I’m Chris; I’m a pastor, husband, father of 4, full-time employee, and of course photo booth rental business owner. My wife and I have run a successful and profitable photo booth business for over 5 years and have learned a lot. When I first started out in the business, I couldn’t find a really in-depth, long form blog or useful site about the ins and outs of the photo booth business. I know there are many aspiring and new photo booth business owners out there, and my goal is to provide you with valuable information and content.
How it all started.
In the fall of 2013, my then employer assigned me to work on a special project, which required me to commute to lower Manhattan most days. This had me in the car for about 4 hours a day, which gave me the opportunity to find and listen to new podcasts. Among many other great entrepreneur podcasts, I found Sean Malarkey’s, The Money Pillow Podcast, which was a great podcast, I’m not sure why he doesn’t produce episodes anymore. While driving into lower Manhattan on FDR drive, I listened to an episode where Sean interviewed Mike Tecku and Mike Hansen, owners of Strike a Pose Photo Booths. (UPDATE: As of January 2018, this company is no longer in business) These guys started a business out renting photo booths in Wisconsin and then decided to design their own photo booth and sell it. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/4d0UADAFXFY
When I got home I checked out the Strike a Pose company website and read some testimonials that some people were making $20,000 – $30,000 a year on their rental business. I inquired about the cost of the photo booth and it was significant, nearly $8,000. Needless to say I didn’t just hand over my credit card number and order it. However, after careful consideration, research and validation of the business idea, we did ultimately order the photo booth and go into business. In our first year of business we had 51 rentals and $25,000 in revenue.
Excited? Stop. Don’t just go out and buy a photo booth, you must determine whether a photo booth business is right for you. Go ahead and check out this next article – Should YOU start a photo booth rental business?
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Comments
Absolutely! I really thought this business was for me. I am a photographer and the go-to ‘Camera-girl’ in my town.
I purchased a photo booth and it was so heavy, I kind of lost entrance. I didn’t want to log this big equipment back and forth at events every Saturday. I was discourage and disappointed at the same time. So, I went ahead and sold my photo booth to something more manageable and ease to transport. Also, I cost me less than $4000. Great article and thank you for sharing. I did get a lot of step by steps marketing tips from Strike A Pose. However, I have never purchased any of their photo booths since it was too heavy.
There are definitely a lot of different booth options out there these days. I’m sure you could find something that suits you.
Hi I’m interested in learning more about the business. Thinking about doing it in Maryland. I we link up for conversation?
Feel free to drop me an email: chris@photoboothtraining.com
I think you meant “lug”, not “log”.
Hey Chris were do you order those laser cut hashtag signs. The link isn’t loading for me. Thanks.
Try the link again. If still not working, do a search in the Facebook group, “The Photo Booth Network”, you’ll find the person selling them there.