Southeast Tech Alumni Featured in SiouxFalls.Business

SiouxFalls.Business recently featured Southeast Tech graduate Brendan Harberts in its Up-And-Comer feature. See the full text below. 

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Brendan Harberts, owner of Harberts Media.

Name: Brendan Harberts
Age: 25
Hometown: Rock Valley, Iowa

What brought you to Sioux Falls?
I came to Sioux Falls in 2013 after I graduated high school to go to school at STI. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do in life, so I figured a business degree was a great way to figure it out.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?
The people and the business mentality. The people in this city know how to work, and they’re incredibly kind to one another. We all love supporting local business, and that’s truly a special thing.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?
I love being able to work with other entrepreneurs and other businesspeople. Whether it’s taking photos for a real estate agent or going to talk to a mortgage loan officer in a bank, everyone has a different story to tell, and I love being able to hear it. Being able to capture so many different aspects of the business world through photo and video keeps what I do very interesting.

How did you get connected to your industry and decide to start a business?
My first “real job” in Sioux Falls was starting as a personal trainer at GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness. I worked full time as a trainer for three years and really enjoyed it. During that time, I was slowly starting to teach myself very basic video filming/editing skills just for personal use on YouTube. Fast-forward a bit, and I started to make small, basic videos for GreatLIFE, and they loved them. That slowly transitioned into being my full-time job with GreatLIFE, and shortly afterward, I decided to make the leap into purchasing professional equipment, continuing to learn, etc.

After a while of doing that, I decided to start my own side business so I could work with other companies that needed marketing materials and started Harberts Media in 2018. I didn’t do anything with Harberts Media in 2018 just due to time constraints. In 2019, I got involved with a real estate agency that was needing someone to take their listing photos. I had never photographed houses before, so I did a bit of a crash course and taught myself how. Fast-forward through 2019, I made quite a few connections with other agents and groups, and my business started to grow significantly.

While that was great, it was getting quite hard for me to balance being a full-time employee while trying to pursue growing my own growing business, so in July of 2020 I went full-time with Harberts Media. It’s been an absolutely wild adventure so far, and I can’t wait to see where it leads! I’m very happy to say that I still am blessed to work with GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness and produce video content for them. They’re a special company, and it’s definitely a pleasure to work with them. My goals for the next few months are continuing to develop the video side of my business with commercials, educational videos, etc., while making sure it stays very affordable.

What made you decide to take the leap into business ownership?
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and I’ve always wanted to be the owner of my own company. I am someone that works best on my own and hold myself to a very high standard.

Describe Harberts Media in three words.
Professional. Affordable. Effective.

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?
I love working with nonprofits. I’m lucky to work with quite a few and just love being able to hear their story, why they’re passionate for what they do and what drives them.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?
Honestly, I don’t know! I’d like to say a large-scale camera retailer, but then I’d have no money left!

Where do you see yourself in five years?
That’s tough to answer because if you asked me a year ago where I’d be in September of 2020 I don’t think it would have been self-employed. I would love to add more people to my team to be able to better serve the Sioux Falls community. Adding on talented individuals in areas like web design, graphic design and other areas like that would be awesome.