3 Black Friday Sales Ideas for Photographers from a Virtual Assistant

Today I wanna dive into 3 Black Friday sales ideas for photographers (straight from your friendly neighborhood virtual assistant 💕). And if you think I’m crazy for talking about Black Friday in July…I want you to keep reading.

The day after Thanksgiving is one of the largest sale days of the year, and it’s definitely an amazing way to boost income before the slower booking season of the holidays. But let’s be honest: it’s a bitch to organize & market.

Not only are a million people vying for your audience’s attention during Black Friday, you also want make sure you don’t end up glued to your computer screen while everyone else enjoys Turkey leftovers & naps. Ya know!?

Having an automation is KEY, and you’ll definitely want to have all of this mapped out in advance. Thus, why you might want to consider making a plan now versus when the busy Fall season begins.

Do I have you convinced? ;) If so…

Here are 3 Black Friday Sales Ideas for Photographers —

  1. A Set Reduced Rate on a Popular Package: Let’s say you’re a boudoir photographer…you can offer a limited number of spots with a reduced session fee. Create urgency by capping the number of shoots that can be booked (or the window of time) though!! Don’t want it to seem open ended. For example: “Get $200 off your session fee! Must book by Sunday, November 26th!” or “Get $500 off any Collection! Offer only available to 5 people so make sure to snag a spot soon!” This creates a reason for them to invest quickly. Otherwise you’ll be lost in the sauce with all the other sales.

  2. A Free Add-On Product or Experience: This one is particularly good if you don’t have a lot of extra TIME to spend on fulfilling this offer in 2024. Let’s say you’re a family photographer, this can look like: “Book TODAY and receive a FREE 8x10 luxury canvas print of your family!” or “The first three people to book receive complimentary access to the client closest.” Think of something that you normally upsell, and offer it as an incentive for a limited amount of time (or spots) .

  3. A Special Stylized Shoot: Do you have a session you’ve been itching to try creatively? But aren’t sure where it fits in your normal offers? BLACK FRIDAY IS YOUR FRIEND, MY FRIEND. Let’s say you’re a wedding photographer who has always wanted to do a styled studio shoot for couples. Maybe something spicy! Or just a cool set-up! This is a unique opportunity to offer it, and make some $$ while also getting to try something new. (You might need to do a model call to have marketing materials for this, something to consider!) This would look like: “LIMITED EDITION Styled Shoot! I NEVER offer something like this, but I just can’t help myself this year! These shoots are so fun and I’m obsessed with the photos. Book this limited edition shoot now - only 5 spots available” (Remember, we are doing HEAVIER selling during Black Friday).

There are a million ways you can make Black Friday your own! Just remember to warm your audience for your deals weeks in advance, and to prepare the backend of your business before that. It can be a highly successful sales day (and a way to grow brand awareness) - but it DOES require some upfront work & attention.

If you want help with your Black Friday sales…I have something coming that will be just for you. Reach out HERE to learn more.

10 Things A Virtual Assistant Can Do For You

This last week I got on a call with a potential client, and who told me they have tried to hire a VA before but didn’t even know what to delegate. I hear this a lot…you know you need help, you want someone hands-on in your biz, but where do you even start? As someone who has been booked solid working with photographers for the last year, I am happy to share 10 things a virtual assistant can do for you.

  1. Check Your Emails; and keep you inbox from becoming a graveyard of unread emails.

  2. Manage your CRM; keep workflows running smoothly!

  3. Send invoices; make sure clients are receiving their booking information.

  4. Following up with inquiries; no one needs to get lost in the shuffle!

  5. Your monthly newsletter; keep in touch with your clients each month with your latest offers. I recommend Flodesk for an email platform.

  6. Pin Your Blogs; get your images off your website and running through Pinterest.

  7. Manage your calendar; make sure in-person meetings are set, sessions are scheduled and no double booking happens.

  8. Market research for social media; tired of coming up with ideas for Reels or Tiktok’s etc? Ask your virtual assistant to send you trending ideas.

  9. Create custom guides; purchased an Etsy guide but have no time to make it personal? Have your VA design it for you in Canva.

  10. Post in your Facebook group; your VA can act as admin support in your Facebook group. Scheduling posts, interacting with members etc.

These are an easy 10 things a virtual assistant can do for you, if you are looking for a place to start.

But if you are looking for a little more in-depth help, you can find Virtual Assistants or Online Business Managers who specialize in more extensive skill sets. For example, my team is extensively trained in SEO optimized blogging. So our clients get the benefit of consistent, powerful SEO + extra content each week. Another thing we do is Pinterest optimization & Tailwind management. I also offer CRM system set up (I’ll be your automations queen, my friends), so I develop a unique automation for each of your offers that is still authentic to your brand and doesn’t feel robotic. Another thing I offer my clients is launch assistance. From sales-driven copy writing, to custom graphics and automations…I help launches (like Black Friday etc) happen without a hitch. But this starts delving into the world of an Online Business Manager, so don’t expect your VA to be able to do all of those things. If you want someone that is closer to an OBM, make sure you do your research and know what they offer. But most VAs you hire will be able to help with that list of top 10 things a virtual assistant can do for you!

I hope that helps!
XO,
jess

How to Have a Successful Black Friday | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about how to have a successful Black Friday. 😬 I know, I KNOW, it’s still Summer - but starting to mull over your offers is the best way to set yourself up to make more $$$$.

As a virtual assistant for photographers, I help a LOT of sales launches run smoothly. And here are my tips/tricks for making a great profit from the biggest sale of the year (without killing yourself launching it).

First of all: decide your offer.

Are you going to discount a service you already offer? Do something totally unique & exclusive? You need to create incentive to purchase quickly around this sale, so you want to make it GOOD. This is meant to capture people who are waiting on the fence to work with you, and have been eyeing your services. We are widening your brand awareness and potential clients with this sale. So you want it to be highly incentivized and approachable.

That doesn’t mean it needs to be dirt cheap, you still need to make a profit. But you gotta decide the strategy behind the offer first. Some questions to ask yourself:
- what can I handle with my capacity during that time of year?
- do I want it to be service-based or passive income?
- is there a creative session I’ve been dying to do outside of my norm that I could monetize here?
- do I want it to be a particular DAY of sessions (aka a type of “mini” day) OR do I want it to be a standing offer they can book anytime in the following year?

You can absolutely make this your own. But remember they will be hearing a MILLION sales on Black Friday. So what you offer + how you present it reallllly matters when thinking about how to have a successful Black Friday.

Second step? Run the numbers!

Please don’t shoot yourself in the foot and GUESS at your profits with this sale. Remember, our goal is to create an income boost before a slower season (the holidays), and widen our audience. If you have more specific goals than that, you might be willing to have lower monetary success because you’re accomplishing another goal. But MOST photographers are looking to boost sales through their BF launch. So get out a pen and paper, and do the math about how much $$ you will be making. And create some sales goals for yourself. Here are some questions to ask:
- what is the cost of your offer?
- is it taking time away from your main source of income? And will it impact your bottom line for the year?
- will your offer lead to further income? (Upselling, new clients etc etc)
- how much $$ are you hoping to make from this launch?

Then, strategically curate the launch!

