Photobooth Podcast

Live From PBX: Think Outside The Booth

Photobooth Supply Co

$339,000 in cumulative revenue. A $35K month. And she did it without necessarily booking more events.

Sandra Jimenez of Unik Collective has spent the last five years mastering something most photo booth owners overlook entirely: how to make significantly more money from the clients you already have. Through intentional add-ons, deep client listening, and a refusal to compete on price, Sandra has built a business that works for her life — not the other way around.

In this interview, Sandra walks through the exact add-ons that have moved her revenue needle the most, the mindset shift that makes upselling feel natural instead of icky, and why paying close attention to your clients is the most underrated growth strategy in the photo booth industry.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How the mini booth add-on was born from simply listening to parents at luxury kids' parties

• The albums pitch that almost always converts — and exactly how Sandra sells it

• How a $30 piece of paper and some creative thinking turned into a $250 upsell at a Taylor Swift birthday party

• Why a $5 Party City spiderweb decoration became a $150 add-on

• The mindset shift from selling a booth to selling an experience

• Why competing on price is a trap — and what to do instead

• How deep client relationships have kept Sandra booked by repeat clients year after year

• The powerful story of why keeping your client galleries matters more than you think

• Her 2026 goal: stepping back and hiring people outside of her family

Follow Sandra & Unik Collective: 📸 @unik.collective_

START YOUR BIZ

☞ How To Start Guide: https://pbsco.co/HowToStart

TAKE THE QUIZ

☞ See which photo booth is best for you: https://pbsco.co/PhotoBoothQuiz

SHOP ALL PHOTO BOOTHS

☞ Get your booth here: https://pbsco.co/ShopAllBooths

ACCESS FIESTA SOFTWARE

☞ Try free for 30 days: https://pbsco.co/FiestaTrial

HAVE QUESTIONS?

☞ Book a call with a Photobooth Strategist here: https://pbsco.co/ContactPBSCO

CONNECT WITH US

☞ Website: https://pbsco.co/Website

☞ Instagram: https://pbsco.co/Instagram

☞ Facebook: https://pbsco.co/Facebook

☞ Tiktok: https://pbsco.co/TikTok

Live From PBX: The Multi-Event Weekend Formula

Photobooth Supply Co

$235,000 in revenue. 7 booths. 6 attendants. Multiple events running simultaneously every single weekend. And they've only been in business since September 2023.

Colton Cerday of Southern Revelry (Austin, TX) joined his business partner Justin Goss just months after the company launched — and together they've built one of the fastest-growing multi-booth photo booth operations in central Texas. In this interview, Colton breaks down exactly how they manage high-volume weekends, how they hire and train attendants they can trust, and what it really takes to keep three booths running smoothly across Austin and San Antonio on the same Saturday night.

If you've ever wondered how to scale beyond what you can do yourself, this one is for you.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How Southern Revelry scaled from one legacy booth out of a garage to a 7-booth fleet in two years

• Why they hired and trained attendants before they even needed them — and why that was the right call

• What they look for when hiring (hint: attitude over technical skill, every time)

• How they prep their warehouse during the week so weekend events run on autopilot

• The pre-event questionnaire that saves them from showing up to chaos

• How they handle the on-call system so a no-show attendant never derails an event

• When to know it's time to add another booth to your fleet

• Why Colton delegates graphic design to his sister — and what that taught him about letting go of control

• Their 2026 goal: 1.5 to 2x revenue, new markets, and roaming photography

Follow Southern Revelry:

📸 @SouthernRevelryTX

START YOUR BIZ

☞ How To Start Guide: https://pbsco.co/HowToStart

TAKE THE QUIZ

☞ See which photo booth is best for you: https://pbsco.co/PhotoBoothQuiz

SHOP ALL PHOTO BOOTHS

☞ Get your booth here: https://pbsco.co/ShopAllBooths

ACCESS FIESTA SOFTWARE

☞ Try free for 30 days: https://pbsco.co/FiestaTrial

HAVE QUESTIONS?

☞ Book a call with a Photobooth Strategist here: https://pbsco.co/ContactPBSCO

CONNECT WITH US

☞ Website: https://pbsco.co/Website

☞ Instagram: https://pbsco.co/Instagram

☞ Facebook: https://pbsco.co/Facebook

☞ Tiktok: https://pbsco.co/TikTok

Live From PBX: Building A Wedding Brand That Books Itself

Photobooth Supply Co

$1.4 million in cumulative revenue. A referral network so strong she rarely pays for marketing. And a client base that books her without ever getting on a phone call.

