How do you cultivate an audience and create an environment that makes it so effortless and easy to share your products and promotions?

In this episode, we speak to Chuck McMillen, the Ocean City, MD photographer who runs a successful online community platform, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021989424581990/. They provide tools to plan your vacation, hotel and restaurant reviews, the ultimate online Ocean City experience with breathtaking photos or live videos, valuable advice and info, and event and activity guides.

In this Chuck shares his journey in photography from doing landscapes using his phone to where he is now, building an online community from Facebook live feeds six years ago, and how authenticity has led to his constant positive reviews. Besides, he shares how he keeps his career afloat in the offseason, his versatility in photography, and how he keeps people wanting to come back and give without any expectations.

Highlights From The Episode

[01:06] About the guest

[02:26] His journey in Photography

[03:55] Starting the Ocean City online community

[08:41] How many beach sessions he does do in a day

[10:04] How Chuck keeps his career afloat in the offseason

[10:35] Real estate photography

[12:52] What he loves doing most between weddings and beach photography

[14:00] What it takes to cultivate an audience

[17:53] How long the online group has been around

[19:34] The future of the group in terms of audience cultivation

[20:15] The future of Chuck’s photography journey

[22:58] Reasons why Chuck has been branching

[24:55] To connect with Chuck McMillen

Notable Quotes

● The American dream is to make money out of what you love doing.

● Many people fail because the passion is not there, and they are just trying to do a quick money scheme.

● People buy from people.

● Getting the right people to work with you is one of the most difficult things for business owners.

● When you own a company, you never stop working. You work 24/7.

Resources

To connect with Chuck McMillen

Website: https://www.mcmillenphotography.net/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/chuckmcmillenphotography/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasternShoreExplorer

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/ocfun/
The Lavahot podcast is proudly sponsored by

Rice’s Termite and Pest Control

Matt the Carpet Guy