How To Stop Running Behind & Feeling Overwhelmed

I wouldn't have admitted it when it was happening, but now that I've learned how to manage and overcome it, I can be completely honest in saying that I have been behind in my business and overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead.  This didn't happen just once, nope- it happened several times until I learned how to deal with it and prevent it from happening again.  I hope that my experience can help you learn how to pull yourself out of a never ending hole of bad decisions, and put yourself back in a place of feeling like you have control and can give your clients the best of everything you have to offer.  It wasn't easy for me.  Being so behind on various projects put me in a deep depression and made me want to give up my business and everything that I loved.  I'm here to tell you it's NOT the end.  You CAN turn it around.  Even if you feel like your business has been completely ruined, there's still hope and you can still make a living doing what you love.

After consulting with many different photographers, I generally see this feeling happening somewhere in the second or third year of running a business full time.  Just after you feel like you've had a great year in your business, but now you have more business than you can handle.  Several circumstances generally lead to this feeling:

• You have not streamlined your workflow or communications
• You are not priced to make a good living or stay out of debt
• You have not created healthy habits for good life/work balance
• You have made business more important than family & friends
• You have focused more on money than creating great art or fantastic service

Do any of those sound like you?  Do all of them sound like you?  You aren't the only one.  It WILL be OK.  You CAN turn this around.  It has happened to me and it has happened to many other people.  The weak give up and do something else.  The strong use it to help us become better.  It's not easy and it will require change.  The habits that got you to this point won't get you out of it.  You have to be willing to make immediate changes or else you'll continue to run your business and your life ragged until there's nothing left to give.  We're only human.

Step 1: Have Patience With Yourself & Making Changes

Smart, creative, independent people often lack patience when things aren't going the way we planned or envisioned.  When we are in a good place, our impatience makes us creative, inventive, and productive.  However, when we're feeling stuck or lost, impatience makes us compulsive, erratic, and impossible for other people to deal with.  What makes us a great artist, can also make us a bad business owner.  We have to recognize that learning to have more patience when things aren't going well, is one of the keys to overcoming problems.  Problems that took months to create aren't easily solved overnight- much like losing weight takes months of dedication to a healthier lifestyle- so does practicing healthier business habits.  Every small change adds up to something greater.  The only people who fail are those who give up or never try in the first place.  Success is the regular and continual practice of learning how to solve our problems in a way that works for us.

Step 2: Identify How Changing Habits Will Improve Your Life

If we don't continually remind ourselves of the larger benefit in making drastic changes, we will have little incentive to keep pushing ourselves through the process of change.  We need to keep our reminders clear, visible, and accessible wherever we spend most of our time.  We need these reminders to help encourage us to keep making healthier decisions for ourselves and our business.  We also need to put our business in the context of our larger life priorities in order to help us make the best business decisions for our life.  Start by putting simple notes on your wall and only add photos or clippings when you come across something that inspires you and represents one of your ideas.  First, just start with writing out your ideas.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to find out what you really want:

• What will your ideal day look and feel like?  When will you wake up?  How will you start your day in order to feel healthy and refreshed before getting on your computer or smartphone?
• How much time will you spend working each week?  What time will you stop answering calls or emails each day?  How much time will you spend with your family and friends and on which days of the week?  How much alone time will you keep for yourself and when will it happen in your day or week?
• What will you do to relax and unwind?  Where will you go when you need fresh air and inspiration?  What hobbies or activities would you like to do more when you're not working?
• How many clients will you serve each month or week?  What products and services are you excited to share with them?  How will they let you know you've done great work?
• What will having a successful business provide for you?  How will it enhance your life?  What will it allow you to do more or less of?

By focusing on the outcomes we want to see in our life, rather than just the immediate problems we need to solve, we put ourselves in a position to make decisions that help us lead a healthier and happier life in general, rather than just quick fix decisions we think we need right now.  By taking the time to finish this one step, you will have started a powerful rewiring of your mind to help you achieve long term and short term goals that will make you happier and healthier.