One of the BIGGEST mistakes I watch photographers make on social media, is not talk about their Black Friday offer until Thanksgiving week. PLEASEEEE stop doing this. At that point, you have missed your audience because they are drowning in offers from everybody else. Do yourself a favor and warm your audience. You need to start the discussion much earlier in the month. Show your process curating the offer. Build hype around it. Keep it secretive. Pique their interest. Invite them into the story. Show the problems your Black Friday offer is solving. You are leading them through a journey.

What the journey will look like varies quite a bit depending on the offer. If it’s a one-day event….the warming process will look different than if it’s a set monetary discount they can use throughout the year.

My last piece of advice is: set up automations.

BF is all about quick/fast sales. And unless you want to be GLUED to your computer during Thanksgiving week - you need to have reliable automations in place that guide people through the booking process. You can use your CRM, Flodesk and premade social media graphics to do that.

PRO TIP: Now is the time to start circulating Pinterest Content about your Black Friday offer! If you want my team to do that for you, reach out HERE!

Basically, how to have a successful Black Friday all comes down to prep.

I think Black Friday sales are incredibly fun to design, an amazing way to connect with your audience, and increase brand awareness. Save this blog post for future reference! And start thinking about your offers!

xo,
Jess

BTW, You Deserve a Work/Life Balance | Virtual Assistant

It was July 2021 when I looked up and said, I can’t do this anymore.

My work/life balance was in the trash. I only knew one speed: fast.

But there I was…feeling like I’d been run through a salad spinner and completely drained of any life. I was DONE. Burnt out. Crispy. A shell of who I used to be. I’ll never forget going on vacation that Summer, and sitting on the beach feeling numb and exhausted. It was all too much.

About 18 months prior I had my first child righhhht at the start of the pandemic. (We were those people who introduced our first kid to family members through closed windows and across distant driveways). And then I raced back to my pre-parent pace of life. And I was toast. I always talked about work/life balance, but I don’t think I understood what that would mean FOR ME. Busyness had always been my default.

Before running my own business, I had been a club swim coach with USA swimming. I spent long, long evenings on deck. Weekends at swim meets. Often working 7 day weeks on repeat. I missed family functions. I missed happy hours with friends. I worked and worked and worked. And that hustle translated seamlessly into my business.

But in Summer of 2021, I looked up and said: I can’t do this anymore.

I think it was a mixture of the pandemic and having a child that pushed me to finally STOP and make significant changes in my priorities.

I dove headfirst into finding a way to bring balance back into my life. I found childcare (which took MONTHS in the pandemic let me tell you). I decided I wanted to lean into my FAV part of business: the admin. And I started VA work in November of 2021. It felt so freaking seamless and I was completely booked solid the first month in business. I started outsourcing, which had scared me in the past but I knew I had to make a change. I outsourced as much as I possibly could, which started at only a few hundred dollars of investment a month and has since grown to thousands.

It allowed me to make $$, doing what I actually LOVED, while still enjoying my life.

Slowly, over time, my mojo came back to me. I started setting firm boundaries with my time & my clients. I found most of my clients even thrived off knowing exactly when I would/would not be working.

Work/Life balance is so different for everyone, but I can tell you that we all deserve it.

For you, the thing you want to dive into is photography, yeah? Shooting with your clients. Connecting with people. Capturing stories. I highly encourage you to consider outsourcing the other stuff. Because you deserve to have a work/life balance that makes you feel fulfilled, calm, happy and motivated.

Pinterest Board Inspo for Photographers | Virtual Assistant

Hi it’s me - your friendly neighborhood Virtual Assistant reminding you that Pinterest is important for photographers 👋🏻📸 I abso-fucking-lutely understand that pinning is whole other thing to think about, which is the LAST THING you need, right? haha 😝😅 So I wanted to take some of the mental load off and create a list of Pinterest board inspo for photographers. ❤︎

One of the main things photographers get wrong is not having enough boards.

Pinterest only likes one image per board from each URL. So basically, if you have a blog post that you are wanting to pin…you will select the images and pin 1 image to each board. Let’s say you have an image you want to put on two or three boards (because it applies to all of the content there)…Pinterest will not prioritize that pin anymore. 👎🏻 Thanks a lot, I knowwww.

So… one image, per board, for each URL you are pinning.

Aka…you need lots of boards.

so here’s some Pinterest board inspo for photographers:

remember: the title of your board is searchable so feel free to ad some keywords there!

Boards for All Photographers:

  • An “anchor board” that is your business name

  • Behind The Scenes

  • Overview of your Niche: “Luxury Boudoir Photography” or “Lifestyle Family Photography”

  • What to Wear

  • Your Business Values: “Self Love” or “Capture Your Day” or “Documenting Motherhood” etc

  • For Photographers: your education for other photographers

Boards for Wedding Photographers:

  • Getting Ready

  • Bridesmaids Style

  • Groomsmen Style

  • Flat Lays for Weddings

  • Engagement Rings

  • Bride Vibes

  • Bridal Gowns

  • Bridal Hair & Makeup

  • Groom Fashion

  • First Look

  • Wedding Couples Portraits

  • Formal Photos for Weddings

  • Ceremony Ideas

  • Reception Inspo

  • All About Cakes

  • Dance Floor

  • Wedding Exit Inspo

  • Destination Weddings

  • Elopement Vibes

  • Intimate Weddings

  • Travel Tips from a Photographer

Boards for Boudoir Photographers:

  • In the Studio

  • The Boudoir Experience

  • Confidence Boost

  • Boudoir Hair and Makeup Inspo

  • Lingerie Guide

  • Colorful Lingerie Ideas

  • Black Lace Lingerie

  • Bodysuit Inspo

  • Unique Lingerie Ideas

  • Empowering Women

  • Boudoir Poses

  • Just the Sheet Poses

  • Outdoor Boudoir

  • Beautiful Boudoir Products

  • Any “sets” you do: Rain Room Set, Wet Set, etc

  • How to Calm Your Nerves for Boudoir

Boards for Family Photographers:

  • How to Coordinate Outfits for Family Photos

  • Family Photos Go-Bag Ideas

  • Poses for Family Photo Session

  • Outfit Inspo for Families

  • Extended Family Sessions

  • All About Motherhood

  • Mama + Me Photos

  • Mama Style

  • Maternity Photo Shoot Inspo

  • Newborn Sessions

  • In-Home Lifestyle Photography

  • Cake Smash!

  • Mom & Dad Love

  • Photo Shoot Locations I Love

  • How to Pick Your Photo Shoot Location

  • Hair & Makeup Inspo

  • Family Photo Props: you can use this to show them non-cheesy props

  • Destination Family Photography

Because of my job as a virtual assistant for photographers, I am hands-on in a lot of Pinterest accounts and these are some of my go-to boards to create for my clients. I also optimize them and make sure they are regularly getting content through Tailwind. Pinterest has the highest average income of any social media user, and is one of the last photo-driven apps out there. As a photographer it’s definitely something you wanna take advantage of. So I hope this Pinterest board inspo gave you lots of ideas. If you are interested in having my team run your Pinterest, this is a new offer we are about to roll out. You can sign up to get info here:

Traveling With a Baby | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Last week, my partner and I flew to New York for a wedding. And we got to spend a day wandering around NYC. I had somehow never been (like HOW!?) - and it was so fun to explore. Traveling with a baby is new to us, because we had our first kiddo right during the pandemic - so we are in a learning currrveee.

