difference. Then you're like, alright, it's because they actually

Tyler: 4:36

appreciate it and they're not like drinking it to get drunk. They're drinking it to appreciate the

Ben: 4:40

flavors and the nuances and all that. I see the videos of those

Chris: 4:44

guys with like, 18 bottles of like E. H. Taylor and Buffalo Trace. I'm like, but did you really, like, is there alcohol in those? Or did you buy them pre, like, drank and just filled them up with something to make it look like you got a lot? Because that's a lot

Ben: 4:59

of alcohol. Like our handy over there? Or people just put sweet tea in them when they get empty so that it looks like they have something left over.

Tyler: 5:06

Well, instead of talking about the, the whiskey anymore here, so tell us about royal media and kind of how that came together. And I guess part of that story is a little bit about how you guys, like after you guys met and everything too,

Ben: 5:19

right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cassidy, do you want to, I can start? Yeah.

Cassidy: 5:22

I'll fill in. Yeah. I feel like for, for me specifically, photography. Always a part of my life in some way kind of started when I was about 15. So coming into high school, I got a pink Polaroid camera for Christmas and I thought I was the coolest. And I just used it all the time. And I remember people, I would take pictures of everyone and people were like, can you stop? What are you doing? Why is this like an obsession for you? And I was like, I just find so much joy from it. And then it seemed like every year I would get a new. Upgraded version of a camera because my parents obviously saw the obsession and they were like, well, let's feed it more and get her another one. But then it got to a point where I think I started to see, like, this hobby growing out of it. And I was like, you know, I'm just going to keep doing it and keep taking really nice photos. And then what became a hobby became a business very quickly. As I started to share more and more of my work online and. I made all of my friends model for me. Some of them hated it, but

Ben: 6:33

this is all still in high school,

Cassidy: 6:34

right? All still in high school. And then basically by senior year, I had upgraded to a Canon DSLR with the interchangeable lenses and I was like, I'm the coolest for real now. I've upgraded for my pink Polaroid and Yeah, I think from there I had launched Cassidy Bailey photography Which was my maiden name and really just kind of stuck with that for a while had a little website going Because people were kind of messaging me at this point too and like saying we'd love for you to take Photos for us. And so I, I saw this business model slowly forming and I was like, I don't know how this happened, but here we are. And as I got into college, I saw it becoming something I wanted to really pursue. And Tyler kind of played a role into some of this because his family lived in Wilmington and I wanted to eventually end up in Wilmington, whether that be owning a studio or running a photography business out of Wilmington. Tyler was a UNCW and kind of introduced me to the campus. And I was like, I need to transfer here if I want to be a business owner in Wilmington. And yeah, so that, that became like a goal for me. And so I, I continued photography when I was in college for my first two years and then transferred UNCW. Still kept it going, but at this point I was moving from Charlotte to Wilmington and trying to find clients in a whole new city. And that was intimidating. But you started to build connections really quickly with the people, you know, and just like classmates and all of that. And after college, I kept going and eventually met this one over here. And while we were still dating, we went on a camping trip. And he knew I like was invested in the photography business, but I had kind of with school and everything, just put it a little bit to the wayside. It wasn't like my primary job.

Ben: 8:27

It was a pretty minor like side hustle. Yeah, it was a side hustle. You enjoyed it. You made a little bit of extra cash from it. It was fun money. But it yeah. It was

Cassidy: 8:34

vacation money for me at that point. And Ben was just like, I had my camera on this camping trip and picked, he picked it up and it was like this immediate connection that I feel like he had and I know he can speak to that more. We're starting to get to the point where we can talk about royal media. I'm just giving y'all a backstory Yeah, I

Tyler: 8:52

have to give a quick backstory too. Yeah, just because I've known you for so long Yeah, you did senior pictures for high school and college Cassie doesn't like taking my picture cuz I'm a pain in the ass

Cassidy: 9:04

100%

Tyler: 9:05

But it's funny that this camping trip was so integral of the The formation of the business because yeah, I don't know what maybe four years prior to that, five years prior to that. I took Cassidy and her family on this little trip to Fort Fisher, and we were walking across the rocks of Fort Fisher to the island over there. Oh, I've heard about this. Yeah. And while we're over there, there's a little island you can walk to, yeah. And there was bugs like attacking us and everything. And we were talking about it later on. And my dad was like, you don't like nature. And she was like, I like nature. I just don't like nature on me.

Cassidy: 9:46

It came like an ongoing quote that they would say whenever I like, I was complaining about something or being outside because that's what I do. And your dad reminded me of that every time. It's like, we know you don't like nature on you. I'm like, I'm glad everyone knows that about me. Yeah. And then a camping trip of all things. You must know.

Ben: 10:03

Well, we had first started dating. Like this was like, we had first started dating. I was like, Hey, you. You know, and I grew up camping very outdoors like dad took me rock climbing. Like that's what my family did. Like we didn't even vacation at the beach. Like we went to the mountains

Cassidy: 10:16

and we only vacation to the beach with your family. So yeah, it was very different

Ben: 10:22

worlds, worlds colliding, but in nature, there's such an opportunity to use a medium like photography. to capture beauty. Right. And like I grew up, I grew up kind of like a guy's guy, right? Like play lacrosse, played football, played basketball, total like jockey. And like was not, I did not have a creative outlet. I did not have a career. I did not understand that I was I never felt creative and I did not understand that I was creative. And when I picked up a camera for the first time, I actually kind of fell in love a little bit because I was able to express myself and capture things in a way and was challenged in a new way of like, I want to capture this the way that my eye sees it and like the way the, because it's so hard, like it's different. Like. It's really easy for like a person to like pick up a phone or something and you can tell yourself like this is so beautiful. But then when you take your picture on the phone, it doesn't justify it, right? It's learning to take a picture that justifies the beauty of what you're seeing. So you have to like capture it in a way that feels like real. And like that's what I kind of fell in love with on that camping trip is like this is so much fun and it was challenging. It was like hard for me and I, I, I genuinely, I think most people do like I enjoy. I don't think I used

Cassidy: 11:34

my camera much that weekend, which was weird. Like he, I don't even know why I brought it, honestly, like, I think I wanted you to bring it. Yeah. He just used it for the whole time. And like, was very, I could see this like joy on his face when he would take a cool picture and he's like, look at this, look at the sun glare. Like look at, I mean, you were like. Just mesmerized by that too.

