The Top 5 Things To Outsource In Your Senior Photography Studio

Giving up control of things is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you’ve done it all for so long. You feel like it’s easier, faster and cheaper to just do it yourself! Right?! But guess what? That’s the problem. You will be doing EVERYTHING yourself. And there is only so much of you to go around.

Over the years I have outsourced more and more in our senior studio. It’s a little addicting at this point! It has given me so much peace of mind and personal time back. There’s nothing like it y’all! If you are on the fence, let me try to convince you that outsourcing is the only way to go :)

So what are some things you could outsource in your senior studio? I’m glad you asked!

The Top 5 Things To Outsource In Your Senior Photography Studio To Maximize Productivity And Profits:

1. Editing & Retouching - Turning over our editing and retouching to professionals is by far the best decision I’ve ever made. Was it an easy one to make? Nope. Was there an adjustment period? Yep! But I’m so happy I finally did it. Outsourcing image editing has saved me countless hours of work and given me my life back. Some of my favorite companies to work with are Indy Pro Touch & Rebooku. You can save 10% off your first Rebooku order by using code RefcM7k4li at checkout.

2. Album Design - I have to give it to Rebooku again for album design. They have beautiful templates for senior albums and have great turn around time on the design work as well. But if you have someone in house to do album design for you, I would recommend using Fundy for custom album design. It’s very user friendly and has helped us cut our design time and costs so much.

3. Client Management - Gone are the days of spreadsheets, notebooks and word templates. We have been using Honeybook for our client management and absolutely love the freedom and confidence it gives us in the studio knowing we aren’t letting anything fall through the cracks with any client. It’s a lifesaver! Honeybook is giving our readers 50% off their first year with them! How awesome is that?!

4. Legal - Sure you could write your own contract with your studio’s policies and procedures. But do you know if you’re really covered? I doubt it. I did this for years and never felt safe. Since purchasing our studio contract through The LawTog I feel so much more confident. And yes, it has saved me a time or two with troublesome clients. A studio contract written by an attorney who specifically works with professional photographers is worth every penny!

5. Branding - Our website and marketing materials set the tone for how potential clients will receive us and for how much they can expect to pay for our services. If you have a flawless professional and artistic design, they will expect to pay a premium. Modern Market to the rescue! They have a site full of Logos, Branding Collections for your marketing materials as well as SquareSpace and ProPhoto Website Design Templates.

Find your wheelhouse. And outsource the rest. If you can make more money in the time it would take you to do some of these things, then it’s a no brainer. Do the things that bring in sales - like shooting - you know, that thing you were in love with way back when you started this business? Yeah. Do that.

Anything else you outsource in your studio? I’d love to know!

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***

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How Outsourcing Saved My Business and Sanity

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

I was at my wit's end.

You see, I can be pretty darn good at something when I focus on it.  We all can be, right?  When business was going great, the house was a horrible mess.  When the laundry was folded, dishes cleaned and dinner was on the table every night, I wasn't returning client calls quick enough and getting behind on processing orders.  

Panic and stress were getting to be the norm.  

I could rock one side of life.  But not both.  That's when I decided to get some serious help.  And I haven’t looked back since.  

So what sorts of things did I outsource?

For business the first things I outsourced were image editing and email.  

1. Image Editing.  As a photographer this is one of the toughest and most time consuming parts of the business.  I turned over my final editing to a wonderful company called Rebooku.  They have really fast turn around times and do great work!  I also let them do some album design and image extractions for custom sports work when I need it too.  Use this code: RefcM7k47li for 10% off your first order.  You will love them!

2. Email.  Ugh.  I hate it.  I had learned the art of email templates (we'll talk about that soon), but they weren’t getting sent out on time and sometimes not at all.  Yikes!  This does not make for a good client experience.  I knew I needed help to organize and automate my processes.  After lots of research I settled on a studio management system called HoneyBook.  I am head over heels in love with HoneyBook.  It has saved me over and over again because my poor little brain can only retain so much.  The good guys over there are giving my followers 50% off! Woohoo!

3. Help around the office.  Around the same time I did hire a part time assistant to help with client management and to assist on photo sessions. This was a blessing in and of itself.  If you can't afford to hire an assistant consider starting an internship program.  You could contact a local high school or university to easily fill a spot for course credit.

4. Social Media.  A thorn in my side and maybe yours too.  I do love it, but I struggle to find the time every day to write an amazing caption for my next post. Life is crazy, right? And we can’t be creative 100% of the time. Sure I have my client's beautiful images which I am always posting, but I love to post styled artwork too.  I love the styled images from Styled Stock Society. They offer so many different options for filler content when you need it! Oh, and Planoly is the bomb for planning out your Insta feed ;)

Who has time . . .

. . . to take Instagram-worthy photos when you’ve got a business to run?

OUTSOURCE IT Y'ALL!

Let’s talk about things that can be outsourced at home.

1. Cleaning.  Number one on this list has to be cleaning!  I hired a maid service to come in twice a month to do all the things I hate!  It would take me a week to do the things they do in four hours.  And there is nothing like a clean home to ease some tension and help you relax.

2. Meal Prep.  There are some wonderful meal prep services out today.  We love Dream Dinners and Freshly.  Thaw it the night before and follow the directions to cook your meal.  Is it a little pricey?  Yep.  But I didn’t have to plan the meal, shop for the groceries, wash and chop veggies or meat.  It’s all done.  And the meals are fantastic!

3. Grocery Shopping.  I can blast through the grocery store aisles like mad woman, but it’s so nice to see a big giant box show up on my front porch knowing I only had to click a few buttons to stock my pantry.  My favorites are Amazon Subscribe & Save and Thrive Market. Thrive is like a combination of Whole Foods meets Amazon.  It’s chock full of organic and non-gmo options if you are into a healthy lifestyle.  Get 25% off your first order here. 

4. Dry Cleaning.  I do not have the time or patience to iron my husband’s pants and dress shirts for work.  There I said it.  Haha!  Most dry cleaners have a pick-up and delivery service.  Check out your local ones if this is something you could easily sub out.  

Outsourcing was THE best thing I ever did for my business and family! I fought it for the longest time, thinking I could do it all.  But I would just become more and more frustrated.  Because guys, we can't really do it all.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong in admitting that!

I’m so happy I waved that white flag just as high as I could when I finally realized it.  Are you ready to let go of some things?  Have you already?  What am I missing out on?  I’d love to know where you’ve learned to outsource as well.

*** DON’T MISS THIS! ***

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