Peter Lars, Cornerstone Photography: The Interview
Sarah Collins and Bill Dippel welcome their guest, Peter Lars, a professional photographer with a rich history in strengths coaching. The conversation begins with light-hearted banter about the day's challenges and transitions into deeper discussions about personal experiences, fun facts, and the impact of friendships on professional growth. Peter shares his journey, including his top strengths and how they have shaped his career, while the hosts reflect on their own experiences and the importance of focusing on one's strengths rather than weaknesses. In this engaging conversation, Peter Lars shares his journey from aspiring film editor to successful photographer and entrepreneur. He discusses the importance of innovation in his business, including the integration of augmented reality into photography. The dialogue explores themes of leadership, team culture, and the significance of recognizing individual strengths within a company. Peter emphasizes the emotional impact of photography and the legacy it creates, particularly in the context of reprinting photos for clients who have lost them in disasters. The conversation highlights the balance between working in the business and leading it, as well as the importance of fostering a positive company culture through recognition and support. In this engaging conversation, Peter Lars, Sarah Collins, and Bill Dippel explore the dynamics of teamwork, the importance of listening, and the balance between growth and fulfillment in business. They discuss the challenges of ideation, the significance of creating a fun work culture, and the excitement of expanding business ventures. The conversation culminates in a creative exercise where Peter imagines himself as a character in an action movie, showcasing how his strengths can be leveraged in various scenarios. The episode highlights the value of collaboration, support, and friendship in both personal and professional growth.
Main Takeaways
1. Strengths Can Shape Your Entrepreneurial Journey – Pete’s story demonstrates how identifying and leveraging your natural talents (like futuristic, woo, and ideation) can lead to long-term business success, innovation, and personal fulfillment.
2. The Power of Investing in People – Creating a thriving work culture isn’t just about hiring people; it’s about understanding their strengths, recognizing their contributions, and building an environment where they feel valued and inspired to grow.
3. Recognition and Strengths-Based Culture Matter – Pete’s company, Cornerstone Photography, integrates CliftonStrengths into daily operations with a strengths board and recognition practices, proving that acknowledging strengths fosters engagement, loyalty, and team morale.
4. Balancing Business Growth with Personal Passion – While many entrepreneurs focus on scaling, Pete’s approach shows the importance of staying connected to what you love (in his case, photography) rather than only focusing on business expansion and profitability.
5. How Strengths Can Drive Innovation – Pete’s ideation and futuristic strengths led to the development of augmented reality in photography, showing that when leaders lean into their strengths, they can create groundbreaking products and services.
6. Significance as a Strength and Legacy – The impact of Pete’s work extends beyond business—his company helps restore photos for families who have lost them in disasters, reinforcing the deeper purpose behind his work and how significance can be a driving force.
7. The Fun and Energy of Strengths-Based Leadership – From workplace culture to business growth to friendships, the episode highlights how knowing and using your strengths can lead to more fulfilling work, better leadership, and an overall more exciting life.
To contact Peter:
https://cornerstone.photo/
Peters Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Futuristic
2) Positivity
3) Communication
4) Adaptability
5) Ideation
6) Woo
7) Developer
8) Activator
9) Maximizer
10) Significance
Bill's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Individualization
2) Developer
3) Activator
4) Woo
5) Restorative
6) Empathy
7) Harmony
8) Connectedness
9) Relator
10) Learner
Sarah's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Positivity
2) Woo
3) Communication
4) Harmony
5) Activator
6) Developer
7) Input
8) Individualization
9) Responsibility
10) Arranger
Official Strengths On Fire Website: https://strengthsonfire.transistor.fm
GET MORE FROM BILL AND SARAH:
Bill's info:
https://billdippel.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamdippel/
https://www.instagram.com/billdippelcoach/
Sarah's info:
https://www.wearecollinsco.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcoachcollins/
https://www.instagram.com/sarahcoachcollins/
Transcript
Sarah Collins (00:02.049)
Hello, Mr. Dippel
Bill Dippel (00:03.538)
Oh, Sarah, hello. I have to tell you I'm scared. I am scared today.
Sarah Collins (00:09.742)
It's been a little bit of a bit of a wonky day
Bill Dippel (00:14.386)
It's been a little crazy and I'm scared for so many. I mean, Reno today I got crazy winds, some wild weathers rolling in. We got a tropical snow or whatever. A coming in something. It's coming crazy to us today, but that's not why I'm scared. That doesn't scare me right? I well so our pre show today scared me. This one's long. This was been a long and.
Sarah Collins (00:27.33)
Is there tropical storms in the middle of the country?
Okay.
What scares you?
Sarah Collins (00:39.69)
It's just a little crazy. There was a lot in the pre-show.
Bill Dippel (00:43.418)
And the reason is because my guest today, our guest scares the bejesus out of me, right? So, what, you know, we'll get into that in a couple of minutes, but, there are guests that you have where you're like, you know, just so good at what they do. Technically, I hate to say it. He's one of them. There are guests where you think, Ooh, they, they, they, know me well, maybe, but they, you know, they're building in other ways.
Sarah Collins (01:12.952)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (01:13.606)
He's kind of like that. There are guests where you're like, I have no idea what this person is going to say in any social situation. That's today's guest. have I have guests that sometimes you think, you know, every deep, dark secret of my life. And I hope that those those don't. But then again, you never know. That echoes today's guest. I have been to Amsterdam, Paris, England, Las Vegas with this guest. I.
Peter Lars (01:22.443)
You
Bill Dippel (01:42.392)
I can't, all I'm going to say is before we get into it, I am scared.
Sarah Collins (01:47.574)
As you should be, it is a bold move to have your best friend on your podcast.
Bill Dippel (01:52.33)
no, my best friend's somewhere else in LA.
Sarah Collins (01:57.112)
Whoops.
Bill Dippel (01:57.872)
That's an ongoing, that's an ongoing running joke. is fair to say my best friend is also a client. Although you would think as a client he'd pay you. So I don't, I'm not certain how that works yet. We're still working that part out. So yeah.
Sarah Collins (02:13.068)
Yeah, you know, he probably pays you in other ways, I'm sure.
Bill Dippel (02:17.49)
Sure. All right. I'm, yeah, I'll think about it. today, how about you today? Are you, what are you thinking? Excited, spicy, ready to go? What are you in?
Sarah Collins (02:18.862)
Sure.
Sarah Collins (02:28.362)
Well, I feel ready to go. The pre-show was a little crazy, but I liked it. I also delivered a keynote this morning, which was very exciting, and I'm sick. So I'm really kind of all over the board here. I'm coming in at you with Friday vibes, but also like, is my head going to explode with sinus pressure? know, really anything could happen. It really feels like a wild card of an episode. So.
Bill Dippel (02:32.838)
Little nuts. Yes.
Bill Dippel (02:43.74)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (02:53.884)
Today's the day. Today is the day. I don't know. I don't know.
Sarah Collins (02:55.074)
Hold on people, I don't know what you're gonna get. I don't know what to expect. And I kind of feel like the outsider here. Not only do I've got, I got two best friends, I'm a third wheel, two silver foxes who deny being boomer status, but I don't know, really feel like they fit the bill for it. Fit the bill. I'm so funny. So anyways, I'm just gonna try to hold my own with you two goons today if that's okay.
Bill Dippel (03:04.85)
Hmm.
Bill Dippel (03:11.634)
They fit up.
Peter Lars (03:14.551)
Thank
Bill Dippel (03:18.798)
I don't think it's possible. It's going to be impossible.
Peter Lars (03:21.547)
I didn't know that ageism would be thrown in our face.
Sarah Collins (03:24.437)
it's one of the key tenants of this podcast.
Bill Dippel (03:24.786)
I thought she might shy away from ageism there. She leans right into it. Right away, she's admitting how I am abused on this show and our, our, our artists, our, our, listeners chime in how bad you feel. I get, I get abused on this. It's pretty bad. It's pretty bad.
Sarah Collins (03:35.797)
No.
Sarah Collins (03:40.664)
Time in. How bad, yeah, please tell us how bad do you feel for Bill? Bill with the best voice in the business. Tell us how bad you feel for him with his years of expertise. Tell us how bad do you feel with his amazing, enamorous personality? I'm sure they all feel sorry for you, okay? Listen, I just gotta bring you down a little bit. We don't want that ego to get too big, okay?
Bill Dippel (03:48.946)
we're back on this.
Peter Lars (03:54.391)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (03:55.59)
Huh.
Bill Dippel (04:00.69)
Someone feels sorry for me. Listen to the abuse. Not me. I'm gonna tell you right now, the ego we gotta watch is somewhere else on this podcast today. I'm not pointing any fingers, Pete, but you know.
Peter Lars (04:15.255)
Hey, Hey, Hey. Hey.