Tyler: 11:53

I guess it was a few months after that trip. Yeah. I was out at the beach like with your family and you were down there and then I just saw you like go and pick up the camera and just start taking pictures and it was like a kid in a candy store. Like your face just lit up and I looked over at your mom and dad and I was like, I didn't know he did photography and they're like, no,

Ben: 12:10

we didn't either. I didn't. I am a professional amateur. Yeah, you do a pretty damn good job. I've seen your

Cassidy: 12:19

stuff and it's good. Very good. It frustrated the heck out of me because, you know, I'd been doing it for almost 10 years at the point that I met him and. He picked up a camera and was like automatically really good at it And I was like, I don't know if I want you to do this with me because this was like my thing for so long And it actually took me a while to like open that world up To where he could be let in to be my partner in that and like business partner which was it

Ben: 12:48

was cool. Like it wasn't immediate either, right? I mean at first it was kind of a thing of There was kind of a thing of like, you know, you had this for people in the photography world, you know what we're talking about, but at the time we met, you had a Canon 60D and some kit lenses. Yeah, it was the baseline. Yeah, it was the baseline, and I, like, I saw potential in her, and there might have been ignorance in even me seeing that, but like, I did, I was like, no, you're good, like, we can take this to the next level. Yeah,

Cassidy: 13:12

he pushed me, for sure, but in a good way of like, You can do

Ben: 13:15

more. Yeah, you can do more. And like, like just wanting her to like believe in her own ability. Yeah. And then obviously like there was a love for me in it too, but so not long after that she upgraded cameras and upgraded lenses and then that's when you could really like start to see some like stuff showing up. Yeah. And that's the other cool thing too about like, photography is like over, I mean, I've picked up a camera, I guess three, four years ago now and like. It's funny like looking back at what you used to think were good pictures. Yes, and now you're looking at them and you're like Maybe we should delete that Yeah, like that shouldn't be on our website that shouldn't be on our social media but there's there's also beauty in that because it shows like growth and it shows like yeah learning and like You know, it's it's a cool thing to be able to look back and just see like a tangible evidence of like growth Yeah that way, you know,

Cassidy: 14:00

and I think I guess to kind of go into more of royal media, but like obviously we Started dating, got engaged, and we're kind of like still working together in photography. But like, as we're planning a wedding, also like a business plan of like how we're going to rebrand when we do get married. And that was really exciting.

Ben: 14:21

My last name doesn't hurt for a business name. I was stoked.

Tyler: 14:23

I was stoked. I was like,

Cassidy: 14:25

Royal?

Ben: 14:26

Of all names? I think that's why she married me. 100%. Yeah. Just a cool

Cassidy: 14:30

name. But Royal Media. Yeah. Yeah. Like. It took us a few tries to like land on that funny enough. I think we tried oil photography or just with media. What's really cool. I mean, it, we can do so much with

Ben: 14:44

that and like, yeah, we can branch outside of photography and videography for weddings with that. And we would like to do that one day, but we're still. We're still a young business, right? I mean, we're

Cassidy: 14:54

it's just cool. I think it has opened a lot of doors, especially when you have a name like media, and it's very broad and like me working and marketing outside of photography. I'm like, there's other stuff I have interest in doing. Like, I love design. I love website design. And he's really into the video side of things. And like, Lighting and audio and like there's so many parts moving parts to media and like photography It's just how we got started and that's like kind of our bread and butter But I would say like it's exciting to think what could come out of that one day Yeah, yeah

Ben: 15:30

doing more small projects for small businesses, you know, yeah like I I You know, when you get to do a certain number of weddings, and we haven't even done that many, we've done a decent amount, but like, it's like, to be honest, they're all kind of the same, right? It's like, okay, I gotta make sure I get this kiss, I gotta make sure I get footage of the, you know, the mother putting on the bride's dress, like, I gotta make sure, the cake cutting, right? It's all the same, like, it's the same, but it's different, and with like, Potentially working for small businesses and creating like an ad for them or something like that. I really get to dream with that business owner of what message that they want to produce And then I get to dream about like how am I going to make that a reality and that that drives me a lot And so that's what I that's what I would eventually us weddings will always be a part family photos will always be a part But that's where I would really like to be able to go one day and I still have a lot of growth. Yeah admittedly in that area, I have a lot of growth, but also I don't have to be a jack of all trades and know how to do absolutely everything. I mean, you can hire out for things.

Cassidy: 16:31

And yeah, and I think something we've noticed that has also made us want to like keep media instead of just doing photography is photography, especially here is like a very saturated market, as you'll probably know. And that's okay. Like it keeps the competition like fierce in a good way. It

Ben: 16:51

makes you want to be better. There's a lot of great photographers in Wilmington too. Like shout out, like seriously, like we have a, it's a wedding town and we have a lot of like phenomenal, phenomenal photographers and credit where credit is due with that. I mean. We'd like to be in that conversation one day. Yeah. And I think we're on our way to that, but yeah, we have a lot of great photographers in Wilmington. Shout out Wilmington,

Cassidy: 17:10

North Carolina. Yeah. I think something that's been cool for our brand, if you want to put it that way, is like we can market ourselves as a husband and wife. Right. Duo, which, and a team, which a lot of couples are now actually specifically looking for. We just talked with a bride that was like, we were looking for husband and wife that work together. Oh, that's neat. And they always say like, it makes them feel a little bit more at ease because they know that we can communicate well together. I mean, we're married, so hopefully that's the case. But even in the business world, like I feel like it's a different kind of communication. It

Ben: 17:44

is. You have to be really direct. Like some people are like, They've almost looked at it. It's cool because we've like we've worked with other say videographers on a wedding. Yeah, they I'm, like, oh y'all are married. Like we've worked with other married photographers and like They don't interact the way that y'all do in a really positive way. Yeah, because like we're extremely direct with each other, but it's never out of like You know, malice. It's like, I have to be like, this is someone's wedding. We have a limited time. We have to be direct like, yeah, we mean business and it's time to like get things done. It's not times for feelings to get hurt. It's not like nothing's about that. Like nothing's ever done out of malice towards one another. And so like going into it, Understanding that and obviously having like the personal relationship that we have of trust with each other It's like that kind of makes it I think easier. Yeah, there's still stuff that happens but like By and large, I mean we work we prick work pretty fluidly. Yeah We've touched on it a few

Tyler: 18:41

times and I wanted to, that's one of the reasons why I want to bring you guys on to is kind of how it went from like your passion for so many years, building it into a passion project for both of you that turned into a business. So what were some of like the obstacles that you had to overcome in order to get to where that was now? Just because I know most people can't get past those

Ben: 19:01

obstacles that do try to work together. Yeah.

