In 2018, George fell ill to his diverticulitis. Within one year he had four surgeries and numerous ER visits. His second surgery was scheduled for 3 hours, but lasted 12. Our new normal was anything than normal and this was pre-COVID.
Somewhere between surgery one and surgery two, I panicked. What happens if he can't work a full time job anymore? We have three kids and bills to pay. My teacher salary wouldn't cover all the costs of daily necessities and bills. I stressed for days, if not weeks. In my head I wondered what could I do to bring in supplemental income. I had worked overnights at Target before Gracie and Junior were born. Maybe I could do that? They didn't have overnight at the local Targets anymore. If I did tutoring, it would be minimal because my school day ended at 3pm and I wanted to be home by dinner time. So, I was back to square one.
Once I realized that what I needed to find was something that could be done on the weekends and the summer, the wheels started turning and the idea of owning a photo booth business started sounding like the best route for my family. I had loved photography in high school and college. I loved taking photos and then heading to the darkroom on campus to do my prints. I always dreamt that if I had an extra room in my home one day I would make it my darkroom. That was years before kids and the digital world.
I spent weeks researching the type of photo booths that were out there and came to a conclusion that I wanted a turnkey, modern booth. Something different from the enclosed booths and ready to go straight from the box. I knew there was more than just purchasing a photo booth for a successful business. We would need a website, social media, logo, a name, etc. There was so much time that we needed to invest into the business that buying a photo booth that came with all the "bells & whistles" already was one of our main goals. The Queso was the booth for us and we couldn't be happier!
We have had over a 2 year rollout. From my very first inquiry with PBSCO in February of 2019 to now we have hit a few bumps in the road, but we are still moving forward. We hope 2021 is the start of our adventure (again)!
Best,
Christina