Today we feature Alvin Wong, a photographer from Melbourne who has been in business for over 15 years. He is a hairdresser by trade, so his story is a fascinating journey of exploration from the analogue to the digital world. He is not a professionally trained photographer. When he decided he wanted to be one, he just went out and made it happen. He learnt through trial and error and he quickly realised that through his hairdressing background he was good at interacting with people. He also had the ability to make people feel at ease.
I met Alvin through an Airbnb Experience photography session which is only a small part of what he does. This was an extension to his side gig of using Air BNB to rent out his properties to guests. His photo sessions are akin to the Instagram style photography of living the urban experience in the Melbourne Streetscape. His main business focuses on weddings, but he also does a lot of different projects which includes travelling with his church to do Mission work. This keeps himself grounded and positive. He is old school but has navigated his way through and adapted his business to the digital world.
In this podcast we talk about how he got to this point in his professional journey giving an insight into the kind of person he is.
He gives to others by sharing his time to his community and to others in general. This year like everyone else, his business has been adversely impacted, but he knows and understands that on the other side of the storm, that things will get better.
He believes in giving people value and not just the monetary kind. His value is his extra detail in making his clients be part of the process, but also all the add-ons that come from adding real life value. As always we hope you enjoy his story.
An interesting thing that I learnt from Alvin’s experience, especially during these CoVid times was how he was able to help his Church by analysing the social media data, and then adapt accordingly. They looked at the statistics and the data available for their Instagram, Facebook and Youtube accounts and found some interesting trends. For their particular circumstance they were able to ascertain that Facebook was the platform which performed the best in relation to engagement by their audience. Instagram was not a big driver for them and they instead used this platform to drive people to their YouTube channel. They found that their Facebook page had a bigger impact on the congregation due to the older demographic of the church.
In the case of his own digital presence, he doesn’t really rely on any traffic from his website. He does admit himself, that the site is not actually a finished product. To add to this he doesn’t have access to it for a number of reasons but he says that ‘he will get to it eventually!”. He also has social media, but that, is also not a driver of business for him. What is clear is that, the more you have an idea of the performance of your social media data, then you can just change it up and then adjust and build a strategic plan accordingly.
The other interesting thing I learnt is that there are bible Apps available! It makes sense, but I have never really thought about it. Apparently it is a thing to actually have in their hands a real physical bible, so that they can do selfies with when they are staying at a hotel. A classic digital tale.
Alvin has had quiet the journey. Through his time, he has realised that, by following his instincts he has built his business to be a very sustainable and successful entity. What is also evident from his story is that if he just continues to give. His satisfaction not only comes from the experiences that he provides to his clients, but also from the giving that he does through his church.
We wish Alvin well for his ongoing journey and to his future upcoming wedding (Postponed by 2020). It will be a well-deserved wait for this next part of his life.
For the moment, its good bye until next time everyone….
Luki – Live Work Digital….See ya!
Live Work Digital 