Sarah Collins (04:20.928)
Okay, well let's get to the question at hand. Here is my question for you. And I am excited to have your friend here because maybe we'll get some honest answers out of you. What is a fun fact about you that sounds made up but is actually true?
Bill Dippel (04:24.08)
I'm ready. I am ready.
Bill Dippel (04:29.51)
Yes.
Maybe. Hmm.
Bill Dippel (04:39.506)
Oh, fun fact about me that sounds made up. I have played the, what is it? You know, two truths, three truths and a lie and two truths and a lie. And I played that and I think, you know, in a social situation every now and then, and the one that I bring up that most people think is a lie is that I've been to Antarctica.
Sarah Collins (04:47.47)
Tutor Sinalay.
Sarah Collins (05:00.078)
yeah.
Peter Lars (05:00.095)
Mmm. Mmm.
Bill Dippel (05:01.37)
I do. I'll often throw that one in and I'm like, I stayed in Antarctica for like a month, month and a half, two months somewhere in there. And then I'll throw in, you know, a couple other interesting little tidbits or something. then inevitably most of them go, you never went to Antarctica. And the truth is I did. So when I was doing air quality engineering, I spent, I spent part of the, not the winter over in Antarctica, but their austral summer, which is our winter here.
Sarah Collins (05:04.184)
That's good.
Bill Dippel (05:30.514)
and was doing a ton of research. Came back with amazing photos, wonderful.
Sarah Collins (05:36.366)
wonderful time.
Peter Lars (05:36.511)
I thought it might have been... I was gonna go with you being a preacher. That's what I thought they would go with. I thought it'd be a preacher.
Bill Dippel (05:41.138)
Well, I am ordained and I do do weddings. That is true.
Sarah Collins (05:43.938)
Wait, what?
Sarah Collins (05:49.935)
but are you ordained from like the internet?
Bill Dippel (05:52.732)
Yes.
Peter Lars (05:52.765)
Well, he's a man of the cloth, let's just say that.
Sarah Collins (05:54.926)
You
Bill Dippel (05:55.736)
Yes, I'd like to tell you no, but the answer is, well, I don't even know that I'd like to tell you no, but. Somewhere around sub right around 10, I think 10 or so, yeah.
Sarah Collins (06:00.13)
How many weddings have you done?
Sarah Collins (06:06.062)
This is such a thing that I'm so jealous about. I had my friend Jordan do our wedding, whatever. Yes, but no one has asked me. He got married after me. He didn't ask me to do it. He had in fact another girlfriend, a different girl who was a friend to it. I mean, I did get to stand up and be one of his groomsmen or whatever, but still.
Bill Dippel (06:09.82)
Mm-hmm.
I remember. remember. listened. Yeah. Yeah.
Bill Dippel (06:21.938)
passed up.
Yes.
Sarah Collins (06:30.354)
I, to this day, am like, I'm a professional speaker. I could talk really good about people. How has no one asked me to marry them? Like, my life will not be complete until I have to be ordained and have to stand up and marry two people. Ugh, I'm so jealous.
Bill Dippel (06:37.19)
Wow.
Bill Dippel (06:42.842)
Make sense. Well, when you get to our advanced age, Sarah, the options open up, right? I mean, we look, you know, we we look trustworthy. And I think today's podcast will prove that's a false false positives. right. I would say that. And I'm curious, did you how were you during the the bachelor party for Jordan? Since you were in the wedding. I'm curious.
Peter Lars (06:47.415)
Yes.
Sarah Collins (06:50.83)
That makes sense actually.
Sarah Collins (06:58.188)
That's not true. Right.
Sarah Collins (07:09.012)
I loved it. okay, so this is actually a really funny story. Jordan had a bachelor themed bachelor party, which is the show, if anyone is familiar with the show. He really loves, he loves reality TV. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. Yeah, Golden Bachelor. So.
Bill Dippel (07:14.512)
Ready?
Bill Dippel (07:20.38)
Yes, got it right. Like for us Golden Batch, but yeah, go on. got you right.
Peter Lars (07:29.065)
Hahaha!
Sarah Collins (07:31.178)
Everybody had a rose during we did one of those bike things where you like like the pedal pusher things where everyone's on like the same bike and you drive around downtown and stop at different bars along the way and Everyone had a rose and you got to give it to him and go on like a private date So everyone could steal him for like 15 minutes to go to places Now I'm gonna say this and regret it I'm gonna have one of those moments where I'm like, why did you say that on the podcast? I took him to a strip club for mine
Bill Dippel (07:41.744)
Yep, done that, yeah.
Peter Lars (07:51.692)
gosh.
Bill Dippel (07:52.23)
Wow.
Bill Dippel (08:03.659)
Yes, yes, so good, yes.
Sarah Collins (08:06.286)
But in true Sarah Jordan fashion, we like sat in the corner and just chit-chat the whole time and when people would come by we'd be like, oh no thanks, we're actually really busy with one another.
Bill Dippel (08:15.854)
We're all really good. We're all really good. Thank you. So that that is that's pretty darn good. We did do a birthday party for a mutual friend of ours, Pete and I, that we made him carry a tombstone around Santa Barbara that said 50 on it and a ball and chain.
Peter Lars (08:28.087)
Mmm.
Sarah Collins (08:31.937)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (08:36.991)
I say don't forget about the ball and chain because he had to go through a system of challenges to get said chain unlocked.
Sarah Collins (08:37.065)
wow.
Bill Dippel (08:38.555)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (08:43.643)
Yes, yes.
Sarah Collins (08:44.435)
Wow, that sounds like a very extravagant birthday celebration. my gosh, I like you guys. That's fun.
Peter Lars (08:47.647)
that's just the tip of the iceberg. That, yeah.
Bill Dippel (08:47.986)
Yeah.
it went off from there. Yeah. I'll also say, and I can't talk about this in depth because this is called mutual assured destruction by the government, but Pete's bachelor party that we did, there was helicopters involved. There was fly fishing. There was we've had humvees. We've done shooting.
Peter Lars (09:10.743)
He's not joking.
Bill Dippel (09:16.944)
We did, it was extravagant and hysterical and very fun.
Peter Lars (09:22.149)
Well, that's because my BFF took it to a whole different level.
Bill Dippel (09:26.386)
We did, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah.
Sarah Collins (09:28.172)
Wow, wow, these sound like great parties.
Peter Lars (09:31.605)
We are fun to hang out with. I mean, we're elderly, but we are a lot of fun.
Sarah Collins (09:35.178)
Yeah, you know, I don't care what they say about old folks. You guys really are defying the limits here.
Peter Lars (09:40.406)
Folks.
Bill Dippel (09:41.362)
Just saying if we can get off the couch without our backs hurting, we're good. Yeah, we're really good. So now my God, we're picking on each other more than than she is, by the way, Pete. So, you know.
Sarah Collins (09:46.24)
I love this, I love this. Go you guys!
Sarah Collins (09:52.268)
I know, makes my job so easy. All I have to do is piggyback up off of it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for covering for my sinuses.
Peter Lars (09:56.214)
Well, you said you weren't feeling well. We're trying to be nice.
Bill Dippel (09:56.319)
And just love it. Yeah.
All right. All right. Let's let's dive into who our guest is today. We'll solve the mystery for our rest. rest of our arsonists. have a name, but let's talk about this person. So today I am petrified slash in love with the idea of having my all time best friend on who when I started and thought I want to become a strengths coach and I want to go try this outside of being an embedded coach with a group.
I contacted him and he was like, well, come on down, try it with us. And so we pitched it as a free offering for his, I think 30, 40 people that we were trying to. Yeah. And, I went, Renea and I drove down. We did it with them. We tried it. We wanted to make sure we had a good grasp for it. And it was so well received. And we did so well with his team that on the drive home, we contacted another.
Peter Lars (10:39.179)
Yeah, about 35 people.
Bill Dippel (10:57.714)
previous podcast guest, Ali Alden, and said, we're excited to do this. How do we get moving? It was Pete and his team who started that for Renea and I and understanding, hey, we can do this, got us over that next level. So he still thinks it's constantly free, which I find amazing. But it in all honesty, it was literally the jumping off point for me. So Pete, I cannot say
Thank you more than enough, but also I want you to talk about how you got where you are. What is it that you do? Pete lives in Los Angeles near the fires currently and how you got to where you are and talk to us about your top 10. I'm as people are listening, I want them to hear it coming up for you. So again, I'll just say it once my all time best friend, but also a wonderful client and somebody to help me immensely to get off. So Pete, welcome to the show.
Peter Lars (11:46.711)
Sure, sure.
Peter Lars (11:56.45)
Thank you so much, thank you so much. Well, I am a professional photographer here. We just celebrated our 30th year. it's been a wild ride. We're a volume slash boutique photography company. So we photograph about 100,000, 150,000 kids per year. But we also do weddings and maternity pictures and baby pictures and pretty much anything with a beating heart will take its photo.
