Planning Your Most Intentional Year Yet: Part Two - Goal Setting

In part one of this blog series on Planning Your Most Intentional Year Yet we made a few lists.  We evaluated our year and wrote down what went right and what went wrong. We did a little dreaming about how our perfect year would look.  And then we made our Yes / No List.  

We created boundaries around with our time, around our businesses and our families.  With those boundaries in place we can better protect our resources and focus on our true priorities. 

Next up . . . we’re going to start setting some goals.

A goal, by its very definition, is a target, a purpose or an intention.  It’s the place we want to finish.

In order to accomplish a goal you have to set your eyes on the finish line and essentially put blinders on to everything else - all the distractions, the temptations and the noise.  You have to focus on that target in order to reach it.

Now I’ve been guilty in the past of trying to do too many things at once.  If you know me personally, that’s a shocker, right? Haha! And I bet you’ve done the same thing at some point.  Piled on to an already full schedule? Yep. It happens.

But this year you have your Yes / No List and it’s going to stay somewhere you can see it so that doesn’t happen again.  Ok team? Let’s get to it! ;)

Before you even start setting those goals, do a little evaluation of last year and the different areas of your life, your health, relationships, finances and business.  Where do you feel like you need to focus the most this year?  

Once you know those key areas it’s time to start forming some goals around improving them this year.

Goal Brainstorming

Get your pen and paper out!  It’s time to start jotting down some goal ideas.

Be sure the goals you write down are specific and can be measured.  “Improving sales” is not a goal. “Increasing my average senior sale to $2500” is a goal.  See how there’s a target to hit with that one?

These don’t have to be perfect.  You’re just getting it all out on paper right now. 

Once you’ve brainstormed as much as you possibly can, look over your list and choose the goals that are crazy important to you, that are in alignment with your priorities and that are going to move your business and personal life forward this year.

I’d choose between 8-10 goals to set for the year.  Too many could paralyze you and keep you from taking action or just the opposite, exhaust you.

Goal Evaluation

Before you set these in stone it’s best to double check them against a few things. Ask yourself these questions about each of your goals:

1. Does this goal fall in line with my priorities and my “why”?

2. Do I have the time and the budget for this goal?

3. Is this the right time in my life for this goal?  

4. Does this goal line up with my perfect year I dreamed about? 

If you answered no to any of these questions it’s probably best to put that particular goal on the back burner for now. You can always revisit your goals. Nothing is permanent here!

Goal Setting

If you’re ready to make your Goals List then let’s do it!  I’ve provided a few more pages to add to the Intentional Planning Workbook from the first blog post in this series.  Go ahead and print those new pages out.

DOWNLOAD YOUR INTENTIONAL YEAR WORKBOOK HERE

Now, post that Goals List somewhere you can see it!

Goal Planning

Looking at that list for what you want to accomplish in a year can be a little intimidating and overwhelming.  Those goals are going to take some time to tackle. So it’s best to break them down into smaller action steps and time frames.  I like to break them down into quarterly (90 day) goals.   

Here’s an example: 

Let’s say you want to make $100,000 in sales this year.  You want a sales average of $2500. That means you need 40 senior clients.  How are you going to get there?

• Quarter 1 Goal: $10,000 (4 seniors)

• Quarter 2 Goal: $20,000 (8 seniors)

• Quarter 3 Goal: $40,000 (16 seniors)

• Quarter 4 Goal: $30,000 (12 seniors)

Now break that down even further into more action items.

Action Item Ideas:

• Set available dates on the calendar.

• Evaluate pricing to make sure you can get a $2500 average. (Do you need help with this? Look here.)

• Create a marketing plan to book those available dates.

Keep breaking down those goals until you have a solid idea of what it is going to take to reach your big goals this year.

The Big Picture

In order to not get completely overwhelmed with trying to do too many things at once, I like to look at the year as a whole.  Where can I fit all of this in to meet those goals I’ve set for myself each year?