There are a few things that we wish we would have done differently on this trip, and I thought I’d share so hopefully you can avoid our mistakes.

Traveling with a baby; things we’d do differently:

  • We would CHECK OUR BAGS. Before we had kids, we traveled almost exclusively with carry-on bags. You could find us galavanting around Europe for 2 weeks living out of backpacks. We are light packers. But with kids? It was just a lot to lug around the airport, and not have our hands very free. And if you have a baby, you KNOW that you want your hands free 😅

dad holding baby in a plane on trip from Austin to New York City

  • We would BRING A STROLLER. We didn’t bring our stroller because there was one waiting for us at our destination, but man we missed it in the airport. I would probably never again fly without a stroller to get to/from your gate. Plus it would have been nice to have a place for him to rest out of our arms. We did bring a blanket for the floor (forever unclean) and let him stretch his legs.

  • We would BRING SNACKS FOR US. We brought everything we needed for the baby, but we often didn’t have time to grab a snack or water for ourselves while rushing around. Next time I will pack an empty water bottle for me to fill in the airport and extra snacks. Traveling with a Baby IS harder work than traveling solo, so refueling yourself becomes extra important.

A few things we were glad we did?

  • Brought a neck pillow; we could use it as a makeshift boppy in the plane for naps and feeds.

  • Brought a Paci clip; our little one doesn’t use the Paci much at home but he loved it in the plane. It helped his ears adjust.

  • Got diapers and wipes THERE. Our friend ran to the store and picked us up diapers before we arrived so we didn’t have to pack too many; they take up SO much room.

  • Brought a portable sound machine; these are LIFESAVERS while traveling with a baby.

  • Brought a portable black out curtain; so helpful for naps in strange environments for baby.

There were definitely a lot of little hiccups and frustrations along the way but over all we loved traveling with a baby, and can’t wait to bring our toddler along on the next trip. We think it’s super silly to say you can’t travel once you have kids. It’s a different pace and your expectations have to change - but your lives don’t stop when you have kids. Plus look how happy H was to see the world!!! ^ haha

If you want to see more from our trip, come see me on TikTok!

What to Expect When You Book My Blogging Package

So you want to get blogging off your to do list, and you’re trying to figure out how to make that happen. You’ve landed in the right place, I promise. If you’re looked over my packages & pricing page, you probably already have an idea of the gist. But I want to go over what to expect when you book my blogging package, with a little more detail. If you’re anything like me, you like alllll the info before making a purchasing decision.

I’ve gotchu.

The entire experience is intentionally designed to reduce your mental load and streamline the process.

So here’s what you can expect when you book my blogging package:

You are sent a super easy proposal to fulfill. After we cross the ‘i’s’ and dot the ‘t’s’, then it’s time to get the party started. 🎉

You get a Welcome Guide delivered straight to your inbox that will guide you through the whole set-up process. It will answer the questions you didn’t know to ask, make you feel in-the-know about what steps come next. (And hopefully super excited to cross blogging off your freakin’ list finally).

Shortly after, you’ll get your Onboarding Questionnaire. This will ask you a short series of questions that allows me & my team to start integrating into your business values. We are discussing things like ideal clients, business goals, targeted keywords, and of course, the logistics. Once that lands by in my inbox all filled out, I start the onboarding process with my team.

We study your brand. Read your website. Look over your social media. Get a pulse on how your vision, so we can seamlessly step in and craft blog posts that align with YOUR business.

The last step for you is filling out the Monthly Google Form. You will receive it in your inbox the last week of every month (and we send reminders so you don’t have to keep track!) You simply follow the link, add 4 gallery URLS, jot down a couple details you want us to mention in the copy….and you’re done.

The whole process takes you 10 minutes. And blogging for the month is off your plate.

Your personal blogging expert then takes over the reigns. They pick your images and optimize them multiple ways for SEO. They write 300-500 words of copy, making sure it’s all aligned with Google’s search preferences. They are detail oriented, and use an 11-step system to get make each blog post a powerhouse.

After the blog is published, we take up to 20 images and schedule them through Tailwind at optimized time. We use targeted keywords for Pinterest to help you be discovered on that search engine as well.

Yes, this is a blog package, but yes, we also want you to get mileage out of each post! So Pinterest is included in the package.

I hope that gives you an idea of what to expect when you book my blogging package. We are an open book if you have any questions! Fee free to reach out here or, if you’re ready to go - snag a blog spot here:

Feeling Stuck on Your Client Workflow? | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Are you feeling stuck on your client’s workflow? Everyone says we need to have a good one…to stand out…to authentically connect with our clients - but where the f*ck do we start?

As a Virtual assistant for photographers, I have worked with many, many client workflows and seen some key things that are effective across the board for every niche. Not to mention, I was a photographer myself for a long time and also had to think through each step in the client workflow.

SO ALL THAT TO SAY: I've been a busy bee lately I have been creating a free resource for photographers, and it's finally here. I really wanted to create a tool that you could easily download, read through, and get inspired. It’s an outside perspective for you. Something to trigger ideas when you are feeling stuck on your client workflow.

You know when you really pour your heart into something and are so proud to bring it to the world? Yeah, that's how I feel about this. I outlined 15 INTENTIONAL touch points you can use in your client journey.

 And then for each touch point, I wrote out an explanation for the intention behind it…so you can make it your OWN. The goal is to authentically create a magnetic connection with your ideal client. Here’s a sneak peek fo what it looks like:

Like I said, I really poured my heart into this and there is a TON of valuable info in this guide. It’s several pages long and absolutely packed with info.

 From figuring out a starting point, to walking through each step of your process - this guide will help you create systems that serve your business while also taking care of your client’s process.

So if you’re feeling stuck on your client workflow - this is for you.

Taylor Swift: masterclass in marketing | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

So, I’m about to expose my most nerdy self here 😅 But I really wanna talk about how Miss Taylor Swift is a masterclass in marketing. I originally got hooked on her not for her music, but for her business savvy. I read an article back in like 2010, (IT WAS IN A PAPER MAGAZINE lol), which pointed out while her music was great… her business sense was even better. As someone about to enter my 20s, who wanted nothing more than to run my own business…this peaked my interest. A singer/songwriter, who is worth watching because she’s a business woman?! Okay…yeah…that’s interesting. So I started paying attention.

I remember buying the Speak Now CD at Target (gosh this is aging me), and pouring over the booklet to see how the heck she was creating such a strong pull to her work through the secret codes and messages. I followed each album release, looking at what she was doing from a marketing angle. And let’s be fair, by the time she released Red in 2012, I was a true fan of the music too.

Taylor Swift has carefully built one of the most successful music careers ever. And she’s still gaining momentum, recently making history by having 10 of her songs fill all 10 Top Billboard songs at once.

So can we talk about it? Will you dive down this nerdy rabbit hole with me??

Taylor Swift; masterclass in marketing

So first things first: Taylor Swift has a tremendous amount of privilege (and always has), but there is still a heavy dose of strategy that has been the foundation of her career. Here are a few core things we can learn from watching her work:

She creates hype.