Sarena Harris of Fancy Flash Photo Booth (Detroit, MI) has spent over 10 years building one of the most trusted wedding photo booth brands in southeastern Michigan — and she did it the old fashioned way: show up early, communicate well, deliver excellence every single time, and let the planners do the rest.

In this interview, Sarena breaks down exactly how she built and scaled a wedding-focused photo booth business, why weddings are more powerful lead generators than most operators realize, and the pricing mistake she made early on that she can't even calculate the cost of.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why weddings create a built-in referral machine that keeps giving year after year

• How a single sponsored event with a high-end planner got Fancy Flash its very first wedding booking

• What "elevated" actually looks like at a wedding — from backdrop stands to dress code to prop selection

• How Sarena maintains her standard of excellence with her team when she's not at the event

• Why strong planner relationships have virtually eliminated her marketing spend

• The pricing mistake she made for years and exactly what it cost her

• Why higher-end clients actually require less communication and less hand-holding

• Her one piece of advice for anyone wanting to build a wedding photo booth brand

Follow Sarena & Fancy Flash Photo Booth: 📸 @fancyflashphotobooth

START YOUR BIZ

☞ How To Start Guide: https://pbsco.co/HowToStart

TAKE THE QUIZ

☞ See which photo booth is best for you: https://pbsco.co/PhotoBoothQuiz

SHOP ALL PHOTO BOOTHS

☞ Get your booth here: https://pbsco.co/ShopAllBooths

ACCESS FIESTA SOFTWARE

☞ Try free for 30 days: https://pbsco.co/FiestaTrial

HAVE QUESTIONS?

☞ Book a call with a Photobooth Strategist here: https://pbsco.co/ContactPBSCO

CONNECT WITH US

☞ Website: https://pbsco.co/Website

☞ Instagram: https://pbsco.co/Instagram

☞ Facebook: https://pbsco.co/Facebook

☞ Tiktok: https://pbsco.co/TikTok

Live From PBX: From Niches To Riches

Photobooth Supply Co

She started her photo booth business to survive maternity leave. Her goal was $30,000. She hit it in three months.

Catalina Bloch of MDRN Photo Booth Company (Ottawa, Canada) has since built the most successful photo booth business in the PBSCO community — $6.6 million in cumulative revenue — and she did it by obsessing over two things: knowing exactly who she was selling to, and automating everything else.

In this interview, Catalina breaks down every plateau she hit on the way to seven figures, how she scaled from one CRM to a fully systematized operation, why she eventually split her brand in two, and the one piece of advice she gives every owner who wants to break past six figures.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why her first big corporate booking ($10K, signed in two days) changed everything

• The CRM moment that freed up her time and made automation an obsession

• How she went from 500K to 1.5M in revenue in just 8 months

• The case for hiring a 50/50 employee before you think you're ready

• Why she split her brand into MDRN Photo Booth and MDRN Activations — and when you should consider doing the same

• How niching down into a specific client avatar drove six figures in her very first year

• The self-limiting belief that held her back longer than anything else

• Why wedding leads at MDRN are 100% automated — and what that actually looks like in Boothbook

Follow Catalina & MDRN Photo Booth:

📸 @mdrnphotoboothco + @mdrnactivations

Live From PBX: Quality Over Quantity With Your Photo Booth Business

Photobooth Supply Co

$187,000 in revenue. 9 booths. 8 attendants. A $25,000 December. And it all started with a Salsa booth dropped at weddings.

Heather Houghton of Foto Fun Photo Booth built a high-end photo booth brand by doing something simple — refusing to cut corners. No cardboard stick props. No scratched glasses. No showing up looking anything less than camera ready. And the market noticed.

