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The Slow Season Strategy: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Downtime before the Rush
Summer is a time to rest, refuel, and prepare for the busy season ahead while balancing family time and creative inspiration. I share practical strategies to help photographers maximize their slow season to prepare for fall bookings while maintaining creative vision and personal boundaries.
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Hey mama, whether or not you're trying out your camera for the very first time, or you've been doing this a while and just looking for some creative inspiration, I've got all that and more. I'm here to help you see your world differently, challenge you creatively and find your passion for photography. Hey guys, welcome back to Better Photos Podcast. This is your host, brittany Porter, with Be Posh Photo, and I'm so glad that you're here. So it's summer and some of us are feeling like we're not doing enough. It's hard, like you have to lower your expectation and just realize that you are not going to get as much done in the summer as you are in the school year. And that's okay. Like the summer, you can rest more, um, you can refuel, you can spend time with your kids and there will be time to get back, and it is going to be busy soon. So I've got some ideas to help you during if you're having like a lull, or you just need some motivation to get some things done in the summer, when it's not necessarily a photo session, and so stay tuned for that. What has been going on here is we have eight new chicks and they are growing up. They were born around my birthday May 1st, and so that's June, july. They're like two and a half months and I think around three to five months is when they you can tell if they're like a girl or a boy, because we have silkies and they are very hard to sex and I don't know. I know that too. We DNA tested. I sent their eggshell off to be tested. Um, yes, I am that person and it's very random. You can test through eggshell if you know which egg they hatched out of, which egg they hatched out of. And I was out of town. So my daughter, who is 11, she was out there trying to manage and get which eggshell belonged to which chick, and so I'm not totally sure. On these other six, that, um, one of our other hens was laying on six eggs and one was laying on two. So the one that was laying on two I DNA tested and, surprise, surprise, 50, 50 it one.
Speaker 1:One is a girl, one's a boy and they are not my standard when it comes to these chickens. So just like there is dog breeds and standards, there is also chicken ones. And these, like the boy is a different color and like cool, but they are satin, feathered type, which I don't love. I like the silky, poofy, um fuzzy looking ones, so I'm trying to um, give them away. I even, like, tried to offer the girl from one group and then one that I think is a boy from another group that has the good feather type, to my sister, and my middle daughter would not let her take them, so she wants to keep all of them.
Speaker 1:And the funny thing is is that we have this really ugly one. Okay, so there's this thing called naked necks or showgirls, and basically that means they're like, have all these feathers except for on their neck, so it's just like a poof on their head. And this one is also a satin feather, which, again, I don't like. Okay, so this one's name is Harold yes, harold, and I'm I'm pretty sure it's a boy. So if it's not a boy, we'll have to change it to like Harriet or something. Um, but it is so ugly because first of all, it's the naked neck and it's satin feather and now, like the hair coming out of its head, it's like all black pretty much. But these feathers have popped up on the top of its head that are like orange.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, I'll have to post on my Instagram at be posh photo if you want to see what this chicken Harold looks like. Harold was crazy so you cannot catch him. He wants to run away from you. He is like such a scaredy cat, scaredy chicken. Um, so yeah, we have all these chicks going on and like now I think we have okay, so there's eight chicks and I think we have like six adults. I don't know. I think we have like 13, maybe in all maybe 14, and now our chickens, like our hens, have started laying eggs again, and so now we have three. We have one that's broody, which means they just want to like sit and hatch chickens, they just want to be a mom, and so there might be two broody ones, but anyway, so we have three more eggs that my daughter insisted putting on there. But I like those ones, like, I want them to be our original, like hens, because those are the good feather types, the good colors, they have the correct amount of toes, they have the right eye color, the right, they have the right eye color, the right combs, all the things. And so I just I really need to get rid of Harold. That sounds so bad to say, but I don't want Harold and I don't want Pickles, as the other boy and the girl is Darla, but she's not cute. She's just not cute, okay. Anyways, my rainbow is done about chickens and what else, okay. So I'm really trying to hone in on storytelling with my photography as the fall approaches.