One of the best things you can do for your brand is create a hype around your offer. While she is doing this on a large scale, we can still apply the idea to our own businesses. How can we create desire and anticipation for our offers? Taylor Swift knows all too well how to create hype through her Easter eggs. Constantly leaving clues and riddles for her fans to decode. And the more of a Swiftie you are, the more nuanced references you understand. Each launch is dripping with meaning & clues. It creates an anticipation that is unmatched, and she has trained her fans to watch her every move.

She creates culture in her fans.

When I arrived at the Eras Tour in March, I was immediately struck with how kind & accepting her fan base is. Everyone hyped each other up, everyone dressed up in costume, friendship bracelets were exchanged…it was the friendliest and most fun crowd I’ve ever experienced. It was collective joy at it’s finest. This is the community she fosters through her music, but also because she is always showing appreciation for her fans & centering the credit for her career on them.

She warms the audience.

This is different than creating hype. Warming the audience is specifically leading them through a marketing launch that positions them to buy your offer quickly. Taylor Swift’s methods are cryptic & nuanced, but you don’t have to have that style. You can warm your audience however you want…but it’s important to TALK about your offers BEFORE you launch them. The perfect example of this is Swift’s TikTok series: “Midnights Mayhem with Me” before the launch of her latest album. The frenzy around that album?! Crazy. Wouldn’t have happened without this strategy. And, it was SO fun to watch.

She leads with relatability.

While she notoriously protects her private life, we can take this masterclass in marketing from Taylor Swift in the way that she leads with relatability. Her songs are deeply personal and she allows her fans into her mind through pivotal life moments we all experience. That creates a really fucking strong connection that (obviously) sells out stadiums.

I don’t know about you, but as a small business owner I think it’s fun to watch the marketing strategies of Swift & her team. Creating hype around an offer, developing culture, warming your audience, being relatable….all those things are marketing 1-0-1…but it’s so much more fun through the Swiftie lens.

What do you think?is Taylor Swift a masterclass in marketing?

If you weren’t a Swiftie but you are becoming one now, you’re in for a fun ride. Get ready for some clowning, good music, even better marketing, and the most fun group of fans out there. Are you ready for it??

How to Handle Difficult Client Situations | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Okay friend, let’s talk about it - tricky client situations. We’ve all opened that awful email that makes us wanna pull our hair out, and wonder why the heck we became entrepreneurs in the first place 🤯 It’s so freaking frustrating to handle difficult client situations sometimes. As a small business owner, each negative interaction can feel so personal. Especially since sometimes it IS personal! 😅

It might be taboo to talk about, but let’s just jump in and talk about how to handle difficult client situations.

First of all- what do I mean by “difficult client situations”? I’m talking about the clients who, bottom line, are just NOT a good fit for your business. They have arrived in your pipeline, and they just aren’t working out with your vibe. Maybe they are criticizing every step, not trusting you as a photographer, or being downright mean/disrespectful. Unfortunately, we have all had been in the situation of trying to reasonably communicate thru those tricky interactions. While it IS the exception, it does happens to every small business owner.

As a virtual assistant for photographers, I often help my clients with email responses in these rare situations. And I have a few tips/tricks for how to respond without losing your mind 😂 Here are some ideas on how to hand difficult client situations:

  1. Take a second: If you feel heated, then DON’T RESPOND. Just wait. If it’s bothering you, write a draft respond, but don’t hit send.

  2. Ask a fellow photographer for their opinion: if you aren’t sure what to do, you can always reach out to someone you trust in the industry to review things. As small business owners, we don’t have co-workers to discuss work problems with, so texting your industry friends can be a lifesaver. Or using an app like Marco Polo can be a good way to have a face-to-face conversation from afar.

  3. Figure out your boundaries first: know what you are/are not wiling to do. Know what your contract says. Are you willing to do a re-shoot? Are you willing to re-edit? Do you want to refund? Get clear on what works for you & what doesn’t.

  4. Identify what they want: try to see through their emotion, and identify what the client wants. Are they not feeling heard? Are they unhappy with something you can easily fix? Are they requesting an additional service and you could send a bill?

  5. Put on your best customer service hat: if you’ve ever worked in food service, then you know what I’m talking about. You remove your feelings from the situation, and become very solutions-oriented (in a way that doesn’t cross your boundaries). And offer solutions that meet what they are want…or as close to is as you can get without overextending yourself.

  6. Keep the response simple: don’t over-explain yourself, keep the response simple and professional. Here’s a good formula to use:
    - Tell them you understand how they are feeling
    - Offer a solution
    - Back up with your contract (if needed)
    - Ask how they would like to proceed

  7. Let it improve your process: take what you can from the situation, and ask yourself if you need to revaluate your systems and/or communication. Do you need more education on the front end to avoid this problem in the future? Or was it just a bad fit?

We all have to handle difficult client situations, because not every person is a good fit for your business. And each one can grow you & make your business more robust in the long run.

I am preparing a new Email Template Guide where you can get adaptable email responses for a whole variety of regularly needed responses for clients. As a VA, I write emails for multiple photographers every single day- and have a pulse on what works well for photography clients.

If you want to be informed when the Email Template Guide drops, sign up here:

I hope this is helpful for you when handling difficult client situations! Save this post and refer to it next time you need it!

  • Jessie

The Power of Blogging | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Let’s talk for a minute about the power of blogging.

We all know that blogging is crucial for photographers - you are a visual artist, and blogs are one of the only long-form way to show your work. BUT there are a few other reasons that make blogs one of the most powerful things you do for your marketing & business growth.

Imagine a potential client lands on your site…

They were attracted to your beautiful work through your Instagram VIBE, and pulled in by your authentic copy. Now, remember, you are a high ticket item by definition…your client is going to want to know a little more about you before they enthusiastically inquire. (Plus, you want them to be pre-qualified as ideal clients BEFORE they land in your inbox.)

Enter…blogging.

This is where the power of blogging really comes into play.

As they scroll through your long-form image display, your potential customer can not only see MORE of your work, they can get a full-bodied sense of the galleries you deliver. It’s not just a square or reel on Instagram. They can start to imagine themselves as your clients as they scroll through your photos. Imagination is a powerful tool!! You also have a chance to talk regularly about the experience you offer, and your approach to photography in a storytelling way. And we all know how amazing storytelling is in marketing.

So, that alone is enough of a reason to be regularly blogging your galleries.

But blogs don’t stop there.

Blogs are the perfect content hub.

You are a photographer. Not a content creator. You do not need to think of original, custom pieces of content for every. single. platform. You literally don’t have time!! In this day and age of micro content marketing, you MUST be strategic in order to increase your brand awareness across platforms. (And if your brain just went to mush with that sentence, I FEEL YA) Blogs help keep it all streamlined.

Pick 4 pieces of education you wish your clients knew, and blog one a week (or have my team do it for you!). Take those blogs and create:
Pins for Pinterest
IG story slides
IG talking-to-the-camera education
IG posts
TikToks
Facebook group posts etc.

Use your blogs as the pillar for the rest of your content.
And feel your mental load decreasing as we speak.

The third, and more well known, use of blogs is GOOGLE.