Step 3: Prioritize Your Problems

Often we are overwhelmed because we have too many things we want to do all at once.  This overwhelm often leads to confusion and doing nothing at all or waiting until someone threatens us to take action on something specific.  Making excuses and procrastinating only digs a bigger hole that takes more energy to climb out of.  Day after day this will lead to loss of energy, excessive worry, and ultimately a mental and emotional meltdown.  The brain can only keep spinning its wheels for so long before it needs to drain energy from the rest of the body and initiate complete shut down just to recharge and take a break.  

I'm not a neuroscientist, but from my personal experience, worrying is far more draining on the mind and  body than doing hard work.  The end result of hard work is feeling productive and accomplished, but the end result of worrying is just breakdown.  In order to take yourself out of the cycle of worrying, you need to prioritize your problems to determine what to do the hard work on FIRST.  The sooner you start doing the hard work on any ONE thing, the sooner you'll start feeling productive and accomplished.  The more productive and accomplished you feel, the more energy you'll have to deal with the rest of your backlog and overwhelm.

There is one simple questions I ask myself to help me focus and prioritize on the FIRST thing I need to do:

• What action can I take right now that will help me feel better tomorrow?

Notice that I am NOT asking you to make a list of everything you need to do.  You've been making that list in your head over and over and it's been driving you crazy.  What you need to do is take action on ONE thing.  ONE thing that will help you feel productive and accomplished.  ONE thing that will get you closer to the life and business you want for yourself.  Only after you have finished that ONE thing should you ask the question again to determine what ONE thing you need to do next.

Despite what you may believe about yourself, the human brain and body is not good at multi-tasking.  If you consider worrying one of your multi-tasking skills, I would say it actually drains your energy from anything else you're attempting to do.  When you decide to get your mind off the treadmill of worry and onto a walking path of action ONE step at a time, you'll start to see your energy increase, your mood improve, and it will become easier to solve any problems that arise.  If you aren't feeling inspired to get off the worry wheel yet, it's because you haven't done Step 2 and given yourself a reason to start making changes.  How much longer do you want to feel like this?  When will you start creating change for yourself?  How about now?  You can do it!!

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Website Critique Webinar

Due to popular demand, we are going to have another Website Critique Webinar this Thursday at 4PM EST! So many of you asked us to review your sites for free after our last post that we decided to go ahead and do another webinar. Are you so excited? We are! Join us just before Happy Hour to hear more tips about making your online presence the absolute BEST it can be!

This week's webinar is going to be run by Corey Ann. As a nod to one of her favorite photographers, Zack Arias, she may have a glass of bubbly in her hand as she reviews sites to take the edge off the nerves for her first ever webinar. Be kind! ;) The rest of the Lovecats will be joining in on the chat as well!

Do you want to submit your website for possible review? Send us an email and let us know!

See you Thursday!

How To Hire A Remote Photo Assistant & Outsource

While my business may appear to be a one-woman show, let me assure you that I cannot do everything necessary to run a successful business on my own. Even though I HAVE the physical and mental capabilities to do everything my business needs, I simply do not have the TIME to do it all.

I believe in spending more time doing what you love and in hiring people you enjoy working with to handle the rest.

For me, that means I enjoy spending my time doing: photography, personal service, marketing, strategy and mentoring/consulting. Even though I can get away with running a business on what I love alone, I was never really successful until I found people to take care of: production, retouching, accounting/finance, travel arrangements, and random details and projects.

It took me a long time and a lot of frustration to learn that I needed to outsource the things I didn't like.

It also took me a long time to find services that I liked and trusted with my images and my business- about 2-3 years to be exact. Almost as soon as I would find local services and people I enjoyed working with, I'd have to move. So, I've had a lot of experience searching for and finding those people and services that I enjoy working with!! Hopefully, by sharing my process with you, you'll be able to find the people you need to run a successful photography business as well.


