How many of us have boxes of old photos waiting to be put into albums? files of photos on our computers? or stacks of video tapes that should be on DVDs before they deteriorate? Many moms look at those piles and shove everything back in the closet. It all seems so overwhelming. Samantha Loomis is here to help.
With a previous job in the magazine business, she had some experience in arranging photos to tell a story. Three years ago, Sam (an avid photographer herself), organized the family’s summer photos for her parents. Using online photo sites to create their summer story, she gave them the gift of an album. They loved it. And then her parents asked Sam to make albums for their friends.
Realizing she had a talent others could use, she offered to prepare photo albums as a business venture, first for friends and family, and then word of mouth expanded her client base. She was asked to put together unique birthday, anniversary, and graduation gifts or albums of special trips taken. “Mother’s and Father’s Day albums are a big request,” Sam says, “Grandparents love getting a photo book of their grandchildren that they can carry around. Another hit is “A Year in the Life” family books. These document the life of a family each year.”
Using sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly, Sam can cull from photo files downloaded to the sites from different family members to create one album. The client provides captions and approves Sam’s choices of photos and layouts. Sam is happy to provide instruction for anyone who might be unfamiliar with the sites to assist in uploading photos. She can also scan in a lifetime of paper photos so that box of old pictures becomes digitized and easier to work with. Not only that, they are better preserved. She does videos too, taking the old form to new DVDs. Now those memories can be shared via computers.
With two kids ages 12 and 15, she’s able to do most of her work during the day when they’re in school. Enjoying what she does, Sam loves to hear her kids say with pride, “My mom helps people with their photos.” Sam thrives on organization and feels she has a talent for seeing a timeline through photos. She currently works around 10 – 20 hours a week and charges for her time only, $25 – $40 an hour.
Self-taught, the sites make it easy for her to put together interesting books with multiple of options in terms of photo sizes, layouts choices, and various types of album covers. “So many people don’t have the time to create a memory book or DVD that they want to share.” Sam is here to make it happen and can be a lifesaver for those of us who have those boxes and piles in closets. And how about the name – she and her husband were joking about what to name her venture and thinking about the Dr. Suess children’s book, Sam thought “Sam-I-Am.”
Contact: [email protected] Be sure and tell her VentureMom.com sent you.
VentureMom Tip
Form your venture around something your family asked you to do.
