Vipul Bindra: 0:04

Stephen, thank you. Thank you for coming, sir. I appreciate you taking the time out. So, for you know, this is the season finale, episode 20. I can't believe I made it here. So I was kind of thinking, when I was kind of telling you this, I was like I'm going to bring somebody special. And when I ended on a bang and I was like who should I bring? And then I was like what have I been saying? For 19 episodes I've been telling people go network, go network. And how do you network? Go find, and you know, join your local chamber of commerce and be active. And so I have Stephen here. You're the president of Estorian Chamber of Commerce, one of the chambers that I'm a member of and I'm very active. So, like I said, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and coming here and hopefully my audience, which is most likely, like I said, video people, can benefit from this conversation and learn how to get more involved and obviously, at the end, find more clients, right?

Stephen Lewis: 0:58

Absolutely, absolutely. I appreciate the opportunity to be on here, certainly.

Vipul Bindra: 1:04

Yeah, that's good.

Stephen Lewis: 1:06

Big shoes to fill obviously, 20 episodes in. That's fantastic. So appreciate you having me on here and appreciate the opportunity to talk about the power of Chambers.

Vipul Bindra: 1:14

Yes, no, I you know. Funny enough, as soon as I, you know, I started this company 2018, right before that, I was just a freelancer. And first thing I did 2018 right before that, I was just a freelancer and first thing I did literally I established the company you know and joined the chamber. Uh, obviously, I was uh for. So I started in orlando, I was freelancing and then, briefly, I left it was in alabama actually um, so as soon as I came back, I was like, oh, I have to join the chambers, and restaurant chamber was one of the first ones I joined. Uh, so it's so interesting to see full circle right now. It's been what? Three, four years and being able to talk to you and, like I said, to me, the Chamber is the most powerful asset that we have as business owners Because, you know, especially as B2B I don't think you even have to be B2B, but as B2B businesses, guess where our clients hang out At the chamber right.

Vipul Bindra: 2:08

And then the chamber is not only helping me find clients, it's helping me, you know, be an advocate in the community, be involved in the community, that we belong, and there's a lot more that goes with the chamber than just events. Absolutely, so let's get into it then. So, what does a chamber do for somebody who has no idea?

Stephen Lewis: 2:28

Yeah, so the chambers are multifaceted, right. We don't just have networking events and things like that. Of course, that's what everybody thinks of first and foremost. Whenever you think of a chamber, you think of the networking events, the opportunity to get your business out there. We do all of that, but it's so much more. There's the opportunity to push a legislative agenda, make sure that we're representing the businesses in our area before the state legislature, before local elected officials. We have the opportunity for workforce and professional development. That's something that the West Orange Chamber is getting into quite a bit this next year. But we also provide the opportunity for businesses such as yours to showcase yourself. Showcase your skills provides an opportunity for you to refine your art, you know, get to know the businesses in your community. It's a great gathering place. We have members that are not only businesses, but we have elected officials that are members. We have nonprofit organizations that are members, and all of them come together at the chamber for the greater good of not only the business community but the community as a whole.

Vipul Bindra: 3:35

Yeah, no, that's. That's incredible and well put, because here's what I want people to listen. Obviously, if you're established, great. But if you're new, you know it's not just about finding clients and revenue. You have to. You know, for you to become a business leader, you have to get involved in the community.

Vipul Bindra: 3:53

But then you have to advocate what's better for the business community and you know it's very hard. You know especially as a small business to you know you can't join that many PACs or whatever you know to. To make change versus chambers, I think is a powerful organization where all the businesses can come together and then we can make real impact. And I'm talking laws and you know legislation that can, that can help the business community in general.

Stephen Lewis: 4:18

Well put.

Stephen Lewis: 4:18

And, and you know, I think the other thing that that you hit on is it's it's not only the only the opportunity to do the work for it or the business development and things like that, but when you start to put the collective power together, that network that you start to build, the network that you start to build by going to our networking events and things like that, builds into something greater.

Stephen Lewis: 4:40

Get involved in committee service, you start to work within the chamber, you start to get to know people, people, and it leads to the business. I always tell folks you can't think of it as a transactional. You know your membership can't be transactional. You may not get out of it what you put into it in that first year your membership dues. You know that first year it's going to be an investment, but it's an investment in the future. As you get to build those relationships and start to network, the business starts to come. I always want people to think about that. And then the other thing that I want people to think about is you know you get out of it what you put into it.

Stephen Lewis: 5:14

So, you know again great, you're investing in the chamber, maybe some time before you see that ROI, but I promise you at some point the ROI is going to come and I have that testimony time and time again as I get out there and start to talk to our members.

Stephen Lewis: 5:27

you know, everybody has that one story of that one per chance meeting that they had that ends up turning into a long-term relationship business relationship, personal, professional relationship that leads to another one, and I hear these stories time and time again. It's about putting yourself out there, making sure that you're putting yourself in the right situation to get out there what you do and advocate for your business, but also for the business community as a whole.

Vipul Bindra: 5:55

No, absolutely. And just so people understand my chamber history you're absolutely right. The chamber is not where you go. You're like I need sale today.

Stephen Lewis: 6:04

Yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 6:06

Chamber is where you go to build a business right, a legit, you know network. And, for example, sometimes with the chamber it takes me a year, almost a year and a half, meeting someone multiple times over the course of, let's say, 10 events and you know, know, online messages or whatever, before we can close the sale. But here's the advantage by the time that sale closes, at least for me, they're already like a friend, and then it's not just a sale, they're a promoter of my business. Not only are they, they reach out, they're like hey, finally I need videos, ripple. And then it's like oh, now also my friend needs video. And then slowly that network builds and once you do this for, let's say, three, four years, you have built a massive network for sure.

Vipul Bindra: 6:54

And, um, you know, like I said, not each person may not be buying from you like every month right but let's say you get four sales, but four times let's say 10 that's 40 sales that you weren't getting before. So it's a massive, like it's a benefit, but it doesn't come immediately. A lot of times it may take years to build those relationships and I think the understated.

Stephen Lewis: 7:14

Part of that is it provides credibility. It provides legitimacy to your business because folks see that you're not only trying to make a sale, but you're also trying to develop a relationship, and that's the important thing. Whenever you're going into this, you have to think about it, as I'm not just thinking about that sale, I'm not just thinking about that bottom line. You know the ROI that will come, but you have to remember you have to build those relationships and it's like anything else. Once you establish that relationship, you're going to be the first person they call whenever they need video production, whenever they need. You know that that product or service that you have You're going to be the person they call because they've developed that relationship with you, they have that repertoire. They know that you are the person that is going to provide them with the service they need and do it the right way.

Vipul Bindra: 8:07

They have a trust. It builds trust. Yeah, and yeah, and and yeah exactly, and also, um, like I said, it may not just be them directly. It may be because, guess what, we're business, who business owners hang out with other business? Owners so it may be somebody else. They're not.

Vipul Bindra: 8:16

Like I said, another meeting friend or whatever right where they go, hey you know I've been thinking about doing videos and they go oh, bendra orindra, or you know whoever like that. And then immediately you can be a recommendation and you're no longer even a cold lead, you're a warm lead, which is so incredible, and that couldn't have happened without that power of networking.

Stephen Lewis: 8:34

Absolutely, Absolutely. And again, you know, networking. Again, like I mentioned, everybody thinks about Chambers is networking and we certainly provide unparalleled networking opportunities. But so much more.

Vipul Bindra: 8:48

Yeah, exactly. So let's go, let's think from a new person, right, who's no idea about chamber or anything. Obviously, they're listening to this and they're like okay, so I'm going to go find my local chamber. Find my local chamber, uh, and in a obviously small cities you tend to only have one. But you know, in a bigger city like um, orlando, there can be, you know, tons of chambers to choose from and picking the right one because, like we've already laid the groundwork, look, you have to be active and you cannot be active in 10 chambers. It's impossible. You have to pick, uh, the best one that may be the right fit for you. So how do they go about finding that right fit? And I guess I don't know, auditioning chambers.

Stephen Lewis: 9:30

Is that even a? Thing?

Vipul Bindra: 9:32

And starting that relationship.

Stephen Lewis: 9:34

Sure, not all chambers are created equal. I'll start out by saying that Just because the experience that you're talking about may not be the experience everywhere, and so I want to make sure that you're talking about may not be the experience everywhere, and so I want to make sure that you're finding a credible chamber. What we've seen over the years is Chamber of Commerce, because of the legitimacy that we add to businesses and that we have in the business community with our elected officials, is there's folks that want to take advantage of that, and so you want to make sure that you're identifying a chamber that is legitimate, not just one that is one individual that's looking to capitalize on the solid foundation that chambers of commerce, which have been around since the 1500s, have laid. You want to find one that is official, right, that has those relationships, that has those you know, a solid base of members large businesses, small businesses and a good way to do that is utilizing the US Chamber of Commerce.

Stephen Lewis: 10:31

The US Chamber of Commerce does have an official listing of chambers of commerce that are members of the US Chamber of Commerce. So, just like you join the West Orange Chamber of Commerce, the West Orange Chamber of Commerce is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce and is listed on the registry. There you can find us as a legitimate chamber Also utilizing state chambers of commerce. So the Florida Chamber of Commerce is a great place to find your local chamber. A lot of times if you just interact with the business community, you know reach out to other business owners. That's a good way to find the chamber of commerce that's the right fit for your business. And if all else fails, you know look for the stickers on the doors, the plaques in the offices. That's a good way to do it too.

Vipul Bindra: 11:15

Of the businesses you like that's so smart? No, that's exactly what I did. So, you know, I moved back to Orlando and I knew exactly what I had to do. Right, I was going to join the chamber of commerce, so for me at least, it wasn't even a thing of question. But you know, I came from, like I said, I left for a small city and you know there was only one chamber, so it made it very easy to to to join the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 11:34

Where were you at?

Vipul Bindra: 11:35

So I was in Muscle Shoals or Florence area North. Alabama, near Huntsville, I don't know if you know that. Okay, so there was only one chamber. I joined it, like I said, very active, so, but then you know, like I said, I took my first opportunity. I knew day one. You know, when I started the business I wanted to come back. So you know we're a Disney family Plus, you know we started from here.

Vipul Bindra: 11:56

So, it was kind of like why did we leave? But you know you made a mistake. So anyway, like, yeah, it's not greener on that side at least. So I mean again, good, small town feel, but it wasn't for me. So, especially running a business, it's very difficult. I travel a lot, the airport is smaller, not direct flights.

Vipul Bindra: 12:20

There was a lot more actual issues, um, so anyway, so I came back and immediately I go okay, chamber of commerce. And here comes the list. So my, my technique was actually interesting now that you say that. I was like, okay, I don't know which is legit, which is not. So I went to us chamber of commerce search for chambers, saw the names and then, of those ones, I went on the website and I saw who's more active. And because you, you know, orange County is huge, so there's a ton of chambers and obviously I can't join all of them, so I wanted to pick the best one and, from my research, best Orange Chamber of Commerce, the most active, you know, one of the longest ones, with long, you know, almost 100 or over 100 year history.

Stephen Lewis: 12:59

Yeah, so 1972. We came on board with one of our large employers here in Central Florida, disney. But yeah so we've been around for a long time.

Vipul Bindra: 13:07

So okay, so a long time, and I was like, okay, so it has a history, it has, you know, reputation, it has, you know, main thing for me also is that you guys were active. It wasn't just a boring old chamber, you know, that's not as active. So, anyway, and I saw him and I had joined it. So that's, I think, an easy way to replicate locally. Just go to US Chamber of Commerce, find them. Go to the website, look at the local businesses, see who actually people are members of because, that's the point of joining a chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 13:39

It is, it is, and you know, a lot of times we also have. You know, depending on who you're working with and getting your business established, you know, if you're going into banks to get a small business loan or whatever, however you're trying to do that, a lot of times they will refer you to a chamber of commerce because they know that, as you're opening a storefront permitting things like that, I can't tell you how many calls I get from new businesses coming to town that you know, even franchise businesses that you know a lot of times that's turnkey there. You know they have resources available to their franchisees. They come to us and say, hey, can you help us to get a CO? Or you know, get a health inspection, and we're there for that. That's the. That's the thing that people don't realize about chambers is we can help you access those elected officials or government agencies that you know it may be more difficult for you to get access to.

Vipul Bindra: 14:37

Exactly and and and, like we've we've said so far already. Like you know, you have to get involved, you have to ask the chamber for help and you'd be amazed what all the chamber can do until you ask for it. Like on my standpoint as a video company, I'm like, okay, especially in this town, there's three colleges churning out hundreds of people every year. You know who say they're? They're video professional. You know they're not. All the same, it's a service. So, um, you know not. You know it's art, art and technicality all in one, very, very hard to do correctly. So not everyone that's coming out is going to be skilled to get a business, the results that they want. And how do you stand out when everyone is offering the exact same thing? I'll make you videos. So a business owner looking for I want videos can find anything from everything and they have no idea how to read it. Because if you're not in the industry, you don't know. And the best thing for me was like, okay, so here's what I can do. If I make good videos and if other people see my good videos, they'll want the good videos. Right, and where's the best, uh, partner to have people, you know, because not everyone's videos are great. So I'm like, if we make good videos and we share them, there's no better sales than that, cause every business owner needs videos. That's not even a question. It's where to get the videos from.