In this interview, Heather breaks down exactly how she scaled from solo wedding photographer to running one of the most polished photo booth operations in Florida, and why she believes quality doesn't limit your volume — it creates it.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why quality and volume aren't opposites — and how one actually drives the other

• How Heather identified the gap in her market and built her brand around it from day one

• The Photo Fun Standard: her team handbook covering dress code, client interactions, and on-site behavior

• How she manages 8 attendants and maintains quality control when she's not at the event

• When she knew it was time to add another booth (the answer is simpler than you think)

• How she went from wedding photographer to retiring from photography entirely in 2024

• Why word of mouth and vendor relationships are still her #1 lead generators

• The lighting tip she wishes she'd known when she started with an iPad booth

Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction & Heather's $187K milestone

02:00 — What "quality" actually means in a photo booth business

05:30 — Elevated props: what they are and why clients love them

09:00 — How quality creates volume, not the other way around

12:00 — Building a team of 8 and the Photo Fun Standard handbook

17:00 — Maintaining quality when you're not at the event

21:00 — When to add another booth to your fleet

25:00 — Core systems: from inquiry to review in one place

29:00 — Word of mouth, vendor relationships & website bookings

34:00 — From wedding photographer to full-time photo booth owner

38:00 — Advice for new owners who want to scale

Follow Heather & Photo Fun Photo Booth: 📸 @fotofunphotobooth

Kimberly Ballesteros.MP3

Photobooth Supply Co

$2.2 million. 20 employees. 10 photo booths. Nearly 500 events a year. And it all started with one attendant hired in 2021.

In this interview, Kimberly of Flux Photo Booth Co. (New York City) pulls back the curtain on exactly how she built one of the most structured, scalable photo booth businesses in the country — from her very first hire to running a team with a 70-page handbook, a 5-day training program, and a 12-step event check-in system.

If you're a photo booth business owner trying to figure out how to stop doing everything yourself, this episode is your roadmap.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• When to know it's time to make your first hire (and how Kimberly tricked herself into doing it)

• Why she documented every process from day one — even before she had a team

• Her 5-day attendant training process, including how she builds up from guided to fully independent

• The 12-step event check-in system her team uses on every single job

• How she uses Connect Teams as her all-in-one employee management hub

• Why every team member starts as a floor attendant — no exceptions

• The biggest mistakes owners make when building a team (and how to avoid them)

• What's next for Flux in 2026: bigger activations, creative pop-ups, and building a brand beyond the booth

Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction & Kimberly's $2.2M milestone

02:30 — When to make your first hire

06:00 — Building SOPs and documenting everything from day one

10:00 — Team breakdown: 20 people, 10 booths, ~500 events/year

14:00 — The 5-day attendant training process

20:00 — The 12-step event check-in system

25:00 — Connect Teams: the employee management software she swears by

30:00 — Common hiring & training mistakes to avoid

36:00 — Promoting from within & building a career path for your team

40:00 — 2026 goals: activations, pop-ups & what's next for Flux

Follow Kimberly & Flux Photo Booth Co.:

Business: @fluxphotoboothco

Personal/Behind the Scenes: @daysofkimberly

If you’d like to start your own photo booth business, check out our free Quickstart Program: https://pages.photoboothsupplyco.com/quick-start-program

If you’d like to speak with someone from our team about starting a photo booth business, book a free strategy call here: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/pages/book-a-call

For all other interest, check out our website: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/

Live From PBX: Networking And Client Retention

Photobooth Supply Co

Greg Cushman of Smile Lounge Interactive (Auburn, NY) has built a photo booth company that covers everything from upstate New York to New York City, Boston, and Montreal — doing 200+ events a year with a team that's nearly flipped the script from 60% weddings to 60% corporate. In this episode, Greg pulls back the curtain on the two growth levers he credits most: strategic networking and client retention.

Greg shares how he quietly acquired a competing photo booth business already doing $250K/year, kept the original brand intact, and scaled it from there. He also breaks down exactly how his team turns a single event booking into a long-term client relationship — and why 30–40% of Smile Lounge's annual revenue is now predictable, recurring income.

In this episode:

• How Greg acquired a photo booth business (equipment, brand, and client list) and scaled it without alienating existing customers

• The difference between networking and client retention — and why you need both

• Which networking circles matter most: chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus, vendor networks, and venue relationships

• Why the guest experience at the event is your best retention tool

• His exact CRM follow-up cadence (post-event, 2 months out, 6 months out)

• How to rebook holiday party clients before they even think about shopping competitors

• Building vendor partnerships with DJs and photographers who now refer clients to Smile Lounge directly

• Why weddings aren't "one and done" — and how to turn wedding guests into corporate clients

• Greg's goal for 2026: expanding from 5 installs on a Saturday night to 7

If you’d like to start your own photo booth business, check out our free Quickstart Program: https://pages.photoboothsupplyco.com/quick-start-program

If you’d like to speak with someone from our team about starting a photo booth business, book a free strategy call here: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/pages/book-a-call

For all other interest, check out our website: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/

Live From PBX: Scaling A DJ Business By Adding Photo Booths

Photobooth Supply Co

Chris Yates started Ultimate Occasions in 2015 as a DJ company serving weddings, corporate events, and mitzvahs in the DMV area (DC, Maryland & Virginia). In 2021, he made a pivotal decision — add a photo booth. What started as a simple add-on has since generated over $125,000 in photo-booth-specific revenue, helped him cross $200K in total business revenue, and taken his team all the way to Times Square for a Fortune 500 client.

