Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Vollum.
Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It is a long and convoluted journey! I spent about 20 years in education at all levels. I started as an elementary physical education teacher (which is one of the greatest jobs in the world!). I then moved to high school as I was coaching multiple sports and then ending up as a head basketball coach and athletic director. My entrepreneur spirit shown through at each job I took on as I found ways to make each place better no matter what barriers were present. I enjoyed the challenge when people said “it could not be done” or wasn’t worth the effort. That was simply a challenge that I was determined to overcome. After about 15 years in K-12, I left to pursue a doctoral degree full time at the University of Minnesota in Kinesiology. After a couple of months in my program, I was offered a full time teaching position coordinating the teaching programs in physical and health education at the University of Minnesota. Again, I took an “outside the box” plan to build and find success with my students who went on to do great things in K-12 education.
In 2016, I decided I did not want to live with the decisions of others, nor did I want to waste time in meetings, committees or have to live by decisions made by people who are bureaucratically far away from what is happening in the real world.
Photography was always a hobby and passion of mine so I went all in to start my first business; MVP Photography.
I sold my house, bought an RV and traveled the country for a year setting up my business. I started building momentum and reached a point where I was needing to hire employees. At the same time, Jim Linhoff was looking to retire and sell the family business. Linhoff Photo is a long respected business in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. We agreed upon an acquisition in 2022. Linhoff does WAY more than I had done in the past with a retail location and many printing and restoration services that I did not have experience in. While, with the success of the long-standing business, there were needs to continue that success. Again, with an entrepreneur spirit, I thought outside the box and made changes (some questioned!) and made Linhoff Photo a success today.
My biggest secret? Hire great people! I have THE BEST employees that have helped me navigate the past three years as I took over the business. They are the face of Linhoff and I am incredibly proud of what they do!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
First of all, I have never really made decisions based on money. I have been incredibly lucky to have support from my parents to allow me to have that attitude. So I may have a different confidence in leaving a great job to start my own business. I trusted in myself that I would make my own business work!
But, although I loved my RV, I spent three years as a very poor person. I did not have others to support so, although stressful at times, I knew I could make it through. There were times when I couldn’t pay bills, but I (maybe ignorantly) knew I would get caught up as my business grew. It did grow and it ultimately grew to where I was going to need to hire employees.
Taking over Linhoff was a huge challenge. I fell that I knew and understood the sports photography side of the business but the retail side was very new to me. Again, I took it on with a pragmatic and entrepreneurially spirit. My goal was to find a way to make every customer feel great. Not only was the product needing to be awesome, but so was the experience working with Linhoff. As I learned and then put in systems to make sure we met that goal every day, I am lucky to have a wonderful group of people working with me at Linhoff who, ultimately, are responsible for us reaching our goal.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Linhoff Photo?
We have two sides to our business. Our retail services provide printing, archiving, restorations, and anything else that relates to anything imagery.
The other side to our business is sports/dance youth photography. Linhoff is a leader in team/individual photography. We work with some of the largest high school and youth leagues, not only in the metro area, but outside the metro too.
We have a reputation and pride ourselves on 1- Awesome photos; 2- Great service
We love our customers and love that they come in just to say hi even if they don’t have anything to pick up!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Great question. I don’t think anyone knows! Technology is changing very rapidly. I do believe that in order to stay relevant, we need to understand and utilize the technology. Efficiency is a very important part of our business and leveraging any and all technology to maximize efficiency will help keep us relevant and thriving.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.linhoff.com
- Instagram: linhoff_photo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linhoffphoto