The crew has grown from two all the way up to 35 and we actually expand out to 60 people during the busy seasons. Well, it's kind of funny. I think we should talk about the introduction if you don't mind. How you entered. Yeah, well, when I was visiting Bill up in Reno, he explained to me about strengths.
Bill Dippel (12:42.47)
No, this is you now. Go, you talk about what you want.
Peter Lars (12:55.064)
and I'm just being transparent. Usually this kind of stuff doesn't really resonate with me at all. My wife is always kind of, you know, shaking her head because I'm always shaking my head going, it sounds like a bunch of hoopla, you know. So granted, I think Bill did give me a whiskey and asked me to go into another room and said, just don't overthink it. Would you please just go take this assessment?
Sarah Collins (13:00.258)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (13:13.71)
You
Sarah Collins (13:21.358)
That could have really went a different way for you. Drink this whiskey, don't overthink it. Just go in that room and take that test.
Bill Dippel (13:24.624)
Really, kind of.
Peter Lars (13:27.831)
I think you did. And I think I frustrated him because I remember I walked right back out with a laptop while it was on the timer going, now what am I supposed to do if I...
Bill Dippel (13:29.682)
I think I also refilled this whiskey a couple of times during his 20 minutes. So yeah.
Bill Dippel (13:40.914)
Yeah, that by the way, that that reflects directly on our pre show today. That's why that's why Sarah and I echoed frustration on Pete's 90 minute of prep time today. Sorry, go on, Peter. Yes.
Sarah Collins (13:41.358)
Those are time questions! Get in there!
Peter Lars (13:43.595)
Exactly.
Sarah Collins (13:47.83)
Yep, that tracks.
Peter Lars (13:52.696)
So when we obviously finished came out there and he Did his magic on his computer and pulled up the assessment and I remember with Renea and William going through the top ten and I remember laughing slash crying and how stupid accurate it was like frustratingly so
Sarah Collins (14:20.706)
Mm-hmm.
Peter Lars (14:20.919)
And then of course the bottom five which was just if that was just humorous at that point. But I do remember going through it and I was immediately kind of like this is that you know, this is a pretty darn amazing thing and and I you know both in my you know in my personal life and applying it to work and immediately
I saw the connections of like, my God, my whole life I've been focusing on that back five, you know, just saying, God, really, I really am not good at that. And it's just like a hundred percent. I should have just been okay with, you know, letting that go and focusing on those top 10 and doubling down on that. I probably did just organically. Just said, well, I'm not good at that. I'm still not going to get good at that. But yeah.
Sarah Collins (14:51.842)
Wow.
Bill Dippel (15:10.032)
Yeah. Yeah. And then we started talking about how, if you knew this about your employees, how, how crazy, accurate this is. But if we're talking about your employees and you have a roadmap on, why they may act and why they do it. That also, when Pete lit up in that way, it was, it was really endearing.
Peter Lars (15:32.075)
Yeah, I lit up, especially when I found out it was free. It was amazing. And then I had him sign a grandfather clause. No ages and jokes, please, Sarah.
Sarah Collins (15:36.11)
You
Sarah Collins (15:42.894)
Yes, tell us more about this grandfathering you all do.
Bill Dippel (15:46.546)
Yes, Grandfathering clauses are only invoked if I've known you 35 years and we've traveled together. That's, that's I think for all listeners, don't think you're getting it free. It's, you know, so yeah.
Peter Lars (15:46.935)
You
Peter Lars (15:55.992)
Sorry, Yeah. Sorry, kids.
Sarah Collins (15:58.456)
Yeah, which says a lot because I'm 38. So that grandfather clause is so much the length of my life. That makes sense. That makes sense.
Bill Dippel (16:09.074)
Hmm. I like it. Pete, hit us with your top 10. Tell us what they are so that as the people are listening to how you got to where you are now, how did that road go from, you know, I know it as from Illinois to then coming to L.A. to school to taking full advantage of Chris Audick and picking on him for doing all your homework and then stepping into your job. But before you tell us that route, talk about your top 10. are
Peter Lars (16:31.415)
I'm
Peter Lars (16:38.519)
You want me just list them first? Alright, let's see. Futuristic, positivity, communication, adaptability, got this ideation,
Bill Dippel (16:40.678)
Sure, go to it.
Bill Dippel (16:44.559)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (16:53.426)
Ladies and gentlemen, he looks like he's doing it off the top of his head. all right. All right.
Sarah Collins (16:56.908)
He does. He looks like this is from memory.
Peter Lars (16:57.388)
I am, I am. Unless I put the sticker on the roof. Woo.
Bill Dippel (17:02.354)
Which I wouldn't put past you. Woo. Woo number six. Like it? Yeah. Yes.
Sarah Collins (17:06.222)
Be a good trick.
Peter Lars (17:07.243)
Developer, Activator, Maximizer, and Significance.
Sarah Collins (17:13.366)
Wow. Five influencing themes. I can see why you keep getting it for free from Bill.
Bill Dippel (17:13.394)
Perfect. Perfect.
Peter Lars (17:15.936)
sometimes
Peter Lars (17:21.047)
It's not my fault he's not smart enough to charging me.
Bill Dippel (17:22.819)
Wow.
Sarah Collins (17:25.239)
You
Bill Dippel (17:26.898)
I, true story, I actually sent them a bill so they knew what it would have cost and his assistant paid it.
Peter Lars (17:33.375)
Much to my horror.
Sarah Collins (17:34.734)
You're like, don't pay that, we don't pay him.
Bill Dippel (17:37.04)
They paid it and I wrote Pete and I said, dude, thank you so much for validating what I do by actually paying the bill. he said, no, no, send that back. weren't, we weren't. That got Claude back. So Shelly, when you listen to this episode, you'll know that's a Shelly shout out for you right there. So yes, yes. So tell us the road. Yeah. All right. So tell us the road, Illinois up through, where, where is it important and, and how did you end up where you're at thinking about those strengths?
Sarah Collins (17:44.692)
No, no, that, did not mean to do that.
Peter Lars (17:54.411)
She's made a few mistakes, but we'll keep.
Sarah Collins (17:57.218)
Don't we all?
Peter Lars (18:06.679)
Well, I think about those strengths. Okay, gotcha. Well, I mean, graduated, we'll just fast forward to the college part. Came out here from Chicago, put myself through school, was gonna be a film editor down in Hollywood. That was the path. Graduated in 1990, just a little thing called a pretty big recession happening right then. So, everybody was scrambling for high water.
Bill Dippel (18:29.606)
Hmm. Weird. Yeah.
Peter Lars (18:34.424)
And kind of going backwards, I moved here in 85. So 85 to 90 was putting myself through college and I had started photography at a small photography place here locally. And that had just been...
you know, basically what I was doing to get through college. And it was like a duck to water. It's just like me photographing. It didn't matter if it was, you know, it mostly families back in the day. But it was just a really natural, it was just a really natural fit for me. And that's probably where, you know, the positivity, the side of it comes in.
Bill Dippel (19:10.844)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (19:11.051)
making people feel comfortable and letting them open up and be natural and create really good pictures.
Bill Dippel (19:18.416)
Yeah, I hear in there too, that futuristic number one for you, right? I started at this little, little thing and then I thought of, maybe, maybe Pacific exposure. a shout out to his past. Maybe Pacific exposure opens up or maybe we, you know, how did that play out?
Peter Lars (19:32.32)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (19:36.728)
Yeah, it's kind of funny you should say that because it's just like I think that futuristic lever, if you want to call it that, kind of started actually after during the recession. I did get a job in promotions and advertising and unfortunately that company started going sideways and then I found myself in the middle of recession, unemployed and some opportunities opened up where another photography company was exiting and I basically bought into that photographer's business.
And that's when I definitely, the ideation and the futuristic, I think all started kicking in and when I just was like, I think I have an entrepreneurial bone in me that is wanting to expand. And so I just kept on, one little school turned into five schools, one wedding turned into 10 weddings. So I just kept on expanding that and kept on tweaking what we did to try to be different.
And I think that's where the ideation really kind of picks in is that a lot of people are doing it still to this day, 30 years later. A lot of people just want to do the same old, same old. And I'm constantly trying to tweak the engine and change what we do.
Bill Dippel (20:51.068)
Yeah. Yeah. I've known you as a change agent for years. you started doing Santa Claus photography during the holidays. And I, I was like, you're doing what? And now you've got a VR component that is something that you have really spearheaded and started doing. And I remember the first time I looked at it, I thought, this is really cool. I just don't know what the rollout is. And you have just rolled with that. You want to touch on that for minute?
Peter Lars (21:15.585)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (21:20.693)
Yeah, it's augmented reality, not VR, AR.
Sarah Collins (21:26.454)
Yeah, Bill, get it right.
Bill Dippel (21:27.814)
Sorry, I'm being corrected by the guy that's clapping his hands in front of the mic. I think it's cute. Yeah.
