The busiest time of year for photographers has already started. Are you ready for a surge in bookings? More bookings means more revenue, but unprepared photographers could feel overwhelmed. In fact, the busy photography season doesn’t need to be stressful. These 5 tips in this article will enable you to survive the busy season.
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Create a Work Schedule
You should first know the maximum number of clients you can serve during this period. If the workload is more than you can handle, you may overlook details or fail to deliver high-quality photos for your clients. Therefore, don’t let your photography work be overburdened!
You can create a work schedule for yourself that includes client meetings, shoot dates, editing times, and more. A detailed schedule ensures that you complete tasks on time and prevent overbooking. So how do you make a work schedule? First of all, write down all the tasks for the period and prioritize them based on deadlines and importance. Secondly, you need to add extra time for each task to your work schedule, such as unexpected delays. Finally, don’t forget to add your own days for vacations, general holidays, etc.
Before creating your work schedule, ask yourself the following questions:
– What are my daily working hours?
– What are the most clients I can have per week?
– How much time should I spend with my clients before the shoot?
– How much time will it take me to edit photos?
– Which day is best for me to go on vacation?
Have Backup Plans
Although nobody likes to have their plans altered, we must acknowledge that unforeseen events can occur at any time. Having a backup plan guarantees that you are prepared for any unforeseen circumstances, such as equipment damages, bad weather, or cancellations.
You can have some spare equipment including cameras, lenses and batteries to replace your damaged gear. In case of bad weather, look for alternative locations for your clients to shoot outdoors. In addition, if you experience a cancellation, you can swap your scheduled shoot for a photo editing job.
Offer Mini Sessions During the Photography Busy Season
If you want to get as many bookings as possible but don’t want to overload yourself, why not try offering mini sessions to your clients? Mini sessions take less time, so you can make the most of your time by offering photography services to more clients while making more money.
To ensure the success of your mini session photography, you need to plan out the dates and durations of your shoots in advance. Then you will know exactly how many customers you can serve in a day. For instance, if the duration of a mini session is 30 minutes, then you can even shoot for 6-8 guests in a day! To further boost your photography business, you can also market these mini sessions as limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency. For further information on how to start a mini session photography business, check out this blog.
Streamline Your Workflow
During the busy season, efficiency is crucial. Streamlining your work process might help you feel less stressed and save valuable time. So from booking to delivering photos, how to establish an efficient workflow? Actually, Zno Cloud has a solution for you! It is an all-in-one platform for photographers, and you can elevate your photography business with websites, client galleries, eCommerce stores, slideshows, and more.
If you want to get more organic traffic, Zno Website™ can help! You can attract new clients with our modern websites, and introduce your photography services through eye-catching website pages. After the photo shoot, remember to deliver your photos to clients with a stunning online photo gallery. To further boost your sales, you can sell photo albums, prints, wall art, and more with an integrated online store. What’s more, if you want to enhance your customer experience, you can also use Zno Slideshow™. What could be more impressive than a slideshow showing memorable highlights? In a word, you can accomplish all the tasks in your workflow with Zno Cloud!
Take Care of Yourself
Last but not least, don’t forget to have a break and take care of yourself! Remember that your personal health is wealth, especially in the busy photography season. Burnout can lead to decreased performance and quality of your work. Vice versa, you will be more productive when you’re energized.
So on your day off, enjoy your rest time. Switch off your phone and computer, stay away from shooting and editing, and toss aside any unfinished work. Also, make sure you get plenty of sleep and try out some hobbies that you don’t usually have time for. When you return to work, you’ll find yourself refreshed and full of energy to get back into your photography business again.
About Show and Sell Suite
Our Show & Sell Suite can take your photography services to the next level! With integrated websites, galleries, estores and slideshows, you can attract more audience and gain more bookings during the photography busy season. Sign up and start your free trial to explore the features today.
