Are you thinking about venturing into the photo booth business? Well, you are on the right path.
It is an interesting way to make more money. However, like any other business, it has a few quirks.
As a budding entrepreneur, you should learn all you can about the business and its unique opportunities and challenges.
If you have done some research you know that it is not simply about buying some gear and setting up shop.
To get your photo booth business up and running, you have to learn many of the same things that are required for any business. For example, how to stand out from the competition, how and where to find customers, how to promote your business and so forth.
Above all, you need to learn how to balance your profit and expenditure and how to scale your business.
Starting a business is never easy. But it is certainly an educational journey. Here is a handy guide on how to make more money from your photo booth business:
The earning potential
One commonly asked question from new entrants in the photo booth business is: “How much money can I make?”
While it is not possible to predict the amount of money you can make, it is a good idea to have a ballpark estimate. Bear in mind that the actual numbers will vary.
- Full-time operation: If you work full-time, hire several employees and devote a minimum of 40 hours a week, then there is no limit to your earning potential. But if you are thinking of this as a side gig or weekend business, profits will be much lower.
The amount you charge will vary upon business location. For instance, a photo booth business in Manhattan can charge a far higher fee than a business that runs out of a small town or city. - Sample case: Imagine that you have booked an event for $800. The miscellaneous expenses per event amount to $100. Therefore your net profit is $700. If the event lasts 6 hours and you spend an hour for setup and wind up then you can make $700 for 7 hours of work. This means a hundred dollars per hour.
While this is a working estimate, it allows you to calculate the potential income based on various scenarios:
1. Running a part-time booth on weekends
Imagine that you already have a full-time job but start a photo booth business on the weekends just for the summer. The operation is small and you do most of the work on your own. How much can you make?
If you work for just half a year, that is 26 weekends and assuming that you are booked each weekend, it amounts to 52 events. Let’s say you work an average of 5 hours per event that gives you $500*52 = $26,000. This is just from working on weekends for half the year.
Do take into account that you need to invest in insurance and travel and that you might not book every single weekend.
2. Managing multiple photo booths with employees
Scaling up is key to business success and long term profitability. You can hire employees and train them to manage your work. For example, if you pay each employee $100 per event. Your profit for every event will go down to 400$ (assuming an average of 500 per event).
If you have two booths operating on the same scenario, even after paying the employees for both the booths you stand to make a profit of $1600.
Considering that you could book all year round, you can potentially double that sum.
The only key is to find good customers. With a photo booth business, digital marketing is as important as word of mouth publicity.
While the numbers mentioned are only estimates, they give you a fair idea of how you can make your photo booth business a profitable one.
In conclusion, it is fair to say that you can launch a lucrative career in the photo booth business provided you are willing to work hard and scale up.