How a Photo Booth Side Hustle Doubled My Salary at 21

Turning a failing add-on into a €500-a-night business at Montekristo Estates

Introduction

Entrepreneurship isn’t always about starting a brand-new company. Sometimes, it’s about looking at what’s right in front of you, spotting inefficiencies, and finding a way to create value where others see a dead end. One of my earliest business lessons came while working at Montekristo Estates between 2008 and 2011, during the weekly Knights Spectacular 1565 show.

The Setup

At the time, I was Head of IT and AV, responsible for running the lights and sound for the performance. The show seated around 550 people and, as part of the experience, guests were photographed with a real eagle on arrival. At the end, these photos were displayed on a cruise-liner style board where people could purchase them for €5 each.

On paper, it seemed like a clever way to create ancillary revenue. In reality, it was barely breaking even.

The Problem

• Low conversion: Out of 100–150 photos printed each night, only 10–20 were sold.

• High costs: Each instant print cost €0.50–€0.75, meaning most of the run went to waste.

• No incentive to fix it: The operators didn’t care — they were paid by the hour plus consumables.

• Poor timing: By the end of a three-hour show, the “impulse buy” moment was long gone. Many guests had forgotten about their photo altogether.

• Logistics: Because transport back to hotels was included, guests were more worried about missing the bus than browsing through a wall of photos.

The service wasn’t just underperforming; it was structurally flawed. Yet to most, it was simply “how things were done.”

The Entrepreneurial Eye

I couldn’t ignore it. To me, this was wasted potential hiding in plain sight. The ingredients for success were all there: a unique experience, high guest volume, and a tangible keepsake. But the execution was wrong.

So I went to the directors and offered them a deal: pay me €1 per print sold, net of any costs, and I would take over the operation. Since I was already on-site running AV, there was no extra salary needed.

Redesigning the Experience

I teamed up with my colleague — a photographer by passion but also on the company’s payroll as one of the technical crew for the show. Together, we reimagined the entire flow:

• Made it compulsory: Previously, guests could choose whether to take a photo. We changed that — everyone passed through the booth before the ticket counter, making it part of the experience.

• Payment up front: Guests saw their photo immediately on a screen, decided how many copies they wanted, and paid on the spot. Groups often bought multiple prints, something impossible under the old system.

• Distribution at the end: Instead of walking out past a wall of random prints, guests picked up their already-paid photos on the way into the auditorium. By then, they were printed and ready.

The Results

The changes transformed the photo service overnight:

• Compulsory photos meant full coverage – every guest now had a photo, eliminating the “maybe later” mindset.

• Payment at the beginning secured the sale – guests made the decision while still excited and engaged, rather than tired and rushing for transport.

• Distribution at the end removed friction – photos were simply collected on the way into the show, avoiding wasted browsing time.

The impact was immediate: instead of struggling to sell 10–20 photos, we were shifting 100 to 200 prints per show. What had been a cost centre became a steady profit line:

• €500+ in extra revenue per performance

• Zero waste – every print was already sold before being produced

• Fair upside – since both of us were already on the payroll for our main technical roles, this was truly extra. We split the profits evenly, each taking home an additional €50–€75 per week.

At that stage in my life, I was still living with my parents. That meant this side venture effectively covered all my day-to-day spending, while my monthly salary went almost untouched. In other words, this little business tweak had just turned my salary into net savings.

The Lesson

That experience taught me something I’ve carried ever since: successful operations aren’t built around convenience for the operator, but around the psychology of the customer.

By moving the decision to the very start, securing payment in the moment of excitement, and removing friction at the point of collection, we created a system that worked with guest behaviour rather than against it.

It’s a reminder that in business, the opportunity often lies not in inventing something new, but in redesigning what already exists to fit how people actually think and act.