If you feel like your photography business could use a little bit of organization in 2021, I’ve got you covered. Maybe you’re thinking you’d like to take your photography business full time. But first, you know you need some systems and firm business foundations in place. That’s what we’re talking about today! I’m breaking it down into 3 key areas you need to be thinking about when it comes to organizing your photography business.
3 Tips to Organize Your Photography Business in 2021
Today we are talking about how you can organize and simplify your photography business in 2021! This is YOUR YEAR for streamlining things, I can already tell! 😉 These 3 tips to organize your photography business will help you to make more money and be more intentional with your time.
Tip #1: File Organization
When it comes to making your life easier, file organization is a huge part of simplifying and organization as a photographer! And, when I say file organization, I mean your actual photography files. These should always be named and organized in a simple and consistent way. That way, whenever you put them onto your computer, a hard drive or a cloud backup, you are taking the same simple, repeatable steps.
I find that having and using a set naming convention is KEY. For me, I name my files in the following format:
Year – month – day – type of event- client’s last name
I actually have an entire video on my file organization and backup process, which you can watch HERE!
Tip #2: Client Organization
The next area of your photography business that you want to organize is your client files & client management! Say goodbye to scanning contracts back and forth, to Venmo payments and generally feeling ALL over the place. This year you want to make sure that all of your client files and workflows are streamlined in one place.
My #1 Tool for client management is Honeybook! Every client gets their own project profile inside Honeybook, where their contract is stored, where all the payment info and communications are stored, and so much more. I couldn’t recommend Honeybook enough, so be sure to check it out here for 50% off your first year!
Tip #3: Finance Organization
You might have the urge to click away at this part of the blog post, but this tip is so important! Because, the more organized and on-top of your finances you feel, the more confident you will be when investing back into your business.
The first step to organizing your finances is separating your business finances from your personal! Get rid of the random Venmo or Paypal payments that get jumbled in with your personal transactions. You want to have a separate bank account solely for business payments.
The second way to organize your finances is to either have a spreadsheet or a bookkeeping software. That way, you can keep track of what is coming both in and out of your account! I promise, this will make your life so much easier, especially when it comes to tax season.
Thirdly, you are going to need a structure for how you allocate your money. I like to use the structure outlined in Mike Micalowicz’s book, ‘Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine‘. The structure outlined in this book is really easy to understand and is something I think every photographer should implement! That way, you know exactly how much of the money you are bringing to set aside for taxes, for expenses and of course, to pay yourself!
BONUS TIP: Content Organization
As small business owners, you are likely creating a TON of content. You are probably posting to multiple social media platforms, perhaps you are blogging, you might have an email list, the list goes on. Additionally, you may have a lot of projects in your mind that you want to accomplish in your business. That is why I recommend having a Project Management Software like Notion!
Notion allows you to have multiple workspaces, organize workflows, and keep everything organized in one place. It also allows you to search for things that you may have written months ago so you can access them within seconds. To me, this is a no brainer compared to having countless notebooks or post-it notes to keep track of your ideas!
If getting organized in your photography business this year is a goal of yours, I hope this blog post has helped you create actionable steps to get there!
If you decide to use any of the links above and buy through them, I’ll receive a small commission back. All of those affiliate income commissions really add up over time and help generate revenue to help support this channel
