Self-Taught Visionary: Anton Benedikt’s Journey from Industrial Engineer to Acclaimed Architectural Photographer & Videographer
“There isn’t any shortage of obstacles when starting a business, but with that said, there are always growth opportunities.” – Anton Benedikt
Anton Benedikt is a photographer and videographer servicing architects, interior designers, and custom home builders. He is the Founder of AB Photo & Video, currently based in Seattle, Washington servicing many clients across the Pacific Northwest.
A former industrial engineer by trade, Anton is entirely self-taught, first discovering his love for photography and film while exploring the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest in his own pursuit of wellness.
His passion for landscape photography quickly evolved into his chosen career once he experienced working in his niche, which allowed him to weave his natural yet dynamic style and approach into architecture and design – the perfect blend of technical challenge and creativity.
Anton’s entrepreneurial spirit, artistic eye, and strategic insights into photography and videography for marketing and content creation lend themselves well to his clients.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Anton Benedikt: AB Photo & Video specializes in high-end photography and videography services to architects, interior designers, and custom home builders across the West Coast.
What sets AB Photo & Video apart from other companies is our ability to find a unique perspective and create a story for each of our client’s brands, target audience, and voice. Whether it’s required for publication, website portfolio, marketing materials, or advertisements, we constantly tailor our work to fit the specific client.
AB Photo & Video’s biggest strength lies in our flexibility of location and time. Due to this, we are able to service clients across any location and capture the best lighting within each space. Even if that means traveling to a different state, waking up at 4 am to capture the gorgeous sunrise, and staying on-site to the evening golden hour.
This allows us to create visually stunning and unique content that can be used for various purposes, including editorial, awards, competitions, websites, portfolios, and social channels.
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Anton Benedikt: Looking back on my business journey, I wish I had joined a professional organization or group of like-minded individuals earlier. For example, I’m a part of “The Futur”, an online business, design, and education community.
A lot of the success I have now is due to working with other small business owners who all have different perspectives, experiences, and expertise. You’ll be surprised at how helpful people can be!
Along the same line, finding people in the same industry but who are much farther along can be invaluable as they can provide insights into what worked for them and what didn’t—ultimately saving years of trial and error.
For me, this was several “mentors,” including but not limited to Adam Taylor, Steven Magner, Sarah Linden, and Jordan Powers. All architectural/design photographers and filmmakers who I continuously look up to and have helped me learn about the industry.
I plan to focus on client-related activities next quarter to improve the client experience. Firstly, I plan to improve the speed of delivery of photos and videos to ensure that clients receive their deliverables in a timely manner without sacrificing quality.
I also plan to create a seamless client flow so that clients understand the process from beginning to end and feel confident in my services.
In addition, I plan to re-develop my website to be more direct on the clients I serve and showcase my expertise in the architecture photo and video industry through case studies. Finally, I plan to educate clients through social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
By sharing my expertise and knowledge, I hope to attract more target clients and provide value to those I’m directly communicating with.
Here is a two fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Anton Benedikt: The book that has influenced me the most is “100M Offers” by Alex Hormozi. This book has completely transformed how I approach my business, allowing me to stay client-focused and providing a structured framework to evaluate what is valuable to my clients while being cost-effective for my business.
It’s amazing how visualizing all the potential problems I could solve for my clients has helped me offer better services and changed how I meet and offer my services to my clients.
One of the biggest life lessons I learned from this book is to always put my clients first and think about how I can add value to their lives. By doing so, I can build long-lasting relationships and create a sustainable and profitable business.
The book I have gifted the most is “Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself” by Mike Michalowicz. I share this book with other business owners because it provides actionable steps to creating a business that can run itself, allowing me to focus on working ON my business rather than IN my business.
This book has helped me think long-term and put the pieces in place now instead of later. It’s a fantastic resource for any entrepreneur or business owner who wants to build a sustainable business while still having the time for YOUR LIFE.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Anton Benedikt: There isn’t any shortage of obstacles when starting a business, but with that said, there are always growth opportunities.
The biggest challenge I see now is determining the value of my time as a small business owner. I always feel like I need to do everything, which unfortunately results in countless hours and even days working on something that isn’t client-related or revenue-generating.
As I continue to grow the business, I find a lot more value in bringing others in to help with these longer tasks that aren’t directly client related, such as accounting, website development, client management, software stacking, public relations, etc.
This allows me to breathe, take a step back, and view the business more strategically. This is exactly what “Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself” by Mike Michalowicz goes through, the book I share to other businesses when possible.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Anton Benedikt: In my experience, the most underestimated part of running a company is developing a personal brand along with the business.
You see people like Gary Vee, Chris Do, and Alex Hormozi always talking about this topic, and I feel like many businesses don’t take advantage of this, primarily due to the amount of time it will take.
This also includes my own business since it’s taken me several years to finally get on board and start prioritizing this.
So, for example, I initially thought it was essential to show my business’s professional work on my website and nothing else. I believed that if I had a professional website, people will come…They didn’t.
However, as I recently started to focus more on my personal brand and posting more content on Instagram, I’ve had an uptick of leads coming in over the past 3 months.
Putting yourself in front of the camera is always scary, especially since I primarily work behind the camera. However, I find this very valuable, especially since 50% of my leads have been coming through sources such as Instagram.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Anton Benedikt: As an entrepreneur in the architecture photo and video industry, if I were to possess any business superpower, it would be the ability to communicate effectively.
I find effective communication to be very important as it spans all business areas, from lead generation, sales, client communication, marketing, and internal communication, etc.
By possessing this superpower, I would be able to gather crucial information from potential clients to better understand their needs and wants, communicate the value of my services persuasively, and ensure that my clients are fully informed throughout the entire project process.
I could also use these communication skills to create more targeted and efficient marketing strategies and communicate my expectations and quality standards to my team members.
The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is a crucial skill that I also struggle with. So I’ve taken it upon myself to start taking courses on it.
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
