I had an epiphany recently while one a long drive to a shoot. I spend a lot of time in the car, travelling from one place to the next, and I wanted to make sure that this blank space in my schedule was being put to work – for me. So like many people, I’ve turned to podcasts, and picking and choosing the right ones has been a fantastic way to work on my mindset, stay positive, and keep my passion – for work and for life – alive.

I regularly have little ‘eureka’ moments while I’m tuned in to my favourites, but this one in particular struck such a chord that I had to share it with you all. This golden nugget of truth comes from the brilliant Debbie Millman, whose Design Matters podcast is on regular rotation in my car. This is what she had to say – and it made me pull over to think about it:

“Of the many, many excuses people use to rationalise why they can’t do something, the excuse ‘I’m too busy’ is not only the most inauthentic, it is also the laziest. I don’t believe in ‘too busy’. I think that busy is a decision. We do the things we want to do, period.”

At first it sounds pretty harsh, right? I mean, we’re all balancing running businesses, chasing leads, looking after families, attempting to fit in a social life, the gym…the list really does go on and on, and keeping all the plates in the air can be pretty overwhelming. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I totally agree with what Debbie says.

Honesty time – of the last handful of times you told someone you were too busy to do something, what were you trying to get out of? Was it something you really, truly wanted to do? Or more likely, was it something you were invested enough to make the time for? If someone had offered you a holiday in the Maldives or a shoot with a famous rider in an incredible location, would you still have been busy? I’m not so sure.

Okay, so admin tasks aren’t particularly inspiring. There’s nothing sexy about cultivating leads, or refining your target market, or putting together marketing templates. I get that! But are you really too busy to do it, or do you just not really want to do it?

The eureka moment: there’s a huge difference between genuinely being too busy, and just not making the time. A tough pill to swallow? Sure – but catching yourself in the act can revolutionise your time-management, and as such, your stress levels.

Now, I don’t want to accuse anyone of laziness, because in my experience, anyone who’s passionate enough to want to start their own business is usually an inordinately hard worker, too. But sometimes these excuses stem from something a bit deeper – fear. A subconscious fear that maybe you won’t be able to get the job in question done.

It’s time to start swapping the word ‘busy’ for whatever it is we actually mean. Are you busy, or do you not want to do it because it’s not something that lights your fire? If so, maybe it’s time to establish a reward system for yourself when you’ve tackled a particularly dull task. Or, are you worried that people might judge you if you’re seen to have even a moment of down-time? (This is a really common problem for the self-employed, and it’s one we all need to commit to weaning ourselves of – we all deserve time off!)

Sometimes, though, you truly are overwhelmed by all the jobs in your diary. If this is the case, ask yourself why you’re taking on so much – are you afraid to say ‘no’, in case the work dries up? Or do you need to work every hour of the day to make ends meet? If the first one strikes a chord, it’s well worth boosting your sense of self-worth – and your business trajectory – by making sure you’re taking on jobs that help you with your long-term goals. If the latter? Time to put those prices up, baby.

I don’t say any of this because I’ve always had it all sussed out. When I was first starting out, I accepted every single job that came my way – even the unpaid ones. But, facing burn-out and questioning what on earth I was doing with my life, I quickly learnt that unless there was something in it for me, there was no point killing myself over it.

By learning to be selective, and no longer filling my diary with meaningless or unprofitable jobs, I fed my passion without exhausting it – and then I suddenly found myself not only with the time to work on my goals, but the drive to do so, even if it meant tackling the boring jobs. Plus, I could fit in days off – and I didn’t feel guilty about them, because I could see the path I was on.

Double eureka!

If you still feel like you are struggling with workflow or find it difficult to tackle those mundane jobs, check out our online business series for more awesome guidance from Emily and Hannah from the comfort of your own home!

Today, we’ll be discussing the three absolutely essential tips for making sure everyone is prepared for shoot day. Ready? Let’s do this!

Tip #1: Make sure you’ve got the need-to-knows covered

Surprises can be brilliant, but there’s a time and a place for them – and that time and place isn’t on shoot day! Instead, you want to make sure you know all the key variables and info ahead of time, and that you’ve double-checked them all, too.