Vipul Bindra: 15:52

And um, and the best thing for me was to approach the chamber. I was like, hey, how can we partner on that? I would like to make a video for the chamber and not necessarily, again, you're going to get money from it, so don't go in charging the chamber the regular rates. I think it's more about a give and take partnership. Right, you go approach them and you tell the problem like, look, there's so many video businesses and I obviously do better work First, obviously do better work, so maybe work on that, but let's assume you are doing good work.

Vipul Bindra: 16:28

Then go to the chamber and be like you know I would like to share my work with the rest of the members, but the best way is let's pick an event, let's see an event where the chamber can find value using that video product, cause you also don't want to be making videos that have no purpose. And I think that was the way I found being able to share my work with the other members. Show them what we can do, why we're different, why we're better. I want you to kind of speak on that behalf, so as a chamber president, when you know it may necessarily be the West Foreign Chamber, right Assuming somebody's in California or New York or wherever they approach their chamber, they join it.

Vipul Bindra: 16:58

Obviously. Don't do that day one. First go build relationships. But then you know, I think the best way is when their craft is there to share their craft. How can they partner with the chamber?

Stephen Lewis: 17:11

and what would be the right way to approach it, you know. So I'll talk about the the best way to partner with the chamber. But before I talk about that, one thing that I'll say is also a benefit. You know you talked about networking and getting getting your name out there, making sure that people know that you're delivering quality product. The other benefit that those kinds of events offer is you have an opportunity to listen to what the business owners in your community need, and too often you know businesses come into town. You know you're from out of town. You come into wherever you're setting up shop and you think that whatever was working where you were before is going to work here.

Stephen Lewis: 17:50

That's not always the case, and so chambers provide a unique opportunity to get a broad perspective of what the business community in this area needs Video production. But what does that video production look like? Is it the onsite video production? Is it a studio? Does nobody in town have a studio? What does that look like? What are the needs of the business owners based on your location? What are the industries that are big in your area? Obviously, here in Central Florida we have tourism, hospitality. Those are big businesses here. That's not going to be the case everywhere. You have to find what that business is and what the business needs are in your community and utilize that information to kind of tailor what your sales pitch is, whenever you're at these networking events or whenever you're trying to drum up business.

Stephen Lewis: 18:36

you want to start to identify what the needs of the business community are and the chamber is uniquely positioned to provide you with that information. You have a broad spectrum of businesses that are looking for products and services and going to chamber events and being around the chamber, following the chamber on social media channels and things like that provides you with the opportunity to really dive into what the needs of the business.

Vipul Bindra: 19:01

I love what you're saying here. So here's a piece of advice, right Directly. So first find the chamber, join. So here's a piece of advice, right directly. So first find the chamber, join the chamber. Go to the meetings, look at their social media, be active. Find out what industries are present in your area, what's the need of the community. Hear other members' talks, see what they're looking for, what services are they trying to sell, and then try and cater your services to them and or solving their problems.

Vipul Bindra: 19:26

So that's perfect, so that's incredible. And now let's move to the next part of that. Now you're like okay, I'm ready, I understand the market, I understand that yeah. How do I get involved? How do I get myself out there?

Stephen Lewis: 19:37

Yeah. So baby steps, baby steps is where I'm going to go with that. All too often I get phone calls and well, I say, I get phone calls, our office gets phone calls and everybody wants a meeting with me and they think that that, that I'm, I'm the golden ticket, right. The president of the chamber is the golden ticket to getting business.

Vipul Bindra: 19:57

I'm not, uh, I hate to you know pull the curtain back To both the Amy's here for now.

Stephen Lewis: 20:03

Yeah, I hate to pull the curtain back on that, but you know I'm not the person that you want to talk to initially. I think that there's a place in time when we can have a conversation. But you know, get to know the volunteers. You know we have a strong ambassador program. A lot of chambers have something similar. You know the ambassador program.

Stephen Lewis: 20:29

Those are some of the super users we'll call them of the chamber and those are the folks that have businesses. Those are ones that have gotten involved in the chamber, have found value in the chamber and are now looking to help other businesses find value in the chamber. And so whenever you get involved with a chamber, my recommendation is seek out those individuals who are our chamber super users, whether it be ambassadors, people that are going to networking events. That's the first place you want to start. From there you're going to start to build relationships with the chamber staff. So if your chamber is fortunate enough to have a staff, you're going to want to get to know the staff members, because I'll tell you, I have relationships, but my relationships are unique in that there are a lot of times with the business owners or the C-suite executives in these larger organizations.

Stephen Lewis: 21:13

Those are the folks that I'm interacting with most because the things that they're asking for, you know, when it comes to legislative or policy type things, those are the conversations that I'm having. My staff, on the other hand, are the ones that are setting up those events, that are talking to the members you know on a daily basis and know you know so-and-so needs this particular product or service. That's the person that they're telling that to. I'm not involved in every single one of those conversations, so the more chamber staff members that have you know the membership managers, the you know events managers, things like that those are the folks that you want to establish relationships with early on, because the next time that they hear somebody's looking for someone to do some, some video work for them, they're going to think, oh, people just joined the chamber, but you know they have. They have the knowledge of what folks are looking for.

Stephen Lewis: 22:14

I have it too yeah but I'm only one person and everybody thinks oh, you know the the top of the plus, I doubt I've never asked you to recommend me.

Vipul Bindra: 22:21

uh, you know this type of business or whatever. It's always the staff, yeah, and, like I was saying, amy, both the Amys are my contacts at the chamber and they've been great and every time I've partnered with the chamber I've technically started with them. Obviously, the conversation may have led to Stina in the past, or you now Right, right, right. But it was an eventual step, it wasn't necessary.

Stephen Lewis: 22:41

No.

Vipul Bindra: 22:41

So you're absolutely right. I don't think they need to go immediately. Start talking to the president of the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 22:46

Build a relationship with the staff, because they're ultimately the people who are actually recommending you anyway right because, again, I doubt disney's talking to you and asking for a video person that's not happening and you know I don't want to say it doesn't happen, but that's not how. That's not how it happens. So does it happen?

Vipul Bindra: 23:01

has disney asked you I need a video?

Stephen Lewis: 23:04

I don't remember getting the call, not yet you know the problem that I think that a lot of people don't look at it is you always want to. The more tentacles that you can have in the organization, the better. So when you establish that relationship with the membership person or the events person or the office manager, any of those folks those are the ones that are taking the phone calls of. You know, whenever somebody calls the Chamber of Commerce and says, hey, I'm looking for this product or this service, they're the people who are getting those phone calls.

Stephen Lewis: 23:41

Those phone calls, unfortunately, don't make it up to me most of the time. If I answer the phone and I can help somebody, I absolutely will. But a lot of times those are going to be the best resources for you as a business owner to start to establish relationships to where you come to mind and listen. I'll just tell you we don't play favorites. So if somebody calls and says, hey, we don't play favorites. So if somebody calls and says, hey, we're looking for a videographer, I'm going to say hey, we have these members that can do it If they ask for our recommendation.

Stephen Lewis: 24:12

We've worked with this individual. We've worked with this individual or we know that this company's worked with them, and we'll point them to someone who's done work with them. We don't put our name on it.

Vipul Bindra: 24:19

Yeah, you're not going to play favorites. You can't do that. We can't. We can't.

Stephen Lewis: 24:22

But I think that you know, the more you establish those relationships top of mind, you know you make sure that you're a person that they think of as a resource.

Vipul Bindra: 24:32

And it's not always going to lead to the sale, but I promise you that it will lead to you developing deeper relationships and expanding your network to a point where, if and when the time comes that there's someone who needs that service, you're a person they think of exactly no, oh my goodness, so many golden nuggets in this one. All right, so that, like I said, so far great. So they've started now forming these relationship with the chamber staff. And now how do they approach a partnership? Um, you know, eventually, again, like, so I would give it at least a year before you do this. Like I said, chamber is a long-term game, but it's worth it, trust me.

Vipul Bindra: 25:08

All right, so let's say, six months to a year now how do they approach the same staff members that they have, uh, you know, built these relationships with? How about, like, doing some kind of partnership? And again, I know it's very nuanced, but we are talking specific to a video business owner audience, so kind of like. So you kind of see how we have kind of partnered with. I'm imagining that's the right way, unless you have another way that you can think of.

Stephen Lewis: 25:32

No, you know, I think that there's a couple of ways to approach it. And you know, one thing that to keep in mind whenever you are trying to establish that relationship is you know, folks in in in my position and chambers as a whole have to be careful. You know, whenever we co-brand with somebody, we have to make sure that it is a legitimate business, that you know we are not um, you know somebody who's not taking liberties with our, our, our IP, whether it be our logo, whether it be our um, you know anything, chamber branded, because when you put that chamber logo next to your business's logo, that automatically adds some legitimacy. And so that's what we talked about a little earlier is, you know, it can add legitimacy to your business, it can provide you with some credibility. But on the flip side of that, if we get into business with the wrong company, the wrong individual, that you know ends up burning bridges in the community. That not only reflects poorly on that individual, but that could reflect poorly on the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 26:37

So I have to be very careful whenever I'm choosing who we work with, making sure that I know the quality of their work. I know their you know trustworthiness, I know that I can rely on them, I know that they're going to deliver a quality product, and so the best way to do that is start to do business with folks that I'm doing business with, so other chamber members. You know you're not going to automatically go in and the first contract that you get or the first business opportunity you get is going to be with the chamber. I want to see something that you've done with other businesses. I want to see something that you've done with other chambers.

Stephen Lewis: 27:09

I want to see something that you have done that would lend itself to what we're trying to do in our chamber and so my biggest piece of advice is make sure that you have a body of work that you can point to, that I can look at and that's how our relationship started.

Vipul Bindra: 27:25

Yeah, exactly yeah, because you have to have credibility, because we find other businesses in that year. Hopefully, again, if you found zero sales, then something is wrong. But ideally, in that time frame that you're going there, you're building these relationships. You're working with all these other chamber members. Look, here's the truth If they're at a networking event, they're looking for networking too. Nobody's there and they don't want networking. So if you're a networking event, that's what everyone wants, it's already. No, everyone like it's out in the air, like nobody's trying to hide that.

Vipul Bindra: 28:01

So the idea is to just go build genuine relationships. You don't need to, like we said already, you don't need to be extra anything. Don't be the card ninja, don't just start handing cards out to everyone. Just be genuine, just build genuine relationships. And ideally, it's very highly unlikely that you've been there a year in a chamber very active I'm talking going to events, talking to people and uh, not found any, any. You know sales and uh, and you know, as long as you're good is, is that what you're saying, right? You've built relationship, you've worked with other members, you have body of work that the chamber can then look at and be like, okay, this is legit. You're doing good work. You're not burning bridges. Everyone's happy that's working with you. The chamber staff is happy You've established yourself at that level. Now may be a good time to think about maybe partnering with the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 28:53

Yeah, and, and you know there's other ways to go about it too, right? So that's I would say is you know. Option one. Option two is you know chambers not for profit, so you know we're always looking for event sponsorships and things like that. Another good way to do that to you know, get the name of your business out there and what you do is, you know, think about sponsoring an event.

Stephen Lewis: 29:16

Most chambers have events that are you know, relatively low barriers to entry when it comes to sponsorship. There's higher sponsorships of different events, but there's also in kind, and so I, you know, starting that relationship by saying, hey, I think I can do something unique for you. Let me do it, you know, let me let me put together, um, you know, something that I think would be beneficial, free of charge. You know able to to showcase the work and then start to establish that relationship so that long-term, you know, okay, I see that you can do this, You're putting out there, you're putting a good, it's a good benefit to the chamber. I know that you're not going to do anything to destroy our credibility or reputation, and then that leads to more opportunities to do that kind of work.

Stephen Lewis: 30:03

And when I say sponsorships, that's all good too, If your budget isn't such that you can do something like that or can afford to take the time to put together something like that. You know, even, you know you go to a networking event and you do a highlight reel that you put on social media. I mean even something as small as that Chamber will see it. The chamber will see it and say, OK, you know, this is, this is good. I see that they can put something together.

Vipul Bindra: 30:34

And so you know, know what is a, what is a bigger project look like, and then you start to think about it in that regard, um, and also remember, uh, like you said, there's smaller events that the the chamber may be, you know, inclined to participate in, like you don't, you can't just go for the big events, but you can always go. Hey, here's a smaller event. I think the chamber always needs photography video, some kind of highlight reel. There's a lot of things that you can. You can just go and, and you know, and and show your craft at um, so you can always partner on those right where you can be.

Vipul Bindra: 30:59

Like, hey, this is a small event, I'd love to be the, the photography sponsor or the video sponsor or whatever. I'd love to make, um, you know, I don't know a highlight video or something or recap video, and obviously show some examples like, hey, look, this is what I kind of can make, so the chamber knows what to expect and aligns with the brand guidelines. I think this is a perfect example how to get started and, like I said, don't go in it's, you know, expecting any kind of money for it. I would definitely do it in kind, rather. Sometimes, like I said, it may be best if you have if you are, you know you have clients maybe try and even sponsor an event somehow, and that may be a good starting point.

