TDJ: Joe, it’s great to have you. Can you start by telling me a bit more about yourself personally, and also how Summit Professional Services got started?

JM: Sure. I grew up in northern Indiana and began taking pictures in the early 2000’s as a hobby. At that time, there weren’t many equine photographers in our area, so I was pretty busy. I continued taking pictures until the latter part of 2015, focusing mainly on the local area of Shipshewana, Middlebury, and the surrounding communities. At that time, I also worked a full-time job at a trailer factory and spent most of my afternoons and evenings taking pictures and videos of horses.

Towards the end of 2015, I met my wife, fell in love, and we got married a year later. During our first year of marriage, we traveled to Jamaica, where she had previously served in missions as a nanny. I fell in love with the place, and a short time later, we were asked to return as Outreach Directors for the missions organization. We accepted their invite and moved our family to Montego Bay, Jamaica for several years. 

In March 2020, we returned home, and on the flight back, I told my wife that I didn’t really want to go back to the RV industry and wanted to start something of my own. Besides the RV industry, photography and video was the only other thing I knew that I was decent at. I hadn’t done much design work as I didn’t feel I really had a knack for it.

Back while we were still in Jamaica, Brian Yoder from Shipshewana had started taking pictures and became very busy. He also enjoyed graphic design and he was very good at it. Once we returned to the States, I met with Brian to discuss starting a business together, and that’s how Summit Professional Services was born. We mutually agreed that Brian would handle the design work, and I would focus more on photography and the bookwork, then, if he needed a break from staring at the computer, he could also go out and take pictures. Haha

By 2021, the equine industry was booming, and Summit was growing quite rapidly. We were very overwhelmed with work, just trying to keep up. Many weeks in those first two years Brian and I worked well over 100+ hours/week, barely finding time to sleep. It was a crazy time, especially with me having a family to take care of yet.

TDJ: Wow, that sounds intense but very typical for a startup! Let’s talk about your services— what all do you do?

JM: Oh my! Well, initially, we were focused on the horse industry, as that was what we knew and were used to; offering design work, photography, video, ad design, logo design, and various print materials like brochures, business cards, signage and banners. Over the past few years, we’ve also expanded our services into the canine world and multiple other industries like woodworking, real estate, etc. Our design expertise has naturally led us to work with various industries, although we don’t actively pursue them; they tend to find us and come to us.

When we get asked what all we do, we joke at the office that “if your mind can conceive it, we’ll do our best to achieve it.” We handle all aspects of photography, video, and design work. This Unraveled includes anything from putting together product catalogs, sale catalogs, magazines, to all types of videography, including promo videos, TV commercials, and farm ads. Whatever you need, we’ll do our best to put it together for you.

TDJ: Do you only do business locally, or do you serve clients across the country and beyond?

JM: We started with local work when we first started, but by mid-2022, we had to hire more graphic designers and ended up expanding our services and our reach. Now, we serve clients all over the US, Canada, and even some internationally. We’ve done quite a bit of work for clients outside the country.