Doing everything solo. Would love to have a team for my next venture. But mostly getting customers. Always find your customers BEFORE starting a business.

100%. I can say with confidence this is one of our biggest contributors to our success.

Absolutely. I actually personally attended a wedding in South Florida where they had not just flowers but live plants adorning the entire venue. It was beautiful, and I’m sure they spent at least 20K on their plants / flower budget (maybe more). I know people on the floral side and the makeup side and they are absolutely killing it.

I manage most of it. Yes I’ve definitely considered this. The hardest part is the detailed knowledge required for even being able to quote a customer on most of our new experiences. There’s not a standardized price for a lot of what we do, it all depends on factors like where it’s located, what the client is asking for, whether or not we are actually capable of doing it, and then if so what it would cost to build that experience out. So even if I brought in a manager I’d still be responsible for half of the inquiries, customer questions, phone calls etc. All the stuff that can be taken care of gets hired out like design work, taxes, event labor, etc. there are definitely ways I can standardize more of my business and focus on growing those areas and then get a manager into take over that part of it and branch out just a creative side of the business that I manage, but haven’t made that change yet.

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.

Bootstrapped it all. Lots of different vendors (my Amazon bills are outrageous at times). Mobibooth, minbooth (boothactive), and orcavue are main equipment providers I use.

I’m in the phoenix area now but was established in Tucson for majority of business. Now we service nationwide with partners in major cities around US.

I just started marketing (website, facebook page, trying to share with friends/family, yelp, thumbtack, anything that would work for leads back then). Funnily enough the first ever wedding I attended, was one where I was hired to work. I had no idea what the ceremony, reception, etc where and was googling the whole thing trying to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about. Fake it till you make it.