Bittersweet

The husband and I have owned a photo booth business since 2008.  When we started the business we were only the second photo booth business in town and we quickly built up business.  We quickly had two photo booths four other employees and work every single weekend.  We were flying high.  We made enough money to redesign our booth (designed and built by yours truly) and upgraded to the best equipment.  We had and still have the best booth and pictures in the business.  We truly stand by that promise.  We even encourage couples at bridal shows to go and test out all the booths and we really think they'll come back to us.  Most of them do.

Soon everyone owned a photo booth.  They were easy to buy over the internet.  (And looked like giant tents.  Would you want that sitting at your wedding?)  Everyone wanted a piece of business and prices dropped.  We were not making much money, as evidenced by the fact Dave and I both kept jobs, and we wondered how these other businesses were actually in business.  But what we had found out in the wedding industry is that everyone wants a bargain.  I was probably asked by 80% of people if I could offer a discount.  People wanted cheaper and were willing to sacrifice quality.  We decided to go down to just one photo booth and stop having employees besides just the two of us. 

For a while, this was great, but we quickly grew tired of working on the weekends in addition to all week long.  I began hating the weekends.  I, literally, would throw temper tantrums as time grew later on a Saturday and I had to go work yet another wedding.  Don't get me wrong, I usually enjoyed myself at the wedding, but I longed to sit at home in my pajamas by 8:00pm.

Late in our pregnancy, I knew I didn't want to do it anymore.  We still had lots of events planned for 2013 so obviously the business was going to have to continue after Anderson was born.  Our first event was 5 weeks after he was born and it was actually great to get out of the house.  But it was tough to work until midnight or later and know that we were going to be woken up two or three times during the night.  Plus anything that we scheduled had to be run by my parents for their availability to see if they could watch the baby. 

Finally, in October of 2013, I said enough.  I started turning down requests and contacted my accountant telling her we would be done as of January 1st, 2014.  Yes, we have closed our business officially.

It was a great five years.  We have attended 100s of weddings, met cool and powerful people, we have worked with charitable organizations, and we even got to have the MLS cup and championship Columbus Crew team in our booth.  We would have loved for this business to go on forever.  The reality is, though, that our life was changed when our son came along.  We want to spend our weekends with him.  We want to be able to say, "hey I want to do a 5K this weekend" and not worry that we will be up until 2:00am working the night before.  As I've gotten older I've lost a little bit of competitive spark from my younger years and I just don't want to compete with the other photo booth companies.  I just don't think it is worth it. 

This decision was bittersweet but I also feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  Dave and I can now be normal people, with normal Monday through Friday jobs, and spend our weekends with our family.  Thank you thank you thank you for your years of support.  We have loved being part of your lives.

Happy New Year

Thursday Thoughts

When you're in the wedding business, you have to plan your business a year in advance.  Right now we're working on bridal shows and advertising for 2013.  We are currently reevaluating our advertising tactics and I'm looking for input.  We have done bridal shows, advertised in print media and online, and obviously do a lot of social media (be sure to like us on Facebook).  Not too surprisingly, we get a lot of our business from referrals.

When you got married, if you're getting married, somewhere in the future/someday wedding....

....how did you do your research for planning your wedding?  Did you go to a bridal show?  Did you use internet or social media?  Did you use any print media?  How influenced were you based on referrals your friends gave you?  What type of businesses did you meet with face-to-face?  Lastly, if you were interested in hiring a photo booth business, where would you look for information regarding services and business?

How I Am Spending My Weekend

This weekend is the Columbus Bride Show, the biggest bridal show in Central Ohio. We only work one bridal show each year (thank goodness) and this is it. It is expensive, it's exhausting, but it's totally worth it. This year we didn't change much from last year so instead of going to bed at 2:00am every day the week before the show trying to get things done, we were able to rest and have things prepared well in advance. Yay! Here's what our booth looked like:



Based on events I've already booked for 2012, it's looking like a great year. Let's hope the bridal show goes well...

Thursday Thoughts

This weekend is the biggest weekend of the year for my business: the Columbus Bride Show. We probably book nearly half of our year's business on this one bridal show alone. And this year we are going in with the highest number of dates booked already for the year which makes me even more excited. 2012 is shaping up to be a great year for weddings!

I attend over 40 weddings a year and each one is special. After seeing all these weddings I often wonder what I would differently knowing what I do now about weddings and the wedding industry.

So my question is, what would you do differently if you were to get married again (or if you're not married what would your wedding look like)? What would you add that would make your wedding unique? What you not change anything?

Foto Friday

Dave and I had the opportunity to bring our photo booths to Red, White, and Boom and sell sessions inside the booth to families at the KidsLinked Children's Park. Was it successful? We're not sure. But, it was an opportunity to get our name out there and we had fantastic seats for the fireworks display.

Could we look a little more haggard? At least the sunset behind us is pretty.

Ooohhh!!! Aaaahhhh!!!

I hope all of you have a safe and fantastic holiday weekend. Me, I'll be working all weekend. :)

Saturdays are so Busy

My mom called me tonight to let me know some information I had asked about. Half way through the sentence she goes, "You're at a wedding, aren't you?" Yep, that's pretty much every Saturday for us now.

The day started with a run with the husband. Ten miles at an easy pace. It was nice to run with Dave on his last long run before the big day. After some ice baths and some lunch, we packed up the photo booth and headed to our next wedding. And what a wedding it was! Let's just say there was a nacho bar, a group song and dance, and someone called me Rainman. This wedding was awesome! Look on our brand new VIP Photo Booths blog tomorrow for a taste of the fun.

Thankfully, this evening is ending before midnight and there will be good sleep in our future. Tomorrow Dave has a four hour bike ride. And he's meeting someone EARLY in the morning to do the ride. That means, I get to see Dave for most of the day. Yippee!!!

Last night I went to the prom.  Not as a date, but as a vendor.  And, I loved it!

I have to admit, I have been hyper-critical of the current generation.  Or as I like to call it: the princess generation.  But last night I was proved wrong.  We worked at two local proms and we have nothing but high praises.  The kids were appropriate and polite, friendly and appreciative. When I worked at the high school as a coach I absolutely loved the kids and thought they were well behaved and mature, but I thought maybe it was because they were athletes who were disciplined and wanted to be there, etc.  But, maybe it's more than just athletes.  Maybe I've been too critical and my fear/thoughts about the next generation were wrong.  Thank you, kiddos, for helping me change my mind.

Check out all the fun we had this week on my other blog.  The posts will be up in the next couple of days.

I never imagined how my life would change when I started my own business.  I knew I would be working a lot and I also knew that there would be no one else to pick up the slack but myself.  But I didn't anticipate the people I would meet and the opportunities that would present themselves.  

A few months ago, The Columbus Crew called us to do some pre-season fan events.  The Crew is the reigning MLS Cup Champions with some serious big name stars.  And you know what I have found out by doing four events for them?  They are an amazing club!  They do so much for their fans and give back fully.  Today they put on a Spring Soccer Festival for their season ticket holders where the team gave autographs and there were games and arts, etc.  We had the photo booth there and were surprised to find out we'd have a team member in the booth to take pictures with and get autographs from.  Midfielder Adam Moffat spent two hours in our booth, laughing it up, making silly faces, and talking our ears off.  He is a great guy as is all the players.  Oh yeah, he's from Scotland and has a super-sexy voice.  He he he!

We have been really impressed with The Columbus Crew.  We are super-excited they have been working with us and we're really looking forward to working with them again.  And as soon as I pull out the pictures, I'll have to add the great ones Amy and I took with Adam.

Thanks again, Crew, for being amazing!

Lace Up Your Skates

Tonight (Saturday 5/2), come to the Sunbury Skate Club from 6-8pm and skate, skate, skate for a good cause.  My sister and her friend Jennifer are fundraising for their 3-day walk.  Admission is $5, with $1 skate rental.  Plus, the photo booth will be there!

See you there!

Bob the Builder and Handy Manny

AKA-Dave and Mer.

Wedding season is quickly approaching.  We started with an event last weekend, have another low-profile one this weekend, and there we're off being double-booked for the rest of May.  For the last several weeks we've been hard at work building our second photo booth and it's turning out to be totally awesome.  Only problem is, besides one part we broke on it, we somehow seem to really be pushing our deadline.

We're doing a skating party for my sister this Saturday to help her fundraise for her 3 day walk.  We wanted to debut the brand new booth there to work out any kinks we may have before next weekend's wedding where we NEED the booth.  I've been sewing like it's my job and Dave's been pounding in the basement starting early in the morning and ending late at night.  Our house looks like a construction zone.  And to top it all off, I threw out my back tonight while picking up trash off the floor.  

But, it's going to be totally awesome and I can't wait for the season to start.  Photo booths are awesome!!!

Featured

Check it out!  I'm May's Featured Athlete at Multisport Mastery.

And if you'd like to see our photo booth featured on a blog, check this out!

Fan for Life

The last two weeks we have spent three nights with the Columbus Crew, it's players, fans, and associates working the photo booth and pumping the public up for the Crew's opening night on Saturday. Personally, I have found it to be really exciting as not only are we the defending MLS Cup champions, but we got to meet the players including the big names like Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Chad Marshall.

But my favorite part might have been when they let us take the MLS Cup into the photo booth.

Yeah, we rock. :)

The Details

I mentioned last week that my business, VIP Photo Booths was about to land a big deal and we did.

We will be working with the 2008 MLS Cup Champions, the Columbus Crew, to promote their opening night on March 28th. Our first engagement will be tomorrow night at the Columbus Blue Jackets game. Come see us and get your picture taken in the concourse. We'll be there with a few of the players and the MLS Cup trophy. Then next week we'll see you at the Arena Grand Theatre on Wednesday and there could possibly be a third engagement on Thursday. They're still working out the details on that one.

Excitement on a Stick!

This afternoon I had a conversation with a major league sports team that wants to use our photo booth for a series of events. I couldn't be more excited!!!

When we set our goals this year we set them for what we thought was a reasonable amount of events based on what we did last year and the fact that no one knew us and there might be a pesky recession out there. (Don't get me started on this. I don't believe in the recession, but that's a post for another day.) Anyway, by the end of the first weekend in January we had booked half way to our goal for the year. We have already exceeded our goal potentially by 10 bookings and it's not even the end of the first quarter!!! I am so excited that things are going fabulously and that at least for another year, I am not going to have to go back to being an engineer. :)

Daytime Columbus Part 2

Today I had my moment in the spotlight. Today I made my television debut in a five minute segment during a daytime tv show. Today, I was a superstar.

No seriously. My phone started ringing as soon as the segment ended. It looks like I may have four more events booked by the end of today. Holy cow!

Here's the video. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the video that says "Take a Snapshot with your Friends at the Next Party." Enjoy!!

Daytime Columbus Part 1

Friday was the big day. Dave and I headed down to the local NBC news station to tape our 5 minute segment for "Daytime Columbus." The segment will air on Monday (and I'll be able to put it on the website) so I haven't seen it but by looking at ourselves in the monitors we looked really scared.

Besides the interview, which was scary city, we otherwise had a blast. The production crew loved the booth and utilized it well. In addition, the intern, Amberly, gave us a full tour of the facilities. We got to meet local celebrities.

Be sure to check out the other blog to see some pictures from inside the booth. And check back tomorrow for the full video.

Famous in a Small Town

When I was sponsored by Team Stayput I tried relentlessly to get my name in the newspapers to no avail. For each mention I would have gotten, I could have received payment from my sponsor which really would have helped defer the costs of my races.

Now that I own my own business I feel like I'm trying once again to get my name out there. While at the Columbus Bride Show a woman approached me asking if me and my business wanted to be on a local TV show to promote VIP Photo Booths. After several weeks of stirring over this proposition, Dave and I finally decided to go forward with this offer.

On Friday we will tape a segment with "Daytime Columbus" to be aired the first week in February. Don't worry, I'll let you all know when it's going to be on so you can set your DVRs. I'm so nervous I'm going to look like a total boob, but I also know this will be very good for the business.

I'm sure Matt Lauer will be calling anytime now.

The Struggle Within

It's been well documented on this blog that I am a competitor through and through. And this isn't just in the athletic arena. I'm competitive with everything. While this has served me well in athletics and school, it certainly has not been good with many of other things.

Now I'm really struggling with the competitor within.

VIP Photo Booths is not the only photo booth company in town. Based on what I saw at the bride show, there are five photo booth companies in Columbus. The competitor in me wants to be the biggest, baddest, awesomest, most totally sought after company, but there's another one in town which was the first and had a built-in clientele when they started. The competitor in me wants to crush that company, but there's one problem. Dave and I are acquaintances of the owner. She was our wedding photographer. And after the bridal show she sent me a message asking if she could refer business to me and vice versa. The competitor in me thought that sounded weird and 'heck no'; the business person in me thinks that maybe that's a good idea. The competitor in me wants to shout from the rooftops that our business kicks a$$. The shy girl in me is struggling just to make phone calls.

Owning a business is something I've always wanted to do, but now I'm struggling with my own demons to make it the business and make me the business person I really want it and me to be.

And P.S....We totally are the awesomest!

Columbus Bride Show Day 2

Well we survived "Bride Mania". And boy am I tired. This morning I didn't even hear Dave's alarm go off and I don't remember him getting up or leaving. Between being sick all of last week and being charming all weekend, I need another week off. Unfortunately, it was back to reality today as I was already subbing at the gym.

We far exceeded our expectations at the bride show. We ran a special there where we would take $100 if you would sign a contract and pay the deposit at the show. I really didn't have any expectations. Dave had set a verbal goal of 5 and a secret goal of 10. And....we matched that secret goal. I walked away with 10 signed contracts and I even had to turn three people away because their dates were already reserved. I really think there is more good to come too. Right now our first event isn't until May, but we're really hoping to pick something up before then. We have booked May-October. And there were plenty of dates in 2010 that people inquired about.

To sum it up, I don't have to go looking for a full-time job. And that, that makes me very happy.