Military Wife Builds Successful Business Out Of Necessity

A military wife who recognized frequent moves for her husband’s career made finding a worthwhile job difficult decided to strike out on her own.

She also wanted to help other military families.

The result is that Vista Bartholomew has built VistaPix Media into a full service enterprise offering a variety of services including photo scanning, slideshow creation and VHS conversions.

The mother of two children, who has a passion for business, Bartholomew found it difficult to locate meaningful and successful personal employment while traveling and moving with her family.

Originally from Seattle, she moved to Florida into a much smaller community with not many job opportunities.

Bartholomew stated, "It is difficult to find something to do that is rewarding that you can bring with you.”

That was the primary reason she opened her own shop that could be conducted over the Internet and by phone..

Like many entrepreneurs her company grew from her own life experiences.

Bartholomew loved creating slideshows for family and friends and, in July 2012, she decided to make a business of it.

As she said, Bartholomew started with a basic website and funded her business out of pocket.

Currently VistaPix Media is funded solely by income sales.

There are many facets of VistaPix Media that make this company unique? Bartholomew explained, “Our pricing is much more competitive because there is no outsourcing: we do not nickel and dime people.”

She continued, “In order to get a job done right sometimes costs customers hundreds of dollars. Here at VistaPix Media, I do not feel like we should be over charging for something simply because people can’t do it themselves.”

Bartholomew also believes the customer service at VistaPix media makes this company stand apart.

“We have a very personalized service, we recognize everyone’s names and maintain a very personal relationship with our clients.”

VistaPix media is also unique in that they send customers a pre-paid package for their film in order to create a flawless and simple process.

Bartholomew noted that, “the average turn around time for an order is between two and three weeks. For rush order the turn around would be three days; it all depends on when the customer needs it.”

In the future Bartholomew said VistaPix Media expects to hire another three people and doubleits equipment.

Bartholomew added, “We are currently functioning with no debt and no loans and we want to remain that way.”

She went on, “We will continue to grow slowly and steadily in order to continue to offer our prices and turnaround.”

Bartholomew also believes, “it is tremendously rewarding to be a business owner and learn as you go, beyond what you learn in college. Owning a business runs a gambit for the amount of information that you can gain.”

Bartholomew advised future business owners to, “start with a good business plan, do not just jump in.” She admitted, “I know from experience that this is very important.”

Bartholomew continued, “Research your competitor! That is how we made our niche and figured out how we can compete. We research on a weekly basis and that is how we stay competitive!”