Been in the photo booth industry for nearly 10 years and generate $400k annually (set to do over half a mil by 2024) in the wedding and events space. I don’t feel like I am the expert by any means in business or entrepreneurship, but I’ve built a couple successful companies on a small scale, and have an MBA, so maybe I can contribute to your success. AMA!

  • Ricothebuttonpusher@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    When you started doing out of state events, did you hire people to run the booth or how did you outsource that work and find someone trustworthy to do it?

    • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Outsource (white label) work to existing companies, based on trusted relationships. Either referred to me, screened, or met in person at industry gatherings. It’s difficult to manage because multiple cooks and no ‘direct report’ but I’ve got a system now that is more efficient than most for this. I also pay premium rates to get the best - I don’t want discount work. Margings are waay lower for these, but an extra $50k net a year isn’t bad still.

  • therealrico@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago
    1. How many photo booths do you have?
    2. How many events are you doing a year?
    3. Are all photo booths the same?
    4. What do you charge per event?
    5. Do you charge the same regardless of event?
    6. If not what are you adding that is extra? How long to set up and take down?
    7. Are you doing all of the events or are you hiring people to do it?
    8. Any unforeseen issues you came across?
    9. Is this the only service you provide, or is it an ancillary service such as tent rental, or catering?
    10. Are all or most of your rentals during the weekend? Or have you been able to fill the week out with rentals as well?
    • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      A lot of these were already answered on others, so I’ll answer the new ones here.

      1. 100 events this year, will finish the year around 130. Last year we did 170.
      2. no
      3. depends on the event, our average photo booth ticket is abo $3200 for 3-4hrs, but can vary drastically.
      4. nope, all depends on event needs and specific vision + time
      5. extra hours, SMS, digital branding, design customization, vinyl wrap, bespoke services, etc. Lots in the upsells.
      6. at the start a lot on my own. Now most is done by employees or contractors (with their own equipment).
      7. lots! lol I elaborate on other posts
      8. we don’t do other general rentals/event services, but the extent of what we offer within the ‘photo booth’ space includes live photo/video activation experiences (360, slow mo, selfie, glam, ai, etc). But never flowers, catering, dj, etc.
      9. most events are weekend, weekdays there are corporate gigs like tradeshows etc. But most weekdays are not booked year round.
      10. Nope prebuilt, lots of software, some custom, some out there (dslr remote pro, snappic, dslrbooth, etc)
    • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Take some (free) ‘classes/youtube’ in photography and on/off camera lighting. Depends ultimately on what you want to do, but if you are talking ‘traditional photo booth’ then booth + internals (camera, flash, cables, etc), printer, and backdrop are all you NEED.

      Of course, I would recommend a lot more like GL insurance and backup equipment, to name a few. But you can try being scrappy. I’d say find a way to attract a client first before diving in. Maybe you can offer your services to a new wedding/event planner in your area as a packaged deal to get on their radar and showcase what you do.

      practice practice practice. I guarantee something will go wrong, always be prepared for the worst.

  • FITGuard@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Who are your l biggest sources of leads?

    What’s the general go to marketing strategy, are people referred in, social media ads, outbound emailing, organic web search?

    Can you provide. A high level workforce or tunnel?

    Thanks!

    • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Google, purely organic. Then referrals (including repeat bookings, venues, agencies, and planners). Then social media (organic) through Instagram.

      Go to market strategy is to produce quality content, build a reputable brand, and dominate search. I don’t know how conventional it is for an average business, but it works for my business. I wanted to create something that felt exclusive, and leverage our experience from each event to further brand relationships and establish ourselves as a legit player.

      • zUdio@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        What is producing quality content mean specific if you don’t mind me asking? It means different things for different folks

        • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          If your target customers want to consume it, want to share it with their friends, want to experience it, and have a bit of FOMO looking at it, then that’s quality content.

  • iKnoeNothing@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I have started a party rental company and would love to know how you promoted your company and what connections are important in the industry.

    And do you have predictable revenue?

    • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Join WIPA (wedding pros), local chambers, and ILEA (international live events), to make some good connections in the industry. Offer your services for free ONLY to the planners/agencies, never to the end client. And do it just to showcase what you are doing - make sure to get photo/video content along the way to use that showcase to further promote your biz on socials. Stay away from big-brand weddingwire, theknot, yelp, etc paid services (but def create a free account). My biggest success is SEO long-term, but if you focus on relationships up front, it will pay off sooner.

      Yep, I am like 95% confident (external economic factors aside, such as COVID) that we will hit $500k gross next year. Our revenue has been growing at a steady rate since the start, and we just started offering ‘revolutionary’ AI services which is positioning us for much higher-ticket events in 2024.

        • maydaybutton@alien.topOPBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Not a software in particular, we process the image through 3rd party APIs in the cloud and automate the POST process and sharing or printing.

      • FITGuard@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        You’re going to have to keep the the hard work, good thing robots never get tired. Lots of people want to be reminded