I’m always intrigued by what systems people use in their businesses. So I thought I’d share which systems I use in my photography business.
It’s not all photography related – some of them just make good business sense. Although after reviewing this post I realised I probably have a couple of duplications (where the systems can do similar things – like calendly and Dubsado).
Dubsado
I started with Dubsado in lockdown. Which was probably an odd time to start using it considering I had no work whatsoever, however it gave me time to get my head round how it works.
I use it to streamline all my work flows, send automatic emails, chase invoices and as a way to book discovery calls. I couldn’t be without it now!
Calendly
I have a real love hate relationship with Calendly. Its great when it works and its utterly appalling when it doesn’t. I should really use Dubsado’s scheduling tool but it isn’t quite as user friendly (one of the few things that annoys me about Dubsado).
But for now it’s how I schedule group photoshoots for Visibility School.
Pixiset
If you’re a photographer then you probably use a gallery system and Pixiset is very much like any other system. It stores all my clients images
What I love about it:
- It’s really reasonable compared with some of the galleries I’ve used in the past.
- My clients can download digital images from the gallery – or they can buy prints too
- It now has a scheduling and invoicing option.
- You can create a website using it (and a gallery app)
I find it’s a great way to keep all my shoots together after using Dropbox for many year.
Buffer
I schedule most of the content a couple of weeks in advance. That wasn’t always the case, but since the start of 2023 I decided I needed to be a bit more intentional with what I’m sharing, and I needed to do it more regularly – without it becoming an Olympic pain in my bum.
So I started off with just the free version of Buffer and then when I saw what an impact it was having I realised it made sense to actually use it properly – so I now pay every month so I schedule to more social media channels.
Mailerlite
I’ve used Mailerlite for the last few years after totally seeing my arse over Mailchimp (in Yorkshire that means getting very fed up with it). It’s so easy to create newsletters, add pop ups to your website and even do quiz’s.
I pay $9 a month (though that’s only a recent thing as I’ve now reached over the 1000 subscriber limit for the free account).
Automating email sequences is an absolute doddle with Mailerlite.
Lightroom & Photoshop
For non photographers this probably isn’t particularly interesting but I use both Lightroom and Photoshop in my photography business.
I cull all images in Lightroom and then fix any problems with exposure then export them as Tiff’s – which I then open in Photoshop to do any retouching and use any actions.
Canva
I used to spend about 874 billion hours on photoshop trying to create social media posts – it’s so time consuming and ridiculously complicated. Then (like everyone these days) I found Canva – and
I do pay for the pro version – it just makes more sense because the templates are better and I have my branded content and colours easily accessible.
Bluehost
Back in 2006 I bought my first hosting package with Bluehost and created my first website – The Bookshop Around the Corner. I sold second hand cookbooks and then eventually went on to write and publish over 25 books too.
I’ve been creating WordPress sites with them, since then and I still love Bluehost. Even though its an American company, their ‘chat’ feature is just brilliant if I ever have any problems.
Asana
I use the free version of this – and this is where I keep all my things to do in one place. I also have my assistant on there too – so I can set tasks and we can see where we are with scheduling content every week.
Anyway thanks for reading – hopefully you’re still awake! Let me know if you anything that you think would help me in my photography business – my next job is to looking into Course Hosting systems…
And when you’re ready, here are three ways that I can help you:
1) Visit my blog for tips on VISIBILITY.
Every week I discuss strategies to improve your visibility, get over your fear of visibility and my latest shoots. Read here
2) Plan a bespoke photoshoot.
We can plan a shoot based on what you actually need (read more) or you could join me at a Branding Day.
3) Join ‘Visibility School’.
Visibility school is a membership group where you get 12 months of photoshoots, a fab little Facebook group and lots of bonus content too (new for 2023 members) . Read