Start with the real basics – do you know the address of the yard, the phone number of the client, any access codes, and all the navigational information you’ll need to get to your shoot destination? Yards are often tucked away in mobile signal dead zones, and they’re not always obviously signposted, so make sure you know exactly where you’re going.

Arriving late to a shoot isn’t a great first impression, and you’ll probably feel flustered and off your game as a result. Instead, leave 15 to 20 minutes earlier than you need to in case you run into traffic, road closures, or you have a navigational snafu.

While you’re sorting the need-to-knows, double-check your need-to-packs, too. That means you should go through your kit bag, making sure everything is clean, charged, working, and ready to go. It’s best practice to reformat your cards and tend to you kit directly after each shoot so it’s ready for next time, but you should always check again for piece of mind.

Learn from our mistakes – both Emily and I have made the colossal error of turning up for a shoot without a memory card or a camera battery, and it’s NOT a situation you want to find yourself in! Always pack spares, too, in case of a hiccup.

Our unmissable little extras? Polos, horse treats, and bottles of water. The first two are pretty obvious – they can help you coerce your model into cooperating. And the latter? Well, staying hydrated is crucial to staying on your game – and your client will be really impressed if you’re able to look after them, too, while you’re shooting.

Tip #2: Beef up your business

Okay, so your business is already prepared for clients, right? Well, hold on a second – you’d be amazed by how many people get the bare bones up and running and then find themselves stumbling over the little details once they’ve got a client booked in, especially if it’s their first one.

There are several details you need to have decided upon and made clear before you get the ball rolling, and the best way to cover all bases is to look at it from a client’s point of view. Try to think of all the questions you’d ask if you were booking a shoot, and make sure you know the answers. For example…

• How does payment work? Is there an online
  payment system, or do they need to do a BACS or PayPal transfer, or can they
  make their payment over the phone? When’s the payment deadline?
• How do they book their date in? Do you have a
  web-based appointment system, or do they need to contact you directly?
• What happens if the weather forecast isn’t
  playing ball?
• Are you fully insured?
• Is your website and social media easy to find
  and does it answer their questions?
• Are your contact details easily accessible?

The more questions you can think of and answer, the better prepared you’ll be – we recommend writing up an FAQ page on your website to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to commit to working with you. Many potential clients will walk away if they find the whole process confusing before they’ve even booked.

Professionalism and polish makes people feel safe – after all, they’re handing over their hard-earned money, and they won’t do so to a business that looks shoddy or noncommittal. Covering the bases and providing plenty of information will make them feel cared for and supported from the get-go.

Our best bit of advice? Invest in a CRM – that is, Customer Relationshop Management software. This all-in-one tool organises all the information about your leads, your current and past clients, your invoicing, your workflows, contact details, and so much more, all in one spot. It really takes the heavy lifting out of admin, and there are plenty of options you can use that will remind you of your next step with each client.

Tip #3: Preparing your client for the big day

It’s important to assume that your clients know nothing about how a shoot works – because they probably don’t! All the little bits and pieces that seem really obvious to us as photographers are likely entirely foreign to your clients, so don’t be afraid to hold their hands a bit (figuratively, of course – we don’t tend to get that cosy on shoots!).

It might seem like a given that the horse should be sparkling clean and the client should have some great outfits picked out, but you’d be amazed by how many people drag their muddy horses in from the field as the photographer arrives. Put together a pre-shoot prep list for your client, with advice on…

• Styling: Suggest outfit changes, ideas for styles, and offer advice on hair and makeup. Encourage them to express their personal style and choose outfits they feel
  fabulous in – there’s no uniform!
• The morning routine: Give them tips on how to prepare their horse. Routines
  should stay the same as much as possible to minimise stress and aggravation,
  but recommend a bath the day before and a rug overnight if the horse lives out.
• Grooming:
  Let them know that the horse should be in, groomed, and ready to go for the shoot time – otherwise, they’ll lose valuable time in front of the camera.
• Tack: Make sure they know that any tack should be well-cleaned and show-ready – smudgy, dirty tack and crusty bits look terrible in photos.
• Timings: Tell them when you’ll turn up, how long the shoot will last, and what each stage will consist of – location scouting, actual shooting time, and so on.
• Helpers: If you need an extra person on hand – for example, for loose shots of a horse or to be in charge of getting ears forward – find out if they’ll have someone on hand for the shoot, or if you’ll be bringing an assistant, let them know.