PRINTING & ALBUM PRODUCTION
I started off with local labs because I wanted to keep my business local and support my local economy. Unfortunately local professional labs are quickly dying in favor of nation-wide online labs, but I think it's still very important to have a local lab you can go to at the last minute for a same-day or quick-turn around job that a national lab wouldn't be able to easily accommodate.

How to find one?

1. Take 10 sample prints with different processing techniques on them and submit them to the lab as you would if you were ordering prints for clients. Order the papers you want, the cropping, the toning, the turn around time, the mounting, etc.
2. Evaluate their turn around time, the service they provide when dealing with your order, and of course, if they are able to produce results that you like and if they offer all of the products that you're interested in selling to your clients.  The more they can handle in one place, the more streamlined your business will be to deal with any last minute issues or orders.
3. If you like their service, but they weren't able to produce results, find out if they can work with you to create a custom printer profile that you can use when submitting prints to them.  If the service is great, they should be able to walk you through this process to help you get the results you want.

After trying many of my local labs and running into horrible service left and right, I ended up testing all of the national labs with the same method and finally found a lab that I love using for more than just printing and album production.  What I pay to use their service and their professional team of printers, retouchers, packagers, album designers, and production assistants is far less on a monthly basis than I would be able to pay a professional photo assistant to work in my office or even to drive to for print pickup.  Hands down, the best investment I made in my success was turning my production over to a professional photography lab.  The lab also guarantees all of their work, so if there are any problems, it's not my fault, it's the labs and they handle it on their dollar, not mine.  As a side note, using a professional lab has also made it easier for me to sell more products and increase my profit margin on individual jobs by offering products that consumers can't get anywhere else but through a professional photographer.

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE

Doing your own finances is fine when you don't have a lot of money or work coming in the door, but if you don't love crunching numbers and spending your time in excel spreadsheets or accounting software, than I would suggest that an accountant or bookkeeper is as essential to your business as your camera equipment.  I'm not a CPA.  I don't spend my time studying tax code or best accounting practices and I have no desire to whatsoever.  I'm a photographer.  I take pretty pictures.  A good accountant or bookkeeper will help keep all of your business finances in order once a year, once a month, or once a week, depending on how much work you're doing to make it necessary.  

Personally, most years I'm good with hiring a CPA once a year at around $300-$500 just to clean up my lazy expense tracking and maximize my tax returns.  However, in years when I was REALLY busy because I was charging less and taking a greater volume of clients, I worked with an accountant quarterly- basically each time a quarterly tax payment was due.  Businesses with even more volume may simply hire a bookkeeper once a week or month, and then only a CPA for taxes.  Having a CPA do your taxes also helps reduce your liability because they have to practice ethical accounting standards in order to maintain their certification.

How to find one?  

Your local Chamber of Commerce or Small Business Development office is the best place to start looking.  Ask other photographers in your area, or other local small businesses that provide a service like yours.  Set up an interview with three people before committing to one.  You might find one that's recommended but not click right away.  I can't stress enough how important it is to like the people you work with in your business.  If you feel like you can't call someone and ask them for advice easily, or you're too intimidated to talk to them, you're less likely to get the help you need when you need it for any business problems that arise.  Find an accountant you really like, it may take a few conversations over coffee, but ask them to talk about the other businesses they work for and what they do for them to help you get a sense of how they'll be working with you.

OFFICE ASSSITANT & RANDOM TASK MASTER

The first two areas are easily outsourced to an established company.  However, finding an office assistant and random task master generally happens on a much more personal level.  While there are services like Elance.com and VirtualAssistants.com that will help you with individual projects and on a remote basis, I've learned that having someone you can depend on locally is actually more beneficial for your business.