Google likes consistent SEO-optimized copy being published to your site in order for their search engine to push it forward. That means you need more SEO than just making sure the site itself is optimized. The smoothest way to accomplish this is by blogging. (Again..the power of blogging, baby!)

Luckily for you, as a photographer you have SO much more content to blog than most people, so you have a leg up.

Also, if a lot of your competitors are not utilizing blogging, then it’s the perfect way to move up the Google search rankings. But, I hate to break it to you - it’s not enough to slap some photos up with a little caption. There are over 10 steps to a SEO optimized blog post. This is what my team does, and our clients see a big uptick in Google traffic on their site.

Make google your friend, blog more.

step brothers gif for virtual assistant for photographers

Those are just some of the core ways you can utilize the power of blogging as a photographer.

While there are many ways to increase lead generation, brand awareness and sales - blogging packs a powerful punch. Which is why I won’t shut up about it hahah.

If you are interested in outsourcing your blogs to my team, you can see all about our package here:

Three Ways to Improve Your Automations | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

As a virtual assistant for photographers, I encounter SO many automations (or lack thereof) every day. A big part of my job is helping my clients step into their most efficient, well-oiled-machine era by taking their process and AUTOMATING it. So I wanted to share three ways to improve your automations, so that you can also get a taste of that sweet relief of a reduced mental load.

Let’s dive in!

ONE.

What is going to make you stand out with your clients? Are you ending emails to check in throughout the process? Are you guiding them every step of the way? Are you positioning yourself as the expert so that by the time you’re shooting together - the trust is already built!? If you don’t have automations, PROBABLY NOT. Think through how you can ideally serve your ideal client, and start building those into your systems.

TWO.

Are you using automations as repeated task reminders? Did you know you can build in to-do lists into your workflows? A huge part of being a full time photographer is the freaking mental load you carry! You are wearing ALLLLL the hats, and anytime you can have a system TELL YOU what to do on any given day, you are ahead of the curve. Build in your to-do list with each client into your workflow.
This is also a great way to integrate a team into your business. You can delegate certain client tasks to your virtual assistant, and take them off your plate completely. You can even set up your workflow to email your VA directly.

THREE.

Use your workflow to get cultivate repeat clients! Workflows are not just for shoot + delivery/reveal day. You can build in automations that will prompt your clients to hire you over and over. Build out a post-shoot workflow that makes them feel like part of a fam, and you’ll stay top of mind when they want to book a shoot again.

Having automations that reflect the process you ALREADY HAVE, but reduce your mental load, is everything. I hope these three ways to improve your automations were super helpful.

But if you are still looking at the workflow section of your CRM with cross-eyes, please know that is TOTALLY normal. And why there are people like me to help with setting them up for you. You shouldn’t have to learn a whole new expertise in order to run your business efficiently. Let me bring my experience to the table and get it all streamlined, so you can focus on your clients.

(PS: My personal choice for CRM is Dubsado, but I also work in Honeybook all the time and love them too!)

Self-Trust is The Antidote to Hustle | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

In my years running a business, one of the biggest shifts I experienced was realizing that Self Trust is the Antidote to Hustle.

Let me explain.

Rewind a couple years. I was trying hard to get my business kickstarted, and I had just had a baby, AND it was during covid. (Rough times lol) All I knew how to do was: HUSTLE. I became a business owner in the era of hustle. All the conferences, all the education brands, all the free webinars!!! 🤪 - they taught hustle.

Work harder. Work faster. Sacrifice everything to make your business work (if you truly wanted it bad enough you would do it!) If anyone is feeling triggered right now, I’m sorry :P

So there I was, wanting to make my new Virtual Assistant for Photographers business successful, and I was SPINNING MY WHEELS. The burnout was strong. I remember sitting in the backyard, letting my young toddler run around with the sprinkler in the Summer, staring into the sky….how do I do this? How do I fix this? How do I balance motherhood and entrepreneurship? Why does this feel so fucking SHITTY?

Because if there’s one thing I know, its HUSTLE does not play nice with parenting. I knew I could hypothetically have the LIFE I wanted, while also running my business. But I couldn’t figure out how to do it without hustling my ass off. And I wasn’t willing to sacrifice quality family time to get there. Becoming a mother had offered me such clarity on what was important to me.

So I hired a coach. Someone I found on TikTok who talked about doing things the easy way in business. After having my ears ring for years listening to Hustle Culture, it was like a breath of fucking fresh air. I hired her, and dove into unlearning the things that were pushing me into the ground.

And through that step of outsourcing what I was struggling with, I came to realize…

self-trust is the antidote to hustle.

It’s hard to feel like you’re being productive when you aren’t slamming down your to-do list. A packed schedule. Never a dull moment. THAT feels like success. But then what?

Seriously…then what?

You miss out on your life. You wake up in several years feeling like crap. You show up to your business exhausted, confused, and not. having. a. good. time.

Success is making good $$ doing a job you love, while letting that job FACILITATE your life outside of work. And that, my friends, is accomplished through SELF FREAKING TRUST.

When you trust yourself to build up your clients, make good marketing decisions, outsource the most helpful things, and make your business successful…you operate differently. There is peace. There is confidence that comes from that trust.

You can take days off. You can relax as you climb to the top. It effects the energy you bring to the table. Frazzled, stressed, overwhelmed, and constantly feeling like a failure does NOT exactly attract high-level clients.

Elevated, calm, confident CEO vibes will attract people who are ready to trust you.

AND it will give you your life back. Self care is the cornerstone of surviving the stresses of running your own business. And I can promise you that you will put self-care to the side, if you are operating in hustle mode.

Here are some practical steps you can use to retrain your brain with self-trust:

  • mantras: I know it feels silly but write down 1-2 mantras that remind you to trust yourself, and put them on a sticky note somewhere on your desk. Just do this for a couple weeks to cue your brain. you’ll start remembering on your own after that.

  • surround yourself with people who trust themselves: you can tell when someone is confident and relaxed around their business. spend time talking with those business friends. and don’t dive into the self-doubt spiral.

  • fake it ‘til you make it: don’t feel like you can trust yourself when making business decisions, just ask yourself what you would do if you DID operate fully out of self-trust. you’ll be surprised how much you already know internally. your gut instinct is a great asset.

So yeah, the antidote to hustle is self-trust. And it’s not something you gotta be perfect at all the time. We allllll have self-doubt, that’s the cost of admission for being an entrepreneur. But it’s how you deal with that self-doubt that will make all the difference in your longevity in business.

Keep on trusting yourself, you know what to do ❤️

-Jess

Your Desire Is Your Superpower | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that I never really posted about before.

I didn't really enjoy being a photographer very much. 🤭

Feels really vulnerable to write it out that bluntly, because I wrestled with myself over it for years. But that's the truth of the matter. I did some sort of photography, either full time or part time, for 10 years. And there were definitely like parts about it that I really did love, don't get me wrong. But I kept trying to make it a successful career. And it kept feeling so forced.

And I never really understood why… until I was forced to stop.

Back in 2019 I was I unexpectedly lost my coaching job. And I decided to go full time into my photography as a result. I was eight weeks pregnant & everything was scary. But I'm a risk taker, and I had a gut feeling that it was time to run my own business! This was something I had dreamed of doing since I was a teenager. So I did.