Stephen Lewis: 31:40

Yeah, yeah, no, and I think that's the best starting point. You know again, nobody is going to stake their credibility on you until they see that it's something that you can do, they see that there's a product there that is mutually beneficial, right, because when you co-brand with that Chamber logo it adds legitimacy, but I'm not going to do anything that's going to jeopardize the Chamber's reputation in our community. It's not something that I'm willing to stake the organization's reputation on.

Vipul Bindra: 32:10

Yeah, considering, you know, just looking at our market, like you know, some of the companies that you're dealing with, like we said, at companies like Disney, you don't want a video guy coming in and, you know, doing something silly and ruining, you know, like you said, chamber's reputation or anything in general that's not up to par because it's not worth the risk. So you have to make sure that whatever you're presenting to the chamber is A beneficial to both. Right, like you're getting exposure I hate the word exposure in our industry, by the way. So I don't know if you know this, but everyone wants you to work for free and they say exposure bucks. So I always am like, yeah, don't work for exposure, but this is one organization I feel like that may be worth it because you know, like I said, I'm established.

Vipul Bindra: 32:55

I've done this for 15 year now and I'm still, uh, partnering with chambers, you know, sponsoring because of the or, you know, sometimes it's either, you know, coal costs like chamber will do part of it and I'll do majority of it or completely, completely free on some videos, because it's totally worth it. Even at this scale, I'm like it's worth it. So I'm definitely sure that smaller scale is going to be absolutely worth it. So you know. But at the end they look out that you're not a risk and you can only determine that at first, before you start that conversation. Until you feel ready, don't. And that's why, like I said, it's important to get involved. Take that time, build those relationships. You'll know, because when you start to show up at these events and people know you, the chamber staff knows you, you know that you're kind of getting there.

Stephen Lewis: 33:44

Right, yeah, absolutely, and that's the other thing. No-transcript. But you're also representing the chamber and what we put out to the business community. You know we have a huge following here in central Florida, but it it, you know it's not only with businesses, it's with elected officials, it's with elected officials, it's with the communities within within central florida and you know they automatically you put those logos together. It's very important to us that we maintain brand integrity, and so we want to make sure that it's quality product, yeah, um, so now let's assume they're taking care of that.

Vipul Bindra: 34:43

How is there a certain way to approach? Or, um, I don't know, like is, what are the precautions, or if anything, uh, outside of this, like, what I'm trying to get to is how is the best way to have this conversation and when is maybe the best time to have this conversation?

Stephen Lewis: 34:58

yeah, so I think that, again, look at the events. I think that something that you keep hitting on that is important to talk about is the the first year that you're, you're trying to get acclimated to the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 35:11

this goes back to what we talked about Listen to the needs of the businesses in your community. Also listen to the needs of the chamber. So don't necessarily you know that first awards that you have coming up go and say, hey, I'm willing to do this. Don't just you know this event, I want to sponsor this event. Take a year, get acclimated, go through a cycle, go to everything for one year. Go check out the networking events, go check out the awards banquets, go check out the professional development opportunities and see where you can provide the most value, because it may not be a highlight reel of an award ceremony, it may just be some social media post of a networking event or something like that.

Stephen Lewis: 35:55

Don't bite off more than you can chew and then, you know, put yourself in a bad position for future work. So really take a look at the organization, get to know the organization, because that's the other thing right Is you know, you know that this part of your work is small portion. The interview. The other thing right Is you know you know that this part of your work is small portion the interview the video footage, whatever that's a small portion of it.

Stephen Lewis: 36:16

You have to go then edit that with and you want to make sure that you understand what the snippets you know because you're doing highlights, right, you're not going to do. You know you're not going to have the opportunity to do a 20 minute video or 30 minute video. It's going to be broken down to, you know, three to five minutes, something, something short.

Stephen Lewis: 36:34

And so you want to make sure that you understand what are. What are the things that that chamber is trying to emphasize? What's the message that they're trying to get out? It's going to help them recruit new members. That's going to help them retain their members. It's going to help showcase what they're doing in the community, and the only way to do that is if you have an understanding of what the chamber's priorities are. So get to know your chamber, get to know what they're focusing on, get to know how you can fit into the bigger picture, rather than going in and just saying, hey, I can create a great video.

Vipul Bindra: 37:03

I can create a hell of a video. You don't want to do that. I think that you have to. Oh, you put, this is so good, but yeah, no, I've seen so many times where people go I can make you an awesome video. And then they'll go, you know, at an event or whatever not necessarily a chamber event, just chamber event in general and then they'll capture a little bit of everything and they put it together in like a montage with music and they cut it to music and then they share it, which, creatively, may sound good because you know it flows together, but you show it to a client and then they go.

Vipul Bindra: 37:35

What do we do with this now? Because it's irrelevant. You know, just showing beautiful images, maybe for social media, might be fine, but you know this isn't necessarily helping the chamber or any organization get anything out of it. You have to look at the story because at the end of the day, what we're doing is telling stories and we're storytellers. And if we can't figure out what the story is and not necessarily here's what I want to say, the other side we don't not necessarily get the story from the organization. So the chamber may not directly tell me oh, we need to do this. We need to highlight this Because, like I said, chamber may not be able to pay favorites. You have to figure out which are the businesses I want to highlight, which are the members that I want to show in this, and you pick and you may get soundbites from everyone or a lot of people, but not necessarily when you make the edit. Everything goes into it.

Vipul Bindra: 38:26

And there's an art to it, but that's very important because at the end of the day, we want to move the message of the chamber forward because we benefit if the chamber benefits right from the video.

Stephen Lewis: 38:36

Right and you know also double-edged sword If you don't know the nuances, don't get to know that chamber, don't get to know the nuances. I know you know Vipul, you're familiar with um. You know we have, uh, several major um. You know health care networks here.

Stephen Lewis: 38:55

We have several major tourism partners don't get me started, yeah yeah, and so you know that you could also shoot yourself in the foot, in the sense that if you don't know the dynamics of the chamber and you know, you start putting videos together that have logos in them that should not be placed next to each other, or should not, you won't say it, I'll say it.

Vipul Bindra: 39:17

Don't put Orlando Health and Advent Health together. I mean yes.

Stephen Lewis: 39:22

We have great relationships, and that's the beauty of the chamber is we have great relationships with all of these organizations and we know the nuances of how you know they. They want to make sure that they maintain their brand integrity, and so I would never want you know someone to go off and do something that they think is fantastic and you know we're given this free video. No, like, you always check with us, you know, before you do any video work with us and you make sure that you know we're happy with the way that things are presented, because you know there's there's sponsorship levels that you have to worry about, and so you know somebody gets more screen time, yeah, and so you want to make sure that you know we are recognizing appropriately the folks who are involved with an event, and the best way to do that is to, yes, do those videos, videos, but I wouldn't put anything out before checking with exactly.

Vipul Bindra: 40:11

Always have your revision process. Always send a you know, unpublished video to your chamber contact, have them review it and it's okay. Uh, also, some filmmakers, you know we get to like no, this tells the best story, yes, but it may not be the best story for the chamber you have to, or just any organization in general. I think this applies to any work that you do and which is what, as filmmakers, in the corporate and commercial world, we have to understand that, yes, as filmmakers, we want to make the prettiest videos that sound great, that look great, but that's not necessarily always the best video, and I would love for you to speak on this because it's very important for somebody to get this because, like you said, there's a lot more that goes behind.

Vipul Bindra: 40:52

There's, like, from just let's look at Chambers perspective, there's dynamics. There's, like you said, like in Orlando, there's Disney and there's Universal. Both are great companies, but you need to understand where your chamber stands and who's the bigger sponsor, how you, how you do it. There's very, very much nuance. That would go in editing to build a video, for sure that would not step on any shoes there, right, and it's very important for you to understand that before you can even start to do it and then obviously then send it to the chamber to you know.

Stephen Lewis: 41:23

Comment on it Right and we can make changes and stuff like that. We're not going to step on your. You know, obviously we're not in the business of making videos. So, you know, we want that creativity, we want to utilize your skill set and expertise, but we also have to make sure that we are cognizant of, you know, what is putting these logos together.

Stephen Lewis: 41:46

What is, you know, highlighting this company over another company? What is this? Due to the dynamics of the sponsorship levels that we have, and so it's very important that you know, especially if you're trying to do something pro bono that you think is good, and make sure that you're checking in with your chamber staff before you put something like that out publicly, because I don't want to have to call you and say, hey, that's fantastic, creatively that's fantastic, but that's going to present a problem for me it's going to present a problem for you because I'm not going to, I'm not going to work with you in the future, if I can't trust the product that you're putting out is putting the chamber in a favorable light and our sponsors and our members in a favorable light, I'm going to have to make sure that I'm protecting our membership, protecting those folks who are part of our membership, and you know so.

Vipul Bindra: 42:36

Make sure that there's no daylight between you and Trevor and I'm so glad you're here because you know people need to hear that from because you know you're not a video guy, right, you are a professional that runs a business organization in Central Florida. So people need to hear because our clients tend to be organizations that, yes, like I said, we want to make awesome videos that look good, that sound good, and that's very important. Obviously, that's our craft, but the other biggest craft is storytelling. But the nuanced storytelling that it is, it's not always as straightforward as here's an event, here's what happened and the story like uh, and I've told this story before, but I want to tell you one of the best things that happened with me last year was I worked with this company, one of our bigger clients, for the year, and you know they had a big event, like a million dollar event. And then the owner uh, you know the, obviously you you start out first with the employee, right, I don't, I don't remember their title, but let's just do marketing manager. Okay, so we have an event, we want a recap video. Sounds perfectly easy. We do hundreds of those every year.

Vipul Bindra: 43:40

But then I'm like, okay, so where? And then I could have left that, sent a bill. Bad idea, they would have hated it. Because I'm like, okay, so what are you going to use the video for? Oh, we're going to use it to find new clients. Well, technically, you don't need a recap video.

Vipul Bindra: 43:53

Then that's not the same thing. Then it's like okay, well, now I understand the purpose. Where are you going to post it? Oh, we're going to share it because we have captive audience, you know. So I was like, oh, that's amazing. So you do events matters, time? Now I'm like, oh, time doesn't matter because you have a captive audience. And then it's like, by the way, uh, you know, even though it's our 25th or 50th anniversary, whatever, um, you know, uh, the the owner needs, you know, is very important in this. So I slowly realized I don't think they put it that way, but the the thing is at the end of the conversation realize, okay, the story isn't company celebrates 25 years. The story is how awesome the owner is, how awesome the clients are and come work with us. Right, do you see what?

Vipul Bindra: 44:34

I'm saying If you, just take it at face value. You don't get it and we made the video exactly, not so obviously in the contract it says we're going to make a recap video, but what did we make is more essentially I would call a sales recruitment video, but called it a recap video because the clients don't know the terminology and they loved it. Best response straight from the owner. Best video I've ever seen in my company Awesome. But that only happened by asking those questions.

Stephen Lewis: 45:00

And you know there's pre-work that goes into that, right. So you know and I'm not going to pretend to know your world, but you know asking the right questions ahead of time and you know, uh, doing it in an informal manner and then a more formal manner, and then you know the actual shoot, making sure the the day of making sure that you're checking in and doing all of that, but then follow up. You know, follow up before you publish anything, making sure that you know they have a chance to look at it. Uh, make, um, you know, critiques, not of your creativity or your ability, but you know more so in making sure that those, the message that they want portrayed, is portrayed. So there's a lot of pre-work that goes into it. But that goes back to and I know I keep going- back to it.

Stephen Lewis: 45:42

Make sure you know the organization before you start to put yourself out there as a resource for that. The better you know the organization, the better you know the event that you want to recap, the better you know the individuals that you're trying to capture, the companies that you're trying to capture, the more likely you are to succeed. The more likely your chamber is going to be happy with that video, the more likely that you're going to get business because of it.

Vipul Bindra: 46:05

And here's what I'll tell you Just ask the best thing is. And here's I'll tell you just ask the best thing is.

Vipul Bindra: 46:12

so here's what happened, so just recounting what we do for the chamber. So you guys have big orange awards, very huge event we love to partner with that on every year. So, um, what happens is I want to attend the event. I don't want to be filming it because what I am there to is network and build my relationships. I can't do that if I'm behind the camera, so I'll generally bring a crew to film with that. Now, the crew doesn't know these nuances or who to film and who not to film. So what I'll technically do or I say my julie will do that, but we will tell. We know what the story we want to tell. Right, we will compile it. We'll even have pictures of people like who you, who to target, who to film, who to interview and just imagine like this pegboard with all these pictures on it, you know kind of like yeah, no, like a highway rock.

Vipul Bindra: 46:55

You know everything, yeah it's more like a pdf document. Then I'll have julie put together, but we'll share it with the shooters so they understand because, like you said, they don't know the nuance, they don't know who these people are and and who we want to highlight and what the story we're trying to tell. So I'll generally give them a list of names. Sometimes, like I said, we'll even include pictures and we're like this is the people we want you to interview or highlight or whatever, and then I'll ask our counterpart at the chamber, amy, and I'll be like okay, anything that I'm not thinking of, any people that I'm not thinking of.

