From garage start-up to burgeoning business – Watch iPhoto SA’s Johann Botha share his journey of success
Here’s how Johann Botha grew his photography business ‘iPhoto SA’ with a clear vision and the power of Mac products.
Building a name for yourself takes sacrifice – this is a lesson Johann Botha and his wife Viola became familiar with in 2007 when Johann left his corporate job to pursue his photography business full-time.
iPhoto SA is a photographic, videography, and instant print photo booth solutions company based in Cape Town that launched just over 11 years ago.
“I used to work in corporate before I resigned and I enjoy waking up every day to produce content and service my customers,” shares Johann.
“It started in my daughter’s bedroom – I used to take photographs of weddings and corporate functions, and then it just kind of grew,” explains Johann.
As it started to grow, Johann’s wife Viola suggested that juggling his growing creative career and corporate day job wasn’t sustainable. “I basically doubled my revenue in my moonlighting,” he shares.
“So, with the support of my wife, I resigned – traded the fancy car and got a caddy and some tripods. I started from my daughter’s room, we negotiated going to the garage and we got two staff – that was in year three,” he adds.
By the fourth year of business, Johann and his team were able to move into an office studio and add videography to their business offerings. “Then with more staff, we grew and now we’re a small company with big clients,” he says.
With a business named iPhoto SA, Johann and his team rely on trusted, powerhouse Apple products for their daily tasks.
“Currently we’re running MacBook Pros across the team. And with the new Apple silicone – jeez, battery life, speed, efficiency – it’s really changed my workflow,” enthuses Johann.
But the magic, Johann feels, lies in Apple products’ abilities to multitask with little to no lag or taxing battery impact.
“The fact that I can do three jobs on one battery charge and not having a little juice pack or plugging in at a client – that’s definitely changed,” he adds.
“We’re shooting raw, the team converts the videos, I convert the photographs and we put it in our ‘factory’, which is our Apple Mac, and it just does it.”
“It gives an output which delivers the efficiency and the quality that our clients brief us on – so, my business does not exist without our Mac system and our workflow – the speed is totally efficient,” he says.
Without the right tools, running a full-scale creative studio can be an editor’s nightmare – especially when rendering large-size projects. However, Johann and his team find support and peace of mind with their more than capable Mac workstations.
“When you switch on any Mac, it just gives you the performance. It allows you to import, it allows you to do what you need to do from an editing point of view – and it renders really fast. I’ve become a bit of an Apple addict,” beams Johann.
For Johann, Apple products are woven into every aspect of his lifestyle from work, to play, to home.
“From my Apple watch, while I’m shooting, I can see what’s happening on my mails. When we’re doing presentations, we ‘Apple TV’ into the client screens,” he says.
As a regular Apple aficionado, Johann regularly checks in with his chosen iStore to maintain, upgrade, and tune up his many Apple and Mac products.
“Walking into the iStore, everybody is knowledgeable on the product and they’re not just selling me something. They actually ask me – ‘What do you need? What do you do?’ – and that’s what I appreciate,” Johann says.
And considering the amount of devices his team uses, Johann makes the most of the upgrade and trade-in offers available at iStore. “I actually take our old Macs and I upgrade it and trade it in,” he adds.
As for what’s next for his growing business, Johann sees them gaining more traction, expanding, and signing on more big clients – all with the support of new and improving Apple Mac products.
“I would like to go to Africa and abroad and I want to grow the business,” shares Johann. “So, having MacBook Pros in my business is actually a timeline of growth.
In the next five years, our growth would probably be that we get bigger and better editing suites where we’ll actually split the team and have a videographer and an editor – and not a hybrid role.”
“The hope and dream is that we can solidify the Johannesburg market in the next two years as well,” he adds.
Visit iStore today to learn more about the M1 and M2 range of MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros here.
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