31. How Taylor Fort Built a Livestock Media Empire From Scratch

Taylor Fort graduated from Texas Tech with an ag communications degree, went back to the family hog farm, and spent five years figuring out how to photograph baby pigs. Then COVID hit, live sales dried up, and he bet everything on the only skill he had. Nobody was doing it full time. He did it anyway. Today Taylor is a full-time livestock photographer, videographer, live stream producer, and founder of his own online sales platform. In this episode he gets refreshingly honest about what it actually takes to build a creative business from scratch — pricing your work, hiring the right people, surviving a travel-heavy lifestyle, and finding your own style in a crowded industry. Topics covered include: How video changed the show pig industry and why photos still matter Learning live stream production through a competitive gaming obsession Launching the Texas National Stock Show during COVID with a homemade camera rig Pricing your creative work with confidence and knowing when to raise your rates What he actually looks for when hiring — and it has nothing to do with experience Why he thinks you should replace the word anxiety with ambition The real cost of a travel-heavy creative career and what it takes to sustain it Finding your creative style by consuming the content you want to create Connect with Taylor: Instagram & socials: @taylor.a.fort Website & live streams: taylorfort.com Online sales platform: taylorfortsales.com Resources Mentioned: Peter McKinnon, Matti Haapoja & Casey Neistat on YouTube DaVinci Resolve