The Photobooth Podcast

He does zero marketing, advertises nowhere, and still can't cover all his bookings. In just over four years Ryan Murphy has pulled more than $400,000 out of a photo booth business built on one habit almost nobody sticks to. What is he actually doing differently?

In this Six-Figure Club episode of the Photobooth Podcast, Amber talks with Ryan Murphy of Next Event Photobooth in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Kentucky Derby. A drummer who worked corporate events and galas for years, Ryan bought his first booth in 2021 and went full-time in January.

Ryan talks about watching a competitor's Windows-based booth crash at the Derby and choosing an iPad-based system that hasn't failed him across 24 activations in four days. He also explains how he built a family-run operation with his wife and 17-year-old son. For three years running, he's been Ford's photo and video activation team at the Derby.

He also shares the anti-marketing playbook behind his 20 to 40% yearly growth: no ads, no Wedding Pro, just a solid website, a Google Business listing, and the discipline to call people right back. He covers his phone-first sales process, the gala gift-card strategy, and why $1 million might be closer than he thinks. If you want to scale or go full-time, this one's for you.

We Break Down:

• Working the Kentucky Derby as Ford's activation team: 24 activations in four days
• Why Ryan bet on photo booths in 2021 after a record band year vanished in 48 hours
• How SBA relief money funded the first booth
• Why he chose an iPad-based booth after watching a Windows-based 360 crash at the Derby
• How his wife and 17-year-old son run the glam bot for Ford execs
• The zero-marketing formula: an on-point website and a Google Business listing
• The one habit that beats every marketing spend: answer the phone and call back fast
• The Friday-Monday cold outreach routine that lands him in a client's inbox twice
• The BMW call that changed everything and why corporate content compounds
• Becoming a vendor for your local public school system
• Ryan's phone-first sales process that closes 99.9% of the time
• Why "checking in" reeks of desperation, and the automated follow-up that replaces it
• The gala gift-card strategy: donate a digital booth, write it off, and upsell
• Expanding to four Guac and Chips booths in 2026 and white labeling
• The road to $1 million

Chapters:

00:00 - Episode Begins
00:38 - Meet Ryan Murphy & the Kentucky Derby
02:10 - The Six-Figure Club: Over $400K in Cumulative Revenue
03:00 - Take Me Back: Betting on the Photo Booth Business in 2021
05:41 - Full-Time or Side Hustle?
05:58 - Why He Chose Photo Booth Supply Co.
09:15 - What He Does Differently: The Zero-Marketing Formula
14:50 - The One Event That Shifted Everything: The BMW Call
19:52 - The Sales Process: How Ryan Secures Bookings
23:35 - Following Up Without Chasing: Automated Outreach
26:13 - Expanding to Four Booths in 2026
28:11 - Doing Well in Louisville & Advice for Smaller Markets
33:17 - The Road to the Millionaires Club

Resources:

Next Event Photobooth:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nexteventphotobooth/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nexteventphotobooth/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@nexteventphoto

Ryan Murphy on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-murphy-267b9563/

Photo Booth Supply Co.
https://photoboothsupplyco.com/