Speaker 1:I hate mini sessions. They are so stressful and they're stressful for my clients, like trying to get to a place on time, having all their kids dressed up, and then the pressure of like that one smiling photo. I don't know why I hate that so much and I hate like that. You're kind of like in one spot and I don't know. I just I want to take all that pressure off, and so I'm not doing back to back mini sessions this year. I may change my mind, but I don't think so. So I'm doing like these petite sessions that are like 30 minutes long and they have certain availability on my calendar and so people can book those instead. So then I feel like it's like less pressure for like a setup and a date and bad lighting for some of the sessions, because only like a couple have like the best lighting and, um, I want like more places for people to be able to roam and to I don't like being confined to like a little backdrop, um. So I might lose some clients doing that and I don't know, maybe that'll make room for more of what I want. And that's kind of what I want to do is I want to focus on my marketing and try to get more clients that want what I want to do and what I want to offer. So I'll kind of talk about that later. And I have.
Speaker 1:So I have my Sony and I'm kind of feeling like I wish I would have tried out the Canon. Um, I still don't know 100% what I'm doing with my Sony. I mean it's fine, like I'm. Sometimes the focus is like off a little bit and that's because I'm not great at like tapping the screen to find the focus on what I want. Like I was just so much more familiar with my focus points on my Canon that not having focus points or not knowing how to maneuver them as quickly on my Sony it leaves me with a little more blurred images and thank goodness I don't shoot weddings or like a birth, because that would be really tragic if they were blurred for like those big moments. Um, but yeah, I need to work on that.
Speaker 1:The other thing I was I'm really missing is my 24 to 70 lens just being able to, um, get up close and have like various shots, like I'm using my 35, so that means I have to get really close and then really far to get like wide. So I'm just like moving more than I mean. I like the moving like where I have to physically move my body but I'm not getting close details as much Like when people are running I'm like in their face and then it's like blurred. So I saw that you can buy a converter. So I have like the 24 to 70 for my Canon and you know my 50 millimeter for my Canon DSLR and you know my 50 millimeter for my canon dslr and I found a converter lens that is like maybe 250 dollars and you can put it on your sony mirrorless and use your dslr um lenses. So I need to get that and try that out so that I can have more variety. Especially if I'm like really leaning into storytelling, I need some more close up detail shots without me being like right in their face. So that's kind of where I'm going with my business and kind of being okay with less of what I don't want and more of what I do want, even if that means like an adjustment period or less money or a little bit of nervousness. Um, I just know that it'll work out.
Speaker 1:So it's summer, it's could be you could be booked, and sometimes I do have like some newborn sessions, and I shot a outdoor session a couple days ago and it was so hot it was like 93 degrees. So I have some tips on my blog about how to do sessions in that type of heat and you can check that out. I'll put the link in the show notes or you can go to itsbeposhphotocom slash blog and see those if you have some summer sessions coming up. Ok, so let's get into today. Today we are going to be talking about five things to do in the summer to get ready for your busy, your busy season. So this could be your summer. This could be another month like January, like what are you doing in your slow season that could set you up for your busy season? So stay tuned, okay. So, five things to do this summer to prep for your fall busy season, or this could be whatever slow season you are in. How to prep for when you're busy again.
Speaker 1:Okay so, number one refreshing your website and your booking workflow. Okay. So this means, like updating your pricing. Um, this is what I've been doing. Okay, so I like, quickly, have been making things in Canva like a um location guide and client um closet link, and then I just leave them in Canva and I have been directing people and I've set up like email stuff and kind of like on my booking emails like links to these third party websites like Canva that display my stuff there. But the problem with that is that I am not getting any traction to my website. That has been in the dirt for like um, I don't know like five or six years, like I literally have not blogged, but maybe like one or two things like session wise, and so I've been using Instagram as my portfolio and kind of like my website, and so that is like a big no, no, because if Instagram goes away, I literally have nothing and I don't have like reference points to sessions that I've done to send people to give them like the idea of what it would look like for a newborn session or what it would look like for, um, a flower field session or a water session or like whatever. Um, and so I am really focusing back on my website and my slow season.
Speaker 1:I added my business to Google finally, like literally, it's been like 13 years and I did not do that. So I've been getting mostly business from word of mouth and social media. So I think there's like a whole other realm of people that I could reach through Google searching. So I'm really like trying to work on that. So part of my like Canva links is not getting me any stuff on Google. So I have been recreating or downloading and putting my stuff on my website, making new pages on my website for things like my location guide and then making either like a image gallery slider thing or, um, just like revamping the whole thing, and so I'm migrating all my Canva links to my website for SEO purposes.
