Call me nosy but I used to always be curious as to how business owners organized each week! It’s easy to see a long (and sometimes never-ending) to-do list and wonder how people organize & prioritize it to tackle it! This week’s blog post and VIDEO are for photographers that want an inside peek as to how to organize your weekly schedule to tame that to-do list!
Before we dive right in, I have a few tips & tricks for more productive days! And be sure to grab the Free Weekly Batch Scheduling Guide HERE to customize it to your own schedule & season!
TIME BLOCKING TASKS
I set specific time deadlines for tasks in my business. For example, if I’m editing a wedding, I’ll first break it up into different Lightroom Collections based on parts of the day. Then I’ll give myself 1 hour to edit the Reception Collection and block off say, Monday from 10 to 11 AM to get this done.
I’ll block off different times throughout my editing days for specific collections to get done! This makes me focus on what I’m editing and edit as efficiently as possible without getting distracted to get each section of the wedding done within its time limit.
I also use this tip when working on other parts of my business such as responding to emails, prepping blog posts and social media content, tracking website analytics, etc. It’s harder to pick up your phone and start mindlessly scrolling and wasting minutes of your day when you’re trying to meet a deadline!
Along with this, I force myself to have a hard stop time for my workday! This might sound counterintuitive, especially when you have a lot of work to get through on a day, but this actually forces me to be more productive during the time that I have! I can’t get distracted and HAVE to get my stuff done if I know I’m shutting off my computer by 5 PM and can’t touch work stuff again until the next day!
Grab My Weekly Batch Schedule as a Wedding Photographer
DESIGNATED DAYS
Along with time-blocking tasks, I’ve found that my brain tends to work better when I know exactly what I’m working on for each day ahead of time. Each day during the week is given a certain business purpose and I actually plan shoots & meetings around this general schedule.
Here’s how I designate weekly tasks to each day in my business!
Monday – Content Prep Day aka editing blog post images, writing out & scheduling blog posts and corresponding social media posts, drafting & scheduling my weekly email list email. This is a content-heavy day so I can set it and have my marketing on auto-pilot for the rest of the week while I focus on client work & other business projects! My brain tends to work well when I do similar tasks together & all at once rather than trying to force my brain to come up with an Instagram caption at the end of each workday!
I use WordPress for my blog posts (it’s automatically hooked up to my Showit website), I use Planoly to plan out my Instagram grid & set things to auto-post, I use the FB Business Page post scheduler for Facebook posts, and Convertkit for my educational emails out to the email list! My marketing map of what’s going out when & the workflow checklist for each of the pieces of content that I need to schedule is hosted on my Marketing Map Content Organization Board.
Tuesday – Days for shooting engagement sessions, portrait sessions, client consultations in the evening, errands and all client work. Client work can consist of staying on top of client emails, sending follow up’s, checking HoneyBook (my CRM to manage leads & current customers!) & completing all client-related tasks that are due that week. This also looks like editing any sessions, uploading & delivering any final galleries, sending galleries out to wedding vendors, networking with other people in the creative industry, working on an album design for a couple, etc! I keep all of this organized my Client Tracking Organizational Templates.
Wednesday – Usually my Main Editing Day! This is also another day I reserve to stay at home and go HAM on editing images from weddings and on more client work like designing albums, sending out questionnaires, organizing upcoming wedding day information, etc. I also go through my weekly “tracking” checklist on this day! My tracking checklist comprises of making sure my business finances are in order with receipts uploaded for each business transaction in QuickBooks, tracking mileage, making sure all invoices are paid, looking through social analytics, tracking where my inquiries are coming from, and prepping any client gifts or photography gear & information for upcoming weddings / shoots!
Thursday – One of my favorite days since I get to work on internal business projects! Sometimes this looks like updating my website or tweaking a wedding or portrait workflow or it’s working on bigger projects like launching digital products for other photographers, etc! This has been in the past how I’ve carved out time to work ON the business to elevate it! Again, I’m a HUGE lover of Asana so my business projects each have their own list on my Business Project Organization Board and then cards with checklists of how to complete the project – so I never miss a to-do!
Friday – I try to take Friday’s a lot lighter than the rest of the week! Usually, I have one or two tasks that’ll spill over or I’m really excited about the business project so I’ll work on it on Friday for a couple of hours. I’ve also started to take Friday’s as a little bit more of CEO days. This practically looks like going over the overall vision I’m reaching for and reminding myself what I’m working so hard towards. I’ll track any little wins or accomplishments from the past week. I also look over the Business Development board that I talked about and will plan out the 3 big things that I want to accomplish next week to move the business forward! I’ll also loosely time-block those into my Google Calendar for next week. This freaks some people out having their whole week “scheduled” out but I use this as a LOOSE schedule so I know I have TIME to get the main things done – even if I have to rearrange them in the upcoming week.
READY TO START PUTTING SYSTEMS IN PLACE IN YOUR BUSINESS?
If you’re wondering what the inside of a successful & streamlined photography business looks like the Behind the Business Course is for you! It includes everything from email templates, client questionnaires, workflows for portraits & questionnaires, a breakdown of a profitable marketing strategy & how to streamline and organize each and every part of your business. More of a visual learner? Be sure to watch the totally-free masterclass!
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More Great Business Tips – The MP Education Series
Part I: Why You Should Invest in Photography Education
Part II: 3 Lessons I’ve Learned in 3 Years as a Wedding Photographer
Part III: Website Essentials & Tips for Wedding & Portrait Photographers
Part IV: Wedding Photography Preparation Workflow
Part V: Creating a Marketing Strategy & Workflow for Your Business
Part VI: 5 Tips for Crafting a Stellar Client Experience
Part VII: Why Creatives Should Consider a Quarterly Planning System
Part VIII: Weekly Batch Schedule for Photographers
