Our business is filled with tools to make our job run smoothly. We especially love time-saving hacks and tools that allow us to streamline our process to make a client experience even better! It has certainly taken a few years of researching different things, as well as trial and error, to determine what has worked best for us. We wear many hats. We are not just photographers. Finances have to be tracked, gear has to be maintained and cared for, and client communication must be organized. There are many different areas that a business owner must have a hand in.
So here’s what saves us time and makes our client experience killer! Today on the blog, we’re sharing our five fav business tools that we use (literally every day)! From our client management system to our website platform, we’ve got the five front runners here for you!
Honeybook
Honeybook is our secret weapon! It is a game-changing business management software built specifically for creative entrepreneurs. Honeybook is not only built specifically for creatives, but it is built with community over competition in mind. Honeybook assists entrepreneurs in managing their businesses and simplifying their lives, but it is also built to create collaboration and connection amongst industry professionals.
What is great about this tool is the ease of organizing contracts and client information, the ability to accept and track payments, and the automation! Prior to using Honeybook, we would use multiple websites and methods for sending out contracts, collecting payment, keeping track of questionnaires, and jotting down other important information. Now, we can keep everything all in one place!!! It allows us to take care of our clients well and be ultra-prepared for their wedding day. We seriously love Honeybook and the amount of time that it saves us!
Use our link to get 20% off your first year on Honeybook and your client experience will forever be changed!
Pic-Time
Pic-Time is the program that we use to deliver our clients’ images in beautiful, user-friendly online galleries!! We highly recommend Pic-Time to everyone because we can upload a gallery and have it sent to our clients in less than 10 minutes! How wonderful is that!? Our clients are able to view their images beautifully as well as download, share and print them all straight from their online gallery. We can view their favorites, send coupon codes, and check-up that they’ve viewed the gallery. We are also able to send automated print campaigns when their gallery is first delivered, during the holiday season, and on anniversaries! Check it out HERE and use code FL9Q83 for one month free!!
Photomechanic
Photomechanic makes culling photos a dream! Right after a portrait session or wedding day, the first thing we do is cull my images in PhotoMechanic. PhotoMechanic is super fast because it displays images in JPEG format. Because we’re not waiting for enormous RAW files to load while we’re culling, we can cull weddings super fast! We can also rate or flag our images in PhotoMechanic so we can determine which images will be used in the blog post or for a sneak peek. The flags and ratings transfer directly to Lightroom too. PhotoMechanic is a huge timesaver and we would definitely recommend it to any level of photographer!
BlogStomp
This one was another game changer for us!! Blogstomp is the program that we use to size all of my images for things like Facebook, the blog, publication submissions, and more! It is SO much easier than Photoshop and crazy fast!! You can size as many images as you want with the click of one button in diptychs and collages! You know how the Tuesday after a wedding we post a HUGE blog post of our couples’ day? Well, Photomechanic is the biggest reason we’re able to prepare the post so fast. If you haven’t played with Blogstomp yet, download the free trial and we promise it’ll change your life! Find it HERE!
Showit
ShowIt is a beautiful and flexible platform for any photographer to build their website. When you first get started in ShowIt, they have tons of beautiful templates to choose from to build your site. You can start from scratch and build your own or buy from a third-party. But whatever you choose, editing your site is easy and quick. That’s a huge reason why we love ShowIt. ShowIt is great because it allows for so much more customization than other platforms. You can add, change, or delete sections of your website with one click. You can also merge multiple templates into one, making your site truly unique!
Your website is your online storefront. When a potential client reaches your website, it’s crucial that they feel your brand jumping out at them. With our previous website platforms, it was tough for us to make changes. We felt boxed in with what we created and it would have been incredibly time consuming to make changes. Now, our website continuously evolves with our brand. We update our portfolio after every single wedding. We change entire sections easily and seamlessly. ShowIt allows us to showcase our best work and our best brand always. ShowIt is insanely valuable to our business!
There you are! Five of our fav business tools for any photographer! These tools and programs will help you speed up your workflow and develop great relationships and consistency with your clients!
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