Brian Confer, Founder, Capturely & Founder, The Headshot Truck
Brian Confer is the Founder of The Headshot Truck and Capturely.
Podcast
Overview
Growing one’s internet presence is becoming increasingly challenging day by day. People find it twice as hard to grow on social media platforms as they did a few years ago. One of the possible reasons being the ever-changing algorithm of these platforms hence it becomes vital to know a few tried and tested tricks that will guarantee more likes, profile visits, and connections. Today we bring you a guest who helps professionals and actors grow their network through the help of professional headshots. Find out how.
Brian Confer is the Founder of The Headshot Truck and Capturely. But he wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He started working as a child actor at a young age followed by pursuing acting as an adult too. But he found his true calling while working at his day job in sales and marketing. He changed his path right away and jumped into entrepreneurship with his company The Headshot Truck, the world’s first mobile photography studio. Although he faced many challenges in his first startup, he managed to pitch in big production houses like Netflix, NBC, Fox, Disney, and other entertainment brands.
With his second company, Capturely, Brian has shifted gears and entered into the professional market while helping businesses get more traction through the help of video/photo marketing content that helps in engagement with clients and potential employees.
In the interview, Brian talks to us about the importance of having a great headshot, either you are an actor or a professional. A professional headshot becomes the face of your brand and your organization. He also talks about the importance of having great team pages on your website. To get more profile visits on your LinkedIn, again, a professional photograph plays a major role.
“Having a professional image that’s consistent and on-brand will be really important. In fact, the About Us page is the second most viewed page on your website.”
A startup entrepreneur with experience of over 20 years, Brian talks about the challenges he faced while starting up his first company, from trouble finding investors, to partnership problems. He also talks about co-founders and if there should be one while you are starting up. Tune in to this episode and learn more about starting your own business.
Profile
I grew up the son of an entrepreneur and graphic artist, who was an advertising executive in the 60s. At a young age, I learned about marketing copy, logos, campaigns, and other sales and marketing techniques to help companies build their brand. My path to entrepreneurship was not linear though. I was a child actor and spent my high school, college, and post-college career pursuing acting in New York City, Chicago, and ultimately landing in Los Angeles. As a struggling actor, I needed a day job and I was fortunate enough to find a sales job helping adults earn their college degrees while working full time. This job provided flexibility along with the potential to be quite lucrative. I helped build that business to over $100M in annual revenue and eventually managed the sales team in the Western US.
However, that job ended abruptly and I found myself at a crossroads. I was no longer interested in pursuing a career as an actor, but I was also unfulfilled with working for someone else. So I could either jump back into the corporate world to keep a roof over my head or take a different path towards entrepreneurship. I ultimately decided to sell my home, cash out my retirement, and spend the next 5 years building a business. That business was called The Headshot Truck, which was the first mobile photography studio in the world (to my knowledge). Over those 5 years, I faced some incredible challenges including partnership problems, investor pitches, a rapidly changing landscape, and the pitfalls of growing too quickly.
Eventually, we did find a lot of success in the corporate world by taking professional headshots for brands like Netflix, NBC, FOX, Disney, and other entertainment brands. This led to the formation of my current company called Capturely. The Headshot Truck still remains a headshot studio for entertainment professionals, but Capturely focuses on creating custom photo and video marketing content for SMBs and Enterprise clients. We help businesses by providing much-needed consistent, professional, and on-brand content to help them market their products/services and increase engagement with clients and potential employees.
As Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, I am focusing much of my attention on building strategic partnerships, learning brand strategy, and keeping up with current trends in the industry. I am the tip of the spear and the visionary of the business and have a wonderful team of integrators and executors working with me.
I am also pursuing my MBA in the fall at the UCLA Anderson Executive MBA program. I am excited to continue my formal education (20 years after leaving college) and growing as a professional and as a person. I love learning and engaging with people to build long-lasting relationships and impact the world in a positive way.