Peter Lars (21:32.088)
Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, So back in 2016, my partner Robert, who respects me a lot more than my best friend, basically we invented an augmented reality app. Basically we can put video inside pictures and other mediums.
Sarah Collins (21:32.366)
I'm
Sarah Collins (21:44.43)
you
Bill Dippel (21:46.803)
And Robert and I get together all the time. I love him. He's great.
Peter Lars (22:01.225)
If you were doing a wedding album with me, while I photograph my videographer is capturing all that B-roll and when you have a finished product of an album, say there's the two page spread of the girls getting ready, one of the pictures has that technology in it and when you hold your phone over it and hover it like Harry Potter, the video comes, yeah, comes right out of it. So, I know, it's very Harry Potter.
Sarah Collins (22:24.398)
Wait, what? That's crazy!
Peter Lars (22:30.057)
It's very cool. It's very cool.
Bill Dippel (22:31.726)
And he can link any video to any image. So I have some images around my house of him and I traveling and doing stuff. And the photo is something we did while we traveled.
Sarah Collins (22:42.862)
Wow!
Peter Lars (22:43.742)
And I'm really happy to say we've rolled it out. We work with Life Nation now. This started out as a photography app and now we just did Sabrina Carpenter's concert, Tate McCray, Korn, Blink 182. Yeah, so it's really been exciting. So if you were at the concert, just imagine your laminate has that technology in it. And if you were a fan, you would hold your phone over it.
Sarah Collins (22:50.719)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (22:59.138)
What?
Peter Lars (23:10.101)
And it would be Sabrina Carpenter saying, hey, Chicago, thanks so much for coming out to this concert. And she would give a little personal chat to them. And then on the backside of that laminate, we have the technology, if the three of us were at Sabrina's concert, we could videotape ourselves screaming and having a good time. And our memory could be embedded on the backside. So five years from now, you could go grab that laminate, that book, that ticket. And it is full of all these great memories. It's really cool.
Sarah Collins (23:39.694)
Whoa, you're blowing my mind here. I thought you were just like a normal dude. This is so cool.
Peter Lars (23:46.119)
I just thought you were a normal boomer. didn't know you were a techie boomer.
Sarah Collins (23:50.382)
Wow. No, but that I mean, you're absolutely right, Bill, thinking about that futuristic having that vision to be able to see it. mean, if I mean, Bill knows you so he's speaking like from experience, you're new to me, I only know you through what Bill has said. So if I'm getting this right for the audience, you started as a photographer, you thought you wanted to go into movies.
Bill Dippel (23:50.482)
No, normal old dude is what she meant by that. So yes, yes.
Peter Lars (23:53.055)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Sarah Collins (24:19.086)
but you became a photographer found that you had a passion and a talent for that. You get invested into a company, so you become an entrepreneur and you just keep thinking of new and innovative ways to do this. Growing a team, growing the business, growing the photography product and products you're able to offer to where now you have this team of 35 that can get bigger in the busy seasons and these really innovative products that are not just for
Some people want pictures of anything with a heartbeat, but now you're even selling it to Live Nation for big artists out there.
Peter Lars (24:56.042)
Exactly, exactly. And the augmented reality is one of the great tools we have in our toolbox. There's just so many possibilities. If you went to high school here, and you're at one of the high schools where we actually published a yearbook, just imagine every varsity photo, when you put your phone over it, has the kid saying their name, their number, their position, spinning a basketball, throwing a football.
And even some game coverage even the graduations are in the in the book So you can go back there and have this interactive experience with the album. It's there's just so many applications. It's great. So I
Sarah Collins (25:36.93)
Yeah, I have never even seen anything do that yet. You know, I'm in Nebraska, so it takes a long time for that cold stuff to make its way inland. But that's just so neat. I'm just going to go tell all my friends. We're going to be real ahead of the trends.
Peter Lars (25:41.045)
I'm about to stay here.
Peter Lars (25:45.126)
You
Bill Dippel (25:49.97)
You know, you know us as West coasters Pete we're all or ahead of everything. That's just how it is So but Sarah what I hear and it's fun. You're absolutely right. I've known him for so long and I get to Understand and communicate with him so frequently This this Sarah really blends itself right to that thing we coach so much around where how you see your strengths and how the people around you see your strengths is so wildly different because
Peter Lars (25:50.071)
It's gonna be great, you're gonna love it, someday, five years from now.
Exactly.
Sarah Collins (25:55.546)
my gosh.
Sarah Collins (26:16.588)
Hmm.
Bill Dippel (26:17.892)
I've worked with Pete enough to know he doesn't think he's that futuristic. thinks he's, this is the way we are. Everyone's always trying to push that next envelope or that, that next level. And, he also has incredible woo, right? Which all of us, fortunate the three of us on this show all, all have. And one thing I can honestly say in working with all of Pete's teams is it's.
Sarah Collins (26:34.21)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (26:42.648)
It's very rare. hate to say it because he'll get a big head. He won't fit on the video anymore if you're watching this, but so many of the people we work with in his crew love him. Just absolutely want to work with him and they can tell you the reasons why. And they tell you how fun it is to be in the environment that he, that he heads and how it gets together. And, for him, it's just, this is business. This is just what we do. And it really highlights and elevates from our point of view, that coaching dynamic.
around, look at how this works over here, see it, I can get you to do this using the themes you have. But it's so frequently for you and I, difficult to get them to see it through someone else's eyes instead of themselves.
Sarah Collins (27:19.512)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (27:27.372)
Yeah, yeah. Now, Pete, I have a question. Okay, so I can see positivity, communication, adaptability, ideation, woo. I can see all of these themes playing into being a photographer, like taking the pictures, right? Like all of that makes sense to me, having to adapt to people, getting them to like you so they show their personality, talking them through the poses you want them to be in.
All of that I see maximizer, making it as good as possible. How much time, it sounds like you've been doing this a while, you're sort of leading this team. How much time do you spend now being a photographer versus being like a business visionary? What's sort of your day and role in the organization now?
Peter Lars (28:16.407)
Gotcha. It's kind of funny because I just got back from nine days in Vegas at multiple trade shows and that's why my voice sounds so scratching and a little bit beat up. And it was, you know, an honor to speak at a couple things for various things. The... Hold on a second.
Yeah, you're to take that out, Marking the time.
Sarah Collins (28:41.198)
Post post.
Bill Dippel (28:41.784)
I'm marking the timeline right now.
Hey Pete, on your timeline buddy, whatever you want.
Peter Lars (28:50.197)
Sarah, repeat the question. Sorry.
Sarah Collins (28:52.11)
Okay, how much time do you spend in photography, taking photos now, first, how much time do you spend working on the business or being a leader? Sort of like, what does your day to day look like now that you do have a bigger team that you're leading?
Peter Lars (29:08.759)
Yeah, I just got back from Vegas and it's kind of funny talking to a different a bunch of different owners, you know, we all have different kind of approaches. And this might be my this might be my weakness, but a lot of my peers kind of say, you're amazing in business, but you know, they they do feel like I work in the business, not on the business. You will find me most of the time still 30 years later.
at the ripe age of almost 60, Sarah. stop it some more. Stop it some more, young lady. But there's a couple of reasons. I mean, I'm still out there at seven in the morning, you know, and setting up and photographing four or five, hundred kids by lunch. And well, one, be honest with you, I like it. I really, really, really like doing my job. In fact, my wheelhouse, you my favorite thing to do
Bill Dippel (29:39.954)
Sarah Collins (29:40.756)
I wouldn't have guessed you were over 45. I'm truly shocked.
Bill Dippel (29:42.962)
Please, do not tee her up. Don't do it, Pete. Ugh.
Sarah Collins (29:46.862)
it
Peter Lars (30:06.679)
to photograph us, believe it or not, as little two and three four-year-olds. It's my favorite. It's like, it's where I started from, you know, doing my first preschools, being able to, you know, take that little kid that's about to cry and, you know, just turn them into, you know, giggles and smiles and accomplishing it. It's very satisfactory. More, but on the other side of that, I want my employees to know that I'm shoulder to shoulder with them, that I don't expect them to do anything that I can't do.
So I think that helps a lot and I get a lot. think they're very, very, very loyal to me because I'm right there with them on those long days. It also kind of keeps me grounded and, you know, gives me perspective. You know, sometimes inside, you know, employees are like, why doesn't that person get that done or why are they so late running back from that photo shoot? I'm like, just to remind you, you know, it was 40 degrees with wet grass. know,
They're out there putting together a metal riser in the wind, all the different elements and forces that are against them. sometimes I think it's a good thing that I'm in the business.
