Can I let you in on a secret?
Whether you’ve been in business for 1 year, 5 years, or 30 years… there’s ALWAYS room to learn, improve, and grow your photography business!
And if you ever get to a place where you feel like you’ve “made it” and there’s nothing else to learn… well, you might as well just assume the business is on its way out 🤷🏼♀️
If you want to take your wedding photography business to the next level, here are my 5 must-haves to make that growth 🌱
1. Know Your Gear
This is something that even I used to take for granted in my career!
Just a few years ago, I purchased a new camera and thought I knew it well enough to use it at a wedding. Big mistake 🙅🏼♀️ When the exit happened, ALL of the sparkler exit photos were blurry 😓 Thankfully, I have some mad Photoshop skills and was able to photoshop the couple INTO the reception and it all turned out okay!
The lesson? If you’re planning on photographing professionally, the first time you use new gear should NOT be at a paid event. You need to practice with it beforehand with a spouse, a friend, a family member – anyone who isn’t paying you! Get very familiar with your gear before the day of the event so you know of any potential pitfalls.
2. Posing is Key 🗝️
You could photograph clients in the most beautiful landscape with the most magical lighting and stellar editing 💫
But if your client doesn’t enjoy how they’re feeling during the session and they feel like the poses don’t look like them, then nothing else matters.
When your client looks at your photos, the first thing they look at is themselves. They look at their expressions, if they look natural in the photo, and how emotion-filled they are – and SO much of this comes from posing.
I believe posing is one of the MOST important elements of a photograph… so much so that I’ve created a course called The Posing Plan to teach photographers how to create natural, beautiful poses consistently!
If you want rave reviews and referrals from clients, upleveling your posing is the place to start!
3. Keep It Organized
Your photography business needs to be organized in two ways:
- On the client side. You should have a streamlined system in place for client referrals, invoicing, scheduling, communication, and so on.
- In the inner workings of the business. If you outsource or work with a team to complete business tasks, such as editing, content creation, bookkeeping, and more, you need a system in place to keep track of this.
On the client side, we love Dubsado. Dubsado keeps our contracts, invoices, scheduling, and more. It even houses all of our canned emails and sends them out to clients automatically. It is really an incredible and robust program!
If you’d like to try Dubsado to manage your clients, you can use my affiliate code catherineg for 20% off or just click here!
On the business side, we use two main programs:
- ClickUp. We just switched to this program and we LOVE it so far. It’s great for communicating with others, sharing documents, corresponding about projects, and more. It’s an awesome program!
- Voxer. Voxer is great for quick communication. I use it with my team, people I’m in masterminds with, and even groups of friends. Voxer is almost like if text messaging and voice messages had a baby – it’s a very cool system! When you’re listening to audio from someone else, you can adjust the playback speed. And, unlike an iMessage, you can minimize the app while you’re doing other things on your phone. Plus, they don’t delete automatically like they do in iMessage. I really love Voxer! ❤️
4. Connect with Others
If you’ve tuned in to any of my other podcasts, videos, or blogs, you know that I’m a HUGE proponent of connecting with others.
I truly believe that the connections you make in this industry will not only allow you to enjoy this job more, but it will also help you propel the business forward.
Ultimately, when I think about who I’m going to refer for jobs, I think about people I enjoy working with – and they’re doing the exact same thing! Creating connections will not only give you lifelong friends and make your work more enjoyable, but it will also increase your referrals.
5. Continue Your Education 📚
It doesn’t matter where you are in your business or how long you’ve been doing this. If you stop learning, just assume your business is on its way out! 🤷🏼♀️
As you continue to grow as a photographer, you should continue to grow your knowledge. I’m constantly testing out new gear, new strategies, and new programs so I can grow – and I encourage you to do the same!
Some of the best things I’ve done in my business is joining memberships and masterminds to learn from others, and reading books. If you’re feeling stagnant in your business, try those things to get inspired and reinvigorated in your work.
Your Next Step
If you know you need to uplevel your business but you’re not sure where to start, my advice is to start with posing! Mastering posing will make your clients LOVE the photos you take, and is a fast way to get the rave reviews and referrals you need!
Do you ever feel stuck or nervous trying to come up with poses on the spot? Or maybe you use the same poses over and over and need something new?
I’ve been there… and now I’m sharing what I’ve learned to help you! My Posing Guide below will allow you to:
- Build confidence so your clients know EXACTLY what to do
- Have “go-to” poses to create consistent, strong images
- Never feel stuck or on-the-spot – you’ll have a posing flow!
Check out the Posing Guide below. ⤵️
