As an artist and an entrepreneur, you have endless responsibilities for your photography business. As your to-do list grows, you have less time to focus on things that help grow your business and advance your photography techniques. In addition to your business, you start to slowly miss out on opportunities in your personal life.
For every task or project you say “yes” to, you may also be saying “no” to other opportunities which could benefit you more. These include items that do not require your attention, and could be outsourced to a specialist. Some of these may include post production, album design, housekeeping, yard maintenance, and so much more. These are items you do not need to focus on, yet may take up most of your workflow if you are not outsourcing. What are some opportunities you may be saying “no” to every day (and don’t even know it)? Take a look below.
1. Going on Vacation
Vacation is one of those things that can often be pushed aside when there are too many things on your to-do list. If you are overloaded with tasks, you have no time to take time off and enjoy yourself with family or friends. Vacation is a great way for you to de-stress and not focus on the business, especially when you trust specialists with your tasks.
Related: What are 20 things you can take off your list today?
2. Elevating Your Brand
As your business grows, you may want to elevate your brand to attract a specific type of client. How can you take the time to elevate your brand, create the proper messaging, and attract those clients if you are the only one doing everything? You barely have the time to shoot the wedding day, and deliver final products to your clients. You to have that time back in your day, so you can elevate your brand and reach your ideal clients.
Related: Are you heading toward busy season overload?
3. Starting New Business Ventures
What are some of the projects you would love to work on in your business, or even outside of it? Perhaps you want to bring on associate photographers, or start a business that will help other creatives. When you take steps to eliminate time-consuming tasks from your workflow, you can have the chance to start and work on new business ventures. This helps grow your business, and keeps you motivated.
4. Taking Personal Time
Do you have time for yourself with the current business structure you have? Chances are, if you are staying up all night editing your photos (rather than sending them to a wedding photo editing company), you do not have a lot of personal time.
Personal time is something everyone needs (business owner or not). Whether you are spending time with your family, taking day trips, or catching up on some reading, this is time you can spend away from your business.
5. Creating Marketing Campaigns
Marketing is a huge part of your photography business, but it requires much of your attention and focus. These campaigns can include email marketing, as well as social media marketing. How can you run marketing or social media campaigns if you are taking care of everything else in your business?
6. Sharing Relevant Resources
Are you at the point where you are interested in sharing relevant resources with your clients (such a how-to guide for the wedding day)? Or maybe, you are interested in educating other photographers on what you’ve learned. When tasks are off your plate, you can focus on providing clients and fellow photographers with relevant resources (and inspire yourself to be your most creative).
7. Enjoying Hobbies
You can definitely have photography as a hobby, especially if you shoot outside of wedding photography for practice or passion projects. But, how often do you do things outside of your business that you would classify a hobby?
With free time in your week, you can get back to pursuing your hobbies (or even start new ones). You can worry less about your business, and begin to enjoy things you used to.
8. Increasing Income
As you start to grow or optimize your business, you may look into ways to increase your income, such as booking mini sessions, hiring associate photographers, or starting an educational business. When your workload is piling, it may be difficult look into ways to achieve this. When you take items off your list, you can spend more time finding ways to increase income.
9. Exceeding Client Expectations
Your clients are the reason you are in business. You work so hard to find clients who are compatible to you and your business. If you are too busy because your items are not outsourced, how can you focus on your current clients and their overall happiness? When you have more free time, you can send them helpful resources, deliver their images, as well as their final products, faster. When you make the experience positive for them, they will remember you and be more likely to refer you to their family and friends.
These are just 9 things you could be missing. Why would you want to miss anything else? Take a look at what is currently on your to-do list, and decide what is best for you to outsource. How can eliminating color correction free up your time and allow you to focus on more of what you love? Our Guide, How to Integrate ShootDotEdit into Your Workflow, shares the benefits of working with a specialist for your color correction needs. Grab it today and start freeing up your workflow!
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