Vipul Bindra: 47:28

Can you tell me their names, maybe their pictures, and you would be amazed how helpful the staff is. But you have to first ask you know, just don't go guns blazing ready to make the video. I think it's very important to do what we call pre-production.

Stephen Lewis: 47:42

And you know, and like I said, the easiest thing is just ask- Well, and the other thing that just to pile onto that is, it's not going to be the same every time. So you know, just because you you did um this event in the past and you have a good understanding what the event is, it the dynamics may have changed with the members of the sponsors and so you want to make sure that you're just keeping in contact with, you know, treat them like you would a new client every time. Um, it's nice because you have that relationship and you can. You know the questions to ask, you know the buttons to push, but you also want to make sure that you are are are every time going into it with a fresh perspective, because things may have changed.

Vipul Bindra: 48:19

Exactly. It's always good to check in and ask about this year, what are we doing different? And it sounds crazy. It's simple as just graphics. It's crazy, it's simple as just graphics. Sure, so sometimes you know, it can be like, oh, big orange word, we have a package for it. So like no, no, no, it could have changed. So it's as simple as hey. You know, amy, is the graphics the same or do we need new graphics? You know something like that.

Vipul Bindra: 48:39

I'm just saying it's again, it's very simple. It's just ask, you know, collaborate, because at the end they were there to make the chamber look good and the chamber is there to give us credibility. So we're both winning. So it's a partnership. And the only way the partnership will succeed is there's communication, sure, but again, I don't know how you get there if you don't already have communication. So start there maybe and then get to the partnership part Right.

Stephen Lewis: 49:05

Take it one step at a time. And again, you know, once you start to build that trust, once you start to build that reputation within the chamber, that's when your chamber is going to look at you as a resource for this businesses that are in similar industries or provide similar services. What separates those businesses is their ability to listen, their ability to go about it the way that we're talking about you know, not just go in thinking I provide the best product, I provide the best, you know, the best service. You have to listen to the needs, make sure that you understand what you're getting into, who you're working with, and that's when the opportunities present themselves.

Vipul Bindra: 49:52

Yeah, and and, uh, like um, I've said in the past, you know people will. Uh, you know there's a lot of good filmmakers that are what we call starving artists. There's a reason, you know, it's not just the art form. Yes, Be good at what you do, that's very important. Obviously. Get better at it, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll get successful, because you have to learn how to communicate.

Stephen Lewis: 50:34

No-transcript say is is don't take it personally if you don't get that shot the first time, or if you know there's, there's something else, that if there's another project that you know somebody does something in the same space and they're, you know, utilized for something else. The reality of it is, whenever you start to, whenever you start to work with the chamber, there's going to be other folks. Once they see you come out with something, they're going to say, well, I can do that, I want the opportunity to do that.

Vipul Bindra: 51:06

I wonder how many are going to call? The chamber which I'm happy to Look. There's nothing wrong with it.

Stephen Lewis: 51:15

I'm I'm openly saying please go, and if you're in the orange county, please go join uh and he didn't pay me to say that, but you know what I'm saying go join the restaurant chamber because I didn't join it, you know, out of nothing.

Vipul Bindra: 51:24

It is definitely a great chamber, so why wouldn't anyone want to join it? And I completely understand that. Now I have 10 other businesses joined that do what I do and they want they do that. That whole process, they build that relationship and credibility and the chamber goes. Hey, for this event we, we would love to try partnering with this chamber or this company. I'm gonna somehow be mad about it because I'm literally telling people to do this right here on this podcast, but yeah, don't be, don't get emotionally involved, because again, it's business at the end of the day.

Stephen Lewis: 51:54

Chamber can't build a relationship if you force them to well, and it goes back to those nuances that we talked about, right. So there's nuances that we recognize within our membership that, hey, this, this particular company, this particular style may be better for this particular project, whereas your company may be better for another project. So, don't give up.

Stephen Lewis: 52:19

I would say that Don't give up on the opportunity, looking for the right opportunity to do work, but don't jump at every opportunity either because then you're going to again leads back to you may not be suited for it, shoot yourself in the foot and then you destroy any opportunity for future. Don't listen to other people.

Vipul Bindra: 52:36

Trust me, I wouldn't have even been doing this because, like I said, as soon as I went to become a production company, I was like I'm going to be better than a freelancer. I'm going to start a company and you know they're like this is a small town, there's already an established company. You're going to get nowhere. Blah, blah, blah. Had I listened to those, I would have gotten nowhere. Don't listen to all the negative energy around you. Just stay positive, do your thing. And also you don't need to go badmouth anyone, just go be good. You'll be amazed how much more business you find by just being a good person and doing good work and how much business you lose, even if you're good, if you start to now burn bridges or just be a bad person to hang around with, because again, it comes down to relationship.

Vipul Bindra: 53:18

People don't, you know even the less that they're not in video. You go, you know, to a networking event and you're talking to someone you're like oh yeah, but they do terrible video. And you know, and I do great video, guess what? Even if terrible video and you know, and I do great video, guess what? Even if, though, you do great video, they go oh, what are they saying about me?

Stephen Lewis: 53:32

to someone else you know, yes, and that's very easy to, I think, burn bridges and relationships and and you know we talked a little bit about it at the beginning um, you know, the other thing is finding the, the right chamber for you. So if you know that you're the, the chamber that your first choice saturated, maybe look at another chamber to get involved with.

Stephen Lewis: 53:53

You know there's chambers, again, make sure it's a credible, legitimate organization. But if there's somebody in you know West Orange County and that market's saturated there's several other chambers that are in our local area that may be a better starting point. You know one of these more community focused chambers. You know a chamber that maybe you look at the directory, you look at who their membership is, doesn't have that type of business. Maybe that's a better starting point. I'm not saying you know you can't join both. Certainly you know options there. But you know, think about it as if my opportunity isn't going to be there. I need an opportunity to, to showcase my work worker. Maybe try to identify one of those chambers that better align with with your organization, your ability, your skill set yeah, or you could be a rebel like me.

Vipul Bindra: 54:41

Like I don't care, I'm just gonna go do my best until I'm. I don't care how saturated it is as long as you belong, you belong I get obviously yeah, don't do how saturated it is. As long as you belong, you belong Again. Obviously yeah, don't do that if you don't.

Vipul Bindra: 54:52

It's a business philosophy, right yeah yeah, yeah, exactly, and I think both is good. That's why you go join both, and obviously only if you can be active. Otherwise, in my opinion, you know you're just giving money for no reason. The idea is the chamber is an advocate for you, you kid for you, you. You give your membership dues because they're doing so much more for you, but at the same time, like I said, you'll only get back what you put in it, they'll only join the chamber that you're willing to put your time and effort into.

Stephen Lewis: 55:19

Um, but like, like we said, we've talked about this already but like, how much you'll get back is great when we talk about the opportunity to, to you know, build credibility and build your reputation by joining a chamber, by getting involved with the chamber To your point. The same thing could happen if you join a chamber and then aren't active and don't get involved, the folks that are active and involved, they're going to look at that and say, well, that guy's never anything. They're not willing to invest their time and energy to get to know us, to get to know our chamber, to get to know our community, and then it could almost be a negative against you. You know, compared to the other folks that work in your same space.

Vipul Bindra: 55:59

Exactly. No, that's very smart. That's why I'm like join one or two at most, be very active and be very involved and also, like I said, don't start to offer things until you're ready. I think that's to me key. Don't do bad work. That's not the place where you go find free work. In my opinion, you go to a chamber to find paying clients. Obviously, I'm not talking about the chamber itself, I'm saying the people that you're networking with. So when you're new, my suggestion is always find the businesses that you want to work with and offer to work for free.

Vipul Bindra: 56:30

That's okay, but only when you're learning, and I wouldn't go do that at the chamber. That's okay to do that in general and get your craft right, because when you're joining the chamber, you should be good enough to offer your services. And then obviously, then do good work Because, like I said, they talk, they're there because they want to be part of a community and I because, like I said, they talk, they're there because they want to be part of a community. And and I think the word spreads like wildfire if you go, do good work, um, you know, people will know, and that's what what I love about coming to western chamber I've never once told you know, I make uh, you know, I'm like, okay, we'll make a good looking video.

Vipul Bindra: 57:04

Sure, I, but I never talk about the cameras we use, the audio we use, even though in this podcast I may have talked about it a lot. But you know, tell me, you know from your experience, I've never gone to a chamber and said, oh, we use, you know, this camera or this Because they don't know. The chamber members have no idea and they most likely don't care, right, they care about is what's the result, what's the problem they have?

Stephen Lewis: 57:34

and can we offer a solution? Right? I trust your craft. You know, I don't know. I don't know a lot about this world. I've seen videos that I love, that I'm sure were shot on an iPhone, and I've seen other ones that you know are, you know, tens of thousands of dollars worth of production equipment, you know. It again goes back to identifying what the needs of the chamber are, you know, and how you can offer them what they need and, based on the event, based on you know what they're trying to get across, sometimes it may be a more low budget, other times it's going to be a bigger production. And so, you know, certainly I don't think that we're as in the weeds on the technical specifications. I want something that looks good and paints the chamber in a good light. Make sure that our businesses are painted in good light and that what we're putting out there is a quality product.

Vipul Bindra: 58:19

Okay, that is well put again. So here's what I want to know now. I think you have a perfect client's perspective. In a way, too, I think people want to hear. So for us, you know, obviously, we know a difference, right, I could bring a camera this tiny, this five grand, a camera this big, that may be $500. You don't know because, like I said, it all looks the same, or maybe bigger or smaller. So here's the thing that people say and I also say it when clients don't know what camera is, a bigger is better, just because it's that perceived value when you're paying for it. Or or you know, when you order radio, and if somebody shows up with this tiny camera, it doesn't matter if it's like 20 grand. And somebody shows up with a big camera, full rig, it to somebody who is not in the industry may look, and I'm not saying there's cameras that are that bad, that that big, they're really good, but you don't know. So I'm saying to somebody who's out of this industry, that does matter. What's your opinion on that?

Stephen Lewis: 59:17

Doesn't matter. It's the quality of the product.

Vipul Bindra: 59:19

So if two you hired and obviously let's say both were good quality One company showed up with a tiny camera, one with a big camera. Does that change perceived value or no, according to you?

Stephen Lewis: 59:33

No, no one with a big camera. Does that change perceived value or no, according to you? No, I, no, I, it's the professionalism of the individual. Um, I, I think that it'll show in the quality of the product, the final product, but I'm not going to know the difference between, uh, you know, uh, twenty thousand or twenty dollars you know I. And now, if you come out with a, you know one of those Polaroids or something like that I'm probably going to start questioning something like that yeah, Somebody pulled that knife on you.

Stephen Lewis: 59:54

Yeah, I'd be like sure you can get the job done, you know, but I think at the end of the day, no, for me it's about the finished product.

Vipul Bindra: 1:00:02

So you know, knowing that, that your your, your skillset and what you're going to put out there is good, and how are you looking at that? So again, we, you know, look at a lot of things, like you know depth of field, foreground elements, background elements. You know a lot of stuff that we are looking at. But to to somebody again who's not looking at the craft, you're looking at the end product. What are you? How do you separate, let's say, a mid tier product from from a high tier product? What are you? Yeah, perceiving? I'm saying so.

Stephen Lewis: 1:00:33

So for me, when I look at something, personally, I'm looking at what is my member going to see, what is the message that they're going to get. You know, um, if we're talking about technical, you know specifications, you know. When you're talking about those background or foreground, you know shots, shots. You know who's in those pictures, what are they doing. You know and maybe getting a little bit into the weeds here, but I want to paint my organization in a good light. So if you're doing video shoot and in the background there's a bunch of folks standing around with cocktails in their hands, for me that's a limited use opportunity for my video.

Vipul Bindra: 1:01:11

Yeah.

Stephen Lewis: 1:01:11

I'm not going to want to put that out there in places where that may not be accepted or one of my members may not appreciate having, you know, somebody from their organization in the background having a cocktail. So I want I don't want to have to think about that I want the person that I'm hiring to do the work or that is volunteering their services to think about those things. Think about what is this going to portray to my membership? Is this going to paint the organization in a good light?

Stephen Lewis: 1:01:44

It goes back to and I know I keep harping on it making sure you know the organization and you know the needs and you know the message that they're trying to get across. Because my focus is well, I love our networking events and our members find great value in them. My focus is not delivering a great networking event that's part of what I'm doing but my focus is making sure that we are showing the value of chamber membership, the value of connections, and the way that I'm doing that is if it's being told through your video, through your storytelling. I want to make sure that that's being done. That paints the organization in a positive light.

