Teenage entrepreneur turns selfies into sales

A teenage entrepreneur is snapping her way to success after setting up her own photo booth business.

18-year-old Jodie Metcalfe set up Pods Photo Booth 12 months ago as a way to earn extra money to pay for driving lessons.

Jodie, who studies Health and Social Care at Burnley College, was looking for a part-time job to fit around her course. But unlike most students, she shunned traditional weekend work for something much more enterprising.

Pods Photo Booth provides high quality selfie booths, props, video technology and more for weddings, parties and corporate events.

Jodie provides a professional attendant for each event to produce digital prints and USBs while-you-wait, plus the latest touch-screen technology enables guests to upload photos instantly to social media pages. The latest innovation Jodie offers guests is MarryOke, where guests can create their own pop videos.

Jodie runs her business from a unit at Store First Burnley, where she holds meetings with potential customers and open day events to promote her business. She took advantage of a Store First offer which saw her receive 50% off her first 12 weeks.

Jodie said: “Pods came about because my dad booked a photo booth for his birthday and was let down. I knew I could do a better job, so I decided to set up my own business. A year later, we’re booked up almost every weekend with events in Burnley, Preston and as far as Blackpool and we’ve already expanded to three photo booths to suit different events. “We rent a unit at Store First as it’s local, affordable and big enough for my equipment. Being able to use the meeting rooms to present to new customers is a huge bonus – it gives me a professional edge."