Sarah Collins (31:20.098)
Yeah, I think it speaks to a strengths-based entrepreneurship idea, right? That yes, I mean, as a business owner, I get it, we talk about how do you move from working in the business to working on the business and you have to elevate, know, but it's like when we have an individual contributor and we say like, hey, you're so good at your job, we want to promote you to a manager.
whether or not they actually have the skills to be a manager because we think the only way we can promote people is by making them a manager, right? And some people thrive in that and some people sink. And it's because the skills to be a manager are not necessarily the same skills that they needed to be that individual contributor. And so this idea of strengths is like get people in their zone of talent and they will achieve excellence. I see the same thing with you. You found your talent, what you love to do and how you love to do it.
Peter Lars (32:01.015)
Yes.
Sarah Collins (32:14.188)
So you wanna spend your time doing that. If you just said like, now I'm just gonna work on the business and I'm not gonna go shoot photos and I'm just gonna like deal with accounting and employee issues all day, you would be drained, you wouldn't be as engaging and your employees would, they wouldn't be inspired by you. And so I actually think, is it the way everyone does it? Is it if you go listen to the best business podcast in the world, is it the advice they'd give you? Maybe not.
Peter Lars (32:22.177)
Hmm.
Peter Lars (32:30.571)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (32:39.768)
But from a strengths-based philosophy, I think you're really right on track because you're doing the thing that you love and it sounds like you've built a team around you who can still take care of that other stuff, that other business stuff that has to get done. It doesn't have to be done by you. You're not gonna be able to do everything anyways. So if you can find a way to do what you love and still manage the business, then I think that's the best place to be.
Peter Lars (33:03.231)
Yeah. And I think strengths, this whole path of going down this path of strengths, it has shown me, especially when Bill showed the heat map of all of the the four categories of what makes this place so special. And I really did realize, I think there's only three influencer themes out of all that.
And it is interesting because are we on our third year bill or fourth year of this?
Bill Dippel (33:33.682)
think you're on your four. You're actually in the beginning of your fourth. So.
Peter Lars (33:37.771)
So it is funny to see the colors have, you know, is predominantly purple at one point and now things have shifted that it was, you know, relationships in blue and now it seems we've been doing a lot of testing. It's like, my God, the strategic, the greens have taken over. Meanwhile, there's just those three oranges.
Bill Dippel (33:55.984)
Yeah, yeah. And, Pete is being one of those oranges. One of the things we've coached him on and talked about is you need to be the person dropping off the gifts for the mega schools that you do because that warmth and influencing you bring is so much why people look at you and go, I want to do business with you. It's not that another high strategy person couldn't do it, or it's not that a relationship person couldn't step in and do well at it, but they know Peter.
And they know that influencing and they know the, what he does. and honestly, it's an influencing theme for a reason. People are drawn towards that. They really love that, that woo component. And, uh, yeah, that's, that's one of the coaching things we worked on another component that we worked on. And Pete was instrumental in starting off when I started working on this was a strength board And we.
We were looking at how do we get ambassadors out of his 35? Who is, who are the people that are going to keep it moving internally and what are some of the tools we could do? And he was my first fully baked strengths board on a wall where they will put up their strengths that they've noticed all month. They put up caricatures of each other and, and they highlight and they have little cutouts of what their strengths are. And then they'll take notes of
the strengths they noticed and they'll talk about them. And I tried to get Peter to give away a prize every month to the number one strength that people notice, but apparently a $25 Starbucks gift card is out of his budget. Hey, I just, you know, I don't, but he put all of that in place. And when I'm hearing him just now talk about investment, I'm with them, I'm out there, I'm building the risers. I'm doing that. He also fulfills that need by.
Peter Lars (35:30.199)
you
Sarah Collins (35:35.192)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (35:44.368)
I'm coming back in, let's acknowledge what you did. Let's talk about how that goes, Peter. So that we developer leans into that.
Peter Lars (35:54.454)
Yeah, and that strength board has been an amazing thing. It's just like it is fun to see people without being told to witness somebody doing something pretty amazing and then looking at their strengths and giving them accolades and anabois. it's healthy for the company. It definitely helps with morale.
Sarah Collins (36:04.6)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (36:20.49)
Absolutely. The best companies out there weave recognition into their everyday culture because knowing your strengths is not just enough. We have to recognize them. And so the fact that your company has a strengths board that's visible to everyone, that it's engaged in the culture shows that we're taking this beyond just strengths recognition and we're bringing it bigger. Right. We don't we don't only know our strengths. We talk about it. We recognize it. We encourage it. That
reinforcement is what we need. And that's how cultures are built. know, culture doesn't just happen for organizations, it has to be built. And that means every day just like working out and eating, right, you got to keep showing up, otherwise it'll slip away. So the fact that you're on year four with Bill working on this, and you have physical representation, and you have that verbal representation,
And I think having a leader with those influencing themes who's invested in this has to be really powerful for your people because like Bill said, those influencing themes, they're contagious. People wanna be around them. So you don't only get to do that for your clients, but you get to do it for your internal staff as well, being a cheerleader and an advocate for what they do right and their talents.
Peter Lars (37:35.177)
Right, right. And I also like the fact that we're now, you know, when people are onboarding, you know, it does definitely help to apply that strength test to them and find out like, are we about to put the right person in the right spot, you know. So.
Sarah Collins (37:50.83)
Absolutely.
Bill Dippel (37:51.42)
Yeah, or where else might they fit, right? Where in my organization do these themes fit correctly?
Peter Lars (37:57.688)
And I can tell you after 30 years, I can roll that clock back before this, we definitely put some people that should never have been in a spot. That was just not applying to their strengths at all, and they sank fast. And then we had to pull them out and apply them somewhere else. They sank again, and we finally found somewhere that they did OK. Yeah, definitely. It makes a difference.
Bill Dippel (38:18.663)
Right.
Right, right.
Sarah Collins (38:21.228)
Yeah, and without an assessment like this, you're kind of out there guessing, right? Because the truth is, in my experience, most people don't know themselves that well. So even if you were in tune enough to say to someone like, hey, what are you really great at? Many people don't know how to articulate that if they even know what it is. So even if you were smart enough to say like, hey, what seat in the bus should you be on? A lot of people wouldn't know. They'd be like, no, wherever you can use me sort of thing. And so you're kind of shooting blind in the dark.
Peter Lars (38:40.023)
No.
Peter Lars (38:47.681)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (38:49.942)
And an assessment like this, it's a shortcut. It's a talent shortcut to be able to say, here are the talents. And now we also have language around it. And so it can really be validating for someone to say like, yeah, those are the things I am good at and that's the seat in the bus I should be on. It just makes it a little bit easier, a little bit more seamless and honestly way more enjoyable for everybody when we can just get that like right away without having to kind of guess.
Peter Lars (39:05.75)
Right.
Peter Lars (39:17.845)
Right. I concur, Sarah.
Bill Dippel (39:21.778)
I can, in other words, he's like, welcome to my new coach. Thanks, Sarah. can't so glad you're here. So, yes, yes. Yeah, by the way, if you could.
Sarah Collins (39:26.19)
Hahaha!
Peter Lars (39:26.199)
I was to say. Now Sarah, about the billing, yes.
Sarah Collins (39:32.067)
Yeah, I don't want you as a client, my bills would scare you.
Bill Dippel (39:37.294)
If you, if you, if you get a dime out of them, I'm going to be angry. That's all I'm saying. So, so Pete, I worked with somebody yesterday, different, different, different profession, different, and a newer person and they had significance right where you do is number 10. Yeah. And significance isn't one we see a lot in the top 10. It's not there. a ton. It shows up from time to time.
Peter Lars (39:40.747)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (39:54.023)
no kidding, number 10, no? Okay.
Bill Dippel (40:04.306)
Sometimes we see significance getting used maturely. And I would be fair in saying, I think you do it in many mature ways. Sometimes we see it be a little immature. You might want to say egotistically, sometimes the significance might come in. Sometimes I've seen that on you. No, totally not. But what I am, the question I want to get to here from a significance point of view is my client yesterday was, he was a, he,
Peter Lars (40:18.551)
Okay.
Bill Dippel (40:32.878)
Overseas financial, he's a financial consultant and helps people get to their goals for him. He didn't see significance until we talked about his job and how people remembering and knowing, Hey, I got to this place because of this. And I had that name component. And then he really bonded to it. So I, want to ask you in your arc and what you're going to leave behind, where do you think significance plays into?
Peter Lars (40:58.552)
Gosh, 100 % I was glad that when I saw that as my number 10 and basically learned what that meant. Basically when I started, I...
Bill Dippel (41:09.02)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (41:15.019)
knew that I was making, even on a school picture level, it felt really good to know that you were making something that was going to last decades, if not lifetimes, capturing these moments in time were going to be passed on potentially from generation to generation, especially as something as important as a wedding. But it's kind of amazing that this is the fourth time we've had a fire here down in LA, where we've lost schools and lost houses.