In this episode, Chris breaks down exactly how he integrated photo booths into an existing event business, built a team of 15, and created systems that let him step off the floor and focus on growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Chris started referring photo booth work out — and the moment he realized he should bring it in-house

• How he embedded photo booths into DJ packages so that 80% of wedding clients now add one on

• The difference between running a Salsa booth vs. a Guac/Tortilla booth — and why he built a separate attendant team

• The pre-event and post-event checklists that keep every booking running smoothly • How tagging venues on social media became one of his biggest lead generation strategies

• Why he raised his prices two years in a row — and how revenue went up, not down

Whether you're a DJ thinking about adding a photo booth, or an operator looking to scale your team, Chris's story is a masterclass in smart, sustainable growth.

If you’d like to start your own photo booth business, check out our free Quickstart Program: https://pages.photoboothsupplyco.com/quick-start-program

If you’d like to speak with someone from our team about starting a photo booth business, book a free strategy call here: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/pages/book-a-call

For all other interest, check out our website: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/

Live From PBX: Standing Out In A Saturated Market

Photobooth Supply Co

How do you stand out in one of the most saturated photo booth markets in the country — and hit $143K in under 3 years, while keeping your day job? EJ Dizon, owner of A Snap Bay Area, did exactly that.

Based in the Bay Area (San Francisco/Silicon Valley), EJ started his photo booth business in 2023 and has already crossed six figures — all as a side hustle. In this episode, EJ breaks down the exact pivot that changed everything: ditching the race-to-the-bottom pricing, niching down to luxury weddings and corporate events, and building a review system that took him from 48 Google reviews to 442 five-star reviews in under a year. He also shares the AI tools he uses to run his business in just a few hours a night — including how he generates a fully personalized client proposal in under 3 minutes.

What you'll learn:

• Why doing "all types of events" was holding his business back

• How niching into weddings and corporate changed his pricing power

• The review system behind his 442 five-star Google reviews

• The AI tools he uses to run a business on a 6:30–10pm schedule

• Why he has a 48% repeat booking rate on the corporate side

• His goal for 2026: leaving his 9-to-5 for good

Connect with EJ: Instagram: @AwSnapBayArea

If you’d like to start your own photo booth business, check out our free Quickstart Program: https://pages.photoboothsupplyco.com/quick-start-program

If you’d like to speak with someone from our team about starting a photo booth business, book a free strategy call here: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/pages/book-a-call

For all other interest, check out our website: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/

Live From PBX: Marketing Your Photo Booth Business Solo

Photobooth Supply Co

Arman Mkrtchyan started Diamond Photo Booth at 22 years old — the same night he attended a wedding and saw a photo booth for the first time. Fast forward six years, and he just crossed $1.1 million in cumulative revenue, all while running a one-person operation, managing a marketing company, and attending law school part-time. In this episode, Arman breaks down the exact marketing strategies that took him from zero to fully booked in under six months — no massive social media presence required.

What we cover:

• How Arman used SEO to rank #1 in Los Angeles within 3 months of launching

• Why your biggest competitors should be your best friends

• The Google My Business hack that generates calls without even needing a website

• Why Bing.com is secretly the key to ranking on ChatGPT

• How he scored a free trip to Dubai by pitching his photo booth at a marketing summit

• The Crumble Cookie comparison that completely reframed his profit mindset • Pricing advice: why starting too low is one of the hardest mistakes to recover from

• How two virtual assistants changed everything

Connect with Arman:

📸 Instagram: @ArmanHacks

💼 Business: Diamond Photo Booth (Los Angeles, CA)

If you’d like to start your own photo booth business, check out our free Quickstart Program: https://pages.photoboothsupplyco.com/quick-start-program

If you’d like to speak with someone from our team about starting a photo booth business, book a free strategy call here: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/pages/book-a-call

For all other interest, check out our website: https://photoboothsupplyco.com/