Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Igor Benchak. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Igor, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Before my business partner Alex and I started our company, we both already had thriving projects. I was involved in the restaurant industry and commercial photography, while Alex operated a successful escape room company. One day we met when I was helping him with one of the escape room locations. That day we had a really long and a really fun talk about businesses. Later we realised that we lacked enthusiasm with our current projects despite its immense success. My thoughts were that it wasn’t exciting anymore and rather repetitive, and I was inspired to do something completely new! Alex asked if I had any ideas, and I shared what I had in mind. The very next day Alex started searching for locations for our joint venture.
And this is how our concept was born!
Within the first 2 years of being open we had over 70,000 visitors. Now, 4 years later we have 8 locations nationwide and I believe it’s just the beginning.
Another thing I wanted to add is that – to be a successful business owner and partner I had to unlearn making emotional decisions. I’m so glad that both my business partner and I are so passionate about what we do, our visions, and strategies. However, emotions can easily take over and make you focus on your own ego rather than the bigger picture.
Don’t take me wrong, there’ve been plenty of heated discussions and
disagreements along the way, but never an emotional decision, which is nearly one of the most important components of the success.
Concluding this story, I wanted to say that eager and energetic minds full of discipline, determination and creativity are doomed for success.

Igor, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Back when we started in 2019 we wanted to bring the new concept to the city. My business partner and I have backgrounds in photography, game design and even fashion. I also have a lot of friends who are artists, photographers and muralists. I wanted to bring the fusion of street art and fashion photography all under one roof. At that time there was no such thing and it was a very ambitious project. I think even we didn’t fully understand how popular it was going to become. We worked closely together with artists on designing every installation from day one. Each set was lit up with professional equipment. Every photo zone was carefully designed with color combinations in mind. All objects and patterns were thought through every detail to make a perfect picture.
I think the combination of experience and creativity of everyone involved in this project is exactly how our vision and our idea became this unique concept we called Original Selfie Museum.
With the museum we created way more than just a unique and creative photo studio. We accomplished designing a space that allows guests to spend true quality time with each other! Nothing beats hearing genuine laugh and the ability to capture candid moments of having a wonderful time and the opportunity to preserve those memories through the lens of the phone. In a modern life it’s a continuous hustle and bustle. People rely on their phones for all work aspects, it gives them peace of mind in terms of safety, convenience and navigation through this fast paced life on a daily basis. We aimed to create a space where guests could pause all their obligations for an hour and truly enjoy themselves, recharge their creativity and be able to reflect later on the time they had the best escape from reality with the most amazing pictures as proof!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being from Ukraine, I used to face language barriers daily and even nowadays my accent can be a blessing or a curse! Despite being misunderstood and my lengthy learning curve, I never gave up my dreams. I was resilient and put 200% of hard work to become a better version of myself. This experience of moving to a new country and blending in the new culture made me humble, hardworking and thankful for all the experiences and opportunities. Today I’m immensely grateful to comfortably share this journey in any of 3 languages I’m fluent at.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

To be completely honest, meeting certain deadlines (like payrolls) is not my strongest feature. I recognize it and we collectively made a decision to delegate certain tasks to our dedicated team that does their job well and in a timely manner. Payroll is an essential part of running a smooth business and maintaining fantastic reputation as business owners and we rely on professionals in that field.

Contact Info:

• Website: OriginalSelfieMuseum.com
• Instagram: sidewalker_ig