I went all in. And while I booked the shoots that I needed to book, and made the incoming I needed to make…. everything felt forced and I couldn’t figure out why.

It felt like I had my hands over my ears, tuning my own voice out, because photography is a thing that made me feel safe. It was an industry that I knew. And so I charged forward.

Fast forward to 2021… I had a baby at the height of the pandemic, had serious health issues as a result of that pregnancy, and was now trying to run a photography business while taking care of a toddler with no help (because thanks, COVID).

And I got burned the fuck out.

More burnt out that I've ever experienced in my life. I was to the point where, like, I couldn't even work. So everything that I had been building towards for the last two years came to a screeching halt. And I was forced to ask myself what do I actually want? And I finally started listening to myself…to my desires. I had to look myself in the mirror, take a deep breath, and be honest about the fact that I didn't want to be a photographer.

I wanted to run my own business. But I didn't want to be a photographer.

I started asking myself what were aspects of the business that I really truly loved. And all of it had to do with admin and marketing system. Hell… I came home from a photography workshop once, and all I thought about was systems! How to make things efficient, how to use automations, how to use my time well. IF THAT WASN’T A SIGN I WAS MEANT TO BE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT 😅

So I started to put together a virtual assistant business SERVING photographers (instead of BEING a photographer), everything started clicking. It was nothing like I ever experienced as a photography business owner. Everything was full of ease. I had content ideas for days. I knew exactly what I wanted things to look like.

And that's the point of all this:I wish I would have saved myself a lot of time by leaning into my desire. I wish I would have known your desire IS your superpower.

As business owners it's so crucial to not just the $$$ success of our business, but the long the sustainability of our of our business, to ENJOY our freaking lives.

We deserve to have a business that brings joy. Obviously every business is also going to bring stress, but our business just should overall make our lives better. Otherwise, there's literally no point.

I wish I would have saved myself so much time and struggle by just being honest with myself about what I really desired. And for you… it probably isn't a leap from photography. I see that enjoyment from so many of my clients that was missing for me. But it might be time to evaluate your niche, or your ideal client, or your price point, or your work/life balance…or whatever it is.

You will do yourself a huge favor by starting first with what you desire, instead of what you should do. Your desire is your superpower. Let your business come from your heart. Lead with desire.

(A good book that talks about this concept is The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte)

Being a Sports Coach Taught Me... | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Did you know that I used to be a sports coach?

Before I transitioned to becoming a virtual assistant for photographers, I was a club sports coach for 6 years. 🤯

woman coaching swimmers

I spent all those late nights running practices, writing workouts, traveling on the weekends, managing parents & athletes: the whole shebang. 🏊🏻‍♂️ (I know more about the sport of swimming then I will ever need again haha)

Being a sports coach taught me a lot of things, but one thing that I found carried over from to entrepreneurship (and honestly every area of life) is: mindset.

And you probably hear about it like 50,000 times a day on social media, especially as a business owner. But when you hear about “mindset”, it can be vague & unhelpful. But addressing your MINDSET as a business owner is one of THE most helpful things you can do. I won’t stop talking about it, because it’s so freaking impactful. But it doesn’t help if it isn’t p r a c t i c a l.

So I wanted to break down the mindsets that being a sports coach taught me, that help the most when it comes to running your own business.

ONE:
You have to believe in yourself.
PUMP THE BREAKS: I don't mean rainbows and butterflies and unicorn dust bullshit. What I mean is… even when, deep down, you are worried…you still sit there and make a conscious choice to tell yourself that you are going to do it come hell or high water. You ARE going to make this happen. Period. No if, ands, or buts. End of conversation. It will be happening. You don't have to believe it. But you need to choose to view it that way.
You aren't waiting for the feeling of self belief. It's a choice and that should feel empowering, you know?

TWO:
The second successful mindset being a sports coach taught me… have a “zoomed out perspective”. So for sports, I would coach my athletes & talk about goal setting. We would look at a larger chunk of time in order to accomplish their goals. So every race, or every practice, fit into that larger cohesive picture of where they wanted to take their athletic careers.
As a business owner, I see a lot of people get caught up in the details and minutiae of things. That is really pulling their energy away from the leadership that their business needs from them. Having a ‘zoomed out perspective’ means that you allow yourself to delegate. You outsource. You allow things to not go perfectly. You are not caught on the tiny details, but you are managing a living organism: your business!

Every single one of us struggles with maintaining a good mindset. The ebb and flow is to be expected. Like… we're going to have days where we feel like freaking out. We're going to have days when we feel extremely discouraged and wanna throw in the towel. We literally allllll have those days. I do too!

And if you can ride those waves, choose to not sink your teeth into those fears, and re-align your mindset... You're going to unhook yourself from those emotions and be able to keep moving your business forward.

This is absolutely crucial to the success of your business. I've worked with a lot of photographers and mindset is the number one thing I've seen, propel or halt a business.

If you really want to dive into mindset work, I recommend this book by Carol Dweck.

Things I Did Differently for My Second Baby | Virtual Assistant

As I’m sitting here at my desk writing this, I have 3 days left in my maternity leave. I have a coffee in hand (because sleep deprivation), and I just ordered noise cancelling headphones off Amazon (because WFH life is noisy). As I prepare to come back from mat leave, I thought I’d share some things I did differently for my second baby.

  1. In my pregnancy, I didn’t try to muscle through the symptoms. I took the Zofran, I rested, I wore the comfy clothes. (These $15 sweats from Amazon are amazing). Pregnant people are already going through massive discomfort on an extended basis, so they deserve all the comfort they can get. My maternity pillow was my best friend for all 9 months, and the only time I felt true relief.

  2. I let it be DIFFERENT. Our brains naturally compare experiences, so I found myself thinking “well, with my first baby XYZ happened…” And then I was expecting those things, both good and bad. I finally realized: THIS IS TOTALLLLLY DIFFERENT. The pregnancy, the birth, the baby…the whole enchilada. I had to realize this multiple times throughout the process, but it really helped me to let this be it’s OWN experience. (And man, was it different!)

  3. I went straight to bottle feeding, and didn’t even try breastfeeding. This one was HARD for me to decide. I spent months going back and forth on what I wanted to do. But it became clear over the course of my high-risk pregnancy, that I would need to immediately focus on my OWN recovery after birth. Which meant that breastfeeding was outside of my capacity. I found a website that ships European formula (because that was important to me), and I embraced exclusively bottle feeding because that’s what was right for our family. YES, I felt torn about it. YES, I felt like I’d be judged. But ultimately I knew I was giving my baby the gift of a happy, whole, healing mother. So if you are going to bottle feed, please know it’s a valid option!

  4. Something else I did differently for my second baby - I got a bedside bassinet! The first time I used a playpen near our bed, but I really wanted that close access this time. 10/10 recommend!!! I love having my baby so close to me, without the risks associated with co-sleeping. It makes me feel comfortable but connected. I got this one! (Pro tip: put it on your registry and then use the completion discount for some $$ off. Actually, do that will ALL your baby items)

  5. We’ve been using an app to track his activity, and it’s the BEST thing ever. We use Huckleberry, and we literally use the free version (it’s more than enough if you aren’t using the sleep guidance features!) It allows us to co-parent seamlessly, and support each other in care tasks. You can document feedings, diapers, medication, temperatures…all the fun baby stuff. I LOVE having this in our toolkit this time.

