Growing your business takes time, dedication, and a lot of hard work. It also requires you to have a streamlined workflow that allows you to quickly complete your tasks and get closer to reaching your goals. As your business grows, though, your workload increases (and so does your stress level!).

How can you maintain efficiency, complete your tasks, and work toward your goals as you take on more clients? I reached out to photo editing company ShootDotEdit to gather their insights into this topic. ShootDotEdit works with photographers but the lessons they’ve laid out for you below can apply to all types of wedding businesses.

Meeting and booking new clients is an exciting part of your job as a wedding photographer. You have the opportunity to build relationships with ideal clients, capture memorable moments for them, and bring in additional income to your business. With the clients you book, there also comes additional tasks and projects for you to complete.

The time you once had to work on multiple tasks becomes limited, and it often creates bottlenecks. To ensure you stay on top of your tasks as you continue to grow, you need to incorporate efficient systems and processes into your workflow. Here are 6 tips to help you increase productivity for your wedding photography business.
 

1. Focus on What’s Most Important

 
Because there are so many tasks to work on in your wedding photography business, it is necessary for you to focus on what is most important. These are tasks that require your immediate attention and are ones that only you can do. In a conversation about growth with an employee, famed investor Warren Buffett shared 3 steps to narrow down what is most important:

1. List the 25 most important things for you to do for your business to succeed.
2. Review each item and circle the top 5 that are most important to achieve your goal.
3. Have the focus to combine the first two steps, and avoid everything that is not on your 5 most important list.

When you only focus on the most important tasks, you can be more productive and continue to accomplish the goals you set for yourself.
 

2. Create Streamlined Systems

 
Once you discover what is most important, you must create streamlined systems in your wedding photography business. When you create systems that run almost on their own, you can help your business to be as efficient as possible. The less time you spend on each and every task that requires your attention, the easier it becomes to focus on the things you need to be present for (client meetings, shooting, etc.). There are so many resources available for you as a professional wedding photographer that can speed up your processes and streamline the work that you do.
 

3. Use Email Templates

 
Another area of your business that needs to be streamlined is email communication. When you first interact with clients, you typically connect with them through email. The hours you spend on email can be drastically decreased when you use templated emails. Our 49 free Email Templates for Wedding Photographers can save you hundreds of hours each year. This part of your wedding photography workflow becomes simplified with templates, and you can remain at your most productive.
 

4. Utilize Shortcuts in Programs

 
With the various programs you use for your wedding photography business, utilize shortcuts to save time in your workflow. You can use shortcuts in Lightroom to speed up your post-wedding workflow, Instagram shortcuts to quickly add hashtags and more to your posts, and even shortcuts for your computer to save time in your daily tasks.
 

5. Schedule Social Media in Advance

 
As your wedding photography business continues to grow, your social media presence should as well. When you post on social media, you connect with followers and reach out to potential clients. Similar to other tasks, social media can be time-consuming without a streamlined process. Eliminate time from this part of your workflow and schedule your social media posts in advance. Write the content for each post and use a scheduling platform like Hootsuite (or Heidi’s personal favorite, Smarterqueue) to schedule posts ahead of time. This ensures you are on social media, without the need to spend all of your time on the process.
 

6. Outsource to Specialists

 
For the tasks that are not your most important, or you just do not enjoy, outsource to specialists. One of the most important parts of investing in systems and processes is to take care of the tasks that take up too much of your time and are ones that do not help you grow. Tasks you can outsource are wedding photography editing, blogging, print sales, album design, website design, and bookkeeping. When you outsource to specialists, you can maintain focus on what is the most important for your wedding photography business.

When you place systems and processes into your wedding photography workflow, you can maintain productivity and grow your business. Discover additional ways to maximize your growth and achieve your goals with our free Guide: How to Grow Your Wedding Photography Business!

ShootDotEdit is the first choice color correction and post production solution for the pro wedding photographer, and everything they shoot. They provide turnaround time as fast as 48 hours. ShootDotEdit Customers now receive Extra, a complimentary gallery hosting and storage service designed to sell more prints for you with zero commissions.