Meet Dameon Williams | Owner & Founder of Light It Up! Photo Booth Rental

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dameon Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dameon, the decisions we make often shape our story in profound ways. What was one of the most difficult decisions you’ve had to make?
Sell the business or build it back up from scratch. Early in 2020, we were on track to have our biggest year to date in total event count and revenue. In January, we were already fully booked until late July, I had recently purchased our 3rd photobooth, hired additional staff and on top of that, we had secured a large corporate client that would result in monthly events. Then COVID hit and the event industry came to a complete stand still. Amongst the uncertainty, I had to refund 5 figures worth of paid invoices. As the lockdown occurred nationwide, countless photobooth businesses were going under, along with other business alike. I was fortunate that by the time Houston had shut down, we had a very profitable 1st qtr., which would allow the business and its expenses to be paid for the remainder of the yr. I had to let my staff go. There were no events. I was back at zero. I went back and forth internally over the decision to liquidate the business; it had been 3 yrs.… I had made my initial investment back, plus alot more. We had a good run. I technically didn’t fail… It was a global catastrophe. I didn’t work another event until December 2020 and then again in late February 2021. As I drove to the event on the other side of Houston, I asked myself “What’s stopping you from building this back to the level that we were on track to before Covid?” The answer was nothing. At that point, I told myself it was time to get back to the grind.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I was exposed to entrepreneurship in my early teens, watching my mom start and run a successful hair salon for several years. In 2017, I had recently completed my MBA and I was eager to apply some of the knowledge that I had gained to feed my entrepreneurial itch. With some capital already set aside, I was exploring plausible franchise options, when I stumbled upon an ad for a vendor selling photobooths randomly on a Facebook ad. My wife and I were in a period in which we were going to a lot of social events, and I noticed that at every event there was some type of photobooth. At this instance, I knew nothing about the actual industry, but figured I would do some market research and evaluate the opportunity. After seeing some opportunity in my area, I decided to source a vendor in Texas so that I could see in person what I was seeing online as far as photobooths go. I happen to find a company in Dallas that were selling turnkey photobooth packages that included a website and everything you would need to get started. I filed for the business in July 2017, bought my first photobooth on July 30, 2017 and Light It Up! Photobooth Rental was born.

What sets us apart:
I built Light It Up! around the principals of professionalism, top notch customer service and creating a positive guest experience. We want you and your guests to have a great experience with our company at every point of interaction, whether it’s the initial inquiry conversation, the event, or the last email where we deliver your online gallery. This has worked extremely well over the past 5 years. We have received a lot of positive feedback and return business from guests because of it.

How did we get here:

In those early years, there were some months where no event requests came in, I had to figure out my target audience and develop my business for the audience that I was looking to attract. At the beginning, I had no staff and I had to work every event. I missed a lot of family events, some birthdays and other things. My wife understood what I was working to build, which helped a lot. I am a true believer that if your systems are efficient, you can do what you need to do on the go. I run a lot of the admin side of Light It Up! from my phone, which now allows me to multitask quite a bit. Over the course of 5 yrs we were able to grow the fleet to 4 photobooths, a full staff and bring in managing partner- DeLana Davis.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am a lover of Craft Beers and BBQ. We would start at Bretts BBQ in Katy, probably hit No Label Brewery. When we go into town, we like to go to The Secret Garden for drinks and ambiance. I also like 8th wonder as well. You have to sit in line at the OG Frenchys Chicken on Scott street, if its your first time in Houston. If baseball season is in, you have to hit the Astros game and Eighteen Twenty for post game drinks. We recently found Underground Hall also, for the late night post game eats.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Id like to dedicate this to my family (Wendy, Ava and Vivian) that have endured the countless hrs of missed time and events as I have worked to grow this business.

Website: www.lightitupphotobooth.net

Instagram: @Lightitupphotobooth

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightItUpPhotoBooth/

Other: Tik Tok- @lightitup_pb