  6. I had a PT appointment scheduled, so it was already set up postpartum. It’s no secret that postpartum care in the United States is DISMAL at best. So I took it into my own hands and made sure to see a physical therapist who specializes in PP care within a month of giving birth.

  7. The last thing I did differently for my second baby is changed my mindset. I know it’s cliche to say you’re more relaxed with your 2nd baby, but the truth is - you are forced to prioritize. And it quickly became really clear in this postpartum that I can either run around STRESSING about being the best mom…OR I can trust myself and focus on enjoying the experiences with my kiddos. My children are going to see their mom LOVING life & having fun. Even if it means there is some more screen time, or we go through a drive-thru for dinner. I no longer care. I want to enjoy this life experience, because we don’t get MORE time with our babies.

So those are some things I did differently for my second baby!

I’ll be back from mat leave in a few days, and I’m excited to hop back into my work. I will be opening new spots for both my packages SOON, and I’m looking forward to launching that.

nursery for second baby from virtual assistant for photographers

Allow Yourself to Be Supported | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

If I could rewind a few years, to my early days of starting my own business - I would have one piece of advice for myself. And it’s simple:

ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SUPPORTED

As a virtual assistant for photographers, I have such privilege to see many photography businesses up close & personal. From the inquiries I receive, to all the amazing people I have worked with, to my own personal experience - there is a common theme that sets you apart from success versus struggle.

And that is trying to do everything yourself.

I know sooooo well how attractive it is to do everything yourself. It is YOUR business, and you want to be hands on in every aspect. It provides the very sense of control you crave when taking a risk.

But the DIY mindset is one of the quickest ways to shoot yourself in the foot. I can’t tell you how many times I made things way more difficult than they needed to be, because outsourcing wasn’t even on my radar. I spent most of my business-life like that. When I finally started allowing myself to be supported…my business took off.

There are a million ways to outsource as a business owner (some might surprise you) and we’ll get into that later, but first…

a question mark for photographers from virtual assistant

The DIY mindset is a perspective through which you approach your business. It’s the belief that because you are a small business owner, you need to be hands-on in every single aspect. While you do want to be proactive in managing your business, there is a difference between management and executing everything yourself. When you allow yourself to be supported, you shift out of the DIY mindset.

When your mindset is fixed on “I can do it myself”, you are missing opportunities and leaving $$ on the table. You will automatically jump to find solutions that require YOU, instead of the ones that strategically make sense for the business.

I encourage you to release that grasp a little (I personally know how hard this is to do!) and allow yourself to start thinking like a CEO. It is your job to help your business make $$, while keeping a work/life balance that works for you, and doing work you love. It is NOT your job, to execute every task related to your small business.

When you allow yourself to be supported, you suddenly see more opportunities that you would have missed.

If the thought of outsourcing sends alarm bells ringing through your head, I would push you to check on your mindset. If you are coming from a place of scarcity, chances are you are thinking short-term instead of long-term. Zoom out and look where you want your business to end up. How do you strategically get there? What outsourcing makes sense for you?

This part of allowing yourself to be supported might surprise you. While you might be resistant to the thought of outsourcing a big piece of your business (like editing)…could you outsource your grocery shopping?

I invite you to step outside of the box and reverse engineer your life to give yourself more time & energy through allowing yourself to be supported.

I want you to hack your life into the best version of work/life balance you can imagine as a small business owner. Go through all the responsibilities you have every week - both personal and business. And see where you could strategically allow support in order to free up space somewhere else.

Here are some ideas:

  • Sign up for Hello Fresh or use a grocery delivery program; saves time at the store!

  • Can you hire a monthly cleaning service for your home?

  • Send your laundry out to be done.

  • Use subscription services s to your advantage; from personal care items to your fav Amazon purchases…reduce mental load by automating as many purchases as you can.

  • Create a set work schedule for yourself, and write it down so you don’t have to remember it (I use Notion)

  • Get comfy accessories for your office space, so you enjoy being at work. (I love my walking pad!)

  • Get a DoorDash or GrubHub account, so you can order some meals to yourself while editing.

  • Outsource a small piece of your business you don’t like doing; my team blogs for over 30 photographers a week. It’s an easy way to outsource something effective/strategic, but not bring on a full VA. This is a great way to dip your toes into business-outsourcing.

  • Hire someone for reel research or caption writing; if you feel uninspired on social media, hire a social media manager to create a content bank for you! You can almost always find one in photography FB groups.

  • If you’re ready to really up level your business, hire a VA for client & business management (shameless plug, since this is what I personally do. But I’ve seen it be so financially and mentally beneficially for my clients).

Whatever you decide to do to allow yourself to be supported, you need to take that leap and shift your mindset if you want to step into your potential as a business owner.

The perspective of doing everything yourself is holding you back and making you blind to $$-making opportunities.

If you want more ideas of what to outsource, follow me on IG - I talk about work/life balance alllll the time!

Parenting & Running a Business | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

When I first thinking about becoming a parent, one of my first questions was - how does this fit with running a business? I have ALWAYS wanted to run my own business, since before I can remember.. And once I realized I was ready to become a mother, I took my time deciding how I could make it work.

While I didn’t know much about parenting & running a business, I knew enough to know there was a lot I didn’t know. It seemed like a big learning curve (it was) and not something I wanted to be flippant about.

When I was in the phase of figuring out how to make it work, I really appreciated other women talking about their experiences of becoming a parent while running a business. And now I’m more established as both a business owner & parent (expecting the second baby any day now) - I want to put some thoughts on the table too.

some things I wish I would have known about balancing parenting & running a business…

the learning curve

There is such a learning curve to becoming a parent. There are the normal everyday things, like changing diapers and how you want to handle sleep schedules. Sure. But on a larger scale, it was a learning curve to adapt my whole world to expand enough to fit another human being. I didn’t become a parent until I was almost 30, and I was independent AF before that point. My normals were well established.

While I didn’t lose my identity when I became a mom, I definitely had to make some logistical space.

I found that when I wasn’t being intentional and aware, either parenting or business management (or both) would sneak in and take over all other areas of my life. It took a hot second to even realize this was happening, and I often felt confused & a little overwhelmed as I got knee deep into the world of managing it all. My learning curve revolved mainly on learning how to manage the categories of my life together as a cohesive unit.

And speaking of, let’s talk about a hot parenting word:

Balance

Some people will say there is no such thing as balance when you’re parenting & running a business. And I get that sentiment, because it definitely doesn’t feel like it did before. But if I’m really honest…that idea really depresses the shit outta me. It makes me feel like I will constantly be in evaluating, deciding, and dropping the ball. I am not here for it.

I want to feel in charge of my life, intentional with my energy, and directive in my choices. That can co-exist within parenting & entreprenuership.

The idea of Balance looks very different when your world expands and changes. Before I had a kid, I could easily balance things out almost subconsciously; take an afternoon off, schedule a trip, go out with friends etc. If I had a tough day, I could get home and unwind with a glass of wine & my fav Netflix show in peace.
And now? That time has to be more intentionally set & boundaried. But it’s not impossible.