If you have room for it you could get yourself a giant dry erase wall calendar of the year.  I absolutely love this one I have in the studio. It houses all of our important dates - sessions, premieres, model team activities, marketing campaigns, conferences, and yep - goals. 

Once I can see my year (the big picture) I can start putting those action items into my year.  I know that in June and July the studio will be in full swing senior season. There won’t be much time for anything else other than shooting and sales.  So, I am not going to try to tackle a big goal during those months. I’ll take it easy on myself. Make sense?

If you don’t have room for something like this you can always use a smaller desk or wall calendar.  It doesn’t have to be fancy! It just needs to serve the purpose so that you can see the big picture.

I’ve provided a quarterly breakdown in the Intentional Year Workbook so you can start jotting down your action items now while they’re fresh in your head instead of impatiently waiting the 2 days for that calendar from Amazon Prime.  Haha!

Intentional Growth

Outside of monthly goals I want to be sure I am growing my knowledge in all areas of business.  I love to read and learn new things so I like to challenge myself to dive into one area or subject each month.  If this is something you have an interest in as well but haven’t really focused on it just yet I would start with every other month instead of a new subject each month.  Or give yourself a break when you know your calendar is going to be full.

Creating Your Intentional Growth List

It’s time to brainstorm all those big things you’ve been wanting to learn and improve in your business and life.  What areas do you want to focus on this year? Are there some books you want to read? Maybe some podcasts you want to binge listen to?  Maybe you have something personal you want to learn?

I’ll start a list to get the creativity flowing . . . 

• Off Camera Flash

• Studio Lighting

• In Person Sales

• Instagram Stories

• Facebook Ads

• Branding

• Workflow

• Pricing

• Pinterest

• Model Team

• Blogging & SEO

• Chalk Painting Cabinets

• Hand Lettering

Now think about your year as a whole.  There are busier months and slower months in the senior photography business and probably in your home as well.  

The purpose here is to take each of those areas of improvement and assign them to a month where you can really focus on them.  If you can keep your blinders on and not get distracted by all the shiny objects you could grow by leaps and bounds this coming year.  Align these with your goals and see exponential growth!

There may be months where you just want to only focus on your clients.  That’s ok! And there may be months where you need to focus solely on your family.  Maybe you have 2 kiddos playing 2 different sports at the same time. Been there! Or one of your kiddos has an upcoming surgery.  You know those months are going to be crazy, so maybe you choose a lighter subject to focus on or nothing at all. We need mental breaks too!  

Now, these are obviously not set in stone.  You may find that you need to focus on something sooner in the year.  Do it! The purpose is to just stay focused on one area of improvement instead of bouncing all over the place.  Ok? Let’s do it! 

Be sure you print out your Intentional Year Workbook.  If you haven’t gone through the last blog post which covers the first few pages - what went right, what went wrong, dreaming, setting your Yes / No List - you can find it here.  Then it’s on to brainstorming, evaluating and setting your goals for this year! You got this!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with.  Please come on over to the Facebook Group to share with us about your most intentional year ever!

Here’s to the best year yet!  You got this!

Be sure to grab the free workbook below to go through this exercise to start planning your most intentional year!

p.s. Next up in this series we discuss intentional planning, senior model team marketing and putting dates on the calendar for next year ;)

INTENTIONAL PLANNING FOR SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Related Posts:

Planning Your Most Intentional Year Yet: Part One - The Yes / No List

Time flies, doesn’t it?  It seems like we were just celebrating Christmas.  It’s already here again?! 

What’s that old saying?  The days are long but the years are short.  Every year they seem a little shorter to me.  In the busyness of life . . . the kids’ activities, the emergency trips to the vet, the basement flooding, the car breaking down, the client asking for a weeknight appointment, the hard drive that fails, the endless social media, the deadlines . . . it can be tough to make the best decisions on the fly.  But having those decisions set in stone up front can make life a little easier. And I want to help you with that.