Cornerstone is always, it's our way of giving back, but we reach out to all the people that lose their homes and we reprint their fall pictures, their spring pictures, their panoramics, anything that we can go with a 10-year archive.
And I know that the one big fire that happened here about six, seven years ago, it took us like five months just to fulfill all those pictures. And I know it sounds like such a cliche, but that's the number one thing people still go into their house usually besides animals and their loved ones is they're looking for those pictures. So that kind of dovetails back into significance. I like to know that I've been the facilitator of something that's going to outlast
me by a lot and just that name and what I did is going to matter and people will be going back and reviewing those pictures you know.
Bill Dippel (42:43.846)
Yeah. And I, when you do a hundred to 150,000 students every year, one thing I've noticed is when you and I are cruising through and we're stopping, we go to a mall to do something or we go somewhere, inevitably, younger people, Sarah's age, younger, younger people are cruising by and they're like, Hey, I know you, you're the, you're that guy. You're that photographer. You're the, you're the one that made that.
Peter Lars (42:50.017)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (42:56.993)
Yeah.
Peter Lars (43:05.889)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (43:11.288)
amazing photo and we did this and I know that there's a little woo in that too but that has to fire up that significance too knowing you're leaving a legacy of people that know you.
Peter Lars (43:21.503)
feels good. mean nobody, yeah the business is too big now. Now they just say it's Mr. Cornerstone, Mr. Cornerstone. know nobody really remembers my name anymore. But I would be lying and that might sound like very egotistical.
Sarah Collins (43:27.566)
Thank you.
Peter Lars (43:35.116)
But no, I light up when somebody comes up to me and says, I think I know you. And I let them guess for a little bit. like, does photography ring a bell? my god, it's Mr. Cornerstone. yeah, in fact, just last week went out for dinner. And it was just funny. The hostess was like, hey, you just did my senior pictures. I love them. And it was just like, got a nice little table upgrade because of that.
Sarah Collins (44:02.19)
Mmm, perks!
Bill Dippel (44:03.538)
There's the woo. There he is wooing it up. Yep. Yep.
Peter Lars (44:05.362)
Yeah, but no in fact gosh Bill. I don't think I've ever been told you this I mean Going in the way way way back machine. I didn't when I made a choice to come to Moorpark to open up my photography business There were a lot of photographers a lot of competition back in you know 1994 and I was like all right I think I'm gonna move to us the smallest town around here to try to be you know a big fish in a small town
versus trying to go up against some of the big guys in Thousand Oaks and Westlake area. I even thought about going to a very small town of 15, 30,000 people and I thought, gosh, wouldn't it be cool to be the one photographer that everybody knows that did everybody's children's photos, wedding photos and everything. And it's just kind of funny, I Moorpark only has 35,000 people here, but 30 years later and being in Metro
metropolitan area of LA, know, we're all the way up in Bakersfield, all the way down to Santa Monica, all the way up to Santa Maria. So it's just like this little studio that I thought was going to be just a little mom-pa operation, you know, turned into quite the big to-do. So yeah, but the significance, I won't be lying, it's important and I recognize it and I like it.
Bill Dippel (45:19.196)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (45:26.402)
Well, I don't want to just stoke your significance some more, but I will because I am someone who really, you know, I live in Nebraska, but I really value professional photos. And we always get them of our family. And I love the photographers we use and I always get them printed and I make books of them. And I have said to my husband before, like we talk about if the house caught on fire, what would you take? And I have said the photos and he'll look at me and be like, you crazy woman, we can reprint those.
Peter Lars (45:29.984)
I hope.
Peter Lars (45:54.674)
Ha
Sarah Collins (45:54.862)
That is not what you should be going after. But it really does feel like, like, I just feel like that, you know, they feel so special. And so the fact that you will reprint photos from clients if their houses have burnt down those schools. I mean, I think that is incredible. And I just want to give you massive kudos again, kind of stoking your significance there. But like, I don't want to glaze over that fact. I think that's incredible. as I just would, I know that
Peter Lars (46:16.151)
Thanks.
Sarah Collins (46:23.458)
the emotional impact that would have on me if I was one of those people, it would be humongous. I would be so grateful to you for providing that.
Peter Lars (46:32.895)
Well, thank you for saying that and you warmed my heart by saying you print your pictures. Thank you so much. It's like that's where they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be on your walls and on your mantles. They're not supposed to be on your phone and you know check a box and forget about it. So good.
Sarah Collins (46:46.818)
Well, you would love my dining room then Pete because we have nine ginormous picture frames covering an entire wall that are full of our professional photos of our families. So we are checking those boxes, printed photos for life.
Bill Dippel (46:46.908)
You know, I...
Peter Lars (47:01.705)
I come to Nebraska, I'm checking it out.
Sarah Collins (47:03.734)
Yeah, but you don't need to come. I mean, I'll just take a picture and send it to you.
Bill Dippel (47:06.834)
Yeah, we'll make that part easy. You know, it strikes me that if you would charge just a little something for those reprints, you could pay me eventually. I don't. It just seems. No, Pete, I again, I mentioned in the beginning your kickoff with us and our ability to start meant everything for us. It was it really allowed us to see how to do it, how to get moving. And without that, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have done what I'm doing now.
Peter Lars (47:36.023)
Well, I'm glad we could be part of it because it's been fun to watch your business just explode. Because you are, you know, God, now I feel like it's a bro-fest right now. You are so good. You're so good at this. This is what you were actually meant to do. You it's like you wasted all your time at DRI.
Bill Dippel (47:36.252)
So yeah.
Bill Dippel (47:52.454)
Yeah, that's great. I wonder how many listeners at DRI are going to be like, Hey, wait a minute. Yeah, no, no, no. We have, we have six listeners to two of them aren't from DRI. There's no chance. No, actually we're doing no, it's been great thousands now we're, we are lucky. So, so in that, and in, the ability to not pay me, let's talk about a moment of maybe when one of your strengths you think gets in your way.
Peter Lars (47:56.179)
That's all.
Sarah Collins (47:57.206)
None of them listen, you weren't in your talent zone there so they don't care.
Peter Lars (48:03.681)
Hahaha!
Sarah Collins (48:03.822)
Okay, we have more than six listeners, don't put that out. Thousands, thousands of listeners.
Peter Lars (48:08.759)
Great. Great.
Bill Dippel (48:21.35)
Like, you know, you know what they are. You know, the 10, what, what do you think? What's when's the dumpster fire happened? When does something happen that you're like, gosh, it.
Peter Lars (48:24.061)
I do.
Peter Lars (48:28.534)
Yeah.
If all my purples were inside this office right now, they'd all be screaming, God, son of a, his ideation is killing us. It's killing us. Yeah. So I am definitely the popcorn brain and I just can't stop. It's just like, I just want to go on to the next thing, create the next thing. And I know that
Sarah Collins (48:40.744)
wow, yeah.
Peter Lars (48:55.756)
I am in just, in my wake, I have people spinning trying to implement these ideas. Now, I can say that since I've become more mature in my strengths, I am keeping, if they only knew what I was actually thinking, I am keeping at bay many, many, many ideas that are like, that's actually far-fetched in my mind, I probably shouldn't even open up my mouth.
I definitely have stuff that's written down that, and I have some really great ideas that they're almost two or three years old and I don't scrape them away. I'm like, someday there'll be a soft spot where they're looking like they're confident enough to handle that one. But definitely ideation is, I know that it can be tough. And I would actually say kind of developer too a little bit where sometimes I might be spending a little too much time.
on somebody where it's maybe they should be, you know.
cut the line and let them go or reassign them somewhere. So sometimes I do find myself kind of getting invested in somebody a little too far or somebody little more analytical probably would have just been, this is just not going to work. I do love, sorry about my voice, I do love being able to take somebody who's, especially people who almost never done photography, I love turning them into amazing photographers. And I love this space, we have such a great space here
at Cornerstone Photography. It's kind of an incubator of ideas and photography. we just have a really great mix. It's a lot of laughing, a lot of laughing here. We'd probably be a little more profitable if there wasn't as much problem.
Bill Dippel (50:41.212)
do. Yeah. Yeah. Sarah, I'll tell you too. I, when I go there to do a strengths discovery, half day and meet the crew, I think the last two times I went, I showed up and they had orange, green, blue, and purple colored foods out on the table. They had put, they had put, balloons above all of their chairs that were matched to their domain colors.
Sarah Collins (51:08.206)
No way.
Bill Dippel (51:10.576)
They it's it's a May and I mean they had green grapes. had purple grapes. They had bagels, but all of the cream cheeses were dyed to the color sequences. Unbelievable, yeah, yeah.
Sarah Collins (51:21.004)
That is insane. my gosh.
Peter Lars (51:23.823)
I will not even pretend that I can take credit for that. Megan and Valerie and Jennifer and Madeline, I have so many great people here that really embrace the strengths and do those kinds of, I won't call them a tiny detail, that's a huge detail, but they creatively think of it like that. I'm super blessed in that regard.