I like to think of my capacity as a circle. The circle is your time, resources, energy levels etc. In general, this stays about the same. And it’s something you experience whether you have children or not.
(We are NOT about the “oh just wait until you have kids” mentality here lol)

Inside the circle are “categories” of things that make up your life: running a business, relationships, self-care, hobbies, health etc.
When you add parenting to the circle, everything else has to shift around that. It’s a very demanding category, no way around it.

And personally, I have found that, unless I am practicing good boundaries within my own sphere, parenting and/or running a business can easily push everything else to the outskirts.

It’s my goal to be a boundaried parent & business owner, so I do not lose my sense of self within my capacity.

Identity

Speaking of sense of self.

We all know how easy it is to lose yourself when becoming a parent. Especially for moms. I went into the birth of our first kid, very aware of not losing myself. I was careful to set aside time for myself from day one and all through postpartum. I went to therapy, took showers, did not neglect my health and made sure I still existed in my world.

The one thing that I didn’t predict, was how easy it would be to prioritize the function of parenting over myself as a human. As things got busier (aka our baby turned into a toddler and my business took off) - I got really fucking burnt out.

While I didn’t “lose my identity”, I truly started prioritizing all the other things over the space that made me feel human. It took me a while to realize that even the little self-care I was practicing was typically just in service of having more capacity to serve my business & my family.

I had to take a big freaking step back and reassess how to hold space for myself, simply because I am a human who deserves to have space. And that meant intentional thought about my boundaries. It meant asking for help. It meant letting change happen.

In a nutshell…parenting and running a business is doable, but it takes intention & experience.

If I had to give any advice to someone wanting to run a business and become a parent - I would say this:

  • get in therapy (it will be the best tool you give yourself)

  • be strategic about your schedule & time management…if this doesn’t come naturally, learn the skill. It’s your best friend.

  • evaluate your priorities and be okay with some things temporarily taking a back seat (for me this was my social life)

  • STICK TO YOUR BOUNDARIES with your business. If you have office hours, don’t run around trying to squeeze them into other places. Be intentional, and then hold that space. YOU are in charge of that, no one else is going to do it for you.

  • Be willing to reevaluate often; your child will grow, and the needs of each category in your capacity shifts. I like to do a monthly audit to check-in with myself. Helps me stay present & aware (both important tools while parenting and running a business).

  • and remember: you CAN do have a successful, thriving business and be a parent. You will find what works for you.

  • embrace the learning curve.

  • and lastly (maybe most importantly!) ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SUPPORTED; outsource pieces of your business…get a grocery delivery subscription…use Amazon prime…hire a sitter…you have nothing to prove. Be okay with making things as easy as possible on yourself. Juggling all of these responsibilities IS hard work.

There is more I could say on this, but it’s such a personalized experience that what worked for me might not work for you. But I do want you to feel empowered to bring a child into your life, if it’s what you want. My business has only thrived more since I became a parent, and the skills parenting has given me only served my business. You can have both. And you can have balance.

You just have to be willing to go through the learning curve to get there. But every. single. new. job. requires a learning curve. So this is really no different. You’ve got this.

How to Take Advantage Of Slow Booking Season

As a virtual assistant for photographers, one of the things I hear the most from my clients around this time of year is that it’s a slow booking season. And yep, that tends to be true…

Most every niche of photographer has a quiet couple months at the beginning of the year…
Newly engaged couples are just starting the planning process.
Spring family photos haven’t started yet.
Boudoir tends to slow down until after the holiday slump has worn off.
Not to mention your ideal client is probably just in recoup-mode from the busyness of the holidays.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use this slower booking season to your advantage. In fact, this is the time to buckle down, get strategic and set an amazing foundation for the rest of the year.

tips and tricks from a virtual assistant for photographers

I want you to think of the year as a whole and zoom out. If you are wanting to magnetize ideal clients, make more $$, and align your business to your desires - than having a strong foundation is really going to help you. Not to mention, just because bookings might have slowed down doesn’t mean SHOPPING has slowed down. Your dream clients are scrolling through online, taking mental notes about what photographers to talk to for their 2023 photos. Now is the time to get strategic and make a good impression.

(And no, I’m not talking about hustle culture here. You know how I feel about that around here haha.
I’m talking about strategy, efficiency, and creating ease for yourself later in the year).

Here are my top 3 ideas on ways to capitalize on this time of year:

USE your blog:

This is a unique time where you can start serving your ideal clients right out of the gate. Use your blog to start talking about educational topics & show off your FAV recent work. Think about what your dreamy clients are considering right now, and start talking about that. DON’T OVER COMPLICATE IT.

Wanting to book weddings + engagement? Publish a blog about “how to pick an epic engagement location”. Or “the first 3 steps to consider when wedding planning”. If you are a boudoir photographer, share all about the process of booking a shoot with you (that makes it a low barrier for them to reach out!). A family photographer? Publish one about “how to coordinate instead of match for family photos!” The possibility are endless.

The goal here is to SERVE your future client. There are people out there who want to book someone just like you. So you’re using your blog as a way to show up, and put your expertise on the table. They don’t know you are the expert if you aren’t showing them. Your blog is a GREAT place to do that.

ALSO: Blogs also have the capacity to get Google searches to notice your site. Once I started using SEO and blogging in my business, almost all my inquiries started coming from google searches. Slow booking season is NOT the time to stop blogging.


(I wouldn’t be a good VA without plugging that I have a blogging team that will literally do all this for you. Click here!)

CRAFT AN AMAZING CLIENT EXPERIENCE:

Now is the perfect time to set the stage for all the super cool clients who will be reaching out over the next couple months. You want to be able to wow them with your customer service, which means you need thoughtful automation in your life.

Now is the time to overhaul those dusty CRM systems, get clear on the client’s journey through your business, and align your automations to support you.

I recommend starting with pen & paper, to write out exactly the steps you want your client to experience. Every touch-point is an area you can “wow” them, and create raving fans/repeat clients. Then translate that process to your CRM!

As a virtual assistant for photographers, I help my clients set up automations all the time. I highly recommend either Honeybook or Dubsado if you are wanting to really be able to customize your client’s experience (Dubsado is my fav!)

Book a creative shoot:

At the end of the day, you are a business owner. Yes. True. BUT you are also an artist. And finding that balance between your business brain & artist brain is something you will always be juggling. Take a mental note that later in the year, you are going to be in the hustle & bustle of busy season (which, like it or not, is a lot of business owner hat-wearing) and will be craving some playful, artistic time.

Lay the foundation for that balance by putting together a styled, creative shoot for yourself (or joining one another photog is hosting!)

Fun fact? I used to host styled shoots when I was a photographer. I loved getting together all the details and executing a creative vision. Whether you do it yourself with models & fellow industry vendors, or pay to join a styled session, give yourself space to create without inhibitions. Get out of your comfort zone and play around. You’re an artist, you need this time.

That’s it! If you are a photographer navigating a slower booking season, I hope these tips & tricks helped! As your friendly neighborhood VA - I can’t wait to see you thrive this year!

Come join me on IG so we can connect!