Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Roddy.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After college when I was 23, I purchased an arena football team in Georgia. In short, the business failed so I needed to start another company. So in 2009, I started an online company called, Pageant Planet, which has grown to be the largest resource in the world for girls who compete in pageants like Miss America, Miss USA, and Miss Universe.
Daily we connect hundreds of thousands of girls all over the world to designers, retailers, pageants, coaches, photographers, trainers, makeup contestants, non-profits etc but in 2016 I wanted to do more than connect girls with businesses inside the industry of pageantry. I wanted to. help them launch their professional careers.
Because of our database of contestants businesses ranging from car dealerships to tv shows to designers would request our help in locating models for their events and this is where I came up with the idea of ShoutoutModels.com. I wanted to create a portal where I could upload our “inventory” of contestants who were willing to model, work at promotional events and tradeshows and give businesses the ability to hire the models directly.
Nowhere else on the planet can you go and hire a model with a click of a button. Let alone, hire a reigning or former Miss Nevada to work your tradeshow booth in Las Vegas. Or hire Miss MA to help you sell cars or pass out samples Massachusetts. Shoutout Models is a win-win for businesses and contestants alike.
Oh, and you don’t have to be a pageant girl, or guy, to model for Shoutout Models. It’s not your traditional agency. The “Shoutout” in our name represents your ability to hire social media influences to give you a “shoutout” on social media to endorse your brand etc. This is just another way we connect businesses and models.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My life nor has any of my businesses been a smooth road. By the time I was 26 I had 2 businesses fail causing me to file bankruptcy, lose my home and have to sleep on the floor of a friends apartment because I had nowhere else to go. Also, no one has ever done what I’ve done before with Pageant Planet, so there was no road map.
Furthermore, I had zero connections in the industry and about $20 to my name. But, I started anyways. I can remember not being able to afford Internet so I took my whole desktop computer into Starbucks once per week to set up shop. I couldn’t handle the embarrassment for more than one day per week so I wrote roughly 21 articles each “Starbucks visit” and scheduled out the content so that I wouldn’t have to go back.
After working 2 years for about 40 hours per week on Pageant Planet I had made roughly $3000. I continued chipping away at my dream for another 2 years before the company started to take flight. Now, we have global influence and 18 employees plus accountants, tech team, server team and a global influence.
But, even with this network getting Shoutout Models off the ground has been a challenge. We have the models but getting businesses to understand that they no longer have to go to a traditional agency (and pay agency fees) or ask their friends friend for a “model” has had it’s learning curve. But, weekly we tweak our strategy and methods and even after a year we are turning a corner MUCH faster than PP ever did.
Please tell us about Shoutout Models.
Shoutout Models:
– We specialize in connecting businesses to models all over the world. Need a model in the Philippines? We can help. Need a shot pourer at your club for a night? We can help! Need Miss USA to speak at your next function? We can do that too. And we do all this without charging the businesses any fees.
– We don’t charge businesses any fees to hire models from our site. They set their budget and we find models who will work at that price. We make our money on booking the models, not on charging the businesses.
– We take a boutique approach to our businesses. If a business in London lists a price or is vague in their description we follow up with the business and help them tweak their job listing so they can attract better talent. If a business cannot find a model on our site that they want all they have to do is list a job and our talent scout uses our Pageant Planet database to find you what you’re looking for.
– Another thing that sets us apart is that all of our models are paid within 48 hours after work. This is unheard of in the industry. Most talent has to wait 60 – 90 days before getting paid. We can do this because we charge the client’s card the day before the event to make sure it goes through and the deposit those monies in the models account AFTER the client has confirmed the model has shown up.
– In the case of an emergency where the model doesn’t show up, we always have talent on back up for you. The success of your event is everything to us.
– Many businesses don’t know this but agency’s charge them a 20% fee to book models. For example, the agency will tell their model that her day rate is $1000 and that their cut is 20%. Then the same agency will tell the business that the model’s rate is $1,200. So the agency makes $400, instead of just the $800. Where we are different is that we only charge the model 15%.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Sitting down with dad to talk business. He owned a hardware store and often he would ask my opinion on what the store should do to increase profit. Not that I knew anything but the fact that he would involve me in on the conversation meant the world to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: ShoutoutModels.com
- Email: support@shoutoutmodels.com
- Instagram: @shoutoutmodels
- Facebook: facebook.com/shoutoutmodels
Image Credit:
Reza Nation Media
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