Speaker 1:Um, also adding blog posts in again to get traction through Pinterest or Google of like tips or just like things with words for blog posts. So it could be like tips for moms or tips for, like new photographers, stuff like that. So I'm really working on my website. I even pulled in my like booking, like embedded my booking link into my website, so now I can send people to my website and then, once they're there, then maybe they want to travel over to my blog, maybe they want to see my client closet, maybe they want to buy something from my shop, bp and Co. Maybe they want to download a freebie. Maybe they want to join my email list. Again, that is a big thing that people have been talking about forever and just I kind of neglect it or just like leave it as like a pop-up. But really like, once you get these email addresses, that's when you can send newsletters and, um, get more bookings, because not everyone is on social media and not as much as me, or maybe they don't see your post. So really focusing on website and email list.
Speaker 1:Number two is planning your content. So this is where I am asking ChatGPT for help with content to boost my fall bookings. So today I asked it let's plan my content calendar for the next 30 days. I want to promote newborn sessions, maternity sessions, full family storytelling sessions, blowing rock, petite sessions on 1116 to the locals, or Charlotte moms who don't mind driving, or people that have Airbnbs, and educational posts geared towards photographers. I would like to have a nine grid focus that rotates on ideas on how to switch up the content, like one, newborn and this post could be what to expect at your newborn session, and then the next time, number one comes around. Again, it's newborn and the topic is something else and maybe it's like a reel of behind the scenes with newborn. I want something that focuses on what sets me apart, maybe my client closet, maybe how I'm a mom or that I have insurance. Lol. Ask me other questions to help me create this content calendar. Okay.
Speaker 1:So then it came back and um asked me a few questions like how often do I want to post um? Do you want reels, carousels or a mix of both in your nine grid um? Do you use stories daily and should I include matching story prompts for each grid post? What do you currently have included in your full family storytelling sessions? Time, number of images, location options. What is the vibe of your blowing rock? Petite sessions, cozy, fall, scenic styled minis? Is your audience mostly Instagram or a mix of Instagram and Facebook and email? Do you want help weaving in soft sales captions or clear call to actions in each post? Do you want prompts for your educational content for photographers to be casual, tip style or more strategic, like funneling into future digital digital products?
Speaker 1:Okay, so then I put in my answers to all those things and it gave me nine grid rotating content pillars and week one, week two, week three, week four um titles for like each category. So for the categories it gave me newborn, maternity, family storytelling, blowing rock, petite photographer, education, casual photographer, education funnel, what sets me apart, relatable mom reel and affiliate slash, soft sale, um, and then it gave me like week one, I'm doing like these topics and then, underneath that grid, it goes into um, my, so like day one is like what to expect at your newborn session, and then it gives me a visual hook baby swaddled mom sipping coffee in my in her home Caption. And Susie is like my ideal client that I've programmed in chat GPT, which I have a guide for photographers on how to find your target market, how to find your brand identity and um marketing to your exact like perfect client, and so I'll put that in the show notes as well. Um, so I've named mine Susie, and so anytime I referenced Susie, then chat GPT knows exactly what I mean. She likes to make sourdough. She um likes to shop at free people or she likes um, you know, doing crafts or like whatever. I've labeled her as Um and I can always go in and tweak what Susie likes Like. One time I went in and tweak that Now she's expecting, so I'm trying to um talk to to her. She has like one on the way, maybe like a toddler, um, I don't know. So you can go in and like tweak, like what's going on with Susie. Maybe she doesn't like shopping at free people anymore, maybe she likes um anthropology or maybe she likes Abercrombie. So anyways, side note, um, so it saysie.
Speaker 1:I know newborn photos can feel intimidating. Let me walk you through exactly what to expect so you can just show up and soak in the snuggles and then it has a story prompt to put on my stories and say a poll what stresses you out the most about newborn photos? Options like what to wear if baby cries or looking tired. Okay, and it does that for each category, which. What I find with chat gpt is that I don't want to copy and paste like the captions because they don't feel like me. But what it does is it gives me an idea. So then I can go around and say it in my own words. I have tried on another thread, like really honing in on my brand voice and like what I sound like. So I'll go in and say, create a caption about this. And then I'll say, well, I actually put the caption this, but no matter what like chat gbt cannot give like my point of view or my experience or my life, like certain things that have happened that I can like put into my photography or that I can see within a family, like it just can't do that. So sometimes I just am looking for like the idea and then I can write something like specific that is actually from my brain and my heart.
