Case Studies

The first time Twig & Olive Photography sat down to set up a studio management system, it was a difficult and time consuming experience. There were many new processes to document, email templates to create and questionnaires to build out. But going through the process made them to examine their entire client experience, from initial inquiry to final product delivery.

When Leeann Marie started her photography business, The Leeann Marie Collective, she knew making an investment upfront was imperative. For her, that meant setting up ShootQ before she had any clients. “Getting setup was pretty intuitive,” she recalls. “Plus, ShootQ provides support and setup help for people who haven’t used it yet. When I booked my first wedding, I was able to hit the ground running.”

EMBRACING HER TRUE CALLING Abbey Kyhl never planned to be a photographer, but after years as an advertising executive, photography found her. Driven and self-taught with a lot of passion and dedication, she began her photography career shooting portraits. As her business grew, she realized she couldn’t do it all and decided she needed to choose a specialty. She always loved weddings, so it made perfect sense to focus on them. Now, eight years later, Abbey enjoys a referral-only business and a work-life balance to envy. But how does she do it? For Abbey, it’s simple: “Find your ideal client and treat them like gold. It all comes down to how you treat clients and the experience you give them. They refer family, friends and coworkers. The best way to be successful is personal recommendations. I love my clients and go the extra mile for them.” IMPLEMENTING SYSTEMS TO MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCIES Abbey first learned about ShootQ in Eric O’Connor’s master class at WPPI. “Eric is the most amazing wedding photographer and a genius with his business,” she said. “He talked about the systems he uses, and ShootQ was the big one. I signed up as soon as I got home and have loved it ever since. I couldn’t function without ShootQ!” Abbey uses many of the features ShootQ offers, including contracts, workflows, email templates, payments, questionnaires and more. “I use it quite a lot, and I absolutely love it,” she said. “I focus on being efficient, and ShootQ seamlessly integrates with other systems in my business. It makes my life so much easier. I’ve cut so much time on the back end of things, I save 20 hours per client. I used to have an assistant, but now I don’t need one.” PREPARING THE PIECES BEFORE SETUP As far as how easy or challenging ShootQ setup is, Abbey says it’s all in the preparation. “Eric was good to warn his students that the setup was intense, so I knew I had to have all my stuff ready,” she said. “I didn’t think it was that bad, because I was prepared. I had a list of what you need to have before you start. It was not tricky at all to take what I was using, put it in ShootQ and just start using it.” “ShootQ is your studio assistant,” said Abbey. “You can’t just hire someone and not have to sit down and educate them. Setting up ShootQ is essentially the same thing; you have to be prepared and know what you want. It only took me an afternoon to setup. I didn’t think it was intense at all.” Abbey offers some sage advice for new ShootQ users. “Make sure you know what you want to use ShootQ for before you start. Then have your materials ready before you sit down and start inputting information.” AUTOMATING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE Automating recurring processes is a key benefit of ShootQ. “I love the automation and how I can pre-schedule things,” said Abbey. “Plus, it’s really professional. I like how it is personalized and presented to clients. My business is on higher price end, and if you want to live in that space, everything you do has to look streamlined and professional, and be delivered on time.” “For me, I really love that ShootQ is online instead of a desktop download, because I access it from different computers,” said Abbey. “I use the app at every wedding. I love it! I live and die by that app.” FINDING THE PERFECT FIT FOR HER BUSINESS Prior to discovering ShootQ, Abbey had completely given up on her former solution. “It was too difficult, so I just stopped using it,” she said. ShootQ’s integration with payment processing solutions like Braintree was a big selling point for Abbey. “I love that ShootQ integrates with other systems. It hooks up to my account and deposits payments automatically. I don’t have to think about it.” For Abbey, the price difference is worth every penny. “Time is money,” she said. “How much time did I spend doing all the stuff my former solution couldn’t do? ShootQ could do it all for an additional $25 a month. It didn’t make sense not to go the ShootQ route.” BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE Abbey is a firm believer in building successful working relationships, not only with her clients, but also with her service providers,” she said. “You should definitely find the company that works best for you and make a personal connection with them. The ShootQ team is so nice, friendly and helpful. They know who I am. It’s so great to have a personal connection. If I have a problem, I can email and know I’ll get the help I need.” ShootQ also helps her put her best foot forward with her clients. “My brides are very detail-oriented and love that I am on top of the details. It gives me more time to focus on their stories and wedding days.” TEACHING OTHERS ABOUT SHOOTQ “I am the poster child for ShootQ,” said Abbey. “There is not anyone who works with me who isn’t aware that I love ShootQ. I talk about it more than the average person. I know what a difference it can make and what it did for me. It’s making a huge difference in my business. If you want to take your business to the next level and run it better, ShootQ is one of the essential pieces of the puzzle!” “I’ve cut so much time on the back end of things, I save 20 hours per client. I used to have an assistant, but now I don’t need one.” - Abbey Kyhl

A lifelong photographer with a full-time professional business for more than 10 years, Carla Ten Eyck is part of a very tight-knit photographer community. They are friends, confidants and colleagues, and they often share knowledge and business practices.