Cassidy: 19:04

I would say that, well, the first thing that came to my mind is like, I had, had, I had very minimal equipment when I started, because it had just gotten me by but I learned from him, and this took me a while, is like, In order for you to grow and I'm sure you guys have seen this with even podcast stuff like making sure that your equipment is Comparable to what's more top of the line and like what is really? Gonna drive your business to where you want it to be And so that was really hard for me and it felt like such a big hurdle is me trying to like submit to him and his Wisdom that he had and like what equipment we needed because he was doing all the research Yeah I was more of like I just want to be creative and take really beautiful photos And he's like but as a business model, we have to go

Ben: 19:56

beyond that Yeah, we have to reinvest

Cassidy: 19:59

and we had to put the money we were making back into our business, which I had not Done like that was not what I was doing before. I was like we can't use this to like

Ben: 20:09

This was our first time like making like with photography like that first year or yeah that first year We mean that was our first time making like serious money with photography And you know, we both were still working full time with like regular jobs her at uncw and I worked in a cabinet shop as a carpenter and You know, there's this thing like, yeah, you definitely, you definitely have to like reinvest. So like, I'd say if anything, that was one of the biggest challenges is like, it's funny in our personal finances. We never, we never really have disagreements, but like, for business stuff,

Cassidy: 20:40

it's a whole other

Ben: 20:41

conversation, but it's good to be able to separate that too. Right. Well, I separate like, okay, these, this is, we're talking about business finances and like, as a married couple, like This is personal finances and like, we, we always were in complete alignment with personal finances. But with business finances, there was always sometimes like a little bit of a tug of war, which I think is fine. And like, I think healthy marriages should have tugs of war. You know what I mean? Like, not to get into that realm of things, but like, I think it's like, okay to disagree. And like, still have respect for one another. And like, really have, like it's, like healthy conflict should be a thing. And our, our generation and like the world has kind of gone away from that. They're so scared of conflict. But I think one of the things that

Cassidy: 21:19

conflict and it's grown us. And it's grown our business. And it's grown our

Ben: 21:23

business. And it's grown our

Cassidy: 21:24

marriage. Yeah. I would say like, when I started to see that the equipment he was suggesting was like, Oh, this works really well. I wish I would have had this three years ago. I started to like, actually trust him. What a concept. And like, be like, okay, like if you say that this is what we need and it's going to grow us in this area. Like let's go for it. I don't want to spend money on it, but then I think too, when tax season came around is when I have like a big reality check of all the things we had spent money on and ended up saving us with tax season. I was like,

Ben: 21:57

spend it or you're paying it to the government, so you might as well spend it, get it back.

Cassidy: 22:02

I would say that was probably one of the top hurdles. The other thing that I was thinking of was like. Photography is a very female dominated business. Yeah. And so welcoming, welcoming him into that and us promoting ourselves as like, depending on when you book us, you might get him instead of me. And we had some clients that were, there's been hurdles with that. A little pushback with that. Which

Ben: 22:28

is just interesting. Because I might not have the creative eye that she has because I'm a man.

Cassidy: 22:32

It's just very, that was something that I, I wasn't expecting, I think. Yeah. And

Ben: 22:38

then like. And it can hurt your feelings, like to be honest, like it can hurt your feelings a little bit, especially me, like I'm a pretty, like I'm a, I'm a, I'm a bear, like I'm a big guy, but like I'm also a pretty sensitive guy. And like, to be honest, like. So, that like offended me a little bit because like if you go on our website or if you go on our Instagram, I guarantee you, you can't tell who took what photo. Yeah. And there's

Cassidy: 22:56

a lot of times I'm going through our albums and I'm like, I don't remember who took this one like, but it ends up in the final album and it's like, it's really cool because I think our work has slowly, it starts to like intertwine. We have like not the same eye, but I like that because he captures stuff that I don't even think to capture. Yeah. But I would say that's probably, that's been a hurdle for Shervs, like, trying to let people, getting people to understand that, like, when you book with us, Royal Media, it's not, it's not just Cassidy, it's not just me, or it's not just Ben and it may not be both of us, it's gonna, yeah, it's just kind of like letting people know that you're still gonna get a good product. But yeah, yeah, that's been

Ben: 23:37

a that's been one. I'd say another hurdle and this is just to like to encourage anybody That's like thinking about starting a business is like it can be intimidating about going out and like getting an LLC, right? And like it's a lot like registering with the state and I just actually want to shout out a business that we use to start Ellos our LLC called Zen business So there's like anybody out there that is like wanting to start a business one I would highly encourage you right like you're gonna spend 500 to 1, 000 to start a business. And it's like, even if you fail. You tried like you've learned a lot too. I know what goes on yeah And so like anybody that's even thinking about starting a business like just give it a go and like you learn as you go Like we didn't we didn't know everything we didn't know everything about when it came to filing tax Like we this was all completely new to us. We had no one mentoring us. We hadn't No help. Yeah, we're totally winging it and like we're here like we're still here and like we're we're still growing and It's extremely rewarding to look at like, as especially as a couple, but even if you're doing it as an individual, it's extremely rewarding. Look like we birthed this thing and we're slowly watching it. You know, we birthed this thing. And it's, it's pretty cool. And so like I just, yeah, Zen business will simplify registering your business. You just want to put that out there for people. This is obviously not a paid spot, but it really will simplify you registering your business and it'll simplify taxes. You're going to need a registered agent for your business. They will be that they'll do everything for you. They'll keep all of your paperwork with the state for you. Yeah. Checkouts in business. If you want to start a LLC or S corp or anything

Cassidy: 25:06

like that. I'd say the last thing is me learning patience because I think with me, with my husband and business partner, but I think with any business you start, it is so hard. Like you want to see, you see the finish line and you know what the goal is. And. We, we are not where we wanna be. But I think that's always where you kind of like, that's kind of the mindset you need to keep is that you always wanna do and be better. But it's really been cool for me to see, like this dream I had as a 15 year old girl. Mm-hmm. kind of come full circle and it looks very different than what I thought it was gonna be. Like, I thought I was gonna have a little studio space and like, Just be on my own and be living that single life and thriving in a photography company and then like It just looks a lot different, but I I love how it's turned out obviously. Yeah but it's really cool and I would say like being patient with that and being open to letting your business like Go a little bit of a different direction. And just kind of seeing what happens. It'll it'll work out the way it's supposed to so so

Chris: 26:17

Yes.