The golden rule? Assume nothing, double-check everything. We like to do a pre-shoot courtesy call with our clients, which gives us a chance to go over all the details, make sure they’re feeling confident and prepared, and to help build excitement for the big day. Your clients will be ready to shine if they feel like they’ve had the full experience.

Final thoughts…

If you try to rush the process and miss the major steps, you’re going to feel like you’re playing catch-up with yourself the whole time – and that feeling will pass onto your client, who will ultimately lose confidence in the process. But if you’re able to trust that you’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s, you’ll reassure them that they’re in safe and capable hands throughout!

It is super vital to get these elements nailed before any shoot. Still feel like you aren’t prepared? Let Emily and Hannah walk you through their detailed step by step guide to nailing every photo shoot on their business of equine photography LIVE 6 part online series!

Your website has one primary purpose: it’s there to convince potential clients that they shouldn’t look any further than you for their photography needs. Your Instagram feed, your Pinterest pins, your Twitter, and so on and so forth, should all just be the delicious breadcrumbs that lead your customer back to your website – and, ultimately, to a sale.

Basically, a great website is the machine that converts punters into profit. Done well, it’ll work for you 24/7, promoting your work – and your charms! – and filling your diary. But first, you need to make sure you’ve got the right stuff on it. Here are the seven essentials your photography website NEEDS to succeed…

Essential Element #1: Simplicity Is Supreme

You’ve heard us say it before, and you’ll hear it again now: Keep It Simple, Sweetie! Once you’ve written the copy for your pages, take a step away from them and read them as though you’re a potential client.

Is it straightforward, easy to understand, and quick to read? Or is it a bit, well, loud? By that we mean, is there so much information that you feel a bit overwhelmed trying to absorb it all? Or is the wording aggressive and a bit too pushy? Remember, the people reading it won’t have any background knowledge on your or your business. And right now? They don’t need it!

If you Google some of the world’s most famous photographers, you’ll end up on very simple, stark websites – there’s not a lot of textual information, and probably not a lot of design trickery, either. Instead, their sites are aimed at showcasing a selection of images as best as possible. It’s a bit like entering a gallery.

At its core, that’s what you need: your photography website is your personal gallery, and you need to let your gorgeous images speak for themselves. Yes, you can add backpages with a short bio, and information about your packages. But let your clients navigate to them when they’re ready, and keep the front page simple, beautiful, and effective.

Essential Element #2: Be Authentically You

First impressions are crucial, and these days, your website is your representative. In fact, your web presence is the first chance your client will have to ‘meet’ you – and if they don’t like your vibe then, it could be the last.

Think about it like this: before the internet took over our lives, equestrian photographers would have spent much of their time on the road, at photography shows and exhibitions, at horse shows, and popping to local yards, meeting people face-to-face and handing out brochures.

If you had to do that now, how would you go about it? Well, you probably wouldn’t put on a fake voice and adopt someone else’s mannerisms, that’s for sure – it would feel weird, and smarmy, and you wouldn’t be able to maintain it.

So why do so many people hide behind turns of phrase and flowery wording that just doesn’t sound like them? Lack of confidence is probably one of the big culprits, particularly if you don’t think of yourself as much of a writer. But here’s an idea: instead of writing your web copy down straight away, turn on sound recording on your phone, and try describing yourself and your business out loud.

Okay, so you might feel a bit silly at first, but the very best and most inviting writing is the writing that sounds like you. It’s the stuff your best friends could read and actually hear your voice in their heads. It’s chatty, and it’s natural, and it’s like sitting down with you for a cuppa and a catch-up.

Another great exercise to try is to write an email to a close friend or family member, describing your business as though they don’t know anything about it. Explain why it’s great, and what you have planned, and why you’re excited about it. You don’t need to send it – just save it and look at it the next day. I guarantee you’ll find some sentences and phrases that work wonderfully on your website.

It should go without saying, but all the images on your website need to be your own – except the image on your About Me page, which can be taken by someone else, but needs to be of you! Photoshoots are so personal, and your clients aren’t just booking a product – they’re signing up for an experience. Letting them get to know you will convince them it’ll be a great one.

