Amy Bolton was born and raised in Poway, California and lived there until she was 17. She then moved to the California desert to attend college, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood Development. After living their whole lives in California, Amy and her husband, Paul, have recently relocated to Texas and are looking forward to their new adventure.
Together Amy and Paul operate and run Yours Truly Media. They began their work in media together as a commercial production firm. When some friends asked them to make a video of their wedding, seeing their reaction to it was such a positive experience that they decided to create Yours Truly Media which specializes in wedding videography and photography services.
Yours Truly Media trains all of their teams to work in the same style that has been so successful. This includes training of photo shooters, video shooters, and the editors. All packages include two shooters to include as much memorable footage as possible. Their packages are designed to be 100% all inclusive. All of the specialty filming equipment is provided at no additional cost. In some instances, Yours Truly Media can even include drone footage of your wedding.
Why did you decide to create your own business?
Over six years ago, my husband and I were asked by a mother in our church to film her daughter’s wedding. At the time we were involved in commercial video production and had not handled a wedding video before, so we hesitantly said yes. After finishing and delivering the wedding video and seeing the wonderful reactions to it, we were both hooked. We actually wound up booking another wedding on the spot with one of their bridesmaids and Yours Truly Media was born shortly after that.
What do you love most about the industry you are in?
I really love that we get to be a part of such a monumental day for our couples. Their weddings really are the start of their forever and it’s such an honor to be part of that journey and preserve these memories for them to share.
What does a typical day consist of for you?
A typical day for me is filled with chasing after my little ones and lots of calls and meetings with potential couples. I talk to potential couples and help them get booked and choose the package that works for them.
What keeps you motivated?
My biggest motivation and why for all I do is my family. Knowing that I am showing my daughters they can do whatever they put their minds to is one of my number one motivators.
How do you motivate others?
I motivate others by trying to help them see the positives in all situations and getting creative when it comes to handling objections we face.
How has your company grown from its early days to now?
Yours Truly Media has grown massively in the past six years. In the early days we were only doing weddings in California with our small team that’s still with us today. Over the past three years we have seen more rapid growth and have opened up more locations throughout the U.S. As more time went by, we’ve gotten better at what we do and also having more couples talking about us and telling their friends about us. We have teams all over that do the filming and our editing for the videos. It did take time to put our teams together and get everybody in place. Currently, we serve couples in 28 states and destination weddings as well.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
My inspiration comes from my faith and family. When times get tough, I can rely on God and His help along with my family, and knowing I have to keep going for them.
Who has been a role model to you and why?
When I was in college, I worked for a university. It was a private university that was owned and operated by a husband and wife. I remember thinking how cool it would be to do something like that with Paul.
How do you maintain a solid work life balance?
Maintaining a solid work/life balance is definitely tough and something I’m still learning. Anyone that knows me, knows that my girls are always with me. It’s fun that we can include them, and they look forward to going to work with us. Our team has become their friends, and they love spending time with them.
What traits do you possess that makes a successful leader?
With the team I lead, I do the job right alongside them. They know they can come to me anytime with anything, and I’ll do my best to help. Given that I’m in the trenches with them, it helps me to be creative and find different ways of helping them adapt to changes in our industry and handle the challenges that may arise.
What suggestions do you have for someone starting in your industry?
I would suggest they find their niche. You have to figure out what makes you different.
What has been the hardest obstacle you’ve overcome?
The hardest obstacle for me has been my own self-doubt, but I realized I could persist through challenges. You have to just be yourself. You have to just see yourself do things that you thought you could not do, and as you do that enough, you start to think, okay, I can keep doing this, I can keep going. That has been the biggest thing.
What is one piece of advice that you have never forgotten?
Don’t give up. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. A professor told me this is college and it stuck with me.
What is your biggest accomplishment?
My children are my biggest accomplishment.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to others?
Keep going, no matter what. If you believe in something, go after it.
What is the biggest life lesson you have learned?
We have learned to never hire friends or family. Sometimes you have to learn how to separate that business part of your life from the personal.
Outside of work, what defines you as a person?
I love to spend time with our family and friends. We enjoy traveling together.
What trends in your industry excite you?
Personally, I always look forward to the different design trends within weddings. It’s fun to see how those adapt and change often within events.
But paying attention to trends is not a focus of our business because we don’t do much on the coordinating and planning side. For us, we’re mostly concerned with creating timeless videos and photos that our couples can look back on. For our work, we’re not following trends, but from time to time we take a look at what is changing or what is going on.
Where do you see you and your company in 5 years?
In five years, I would love to see Yours Truly Media have teams and bases in every state across the United States, as well as develop other offerings in the industry.
We will keep doing what we are doing and looking for great talent to bring onboard as we look to expand to other states and markets we are not in yet. There is a lot of research involved in the process of making sure it makes sense to expand into another area.
Explain the proudest day of your professional life.
When we hit over $1 million, that was a target that was exciting. I believe we accomplished that in our third year of business.