Even though I'm traveling the world this year and working in several different countries, I have a remote office assistant that already knows the ins and outs of my business because we worked together side by side for several months in person.  This was essential for me being able to trust my assistant in a situation when I might need someone to deliver something to a client in person while I'm away.  While I've streamlined all of my payments to happen electronically, if a client needed to send a check, I'd want someone I could trust with my money to do that random task for me.

How to find one?

The best place to look for an assistant is through your existing audience of fans, followers, and friends.  Some people hire family members, some people hire friends, and some hire former clients or interns.  More often than not, the assistants that become a best fit for you and your business already have some kind of relationship with you or are already interested in you and your business.

1. Create a list of tasks that you'd like someone to do for you.  Outline the types of software they'll be using, what things they'll need to know in advance, and what you're willing to help teach them in order for them to do things they may not know how to do yet.  Identify how much you're willing to pay per project or per hour.  This list will help set appropriate expectations for the work that you're asking other people to enjoy doing for you.  It's critical that they will actually enjoy doing these jobs, otherwise they will be just as frustrated as you are when trying to accomplish them.
2. Start by reaching out to people you know you'd love working with and see if they'd be interested in working part time for you.  Start with family, then friends, then fans & followers.  Some family and friends do well in a business relationship and some don't- think of it like a partnership.  If you don't feel you can work through problems peacefully and professionally together, than they aren't going to be an ideal assistant.
3. If you don't find what you're looking for in your existing audience, reach out on your Blog, Facebook Page, or LinkedIn before posting on Craigslist.  There's a very good chance a friend of a friend or an existing follower knows someone who would be perfect for you.
4. Interview several people.  Unless you've hand picked your assistant and they said yes, you'll probably need to interview a few different people to find the best fit.  Sit down with them in person and ask them if they're comfortable handling the tasks you need help with.  Notice their body language to see if you feel like they're excited about the opportunity, or just thinking about doing it for the extra cash.  You really want someone who is excited about working with you, because it their energy and desire to work with you will help you trust them and hand over more work to them.
5. After you've found your ideal person, create a contract for the working agreement and determine if they need to be an employee or if they can be an independent contractor.  In my business, I haven't needed an employee, just independent contractors who can either work at my office or away from my office on various tasks and projects as they see fit.  
6. If they'll be working for you all year, regardless of their employment status, you'll also need to collect tax information from them so that you can report it at the end of the year.  Here's another post on the paperwork you'll need and How To Outsource with Independent Contractors.

REMEMBER

A successful business does not exist in a vacuum by itself.  It requires many people making things happen simultaneously in order to create a business that allows you to really focus on what you love doing and the reason why you started working for yourself in the first place.  If what you want is freedom and time to enjoy your life when you aren't earning a living doing what you love, than you need to find a way to bring other people on board that you enjoy working with- or you need to find someone else you can work for who will handle all of the stuff you don't like.  Running a business isn't easy and it's a lot of responsibility. 

In the life of your dreams - what are you paid to do and what do you pay other people to handle for you?

If you can put a price or a budget on how much it's worth for someone else to take a task or a project off your hands, than you can create a plan for your business that provides room to hire other people for help.


CONFESSION: I pay people to do my laundry, make my travel arrangements, and cook my food (by going out to eat more often than I cook.)  Sometimes I do these myself, but mostly I just prefer to hire other people to do it for me.  I might end up with slightly less money at the end of the year, but getting back my time to enjoy life and spend more time doing what I love is well worth the cost!

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Website & Branding Critique Webinar - Photographer Website Best Practices

Thanks to all who attended our Live Website & Branding Critique Online this week! We had awesome people in the chat room who were very helpful and friendly to those who were having their websites critiqued. It's not easy putting yourself and your business on stage for everyone else to see and criticize, but so far the feedback has been very positive and helpful for everyone who joined in! We couldn't do it without the courage of our lovecat audience putting their own work out there for us to critique in front of everyone. For those who could not make it, I have to say that the slides are such a SMALL fraction of all the things we discussed. However there should still be plenty of solid tips to help you grade your own website experience. To view the slides, simply click through the slideshare presentation embedded below:

Photography Website Critique Webinar

View more presentations from Anne Ruthmann.