My hope for you this year is for you to be intentional about your photography business, your relationships and about life in general. A sure fire way to do that is to take some time to prep and plan for it.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to take you through my process of planning my year.  And it all starts with looking back. We are going to make 3 very important lists today to help set some boundaries for your next year (and dream a little).  

Why in the world do we need boundaries? 

Well, the same reasons we put our babies in pack ‘n plays, baby gates up at the stairs, fences around our yards . . . to protect us.  

I want your time and your energy protected this year.  Time flies, right? You need time for your family, time to work on your business, not in it.  You need time to rest, time to build your business and nurture the relationships that are important to you.

So let’s get started.

Heads up: There is a free template at the bottom of this blog post to help you through this entire exercise :)

Before you can make this list, you need to think back over your year and evaluate it.  Let’s make a different list before the YES / NO list. It’s the “What Went Right And What Went Wrong” list.  

It’s pretty easy to remember the bad stuff, right?  That’s natural and just the way we are wired. Sometimes it’s harder to remember the good.  So look back through your calendar and your client list to start jogging your memory. I bet you have a pretty long list after that exercise.

Now it’s time to dream.

If you could plan and put your perfect year into action, what would it look like?  Get really specific here.

• What would your mornings look like?

• What would your evenings look like? 

• Where would you spend your time?

• What would you be photographing?

• And when would you be shooting?

• How do you want your days to feel? 

• What sorts of fun things would you be doing?

• Where would you go on vacation?

• What new skills would you learn?

• How would you live life if it were completely up to you?

Finally, it’s time for that YES / NO list for 2020.

Ok, you’ve done a lot of work so far.  Now you can take all of those notes and start setting your boundaries for the year.  

What are you saying no to this year?

• What drains your energy? 

• What takes way more time than it should? 

• What are some things that another person could easily be doing to take the burden off of you? 

• What are you holding onto too tightly in your business?

• Where will you draw the line with your clients? 

• What things can you put a stop to in order to protect your sanity and family this year?

What are you saying yes to this year?

• What gives you life? 

• What sets you on fire? 

• What makes you most proud? 

• What do you absolutely love to do? 

• What are the things you know you need to be doing but haven’t had the time or made the time to do? 

• What matters most to you?

• And at the end of next year, what will you want to be able to say you did?

Really think about each of those questions as you are making your lists.  It may take a few times of returning to it before it’s final.

Once you have that YES / NO list I want you to put it somewhere that you can see it every day.  Make a promise to yourself that you will stick by them because you want to be intentional with your time, with your business and with your families.  Yep, you’ll compromise and you’ll fall off the wagon. Let me be the first to say that I do that a lot! No one is perfect. But this will set you up for one of the most intentional years yet in your business if you go through this exercise and remind yourself of your YES’S AND NO’S consistently.

Here’s to the best year yet!  You got this!

Be sure to grab the free workbook below to go through this exercise to start planning your most intentional year!

p.s. Next week we are going to start breaking down our goals for next year ;)

INTENTIONAL PLANNING FOR SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Related Posts:

5 Ways To Grow Your Senior Photography Business In The Slow Season

We’ve all been there. Busy, busy, busy holiday rush and then absolutely nothing. It’s a tough adjustment going into the slow season of senior photography business. It’s easy to sit back and take it easy. And I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a little bit of that!

But just like any coach would tell ours kiddo, games are won during the off season. This is when we prepare for our next busy season guys! There are a few things that we can do to get our photography businesses back in shape and ready to take on all those senior session bookings coming our way! Of course, there are plenty more ideas (and maybe I’ll do a second post with more), but these will get you started!

Here are 5 ways to grow your senior photography business during the slow season:

1. EVALUATE EXPENSES AND THE COST OF YOUR PRODUCTS

Do you have money going out where you don’t see the return on your investment? Maybe it’s subscription services that you aren’t getting the value out of that you expected? Look at the cost of the products you are selling and the price you are offering them at as well. Be sure you have a solid profit margin for each of them. This should be 85% at a bare minimum. Here’s how to calculate that for each product:

Sales - Cost / Sales = Gross Profit Margin

Let’s say I have an album that I sell for $1000. My cost is $150.