Ben: 26:18

Question. What's up Chris? He raised his hand. Yeah.

Chris: 26:21

Everyone picks on me about the, my mom's a school teacher, so I Oh, okay. That makes sense. And so people are like,

Ben: 26:26

what? So I'll say you're well-behaved. Yeah, You're not an animal.

Chris: 26:30

Well, somewhat well, but I'll be at work and I'll just randomly raise my hand and people are like, what? I'm like, y'all won't stop talking. And I know if I raise my hand you'll, you'll be like, what?

Ben: 26:39

That's right. My point,

Chris: 26:41

it works. So going off. Into like the creative concept that we mentioned earlier, which I always think is funny. Like, I have two points about that. One, I think it's weird when people are like well, Women are more creative in the photography field, so they expect women to take more. But it's the same factor when it comes to, like, clothing. Like, I work in retail, and for years people were like, Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm like, I'm pretty sure I've done just as much training and background research, More so than you did. So I could probably put together a way better outfit and layer you and make you look way better than your Pinterest

Ben: 27:20

board. It's a creativity. There's like, there's like this stigma against men with creativity and all filterly.

Chris: 27:25

It's like there's a certain type of creativity that you're expected to have.

Ben: 27:29

Yeah, we were both

Tyler: 27:30

in jewelry for a long time. I was in jewelry for like eight years and there was multiple over a few dozen times where men would come in and I'd be like, oh hey, like what can I help you with? And they're like, is there a woman I can work with? Really? Oh,

Ben: 27:43

okay. That's kind of, it's kind of Jack, right? Like it really is

Tyler: 27:47

the same way. And it's like, I mean, I guess it does kind of hurt your feelings a little bit.

Ben: 27:51

Yeah. Like if you're being honest with yourself, it's like. I'm sufficient for you. I don't think they would let you work. You have this preconceived notion that this, you need a woman to do this job, which is funny because this is like the total opposite of like what the world is talking about right now. Like, Oh, the preconceived notion is you need a man. And like men in the creative space are like, Oh no, I can do a woman's job. But I really think anybody's capable of doing anything if they're just good at it, right? Like, are you, are you good at what you do? So

Tyler: 28:19

like to that point too, I'm sure there's. There's plenty of women that are changing oil and stuff right now too. And I'm, I can guarantee that there's men that have walked in and been like, Oh no, since

Ben: 28:28

you're, I don't trust you with my car. Right? Yeah.

Tyler: 28:31

If I walk into a place to change my oil, I'm trusting whoever's like underneath

Ben: 28:34

my car. Yeah. Great. Yeah. You got that uniform and your hands are dirty for a reason. Exactly. I'm sure you know what you're doing. It's so true. Chris, you were going to make a second point. Yeah. Second point.

Chris: 28:45

Where did you, like, so years and years and years ago, I worked with a wedding photographer and Oh, I did not

Cassidy: 28:54

know this.

Chris: 28:55

Yeah, I mean, it was decades before I met anybody in this room.

Ben: 29:01

Decades? He's old. He's in his 60s. Maybe a decade. A decade.

Chris: 29:09

We're almost at two decades because I did it when I was like in high school in high school college. Okay. Okay. So,

Ben: 29:15

Yeah, you're showing your age. Yeah, it's okay. You look good. I would never guess decades. I was like, it was at least 15 years ago. Minimum. You look good. I see the style. I see the swag.

Chris: 29:29

Yes. On that. Yeah. We always show up and it's like, do I really want to be lacy comfortable or do I want to be bright? And because I wear a suit to work. I'm like, yep, you're getting bright today. And it doesn't like show all the sweat because the studio it's hot. But I've known like when looking for a photographer, I don't think as many people look into this, but I, I think about it. I'm like, What is your color palette? Ooh, because I look at people's like social media. I'm like, okay, well a lot of their stuff has like a dark gradient or like this person has more of a blue undertone or this person shoots in this like warmth.

Ben: 30:07

Yes.

Cassidy: 30:08

So warm and moody or light and airy. Yes. That's like the two big ones that you guys go for. No, that just in general, but yes, you're right. Like it's a color palette,

Ben: 30:18

but we, we started trying to aim. So like light and airy. is like beautiful and like warm also is beautiful. And there's times where we like, if a shoot leans that way, like we'll utilize that. But we really like to go for a style that's just like, we say like true to color. It's like what it actually looked like. Like we don't want it to look. Super warm, super warm or super or super cool or super airy. Like we want it, we want it to look like it did that day. And I think that's the most timeless thing, you know, especially if someone's looking back on like wedding photos, they're like, Oh, this is so warm. Like, I don't, you know what I mean? Like my skin tones don't look like that. You know what I mean? Versus if like you edit something to look just very insane with our video. Like, I just want things to look. And be represented as they were that day. Yeah. I think where that

Cassidy: 31:11

started, Chris, were you done by the way? No, I'm still, I'm still, I'm listening. Processing your thought. I hate interrupting people, so I'm like, I'm self aware. But I think that started when Instagram launched so many filters. And like, people tried to have their feed look a certain way. And then I think in the photography world, Instagram is our biggest tool because it's a photo feed, you know, it's your portfolio online. And so I think photographers started picking up on like that filter mindset, which in the photography world, it's called presets. But, i, I leaned towards when it was just me doing it, it was more of that warm tone because that was my brand at the time and that's how you people branded themselves. And people,

Ben: 31:56

yeah, people still do and people still do

Cassidy: 31:58

and people will literally like we're a part of so many facebook bridal wedding groups where people are looking for photographers and they're like, I'm specifically looking for a light and airy photographer and then it's like, Some people know they can't comment on it because that's not their brand so It's kind of interesting like I feel like our style is right in the middle almost and kind of what ben said like there's some Shoots where we've tried our presets for light and airy. It just doesn't look great. And i'm like We want to make the client look the best they can. And also if they have a preference, like we're going to try to meet that, but I look like themselves. Yeah. But I think, I think too, what you said, like with it being timeless, like I think when they look at their wedding photos in 20 years, like hopefully they are, they aren't like, Oh my gosh, why did we go with a trendy look?