Stephen Lewis: 1:02:20

So when I look at these videos, when I look at things, production quality is obviously important. Are you interviewing the people that we talked about? Are you capturing the shots that we talked about? You know what's going on in the background. You know, is it painting the organization in a good light? Are you capturing the shots that we needed in a way that is, you know, painting the folks that are being caught on camera, captured on camera in a positive light, and then you know what can we utilize this for? Can we utilize it in multiple ways? Can we utilize it in future advertising? Can we utilize it as a recap? You know how? How much tread can we get off of this particular video? How much uh tread can we get off of it for our recruitment and retention, and you know how many ways can we use this.

Vipul Bindra: 1:03:08

The more ways we can use this, the better, which is also better for you as the video gets seen, more, right, yeah and uh, because all we'll do, look at that, uh here. Here's all I, at least the way I partner.

Vipul Bindra: 1:03:20

All I want to do is put a tiny little logo at the end of the video that says video partner. So you have to understand from my perspective. I'm just trying to get people to watch to the end. Funny enough, believe it or not, in videos that's the hardest thing, if you know. I don't know if you've noticed yourself, if you ever go on social media, how much people scroll. Very few people actually get to an end of a video. But the people that get to the end of the video are the most dedicated people and they're gonna do the call to action that you put at the end, right, um.

Vipul Bindra: 1:03:47

So all strategy has been, at least with Chamber is A partner with the right chamber, then partner at their major events and then also make good videos. And at the end, all I'm trying to do is put a tiny little logo at the end Because I'm like, hey, ideally, if you make good video, chamber gets a good benefit. They get whatever the message is or whatever the purpose of the video is, but if people make it to the end, they'll know who made the video. So so every business needs video. So when they do, hopefully they'll come to me. Simple as that, right and um and and and it's like I said, it's worked for me. I love the strategy and and it's both ways, you know, beneficial because it's only towards the end. So if they're making it to the end, they better be interested in the video.

Vipul Bindra: 1:04:31

Otherwise they're not even, you know, making it to the end. That's just how videos are, which is why you have to limit them. You don't want to go into analytics. Two minutes Most people don't want to watch anything over two minutes. It's very hard, except it's long form. For some reason people love podcasts, so it's kind of like that you have to, very nuanced, find, uh, what the audience will bear.

Stephen Lewis: 1:04:51

I think what you're saying is get to know your chamber and get to know what they need exactly. Look at that.

Stephen Lewis: 1:04:56

Yes so go to the chamber, get to know them, be involved, find out what they need and the businesses too same same thing with the businesses that are involved with the chamber get to know what they need and, and you know that's um, there's a lot of folks in in that space here and you know here's the reality of it and feel free to speak on it if, if if you disagree, but, um, we're in a place where there is professional uh folks in this space that can do this professionally, and you know they have production companies, they have millions of dollars, and so you have to offer something that's unique and to a unique client.

Stephen Lewis: 1:05:28

you know, have production companies, they have millions of dollars, and so you have to offer something that's unique and to a unique client. You know, that's the that's the difference here in central florida yeah may not be the case everywhere but, yeah, you know, making sure that you know your audience and you know the space that you're working and it's important.

Vipul Bindra: 1:05:42

no, we, we're literally next to disney, I mean the, I think what the one of the biggest media companies in the world, right, so if you're trying to, and it may be different in a different market, but regardless, if you want and plus, it's accessible now, see in the past it wasn't.

Vipul Bindra: 1:05:58

It was very easy to vet people because they're like well, if you can afford a $100,000 camera, you must not be doing this for a hobby. Now it's like a $3,000 camera looks so good that you don't need the hundred thousand dollar camera for most of these corporate type of jobs. So it becomes harder because full sale will literally give you, uh like an fx6, which is a five, six thousand dollar camera, as part of your kit when you join. You know, to learn filmmaking or whatever. So now everyone's walking out with a industry standard camera and the skill level may vary a lot, right? So the equipment doesn't matter as much anymore, it's more the skill level and then the like, like we've been talking about the, the relationship building, the, the storytelling ability, um, so here's what I want to know from you.

Vipul Bindra: 1:06:43

I think to me, uh, the biggest issue that I've noticed for our industry isn't actually equipment or all of this, is the. The best people I love to work with are small businesses, because you can work directly with the business owner, right? I love where we can go a roofer or or a dentist, or wherever we can immediate make impact, because videos work, like we've talked about, so you make them really impactful videos. You can integrate them into their processes. They they can, within three months, usually double triple their revenue. It's amazing. And you can directly work with a business owner who goes, yeah, changed my life. You know essentially pretty much, and for us it's like such an incredible feeling because it's again a mutually beneficial thing. You're impactful Exactly.

Vipul Bindra: 1:07:24

However, since the education is not there, because you know, all these big companies are paying for researches and, like Disney, knows what video can do. That's why they're spending so much on video marketing. The small business doesn't have access to this knowledge, so they typically don't know the impact. Business doesn't have access to this knowledge, so they typically don't know the impact, so they'll go oh, 15k, 20k, that's like too much money for me. So we end up typically working with you know a lot of more times with bigger companies who'll just come and say, oh yeah, we want to make this video his 50k because they know what it?

Vipul Bindra: 1:07:52

costs and what it works, as long as they know you can execute it. There's a budget. So you end up going uh you know, do I spend three weeks educating this client that I know can be so amazing? Or I can go take this immediate cash and go make this big company a commercial or training videos or whatever. So that's what we're fighting. Once you get established, you're like all the monies and the big companies, and the funny thing also I've talked about is that they'll, they'll trust your craft, they're the only higher experts so they'll give you money and also go let you do what you want to do right.

Vipul Bindra: 1:08:25

Very rarely on my bigger projects I have like more than one revision versus on smaller projects they are more concerned about oh, I look a little fat here, or my you know, or whatever the things that don't actually matter. It's more about just being authentic and putting it out there. So the the thing I'm trying to get to is how do we business owners go about educating our favorite clients, small businesses, who can benefit the most from it?

Vipul Bindra: 1:08:50

uh, value of it, you know, I don't know yeah, if there even is a solution to that so I think the numbers don't lie.

Stephen Lewis: 1:08:57

Um, you know, first and foremost, the the product that you're putting forward, making sure that you're delivering the quality product. You know that's visible, that's very visible. But beyond that, you know, having those testimonials that you're talking about, you know if there's folks that are doubling or tripling their revenue, that no longer becomes a, you know, an opportunity. That's a straight return on investment. And so if you have those testimonies of folks that are experiencing that, get those testimonies, maybe take a video of them you know.

Vipul Bindra: 1:09:32

if you have that ability, yeah, exactly.

Stephen Lewis: 1:09:34

But get those testimonials.

Stephen Lewis: 1:09:36

And then I would also say that you know, get yourself a good white paper, and this is where you've got to think about your opportunities.

Stephen Lewis: 1:09:45

There's a lot of benefits and resources available to you as a chamber member, and, while I'm speaking specifically on the West Orange Chamber, most chambers have a similar business model in that, depending on your membership level, you have the ability to do social media posts, you have the ability to do email communication, you have the ability to advertise, and so, if you have these data facts that you can put out there, find the right medium, find the right opportunity to advertise within the chamber's membership and get that data out there, because there's folks that are.

Stephen Lewis: 1:10:20

You know, we have a great open rate on our emails because we try to make sure that we're putting relevant content and information in them, and so whenever you're sending that stuff out, um, you know it's an opportunity for you as a business owner to advertise with the chamber. So not only do you have the credibility and reputation you know, you're putting credibility and legitimacy around your business, but when you start to put out those data facts that are that are sharing that story, folks are looking at it and saying, okay, there's a straight return on investment. If I spend this much money here, that's going to double my revenue, triple my revenue. That becomes a. There's a business case for spending that money right away.

Vipul Bindra: 1:10:58

Yeah, so I think that's very smart, so put up a case study. Obviously, we don't promise anything. So, for example, at the end of the day, what we're doing is we're making you know videos. Right, simple as that. We're going to make the best videos at a given budget. That's all I promised my clients. I'm like look, I anything, but this is the data points that are being given by our existing clients. It works. Clearly, it works.

Vipul Bindra: 1:11:23

Otherwise, these companies are not stupid. They're spending hundreds of thousands with us making similar videos. Right, clearly, it works. Uh so, and because you know, as you know, bigger companies are actually even more stringent with spending. So if they're spending on video like nobody's business, it actually works. Uh, no, but that's actually a very smart idea, I think. Uh, and most people, I think, listening can do that. Once you do have those clients that it has worked for, go record those testimonials, put the data points. You can always put a disclaimer like look, we're not a marketing company, we're not trying to sell you kpis or whatever. It just works. You know, as long as you make you listen to the problem of the business owner, you solve the business owner's problem, whatever that may be, you're gonna give them results because that's right literally what the video is accomplishing and, as we know, people buy from people they know like and trust.

Vipul Bindra: 1:12:12

Yeah, and video is the fastest way to skip that year-long like we're talking about business relationship. I go to build at the chamber, um, and it can be a lot easier if you're, what you're selling is a lot easier to buy.

Vipul Bindra: 1:12:25

obviously it may not work for video, but I'm saying it may work for, like, if somebody that you're meeting is like I don't know, a real estate agent or, um, they sell some kind of product, makeup, whatever uh, it's a lot easier to get them that ROI by making these good videos, absolutely. So I think that's that's amazing. Yeah, that's a good way to put at it, because, at the end of the day, what we want to do is obviously make money for businesses, but we want to make impact while doing that. So we want to work with the most, you know, biggest organizations. We can make impact, like.

Vipul Bindra: 1:12:57

Last year I had the opportunity to work on this documentary um, you know, and it's going to save lives. And when you do that, you're like, oh, I'm getting paid to capture, um, you know this content. And then once we put it out there, you're telling me we're going to save a plane, the way they put it, a plane full of people every day, and I'm like that's so impactful, right, and so we as filmmakers just want to tell these, these stories, but at the same time, we want to pay it and that tends to end up being, like I said, these bigger businesses with bigger budgets but, like I said, my favorite part at least is helping small businesses. So I would love to put some of these data points together and share with the community and use the resources, like you said, of the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 1:13:40

Yeah, and you know that's. The thing is. That's, you know, not only is taking advantage of your chamber membership, attending networking events or you know other events that are offered, but, you know, taking advantage of those mediums that we have, the network that we have and have established. Take advantage of that, check out what the advertising opportunities are and utilize them to the fullest extent and to your fullest advantage.

Vipul Bindra: 1:14:07

Yeah, so Chamber can offer social media advertising. Chamber can offer email newsletter type of blast Chamber. You can do like we've talked about already the events. There's a lot more opportunities, anything I'm missing.

Stephen Lewis: 1:14:20

No, I think that you're capturing.

Vipul Bindra: 1:14:22

I'm good there also the website. I remember in the beginning, when we joined, I put my banner on the website too, so that's another way.

Vipul Bindra: 1:14:29

So there's a lot of ways you can get you know. Again, uh, advertising, credibility, recognition is just by putting your logo, uh, you know, with an organization like the chamber, and so, yeah, once you get some money, I would highly recommend. Again, in my opinion, obviously, we've shown, with Ben being here, how you can do Instagram ads and other stuff to gain sales. But I think, again, for me what's worked is Chamber because, again, like I said, you have two different perspectives. I had a buddy, ben, explain all about how he can get sales through Instagram. My thing is, I'm trying to sell. You know, my product isn't cheap. It's not expensive for what it is, but it's not cheap and I don't think those people are sitting on Instagram going let me buy this 10 grand video or whatever. So I find that the Chamber is a better advertising opportunity because, uh, chamber owners, you know you can build those relationships and take your time with it, um, so I think, yeah, that's, that's very good and it's a long term right.

Stephen Lewis: 1:15:28

That's the other thing, and we talked about that early on. Is is a long-term investment, it's a long-term commitment, but once you establish that relationship, once it's there, it's going to pay dividends yeah, and you can benefit from other ways.

Vipul Bindra: 1:15:41

So here's how I benefited. I needed to buy a house. I'm like, all right, where's the mortgage guy? Right? That's how you look around you and you go, oh, I, I'm meeting this guy for a while, so let me talk to you. And and so chamber can help you in other ways. Or you can go, oh, I need to to do this, or I need to do security cameras. Who's the the low voltage person? Right? So you slowly start to not only benefit from your own business but from the network in general you're building, again, giving business to other chamber members and again, if you're active, you have these relationships. I would rather do business with other chamber members than you know just some random vendor that I don't know. Again, I don't understand their quality or trust their quality or any of that 100%.

Vipul Bindra: 1:16:22

So you can actually end up, funny enough, giving back to the people that you know you're networking with. So it's actually a give and take relationships because, as you need services, Chamber is the best place.

Stephen Lewis: 1:16:34

Hopefully you already know someone who does that Right, but if not, you can always pick up the phone, call the chamber and be like, hey, I'm looking for a real estate agent or whatever. They'd be happy to give you some options to pick from. Right for sure. And and you know we get those phone calls every single day is you know the power of networking and you know doing that? You know we get phone calls that it's funny. Now I've been in my position for, uh, you know, about 16 months and and I now get texts from my neighbors.

Stephen Lewis: 1:17:04

They're looking to me for hey, you know who's the chamber member that can do this or who's the chamber member that can do that. And you know it's cool because you see the power of networking right and I've met so many people that offer everything from soup to nuts, that offer everything from soup to nuts, and to be able to establish that network. And you know, know that you're talking to somebody, that you're liable because they're not going to want to deliver a bad product or service to you, because then, what are you going to do the next time that you're?