$1000 - $150 / $1000 = 85%

If my album price was offered at less or my costs were higher I would need to raise the price of my album to make a good profit margin. Remember all the other expenses we have - rent, insurance, equipment, editing, oh yeah . . . and a salary ;)

2. FINISH ALL THE PROJECTS

This one gets me every year! UNFINISHED PROJECTS! Take advantage of the slower time and tie up those loose ends. Set a timer and just get focused on finishing up those senior magazines, what to wear guides, analyzing your workflow, marketing pieces. You will feel so much more prepared when the craziness of senior season starts back up!

3. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

This one probably has the most payoff. Build relationships with your past clients, current clients and vendors with the same target audience. Write thank you notes or “thinking about you” notes. Visit those boutiques and shops you’ve been meaning to visit. But be sure to actually make a purchase and support their business if you want them to support yours. Get into your instagram DM’s. Go deep instead of wide with your audience. Social media platforms love engagement like this, and people who have spoken with you are more apt to buy from you :)

4. EVALUATE & ORGANIZE HASHTAGS

I love hashtags just as much as the next girl, but some of them don’t work quite as well as other ones. Now is a great time to really look at the hashtags you’ve been using, evaluate them, come up with a better strategy & make them work for you next year. Are you only using feature account hashtags? This is NOT where your ideal client is hanging out. Be sure to research your local area hashtags, use them and engage with other posts using those hashtags as well.

I keep my hashtags organized in Planoly, my Instagram grid planner. But you can easily do this in the notes section of your phone too.

5. BATCH 12 DIFFERENT BLOG POSTS

This one is going to take some time, some thinking and some effort. But I’m going to challenge you to set aside time to write 12 new blog posts for your target audience. You can release one each month and they are already done! No more scrambling trying to come up with fresh content during your busy season. How amazing would that feel?!

BONUS! TAKE THIS TIME TO REST!

You have earned it. You deserve it and so does your family!

Oh, here’s one more thing: Invest in yourself and your education!!

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***

If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.  

The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.  

Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together.  It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics.  This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE!  And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.

If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.

Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th.  Woohoo!  I can’t wait to work with you! 

Related Posts:

How To Make Working From Home As A Photographer Actually Work

The phone is ringing, the dogs are barking, UPS is dropping off a package, a friend is texting to ask if you can drop her off at the airport and a neighbor wants to talk about the new HOA policy because you know, you work from home.  Insert eye roll here.

I get it.  Completely!  Working from home can be tough.  I’ve owned commercial space, had my studio inside my home and now have a detached studio on our property.  This has been my absolute favorite set up btw :)

Unless you are super organized and protective of your time is can be hard to get anything crossed off your to do list each day.  So let’s talk about how to make working from home actually work for your photography business.

6 Tips For Working From Home As A Senior Photographer

1. Set boundaries

   Be polite but firm when setting boundaries with family, friends and clients about your business.  Working from home doesn’t mean you can drop everything for a 30 minute chat about what another PTO mom did last week.  While working from home does give you flexibility in your schedule, it needs to be on your own terms. 

2. Have pre-determined office hours

   Setting office hours are extremely important - for you and your family.  This may change for you as your life changes, the kids get older and as your business grows. But set them and do not let anything get in your way. We’ll talk about distractions in a minute. But I would caution you about sneaking in a few hours late at night when the kids are occupied. Sure this is necessary every once in a while, but it’s easy to form a bad habit. Been there. Done that. Enjoy your family time in the evenings. There will always be work.