Ben: 32:46

You know, like light, light and airy is the style. For wedding photography right now. Yeah, like it is the thing um And and it's great. It's beautiful. Like it's genuinely beautiful. But what is the thing? Going to be in 10 years. What is the thing going to be in 20 years? What was it 20 years ago? You know what I mean? Like when people are shooting on film, what was the thing? You know what? I mean their best. Yeah And so like I don't want to I I personally don't want to be In the thing and like that's not even like me trying to be like Hipster or rebel like, you know rebellious or anything like that I just like what to me what looks best is true to color and it is fun to play wrong play around with You know different editing styles, right? And I mean that's all it's a lot of fun But just as a business we we want to represent. Yeah true to color. Yeah as much as possible

Tyler: 33:38

That makes a lot of sense too just on a much smaller Scale like for my own Instagram type of thing. So I'm always like playing around like, oh, what's the new trend going on? Like, how am I gonna get the most like likes or whatever? So I go through

Ben: 33:50

Tyler's very

Chris: 33:52

Analytical he is but his Instagram feed is very dark. Yeah, it's color wise

Ben: 34:00

But like

Chris: 34:02

the color tones on it are very like more blues and like a darker tone versus like the

Ben: 34:07

light and airy

Tyler: 34:09

Yeah. But what's just, no, what's interesting is I was always going back and like putting the filter on it and stuff. And so like, if I go back now, I'm like, this looks horrible. I was just doing it because like, it was the thing to do. Like I just would have wish I didn't put any filter on it. So when you're talking about that, I'm like, Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yes. Especially for like wedding photos, like the most important day of your life, like having those pictures.

Ben: 34:30

Yeah.

Cassidy: 34:31

And it's hard not to fall into that trendy trap as I call it. Because it's like, You want the algorithm to like your stuff to promote it. And so if you're not in the trend, does that mean like you're way out in left field and they're never, nobody's ever going to see your stuff, but we've learned that's really not the case. Like we have our, our dedicated people and we'll get followers as, as we should. And I mean, obviously we love growth, but like,

Ben: 34:57

well, the problem with like specifically on Instagram or really any social media being a small business owner where. Most of our work is going to be done local. I mean, we right. Yeah, we will travel If anybody needs a wedding shot and they're like booking it in hawaii. Hey, well, we will come take it That's like because I

Chris: 35:14

know you did a travel

Ben: 35:15

one. Yeah. Yeah recently. Yeah, and we've had some we have one in virginia next year We have one. In duck north carolla carolla north next year so we definitely will travel but Organic growth really is for like a small business so much better than like say a reel blows up and we get another 1500 followers or something like that. It's like of those 1500 followers that are all over the country. Who's going to book with us? How many of them are actually going to book with us versus like, Oh, the family in Raleigh that saw us and they're coming down to Carolina beach for family vacation. They want to get family photos done while they're here. We want that follower, right? You know what I mean? Or the local Wilmingtonian, you know, we want that follower.

Cassidy: 35:59

The realistic followers sometimes are like, and it just, that's how it happens is people come down for vacation or. Somebody refers somebody

Ben: 36:08

to yeah, and that's really the best ultimately is a referral in any business in any business, right like any business you can't have a better advertising than Someone said these people were amazing. I would trust them to do it again That's the best advertising you could ever have in any business whatsoever because like, you know It's how you judge someone guilty or innocent in court, right is Is what is, what does people's words say? So, if you have a business, what are people saying about your business? Like, what are the locals saying about your business? Yeah. True

Chris: 36:38

that. Going back, because all I do is backpedal. Back,

Ben: 36:43

back, back it

Chris: 36:43

up. You were talking about, Wilmington has so many photographers. Huh. And my brain was thinking like, there are a lot of photographers, but there's also a lot of Everything like we got a lot of restaurants. We got a lot of clothing stores

Ben: 36:56

breweries Yeah, so

Chris: 36:58

many but people like oh, there's so many I can't start a new business so In my thought like there's so many businesses and there's always going to be the big boys that are running around big girls whomever That have been around for decades and there's knowns but like what do you do to like make yourself stand out like Like we had cassie on last year and she started her own boutique and she's like, well, this is my niche Like I want to do mom and kid stuff And like you guys are like, well, I mean, currently this is what our niche is, but we want to translate and grow as a business. And I feel like I just wanted to point that out. I'm like, I applaud you for having like, this is what our business is now, but we're doing the smart thing and looking towards growth. What are like. Stuck in like just this

Ben: 37:51

Yeah section.

Cassidy: 37:52

I mean, I think right now we're Realizing our niche is weddings and being To make ourselves, you know distinct or separate from all the other Photographers in this market. I think it takes us Promoting ourselves as as the couple that we are which we've talked about You were talking about goals and like what do you do To set those and like get there. I think we've talked a lot about we're really bad about sharing content of ourselves Which is just funny because we're photographers and videographers. We have all this equipment But we don't really tell Our story maybe the best

Ben: 38:34

and the algorithm loves it, too So I don't know why we don't but the algorithm literally loves when you share about yourself and i'm like I don't want you to care about me. I want you to care about my work.

Cassidy: 38:42

Yes Maybe that's like a creator mindset. Sometimes I don't know but like We're and we're so busy and immersed in other things that like the last thing we think to do is and we do this at weddings like we'll leave a wedding and be like, we have no behind the scenes footage of this and we've noticed a lot of photographers. They do a really good job of that of sharing that like them literally in the field working. So I think. That's something that we want to do better at moving forward is like, if we're going to market our business, we have to market ourselves and people, especially Wilmington being, I'm going to call it a small town because compared to a lot of places it is like people want to know the owner and they want to know your story so that they have this like investment into who you are, they want to feel connected. Yeah. Then they invest in your business. So I would say that's something we want to like do more of and do better at is sharing. About ourselves and like while we are different than other photographers.

