A Portage Life in the Spotlight: John Schmoeger

A Portage Life in the Spotlight: John Schmoeger

The Portage Chamber of Commerce represents a wide variety of the local entrepreneurs in our town. This week’s Life in the Spotlight is not only one of their members, but an ambassador for new business owners following in his wake. John Schmoeger’s prolific resume gives him many perspectives to mentor from.

One of the first things John did when he moved to Indiana in 1997 was open a construction company. It was a career path that was familiar to him, John was an apprentice carpenter straight out of high school, and it excelled for a while.

When the market crashed John closed his business and took a job as a Transport Logistics Manager for Works of Life Ministries.

“Carpentry was good to me for a long time,” John said. “But the construction industry was always up and down, peaks and dips. I wanted something more stable and creative.”

Works of Life satisfied one of those needs. The non profit has outreach programs throughout the nation. They were even featured on Dr. Phil for donating a minivan to a single mother. John managed their Northwest Indiana donation.

It was stable, but it was not stimulating his creative mind.

John met Teri in 2010. She shared with him a passion for photography that they could no longer resist-- their first studio, T and J Custom Imaging, was born.

The company focused on portraits and events. They built a portfolio and a reputation, and started looking for new niches to expand into.

In 2012 they opened YourLook Chicago, offering photo shoots for tourists at down town landmarks. They opened their second studio, Bluewater 360, in 2014.

“It’s blossomed. These days you have to do a lot of different things. We’ve added a lot of services this year, and we’ve had to learn a lot of new skills.”

The biggest difference between T and J and Bluewater 360 is that the later creates virtual tours for commercial properties. John works with a few different agencies in the region that connect his company with hotel chains, retirement facilities, and other organizations that need photos for their websites. He creates virtual tours using a program called Fusion. It allows him to customize more than its Google equivalent, and give the businesses a depth that helps site visitors decide to be customers.

John does most of the photography and Teri does the editing.

“Any time you work with a spouse it is challenging,” said John, “But it’s been great. We work well together. She gives me a different perspective and it’s always a good one.”

John and Teri practice photography in their spare time too. They have been known to bring cameras with to community events or just out on date night. The couple enjoys motorcycle rides, cruise night in Valparaiso, and Portage’s great lake access.

As an ambassador for the Portage Chamber of Commerce John is able to connect with his community on another level. He has had a lot of great mentors throughout his life, and is happy to pass on the favor.

“Everyone should find a way to take part in their community,” John said, “One way or another. It really helps anchor our community. We have some great people in Portage and our events bring them together, opens discussion, and solves problems. It’s been very rewarding getting to know business professionals here.”