As creatives we tend to be very hands on and immersed in the process of creating our artwork and all the things it entails.  While that’s a very noble thought we can really find ourselves quickly overwhelmed by all the “stuff” we have to do every day.  What’s worse, is we convince ourselves that we are the only ones who can do the work and that “no one can do it as well as me, because I know what my clients want.” 

I’m here to tell you that almost everything you do in your business can be done by someone else, probably better and faster than you can do it.  I’m not trying to burst your bubble but rather to open your mind to becoming free from the vast majority of what you take on every day.

I’ve learned that there are three actions that make money in a portrait studio- marketing, photography and sales.  Every other action in your studio is a cost that takes your attention from those three important tasks and should be delegated to someone, outsourced (another form of delegating, more on that later), or [gasp!] not done.  

Let’s take a look at some of the things that you can move off your plate- Bookkeeping, payroll, cleaning, landscaping, retouching, culling images, framing, assembly, packaging, calling leads, delivering orders, making bank deposits, booking sessions……starting to see a pattern?  

All these items are not you behind a camera working with a client, or sitting at a sales appointment helping the client get what they want, or meeting with a marketing partner to get your message out and benefit your business.   Those three areas are where you generate the most dollars per hour in your business, and doing any of those other things is taking time away from your ability to do the high-dollar tasks!

This may sound brutal at first, but think about it; if you are in the middle of a session and the mail arrives you’re not going to stop in the middle of the session and sort the mail, right?  Of course not!  But, what if there isn’t a session right then- would you immediately go to sorting the mail, when the biggest return on your time is booking new clients by finishing your marketing campaign?   The mail can wait; or can be passed off to someone else to sort. Unfortunately most of us would do the sorting ourselves, thereby stealing time from ourselves to do higher level work.

Now I know some of you are saying “Mike that’s nuts! I’m only one person, I have to do all the stuff in my studio!”  Maybe, but I bet you could find a part-time person for 10 hours a week or less (or one of your kids) to do some of the other things for a relatively low cost compared to the time you make up for yourself. 

Let’s take a look at calling leads, for example.  First of all, you won’t do it; just face that up front.  I don’t, I will do it in a pinch but I put it off and find other more “fun” things to do instead, and in the meantime the leads languish and the prospects lose interest.  Someone doing your phone calls (or texting, etc) will make you money, not cost you money. 

Retouching is best outsourced; now that doesn’t mean you don’t monitor the results and train the vendor to your standards- that’s what I mean by outsourcing as a form of delegation; you are still responsible for the finished product and if some time spent up front teaching the retoucher your preferences then there is much less time needed later; just cursory checks for consistent quality.

Lastly, take a hard look at everything you do in a day, and figure out how many of those things would not impact your business success if they never got done.  You’ll be amazed by asking yourself “is this necessary for the success of my business?” and discovering that there are some things that truly you do because you’ve always done them.  Eliminate those things, and be free of ever doing them again!  They aren’t adding to the bottom line, so make them go away.

I hope you’ve found a few nuggets that will help you take away the stress and overwhelm of just “doing it, doing it, doing it” and think about how you can free up your time for the work that you truly should be doing.