How Photographers Can Grow Their Business By Staying Organized

Organization is the foundation of success for every business, even artistic ones. A good schedule can make the difference between a day full of wasted time and a day full of productivity, while a sound financial plan can cut waste to improve the bottom line. It isn't always easy to attain that level of organization, but tools like the ones from STARTplanner can make it much easier.

Planning Sessions

Clients don't like to waste time, so being efficient during a photo shoot is one of the best ways to get repeat customers and good reviews. It will also make the shoots go faster, which means that you can fit more of them into a single day.

Start by making a list of every step involved in the process, including preparation for the shoot and sending the pictures out to the client. List them in order, along with the amount of time that each is expected to take. Put a copy of that list into your planner along with each client's name, and check off the steps as you complete them, along with how long each step took. This will not only make sure that you don't forget about a client or skip a step, but also tell you if part of the process is taking longer than it should.

Keep A Calendar

Planning your overall schedule is just as important as planning individual sessions. It is usually best to maintain a calendar with each session written on it, along with any relevant notes about the client. Most traditional calendars will be too small to fit all of that information for each day, so a planner from STARTplanner.com will make it easier to keep things neat. We make specific inserts to make your photography business organized.

This will help make sure that you don't make a mistake and forget about a session, but the real benefit comes later. The calendar provides a record of all of your sessions in a format that is easy to examine, so you can use it to look for scheduling trends. If you know when people tend to schedule their photo shoots, you can plan other tasks to fill in time when you are unlikely to have a client, or adjust your prices to encourage people to take the empty slots.

Tracking Goals

Every business needs to have goals, but it's easy to lose track of them in a heap of day-to-day work. The solution to that problem is writing each goal down and then tracking your daily progress towards it. Write your goals down at the start of the planner, and write your progress towards each one at the bottom of each day's entry.

Find the total progress at the end of each week, and write it down at the start of the next week's entry. This will allow you to keep your goals in sight and track your progress as it happens. It prevents you from losing sight of the big picture, and it also prevents goals from looking unattainable because it gives you a chance to see your progress as it happens. If it seems like you aren't making progress, it will help you pinpoint the goals that need more attention. This is a powerful motivational tool, and it's one that no business owner should go without.