Essential Element #3: Good is Good Enough

Writing might not be your ‘thing’ – and hey, that’s totally fine! You’re a photographer, not J.K. Rowling, and no one expects you to be amazing at everything. Yes, it can be intimidating writing copy for your webpage – but honestly? No one will scrutinise your writing as much as you do yourself.

Okay, real talk time? They will notice bad spelling, poor grammar, and broken links. But those are three issues that are so easy to tackle – use a spell-checker, ask a particularly literary friend to give it a once-over, and always, always triple-check your links. When it
comes to engaging copy, though? Good is good enough.

There’s no magic combination of words that converts leads into customers. There’s not a certain ‘level’ of writing competency that’s going to make a sale. Ultimately, the bottom line is your images – you just need to be your likeable self and get the job done with the copy. Perfection is overrated.

Essential Element #4: Only Show Your Best Work

This is so, so important – and it’s going to save you a tonne of time, too! We’ve spoken about this phenomenon before, but it’s well worth repeating. Basically, when faced with multiple options, people will always subconsciously look for a reason NOT to choose something.

For example: you’re looking at a selection of hotels for an upcoming holiday. One of them is well within your budget, has a view of the beach, and the rooms are beautiful and airy. The only issue? You’ll have to pay an extra daily charge for breakfast and wifi. Are you going to commit? Not likely – you might keep the tab open, but you’re going to keep scrolling, right?

It’s exactly the same when people shop for a photographer. All it takes is one image that they don’t like, and they’ll move onto a different website. Seems a bit harsh, right? Most people don’t even realise they’re doing it – but if you know, then you can game the system.

Picking 10-20 images for your website is a savvy move for a few reasons. First, it keeps the overall impression clean and uncluttered. Second, it forces you to objectively pick out the very best work you’ve done. Third, it gives a potential client a much smaller chance of seeing something they don’t like.

Need some inspiration? Go through your images as though you’re putting a selection together for an enormous, one-million-pound photography prize. Which photos are you the most proud of? Display them loud and proud and let them represent the wonderful work you do.

Essential Element #5: Links (They’re not just for sausages)

Ready for some short and sweet information? Of course you are! We mentioned this in point three, but actually, it’s so important that we’re going to mention it again as its own point. Go check the links on your page. Every last one of them. Right now!

There is nothing more off-putting than finding a beautifully put-together site, which  appears to offer everything you want in a photographer – only to click through to the booking form and wind up at a dead-end. Unfortunately, most people won’t search for another way to get in touch – they’ll just move on.

Make it seriously easy to book you by making sure every single link on your website leads where it’s meant to, and make your booking information and price list really easy to find from every single page. People are fickle – so don’t give them any excuses.

Essential Element #6: Don’t Play Hard-To-Get

Following on from the last point, your contact information needs to be super easy to find. You can – and should – have a contact page linked in your navigation bar, but it’s also incredibly helpful to put your phone number and email address in your footer, too, so it appears on every page. Catch them at the very moment they decide they love your work, and they’ll be yours.

Essential Element #7: Become a Blogger

I mean, not as a career choice, unless that’s what you’re really into. But blogging is free to do and can make such a huge difference to your online presence. Not only does it give your clients the opportunity to get to know you, it also drives new leads back to your webpage from social media sites like Pinterest.

Plan to blog at least once a week, although you don’t have to write the pieces every week – just as you can schedule social media posts, you can write a bunch of blogs in one go and then plan to publish them each Saturday, for example.

You can write about anything and everything on your blog – that’s the beauty of it! Write about something that’s inspired you, or a funny moment from a recent shoot, or somewhere beautiful you went with your camera.

Write about your dream photoshoot, your favourite competition to snap at, your biggest editing revelation. The more you write, the more inspired you’ll be!

Back to You:

Armed with inspiration? We hope so! We’d love to see your website – and we’re always on the hunt for a great new blog to read! – so drop your links in the comments and
share your hard work!

All of this and tonnes more is covered in detail in our 6-part online LIVE business series… check it out in the link below and sign up if you wanna jet-propel your business!