3. Get comfortable with saying no

   Saying no comes so easy to some and it’s extremely difficult for the “people pleasers”. Come on. You know who you are. I am a recovering people pleaser, so I can relate! But what I have learned over the years is that saying yes to trivial or unimportant things in the moment means that I am ultimately giving away my precious time and saying no to my family later on in the day. There are only so many hours in the day and we have to use them wisely. Only say yes to requests that line up with your priorities and values. Everything else can be a gentle “no, I can’t right now, I’m unavailable” . . . you get the picture ;)

4. Eliminate distractions

   The phone is absolutely my biggest distraction. It’s worse than my kids y’all!! Turning your phone to Do Not Disturb is the best thing you could do to actually get some focused work done! I’ve even gone so far to delete social media apps and email from my phone to keep me from being distracted.

5. Morning & Evening Routines

   Creating routines (for myself and the kids) has been a lifesaver to me. There are just those non-negotiable things that have to get done each day, right? Take some time to sketch out your mornings and evenings to make them successful. It takes a while to form new habits, but that investment will pay off! A great morning starts the night before :)

6. Batch your time

   Jumping from one type of task to a totally different one can be such a waste of time and mental energy. To stay productive in your work hours be sure you are focusing on only one type of task - emails, calls, editing, continuing education, etc. Have session days and in person sales days separately so that you can stay focused on one thing. I even close the studio one day a week to run all of my errands and schedule appointments on that one day. Batching things like marketing, client work, post production, calls, emails, and admin work has been a huge time saver as well. The best tool I’ve found to help me with this has been Trello. I’ve been using it for years, and it really keeps me focused and on track. You can read more about it here in this post.

What are some of the things you’ve found to help you stay productive working from home? I’d love to keep the conversation going!

Need some help getting your senior photography business profitable?

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***

If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.  

The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.  

Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together.  It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics.  This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE!  And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.

If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.

Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th.  Woohoo!  I can’t wait to work with you! 

get 50% off your first year of honeybook right here!

Related Posts:

The Top 5 Things To Outsource In Your Senior Photography Studio

Giving up control of things is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you’ve done it all for so long. You feel like it’s easier, faster and cheaper to just do it yourself! Right?! But guess what? That’s the problem. You will be doing EVERYTHING yourself. And there is only so much of you to go around.

Over the years I have outsourced more and more in our senior studio. It’s a little addicting at this point! It has given me so much peace of mind and personal time back. There’s nothing like it y’all! If you are on the fence, let me try to convince you that outsourcing is the only way to go :)

So what are some things you could outsource in your senior studio? I’m glad you asked!

The Top 5 Things To Outsource In Your Senior Photography Studio To Maximize Productivity And Profits:

1. Editing & Retouching - Turning over our editing and retouching to professionals is by far the best decision I’ve ever made. Was it an easy one to make? Nope. Was there an adjustment period? Yep! But I’m so happy I finally did it. Outsourcing image editing has saved me countless hours of work and given me my life back. Some of my favorite companies to work with are Indy Pro Touch & Rebooku. You can save 10% off your first Rebooku order by using code RefcM7k4li at checkout.

2. Album Design - I have to give it to Rebooku again for album design. They have beautiful templates for senior albums and have great turn around time on the design work as well. But if you have someone in house to do album design for you, I would recommend using Fundy for custom album design. It’s very user friendly and has helped us cut our design time and costs so much.

3. Client Management - Gone are the days of spreadsheets, notebooks and word templates. We have been using Honeybook for our client management and absolutely love the freedom and confidence it gives us in the studio knowing we aren’t letting anything fall through the cracks with any client. It’s a lifesaver! Honeybook is giving our readers 50% off their first year with them! How awesome is that?!

4. Legal - Sure you could write your own contract with your studio’s policies and procedures. But do you know if you’re really covered? I doubt it. I did this for years and never felt safe. Since purchasing our studio contract through The LawTog I feel so much more confident. And yes, it has saved me a time or two with troublesome clients. A studio contract written by an attorney who specifically works with professional photographers is worth every penny!

