The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

What if the best way to win new clients was to stop walking into brokerages trying to sell them something?

Colleen Kidd of Three Palms Media shares the in-person workshop strategy that has helped her build relationships with agents, brokers, teams, and some of her company’s biggest clients. She breaks down how she gets into brokerage offices, what she actually teaches, how she turns one workshop into three visits, and why giv...

Eli Jones joins Todd and Craig for a conversation about building a real estate media business that actually supports the life you want—not one that simply keeps you busy.

Ahead of REPP 2026, Eli talks about why getting around other business owners matters, the balance between doing the work and stepping back to ask what you’re actually building, and why the hard things you choose today can create more freedom tomorrow. ...

There are a thousand opinions about the “right” way to shoot a house. Todd and Craig share the system WoW has used and refined over 23 years—not because everyone should copy their camera settings, but because having a repeatable process creates consistency for clients and makes photographers easier to train.

They get into SOPs, checklists, camera settings, memory-card rotation, handheld versus tripod, and why spen...

Revenue can look great on paper while the business underneath it is barely making money.

Todd breaks down the numbers every real estate media business owner should understand—from net profit and expenses to cost of goods and where your revenue is actually coming from. He also shares how losing $250,000 in revenue from a single client forced WoW to take a much harder look at its finan...

When the shoots slow down, it’s easy to feel like something is wrong. But that extra space on your calendar might be exactly what your business needs.

Craig shares what happened when getting another photographer trained finally gave him room to step back into business development—from reconnecting with current and former clients to showing up at brokerage offices and Realtor ev...

Spiro Sync is back for 2027, and Craig and Shannon are giving you the full preview of what’s changing, what’s staying, and why stepping away from the day-to-day of your business might be exactly what you need heading into a new year.

They look back at what made the first Sync special, preview the speakers, workshops, breakouts and new format for 2027, and talk about the part th...

Just because something worked for your business five or ten years ago doesn’t mean it still makes sense today.

Todd and Craig unpack the idea of the “legacy tax”—the hidden cost of decisions you keep carrying simply because that’s how you’ve always done things. From outdated pricing and unprofitable clients to old services, missed opportunities, h...

What is your real estate media business actually worth—and what would happen if you decided to sell it?

Todd and Craig break down how businesses are valued, why revenue alone doesn’t determine what someone will pay, and how EBITDA, clean financials, systems, client relationships, and owner dependence all factor into the equation. They also share the real story of how WoW...

Hiring another photographer can create the capacity your business desperately needs—but finding the right person is only the beginning.

Todd and Craig share lessons from their own hiring experiences, including why client interaction can matter more than technical skill, when a contractor model may need to change, and how hiring too late can hold back an entire market. They also discu...

As your team grows, communication gets complicated fast—and without a clear system, important work gets buried across emails, messages, and meetings.

Todd and Shannon share the communication mistakes they’ve made while scaling, including how to choose the right channels, close the loop on tasks, give clearer direction, set meaningful deadlines, and keep your inbox from running ...

Busy season can make your real estate media business feel flush—until the slower months expose what you failed to plan for.

Todd and Craig break down how to calculate your true monthly spending, budget across an entire year, prepare for taxes and irregular expenses, and avoid making emotional purchases after a strong month. They also discuss saving for future vehicles, investi...

Company culture isn’t created by office perks or a list of values hanging on the wall. It’s revealed in how leaders treat their people, what behavior they tolerate, and how the team responds when there isn’t an SOP telling them exactly what to do.

Todd and Craig discuss building trust, turning core values into everyday decisions, and the difficult choices required ...

Scaling a media company can feel overwhelming—but many of the biggest problems come from decisions that seem reasonable in the moment.

In this episode, Craig and Todd break down seven things Todd no longer does when growing a real estate media business. They cover why customer service matters more than camera experience when hiring, how to coach struggling employees without so...

What if the qualities that are often overlooked in business are actually your greatest competitive advantage?

In this special women’s takeover edition of the Spiro Podcast, Shannon Landers sits down with Colleen Kydd, Alex Coombs, and Elizabeth Hansen to talk about the different ways women lead, build teams, and create lasting client relationships. They explore emotional intelligence, thoughtfulness, communication, determinat...

You finally hire help—and then immediately wonder why they don’t work exactly like you.

In this episode, Craig and Todd talk through one of the hardest parts of growing a real estate media business: trusting other people with something you’ve spent years building. They discuss unrealistic expectations, employee mistakes, incomplete training, the “owner trap,” and why growth often feels like a collectio...

What happens when your systems get better—but your client experience gets colder?

In this episode, Craig and Shannon explore how to simplify your business without removing the human element that keeps clients connected. Using ideas from The Human Element and the famous instant cake mix “add an egg” story, they break down why people resist change, why clients still need to feel involved, an...

Todd and Shannon welcome James Bottomley of Haven Creatives to the Spiro Podcast for a conversation about creating more intentional, effective real estate video content. James shares how he got started in real estate media as a teenager, how Haven Creatives grew into a luxury real estate media agency, and why great video is not just about gear or flashy visuals.

The heart of the episode is James’ approach to building video co...

What happens when Todd and Craig throw out the script and answer the kinds of questions that usually stay behind the scenes? In this episode of the Spiro Podcast, the conversation gets more candid, personal, and unpredictable as they work through a mix of business, industry, mindset, and opinion-based questions. From entrepreneurship and client relationships to burnout, growth, mistakes, and hot takes within the rea...

Todd and Craig welcome Heather Haas, realtor, speaker, influencer, and keynote speaker from Spiro Sync 2026, to the Spiro Podcast. Heather shares how networking, intentional relationships, and authentic content creation helped grow her business and personal brand. The conversation dives into social media, mindset, mindfulness, branding, and why trying to “be yourself” online is often the most effective marketing strateg...