The phone is ringing, the dogs are barking, UPS is dropping off a package, a friend is texting to ask if you can drop her off at the airport and a neighbor wants to talk about the new HOA policy because you know, you work from home. Insert eye roll here.

I get it. Completely! Working from home can be tough. I’ve owned commercial space, had my studio inside my home and now have a detached studio on our property. This has been my absolute favorite set up btw :)

Unless you are super organized and protective of your time is can be hard to get anything crossed off your to do list each day. So let’s talk about how to make working from home actually work for your photography business.

How To Make Working From Home As A Photographer Actually Work

6 Tips For Working From Home As A Senior Photographer

Set boundaries
Be polite but firm when setting boundaries with family, friends and clients about your business. Working from home doesn’t mean you can drop everything for a 30 minute chat about what another PTO mom did last week. While working from home does give you flexibility in your schedule, it needs to be on your own terms.
Have pre-determined office hours
Setting office hours are extremely important - for you and your family. This may change for you as your life changes, the kids get older and as your business grows. But set them and do not let anything get in your way. We’ll talk about distractions in a minute. But I would caution you about sneaking in a few hours late at night when the kids are occupied. Sure this is necessary every once in a while, but it’s easy to form a bad habit. Been there. Done that. Enjoy your family time in the evenings. There will always be work.
Get comfortable with saying no
Saying no comes so easy to some and it’s extremely difficult for the “people pleasers”. Come on. You know who you are. I am a recovering people pleaser, so I can relate! But what I have learned over the years is that saying yes to trivial or unimportant things in the moment means that I am ultimately giving away my precious time and saying no to my family later on in the day. There are only so many hours in the day and we have to use them wisely. Only say yes to requests that line up with your priorities and values. Everything else can be a gentle “no, I can’t right now, I’m unavailable” . . . you get the picture ;)
Eliminate distractions
The phone is absolutely my biggest distraction. It’s worse than my kids y’all!! Turning your phone to Do Not Disturb is the best thing you could do to actually get some focused work done! I’ve even gone so far to delete social media apps and email from my phone to keep me from being distracted.
Morning & Evening Routines
Creating routines (for myself and the kids) has been a lifesaver to me. There are just those non-negotiable things that have to get done each day, right? Take some time to sketch out your mornings and evenings to make them successful. It takes a while to form new habits, but that investment will pay off! A great morning starts the night before :)
Batch your time
Jumping from one type of task to a totally different one can be such a waste of time and mental energy. To stay productive in your work hours be sure you are focusing on only one type of task - emails, calls, editing, continuing education, etc. Have session days and in person sales days separately so that you can stay focused on one thing. I even close the studio one day a week to run all of my errands and schedule appointments on that one day. Batching things like marketing, client work, post production, calls, emails, and admin work has been a huge time saver as well. The best tool I’ve found to help me with this has been Trello. I’ve been using it for years, and it really keeps me focused and on track. You can read more about it here in this post.

What are some of the things you’ve found to help you stay productive working from home? I’d love to keep the conversation going!

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