5. Branding - Our website and marketing materials set the tone for how potential clients will receive us and for how much they can expect to pay for our services. If you have a flawless professional and artistic design, they will expect to pay a premium. Modern Market to the rescue! They have a site full of Logos, Branding Collections for your marketing materials as well as SquareSpace and ProPhoto Website Design Templates.

Find your wheelhouse. And outsource the rest. If you can make more money in the time it would take you to do some of these things, then it’s a no brainer. Do the things that bring in sales - like shooting - you know, that thing you were in love with way back when you started this business? Yeah. Do that.

Anything else you outsource in your studio? I’d love to know!

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***

If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.  

The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.  

Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together.  It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics.  This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE!  And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.

If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.

Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th.  Woohoo!  I can’t wait to work with you!

Related Posts:

10 Reasons We Chose ShootProof For Our Senior Client Galleries

The majority of high school senior photography clients purchase digital files. Because of that we wanted to offer them the opportunity to reprint their senior images from reputable labs with lasting quality. We needed a tool that would give us flexibility in hosting images, offered printing from professional labs, had the ability to offer digital downloads and could create mobile apps for our seniors, all while allowing us to make a profit.

Enter ShootProof. This studio management tool does it all and then some.

10 Reasons We Use ShootProof For Our Online Galleries And Proofing In Our Senior Photography Studio:

1. Digital Download Delivery: When selling digital images clients can easily download their digital files through their ShootProof gallery all the while we have complete control over the file size.

2. Custom Mobile Apps: Clients are impressed when we tell them they can have their very own mobile app included with their senior portrait order. We’ve seen an increase in brand awareness and word of mouth referrals because of the ease of sharing their app.

3. Social Sharing Options: Everyone loves showing off their beautiful session images and ShootProof makes it easy for our clients to share straight to social media platforms like FaceBook, Twitter and more.

4. Emotional Galleries & Slideshows Set To Music: We love creating an emotional experience again and again when our clients browse through their images by adding music. ShootProof has over 14,000 songs to choose from making options endless.

5. Full Control of Products, Pricing and Print Fulfillment With Professional Labs: Different studios sell different products, and we love that ShootProof has taken this into consideration. We can pick and choose which items we will offer our clients, whether they will be fulfilled by a professional lab like White House Custom Color, Miller’s Pro Lab or Black River Imaging (there are lots of others) or fulfilled in-house. Pricing is also set by us, not the labs or ShootProof. Doesn’t get much better than that!

6. Commission Free Sales: Since we are talking about pricing . . . you’ll be glad to know that every penny of profit comes back to your studio. ShootProof does not take a commission on any portrait sales.

7. Professional Contracts & Invoices: Keeping clients connected and paperwork to a minimum is really easy with ShootProof. You can upload your own contract or purchase ready-made professional templates from photography industry leaders like The LawTog and The Youngrens. Clients can sign and pay right from their digital device.

8. Professional Branding So Your Proofing Site Flows Beautifully With Your Website: This feature is super important to us. We wanted a platform that would seamlessly tie into our existing website. Customizing brand colors and watermarks is really easy. Have multiple brands? Not a problem. ShootProof can support that too.

9. Automated Emails & Customizable Email Templates: Keeping in touch with clients has never been easier. Quickly shoot an email to check in or set up automated gallery expiration emails and so much more. Automation = less brain power. Yes!

10. In Depth Dashboard: Quickly get an idea of what’s going on in a glance at the dashboard. Everything is right there - gallery stats, visitor activity, order information & sales history.

---

ShootProof says it way better than I can, so I am just going to let them say it.

This is who they are in their own words:

Here at ShootProof, we empower photographers to focus on what matters most. As a small team of photographers, developers, engineers, perfectionists, and customer service fanatics, we work to give our photographers a beautiful platform with which to share and sell their work. Our belief is that photographers' sales are the result of their hard work, so we allow them to set their own prices and keep 100% of their profits: we’ve never charged a commission-fee and are proud to say we never will.

