In this episode, Bryon talks with Oliver Froom of OBTX air where they discussed on Oliver's life in Calgary as well as his overall experience with OBTX air. Enjoy listening to this episode and follow us for more conversations on Calgary. Connect with Bryon here: www.thehowardteam.net https://www.facebook.com/thehowardteamcalgary https://www.instagram.com/calgary_living/ Email: bryon@thehoeardteam.net Phone: 403-589-0004
Reach out to Oliver and his team on the following accounts:
Instagram: otbxair_calgary
Website: calgary.otbxair.com
You can text him here: (403)-5364-069
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of living in Calgary. Well, I'm your host Brian hours. And today I have the good fortune of introducing you and having a chat chairman with you. The life Calgary living with all of her fruit, from our, our kind of partnering company. OTBX air. Welcome to the show.
Oliver. Thank you, Brian. I appreciate you guys having me on and I'm looking forward to this. It's been a long time coming in. Oliver. We've had fun ever since, like, you know, first getting to know you, I think you approached us, you know, probably almost a year ago or so about, you know, using us, uh, using yourselves sorta new to Calgary about a year ago in, in the photography business.
And, uh, it's been kind of a fun meeting and interaction ever since all of her to get started though. You're you're in Calgary, not a long time say compared to me or a born and bred Calgarian who's as old as both of] us, but we'll get into that a little bit more all over. You've been here just about a year.
What strikes you most about Calgary and how did you come to. So a brief background is before I've came to Calgary. I mean, I've traveled all over Canada, been to every major city. Um, and I knew living in Ontario, I wanted to have a change and I was working at OTBX air and I was like, look, we were doing expansions at the time.
And I was like, why don't we start expanding at west? I mean, I'd love to go to Calgary. And so that conversation got brought up and next thing. About a year ago. I moved here. Wow. Very cool. And why did you want to come to Kelby? You could choose Revelstoke, Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler model, anywhere bath 10 bucks to Calgary.
I mean, um, based on experiences in different cities, I, I knew there was something special about here. I grew up in the car. [00:02:00] And so, um, the city is small enough, but large enough that it's an in-between. If I, if I drive 45 minutes, I'm in the mountains, I'm a big outdoors person. So having the opportunity to head to the mountains in about 45 minutes an hour, I can't pass that up.
And, um, there's no better location to, uh, kind of expand our business to
what is it that you love most about Calgary so far? I would probably say, uh, Yeah, the mountains and being able to have access to multiple hikes, the skiing, and then the city itself, um, with it being still very lively, but I can spend 20 minutes and get right down to town if I want to. Yeah. Excellent. And what about, is there anything you don't like about Calgary?
I remember when I moved down here in 2003, I just kind of liked it from the beginning, but maybe not. I didn't fall in love with it immediately. And my wife [00:03:00] cried and wanted us to go home coast. But after about a year, she loved this and I loved that. Of course. Um, is there anything you don't like about. Or can you remind me about what we might not have liked?
Do we have a seminar experience or do you just love it? I mean, you want it to cut? I haven't, I know I haven't found much, uh, that I don't like within Calgary. Um, I mean, besides some of the, some of the drivers I find can be a little hectic for turning from all the way from the left lane, uh, to an off ramp.
I brought that point up to someone else and they were like, oh yeah, I did that today. I was like, yeah, that can be frightening. But besides that, no. Very good. Um, and then, so you just been here a year and it sort of came in COVID times. Was that odd? I actually met a few people that like, sort of moved our city during COVID what's that.
I mean, I [00:04:00] don't think it's anything different. I mean, coming from like Southwestern Ontario, where things have been fully locked down for like years, almost two years now, um, moving was event day thing, a little easier. There's less traffic. You just come out here and there, the restrictions out here were a little, uh, Easier than Ontario that's for sure.
So, uh, with things being somewhat open, it was actually a breath of fresh air being able to go to maybe a restaurant and sitting, sitting down, whether it's on the patio or inside. Oh, neat. Yeah, that'd be good. Um, and tell us about, a little bit about your interest in real estate. Obviously you're in. A lot of beautiful homes with your, with your business, photography and videography and marketing.
Uh, tell us a little bit about your interest in real estate. Have you owned real estate and what's your, what's your process? What's your mojo? What's my mojo. So I haven't owned real estate before I am in the process of, uh, looking at, uh, some investment properties and some houses out [00:05:00] here. Um, and I've always had like a little bit of an interest in it.
I mean, I have a background in finance and, uh, you know, real estate plays a big role in our economy or any economy, to be honest. And, um, so getting into something like this and going to see that it was isn't visiting. Some of the nicest properties I've ever seen. I mean, it's, uh, it's quite astounding. And so it, uh, it sparked my love of real estate and it's only kind of grown, which is nice.
Awesome. Um, and so, uh, I think recently, um, you know, you're, you're starting in the process of looking, um, where do you live in Calgary currently? And like, what do you think that you're going to be looking at? In terms of the next property that may be your first, your first property that you would alone.
