Alden Morris
Brossard, Quebec
Alden Morris is the owner and operator of AMP. based out of Montreal, Quebec. Alden decided to leave the world of finances and account management and take his love for photography to the next level in 2015. He was introduced to iGUIDE in 2018 and has been creating iGUIDES since March of the same year. Alden’s initial conversations with Kevin Klages, CEO at iGUIDE lead him to better, faster and more efficient photography that combined with iGUIDE, allow him to be more profitable. Although Alden only started offering iGUIDE in the spring, he believes after the significant changes he has made in his business based on his coaching with Kevin that he is poised for success and for all that the 2019 real estate market has to offer and beyond.
Preparing for a Change: A Photographer’s Journey to a Lucrative Future
After two-and-a-half years Alden Morris felt his real estate photography business was not working out.
He is based in Brossard, a commercial center and Montreal suburb. His clients are along the South Shore, all over Montreal, up to Trois-Riviere and even Quebec City. Alden is in one of the biggest real estate markets in the country.
“I made no money,” says Alden.
Despite the opportunity, Alden was losing money. He spent long hours on photos shoots and even more editing pictures. Alden’s efforts were not translating into business success.
“There were times I went to bed and the sun would be coming up,” says Alden. “It took a toll on my health for sure. Extensive, long hours. It did not make sense.”
He was using a Nikon D 200. After taking three-and-half hours to shoot a house, Alden would need another 18 hours to edit the pictures using Photo Shop and Light Room.
He also used High Dynamic Range software that very slowly fused nine pictures into a single image.
“It was excessively slow, my files were too big, it was hellish, just hellish,” says Alden. “The colors were off.”
So he bought a newer camera, a Canon 5D Mark III with a 16-35 professional lens. He started shooting houses in 75 minutes, but still needed nearly two hours to edit the pictures. “Which means I still couldn’t grow,” says Alden.
While researching cameras and 3D technology online in early 2018 Alden came across Planitar, the Kitchener-based tech company behind iGUIDE. He read about the iGUIDE camera and software that efficiently produces 3D tours, floor plans and laser-accurate measurements of rooms.
Curious, Alden called and soon found himself in one-on-one coaching sessions with Kevin Klages, the co-founder and CEO at Planitar.
“He convinced me with numbers. We shared an excel spreadsheet. And he would show me how I was not making money, with numbers, and how iGUIDE would help me make money,” says Alden.
They were soon talking on the phone twice a month.
Kevin urged Alden to focus on getting his production times down significantly to make his business profitable. Kevin also connected Alden with professional iGUIDE photographers who have a fast and profitable way of shooting houses. After a single, 15-minute conversation with one such person, Alden decided to buy an iGUIDE camera.
“I am six times faster than before, and that’s all because of Kevin, it is really his intervention that convinced me to switch,” says Alden.
Thanks to the one-on-one coaching, Alden’s learning curve for the iGUIDE was much shorter.
His first iGUIDE shoot was in mid-March 2018 and hasn’t looked back since. Now he completes photos in 45 minutes and offers the complete iGUIDE package with photos, a 3D tour, floor plans and measurements for $300 per house.
Alden continues to offer straight photo packages for realtors and can now charge $129 for a regular photo shoot, up from $90 when he started out three years ago.
The feedback from new and current brokers, sellers and buyers is excellent. Renovation companies hire Alden to do floor plans for old houses too.
Alden knows his business is now poised for lots of growth. “I think there is a huge, huge, huge market here,” says Alden. “Now I am ready for it.”
