How The Big Event transformed their employee management with Camelo

Located in Tennessee, The Big Event is a family owned and operated photography studio specializing in kids' photography, weddings, corporate events, and more. With over 15 years of experience in the field, the studio strives to provide customers with images that not only tell their story but also become a part of their family history, cherished for generations to come.

The Big Event struggled most with employee management like hiring, scheduling, and payroll processing. While many solutions existed, they were too costly for their small business budget. That's when they stumbled upon Camelo, which turned out to be exactly what they needed—a simple, affordable way to keep their business running smoothly.

The turning point for the commercial photographer

John King—the owner of The Big Event—is a professional photographer and started out shooting stock and doing all commercial work. Part of this commercial work was taking pictures of Santa for ad agencies and stock photography.

At the beginning, he never did any portrait work or children photography. One day, one of the Santas asked if John could take pictures of him with families and children at an event he was doing. “I thought, why not?” he remembered. That was normally a down time of the year for him so he agreed.

Since that day, I have grown my Santa business to over thirty five thousand children served per season.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

Scheduling became challenges for a small business

For scheduling, The Big Event used pen and paper since these were the fastest and most available tools. However, problems started rising over time. Scheduling process became slow and took time, especially in busy seasons. Mistakes—like forgetting to update someone’s shifts or miscalculating work hours—kept happening.

“Communicating with employees was difficult,” John recalled. He also shares that he realized hiring, scheduling, and payroll are always the hardest.

There are plenty of things to help with that, but for most small businesses, they are just too expensive and not a reality.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

Finding Camelo: the right fit

After facing so many challenges in the management process, John decided to be more resourceful and seek different ways to efficiently get the same job done. “Yours (Camelo) and a couple of other apps have changed everything for me.” John said.

One day, John found Camelo and immediately got interested.

I was immediately hooked! It (Camelo) was so simple to figure out and start using right away.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

John also shared that The Big Event’s employees took it naturally. Everything has been such a smooth and pleasant experience for them.

Efficiency boost with digital scheduling on Camelo

Before Camelo, John would always print a paper calendar or use a whiteboard to fill in names and times. Now he just breezes through the process with the copy and paste.

It is so quick and easy to see everyone's schedule and no more forgetting the days they requested off.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

“Having them put their availability in is extremely helpful,” he said.

The features that make a difference

Of all the Camelo features that John loves, he finds clocking in with camera is the most helpful one. “It also helps tremendously with the ability to clock in with a selfie. No more cheating (laugh),” he shared.

With Camelo, now the owner of The Big Event can save time for what he finds most important. “Camelo saves me countless hours during the year so I can focus on work instead of scheduling,” John explained. “I couldn't ask for a better app to handle our scheduling,” he added.

When asked if he would recommend Camelo to others, he excitedly agreed.

Absolutely recommend. The ease of use and time savings alone is worth it.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

Moving forward together

About the experience with using Camelo, the owner doesn’t hide how content he is.

I can't say enough good things about the Camelo team. Not only have they put together an incredible app, but they are genuinely helpful and so easy to work with.

— John King, owner of The Big Event

“Even when the problem was me,” he added. “The only issues I've had (which were my own mistakes) were fixed and handled by your team very quickly and professionally,” John continued.

As The Big Event’s growth journey continues, they decide to keep using the app. “I am loving all the features and getting to know the app better,” John excitedly said. With Camelo supporting their journey, The Big Event has transformed scheduling from a daily challenge into a background task, and now they can fully focus on what they do best: creating perfect photographs for customers.