Ben: 39:43

Yeah, I think the other thing with that is going back to kind of like the slow growth, even of Instagram about being like a slow growth of a business. Yeah. I want our growth to be because of consistency. There's going to be a time where a lot of these other photographers, videographers possibly like stop doing what they're doing. And. You know, a slow burn that lasts a long time is better than, you know, a quick burn. That is quick, right? So I'm, I'm fine if we're not the biggest photographers for the next in Wilmington, I'm genuinely totally cool or the next 10 years. But if we're slowly growing, I mean, that's the only really thing I'm looking for is if we're slowly growing and we're just consistent in what we do, we're consistent as humans and our interactions with our clients and our, our work is consistent. And I think that's how you out. grow competitors and you kind of hang in there with them. You know what I mean? Because there's gonna be people who are, you look at and they might even be more talent than us, like being real, like they might be, but they might not be as consistent as us and like. Hopefully, like, Royal Media is not going anywhere, you know what I mean, for the foreseeable future. Like, we're going to be around, we're going to stay doing, like, we're going to stay doing what we're doing. Yeah, I think

Cassidy: 41:00

I've seen that, even more so in companies like that. I knew back home photographers and I worked with a studio when I was in college and, like, they have just, like, held on. Even as trends have changed, their work has remained really consistent and like high quality. And I think people can see that, like it just speaks for itself and I think we'll do our best at like marketing ourselves and going the distance and like trying all those extra things. But at the end, at the end of the day, like our product, I think as long as what you said is it stays consistent. Is a good product. That it'll, it'll

Ben: 41:35

speak for itself and consistency builds reputation and Wilmington being a smaller town with all these small businesses, lots of small businesses, which I love by the way, because I feel like it gives a town a culture. I feel like Wilmington has a lot of culture and I really, really love that. Like anytime there's like a new Wendy's being built, I'm like, no, screw that. Like, can we get another local restaurant? Like, I don't want to Wendy's. I don't want to Applebee's like, yeah. I'm You know, I don't, I don't need, you know, you know what Chili's Chili's is just a Mexican Applebee's, right? Like you go to all those things like same thing with Texas Roadhouse I went to Longhorn not to spread a little bit of hate But I went to Longhorn house where they gave me like a two dollar tough steak like it was terrible and like i'm never i'm never coming back here again, but I love all the small businesses and I love the competition. And I think it's good like for the economy locally and nationally But yeah, I think, I think just like that, that consistency builds reputation and that reputation will grow your business and it takes time, but there's such an opportunity for that in a small town like Wilmington and that's where it's great. You know what I mean? And we're going to have the out of towners for sure book and yeah, we want our SEO to be good and we want to rank high on the internet and all that. And that's all good and stuff, but like it goes back to word of mouth and it goes back to consistency and it goes back to reputation and it just takes time. There's no like. There's no fast track for building a reputation like if you

Cassidy: 42:57

do have a fast track, it's fleeting Yeah, you get this like quick, you know You'll get a lot of views or a lot of likes on something and then it's like but it's not that's not something you're posting Every time yeah, sometimes it's fleeting. So yeah, so we just have our steady that we normally get and hopefully

Ben: 43:17

that'll steadily grow. Like we've, we've set kind of goals in the social media market as far as where we want to be with followers and we kind of understand how those followers affect directly our bookings. Right. And we kind of have a ratio for that. And so we know that we just want to slowly keep growing and slowly increase that and slowly increase that. And it's, you know, that's a, a lot of people don't have patience, like. For that. A lot of people want to give up and get discouraged, but like, I look at our work and I'm like, man, our work is good. Like we just got to remain consistent. Yeah. Like that's like the word I think that it boils down to is just consistency.

Tyler: 43:51

Yeah. And one of my favorite quotes is views and likes don't pay the bills. It's the quality of your followers. So those, that quality like follower is going to be that raving fan of yours. That's going out and telling people like, Hey, you need to book with Royal media just because a million people saw those million people aren't telling

Ben: 44:10

everyone to go book with Royal. So a great example of this is we were doing an engagement shoot the other night, and this is actually so crazy. And like. I'm going to say it's kind of like a god thing. So we're supposed to do this engagement shoot. And this was with a couple. We're shooting their wedding. And all of our couples who were shooting their wedding get a free engagement shoot with any package that they book with us.

Cassidy: 44:29

Just so we can get to know them

Ben: 44:30

and they get comfortable. It builds relationship. It builds, gets them comfortable behind our lens, right? Or in front of our lens. So anyways, we're supposed to shoot on the south and the Wrightsville beach for sunset, which parking, what a joke. No parking. We got parking. They couldn't get parking. So we're like, all right. We're gonna readjust so we go all the way up to access two because i'm like there's the trails up by access to All right. Yeah and it's really pretty you can walk back in the marsh and it's it's beautiful So we go up there not a lot of parking up there So we give Yeah, we give them a spot and i'm like, all right cassidy I if I need to keep driving around i'll drive around and then i'll just go shoot and you'll go shoot. Well as She's paying for their parking spot for their inconvenience of everything that happened earlier. They ran into a formal couple of hours. Oh

Cassidy: 45:13

no. They did their proposal, engagement, and wedding photos. Oh my goodness. And they were

Ben: 45:17

like, Cassidy! And talk about like having people that are in your corner and your fans. It's like, so now it's like. How much more comfortable does this person feel that we're shooting their wedding that like they just heard someone they just talked to someone which, you know, total, what are the chances that we're running into a couple? We shot their wedding and they gave us their

Cassidy: 45:35

parking spot.

Ben: 45:36

And they gave us their so I could shoot.

Cassidy: 45:39

But like we're hyping up our brand and it was so cool because this couple like we, you know, we did their proposal. We were hoping we would get their wedding. Obviously that was really cool. And I think it just like, yeah. solidified for them. Like we made the right call. Like

Ben: 45:54

these people, when you hear it face to face from another person that worked with us, it's like, and that's kind of what you're talking about. Like that is a quality of follower. When someone's looking for a family photos, like those people can be like, Oh, like Cassidy and Ben, you know, like you should check them out. And like, I couldn't really ask for anything. And that happened. That's the thing. That's the consistency. That's the thing that happens slowly. It's not an overnight thing. And like overnight things typically also disappear overnight. Right. And we don't, I don't, that's the last thing I want to be. I mean, we, we start, one of the reasons we started this business is because we want to control our family culture. And that's really important to us. And our scheduling and our scheduling and we have control fully of that. Right. And so. But with that, I mean, it comes like when we're parents one day, right? Like we get to be around because we'll be able to work from home. Yeah. And so that's

Cassidy: 46:44

really part of the goal of like doing a business like this is having that freedom and flexibility. So

Chris: 46:50

to do what you want. Yeah. So because you're talking about goals and futures question of the day, what does success look like for the both of you guys? It's different for both of us. What's the point? I

Ben: 47:05

don't know that it's that different because I think we align, I think we align more on, yeah.