Before implementing ShootQ, Sara France was using a “crazy, ridiculous” spreadsheet to track her things to do, and the order in which to do them. “It was insane to manage,” she said. Enter ShootQ, and it was a whole new world.

Boudoir and women’s portrait photographer Molly Marie has been using ShootQ since she launched her professional photography business seven years ago. “I was looking for something to keep track of all my clients,” she recalls.

STREAMLINING OPERATIONS AND FINDING MORE TIME After 20 years in business, Misty Miotto and her team have an impressive number of weddings to their credit – more than 1,400 and counting. During the busy season, they often shoot six weddings a week! Given this volume, smooth operations are imperative to have any life outside of work. “ShootQ makes things easier,” said Misty. “We can manage everything in one place with ShootQ, and we have gotten rid of a lot of paperwork, which can be overwhelming. ShootQ provides better options.” Streamlining their business operations and automating many processes through ShootQ has also saved Misty and her husband/second shooter, Nelio Miotto, a lot of time they used to spend gathering information, creating contracts, faxing, etc. “We needed some family time, especially now that we home school our kids, and ShootQ has helped us achieve that,” said Misty. GETTING SETUP AND UP TO SPEED Depending on your comfort level with technology, ShootQ can be overwhelming for some users at first, but ShootQ’s complimentary Setup Assistance program has proven to be invaluable for new users. “It can be intense at first, but someone walking me through it made it a lot easier,” said Misty. “Once you understand it, it’s easy and user friendly.” Both Misty and Nelio use ShootQ to handle their photography business’s finances and contracts. “I’m definitely very hands on,” said Misty. COMPREHENSIVE FEATURES TO MEET VARIOUS BUSINESS NEEDS While Misty is already using a lot of the features ShootQ offers, she says she still learns new things often. “I put all of my forms and questionnaires into ShootQ,” she said. “I can get all of the information I need in one place, without having to search through email.” But choosing a favorite feature is difficult. “I really love the email functionality; it allows me to send packages to my clients right away,” said Misty. “I also like the analytics a lot and love having all of my tips and questionnaires online, so my brides can access them whenever needed.” CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOLUTION Misty did consider some alternative solutions when she was looking for a studio management software five years ago, but most alternatives were not comparable and didn’t pull her or her colleagues in. “We would use ShootQ regardless,” she said. “I really loved and trusted the people who created it. They were very sincere in wanting to help photographers, and that sparked my interest. Plus, they shared a lot about it with the [photographer] community, so I was curious to learn more.” In addition, Misty also relied on word of mouth and other photographers’ experiences. “I had done a lot of research on calendars and learned how things often break when the software changes, but ShootQ doesn’t, thank goodness!” said Misty. “If it works, I stay with things a long time, because I’m a loyal person. Once I got it, I was so glad I was with ShootQ.” BENEFITS OF THE CLOUD When it comes to the cloud and ShootQ’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model, Misty couldn’t be happier. “I love the mobile access, so I can find whatever I need anytime, anywhere,” said Misty. “Simplicity for the bride is really important to me, and ShootQ helps me keep things simple with everything in one spot. It’s convenient and there’s no more faxing! Plus, ShootQ looks nice.” FOCUSING ON THE ART As a longtime professional photographer, Misty and her colleagues believe photography is about the art. The business processes just come with the territory. Fortunately, ShootQ allows them to shoot more and work less.“We want to focus on art,” said Misty Miotto, “and ShootQ definitely lets you do that.” SHARING WHAT YOU KNOW When asked if she shares her experience with ShootQ with others, Misty said, “Absolutely! We have regular house parties with our business partners, where everyone brings one new skill they’ve learned and shares it with the group. It keeps everyone really informed. We also talk about it at our PUG [Photographer User Group] meetings. I think a lot of photographers would love it.”

Before Don Bryant Thompson signed up for ShootQ, he had 500 pounds worth of paper files. His processes were “archaic” and required a lot of unnecessary work. “ShootQ completely changed the way I run my business,” he said. “The tools are fantastic! They got me organized.”