Meet the boother
Cyndee Lavoie
From tears to triumphant, Cyndee sat beside me at PBX in 2020 and cried, literally cried! No newbie to business, Cyndee already owned and operated a very successful business, but her husband bought a photo booth without her knowledge and she had no idea who was going to start, learn and grow this ‘business’.
Fast forward 8 months mid pandemic and Cyndee and her husband were doing a $60K holiday activation with Santa AR in Canada, a contract which has grown year-on-year and a testament to this strong lady’s willingness to learn, courage to take risks and strength to keep going.
I will say it before she says it about anyone else; ‘she’s the one to watch!’
Name: Cyndee Lavoie
Business Name: Picture Us Photo Booth Experience
How long have you been in business? 3 years
What is your favourite booth? By default it has to be our Mirror style booths simply because those are our most requested booths and make us the most money. I do love the roamer though even though I can’t lift the darn thing but I think it’s so cool to see in action!
Favorite software I don’t have a lot of experience with software as that’s ‘not in my job description’ so to speak. I leave that mostly up to my tech crew, aka my husband and son! I tell them what I want and to make it happen guys! I am however learning Curator and plan to be a pro at it soon.
Favorite Event:
It has to be our Shopping Mall Holiday activations but I feel like everyone has heard me go on about that ad nauseum; ha, ha. So, a close second to that, it would be a huge gala we did for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
We had 2 Mirror booths operating that night nestled under the wing of an F-18 bomber! Months later, I am still pinching myself that we got to meet and host 98-year-old Lieutenent General Richard Rhomer in our photo booth that evening.
To put it in perspective, during the Second World War, Lt. Gen. Rhomer took part in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy serving as a fighter pilot. Besides also being an accomplished writer and lawyer, over the decades he has held many prestigious positions and titles. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Commander of the Order of Military Merit, and served as the Chief of Reserves of the Canadian Armed Forces. He is a holder of the Jubilee Medal, the Centennial Medal, the Confederation Medal, the Golden Jubilee Medal, the Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Canada Defence medal. He has also been appointed by H.M. King Baudoin of Belgium to an Officer in the Order of Leopold and was appointed to a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the President of France and that’s just the start! He was so gracious and kind.
It’s not lost on me what an honour it was to photograph this incredibly distinguished and treasured Canadian war hero.
3 Tips for Success:
#1. Stay in your lane
Never look sideways at what your competitors are doing. Focus on you and your business and doing the best job you can for your clients. If you are new, right now, you might be feeling overwhelmed by the competition but in time, they’ll be looking to you as the one to watch!
#2 Network, network, network!
Go to PBX, join Photo Booth Marketing and attend the weekly Zooms. If you are female, go to the Women’s Conference before PBX and let yourself just take it all in. I consider myself an introverted extrovert so it’s difficult for me to initiate conversations especially when strong men are around as I can feel easily intimidated. I fight imposter syndrome every day.
The female photo boothers that I have met through Photo Booth Marketing and the Women’s Conference are the network I didn’t even know I needed! They talked to me when I was too shy and couldn’t find my own voice yet, invited me to join them and have supported and cheered me on. I love these ladies so much!
#3 Listen to Ursula!
Check out his work with pictureus.ca & follow Cyndee on Instagram HERE.