Vipul Bindra: 1:17:30

you know asking somebody's asking you for a recommendation or you're at a networking group somebody's asking they want to make sure that they're putting the best foot forward, and so you know referral marketing, especially when you're in a good in the community, so powerful because, guess what, like you just said, if somebody called you they need a roof or whatever, you're not going to recommend someone. You know who you know is going to do a bad job. Right, you're going to send a list of you know. You know people that are credible, that have members that provide a good product. So when you're putting that, you're also putting, like you said, chamber's reputation and your reputation on the line. And same thing with me I will never recommend someone who I don't trust. But when you do do those, you know when, like, for example, I needed a fence or whatever, when I got that recommendation, I'm like, oh, I trust this, I don't.

Stephen Lewis: 1:18:19

you don't even have when the vendor comes, I'm like just give me a code.

Vipul Bindra: 1:18:20

I don't need to worry about you building trust or whatever I already trust the person who recommended you to me, and that can be I don't know, very beneficial.

Stephen Lewis: 1:18:27

Yeah, and I think this is an interesting full circle moment. When you talk about your relationship with Chambers and your ability to do work for them, you also reach a point where you know some of the nuances that we talked about, and so it provides a better opportunity, long-term opportunities, for those relationships and you know you're the person that they're going to go to. And so, speaking specifically for the video world, you know the, the, the videography world. You know that's how you establish that relationship is. You know, once you deliver a quality product or service the first time, next time it's going to be that much easier to get through it, and then the next time you're going to get to a point where you send them over the first edit and they're like this is great, this is fantastic.

Vipul Bindra: 1:19:09

Exactly, yeah, and it's always generally if people want to change it, something very small or little, and that's okay.

Vipul Bindra: 1:19:15

Very rarely once you have that understanding, so it makes your job easier too, like our job to give that better result. No, I think this is incredible talk that we're having so far, like people are learning so much. I'm learning and so I'm hoping other people are. So now I want to know, like higher level, what does a chamber press? Obviously I know when we get involved, mostly I'm dealing, like you said, with the chamber staff. It's either just about membership or you know events and the way we can get involved. When we are obviously doing radio for the chamber, you and I will talk or whatever, but typically I'm dealing with the chamber staff. So what does a chamber president do? Because you're very busy and you know I don't know.

Vipul Bindra: 1:19:54

What does a chamber president's life look like? Comes on to podcast, you know uh does that kind of stuff, you know that's why, when I asked, I was like I hope you have two hours. This is a long one, so thank you.

Stephen Lewis: 1:20:06

Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, you know my day to day it's a little bit different from day to day. Um, you know my job is to facilitate the governance of the organization. So in my day to day I work with our board of directors, I work with our executive committee. I have, you know, work with our committee structure, so my staff also works with our committees. But at the end of the day, you know, I make sure that I'm heavily involved with what our committees are doing to make sure that we're delivering value to our membership, delivering value to our membership. So when I talk about the governance of the organization, that's focusing on the strategy, making sure that we have a strategic plan that's delivering value to our membership, delivering value to our community.

Stephen Lewis: 1:20:51

I have relationships and established relationships with our elected officials. We get involved heavily in state politics, local politics. You know, at the county level, I build relationships with the municipalities that we represent, and so this goes back to a member benefit is. I'm establishing these relationships so that if you have an issue with your local government, your state government, I have a contact that we can reach out to to help you with your business issue. So a lot of that you know. Working with other community organizations and community partners.

Stephen Lewis: 1:21:28

I try to make sure that I have good relationships with folks that are working in this space so that if there is an issue that's impacting our community that's broader than something just the West Orange Chamber can focus on.

Stephen Lewis: 1:21:40

I have a Rolodex of contacts that I can reach out to if it's in the, you know, depending on what industry it is, you know I can reach out to my counterpart that is over a trade association or a chamber that also does work in that space. So, establishing those relationships with community partners and then also just working with our members to understand the needs of the business community, make sure that we're responsive to them, that anything that we're advocating for politically is aligned with what our business leaders need, aligned with what our industries and organizations that we represent need and organizations that we represent need. And then you know, just on a day-to-day level also, just like you all as business owners, I'm focusing on the finances and operations of the organization. So we run an organization that I have a staff of six to seven we're in the process of hiring right now that I'm managing day-to-day operations. So, just working with our staff, we have a team that focuses on membership. A team that focuses on events, marketing and communications.

Stephen Lewis: 1:22:50

Then we have someone that focuses on government affairs and community relations. So, you know, making sure that the operations of the chamber, making sure that we're delivering value to our membership, and we're also, you know, delivering on our purpose of advancing community collaboration and leadership. That's the three areas that we focus in, and so everything that I do ties back to our purpose in delivering community collaboration and leadership. That's a lot.

Vipul Bindra: 1:23:14

That's a lot, but so are business owners, you know. Sometimes you know you have those long days, long hours, because at the end of the day there's so much to do, right From managing staff to managing all sorts of other things for you. Obviously, like you said, it's also on the governance level and community relations, and that's what I like. So as a business owner, I'm very busy. Half the time I'm on a plane. It's so annoying you don't want to know. You know airport is where I end up finding myself a lot, because a lot of projects tend to be all over the country and so I can't actively be involved. You know, going meeting like local elected officials or any kind of laws that are being passed. You know it's very hard to remain focused on that because it's already hard to just keep up with the video industry, because our industry moves like at such speed.

Vipul Bindra: 1:24:02

You know that it can be hard and that's why I love being you know. Like I said, remember we're part of the business community. Once you form a business and you want to make sure the laws being passed are pro-business and uh, benefit you know, business community is, in general, because you are part of it right and sometimes they be nuanced, they can hide things we don't know, and that's why I love being a member of you know, chambers because, at the end of the day, I know that my dollars are going towards making sure that no law is going to pass, so nothing silly is going to happen in the community. That you know is going to hurt me indirectly and if something like that is even at the table, I'll know from a newsletter or something like that.

Stephen Lewis: 1:24:47

And you know, I don't know, I've left that part of it too. And we, you know, we try to make sure that our businesses are protected. We facilitate the conversations with elected officials so that they know what our business owners are facing, and then we try to keep our members informed. So, you know, we're not always going to be successful in, you know, supporting or opposing legislation that impacts businesses, but I can promise you that we're aware of them and we're doing everything we can to advocate on your behalf. And then, at the end of the day, we also want to make sure that we are a resource to you, as a business owner, in knowing what's coming down the pike, what's going to impact you, so you can be prepared, so you can be prepared, and then offering ourselves as a resource for again facilitating those connections.

Vipul Bindra: 1:25:35

And I think it's the power right. I think US Chamber of Commerce is one of the largest. What? What's the word?

Vipul Bindra: 1:25:41

I'm late trade organization yeah yeah, in the in the country, and then it's built up off the. So you invest, I think, in your local chamber. Then the chambers work together, like in our state through florida I think, chamber of commerce, then that works to use chamber. What I'm saying is there. You know there's people advocating from you and it's small little thing can become, you know, very powerful because you know it's small little thing can become. You know, very powerful because you know it's small businesses that join together and slowly you can reach you know, that higher level and at least you know, like you said, we can't guarantee it.

Vipul Bindra: 1:26:08

I don't even know what's happening. Like I said, I'm not involved, like you are.

Vipul Bindra: 1:26:11

I'm just like I don't want any anything that to make it. It's already hard being a small business owner, you know, and I'm one of the lucky ones, like I said, I reached seven figures. So many business owners in the video world I mean they're, like you know, just trying to make it to six figures, right. So I'm saying like it's, and it's so hard to keep up with any of this. So just just good, knowing that there's an organization you know and other partnering organizations that are trying to yeah advocating and making sure that you know it's.

Vipul Bindra: 1:26:39

It doesn't become harder to do business than it already is.

Stephen Lewis: 1:26:42

And you know that's what we focus on. We really do. You know we talk about the shiny objects which are the networking events, the sponsorships, the opportunities to advertise, but you know we're also doing this in the background too. Right, we're making sure the business is protected, we're making sure the businesses are advocated for and that we are are able to help you navigate the the complex network of government agencies, elected officials, things like that that you don't have the time, as a business owner, to focus on plus, I'm pretty sure if I approached them they wouldn't care because, like I said, I may seem like, I may feel like, oh, I'm doing really well in the video world.

Vipul Bindra: 1:27:20

I'm like nothing like you. Compare me to disney. It's like, uh, what avenger who's? And that's true so.

Stephen Lewis: 1:27:26

So for them, they're gonna focus on these bigger organizations and I think I'd rather go through the chamber if I ever needed anything you know, here's the cool thing about it too, right is is when you join a chamber, you're joining a something that's so much bigger than you. So, yes, while you may be competing in the same space, you are also. When you join collectively you know, in the West Orange Chamber or whatever chamber you're a member of comes together, then you have the power behind you. You have the power of a large network of businesses that represent a broad spectrum of industries that you know, vendra, and your team of individuals that you employ yes, small, but when you add that to the network of members in the chamber, you start to add up the economic impact there and we start to put numbers around that that's something that your elected officials that you're, you know, can't ignore.

Stephen Lewis: 1:28:28

So it's the power of the collective, when we're all working together, when we're all focusing on the same issues that impact businesses. Yes, you can compete by day, but at the end of the day, you know, what's good for the business community is good for the entire business community. What's bad for the business community is bad for the entire business community. And so putting yourself and investing in an organization that allows you to pull resources and make sure that your voice is heard, whether in the state capitol or, you know, washington DC, or even locally, it's important, and the only way to do that is to join something that's bigger than yourself, broader than yourself, that is advocating on your behalf.

Vipul Bindra: 1:29:09

And Chamber is a nonprofit organization right, it is yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:29:11

So it is. It's very like I said, it's something bigger than you but, like I said, immediately join, like I said I'm happy to. My strategy is very simple and if anyone wants to copy it, be my guest. Find the chamber, like we've said before, in your local area that you feel obviously is a legitimate organization and is the most active. Be involved, be active, offer your services, make a good Nuance product that they're looking for so they can share with their audience, and as long as you're doing a great job, you'll find sales, which is what I think most people are listening to. This, are looking for higher revenue, higher sales and, at the end of the day, know that it's not just that, the shiny part, which is the networking and use the, you know the advertising resources and everything.

Vipul Bindra: 1:30:05

But then now you have a resource where you can just pick up the phone and you can ask for whatever you need, whether that's another render or something to do with elective officials or or something on the local government side, right ship to nuts everything awesome. So before we uh start wrapping this up, I want to know what else does um uh chamber do? That may be something that we we don't think about normally.

Stephen Lewis: 1:30:20

Yeah, you know some unique things that we do here. West Orange Chamber, we make sure that we are providing. We talk about advertising opportunities, right, so you know our business directory and things that we put out there. You know we talk about the business community, we talk about getting engaged with elected officials but, believe it or not, chambers are still a real resource for, like, travelers or folks that are moving to the community, and so something that we do is we try to make sure that we're a resource to our municipalities and our municipal partners come to us. You know we provide literature to them on. You know, businesses in the area and, you know, try to make sure that folks that are moving to the area know a little bit about the area.

Stephen Lewis: 1:31:11

We think that you know everybody thinks that that's all done online. You would be shocked at the number of folks that walk into our chamber office and are like, hey, I'm visiting from you know out of town.

Vipul Bindra: 1:31:23

Can you yeah?

Stephen Lewis: 1:31:23

Can you tell me? You know what they're, what's there to do around town? You know where? Where's the nearest park or where's the nearest um. You know, uh, where's a good restaurant to eat? I, I, you know it's funny, but people still come in. I didn't know that.

Vipul Bindra: 1:31:35

But that's pretty cool. It's an older demographic.

Stephen Lewis: 1:31:37

These days, you know, most folks are on the phone or, you know, on their computer looking this stuff up, but there's still folks that come into the office and ask for that kind of stuff.

Vipul Bindra: 1:31:45

So you're also being a community resource, yeah absolutely Community resource.

Stephen Lewis: 1:31:49

you know, not only for businesses, but you know folks will come in and literally you know a couple last month, a couple months ago, you know folks come in and you know we're're like do you have a paper map? And I'm like, well, we do you know, we don't get rid of.

Stephen Lewis: 1:32:03

You know we don't. We don't get rid of them often, but you know we do still have that stuff. So a lot of folks still look at the chamber of commerce as their their stop whenever they get into town so that they can find out I don't think what are the locals, but I don't think I've ever looked at the paper map.

Vipul Bindra: 1:32:18

I have looked okay, so the only map I've ever looked at. I don't play video games. I bought gta5 a long time ago, so you know they do inserts. So the video game came with the fake like a map of the fake city yeah that's the last map I remember ever touching yeah, that's crazy that you know.

Stephen Lewis: 1:32:34

Last one I touched it was probably at a theme park you know, theme park, theme park.

Vipul Bindra: 1:32:38

Okay, I wasn't thinking that. Yeah, you know it's funny, but even those were there.