Yeah. So right now I'm in the south west and I mean, um, we're just renting right now. And when I first was like looking at a property out here, um, I had, [00:06:00] uh, some contacts that could actually go visit it and send photos and videos. That's they got like a two or four for me, which was great and helpful. And, uh, I actually quite liked the Southwest.
Sticking around this area, maybe the Northwest as well. Um, and then in terms of what I'm looking at, um, maybe, so we're in the Southwest. Did you happen to land where it was at the BeltLine or was it, um, spring bank or was it Cedar Brae? Yeah, it was Cedar bright . Cause I was going to say island. That's crazy leadership by her listing in Cedar Brae.
Send it over. Let's take a look. Interesting. I, you know, I think I might've heard, I like that. Doesn't come out of the blue. There must be something back there that we've talked about this before you told me you were in Cedar Brae. I don't know why I said that. That's fine. There's an item. 80 Southwest communities.
And I picked one of them. Yeah. That's funny. So why is he to Bray? It was a house. It was affordable. It like, like why did you not land in the BeltLine? You're a young guy. Why weren't you downtown in a condo high rise or something? I'm not, I don't like living right downtown. That's not my, uh, my mojo mojo.
So being able to be like outside of the city, having some, um, like distance from all. I guess busy-ness is something that attracts me yourself. I mean, like I said, I'm still 20 minutes drive into the city. That's that's more than enough for me. Um, and yeah, after looking at a couple of properties out here, um, this one caught our eyes.
So we had a couple people that were looking to move out here and, um, that's, uh, that's where we. You landed. Okay, cool. Do you have a grudge? We do. We have a two car garage. Nice. And then I'm curious now that you live in Cedar Brae, when you leave that community, you haven't been in the city for about a year.
Are you going, when you leave your sort of driveway and outside of the community and you're sitting, are you mostly, uh, then you're going, I assume you only go north, like for the most part, mostly I'm wrong, but, um, do you head out on the, uh, is it called the. To, to Tina trail or Stony trail. So you go, you go west as opposed to east.
And of course, you know, that road didn't really exist a year ago. Yeah. Yeah. So it's actually been a game changer for us, which is really nice. It's like provides great access to, uh, to get downtown, to get through a lot of, uh, well different jobs. And then also is a great access to going out to the mountains west.
It makes it fantastic. Yeah. It's super quick. I moved here. Doctor construction. I remember selling properties in Cedar Brae, like, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago or even 15 years ago. And there was a big concern of where that road would eventually land and it would be too close if I bought this house here.
And I just really don't think that's been an issue with. Cool. And, [00:09:00] um, and so, um, let me ask you a question. Um, well, this is a funny question. I have it here in front of me. I've never asked this question. Wow. This is really crazy question. Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?
Um, not a trick question. I know, I know. I know, but it's on my list. I just pulled into my folder called the folders called podcast Calgary. I think flying would be unique. I think it would just grab too many people's attention. It would be more, I think it's more practical. I don't need to be invisible. I like to be in front of, I like to be in front of cameras.
I like to be seen, so, I mean, flying seems like a, uh, like a more appropriate answer, but I'm sure. Be questioned a lot by people seeing you in the air. I think it would cause, but being invisible would be like that. [00:10:00] I mean, for a guy like for myself and you and marketing, like, jeez, we do not want to be invisible.
No, it's kind of the opposite of what I want on that note. Let's ask this next question. How we're being of service and marketing really. Can you repeat that? How has being of service, how has being of service and marketing related? In terms of like, what do you mean of being of service and a service like, like, well, so that's probably our generational difference in terms of me asking the question, sorry, service, maybe of being a service, like, you know, maybe community minded or helpful, or actually, actually I see here on my list of questions, that the one that I had before that, but.
Oh, I actually would be better to lead in. Tell me what being of service meant in your household growing up. What were some of your jobs around the house? Dishes, garbage removal, snow removal, grass. Cutting. It was well, [00:11:00] you just listed all of them, but then it was also, it was, um, being, um, included, like being handy in that.
So if something breaks, whether I'm helping, like my dad fix it or, you know, Uh, via YouTube is it was around when I was, I guess, at the age of that point. And it was like, great. You can find anything if you want to learn it, uh, and then go and do it. And so if you were building a deck, installing a new pool pump, et cetera, it's like, I would learn how to do that.
And that would be a being of service. And when I was needed, I would, it, it wasn't, no, it really wasn't an option because okay. I'm out there doing it. And still, since I grew up on the farm at all, At my house, it was also like community driven. So it was like a lot of my neighbors had farms. It's like, I would go help out with like, Hey, and doing whatever needed around the farm with them.
Um, as, I mean, as you do as a kid, I wanted to be outside, so [00:12:00] that's cool. That's nice. Thank you for sharing that. And then, so can you relate that all over to your business? You're in marketing now? Really? I think, I think he was in marketing you your, you know, all aspects of that. Um, how has being of service and marketing related?
So I think they're like highly related, so. I would consider even doing this. Like you're doing this podcast with people who are listening, it's, you know, you're informing them and getting them introduced to new people and you're helping them. And in a sense, you're also marketing yourself. And when I first moved to Calgary and, you know, uh, prospecting realtors, I came across you, Ryan and, and this and the show.
