**Great news! We’re hard at work updating this guide and will be re-releasing it shortly. In the meantime, check out The Photo Life Social Media Guide!** Today thousands of smart photographers got the latest Dispatch from The Photo Life. Inside is a guide for expanding your photography business. In addition, the Dispatch is sporting a sleek new design. What you’ll get: 1) Strategies for Expansion 2) Case Studies from Two Top Photographers who Successfully Added Associates to their Businesses
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5 Ways Workflows Saved my @$$…and could save yours too!
Since Spring is in the air, we’re kicking off a series of Best Business Practice posts from the tried-and-true team of ACEs. Get to know them on The Photo Life and learn how their tips and tricks can help streamline your studio! I’ve tried my hardest to keep a mental to-do list. Laying in bed at night, thinking of all of the things that need to get done and promising myself, “Yes, I will definitely be able to remember this in the morning if I just make the list into a rhyme.” And inevitably, so many of my to-do’s were to-forgotten’s! Business can be overwhelming, especially when working with numerous clients over the course of the year. You are in charge of keeping track of new
Thumbtack: The Theory of Goals, Systems, and Making them Stick!
Leeann is a ShootQ Accredited Consultant (or ACE). Contact her to schedule a custom ShootQ consultation! You’ve taken the time to write down your goals, whether that be on your favorite little notepad, in an elegantly worded blog post, or in the back corners of your mind. These goals are where you want to be, and where you envision your business to stand in the next few months or years. But how do you make them a reality? That’s always the tough part, isn’t it? Moving your big goals into realized dreams is one of the most difficult parts of being a business owner and entrepreneur, but it’s done over and over again by some of the most successful people in the industry. What’s the
Don’t Do It Alone: Build A Team
I have never run a business by myself and I can not image ever doing it. I recently led an open forum discussion with a group of photographers. The ongoing themes I heard were, “I’m overwhelmed. I’m having a hard time doing this without any help. Coming tonight was what I really needed as I need to get input from others.” Hearing all of these comments reminded me we all need to work with a team at some level. If you had the chance to read my last post: Things to Know Before You Go with Associates, you have gotten a look at the associate photographer part of my team. Not only do I have three wonderful photographers, who are all employees, but my team
Things to Know Before You Go with Associates
A few years ago “associate photographer” was the catch phrase within the wedding photography industry. It seemed you couldn’t be a legitimate photography studio unless you had at least one associate photographer. The concept was easy: on the days your already booked, book an associate. Unfortunately, a simple idea turned into a complicated reality for many photographers. As I watched many studios fold their attempts at working with associates, we launched our associate label, The Collection with three amazing photographers. We immediately booked over 40 weddings, to be performed within the first year, and continued to book weddings for an even more successful second year! This wasn’t luck or a case of being in the right place at the right time. We just chose to spend
The Value of Routine
When we think of athletes we typically think in terms of competition, power, speed, and grace. We remember greats like Michael Jordan sinking game winning shots, Tiger Woods nailing perfect drives, or Rodger Federer placing un-hittable serves. What we rarely think of when we think of sports are routines. That’s odd though isn’t it? If we think about it, sports are absolutely filled with routine. In fact, we don’t have to think about it long before we realize that the very best athletes are those who have gone to great lengths to perfect their routine. Golfers go through the same motions every time before they hit a put. Basketball players dribble the ball the exact same amount of times every time they step up to
Your Guide to Building Business Systems (An Email Course)
So, you want to be a successful photographer? We want that too! That’s why we’ve designed this email course. It will act as your guide to building a strong foundation for your business. Running a successful photography business isn’t easy, but it gets easier when you have a clear vision and solid business systems. Sign up for this email course for the complete guide. You don’t have to be a super hero As a small business owner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by daily decision-making and tasks. Sometimes it seems that you’re expected to be all things to all people – and do a good job wearing many different hats! The reality is that you can’t do it all. Successful photographers understand this, which is
Are You a Specialist or a Generalist?
Are you a Specialist or Generalist? Today we’ll talk about what this means, why it matters & how to figure out which category you belong in. Specialization and generalization are two totally different approaches to doing business. Business owners tend to adopt a bit of both practices, but doing so actually ends up hurting their business. I’ll admit that over the years I’ve done my share of this as well. That’s why I want to start this dialogue and share some of what I’ve learned about making intentional choices and clearly developing a purpose for a photography business. Are you a Generalist? A generalist is a person (or business) whose skills, interests, and/or habits are evenly distributed and unspecialized. A generalist has NOT chosen a
Creating a Schedule to Maximize Productivity
When we work for other people, having work hours, weekly meetings, and daily tasks is practically expected. However, when working for ourselves, it’s very easy to let time slip by if we don’t create a schedule for our productivity. The great thing about working for ourselves is that we can create a schedule that works with our own peak productivity and distraction times. If we know that we are most productive with post-production late at night, and we have the freedom to wake up later in the day, than we can create a schedule that allows us to focus in this way. If we know that we’re most alert to responding to emails first thing in the morning, than we can create a schedule that
3 Quick Tips for Husband and Wife Photography Teams
This is part three of The Photo Life Blog Series, True Life: I’m Married to My Business Partner. This series explores how husband and wife photography teams find success when their business and personal lives collide. 1) Compartmentalize. Decide up front who is going to be responsible for what tasks that need to get done in the business. Even if there is some overlap, it’s so great to know where the buck stops on all the different parts of your workflow. That way if something doesn’t get done, then it’s really clear who needs to step it up. And the ever-dreaded blame game can be avoided! 🙂 2) Go out on a date with your spouse, leave your business partners at home. Talk about The Office,