We also got the NICEST thank you note ever from Michelle- whose website we reviewed live in front our a webinar audience of 65 people....

"Dear Anne, Corey Ann, Jennifer and Christine,

I'd like to thank you all so much. It was the first time I have ever really put myself and work out there and you made it wonderful experience.  You were very honest and gave me much insight as to what needs to be changed.  I took two pages of notes and couldn’t keep up with the side bar of comments but I truly appreciate everyone’s input.  I know from Facebook Anne, you were concern about presenting the information to us well and you did.  I did not feel offended, just had my eyes opened to what others truly see.  Lots of work to do this week and just grateful and thankful for you ladies.

Have an awesome day!

Warmest wishes,

Michelle"

I can't thank our lovecat audience enough for THEIR contribution in making these webinars so helpful for ALL of us!

Many people asked if we would critique their website after seeing the live critique done online, and our answer is YES! We decided on offering two possibilities, depending on what you're looking to get out of it.

OPTION 1:
Cost: Free
Privacy: Public (no privacy)
Timeframe: Whenever we feel like it (could be one week, could be months from now)
Details: Email your website to photolovecat at gmail.com with the heading "Public Website Critique Request" and one of our editors will volunteer to do a blog post critique of your website to be shared publicly here on PhotoLovecat.com.

OPTION 2:
Cost: $250
Privacy: Private
Timeframe: Agreed upon before payment
Details: Email your website to photolovecat at gmail.com with the heading "Private Website Critique Request" and one of our editors will contact you with more details.

We wish that we had the time to critique everyone's website for free, but realistically, we have businesses to run and bills to pay. Time is the most valuable resource in our business. We volunteer our time here on PhotoLovecat when we feel we have extra to give, so please do not be offended if we cannot critique your site in our spare time- we love to enjoy friends and family in our spare time too!

Why You Need To Pay Yourself Starting Right Now

A lot of small business owners start their businesses by taking all of the money they earn and reinvesting it into equipment, marketing, branding, a new website, or some other business expense until they feel like they "have it all." The only problem is, for quite a few small business owners, they'll never feel like they "have it all"- there will always be new equipment, software updates, workshops, or the latest gizmo that money in the bank could be buying in exchange for another business tax write-off.

While it may be tempting to get the latest of everything for your business, "keeping up with the Jonese" can easily become a fast track to letting your business expense you out of having a paycheck and a living wage.

This is why it's so important to pay yourself a dedicated portion of every bit of revenue that walks in that door.

Now, in your starting years, that portion may realistically only be 20-30% while you need to build your business and make important investments, but it is important to start taking income from your business the minute you start taking money. You deposit a check into your business account and then cut yourself a portion of the revenue as income to your personal account. The reason is that you need to develop good financial business habits from the very beginning so that you don't find yourself overworked and underpaid picking up work at Starbucks just to make ends meet. Frankly, this is the biggest reason people go out of business in two years or less. They simply don't pay themselves enough to make a living and they let their own business run them into debt and out of a job that they can't collect unemployment for.

Ideally, you should aim to take home 50% of your revenue before taxes.

(Sole Proprietors) This forces you to run a lean business that makes decisions based on needs, rather than wants and whatever the latest trend happens to be. It forces you to be creative when solving problems rather than just throwing money at them. It also makes it very clear when you're using your personal income to purchase something for your business and vice versa, so that you can measure your financial success against whether or not you're making enough for everything you need or want.

If you're two or three years into your business and still haven't given yourself a paycheck. It's never too late to start. You can start with the next check that walks in the door. Yes, you'll need to make changes in how you handle money and solve problems, but they will be healthy changes that will allow you to continue doing what you love far longer than you'd be able to if you continued not to pay yourself.

If you wouldn't be an unpaid slave for someone else, why would you choose to enslave yourself?

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.