So. You're marketing yourself without even marketing and being of service. And then, um, with other aspects of being of service, let's say you're doing like charity work. We've done plenty of like, um, like [00:13:00] shoots for charities where, you know, we don't charge or we will sponsor them by giving them a bunch of content.
Uh, we think it's great for them because they can use those marketing and it works in our favor for marketing ourselves. So I think they go hand in hand and, um, yeah. Yeah. Um, what's your favorite daily or weekend activity around Calgary? Um, yeah, I would probably say it's either back country camping or in the winter skiing.
As much as I can get out into the mountains, I try and do so. Um, and then, yeah, probably those two, we don't have many, I used to be a big like canoer Portago, but um, we lack the lakes around here. Obviously in Ontario we have plenty. So it's like, I've now just transitioned that. Back country, camping, which I locked.
What is that country? Camping. I assume you [00:14:00] put everything on your back and walk into the well into the mountains primarily. Um, so it's camping and with a camp stove and your food and sleeping bag and tent. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the bare minimum. Um, you toss everything on your back and head out for as many days as you would like, or as many days as you Paul.
Can provided you're not busy. So, um, and then you head out into the wilderness. Typically you find a trail or something you want to see and try and make like a two to three day escapade, um, into the woods. And I think it's a great way to like clear your mind. And I think it's a very healthy thing. Have you, uh, taken the time, like while you're out there to summit some peaks, are you, have you, have you done that?
Have you been bitten by that bug? Like I have, I have, I have, I've submitted a couple of peaks. It's been, uh, it's been a while since I've been able to get out, but I think I've done, um, six different peaks, nothing [00:15:00] too, too crazy. That's like overnight, but, um, typically day, day trips up to a peak. Yeah. That's going to continue.
I'm going actually, I'm going to yo, hope for it. Back country, camping trip this week. I think I'm going to try and do two nights in the woods. Oh yeah. So that would be nice. Oh, so actually I'm looking at my watch here and we want to be mindful if our listeners a time, Oliver, why or why not? Are you staying in Calgary?
I will be staying in Calgary. I think. First of all, I love growing the business here. It's something I'm very passionate about. And then, I mean, there's, it's a much different lifestyle than Southern Ontario, which I've had a, uh, quite the like, experience there. And I think it's time to move on and be here for.
Who knows how long I'm not going home anytime soon. That's for sure. You're more about your business OTBX [00:16:00] air. Um, I know that you're doing photography and, you know, marketing and media. I don't need to do drone stuff. Like what is it in a nutshell, what's your elevator pitch and OTBX air we've enjoyed working with you.
Yeah, no, for sure. So, uh, obviously our company has been around for about five years. We are new to. But everything we've learned comes with us. So, um, yeah, we do your standard photos, video, um, measurements, and then we have a whole different division of marketing. So when you're creating all this content, um, producing these high level videos, it's like, are people seeing them, are they getting out and are, you know, people actually watching them?
And so we did dive into that side of the business and the end of the day, we, uh, are proud of. What we stand by, which is like our quality speed and our creativity. Um, and that's like, that's what I'd say our business is about. And we've noticed this, I've noticed a lot of differences from like moving from [00:17:00] the Ontario market to here, um, based on people's needs.
And it's been an exciting journey for us. That's awesome. Do you, um, well, uh, final question. Well, a couple of final questions. Um, what, um, what, what's the best way to get people to reach out to you is one question. And then, but maybe I'll ask you prior to that, is what advice would you give your younger self, um, advice for my younger self, I'd say don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
It's it can be difficult sometime just, but when you do it, you'll be thankful in the end because you grow not only professionally, but personally as well. And, um, I think that's a very important lesson to learn, especially when you're younger, as you're trying. Nice. Very nice. And what about what's about west bay way for people to reach out to you all over maybe, um, like through the business or are you on Insta?
What are some of the ways to reach Oliver? Yeah, for sure. Yep. So you can reach out to us at OTB air Calgary on Instagram. That's a great way to get in touch with us. You can visit our website, which is, uh, calgary.otbxair.com And you can give me a, give me a call or even text me. Um, yeah, about 4 0 3 4 3 5 3 6 4 0 6 9.
Um, is one way to get in touch with me personally, if you just want to call and chat, that's a great way to reach me. Awesome Oliver. We will include notes, show notes to all those connections. Finally, Oliver, you just been giving a billboard. It's a big billboard. What does it say? It's a tough question.
It would include a funny picture. It needs to have something that stands out, first of all. Um, [00:19:00] and you know, you see billboards with, you know, standard writing and stuff and it would have to be something creative than different from everything else you see. So I'd have to give that some thought in terms of what the picture would be, but.
Probably roll, like a, uh, like just call me today, but with something interesting and included in it. Oh, nice. Okay. Call me today and yeah. You know, let me be of service. Right. So that's something outside the box. Cool. Awesome. All right. Thanks so much for being on the show. We look forward to seeing you again before too long and, um, and connecting again.
Yeah, for sure. I really appreciate it, Brian. And, uh, I look forward to