Sarah Collins (51:40.856)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (51:44.88)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (51:45.454)
Yeah, that is so cool. Just that investment and that acknowledgement and to make it fun. know, and one of the things that I feel like I can feel from you, Pete, that I just as a business owner, I think about all the time is, and I mean, I'm sure that your business is actually very profitable. Okay, like let's not get it wrong. You're not paying bill because you can't. But it really seems like you're, wait, what?
Peter Lars (51:50.796)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (52:06.556)
Wait, what? What? Hold on. What? I broke up there. Say that again. What? I, huh.
Sarah Collins (52:11.128)
But it really seems like you're focused on growing the business in the right way, doing the things that you love, helping the clients and the people and having an environment that is one you wanna be a part of, a culture that you like. And I think that there is something to that. I think sometimes we meet business owners and they're like, I need to grow, I need to be bigger, I need to make more money. And their whole focus is that.
And I feel like that's where we can lose some of the fun and the magic and the talent is when the focus is growth. Whereas if we focus on the people and the clients and the culture and who we are and why we do it, I think the growth and the money comes with it. But then we actually want to be in it. We actually want to stay in it. We want to keep our business because we love it and the people who come to it love it. And I think that is just so much more fulfilling. And it really feels like that's what you're
Peter Lars (52:42.497)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (53:07.393)
to wean at cornerstone.
Peter Lars (53:09.835)
Yeah, I'd be happy making less money.
and being happier and having this atmosphere, know, then making a few more dollars at this place being, you know, just not full of joy. So just like, mean, we work, trust me, we work hard. It's not a party 24 seven, but we play as hard as we work. And I think that's our special, you know, people want to work here. know, I hired somebody named Ricky who starts here in June and he just can't wait to, you he came up here from San Diego. He did a tour and I could just tell he was just
Sarah Collins (53:24.577)
Right.
Peter Lars (53:42.194)
chomping at the bit to work here and so happy I was able to offer him a position that starts in June and it's just like I love that this guy is just you know super excited to you know to come on board and by the way Bill I need to I need to onboard that guy with us. Yeah yeah we're growing and things are going.
Bill Dippel (53:56.006)
Yes. Yeah. I hear an assessment coming. Yeah. Yeah. We just did four others for you, like, like last week. So yeah. And speaking of growing, you expanded, you've got a mini shop in Texas. Correct.
Sarah Collins (53:56.566)
Yeah, gotta get his strengths loaded up. Yep.
Peter Lars (54:08.727)
Uh huh, I do. And we have a second boutique studio in Westlake and there's about to be some news. We might be coming up to Reno. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Bill Dippel (54:18.482)
Mmm.
Sarah Collins (54:19.007)
Wow, look at this. Business is good is what I hear.
Bill Dippel (54:24.1)
I wasn't, I wasn't going to bring up the Reno site yet. I was going to, if you want to do it, but, I, I, Pete has been threatening to come up to Reno and, use my address as the, drop off point, which means I'm going to get a bunch of really bad mail. but you know what? might get a, I might get a check every now and then that accidentally shows up. So that, you know, that could work out. So yeah, yeah, I might get lucky, but, no, it.
Peter Lars (54:27.783)
yeah. Well, I think we're...
Sarah Collins (54:35.982)
You
Peter Lars (54:37.015)
up.
Peter Lars (54:42.357)
Yeah. Things are looking up for you. Things are looking up for you.
Sarah Collins (54:43.842)
There you go.
Bill Dippel (54:49.826)
And the ability to expand, again, that significance, that ideation, that futuristic, stepping into that and rolling it for the people around you, Pete. So congratulations.
Sarah Collins (54:55.116)
Maximizer, woo!
Peter Lars (55:00.363)
Thanks, thanks. Only wanting to go there for the right reasons though. It's just like I definitely do not have a desire just to spread all over the place and try to get any business. I definitely want to work with people that want to work with us.
Sarah Collins (55:00.492)
Yeah, it's really exciting.
Bill Dippel (55:18.13)
Mm-hmm. Smart.
Sarah Collins (55:19.222)
Yeah, absolutely that futuristic you hear it in there.
Bill Dippel (55:22.514)
Smart, smart. All right, you ready? Fun question, fun question. Yeah, we've hit a Sarah and I talk all the time. You don't want to talk to us, but we've hit you with the dumpster fire and really smart how often we work with people that are thinking that ideation, people can't track with us. I can't keep up, right Sarah? And we give them some tools to think about and work on how that comes.
Peter Lars (55:24.439)
Sarah? Sarah or me? me. You have a question for me. OK.
Sarah Collins (55:32.792)
Mm-hmm.
Peter Lars (55:33.587)
Okay, okay.
Sarah Collins (55:45.475)
Right.
Bill Dippel (55:52.848)
so that's really good. And that, the developer, that's a common one. I, I suffer from it from a coaching point of view where I'm super invested and I think they're going to do all the homework and do the work and then they don't. And I give them more, Hey, don't worry. We'll get there. And it's like, at some point I can't care more than you do. I got a, I've got to step up. So those are, those are brilliant around the idea of how the dumpster fire comes, but let's go to a different question, which is you're starting in a new action movie. You're, you're starring in it. You're the star.
Peter Lars (56:17.697)
Okay.
Bill Dippel (56:22.222)
in this action movie. What is the plot and how do your strengths help you defeat the villain?
Peter Lars (56:23.605)
Alright.
Peter Lars (56:30.195)
Alright, let's see here. Alright. Are you familiar with the movie Grey Man?
Bill Dippel (56:38.044)
Rayman? No. I don't think I've seen it.
Peter Lars (56:38.965)
with Ryan Gosling.
Okay, for both of you, that's your homework. It is awesome. It's awesome. I can't believe you haven't seen that. Yeah, yeah. You're gonna call me later going, my god, how did I miss that one? I think it's a Netflix movie, if I'm not mistaken. So let's see. Ryan Gosling. I'll be Ryan Gosling. It's not a far off thing, don't you think? Okay, all right. So, yeah.
Sarah Collins (56:45.026)
Okay. Okay, I will go watch it.
Bill Dippel (56:49.456)
Okay.
Bill Dippel (56:55.452)
Okay.
Sarah Collins (57:02.862)
Sure, I see it, I see it, I see it. Good pick, good pick.
Bill Dippel (57:03.588)
Okay, sounds good. Yeah, sure. Sure. Let's go with that. Sure.
Peter Lars (57:08.235)
So he's CIA but a special, you know, level of CIA that gets the jobs done, right? And of course something nefarious has probably happened. In the movie there's the bad guy played by Chris Evans and Chris Evans by far is so much better as a bad guy than a good guy. can't stand Captain America but I mean...
Sarah Collins (57:29.1)
Okay, Chris Evans, best Chris out there. Sorry, I just haven't interject. My friends and I have a battle of the Chris's. Chris Evans, in my opinion, best Chris Evans, yes. Better than Pratt, Hemsworth is a close second for me. And then Star Trek, what's that one? Chris Pine, Chris Pine. I think Chris Pratt is the worst. I'm gonna go Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt.
Peter Lars (57:33.175)
Yes?
Bill Dippel (57:33.368)
Wow. Yes.
Evans.
Peter Lars (57:40.309)
when you
Peter Lars (57:44.406)
Okay.
Peter Lars (57:49.106)
Chris, a pint. Right. Okay, there's your
Bill Dippel (57:49.316)
fine, yeah.
Bill Dippel (57:56.892)
Pine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (57:58.53)
Just if anyone was curious, sorry about that.
Peter Lars (58:00.076)
Got it, got it, okay. I'm sure there somebody was interested.
Bill Dippel (58:07.652)
Yikes! See what happens? See what happens, Sarah? He doesn't pay you and then he just torpedoes the water. It's his way. yeah.
Sarah Collins (58:08.728)
He's like, wow, way to railroad my answer, Sarah. Jeez, what is this, your show?
Peter Lars (58:15.191)
didn't know this play exactly just just trying to throw old people off their game. Okay. So so Sarah thanks buddy. Thanks Sarah. I promise you when you see Chris Evans his name is Lloyd in this movie. You're going to be like you're going to love him in a whole different level. It's like
Bill Dippel (58:21.796)
Nice Sarah. Really? Go ahead, Pete. Pete, I'll hold space for you. You go right ahead.
Sarah Collins (58:35.958)
Okay, I'm ready for it. Bring it on.
Peter Lars (58:37.303)
His bad guy is at a whole different level. So, okay, so he's the villain. Alright. So, let's see. and things have gone wrong. And of course, you know, somebody higher up in the CIA has hired him to basically kill my character. So, going to my strengths, because it's going to be a battle at the OK Corral of some sorts, I would imagine that...