Cassidy: 47:11

Okay, well I would say for me it's funny,

Ben: 47:14

is this, is this just in life, success in life, success in business? I mean, can you clarify a little bit or?

Chris: 47:20

I ask open ended questions to see what your answer is going to be. Ooh,

Ben: 47:24

I like it.

Cassidy: 47:25

I think I'm going to speak in regards to photography but I think it applies to other areas of my life, but I think that because it started as something that I really love and enjoy I've never looked at it and measured it from a financial success standpoint, which actually has been really healthy for me because I think culturally it's so easy to measure a business based on return on investment. Yeah. And that's a huge part of it. Like we can't we can't keep going And doing what we're doing and investing in our business if we're not making money so I think that is a small measure of success for sure, but I think for me personally I've always said like I will continue in this field and in this world Until it becomes something I don't love anymore and so like for me The fact that I still love and enjoy the creative process of our business. I think I've like found success in that, but I think it, it reflects to and like other areas of my life, like even my, my marketing job, like I really thoroughly enjoy it and I went to school for marketing. And so like, to me, I feel like I've been successful in that path as well because I like saw something I wanted to do. I knew I really enjoyed it and I was like, if I can find a job doing this, then, then I've found success in that. I don't really know like what success will look like down the road, funny enough, but I think as long as I'm doing something that always fuels that like creative muscle in me, then that would be like a successful yeah, I feel like that would, that would mean to me that I found success. So

Tyler: 49:09

that's great. What about for

Ben: 49:12

you, Benjamin? Success. He's like, the most I of it, because I want Royal Media to be something that is provision for our family. Right. And that's definitely a goal. And now, that is a measure of success. Yeah. When I think of like, when you ask me the very general question of, What is success to me? When I think about success, I think about family. I think about marriage and I think about children and being a good husband and being a good father. And having jobs and having a lifestyle that promotes all of that, like having a healthy marriage, having a lifestyle that promotes being a healthy father. And that's success to me. And like, I find joy. in those things and I hope and I, and I pray that like everyone finds joy in those things because to me there's not really anything on this world that's more important than being a husband and being a father. And so, I mean,

Cassidy: 50:10

I think too, it's like that generational impact you leave. It's like really cool for me to think that And maybe this is what I see as success in the future is like what our kids are going to say. Mom and dad got to do something they really loved and we loved watching that. And hopefully it encourages them to pursue. Might not be like becoming a lawyer or a doctor and that's okay, but it's like they want to do something they love because their parents did it and they saw how much joy they found in that. So hopefully like that sets a really cool standard and example in our family

Ben: 50:41

culture. I think about legacy a lot for success to like, so, obviously none of the listeners know. When I was eight years old, I lost my father, but for eight years I had him and he was like in my mind from what I remember, like. the most incredible father ever, like truly a superhero. And a lot of people have that. But as you get older and you see your dad get older, in some ways I might be trapped in that a little bit because I lost my dad. So I'll only ever see him as, as this hero, as, as if, you know, without that, you get older, you see your dad get older, you see a little bit more of like the realistic side of like, he was still my hero, but like, he's human, he's flawed. And so like, but I think like that's the legacy in a way that I was left with. And like, I want to be around for a long time and I still want to leave that legacy with my kids is that like their dad was a hero, but like that they're going to be here one day and that their words are going to have impact on their children and on the people around them that they can change environments and rooms and bring joy and bring peace. And, yeah, that's success to me. Like being able to raise a kid that can, can change a room, even if he's the youngest person in it, you know what I mean? Like having that confidence that our kid can

Cassidy: 51:45

take good photos, because they will be editing at the moment. They're able to child labor

Ben: 51:50

laws. I think we're a lot of paid. I think you're a lot of like 7, 000 a year, something like that up into like 14 more higher. Yeah. Is it more than that? And you, and then that's great too, because you can go that, you know, that can go straight into their account for them. And that's obviously not a taxable income for you, but then you're still probably, if you want to spend that, you're still spending that money for them. If it's not just staying in a savings. Yeah. There's, there's lots of cheat codes for the rich. Yeah. Build that Roth

Tyler: 52:19

IRA. That's awesome. I love, I love the outlook on that too. Wow. It's definitely different than a lot of the other answers you've got with success as well. So I

Ben: 52:29

love that. That's good. It's perfect. Not traditional American success. I don't, I don't look at the white picket fence as the dream for me. Right.

Cassidy: 52:35

Yeah. I don't think either of us have ever

Chris: 52:37

done that.

Tyler: 52:37

There's a thing that I wanna Touch on with this and then go into another question. Oh boy. So with this conversation that's going on right here, I don't know if you two remember this, but the original

Ben: 52:49

version started with this

Tyler: 52:51

podcast included

Ben: 52:52

you in it. Yes, it did. It did. Well, cause I had a lot, I had like a lot, you know, and we all kind of had this lofty idea, but then I had to narrow down. I'm like, I don't actually have. to do this. Like the idea, that's another thing about HD is dude, I have a million ideas in a day about what I could do with my day, about things that I could do in life, whatever. Probably only three of them are good or, or do I have the capacity? There's a mix of like, what is actually good and what is like, what do I have capacity to do? If

Cassidy: 53:25

you all had a podcast together, it would be about ADHD.

Chris: 53:31

I'm pretty sure if we had done a podcast, we wouldn't have had guests. It would just be, it would have been just us. And I would pull up a doc and be like, all right, so here are the random

Ben: 53:41

topics and just bounce around. Who knows what we would have ended up on. That's what it would have

Cassidy: 53:46

been. I would have loved to be a part of it just so I could see where we started and where the heck y'all ended up.

Ben: 53:51

Maybe, maybe in honor of the fact that that was like the original thing, maybe we can do that one day. Yeah. Like totally random, like it won't, it might not even be beneficial for anybody to listen to, but it'll be entertaining for us. Yes, it will. We'll

Cassidy: 54:05

let you be the producer for an episode. Well, I'm thinking like, it's called whiskey and wisdom, but the wisdom piece, if y'all three are doing it together, whiskey and ADHD.

