14 TOOLS I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT IN 2014

There are so many aspects of running a photography business, and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming.  If you’re like me, you’re probably always looking for anything that can make it a little less overwhelming.  That’s where this list comes in.  These are the tools I use every single day, and they help me manage my business, instead of letting it manage me.  

(disclaimer: a few of these are affiliate links, which means I may be compensated if you click on them and sign up.  That said, I wouldn’t recommend anything - affiliate or not - if I didn’t totally believe in it.   If that bothers you, you can simply google each, and sign up that way.)

For Keeping Track Of My Clients
ShootQ
ShootQ manages the three aspects of a photographers business that can totally suck the life out of even the most organized among us.  It combines a booking/contracting tool, with workflow management, as well as integrated client communications (automated emails/etc).  It's still the very best in the business when it comes to managing your clients and workflows, and it's honestly the one tool on this list I don't think I could run my business without.

For Image Processing
ShootDotEdit

I know that photographers sometimes get confused and think that processing their own images is a part of being a photographer.  It certainly is true that processing our images is important, but I don’t think it’s true that sitting in front of a computer monitor for hours, correcting white balance and exposure, is a valuable use of your time as a photographer - or a business owner.  

Instead, I'd much rather let the pros take care of that part of my workflow.  And my friends at ShootDotEdit have launched what might be the most important service for photographers in the last 5 years - unlimited editing for a fixed monthly cost.  
 

For Websites/Blog

Squarespace

I've built, and hosted, about a dozen sites on the Squarespace platform, including this one.  I know that WordPress is all the buzz, but honestly, Squarespace does 3 things better than just about anything else. 1)  It's SUPER easy to build fantastic-looking sites, even if you don't know how to code. 2) It offers far more robust tools than almost anything else - meaning that you can expand and customize a site to do just about anything (they even feature a best-in-class storefront), and 3) their customer service is better than anyone else - in pretty much any industry.  No kidding - they are pretty much the Zappos of website platforms.

For Designing and Selling Albums

KISS Designer

The two reasons most photographers aren't making what they should on their albums is that they don't have a simple tool for creating beautiful books, and they don't have a good way of presenting their albums to their clients to allow for feedback.  

There are some solutions that at least partially solve one of these problems - but this is by far the first to solve BOTH for photographers!  It takes the stress out of designing albums, and makes it super easy to present them and SELL THEM to your clients. It's a robust, yet simple tool that makes designing albums easy, fast, and cool.  In fact, the designer will actually design your albums for you - or you can have a human do it for you, and handle all the changes, at a really affordable price.

For Client Sales
Preveal
Figuring out the best way to do in-person sales with your clients, is easily one of the biggest struggles that photographers face, and I can't tell you how excited I am that the smart people over at Preveal, created such a great app.  It makes showing your clients their photos, in actual size, on THEIR walls, super simple.  It's beautifully designed, easy to use, and is a great tool for increasing your print sales.  These guys have really figured it out - and they're top-notch people!

For Keeping Track of… well, everything else
Evernote
If you've ever heard me speak, you know what a fan I am of Evernote.  It's where I create blog posts, where I save ideas, thoughts, and start projects.  I use it to take photos of receipts, so I can search and find them later, and it's pretty much where I save just about everything - including articles and interesting things I find online.  The best part - it's FREE.  I use the Premium subscription because it makes your content searchable, faster - and it allows you more storage, but for many people, the free plan is perfect.

For Keeping My Files Wherever I am
Dropbox
At the same time, Dropbox has become the perfect tool for me, when it comes to organizing files.  In fact, I use it instead of a "Documents" folder on my Mac.  In addition to creating a backup of my files, it also syncs them across all of my computers and devices.  I can share files, or folders, with my team, and it lets us all work on the same files (instead of sending revision, after revision).  

The best part is - you can get a 2GB account for FREE!  Or, if you click the link above, you'll actually get a little extra bonus space for free.

For Managing Social Media
Hootsuite
Hootsuite has always been a go-to tool for managing your various social media feeds, including twitter and Facebook, but now it's getting even better.  The "hootlet" plugin tool, allows you to easily share content from across the web, including Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google Images, and even Yelp.  It makes it easy to schedule, post, and monitor your social media accounts and feeds, and the paid accounts include really useful tools for social media analytics.

For Managing My Business Finances
Kashoo
I wrote about Kashoo about 18 months ago, but the gist of it is this: it rocks.  It's as if they actually designed something based on how small business actually need to use it - and then made sure to program it in a way that makes your accountant happy too!  And the iPad app is gorgeous and easy to use.  It actually makes your accounting software something you look forward to using!