Positivity and communication isn't going to really work to get a bad guy So I'm going to go right to number five and I'm going to go with ideation. I am going to come up with a plan a plan to basically figure out a way to entrap or kill my nemesis Which is named Lloyd
Bill Dippel (59:25.904)
I just thought you were going to annoy the hell out of him. I'm going to ideate and he's not going to keep up. So yeah.
Peter Lars (59:30.639)
I'm going to come up with a very good idea, but now, you know, I've come up with a good idea, but I can't do it by myself because Lloyd has a lot of bad guys, you know, pals. So I'm going to use my woo to start pulling in ex-CIA agents. That's what we'll do. We'll bring in ex-CIA agents. So I'm using my woo to bring a posse of bad actors that are actually the good guys to go against the bad guys.
Does that sound good? then, yeah. Now I got an idea, I got the people, I guess we'll lean on activator. We've got to have to like shift gears and we're going to have to put our plan into motion and I'm going to have to activate these guys and let them know our plan. And then I guess we'll just use maximizer. know, we're at the crossroads of good versus evil.
Bill Dippel (59:58.908)
Love it. He's ideating the hell out of it. I love it. All right.
Sarah Collins (01:00:01.612)
Really, really, really, really.
Peter Lars (01:00:27.719)
and I'm giving them the tools and the empowerment to tip the scales of justice so the good guys win just at the last second. I think that's probably going to have to be.
Bill Dippel (01:00:40.242)
Now I got homework. I got Greyman. I think he hit on five of his themes, so not alone, right? Nice.
Sarah Collins (01:00:43.093)
Yes.
I know, great answer. Peter, you did an excellent job, kudos to you.
Peter Lars (01:00:51.83)
Well,
Bill Dippel (01:00:51.858)
I, I heard it as he's going to hire a bunch of people, throw them out of the bus to weaken Chris. And then he's going to maximize and finish is how I read that.
Peter Lars (01:01:00.033)
There we go. It takes a village. It takes a village to beat Lloyd. And when you watch this movie, you're going to be like, he's right. You can't do it by yourself. You can't do it by yourself.
Sarah Collins (01:01:00.174)
Bill Dippel (01:01:08.594)
Great man, I'm watching it.
Sarah Collins (01:01:09.003)
But I would say if you can't beat him, join him. If it's Chris Evans. I just want to be close to Chris Evans.
Peter Lars (01:01:11.703)
But to say you just want to be exactly, exactly.
Bill Dippel (01:01:17.04)
I need to see Corey's face when he listens to this. I don't know. Got it.
Sarah Collins (01:01:21.246)
Corey and I have talked about Chris Evans and this Chris debate many of times. He is well aware and well versed. Remember, I have a word quota. So this is like one of the things before we get ready for bed at night, I'll be like, I've been thinking about the Chris's today.
Bill Dippel (01:01:36.348)
So buckle up, right? I've been in Chris Evans' mind all day, so. Got it, yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:01:41.794)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Peter Lars (01:01:42.175)
It just goes right back to that cold night in Nebraska and that crazy contraption she was working with earlier. All very complicated in Nebraska. I might stay here and...
Bill Dippel (01:01:46.514)
Look it out, it can all work, right there. All I can say, Pete, I wish I understood the youngsters. so good. Well.
Sarah Collins (01:01:46.958)
You
Sarah Collins (01:01:51.204)
wow.
Peter Lars (01:01:55.99)
Hahaha!
Sarah Collins (01:01:56.468)
Hahahaha
Peter Lars (01:01:58.796)
Turkey relationships.
Sarah Collins (01:02:00.92)
We're all good right where we're at, you know, you guys just keep being, you know, baby boomers. You boys, you silver foxes, you're just this best friend thing, okay?
Bill Dippel (01:02:06.192)
You boys, you boys just keep playing, you're
Peter Lars (01:02:09.719)
Okay.
Bill Dippel (01:02:12.442)
I'm going to put this back on the rails and get us out of here. So I don't even know. I again, once I and by the way, Sarah, this is so much when Pete and I get together, nothing goes the way he took me out. We did astral photography up in an amazing place at over 10,000 feet. And then at midnight, Pete came to me and said, I'm sick as a dog. He got altitude sickness, so we had to get him out of there. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:02:15.082)
How do we get out of here?
Sarah Collins (01:02:23.694)
Peter Lars (01:02:37.259)
Or I could not believe how sick I was. It's crazy.
Sarah Collins (01:02:37.372)
no!
Bill Dippel (01:02:40.782)
Everything, whenever Pete and I get together, his ideation, but whatever else, it just turns into a amazing fun time. So I would thank you for that Pete, cause it's always great.
Sarah Collins (01:02:49.196)
I can see that.
Peter Lars (01:02:51.007)
It might have been the first time my positivity was down. It might have been.
Bill Dippel (01:02:54.21)
It and when his positivity is down, it's obvious. I'm like, Pete, I got to, I got to get you off this mountain. It took us an hour to get down into the Bishop Bridgeport area and then he felt great. So, but, yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:02:57.047)
I bet.
Sarah Collins (01:03:04.544)
wow.
Peter Lars (01:03:05.121)
Well, I guess Bill, mean, you know, what strength did you lean on to, because you were awesome that night.
Bill Dippel (01:03:11.474)
you know what that is? That's, that's all about, develop the developer and our friendship because I saw you were in pain. And fortunately, since I live in this area, I know what altitude sickness is and looks like. and so just being able to do that and to individualize your pain, which is my number one, to talk about how, how you felt it, where you were at and to be able to knowing you so long when I, when I see you literally suffering and just.
Peter Lars (01:03:18.902)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (01:03:38.994)
You were so sick that time. Yeah, problem it, problem solve it. And then I'm like, Pete, get in the truck. We'll come back for the camp and activate it to get out of there. Just go. yeah, Wow, has someone given us a tough question or a fun question at the end? Pete might be the first on that.
Peter Lars (01:03:40.823)
That's crazy how fast.
Sarah Collins (01:03:41.688)
Well, and I hear restorative, just acting to solve the problem. How do we solve this problem? Execute.
Peter Lars (01:03:52.821)
Yeah,
Sarah Collins (01:03:52.898)
Yep. Look at us. It's like we're strengths experts. It's so weird.
Peter Lars (01:04:02.675)
well, there you go. I'd ask Sarah something, but you know, I'm not sure where her husband might be off of.
Bill Dippel (01:04:09.298)
I've only lightly met Corey so far. I don't, yeah. You know, I.
Sarah Collins (01:04:14.338)
He does exist. I do post him on social media like once every six months so people know we're still married. Proof of life, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bill Dippel (01:04:19.834)
Right, right. A proof of life check. So sure. get it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, Pete, thank you so much today. I, again, I always love when you and I are getting together and laughing and having fun and then be able to do it around a strengths based component is just mind blowing for me. And the start, the way we've worked together, the way I've tried new tactics with your team so that I can roll them out in more ways and the things that we built the strengths board.
Peter Lars (01:04:20.363)
That's good. That's good.
Bill Dippel (01:04:49.714)
the heat maps, all of the gridding, the add-ons to people and some new stuff coming for you and we're getting together this May to build on that.
Peter Lars (01:04:57.322)
And May works, I mean, everybody's just biting at the bit. Can't wait for you to come down here.
Bill Dippel (01:05:00.88)
Yeah. So we're going to keep doing that. So for all those reasons, Pete, and I just, and our friendship, how, good it is and how long it's been. thanks for all.
Peter Lars (01:05:10.923)
Thank you, Mr. William. It's been a fun ride, hasn't it?
Bill Dippel (01:05:14.394)
Hmm. Well, according to Sarah, it's over in a year. So as old as you guys are, right.
Sarah Collins (01:05:20.286)
Now, listen, people are having really long lives these days. You guys have a good like 30, 40 years in front of you, I think.
Peter Lars (01:05:27.991)
Bill, Bill, found out that people over 60 can have fun. just found, I just read that in the paper.
Bill Dippel (01:05:33.458)
That's so interesting. Wow, amazing. So, all right, well, let's get out of here. Pete, thank you again so much.
Sarah Collins (01:05:40.642)
Yes, thanks Pete, it was such a pleasure and a joy to talk to you today.
Peter Lars (01:05:44.917)
It was absolutely wonderful. He's talked about you so much too, and I've enjoyed listening to you, to both of you. So.
Bill Dippel (01:05:50.77)
I can't wait to edit this episode and then make you say a bunch of stuff that will be totally different. So, you know, I'll find a way.
Sarah Collins (01:05:53.582)
You
Peter Lars (01:05:57.919)
I wouldn't put it past you, Strings on Fire forever, guys. You guys are doing great.
Bill Dippel (01:06:03.248)
Love it. All right. So thank you so much. We will talk to our arsonists on the next episode. Thank you for listening and we will talk soon.
Sarah Collins (01:06:14.104)
Bye!