I just got back from SYNC yesterday. I’m still on Cloud 9 you guys. My heart is full and I am so inspired to rock my business this year. If you were there & I didn’t get to hug your neck, I’m sorry about that. This is your virtual hug & I cannot wait to see you all again next year in Ft. Myers. You’ll hear more from me soon on that, but it seriously can’t get here quick enough. I miss you all already! You are seriously my forever family. And I am so grateful for SYNC. Darty & Michelle, if you are the difference makers.

Now last week’s episode was a long one and pretty deep. So this one is a little more light and fun. If you haven’t listened to last week’s, please go back & do that. I believe it will be one that will change your business and life for the better.

We’ve all been there, those times when money is a little tighter, when you need to get more serious about your business, but the funds just aren’t showing up in your bank account fast enough yet. I have been through this myself so I know what it’s like. So today I want to share some tools you can use in your business if you are on a shoestring budget.

That being said, we don’t need to get stuck here in “frugal land”. It’s ok to spend money on your business. There are things that we spend money on that are expenses as well as investments. I am a cheapskate at heart. I grew up with not a lot and I have some old baggage that I am still working on to get rid of. It’s not that I’m afraid to spend money. I am just very careful & purposeful with it. I want to see a return on my investment & know that the money I put out into the world will be working for me. That’s probably a topic for another day, but one that we all need to be aware of.

The income will come. You have to believe that. I am all about the mindset around here. Ask any of my students. They will tell you that “what you put out into the world is what you get back”. So if you are constantly looking for a deal, a coupon code, a freebie, well, that’s the kind of clients you will probably attract too. Just keep that in mind as you go about your everyday life. Watch the thoughts that come up around money & see if you can’t switch them to more abundant type thoughts.

Ok, but back to the main reason for this podcast, there are things we can save a few bucks on because they are available to us. A lot of the tools I’m going to tell you about, I started as free versions. As my business and income have increased, I upgraded to a more pro version. Now, that means paying a small subscription or an annual fee, but I’m ok with that. These tools helped me get my start so I’m happy to invest in them now.

These are in no particular order. I’m just gonna go down the list here and I’ll be sure that all of the links are in the show notes for you as well. You can grab those at seniorstudiosuccess.com/podcast.

Task Management - Trello

If you’ve been around me for a while, you know my obsession with Trello. I use this tool for so many things (to do’s, project workflows, processes, social media, marketing campaigns, model team launch plans, vacation packing lists, Christmas & birthdays, etc.) but let’s put it in the task management category. Trello is a place to house & organize all of your ideas. Most of us creatives have lots of them! I can’t brag enough about this tool.

Appointment Scheduling - Calendly

There are several scheduling apps out there. I chose Calendly a long time ago & absolutely love it. It syncs with my Google calendar & keeps me from overbooking myself. We use it for scheduling consults, session premieres, sessions, order pick ups. All the things. Now, the pro version is only $12 a year & has text reminders. It’s well worth the money!

Storage & Easy Accessibility - Google Drive

Google has an amazing suite of products, but one of my favorites is Google Drive. We use it for lots of things in the studio because it’s easy to access anywhere - spreadsheets for lead tracking, email templates, storing our magazines & getting quick download links to clients, writing & storing processes. You could store social media images here if you wanted as well for easy access if you wanted, but you will have to pay for storage if you go beyond what they give you for free. So just be careful there.

Business Phone - Google Voice

15 years ago when I had a commercial space I had a landline. That was expensive! When I moved from that space I transferred that number to a mobile phone & Verizon let me have it added to my account for $10 a month. That was a huge savings! Well, a few years ago, they changed it all up on me, and it was going to cost me about $80 a month again. Ugh. I didn’t want to deal with that, so we started researching all the ways to get this bill lower. Eventually we settled on a Google Voice number. I transferred that same number I got 15 years ago to a free Google Voice number for a $20 fee. I’m loving life now. Haha! I’m a big fan of keeping business & personal separate & that begins with who can access you during the hours you say are business and the hours you say are personal. Separate the two. You won’t regret it.