Speaker 1:So, getting your fall like content calendar or like having a goal in mind of what you want to book, like maybe you are hosting many sessions and it's a certain day with a certain theme or a certain location and so you want to add that into your content calendar. Or maybe you want a whole content calendar or newsletter or social media posts or whatever about that. Then you can use ChatGPT to help you plan content around that. Or, claude, there's like a bunch of AI what are they called? Like AI generators, whatever Generative AI that's what it's called. So you can use like whatever. Maybe there's like one that writes songs. Like maybe you want to write a song about your upcoming sessions, I don't know. Um, that kind of sounds funny. Um, okay.
Speaker 1:Then number three is upgrading your client experience. Okay, so maybe you're creating more helpful resources. Is there something that your clients always are asking or need help? So, like a couple of years ago, I made my location guide. So I created on Canva, I put locations and then every time that I had a shoot at a new location, I would add that into one of the pages and put images from that location and titled it and like gave like a money sign, like if it was free or if it cost more, just to let my clients know that this one was a paid location versus a free one. And then, once I shot places multiple times, I would add new photos at different times, different outfits, different lighting, um, so they could see really what they would get with that location.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then I hosted it on Canva, which you can absolutely do, and then you have a link. So then I've saved all of my client experience links in a folder. That's what I did recently. Is I made like a folder on my like top bookmarks tab thing so they're so easily accessible. So one's labeled client experience and one is like um business dashboards or something, so I have my like behind like backend of stuff under that. So then when um somebody books, I can send them the link to my location guide, my client closet, um, then next I need to make like an FAQ page, um, and how to prep, which I have a like maternity and newborn guy, that kind of talks about that. Um, that I just migrated over to my website again.
Speaker 1:Um, so making guides for people. Again, that could be style guide, location guide, an FAQ page, a how to prep page, and one that I recently added to was I've got all my things in to make an album instead of just being like, yeah, you can make an album I have like what it would look like, what's it, how much it costs, like what is in it, what are your options with it, and I've made a whole page on my website that's dedicated to albums. So now that I can send that guide, um, in a followup email to my clients that have done newborn sessions or whatever it's like, now you can go to this link and look at like what an album or book would be like, okay, um, also your intake forms. Now you can go to this link and look at like what an album or book would be like, okay, also your intake forms. So, whenever so I use Acuity and you know I've played around with like doing an all-in-one like CRM, so that I could have like booking and emails and contracts and like all that thing in one place. But I haven't done that yet because I'm just I mean, that's another thing you could do in the slow season is, you know, try out a CRM. They give like free trials and so it's a lot easier to try things when you're not so busy rather than trying to jump in when you are busy. So if you have the money to invest in that, that's something that I would like to do. But right now I have everything kind of separate.
Speaker 1:So Acuity is what I use for my booking, and once a client goes to my calendar, they can click on the session, they can see the description of the session, they can see what dates I have available, they can book on their own, which is something that I love to do as a client. I don't want to have a phone call. I don't want to have, I don't want to talk a lot about it, I don't want to like discuss through email about like whatever I want, like see the date, see the time, book it and then, if you want to contact me, like via email or something like super minimal, after that's fine, um, and because normally when I book a photographer, like I trust their ideas and like I've seen their Instagram and I just like want them to do what they normally do on me or with me and my family. Um, so with that booking, after they've booked, or like in the booking process, there is like an intake form and so now I've added like what is your ideal location? So instead of like going back and forth through email saying like hey, like what location would you like I already have like tabs that they can click um saying do they want field, do they want flowers, do they want a barn, do they want at home, do they want um indoor at like a place that they want to rent, or do they want to travel? And just having like um boxes they can check that help me already know what they want. Or and I can like, uh, tailor my next email to that um, and then one of them is like their address, because I send things like when they're having a newborn session. I send them like a little client box before and I don't like them to know that I'm sending it. I like it to be a surprise, so I have their address already on there. Um, who's coming to the session? I like to know names and ages, just so that I can get familiar with who I'm going to be photographing. What kinds of prompts do I need to think about, what kind of poses, and so anything that can help me tailor the session and not feel as stressed as a photographer. That's what I add into my intake form. So that is something in your client experience that you can work on during your slow season. Other things is restocking your items. So, if you need more memory cards or camera batteries, um, for my office supplies like I'm always running out of, like my note cards with my um business on it, um business cards, or like my client boxes, like the things that go in them, um take time to make, um or put together, and so if I can pre-make all of those things or have them stocked and ready, or have them stocked and ready, then I will be more prepared when it's busy to just grab a box and put a label on it, um and like write the actual note, okay. So that is some things to do for your client experience, um.
