Crafting your perfect workflow

I want to take you back.  Back to June 2021.

I’d been full time in my business for 6 months.  Happier than ever, busier than I thought possible.  And then, overnight, we went into lockdown here in Sydney (Dear Victorians, yes, I know I have no right to complain).

Unable to shoot, I spent the first week tidying up my StudioNinja.  Once I’d polished that to within an inch of its life, I found out that my bestie was using hers only for invoicing (the waste!!).  So I did her system too, and then I set up another friend’s…and then I realised, this was something that most photographers really needed help with, and the Tidy Tog was born.

Since then, my team and I have set up over 120 systems (and counting) for photographers all over the world.  We’ve built systems for family photographers in Sydney, wedding photographers in New Zealand, commercial photographers in the UK…even rodeo photographers in the US (yes, really).

And through all of that, we have learnt a thing or two about designing a system that works.

Here’s what you need to know about designing a perfect workflow for your business:

Step 1 – Prioritise

Photographers spend a LOT of time thinking about their product. Finessing the outcome, tweaking their edit, learning their craft. 

But they spend very little time thinking about how to craft an overall experience which is excellent for their client.

The most important things to clients – the things they both care about and will pay more for – are efficicency and convenience.

While personalisation, human interaction, design, branding, are all important….they are significantly LESS IMPORTANT and LESS VALUABLE.  The things photographers typically spend a lot of time on don’t matter much if speed, convenience and the right information are lacking.

So I urge photographers to focus on the big things first, and once your systems are humming along nicely, you can move on to focus on those nice-to-have extras.

Step 2 – What suits YOU? 

Remember why you got into this business? I’ll wager it was (at least partly) for the lifestyle.  So, let’s make sure that we design a business that works for us.

Think about your capacity, and what you want your business to look like.  Do you want to provide a luxurious, high end service?  If so, this will probably involve a high degree of personalisation and connection with every client.  And that costs you time.  It probably means more manual steps, more customisation, more calls, more meetings…perhaps some in-person sales. 

If that sounds terrible to you, no problem.  You can design a low-touch, higher volume business.  More automation, less personalisation, more efficiency, digital packages, and maximising your use of technology and AI.

Design the wrong thing for you, and you won’t be able to keep up.  You won’t be able to provide the level of service your client needs.  And disappointed clients do not come back. 

Step 3 – Know Your Client

Neither is right; neither is wrong.  But they are very different businesses, and you if you design a high touch, highly personalised business and market it to a CEO single mum with 5 kids and zero time…then she’s going hate it.

Conversely, if your ideal client is a heart-led mama who wants to feel heard and seen in the process of being photographed by you, who’s heavily invested in your art and creativity, who wants a super personal session that tells her story… then skipping the phone calls, consultations, and connection is a very bad idea.

Make sure that what your client wants matches your capacity and lifestyle goals – and that’s magic.

Step 4 – Outsource

So often I hear “I’m not ready to outsource”, or “I can’t afford to outsource”

But how much is it costing you to stay stuck?

If a piece of software that charges you $30/month can save you 2 hours a week, then it’s worth it ($3.75/h).

If a VA charges $40/h and can take over 10 hours of admin per week ($400) that you would otherwise have to do, you can take on an extra shoot every week. 

Let’s say that earns you $1000…that’s a net profit of $600.

So by not outsourcing, maybe you’re costing your business $600 every week. 

That’s $30k per year. 

I outsource a tonne of things:

• I outsource 10 hours of admin every week to my VA
• StudioNinja workflows save me a couple of hours on every single job
• Imagen saves me 1 hour of editing on every gallery
• Accounts and bookkeeping are outsourced completely too, saving me 5 hours a month
• I outsource my website, graphic design, video editing…

But I also outsource at home:

• Hello Fresh takes the thinking out of having to feed my family every day
• A cleaner saves me 4 hours every week
• After school care buys me 2 hours of extra work, 3 days per week.
• I even outsourced getting dressed in the morning to a stylist so I don’t have to waste time shopping or agonising over what to wear.

These things allow me to spend my time on the things that really matter.  Extra shoots, more time for creativity, more time with my kids, mental health days, exercise…

You can’t do it all.  It’s time to work smarter, not harder.

If it’s time to buy back time in your business, then the Tidy Tog can help. Done-for-you systems designed exclusively for your business, in just a few weeks. Avoid all the trial and error, and allllll the headaches of doing it yourself. Find out more here.