Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Porter.
Hi Luke, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
When I was 11 years old, my mom bought a video camera for the first time. She wanted it for documenting our family vacations. But I wanted it for making stories. My brother Mark and I would take turns interviewing each other on camera playing these outlandish characters, like a fortune teller with a magic watermelon, or a woman with bunions on her feet the size of baseballs (which were actual baseballs in my socks). I made stop-motion animations with my action figures. I even played around with tricks like slow motion and playing footage in reverse. That video camera was my favorite thing for about 4 years until it broke beyond repair.
And even though video was my favorite creative outlet, I dabbled in just about every type of media, from drawing and selling a book of cartoons in high school, to publishing two video games in college and selling them to a larger game developer. I started out as a fine arts major, but switched to computer science after a year, because so many people told me I wouldn’t make any money as an artist.
I did enjoy computer programming, and I got a job right out of college at a small engineering company to write code for their bidding process. As their business grew, they started to need marketing materials, but didn’t have a marketing person yet. I started doing graphic design for all of their brochures, flyers, and engineering exhibits. My coding skills didn’t go away completely, as they also needed me to do website design and management. I took classes and online courses to learn any skills that I hadn’t picked up along the way, such as social media marketing. I even went back to college and got my MBA with a marketing emphasis.
And as much as I loved this creative work, one thing was missing. I always wanted to run my own creative agency. I wanted that before I even knew what an agency was. In Kindergarten during free time I would set up a little booth in the corner of the room and sell my drawings for a quarter apiece. In elementary school, I convinced my friend Damon to start a comic book company with me. And when I moved to a different city when I was 11, I found a new friend to start a drawing company with. I had the entrepreneurial spirit from a very young age.
So I dropped down to part time at my day job, and I started creating my own company on the side. Luckily I have a wonderful wife who believes in me, and trusted me to take this step. By this point, we had two boys, and very busy lives. But she knew how important this was for me, and we made it work.
I started Moving Tree Media in July 2017, and by July 2019 I had enough clients that I was able to quit my day job. I focused my services areas on the three things I enjoyed the most. The first was video production, which I have loved ever since I set eyes on that video camera in 1993. The second was digital marketing, which is really just another type of storytelling. And the third is web design, which ties together coding, digital marketing, and video production.
I love the work I do and the variety of local businesses that I get to work with. I have had the opportunity to work with Minnesota factories, restaurants, retailers, service providers, and many other types of businesses. As of this writing, I am creating a social media plan for Cafesjian’s Carousel at Como Park, a website for a construction company in Anoka, a series of videos for a mortgage broker in Edina, and a documentary for an army veteran in Savage who was paralyzed.
The next part of my journey is to find team members in other areas of digital marketing that I am not an expert in, such as photography, copywriting, and SEO. When I look ahead 5 years, I see Moving Tree Media being a close-knit team of 4-5 professionals working together on digital marketing projects for our clients. My Kindergarten self would be proud.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I found myself having to work a lot of hours to build up my business on the side while also working a day job. There were so many stories in the news about overnight successes that it made me feel like I was working too hard. If I was really good at what I was doing, I shouldn’t have to work so many hours, right? But then I discovered Gary Vaynerchuck and his books and podcasts. And he made me realize that to build a sustainable business, you have to work like crazy, and not to pay attention to those headline-grabbing overnight success stories. His words gave me permission to work hard without feeling bad about it. I followed the Gary Vaynerchuck model, and every word he said was true. And as I talked to more and more business owners over the years, it reinforced that fact for me, that 99% of businesses are built on hard work and patience.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the most proud of my video work, since that is the most direct type of storytelling that I do. I work with Minnesota small business owners and agencies to tell the stories of how they started their business, or why they are passionate about what they do, or to educate people about one aspect of their business. I combine interview footage, background footage, carefully selected music, animation, and other types of media together into videos that are memorable and effective.
One of the recent projects that I am proud of is working with the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) in Saint Paul on their Annual Entrepreneur Awards and Fundraiser. This event honors the hard work, resilience, and brilliance of local Minnesota entrepreneurs. I had the honor of producing videos of each major award winner, including capturing interviews and footage on-location for each of the 8 business owners.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I believe that short-form video, such as TikTok and Reels are going to becoming even more important. I talk to a lot of business owners who dismiss TikTok as something for 13-year-olds when the fastest-growing segment of TikTok is 35 to 45 year olds. There is a lot of business happening there, and on other similar services like YouTube Shorts. People have short attention spans, and business owners are going to have to learn to tell stories through 15-30 second videos. Every major social media platform is pushing this type of content for a reason, and it is going to continue to grow. My advice is to learn TikTok now because that type of content is the next big thing.
Pricing:
- Video Production: $1500-$3000
- Website Design: $1500-$3000
- Social Media Marketing: $300-$600/month
Contact Info:
- Email: luke@movingtreemedia.com
- Website: https://movingtreemedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movingtreemedia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movingtreemedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG_ROtaO3nsMDEcXp3dygZQ
