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If you’re looking for photography outsourcing ideas, then I’d first like to congratulate you on making it to this point in your career. It takes years to learn how to build a photography business and you’re finally to a place where you can afford to start getting others to do some of your dirty work for you.
Before I get into this article, I would like to point something really important out. There are two types of photography outsourcing ideas. The first is more traditional and includes getting other people to help you with your job. The second is more modern and includes the use of different photography business apps to help you with your job. Both of these photography outsourcing ideas can be helpful, depending upon what your business needs right now.
So, I will include some information about both of these photography outsourcing ideas in this article. I’m also going to list a few photography business tools that I’ve personally found helpful in lightening my workload.
Start Outsourcing ASAP
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If you need to save time with your photography business, then you should already be outsourcing. I’m a huge fan of outsourcing as a business owner because it allows you to focus on what you really need to be focusing on.
For instance, I outsource a ton of my work so that I can focus on the sales portion of my job, both because this is what I’m good at and because this is what keeps my photography business afloat.
However, as someone who is relatively frugal and Type A, I also understand how stressful it can be to outsource. You want to make sure that the job gets done correctly, and unless you already know the people you’re planning on working with, you’re taking a gamble. It is especially painful knowing just how much that gamble could cost you if it doesn’t work out.
However, over the long term, outsourcing will help you to build your business. There might just be a few bumps along the way.
Outsource Your Editing
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When it comes to photography outsourcing ideas, outsourcing your editing is one of the first that should come to mind. Let’s face it, very few photographers genuinely enjoy doing their editing and it is so, so time consuming. Even if you are one of those photographers who love to edit, you can still outsource it after a few years.
You can either find an editor who understands the general style you’re going for and try them out, or you can edit a few images in every bunch using your preset style and then send the rest off to an editor who can copy this style.
Either way, you need to make sure that your editor is sending you a few samples of every batch so you can let them know whether you’re happy with them before sending them off to finish the rest of the batch. No photography outsourcing ideas will save more time than finding a great editor.
Outsource Your Bookkeeping
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Outsourcing your bookkeeping is another great way to save time (and money) in your business. Let’s be honest, the chances that you are making some mistakes with your bookkeeping or taxes are probably pretty high. Each one of these mistakes is costly. By hiring a professional accountant to do this work for you, you aren’t only saving yourself the hassle of doing it, but you’re likely saving money.
When you are looking for a good accountant, make sure that you find someone who specifically works with small businesses because they will be able to get you all of the tax breaks you qualify for.
While all of these photography outsourcing ideas should save you time, ideally they’ll save you money as well.
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Outsource Your Physical Products
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If you are still directly selling things like prints and photo albums to your clients, you are wasting a ton of time. You have a website that should be doing this for you. All you need to do is find a company that can fulfill your orders.
There are tons of companies out there that would love your business. These companies can print your photos, or albums, package them, and send them directly to the homes of your clients. All you have to do in this transaction is try and sell the products in the first place by reminding your clients about where they can buy your products and sending out emails when you’re running a sale.
As I already mentioned, photography outsourcing ideas should save you time and money, but they can also bring additional revenue streams into your business, like this one.
Don’t forget your basic photography business tips while attempting this idea, though. Don’t sign any major contracts unless you know what you’re getting into and make sure that you do a small trial run with any business you think you’d like to work with. Ideally, these companies would be willing to send you samples for free before you even purchase anything.
Outsource Your Communications with Your Employees
If you’re all over photography outsourcing ideas already and have contractors or employees working for you, then you likely spend hours every day trying to wrangle them all.
Instead of doing this yourself, you could get Podium, which is an all-in-one messaging platform. Podium has a feature called Teamchat, which helps to keep all of your communications in one place. After all, it can be really frustrating trying to keep up with emails, text messages, and DMs on different social platforms. Teamchat lets you keep your team on track with ease.
You can directly chat with one worker or contractor via Teamchat, or you can talk to a whole team. You can send attachments, as if it were an email, and you can use templates so that you can save time typing out the same messages.
While Podium is not free, very few photography outsourcing ideas are. Podium does provide a free trial so that you can use it and figure out whether it will work for your business moving forward.