For Organizing Blog/News Feeds
Feedly (chrome plugin)

When Google Reader died, a lot of people started looking for an easy way to keep track of the various news/blog feeds that they read everyday.  Feedly is an elegant and simple way to import your old google reader feeds, into a super intuitive user interface.  I literally use this every morning as I read through the news and articles that are interesting to me.

For Simple To Do Lists
Any.Do (iPhone)

It’s true that I can be a little OCD when it comes to task management/project management software.  I probably spend more time trying to find a perfect "list" tool, then I actually do on the tasks on my lists!  That's why I'm really glad I found Any.Do.  It's perfect.  It allows me to get stuff out of my brain, and into a list that increases the chance I'll actually do it.  Of course, a ton of apps do that.  What Any.Do does so well, is that each day, it invites you to plan your day - helping you organize tasks, and schedule for the future, things that don't need to happen today. 


For Traveling
Tripit + FlightTrack Pro

If you travel at all, whether for weddings, work, or even just for fun, these two apps are MUST HAVES.  Tripit allows you to forward all of your travel arrangements, and then be able to access all of your travel plans in one place.  You can manage them online, or via the iPhone app.  It keeps you updated on changes to your flights, and keeps things like rental car reservations, hotel reservations, etc - all in one place.  It’s even smart enough to organize them all for you - you literally just forward the confirmation emails and it does the rest.

In addition, it syncs beautifully with FlightTrack Pro - which is the best way for tracking your flight information.  Often, when I’m at the airport, FlightTrack Pro will notify me of a delay, or gate change, before the airline even has it posted.  It will send you notifications for gate changes, delays, cancellations, etc, making it an invaluable tool for frequent travelers.

For Email Marketing
MadMimi

Your email marketing strategy is easily one of the most important aspects of how you grow your business, and MadMimi is by far the simplest way to do just that.  There are a lot of great email marketing services out there (MailChimp is a popular one), and some of them offer more robust features, but I still find that MadMimi is the easiest way to design really beautiful emails, as well as build and manage your contact lists. 


How about you?  What are the tools you couldn't live without in 2014?  Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

6 THINGS YOU SHOULD DECIDE RIGHT NOW TO DO IN 2014

I'm sure you've read a few dozen (if not hundred) posts about New Year's Resolutions, or lists of things that you should do in 2014.  I'm not much for resolutions, but I do have a short list of things that I think every photographer should do this year.  Why?  Because your business depends on them.  Seriously - these are the 6 things that I think could make the difference between a growing, profitable business - and one that fails in 2014.  

1. Photograph things that you love.
I'm not talking about photographing weddings because you "love" them.  Presumably, most photographers choose their business based on something they are passionate about - whether that's newborns, or weddings, or family portraits.  That's great, but it's really not where I'm headed.

Right now, make it a goal that you're going to photograph things that you love in 2014. Make photographs that mean something to you, outside of what you're paid to do.  Find a way to connect with a personal project that makes you both a stronger photographer, and a more balanced person.  Find a way to practice your art.

Practice a lot.  Practice on your friends.  Practice on your dog.  Practice on your kids.  Take a class, better yet, take two.  Take pictures constantly.  Take at least 20,000 photos for this year, just because.  Learn about exposure, composition, color, and depth of field.  I don't care if you shoot film or digital, but shoot until you burn up a shutter.  Then, get a new one and shoot some more.

Make photographs.  Experiment.  Do crazy things with your camera.  Learn what it can do, and push the boundaries.  Look through photography books and learn how the legends make their shots.  Then go out and take more photographs - at least 10,000 more

2. Learn As Much As You Can About Your Business.
The reality is that you are a small business owner. As much as you are a photographer, you are a business owner, and as much as you invest in becoming a better photographer, it’s just as important to become the very best business person that you can.  For a lot of photographers, this is scary, but the level of resources available to learn about running your business profitably, is truly remarkable today.  

The truth is, there are a lot of people that are a lot smarter than either you or me.  Many of them are experts in things that are super helpful to our businesses.   The challenge is finding those people, and absorbing what they know.  Fortunately, many of them are more than willing to teach and share.  Some have written books.  Some are regular presenters on business topics at conferences and events.   Here are a couple of resources I recommend highly (shameless plug!):

The Photographer’s Resource Guide

Starting Out Right: Building a Profitable & Sustainable Photography Business

Additionally, there are a lot of really talented business people teaching and speaking at various conferences.  I’ll be at the Inspire Photo Seminar, outside of Boston this February, and I’m speaking at WPPI - both on business related topics.  

3. Expand Your Network
I've written about this several times, but easily one of the most beneficial things you can do to expand your network, is what I call "Meet One/Touch One." 