Stephen Lewis: 1:32:42

Yeah, well, I grew up here and it's funny, I grew up here and still, every time I go into a park I grab a map. I'm like I've been to all these parks a hundred times.

Vipul Bindra: 1:32:55

My daughter did. We've been here hundreds of times, you know what Something about it's sitting there.

Stephen Lewis: 1:32:59

It's a freebie so you can grab it. But folks still come into the chamber for that kind of stuff and we're happy to provide that resource. Some people come in to lodge complaints against businesses and we try to work through it with them.

Vipul Bindra: 1:33:12

That's interesting too. Yeah, you know it doesn't happen often, but you know folks are coming. I mean I get that one. I'm like, okay, you know you'd go to a business organization, yeah.

Stephen Lewis: 1:33:19

I'm like. Well, talk to the Better Business.

Vipul Bindra: 1:33:21

Bureau. I'm not going to talk.

Stephen Lewis: 1:33:23

You know badly on my members, but you know folks do come in with that. And then you know something else that we do and we touched a little bit on it is developing those relationships with other organizations in the community. You know we have the relationships with elected officials and stuff like that. But you know, I'm sure in your world there's organizations that focus solely on folks that are producing. You know that are videographers. There's organizations and trade organizations that are focused in specific industries. I can't be an expert on all of those industries, so if I don't know something I'll reach out to my counterpart that's an expert on tourism or hospitality construction. You know we have these organizations that we partner with, that we have relationships with that. We can, you know, rely on to provide.

Stephen Lewis: 1:34:12

You know either greater knowledge on a subject so really establishing those relationships.

Vipul Bindra: 1:34:19

And I love that about the restaurant chamber of commerce because you know you would think, uh, you know well, maybe somebody would think I don't think, but you know that it would be like, oh, all enclosed, no, this is it. No, I I love about restaurant chamber of commerce because you guys are not only doing all the stuff that we've talked about, you're also partnering with these other organizations and treating them as friends and more resources than enemies. Because, like, I've gone to so many events just two that come into mind are like Rotary Club. So people have been to chamber events and talked about like, hey, I'm a member of the Rotary Club or a member of.

Stephen Lewis: 1:34:52

Horizon West Happenings.

Vipul Bindra: 1:34:54

These are separate organizations, but they are part of the chamber because, like you said, it's a whole network of community that we have, and I love that.

Stephen Lewis: 1:35:03

I think that's that's how you build a better, bigger yeah, and you know that I think that that's a good point to touch on is, you know, when you join your chamber, well, I want that to be your first stop and I want that to be a great resource for you. Different organizations can offer different benefits, and that's something that I try to tell our members, you know, whenever they're looking to come on board, and that I stress with my staff is not every every this. We're not going to be the right fit for every business. I hope you support us for the causes that we talked about, because we're advocating on your behalf, but we're not going to necessarily be the best place for you to network, if you know. But we're not going to necessarily be the best place for you to network, if you know you are looking for a more individual based. You know you're looking for those direct sales with individuals or or, you know, households.

Stephen Lewis: 1:35:52

You know we can offer some of that, but I don't have a lot of individuals. Most of the folks that are coming to chamber events are representing businesses and so you know that's the opportunity for that broader networking rotary clubs, things like that that are also members of the chamber. Those are good places to network if you're trying to, you know, depending on what your line of work is. So chamber can offer a lot, but you know I would also encourage folks to look at other community organizations that they can expand that network.

Stephen Lewis: 1:36:20

And there's going to be a lot of overlap and things like that, but there's also some unique opportunities when you start to get involved in a community and can identify what would be another good group whether it be a Rotary or something like that to get involved with.

Vipul Bindra: 1:36:33

Oh, that's incredible. So here's something that you know, I guess if people are not local, they would not know so Restaurant and Chamber. So I started the relationship when I joined. You know, I guess if people are not local they would not know so restaurant and chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 1:36:44

So I started when I joined you know, stina was the president.

Vipul Bindra: 1:36:45

She was president forever. So how does it feel to take over an organization with such strong legacy? Yeah, I don't know. Tell me more about that part. I just want to know.

Stephen Lewis: 1:36:55

Yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:36:56

How do you feel? You know how you fit in now. Yeah, so you know how how you fit in now. Yeah, yeah, so you know how long have you been president now, Uh?

Stephen Lewis: 1:37:03

going on 16 months so yeah, yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:37:06

So we're now fully integrated Rocking and rolling rocking and rolling.

Stephen Lewis: 1:37:10

Um, you know it's a. Um. It's interesting this chamber there was such a legacy that was left by my predecessor and just coming into a situation where we had a very healthy organization. We have great volunteer leaders, we have great members, we have money in the bank, which sometimes with not-for-profits that's where we talk about finding the legitimate chambers and the legitimate organizations.

Stephen Lewis: 1:37:42

We're very fortunate that we were in a good financial position and that a lot of great things have been done. We we built a reputation. Steena and her team had built a reputation that, you know, kind of the reputation precedes yourself, and that was me right. So there was instant credibility when I came on board, because folks had been doing business with the West Orange Chamber for so long that they, you know I automatically had credibility within my peer network, within the chamber world and the community. So, you know, folks saw me as that, the new person that was coming on board, and so that was really nice, so that that made the transition a lot easier. Um, I also had the added benefit of growing up here in central Florida. So, born and raised in central Florida, I'm one of the few native.

Stephen Lewis: 1:38:29

Floridians. Um, so had that as a benefit and you know that also helped to establish some of those relationships and cultivate some of those relationships that, um, you know had all the ones that the chamber had and that my predecessor had but I also had some relationships here in the community and so that's been really nice to be able to bring some new folks, new organizations, new, you know, community groups into the fold and be able to really continue to build on that great legacy that the Western chamber has.

Vipul Bindra: 1:39:01

That's awesome, yeah, cause, like I said, she was there a long time 22 years 22 years, and then, when she finally made the decision to retire, I was like I don't know who's going to step up to fill her shoes. So what made you want to apply for the role? What did you do before this?

Stephen Lewis: 1:39:17

Yeah, so it's funny. You talked about being on on an airplane. I was on an airplane for the last 12, 13 years of my career um, and you know, I worked for a national trade organization based out of washington dc the associated builders and contractors. Um, you know, we had offices across the country, 68 chapters in 48 states, oh, wow so yeah, you were, yeah, so I was I was all over, always based here in central Florida, but prior to this was working for that organization for 16 years.

Stephen Lewis: 1:39:47

So started when I was in college working at the local office up in Tallahassee FSU go Knolls and then, you know, moved back down to central Florida after graduating and went to work for the local organization, uh, down here. And then, uh, shortly after that, got hired by the national organization and that's kind of where my, my um, my um, uh, career in association management took off Right. So I I, you know did the government affairs side and really enjoyed that aspect of it, but my passion was really the association and not-for-profit management. And so, you know, moved back down here and had been involved with um ABC for for a long time. Kids are getting a little bit older and I'm like you know what it's time to to get off the road, and so, uh, there had never been anything that had really interested me. I loved my job and my role, but I saw it as an opportunity. I mean, how often does an organization with a reputation like the West Orange Chamber have, apparently, once in every?

Vipul Bindra: 1:40:56

22 years, once in every 22 years.

Stephen Lewis: 1:40:58

And so you know it aligned with my personal, you know personal beliefs and you know, philosophically it was an organization that my beliefs and you know pro-business could obviously get behind. And so, you know, took the leap of faith and you know, literally I live in West Orange. I've always lived in West Orange, born and raised in Apopka, but, you know, moved over to the area that I'm in now and it's literally, you know, 12 to 15 minutes from my house, depending on how the traffic is that day. You can get there as quick as 10 if there's no traffic on the road. So you know how often does a roll like that?

Stephen Lewis: 1:41:38

open up in your backyard.

Vipul Bindra: 1:41:39

That's incredible. I couldn't even find a house there. Talk about it, you know. So I appreciate you driving all the way to Winter Park. That was my big problem I was trying to find you know, I've always lived in that either Dr Phillips, millennia, yeah, yeah, yeah, so well, trying to find a home in Dr Phillips area and I could not find everything has.

Stephen Lewis: 1:42:05

HOA.

Vipul Bindra: 1:42:06

And that was my one requirement. I was like I cannot have HOA. My real estate agent went so far to like email these HOAs. Can he park a van here? And I'm like no, I don't care, even if they say yes you know they could change.

Stephen Lewis: 1:42:17

I don't want to change it. I was like no, no, no, not worth it, so I had to move.

Vipul Bindra: 1:42:22

Well, I mean, I wouldn't say that far, but still you know, I don't, I don't. This is my first time ever being on this side of town yeah, so I appreciate you.

Stephen Lewis: 1:42:28

We'll bring you back over to west, yeah no, exactly that's what I told her.

Vipul Bindra: 1:42:31

I was like it's so funny, I don't think how many uh clients she has. Who's buying a home saying I already know I'm gonna be selling, yeah uh, and moving back. But then you know, to be real, I've been here now a few months and I'm actually starting to like it it's not the same. Going to a theme park is not as as fast yeah, because you know we could just get up 15 minutes here at magic kingdom you know five minutes here at universal. Yeah, it's not the same.

Stephen Lewis: 1:42:53

It takes 30 45 minutes, so that's the only negative but it's not bad until those daughters are getting a little bit older. You're gonna be like I can't keep doing this.

Vipul Bindra: 1:43:00

Yeah, no so it's gonna be interesting. Yeah, so that was the unfortunate part.

Stephen Lewis: 1:43:04

I'm technically not in west orange anymore, but your office is still there though, yes, so the company's not moving.

Vipul Bindra: 1:43:10

I was like nope, we're established, our office is still there, so the company's technically in rest orange and I'm not planning to change that well, you know um can't pass up the opportunity to say that West Orange is the best place to live, work and do business.

Stephen Lewis: 1:43:23

So you know anyone who's living there. I agree with you.

Vipul Bindra: 1:43:25

I'm not disagreeing with you Because technically, like I said, my business is still based out of that millennia area and I'm not planning to really change that Because I've worked for years.

Stephen Lewis: 1:43:34

Why change it Absolutely Plus?

Vipul Bindra: 1:43:36

I barely go to office. Like I said, my office is a plane or a phone.

Stephen Lewis: 1:43:40

You know, that's basically it. When you have a great setup, like you do, it's amazing.

Vipul Bindra: 1:43:44

By the way, this plan wasn't to use this space. So, like I said, most businesses that we have we want to film at their location yeah, their location. So I was really excited to partner with them on the Big Air Angiovertis here. When you gave that idea, I was like, oh, this space would be incredible Cause, um, you know, I built it, uh, primarily to do this and just, uh, a space to work. But I was like this studio is, uh, and you know, funny enough, I have friends of studios that are smaller than this that they charge money for. So your project is the first one going to be done here.

Vipul Bindra: 1:44:19

Oh cool when we're going to have clients over. What do you think?

Stephen Lewis: 1:44:23

Yeah, is it good enough? You've done a great job. You've done a great job getting this set up.

Vipul Bindra: 1:44:27

I'm glad you're here so you can confirm this is good enough to get clients here. You know, we even put a makeup area.

Stephen Lewis: 1:44:32

Yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:44:33

We put candy for them. Hopefully they're going to be happy Because, like I said, typically we don't film in studios anymore. I find that's changed. Maybe commercials, yeah, but most businesses now want to be authentic. They want to show that. But what we're doing for Big Orange Awards, the studio made more sense, yeah. So this was like the perfect combination of like oh, it's just getting done. Now you know we have this amazing project, yeah, and plus, it'll be very efficient for them too, because they can just come in, get it done, get out of there.

Vipul Bindra: 1:45:03

We don't have to like spend hours setting up at their location so it doesn't take that much time out of their day. So that was very interesting so.

Stephen Lewis: 1:45:10

I'm looking forward to that.

Vipul Bindra: 1:45:12

Now, before we wrap this up again, I want to know we have some time 15 minutes so how else can a business owner no, actually, let's take it more so we've talked about how they can get involved. What I want to know is, as a video business owner, right, you're new to business. You don't know much. Obviously, you've joined the chamber, you're very active. What to do next? Give some pointers, because you hang out with business owners who are at the top of Central Florida to small business owners. How can they level up fast? Do you have any tips or tricks?

Stephen Lewis: 1:45:46

You know I want to be careful on the leveling up fast. I think that it has to be a—you have to be careful with that.

Stephen Lewis: 1:46:11

You know, when folks that are, you know, have risen to these high levels in their organizations are looking for who they're doing business with you get 100 phone calls a day of somebody that wants to do an, that you have to make sure that you are taking an approach that folks are comfortable establishing a relationship. I would say that some things that folks are looking for is don't waste their time. Whenever these folks that I'm dealing with on a daily basis, you cannot waste time. Time is a valuable resource. If folks are giving you the time of day, make sure you know what you're asking for. Make sure that you know what you can deliver on. Don't provide expectations that are unrealistic for you or for them, because it is going to lead to problems down the road. So make sure that I think, whenever you're doing that and you know you're doing that and you're having, uh, those conversations and you have the opportunity to have those conversations don't over-promise and under-deliver because you do that one time. Um, what you'd be surprised about and I can speak to central Florida, but I can tell you that it's the same everywhere is I go to several events a week, a month, whatever that.

