We were lucky to catch up with Benjamin Holthaus recently and have shared our conversation below.

Benjamin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

The notion that art is subjective. This is a hot topic, and I love it. I firmly believe that art cannot be subjective. In my world, the world of photography, there is tons of good and tons of bad. Something i’ve seen argued hundreds, if not thousands of times is when creatives are praised for what is honestly really bad work. That is when the argument of subjectivity comes in. The reason art cannot be subjective, is because if it were subjective, there would be absolutely no standard to follow, to learn from or to aspire too. I think that creatives as a whole need to stop hiding behind this so called subjectivity, and actually learn how to produce art. I know this is a harsh stand point, but the idea of art being subjective is incredibly harmful to the learning and growing ability of the creative society.

Benjamin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Today, I own one of the states largest wedding photo and film companies. It’s wild for me to even say that out loud, because there was a time when I was homeless. But living in reality, I know that it was my undying drive to never have to be told when to arrive at work again, that brought me to where I am today. When I started out as a photographer just by myself, I wanted to master the craft. I didn’t imagine having such a large team by my side, and I didn’t imagine working with hundreds of brides each year. But I think that is part of the beauty of this business. Over the last few years I just focused on putting in maximum effort with not only my clients, but also people I worked with and partnered with. Just my dedication to trying to be the best ( though being far from the best ), I stumbled my way through one opportunity after another. I actually owe my success to a great guy named William. 3 years ago he let me work for him despite not having much of an available portfolio. When I went into hard times, he helped me. And over the next couple years I did absolutely everything I could for his company, and now I own it. I think the moral of the story is, effort in even the smallest places is seen, and it is valued. I don’t think anything makes me particularly special. I just took risks and followed the doors as they opened. I think more people should be taking more risks to get where they want to be.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

I started my own company many years ago. Eventually I started working as a contractor for another company to fill in weekends and make some extra money. Over time I grew closer with management and eventually took over management. Then one day out of nowhere, the owner was ready to sell and he offered the company to me. I really loved the business model and I had personally worked with the entire team already, so I knew it was something I could do. We negotiated a price we were both happy with, and then we had lawyers draw up the paperwork. All in all it was about a 3 week process and went very smoothly. Once the lawyers did the paperwork, the CPA worked on transferring the LLCs and we signed the paperwork. It took another day or so if transferring various account ownerships, and then it was all done!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Honesty, and reliability. In the wedding business, communication is equally as important as the quality of work. Calling brides to address hard topics face to face instead of hiding behind an email is something that I learned is extremely valued. There were some times that were very rough during the transition period where I had to restructure the team. It would have been really easy to hide behind emails, but instead I personally called each affected couple and talked them through the changes. This alone I think really helped grow my reputation

Contact Info:

• Website: www.promaniweddings.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/promanimedia
• Facebook: facebook.com/promanimedia