Speaker 1:Next is number four AI editing and workflow. So, incorporating AI into your workflow. So, um, this can be chat, gpt or it can be editing. So after shoot is what I use for editing and I call all my images like, pick out my favorites and then I add it into after shoot and I have trained an AI profile to edit like me. Okay. So this takes time. It takes thousands and thousands of photos that you're uploading to their platform and they are learning what do I do with greens? What do I do with greens? What do I do with um yellows? What do I do with um, the things the um shadows, or with the highlights, like how much grain do I add? It is learning what I do in different scenarios, if it's dark, if it's bright, how I shoot, and so this takes time.
Speaker 1:You don't want to do this when you're busy. You want to pull up your past sessions, upload them, let them train, because it takes a long time for it to train and then you'll be ready for your next session. So, um, trying out AI editing is something great. I've also used um. There's another one but I liked um after shoot because you pay one flat fee and you can do as many edits on photos as you want rather than paying per image, and so I just don't like that feeling of like being restricted, so I just like, let me just do them all. Um, so I use after shoot and I have a link in my show notes for that Um, other workflows that you can use chat GPT for is okay.
Speaker 1:So I'm like adding images and blog posts to my website and so you can go in, and I've heard this being like such a game changer for, like, seo is going through and putting like in your alt image description and title or caption basically the metadata and the tags and stuff for your image and so I've created a GPT image and so I've created a GPT for this specific thing and maybe I'll make it available. But I think it's just pretty much easy. Like, can you write SEO metadata for each image that I put in your box? So I will just like now I have one saved to the side that is specifically for that. So all I do is like grab an image that I'm posting on my blog and put it in chat GPT and it would just automatically spew out a alt tag, caption, tags, all that description. So then I can just copy and paste it and put it in the metadata of my website, so then this can be picked up by Google search engines and stuff like that. So getting in tune with what you could use AI for to enhance your workflow is definitely going to be beneficial when you are in busy season. Okay.
Speaker 1:So number five is getting your calendar ready. Okay, like I said, I use Acuity, and so if you don't have an automated calendar that clients can book themselves, then I highly suggest trying that out, because that is so freeing that they can do it on their time. They don't have to schedule a call, they don't have to like take all these extra steps. They can go straight to my website and book on their time. But it syncs with my calendar. Okay, so I need to go into my calendar. I need to block the days that I don't want to work, aka holidays, or when my kids are out of school, or when we're on a trip or boundaries of, just like I don't want to shoot at this time. I need to take a break. I need to make sure that I have enough time for editing all these sessions so I can go through and block time on my google account or on my apple calendar so that that does not appear as available in my booking calendar and then on my booking calendar. I can go in and pre-select times and dates that I want to be available, that I want to shoot, I can add padding before and after the session in case I need to drive to another session, and so you can set that all up so that you're not overwhelmed with people just trying to book whatever.
Speaker 1:And then your calendar becomes overwhelmed with bookings and you don't know how to like manage the rest of your life, because hello, fall is also the time for you and pumpkin patches, and Halloween and s'mores and festivals, and you know like things that you want to do with your family, and I've spent so many times that being like, oh, I need to leave, oh I gotta go, oh I can't do that parade or I can't do this because I planned sessions on my calendar and now I just feel more in control of when I'm putting my time available or like being in control of my time so that now I know that I'm still going to have like the freedom to enjoy my family and my time as well, so making breathing room or maybe just like, when are you actually hosting minis? So putting that on your calendar. So I've already blocked, like you know, two days or a day for when I drive out to Blowing Rock to do those sessions, and luckily it's just like a quick day trip. So it's like if I had to like nobody want those then it's not a big deal. I'm not like pre-booking a hotel or anything like that, um, and even if I did, then I would take it as like family time. So, planning out when you're having sessions, so then you can curate your content, your newsletter, all those things around those dates, and you can feel free in your life as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so again, I'm just going to go over those five tips of what to do. Number one refresh your website. Number two plan your content. Number three upgrade your client experience. Number four add AI to your workflow. Number five map out your calendar. Okay, so I hope you enjoyed that. If you did, I would love a review and if you want to give me five stars, that helps me find other people just like you. And if you want to follow me on Instagram, it's at BePoshPhoto, and thanks for joining and I hope you go out and make better photos. Thanks, bye.