Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Friedman.
Paul, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I bought my first DSLR back in 2003 and it really was a turning point in my life. I knew very little about photography, but I quickly absorbed everything I possibly could about shooting, gear, post-processing and everything in between. I spent many hours on forums and photography sites learning everything I could. As I had a full-time job and a young family with three kids, I shot mostly on the weekends, made a lot of mistakes and did my best to improve every day.
Later, I was confident enough that I began shooting some portraits and photographed my first wedding in the spring of 2005. If I could only figure out a way to make a career out of this I would gladly exchange it for the corporate job I needed but loathed.
I spent about fifteen years working in the corporate world mostly in the world of sales and financial analysis. I worked for some big companies, some small companies, some great companies, some not-so-great companies but it’s always been my passion and my dream to own my own business. I never wanted to own a big business, I just wanted to make the kind of company I could be proud of no matter how small it might be.
It was in the summer of 2006 that I began to look at the prospect of starting a camera gear rental company. With my analytical background, I created a financial model to determine if it was the kind of business that was worth pursuing. A week and quite a few tweaks later, I spoke to my family about starting this business. As I suspected, they gave me their full support (even if they didn’t really understand it) and I set out immediately to put the pieces in place for starting the business.
My single goal and my biggest motivating factor were to make this successful so I could leave my day job and never go back to the corporate world! I figured that with my growing photography business and renting out some gear, I could make a living and we would be OK. I planned to leave my day job before Labor Day weekend and launch the website just a few days before that.
I made a plan to create the kind of company that professional and amateur photographers would be thrilled to use. First, they could call us (us being only me at the time) and a professional photographer would answer who could help them pick the right gear for their shoot! Not an answering service, not a warm body, but a working pro who’s walked in their shoes and can help them choose the right gear! We would encourage people to place their orders on our site but also allow them to call up so we could take their order over the phone. Communication was also paramount. A brief, friendly and professional email was sent when an order was placed when the order was shipped and one day before the gear was due to be sent back.
We also started to ship all of our gear in Pelican cases. Not only do the cases protect the gear in transit, giving our customers great peace of mind, but it gives them a great experience when they open the case and take out their gear. The motto we live by every day is “being good to your customers is good for business and being great to your customers is great for business.” It’s easy to say but very few companies actually execute.
It was this kind of service that has led to our rapid growth. I had no idea how hungry people were for great service! In our first year, we began to receive all kinds of emails, phone calls and handwritten notes from our customers thanking us for our wonderful service and promising to not only come back to rent more gear but to pass our name along to all of their friends and family who shoot! We really felt like we were on to something with our high-end service strategy.
To this day, while we are much bigger now and have merged with Lensrentals, we take service on a day to day basis very seriously. We are staffed only by professional photographers and filmmakers who answer hundreds of phone calls and emails every day. We still ship our gear in Pelican cases, we still provide our customers with professional and timely information about their rental and we’re always here to overnight gear anywhere in the US in case of emergency.
There’s a certain aspect of our business about which I feel very passionate. If we are going to provide the best service in the world, then we need to hire the best people in the world. We’ve done just that. The people I have hired are not just professional photographers, they’re hard-working, responsible adults who share the same passion for running a first class company. They care about our customers and always do what’s best for them. I always tell them their job is to take care of the business and my job is to take care of them. I believe that wholeheartedly.
My job is to provide them with a great compensation package and a fun working environment. We still pay for lunch every day, provide them with the best tools to do their job and then get out of their way. Only the best people who are treated well and are happy are able to provide the best service in the world. Hiring top notch people is the single most critical aspect to our success and they’re worth every penny!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing has been smooth! This industry didn’t really exist before 2006 so there was no model for how to make it successful. The old adage “I didn’t know what I didn’t know” definitely applied! Learning to navigate the government entities that want their piece of the pie has been just one of those struggles.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Most certainly, my co-workers have helped us to get where we are. Also, especially when we were starting out, we were perceived as the little underdog (and we were!) so there were a lot of friends and customers who were pulling for us and helping to spread the word.
Contact Info:
- Address: 130B Baker Ave Extension Concord, MA 01742
- Website: https://www.lensprotogo.com/
- Phone: 877-578-4777
- Email: service@lensprotogo.com
- Instagram: @lensprotogo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lensprotogo
- Twitter: @lensprotogo
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