It's really pretty simple.  Every month, make it a priority to meet one new industry peer or vendor.  It can be a planner, a venue sales director, a florist, a designer - whoever you want it to be.  Make it a goal to meet just one.  
There are a lot of great tools to connect with people - often Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are great places to start getting a sense for people - and to even introduce yourself.  Just be sure to be authentic, and make it about them.

In addition to making one new connection each month, every week - reach out to one person who already has a relationship with your business.  This can be an existing vendor or industry partner - or it can be a client. The key is to reach out and touch one person each week - to reconnect, and strengthen the relationship.

For me, my goal is to send one handwritten note each week to someone.  Often its a thank you note to a client for their business, or a note to a vendor when I read something good about their business - or see a featured wedding published that they were a part of.   I only write a note when it's authentic and genuine - and about them.  I look for cool things that are happening with clients and partners, and send them encouragement when appropriate.

4. Get In The Habit of Saying Thank You
I'm a HUGE fan of the handwritten, personal note.  I can't think of many things that have a greater return on your effort, than taking 5 minutes to write a quick note to someone, sticking a stamp on it, and dropping it in the mail.  We ALL love getting personal notes.

When we get a note that has been handwritten, it communicates that we were important enough for someone to stop what they were doing, sit down at their desk, take out a pen and paper, and write down something meaningful.

My rule is this - whenever someone books me, or gives me money (places an order, etc), they get a handwritten thank you note.  It might sound like a lot of thank you notes, but there's no better time than now to make it a regular part of your workflow.

5. Quit

When you think about all of the things that go into running a photography business, it can be overwhelming.  At the same time, how much time are you spending on things that don't help you grow your business?  How many of those things could you either find a better system, or find someone else to do them for you?  Right now, decide that in 2014, you're going to quit doing things that someone else could do.  

In fact, here's my  rule: ONLY DO WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO. 

What do I mean?  Exactly that.  Look at your business honestly, and figure out the stuff you need to be doing, and only do that.  Find someone else, or create a system, to do the rest.   Why?   Because, If you're a wedding or portrait photographer, chances are, you have very little margin in your business - and as a result - in your life.   It's almost always better for you, and better for your business, to find someone else to do the rest. 

Here's a few resources to help you, so you can quit spending time on the things that someone else could do:

ShootQ for client relationship management, booking, workflow and communications
ShootDotEdit for image post-processing
NinetyNine Beans for bookkeeping and accounting (full disclosure - I'm a part-owner of this company) 
Zenfolio for online hosting of image galleries for wedding clients
Preveal for in person client viewing software on my iPad. (It's super simple, and it's gorgeous!)

6. Make Money
I've made this point more than once, but if it's a business, it HAS to be profitable.  Otherwise it's just an expenseive hobby (which is fine, but not a business).  Understand what it takes to be profitable.  

Do the HARD work of figuring out what it costs you to be in business.  Do the HARD work of creating a pricing plan that makes sense, and makes you money.  Do the HARD work and create a marketing strategy around your ideal client, and be willing to say no to the wrong types of business.

Remember that every dollar you spend on the newest, fanciest gear, is a dollar you can't spend on your mortgage, or your kid's braces, or college.  Remember that every time you work for free, it gets harder and harder to make money.  There’s nothing wrong with making money - in fact, if you’re not making money, your business is failing.  If you’re not running a business to make money, you should find something else to do - and just take pictures for fun.  

THERE'S NO FORMULA FOR LUCK

There are basically two kinds of success stories.  People who work really hard, doing all the right things, over a really long period of time - and people who get lucky.  Don't get me wrong, people who get lucky, are often smart enough to know how to capitalize on that luck, but the foundation for their success story is still something you can't replicate - luck. 

A lot of the success stories we hear about in our industry are the luck kind.  We're attracted to these types of stories for a reason - they are far more sexy than the "work really hard" kind of stories.  

Here's the problem with obsessing over the "lucky success" stories - no one can teach you how to get lucky.  No one can tell you how to recreate their lucky success.  There's no workshop, no seminar, no conference, no mentoring, that will make you lucky like they were.   In fact, the real problem is that so often, those who get super lucky, are successful in spite of themselves.  They can't tell you how to be successful, because they don't actually know. 

Yet, photographers spend a lot of money, looking for some kind of formula.  They're looking for 5 easy steps to recreate the success of the hottest photography success story. Except there isn't a formula.  There's no easy 5 step plan to get lucky.  There's no miracle strategy, or radical marketing plan that's guaranteed to succeed.  No matter what anyone tells you - it doesn't exist.