Because we listen to our photographers and strive to build long-lasting relationships, our services go well beyond client proofing and print sales; we provide invoicing, contact management, and mobile apps, and we deliver top-notch customer service. We believe in simple, intuitive design and freedom of choice for photographers. Tens of thousands of photographers in over 30 countries are now sharing and selling millions of photos with Shoot- Proof. We continue to strive to be the most supportive service available for our clients and the online hub for photography businesses around the world.

ShootProof makes life simpler in our studio.

Ready to simplify and up your sales?

Related Posts:

Top 5 Studio Tools We Use Daily

I’m often asked what are my most favorite tools that we use in the studio. And that is not an easy question to answer, but I narrowed it down to the 5 tools we use the most in our photography business. Below you’ll see products that have great functionality, easy user interfaces, and most have the ability to sync so that they are accessible even when we are out of the office.

Running a full time photography studio and needing team members to be able to access information at different times, these are all important options for us. Plus, it just makes life so much easier even if you’re a one man / woman show!

5 Tools We Use Daily In The Studio To Maximize Productivity And Profit:

1. Trello - Hands down number one would have to be Trello. I wrote a complete blog post about how awesome this productivity tool is. You should definitely check it out.

2. Fundy - We use Fundy for custom album design for our senior albums and also for In Person Ordering Appointments. It’s very user friendly and has helped us cut our design time and costs so much.

3. Honeybook - This is our client management system. We are still learning the power of this beast having moved over to it recently, but I am falling more and more in love with it every day. Our workflow automation is on point with HoneyBook! Get 50% off your first year of Honeybook here :)

4. ShootProof - While we are 100% in person sales we do host images for clients who purchase digital files. ShootProof is perfect for that and they work seamlessly with our lab to offer professional quality prints to our clients. We also create and host our mobile apps for seniors with ShootProof as well. They love these on their phones! So do the mamas!

5. Photobiz - I’ve been with Photobiz for years and have always been so impressed with their customer service and forward thinking in the photography industry. If any photographer is ever looking for a website Photobiz is exactly where I send them!

So there you have it. These are the 5 tabs that are most likely open on my desktop at all times! Oh, and probably one for Amazon because you just never know when you’ll need to add something to your cart, right?!

What’s your favorite tool you use in your studio?

Related Posts:

Just Say No To Multitasking: Why And How

You’re returning calls, posting to social media, scanning email and updating your calendar all at the same time.

Multitasking. You have to, right?

There are just way too many things to get done today and not enough time for them all. You are a frazzled and cannot take one more distraction in your day or your head is going to explode!

Multitasking is the only way you’ve ever done it, and it’s working so far, huh? Probably so. Yeah, about that . . .

Something is going to go terribly wrong. A ball is going to get dropped somewhere. You’ll put the wrong date in your calendar for that doctor’s appointment. You’ll send that email to the wrong client. And you’ll probably copy a wrong hyperlink, leave off the attachment or have massive typos in that social media or blog post you were working on.

Wanna know how I know all this? I’ve been there.

(insert lots of embarrassing stories here)

So just say no to multitasking. Like for real. It just does not work. We think we can do it all. We think we can trick the system and get more done by doubling up on tasks. In reality research shows that we aren’t multitasking at all. We are switch-tasking, and we are far less productive because of it.

Here’s what I’ve learned by practicing not multitasking:

1. I am much more present with my family and friends. By not doing multiple things at the same time I can actually relax and engage with what is going on around me.

2. My stress level has decreased. It’s a relief to not have to keep all the plates spinning at one time. I can relax and just get one task done at a time. Who knew?!

3. I make significant progress on large projects. By not allowing distractions to take priority I can actually focusing on one thing at hand. Because of that I can complete thoughts, work through challenging problems, and make lots of headway on larger projects - at home and in the studio.

So how do we learn to only focus on one thing at a time?

