Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Riojas.
Hi Andrew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I began my creative journey in 2013 with a cheap knock off of a GoPro. I would take videos of my friends surfing then I would scrub through the video and screen shot the best moments. I quickly fell in love with capturing everything I was doing.
Today I run Vlly Crtve. Media company providing creative services to all things real estate within the San Diego area. It has been fun as this helps build my skills within business and communication. When I am not not working you can find me hiking, surfing, shooting, and publishing what I create on social media. I am always on the look out for the next adventure big or small.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I like to look at the road I travel as a hiking trail. When you are hiking there is no “easy” part but sections that were not as challenging as others. This helps me to shift my perspective that I do not coast in life. It has been filled with peaks and valleys. My biggest struggle was really letting go of the past and keep moving forward. To often I would fall off the trail and sit where I had fallen and say “wow what luck I must have”. Or I would sit wallow in my own self pity, finally get up dragging my feet as I kept trudging forward. I had the worst outlook on life.
I realized there needed to be a change in 2019 and since then there have been even greater valleys and peaks. However I know I have been created on purpose for a purpose. So wether I am with a real estate agent at their listings or hiking with my wife trying to capture the best shot on film. I am going to give it 100 + 1!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Vlly Crtve specializes in real estate media. We provide MLS photos, drone, video productions, 3d tours/layouts and much more. I like to tell our clients we don’t just make great photos and videos. We provide GREAT service. We know that real estate is a fast passed world and you care deeply for what you do and for your clients. So we tell ourselves “Your clients? OUR clients”. We want to leave knowing that we delivered plus one and we do that through effective communication and just being a human towards other humans.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Exactly one year ago I took a job. It was a creative role, salary all the benefits, legitimately the most money I had ever seen. I thought I was taking a great route. It was the “safe” choice and with my own business at the time not working out I wanted something new. However entering that job I knew in the back of my head this was not the spot for me. It was in an industry that morally I could not do well daily and come home and be the best man, husband and follower. But I was blinded by the money, motived other voices within my life. It turned out the safe path was a whole new type of risky. The bad kind of risky where you are either going to get hurt or your going to get hurt. I left the job after only 4 months knowing it was not right to stay. I learned the “risky” move of going all in on my business was in a way risky. However it was the most logical path in front of me therefore it was what I like to now call “an educated gamble”. Because that is all of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andrewahi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahiandrew/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewAhi
