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Business: Royal Photo Booth, rental photo booths with custom designed backgrounds
Industry: Other — Photo Booth Rentals
Location: New York, N.Y., U.S.
Reason for starting: Every time friends reunite, the smiles, giggles, and embarrassing stories flow freely, no matter how much time has passed. When my friend Tiff got married, my girlfriends and I reminisced about the past and flashed endless smiles in the photo booth. One special friend at the wedding was Felicia, my confidant since the age of 9. As the night went on, the camera snapped away, chronicling our reunion. Two years later, tragedy struck: I found out that Felicia had passed away. Devastated, I searched for a way to honor her life. When I remembered the wedding photo booth, I framed that precious photo strip and proudly hung it up in my living room. I decided to start my own photo booth company to honor my friendship with Felicia, and friendships like ours. When I take Royal Photo Booth to weddings and special events, I make it my personal mission to create that same feeling I felt at Tiff’s wedding. I want you to huddle in close, put your arms around your best friends, and laugh a lot. While images of our loved ones are forever present within us, a photograph can capture a specific smile or expression, frozen in time, to elicit a special memory.
How do you define success? I define success by how happy my clients and their guests are. It’s priceless to know that they are creating memories in my photo booth that they can treasure forever!
Biggest Success: My biggest success was purchasing a second photo booth and expanding to service the D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia area.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? My top challenge is knowing where to spend my marketing and advertising dollars that will bring me more business. Every business is different, so what may work for one business may not work for mine. I have to take risks and learn by trial and error. Sometimes it can be costly. But you know the saying: you have to spend money to make money!
Who is your most important role model? Tory Burch has given me the opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the Tory Burch Foundation/Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. Because of this I’m able to be part of this educational program that is helping me grow my business in ways I’ve always imagined! I love how her foundation supports the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs and their families in the U.S. through small business loans, mentoring programs and entrepreneurial education.
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Website: www.RoyalPhotoBooth.biz
Twitter: @ladaza
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RoyalPhotoBooth
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/royalphotobooth
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Edited by The Story Exchange