Balancing Life & Business - Google Calendars

Ok, while I’m talking about Google products, let me bring up Google Calendars. I have multiple calendars for all the different parts of my life - personal, my kids, session availability, meetings, marketing campaigns & social media. Here’s why. All of these things have to work together. You have to see the big picture in order to stay organized, not get overwhelmed, plan things out & make good decisions. That’s why I love my google calendars.

Website - Photobiz

Your website is one thing that you absolutely need to invest in for your business. I could do a whole podcast on this one topic alone. But I will just say this. Don’t go cheap on your website. It is the one tool to convert your audience into leads. I’m not saying you need to spend thousands of dollars on design & set up. But it has to do a good job at getting people on the phone or in the door. I have been with Photobiz pretty much from the beginning. They have one of the best products out there when it comes to websites for photographers and you cannot beat their customer service. If you call, you are going to talk to a real live human being that you can understand & will actually help you. Plus their websites are extremely user friendly.

Social Media - Planoly

If planning out social media is tough for you, there are several great options out there to get you started. I love Planoly for planning out Instagram. It’s free for up to 30 posts a month, but the next level up is only $10 a month. Not bad at all! Planoly is awesome if you are a really visual person and want to see how your grid looks. Plus the auto post feature is amazing!

Client Management - HoneyBook

This is going to be the most expensive tool I’m going to talk about here today, but it is the cheapest employee you will ever hire. I’m talking about HoneyBook, my client management system. I wrote an entire blog post a while back about why I use HoneyBook & I’ll be sure to link it in the show notes. But just briefly, here's a few reasons I love it:

Project Workspaces - One place for everything! Proposals, Invoices, Payments, Contracts, Questionnaires, Emails, Notes - EVERYTHING for a client’s project in one easy place. No more losing track of where something is saved :)
The Project Pipeline - At a quick glance I can see how many sessions are in each phase - session planning, post production, order prep, etc. What I love most is that the project pipeline is customizable so I have created a few phases that make sense just for my studio.
All the templates - This is a HUGE time saver! Design your own or use one of theirs as a starting point - contracts, invoices, proposals, email, workflow - everything.
And there’s a mobile app so that I can check on anything in my business right from my phone.

I believe it’s $400 a year, but seriously think about that. You couldn’t pay an employee to do all that this tool does for that amount of money a year. I’ll include a link in the show notes that will give you a discount for your first year and there’s a trial that you can use as well while you are setting it up. Let me know if you like it!

Accounting - Wave

Ok, I have not personally used Wave. Don’t get this confused with the driving app. But it’s a free accounting software that is pretty powerful as far as I know. I am seriously considering moving to this because Quickbooks just quadrupled their prices on me. Ouch! But Wave has invoicing, credit card processing, connects with your credit card and bank accounts to download and categorize transactions, profit & loss statements, and lots more from what I read. Of course, you can always upgrade to include payroll and other features and they do have card processing fees, but they are right in line with all the other ones out there. If you don’t have your accounting quite set up, I would give this tool a try.

Time Management - Toggl

Last one. I am all about productivity, so I’m going to introduce you guys to a tool that is going to help you understand where your time is going. You may not actually want to know that some days, right? Haha! Some days I don’t! But seriously, if you really don’t know how your days keep getting eaten up, if you’re curious or you want to get more efficient in the hours you have to run your business, use Toggl for a while to track your time. You will be amazed at what you find out about yourself and your business.

Ok you guys. I hope this was helpful. Maybe it will save you a few bucks this year and make your businesses run a little smoother this year.

And if you found this episode or any of the others helpful, would you take 2 minutes to leave a rating & review? It helps so much with getting the word out about what we are trying to do here - create a better situation for all of us, pushing you to build a more profitable, productive & purposeful business so that you can spend more time doing what you love with the ones you love.

As always, let’s continue the conversation over in the Senior Studio Success Facebook Group. I’m always up for a good business chat. Have a great week y’all!

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