Ben: 54:15

I like the ring of that. And how they

Cassidy: 54:16

mix.

Tyler: 54:17

To go into the last question, our official question that I have

Ben: 54:20

is if you

Tyler: 54:22

could go real back serious again if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it

Ben: 54:27

be? I got

Chris: 54:28

it. Send it

Ben: 54:30

so fast. You want to do good in school? Just follow instructions. It's that easy. Just do what people tell you to do. And I couldn't in school just do like literally you don't have to do anything else other than do what people tell you to do. And I couldn't do that because I was, I was who I was and I had a lot of trauma and I had a lot of things, but like, and that's really like, even in like the workforce, like if you're in a job. Like just literally just do what people tell you to do. And you'll be the best employee at that place. Like I guarantee you, like you'll be your boss's favorite. People are thinking you're going to be a kiss up. And it's like, no, I literally just do what I'm told to do. And people are really happy with me. So I would tell my younger self, do what you're told to do.

Cassidy: 55:11

Oh man, I have so many things I would tell. And

Chris: 55:17

this is why he is ADHD

Cassidy: 55:21

Yes, he's like immediately I have an answer

Ben: 55:23

I'm like I've thought about this before

Cassidy: 55:25

I think oh Geez, I would definitely tell her To do more things that scare you That's good Well because I learned probably more so in college and then after college that The more I did things that scared me. Well, I just, I, I realized I had less regrets after that year. Like I kind of do like this end of the year recap where I go back and look at like all the things I did in the year.

Ben: 55:52

Totally a woman thing. I'd never do that. The time of that's a non ADHD thing is good. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying I don't do it. I think it's good

Cassidy: 56:03

to have like a time of reflection at the end of each year. And I think That's something that I always notice is like those years that I did something that scared me. I had less regret that year. So I think that's probably something I would tell myself to encourage myself to do more is doing things that scare me. Cause there's still a lot of things that scare me that I like. Want to accomplish or overcome? So I think I would encourage my younger self with that and just to like worry worry less smile more nice

Ben: 56:33

You can go skydiving with

Tyler: 56:34

Jennifer for her birthday next year then

Cassidy: 56:37

Literally been in the back of my mind I told you that and somebody asked about that I was on a girl's trip this weekend and they were like Asking people in the group that they would go skydiving and some of the girls were like, I would do that over the bungee jumping, which I actually agree.

Ben: 56:51

I 100% agree. Bungee jumping is way scarier than skydiving. You know why bungee jumping is scary because you can see the ground because you can see the ground. No, no, no. I've, I've have skydive. I've, I've gone skydiving. You, you're, you're 12, 000 feet in the air. The ground doesn't really register with your brain. So it's like, cool. And you're not thinking like, I got two parachutes, not just like a bungee, like a bungee cord that could snap. And I've gone bungee jumping when I was younger, and it's, yeah, oh, my dad made me do all kinds of stuff that I didn't necessarily want to do, but I did it, but that's why he is the way he is now, but like skydiving also to is like one of the most incredible experiences you could ever have,

Chris: 57:30

see, end all of our rabbit holes in all of our rants. Ooh, what would you like to shout out? Shout out. Like social media, websites, anything fun? Oh,

Ben: 57:41

find you personally. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great, oh I guess, Royal media. Is it Royal dot media? Maybe I should do this. Yeah, maybe you should do this.

Cassidy: 57:49

For Instagram, you can find us at Royal dot media. With two L's.

Ben: 57:54

With two L's. Yeah, with two L's.

Cassidy: 57:56

Cause we're extra. We're two people, you know, we have an extra L. And then our Facebook is just Royal Media. There is no dot. And then website is also Royal. media. So that's how you can track us down. We keep our Instagram and Facebook definitely the most up to date. I did just update our website with a lot more albums. So that's exciting. It's

Ben: 58:21

pretty. Got a wedding video. Got a wedding video coming to that too. Yeah,

Cassidy: 58:24

we have. We have a busy fall ahead, so I'm excited to pull a lot of that new content onto the website and then throw it on our website just because that's kind of fall is our busier wedding season, so. Be on the lookout for more Love

Ben: 58:38

stories and i'll just go and throw out i'll throw this out there if you're listening to this podcast And you want family photos or a wedding or anything like that? If you mention this podcast to us, we'll go ahead and give you 10 off On your next booking. How about that? We weren't we weren't thinking about that, but yeah mentioned mentioned Mention whiskey and wisdom. Yeah, I didn't ask my wife, but I'm going to put it out there. The promo

Cassidy: 59:00

code is the royal treatment and yes, I'm putting that out there because Ben thinks she

Ben: 59:05

always wants to use that for some type of package name and

Cassidy: 59:09

I always to tag this Name this phrase, the royal treatment for so long he won't let me do it. Hate So here,

Tyler: 59:17

here's what we'll do. I'll snip this, I'll put it on Instagram and I'll put a yes or no vote for a survey out there.

Ben: 59:24

Come on Instagram, no royal treatment and I'll love my last name, but I'm not about it. The royal Treat You treatment. Hopefully

Chris: 59:31

do it like anytime you go. Listen, listen, anytime you're on like a podcast or something, you need a way. That's like not boring. Like obviously every time like you have a plug, it's like, Oh, you can use code whiskey and wisdom or use code MKB.

Ben: 59:45

All right. Use code Royal treatment. You get a 10% discount. Mention that you listened to the podcast Royal treatment, 2023. August 2023. There's like four promo codes. He's doing shout outs. Yeah, yeah. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm blabbering. He's got the mic in his face

Chris: 1:00:03

and the headphones on. So he's like, all right, you know, shout out.

Ben: 1:00:07

Shout out, big business. Shout out, Wilmington. Shout out.

Chris: 1:00:12

Rest

Ben: 1:00:12

in peace, Uncle Phil. Rest in peace, Uncle Phil. For real, you're the only pops that have a new. It's true. Is Chris, does anybody get that? Is anybody following me with that? I got you. Okay, okay. My

Chris: 1:00:25

little sister's gonna get that and be like, I see

Ben: 1:00:27

you. It's a great music. I couldn't keep going past that line.

Chris: 1:00:33

Thank you guys for following us. Listening to the podcast. We are on literally every platform except for podcast app. So yes So just use Spotify or Apple podcast Subscribe like comment share and you know, we

Ben: 1:00:51

love you. Cheers. Cheers