We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angelina Pechota a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Angelina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

For me, telling and showing my clients that they are appreciated is extremely important. It seems small measures to do this by many companies, in today’s time, do not seem to happen as often. I focus on the small details from our day one of interaction including responding in a timely manner, communicating clearly, and following up after our events within the week. I’ll often send out small gift cards just saying, “Thank you.” At the holidays I always send out holiday cards to our clients from the past year. I as a customer notice these small gestures and truly hope my clients do too.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a small-town girl who has worked since the age of 15 and was raised by a single mom. She is who I owe all my success as she has taught me what hard work and sacrifice looks like. I have my own family now including an amazingly supportive husband and a pre-teen daughter. We live in Adrian, Michigan currently where I started my small businesses. You could say I am a “jack of many trades.” My businesses include a Photo Booth company, a Yard Card company and I also am a professional makeup artist. I started my photo booth business in 2017 after seeing an ad for the original Selfie Station out of California. After extensive research into the photo booth industry, I decided to take the leap by investing and branding my company, The Perfect Pic Photo Booth. My second small business arose from the pandemic when the world shut down and all events were canceled, Front Yard Cards. Yard cards allow clients to celebrate their loved ones in such a unique, fun, and creative manner by putting a huge celebration message in their front yard. In between these two small businesses, I am a makeup artist for such events as weddings, family portraits, and proms. I am super proud that a small-town girl has been able to build multiple successful businesses, continue to grow and enjoy what I do, I hope my clients see how much I put into my small businesses and how much I love it.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

After extensive research as to what I would need to start up my first small business, The Perfect Pic Photo Booth, I pulled from my savings and utilized a line of credit to start off. I was able to calculate how much I would have to charge to pay off my initial investment within 2 years, but still be able to continue to invest in my business. I did just that and cannot be more proud of myself for that. When starting my yard card company I invested the first thousand dollars and continued to use profits to invest fully into my inventory the first year enabling me to continue to offer my clients even bigger and better items.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My most valuable source are my clients and their referrals. The second best source, for my company, has been social media, mainly Facebook.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theperfectpicphotobooth.com
• Instagram: @theperfectpicphotobooth
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theperfectpicphotobooth