Then again, I suppose it depends on how you define success.  If success for you is booking that huge wedding, or booking the destination wedding that looks beautiful on your blog (but didn't actually pay you anything), then I guess that's your call.  Maybe success for you is having hundreds of photographers commenting on your blog, or coming to your workshop.  Perhaps the appearance of success is enough for you.  If that's the case, then soak up all the good luck stories you can.

On the other hand, for me, success means one thing - building a profitable and sustainable photography business that adds value to my family.  That's it.  That's how I measure it all.  That's how I decide whether this thing is worth it - because if it's not doing that, I'll go find something else instead.  

If that sounds like success to you, here's a few observations.  Here are a few principles of business that are true, not just for photographers, but for creative businesses of all shapes and sizes.  I don't claim to have a magical formula, so take this for whatever it might be worth to you.  I've written about most of these before, but I've assembled them here for easy review.

1.  PRACTICE PHOTOGRAPHY.  Practice a lot.  Practice on your friends.  Practice on your dog.  Practice on your kids.  Take a class, better yet, take two.  Take pictures constantly.  Take at least 20,000 photos for free before you even think about calling yourself a pro. Learn about exposure, composition, color, and depth of field.  I don't care if you shoot film or digital, but shoot until you burn up a shutter.  Then, get a new one and shoot some more.

Make photographs.  Experiment.  Do crazy things with your camera.  Learn what it can do, and push the boundaries.  Look through photography books and learn how the legends make their shots.  Then go out and take more photographs - at least 10,000 more. 

2. SAVE AS MUCH CAPITAL AS YOU CAN.  Put 3-6 months of living expenses in a savings account before you "launch" your business.  Only purchase gear when you can afford to pay cash - and build up your gear as you go.  There's no reason to go into debt.  After all, the average photographer spends $5K in gear a year.   If you put that on a credit card, the average american will end up paying $7-$9K to pay off that gear over 8-10 years.  By then, 95% of photographers will be out of business, paying off gear that's only worth pennies on the dollar.

Buy your gear with cash, but get good gear.  If you're shooting a wedding, you better have at least 2 solid bodies, a wide, normal, and tele prime or zoom lens, a pro grade flash, and multiple pro quality memory cards.  That's not cheap.  You can do it without going into debt, but you're talking about a pretty serious investment.

3. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. Hire an accountant - and listen to what they tell you.  Know how much it costs you to be in business.  Understand your fixed expenses vs cost of sales expenses.  Know how these relate to profitability.  You are a business owner - ACT LIKE ONE.  Be intelligent and do the hard work when you create your pricing.  For some solid help - read the PPA Benchmark Survey.  Rationalize your pricing, understanding what it takes to compensate for your time.  Know how to create packages, how to move people to action by pricing, and what your margins are.  

Many photographers just make stuff up when it comes to pricing, and the end result is - they don't make any money.  Often they don't even know they aren't making any money until they do their taxes. Ask your accountant to set up your chart of accounts and use managerial accounting practices.

4. DELIVER AN AMAZING CLIENT EXPERIENCE

Here's the deal.  Treat people right, and you develop clients - not customers.  Customers are people you treat as though this is the only interaction you'll ever have with them.  You take their money, give them their product, and send them on their way.

Clients, on the other hand, are people you invest in.  You build a relationship so that whenever in their life they need photography, you're the only choice they think of.  Clients are people who trust us to provide services time, and time again.

Clients aren't free.  They take work.  No one will call you up and simply ask to be your best client for life.  It requires a real investment to grow a relationship.  Every interaction with a client requires an intentional effort to treat them as the most important person in the world.  

We work hard to take care of our clients by doing little things that matter.  Handwritten notes, little gifts, extra prints, or a bottle of wine, are all ways we invest in making our clients feel like the most important people in the world. 

5. LEARN ABOUT SALES  

 In a utopian world, it would be effortless to get people to give you money in exchange for what you provide for them.  In this land of rainbows, and elves and unicorns, it would just happen.  Money would be deposited in your bank account, simply because you exist to do whatever it is you do.  You would have a new client at whatever frequency you desire, and never once, for any reason, would you ever have to "sell" anything. 

Of course in the real world? Get over yourself.  If you think you can build a business that doesn't involve "sales," then you're either a magician, or an idiot.  

Start by changing the way you look at sales.  I define sales as:

The process of discovering your clients problem, and providing them with a solution that meets their needs. 

If we redefine what "sales" means, how does that change the way you look at what it means for your business.  How might that change the way you approach booking clients (especially since we've already established that it's difficult to build a business without paying clients).  

 None of those strategies is about luck.  Of course, if you happen to get lucky, and find an amazing client, or get an amazing break, you'll be that much better prepared to capitalize on it, because you'll be building something right.