Stephen Lewis: 1:47:24

You would be shocked at how many of the same people, the same executives, that I run into at each of these events. And that's a good thing, because if you put a consistent product out there, you put a service out there that somebody wants and you deliver on it. It's going to spread like wildfire. But just as easily you get one bad review. That review is going to spread like wildfire because these people are in these same meetings, these same events, these same community events, these same business meetings, these same community events, these same business meetings. And if you destroy your reputation with one of them, it's not going to take long before the rest of them you know whether it's word of mouth, whether it's the product that you put out there. So make sure that whenever you do have the opportunity to work with these folks, you are delivering on expectations and that you are not over promising. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:48:17

No, I completely agree, don't do half-baked projects, cause what I and I think that's a mindset change right. For me, the biggest thing is it's very easy to scale video business up to like you know, let's just say like a hundred K or whatever, because then you just all you do is you get good at your craft, tell everyone you know you're there, get hired by other marketing agencies or video people and you can get there Fine. But when you want to scale up from that, you have to become a business owner.

Stephen Lewis: 1:48:44

And.

Vipul Bindra: 1:48:44

I think it's very, very important to understand that. That's a very different ballgame. It's not the same as I make good videos. It's very different. It's very much like you said, if you want to get into these, these big companies, they all hang out together. They all know each other.

Vipul Bindra: 1:49:05

So if you are going to do a project and let's say it's not up to your rate or or where you want to be, don't half uh, half-ass it, you know. Don't list, uh, you know, just don't do it. I would rather them say no, I would. My advice would be don't don't do it, or rather, treat it as a great opportunity and 2x your effort. You know, don't take it.

Vipul Bindra: 1:49:22

What I'm saying is like don't be disappointed in the rate, uh, because otherwise your product's gonna suffer and as soon as, like you said, they're gonna see it, um, you know they're, they're not gonna care. You didn't have enough money or budget, whatever. Uh, you know you're better off either saying no if you can't have enough money or budget, or whatever. You know you're better off either saying no if you can't accomplish it or just doing the better job anyway. Because, like I said, they all talk, they're all going to tell each other, and one bad review is like equal to 200 good reviews, so you don't want one, and, especially when they hang out, you're losing your chances of ever finding, you know, work with these big, big companies and there's only so many of those right. The last thing you want to do is ruin that relationship just because you weren't happy or you weren't, you weren't, you know.

Vipul Bindra: 1:50:05

Whatever, whatever the reason may be, I wouldn't risk it because it's not worth it no um, because, like you said in in here and at least in central florida, it's only those you know same Disney, universal sea world, whatever it's a tourism based economy or maybe healthcare based economy, it's only those five to 10 companies that you're going to end up at.

Stephen Lewis: 1:50:25

There's a lot more than that. But you know, at the same time, I you know everybody's running in the same circles and and the minute that you destroy your reputation with one, you might as well just give up on the others, because it's going to happen. But the flip side of that is you deliver a good product, you deliver a good service and folks see that they're going to want to do business with you. So it's a double-edged sword.

Stephen Lewis: 1:50:51

But at the end of the day, it's important that you stick to what you're good at and make sure that you you stick to what you're good at and make sure that you're delivering a consistent product.

Vipul Bindra: 1:50:58

And but, but, but I'm telling you the reward is worth it, because when I get, sometimes, a call and somebody's I'm like. Somebody's like, oh, we want this project. It's really, it sounds really awesome. I'm like, oh, perfect.

Vipul Bindra: 1:51:09

My next question always is so, where'd you find out about us? And when they say, say, oh, we found out from you from a restaurant chamber. Or uh, yeah, we worked with this client, you know, or we know this person who recommended you and I know it's a restaurant chamber member, it's such an incredible feeling. And what I love the best thing for me is they'll reach out and they'll say, uh, you know, we'll start talking about like. They're like, yeah, I love your quality of work, or I love what you did, and I'm like, that's so incredible when you don't have to ever even talk about like we do good quality work or whatever right, they already just come in already knowing that our work is going to be good. So now we can focus on actually getting the project right and getting their budget right, or whatever it may be. I love that because it makes my job easier.

Vipul Bindra: 1:51:50

Right, it very easier to close deals, to do good work, because we're spending less time, you know, like I said, building their credibility or building their relationship, especially with these warm leads. And you never know where it leads because with most video businesses it's yours. You know those 5, 10 top clients that pay, I would say, 70, 80 of the revenue and everyone's just trying to find those companies because, like, like I said, everyone needs a video, right, it's just trying to find those companies Cause, like like I said, everyone needs a video. Right, it's just finding that company that you know meshes with you, right, that relationship, and you never know where that may come from. Absolutely, but that's, like my favorite part.

Stephen Lewis: 1:52:25

I hope it comes from the chamber. Yes, no like you said, I'm I'm very bullish on chamber today is please join your chamber, be very active and I think what they learn from you is get to know your chamber right, Get to know the chamber, get to know the people. Yeah, Get to know it, Just like you know. It's like the dating game, right. Get to know your chamber, get to know the you know, the folks that are involved, the folks that are, you know, actively involved, and learn from them.

Stephen Lewis: 1:52:53

Learn from them, learn what made them successful in their chamber. Journey and take that and, you know, put your spin on it. You know, make sure that you're you're selling yourself, you're selling a product and service that you do well and you're going to be successful.

Vipul Bindra: 1:53:06

Yeah, and I'll be upfront with people Look, here's the truth, I get it. If you're new, you're starting out, you know you're making, I don't know. I, you know you're making, I don't know. I've even had people here who went from 10 grand to 100 grand. So if you're making 10 grand, you're making 50 grand. I get it. A chamber investment, uh, may sound a lot when you have rent. You know your things, do so maybe wait, I get it like you don't have to join if you're in that stage. At that point, then work on your craft right. Work on where you can find enough clients that you're not struggling for money. But as soon as you have it, in my opinion, the best investment you can make is go join a chamber, like I said, because and and the other thing I would say is most chambers I'm pretty sure restaurants just do they have a non-chamber rate where you can go attend a few events yeah, some events right, yeah, so you can.

Vipul Bindra: 1:53:52

So what I'm saying is you can always audition a few.

Vipul Bindra: 1:53:54

So when you're starting out, nothing stops you from just going to a few events here, a few events here, until you find the chamber that you fit well in, that you think you can benefit the most from, and then make that investment to join Because at the end of the day, like I said, I get it. It's a lot of money when you're starting out and it's a lot of time, but I don't think I've ever made a bad investment at any chamber. I have a hundred percent record it always comes back and it's always good, but it takes time.

Vipul Bindra: 1:54:24

Yeah, give it at least one plus year, if not longer. Don't ask for immediate returns. But again, like I said, I'm very bullish on it and I will tell any video person listening here look, if you want to be a camera guy or an editor, it's okay. Chamber is not for you. Just get your craft better, go do your thing. I'll have season two. I'll bring more video people on. But if you want to be any kind of business, like you want to do, be a production company or work with other businesses, like I said, I think I think that's the best thing that we've got out of today.

Vipul Bindra: 1:54:55

If they haven't learned at this point, two hours into it, that they should join the chamber.

Stephen Lewis: 1:55:01

I don't know what else to say at this point Join the chamber, be active.

Vipul Bindra: 1:55:05

Remember and also act like a business owner. Like you know, you're not just there to sell. You're there to be part of the community. You're trying to make you know doing business in your community easier, better and, like I said, you get what you put into it. So put in a lot and I'm pretty sure you'll be rewarded back, as long as your craft matches what you're trying to sell and don't burn bridges. Even if you don't like a chamber, you know, don't, don't burn bridges, Just say you know, just don't renew.

Stephen Lewis: 1:55:33

I don't know, but you know that's what I'm saying. Find your chamber that you like and stick with it. I will say it's it's also important. You know I'm always looking for feedback. It's the feedback loop. Uh, we want to make sure that we are meeting expectations. Just like you as a business owner, you know you want to make sure that you're meeting expectations for the product or service you're putting out.

Stephen Lewis: 1:55:53

Your chamber is also concerned about making sure that we're delivering value to our members. So, you know, whereas you measure your success based on your income, you know your revenue, your you know folks coming back to you again and again. We measure that, yes, through our members renewing their membership, but it's not the revenue aspect. Our sole purpose is to deliver value to our members and make sure that we are promoting our you know and supporting our business community. And so you know, the way that we can get feedback is by you sharing it with us, telling us what your needs are, making sure that you are happy with your investment in your chamber, because we can't fix that, we can't go out and recruit new members or retain the existing members if we don't know if there's an issue.

Vipul Bindra: 1:56:41

Exactly, and that's where I would say use the video brain, because my biggest thing is we need to be problem solvers, not just video people. So if you see a problem at your chamber, obviously give the feedback and, funny enough, offer a solution.

Vipul Bindra: 1:56:55

If video is the right solution. Offer that. I would not just present a problem. I don't like to just be the problem guy like, hey, this is wrong. If you can fix it, then offer a solution. And again I would offer to do it pro bono because again I think the return would be worth it. And plus, if you can help your chamber be better, why not? But to be honest, I've not found that many problems with chambers. Now I only join you. Know, again, you do your research, you join the good chambers.

Vipul Bindra: 1:57:21

But if you do, they're genuinely out there to do what you just said. Sat here like, told me what you do. I know you do that, so I don't know why I would have a problem with that, uh, but I'm just saying, if you are part of a chamber that's not as active, that's not going out out there and doing you know what they should be doing, then nothing stops you from approaching them and saying because you know it's okay to be in a tier two, tier three city where there may be a smaller chamber, and approaching them with a solution like hey, let's do more videos or let's do something.

Vipul Bindra: 1:57:48

Yeah, communicate your needs, yeah to get better engagement or whatever. You know stuff like that so awesome. Stephen before we go, anything else you want to say or add.

Stephen Lewis: 1:57:59

No, just appreciate the opportunity and certainly appreciate the craft that you provide to our chamber. But I know there's a lot of folks that are out there that are listening, that are looking to do something similar and just appreciate the work that you provide and the spotlight that you put our chamber in. I hope that everybody has the ability to do that for their local chamber.

Vipul Bindra: 1:58:19

No, absolutely, and I don't know if you want to speak on that. What's the benefit the chamber has gotten out of some of the videos that we've done for it.

Stephen Lewis: 1:58:27

Sure. So you know, more than anything, it really highlights we try to put those videos out and it really highlights what the chamber has to offer by way of events. Most of our videos are of our events, you know. We want to get the word out about those. I think that there's future opportunities for collaboration in different areas, whether it be on getting our legislative agenda put out there and things like that. I've done something like that, yeah.

Vipul Bindra: 1:58:49

It was again. It was during Stena's time but we worked with the what's the? The West Orange Foundation. Yeah, yeah, I did something for that. But, yeah, exactly, no, there's, there's a lot of opportunities out there to to collaborate and partner with, but at the end they, like you said, the way I look at it is, you know, we want to not only recap the event, but we want all the people that weren't there to go. Ooh, I wish I was there.

Stephen Lewis: 1:59:12

And then that's something that's a story that only you all can tell. And so having, uh, having that as a a um, you know resource for us to tap into, to be able to share the stories and kind of share what was the um, you know what? What? What did this event do? What did it look like? It makes it easier for us to go out to our members in the future and say, hey, you want to attend this event or you want to sponsor this event. So we utilize that all the time and then just building hype and giving recognition to our membership. You know, again, that's what we're trying to do is put a spotlight on our members and what our members are doing, the great things that they're doing in our community, and what better way to do that than have a video to tell the story.

Vipul Bindra: 1:59:53

Remember, we can tell emotions through videos. That's the best thing out there. Anyone who's where? I would say West Orange or just Orange County in general, claremont what areas you would say, dr Phillips?

Stephen Lewis: 2:00:05

Winter Garden, winter Garden, ocoee, oakland, windermere and Orlando are the municipalities represented, but O-Town West, dr Phillips, all of those areas, orlo Vista, pine Hills, all of those areas in between.

Vipul Bindra: 2:00:18

So if you're in any of those areas, I would highly recommend, you know, look into joining the Restaurant and Chamber of Commerce. Sure, so if somebody was interested, how did they get? Who did they reach out to? Yeah, absolutely.

Stephen Lewis: 2:00:28

Amy Cervantes on my team is a fantastic starting point for that. Or you can go to our chamber website wochambercom. And you know, we would love to talk with you about the benefits of membership.

Vipul Bindra: 2:00:41

Awesome, david, again, I really appreciate you taking the time out and coming and talking to me. I appreciate you and, like I said, hopefully you have to. I would love to bring you back in the future, in a couple of seasons. I want to have a couple of people who join get benefits out of, hopefully, any chamber but our restaurant chamber and then we can follow up and see you know how that process went. That'd be incredible, you know, maybe in a year or whatever to follow up on. But, thank you, I appreciate you taking again time out and it was a great conversation, all right.

Stephen Lewis: 2:01:09

Thank you, sir.