1. Get rid of the distractions. Put your phone on “do not disturb”. Turn off all notifications. Put it in another room if you have to. Our phones can be our worst enemies for getting things done. Close extra browser tabs on the computer (umm, facebook) and only have the ones open you actually need to get your task completed.

2. Set a deadline. It’s amazing how much we can get done when there’s a deadline, huh? Every now and then I will pretend like I am leaving for vacation the next day (I wish). You know how much you can get done before you are leaving to go out of town, right? It’s ridiculous how productive we can be! Why can’t everyday be like that?!

3. Set a timer. Turn phone to do not disturb. Work for 15 minutes straight. Walk around for 5 minutes. Get a drink of water. Repeat. Short bursts are really good for focus too!

A Day In The Life of A Senior Photographer Mom

5:00am The dreaded alarm goes off.  

Confession:  I keep a 2nd one set at 5:30am in case I fall back asleep.

I spend all of 30 - 45 minutes getting myself ready for the day.  And the next few hours getting the kids up and to school.  They’re involved in sports so 6:00am practices are not out of the ordinary.  

The good thing is that they begrudging let me listen to my favorite podcasts on the way.  I turn it up as loud as I want on the way back home though!  Oh yes I do!

7:00am I post to Instagram and engage with my audience for my 2 accounts (photography business and this blog).    Everything is preplanned with this amazing tool.  It saves me so much time.  

I try to check my calendar to refresh my mind and understand how my day will go.  I do this while the kids are eating breakfast and getting ready for school. 

I then update my Trello Boards with my Top 3 Tasks for the day and any ideas that are lingering in my head.  See how I use Trello here in this blog post.

Workout (not as often as I should) & sometimes I just waiting until the afternoon.  It depends on whether I have deadlines or not.

I skim email first thing.  Notice I said “skim”.  I try very hard not to get bogged down in email at this time.  This is just to handle any urgent issues that may have popped up overnight. Email is reactive (someone else’s agenda). I try to stay proactive (my agenda & goals) before lunch.

Next thing, I eat that frog (do the thing I don’t want to do first) - Client work, design work, processing orders.  The Eat That Frog theory came from Brian Tracy’s book named just that.  Basically do the thing that you are least looking forward to first thing in the morning because after that everything else will seem easy.  Don't take that the wrong way now!  I love my client work, but it's tough sometimes.  Haha!

Play with dogs.  Because I need the break probably more than they do!

Midmorning:  I try to get dinner in crockpot at least a few days a week.  Or at least figure out a plan.  Tacos anyone???

Now, after this time of day, my days are all different.  

I batch everything!  So each day is usually focused on one or maybe two different areas of business / life.

Some of my batch work days:

• Outlining blog posts

• Writing blog posts

• Editing & graphics

• Course writing (I have something BIG planned. Ahh!)

• Social media planning / marketing

• Client days (photo shoot, consults or design / order appointments, photographer mentoring)

• Current Project

• Personal errands

After I work a few hours on my main task for the day I will update Tailwind for my Pinterest accounts.  I am amazed at the results I’ve gotten with just working 30 minutes a day with this tools.  It's crazy!  And I'm so happy to not be on social media all day long anymore.  

Play with dogs again.  This is basically all day.  They are relentless.

Email & calls are handled shortly after lunch each day.

Mid-afternoon:  If I don’t have client meetings I am either engaging with other professionals in the industry - Facebook groups, blog & Pinterest commenting or leaving genuine comments on senior instagram accounts.  This is focused, intentional work though. Not just scrolling and liking. We have to do this guys! I love this part because it feels like I’m just playing instead of working :)

Evenings:  These consist of all the normal mom duties:  picking up kids, sports practices & games, dinner . . .

Mama Time!  After the kids are settled I try to read (here’s a few of my favorite business books) or catch up on a course I am taking.  Continuing Education is so important. If we aren’t learning, we aren’t growing.

9:00 I crash.  Hence, my shirt.  It's from Saturday Morning Pancakes btw.  They're pretty cool ;)

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***