How to Start a Photo Booth Business

Write a Photo Booth Business Plan

Your business plan gets you organized and focused. Writing it will reveal anticipated costs and income, potential problems, specifics about your brand, and more. It’ll guide your decisions as your photo booth business opens and grows. When writing your new business plan, consider these steps:

• Write a short, specific synopsis of your photo booth business idea, the issue it solves, and how you’ll stand out from the competition. Will it be an iPad booth? DSLR? Figure out all of the relevant specifics.
• Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).
• Think through problems that could arise, like the equipment breaking during an event, and how you’ll solve them.
• Identify your ideal customer and what kind of events they’ll hire you for. Are they weddings? Birthdays? Corporate events? A few hours long? Days?
• Check for tax breaks and local grants for creative or artistic businesses and entrepreneurs.
• Identify types of insurance you may need. 
• Develop a pricing strategy. Will you charge per hour? Per shot? Create photo packages?
• Outline how the business will grow. Will you expand to other cities? Add other types of events?

Choose a Business Structure

All incorporated businesses in the U.S. (like corporations and LLCs) must register with the IRS, which means you’ll need to settle on a company structure for your photo booth business. Some startups begin as sole proprietorships.

It’s relatively quick and easy to start a sole proprietorship because you do business under your own name (or a DBA) and simply report everything on your personal taxes. You don’t even need to file any paperwork with the government. But sole proprietorships provide no liability protection, so if something goes wrong and you get sued, everything you own could be at risk, including your house, car, and personal bank accounts. 

That’s why many photo booth business owners register as limited liability companies (LLCs). This structure shields your personal assets from liability. Another option is to form a corporation, but those can come with double taxation (the profits are taxed on the corporate level and then again on your personal taxes). An LLC structure avoids this double taxation.

Take the time to research and choose the structure with the best legal and tax setup for your situation. You can easily form an LLC using a business formation service like the one we offer at ZenBusiness.

Create a Business Name

When creating your business name, brainstorm a list of at least a dozen possibilities. Choose a photo booth business name that’s easy to understand, memorable, and not in use by someone else. You can lose sales when customers confuse you with another business, and you definitely don’t want the legal repercussions that could come your way. Once you’ve chosen your name, you can register your business or, if you’re starting as a sole proprietor, register a doing business as (DBA) name.

Also, make sure that the related web address and social media handles are available. When you find a name that ticks all the boxes, register the domain and set up social media presences.

Register Your Photo Booth Business and Open a Bank Account

Time to make this official! Using the structure you chose earlier (likely an LLC), register your photo booth business with state and local agencies. Also, go to the IRS website to obtain an employer identification number (EIN).

You’ll need that EIN and your business registration documents to open a bank account. It can be tempting to just run photo booth business finances through your personal bank account, but mixing accounts “pierces the corporate veil” and can impact your liability protection.

Check with your local municipality to see if there are licensing requirements for a photo booth rental company, and reach out to local insurance agents to learn about the kinds of coverage you may need. For instance, if you have employees, you may need workers’ compensation insurance. Or, because you’re going to be in other people’s spaces operating your photo booth, you may need liability insurance. Some insurance companies sell specific photo booth business insurance at low rates.

Determine Your Photo Booth Business Costs

What will it cost to start your photo booth rental business? The short answer is probably at least $5,000 if you don’t already have some equipment. A useful approach can be categorizing costs as one-time or ongoing.

One-time expenses for a photo booth business include the booth itself, a camera, monitor, props, and printer. Some modern booths rely on built-in DSLR cameras, while others have a slot for an iPad or other tablet.

You may be able to lower your costs by waiting on some things until the business is bringing in money. For instance, a second booth and backup cameras can sometimes wait until your revenue grows.

Ongoing expenses could be your salary, any full-time or part-time worker pay, data storage, taxes, paper, ink, and gas to travel to events. These expenses can be further divided into fixed and variable.

Fixed ongoing expenses are costs that keep happening at the same price no matter how much business you bring in. Variable ongoing expenses go up or down depending on how much business you do. Accurately weighing these expenses can help you determine your company’s break-even point.

How do you fund your startup costs? 

Keep in mind that photo booth business startup costs are relatively low at around $5K or less. How can you fund your business? 

Could you save up? Maybe open a business credit card? Would family and friends be willing to invest or loan you what’s needed? If so, consider if those relationships could withstand the stress and pressure of you not being able to pay them back as quickly as you’d like.

There are also forms of government assistance for small business owners and loan programs from the SBA that go through banks. Maybe a small personal loan from your bank could make sense. Whatever route you go, give due consideration to how you’ll pay back any borrowed money and what may happen if your payback plan doesn’t work.

Purchase Equipment for Your Photo Booth Business

We’ve touched on some of the assets and equipment you’ll need, like a booth, camera or tablet, lighting, computer, photo booth software, and green screen. You may also want a printer, paper, and ink to create keepsakes for your customers, or you can use an online service for your printing needs.

Some photo booth businesses are learning that the data they can get from people is worth more than the fees they earn being present at events. In that case, contact management software is another necessity.

Market Your Photo Booth Business

A search engine-optimized (SEO) website is crucial to marketing your business. Also, create a social media strategy across all your platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Register your business on Google Business Profiles, as well as in phonebook and business directories, so people know where to find you and your business starts appearing in more local searches.

Consider how the people coming through your photo booth at events could become word-of-mouth advertisers for your business. If they share pictures taken in your booth on their online profiles, could they tag your business? Could you incentivize them to do so by offering a larger print or a takeaway? You could also connect with local event planners so they know to reach out to you during their next big shindig.