Our Studio Refresh: A Peek inside our Saratoga Springs Portrait Studio

I can still hardly believe that this studio is mine. It’s one of my favorite places to be in Saratoga Springs, and it’s filled with everything that I find beautiful and inspiring — lots of light, soft fabrics, pretty neutrals, natural wood and rattan, linen, dainty little flowers on itty bitty headbands, and just a touch of subtle sparkle here and there.

With the new year, I’ve been looking forward to spending a little extra time in our Saratoga Springs baby portrait studio getting everything organized. I made some pretty significant changes to the layout in 2023, and I’m finally getting around to photographing the space now so that I can share it with all of you!

We’ve been in this particular studio since 2020, and it has grown and evolved to fit the needs of our clients since then. I’ve always had a knack for maximizing space and carving out little corners to serve a purpose (the toy corner! the snack cart! our prop storage! our new dressing room area! and the secret hiding place for allllll of the cake stands!). Ever since I had my very first classroom as a first grade teacher back in 2009, I’ve enjoyed being able to look at a space and figure out exactly how to configure it so that every space has a purpose, yet it all flows together seamlessly. This studio has been such a fun spot to design and bring to life, and while there will always be more little changes to come, I’m excited to share our 2024 studio with all of you today!

If you’re looking for a Saratoga Springs photographer for your next family or baby portrait session, I would love to chat with you and help you bring your vision to life! We have everything you’ll need in the studio, and I look forward to creating beautiful artwork for your family.

How Hiring a Virtual Assistant Changed My Business: A behind the scenes peek into making big things happen

I remember sitting in a local Tuesdays Together meeting back in 2016 with my warm cup of chai tea.  We were talking about balancing the tasks in your business, and this question came up:

“What is one of the tasks that you hate doing, and that takes all your time away from something that you love doing?”

Immediately, I knew the one task I dreaded most: blog prep.

Resizing images, watermarking them, uploading them to the blog, plugging in the SEO.  For me, it was so monotonous and tedious, and it was the #1 reason I only published a TOTAL of 57 blog posts in 2016.  And even that was a struggle.

Blogging was always pushed further down my to do list, and I wasn’t prioritizing it.  That meant my SEO wasn't optimized, so the chance of me turning up in online searches for local photographers, quite frankly... sucked.

I had recently moved to a new state, so I was new to the area and no one could find me online. I knew I wanted to make a change in my business in 2017, so I decided to outsource a few tasks so that I could focus more of my energy on the parts of running a business that I love. Little did I know that this person would become an essential part of my team and that we’d still be going strong six years later!!!
 

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Hiring a virtual assistant was one of THE VERY BEST DECISIONS I have made for my business. I’ve been working with the same VA since 2017, and it has truly transformed my business and freed up so much time in my week!

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Meet Kristina Dowler of Dot The I’s Outsourcing.  She has been my incredible right-hand woman for the past six years, a behind-the-scenes boss lady who has helped me make big things happen.

Before working with Kristina, I had never outsourced a single task in my business besides web design.  The first time we talked, I remember being so hesitant to trust anyone with the tasks that I had become accustomed to doing on my own for years.  I started off very small with what I asked her to help me with, but I quickly saw how much faster she was at accomplishing some of these tasks than I was, and how talented she was with words and writing copy for me! It wasn’t long before I asked her to handle more and more for me, and felt totally comfortable giving up control of these tasks knowing that she cared about my business’s growth and reputation as much as I did. This freed up hours upon hours of time for me so that I could spend my time growing my business and focusing on the creative things that I love!

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If you’re looking for a virtual assistant you want to find one that is the perfect fit for you.  Where do you begin? 

I put an ISO (in search of) request in the Rising Tide Society group, and I received an incredible response from talented VA's who were taking on new clients.  You can also ask in Facebook groups of local business owners, and you might even know somebody looking for part-time work who you can train and who you feel would be a good fit.

So what should you look for in potential candidates?  Here are some of the must-haves on my list:

• An easy-going personality

• Killer organizational skills

• Familiarity with the software & programs you use

• Clear communication

• A timely response to your emails

• An established method of tracking to-do lists, time on task, and billing information.

• Respect for your privacy, and someone you trust knowing the innermost workings of your business.

Remember how I said that in 2016 I only published 57 blog posts all year?  Well, ever since I hired Kristina I have regularly published 100-120 new blog posts every single year. My SEO is on point and constantly being updated, and I have so much content to share on all of my social media platforms thanks for her awesome blogging skills. We literally have it on auto pilot now with the most amazing system that we’ve refined over the years. Having this organized system in place has allowed me to vary my content, and working with a virtual assistant has ensured that I stay up to date with my end of the blogging tasks so that nothing falls behind for her. 

The end result?  So much more traffic on my website, leading to many more new inquiries and booked clients!

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I wanted to let you in on this little secret today because as we start to move into the slower season, business owners naturally begin to reflect on their year and make plans to streamline and improve their business in the new year. 

If you have tasks that are bogging you down, that are getting pushed to the bottom of your to do list, and that you truly dread doing…. outsource them!  It’s not that expensive, and it frees up so much time for you to focus on other areas.  Truly, what you spend on a VA will come back to you many times over as you’re able to grow your business without wasting time on the tedious tasks. 

Kristina is accepting a few new clients in January 2023, and she’s currently scheduling discovery calls with prospective clients.  I would love for you to have the opportunity to grow your business with someone who is just as passionate about your success as you are! 

Blog prep

Watermarking images, using Blogstomp, uploading images, adding keywords, and scheduling posts. Copyrighting and adding all of the text content for your blog!

PINTEREST MANAGEMENT

Creating graphics to pin, linking back to your blog, scheduling posts, and driving more traffic to your account and to your website.

Creating e-newsletters

Creating the copy and designing the layout for all of your client newsletters!

album design

Beautifully and artfully arrange your client’s favorite images into album layouts that are ready to print.

Workflow creation as needed

And literally countless other tasks. 

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Plus, if you’re not quite ready to hire a virtual assistant just yet and instead you’re looking for some resources on how to get better at blogging and workflows, Kristina has tons of resources and templates available in The Blog Shop that will help your business immediately!

If you have questions about my experience hiring a VA, just ask!  And when you're ready to get in touch with Kristina, you can reach her at kristina.dowler@gmail.com.  Tell her Nicole sent you!

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Meet Kristina,
your lifesaver.

Kristina lives in Virginia with her husband and their little boy, David.  She loves the beach, regularly travels to the Outer Banks, and spends her free time playing the cello in musical productions. She has built an incredible team of copyrighters and assistants who help business owners across the country keep things runnings seamlessly. She enjoys all of those tedious tasks in running a business that you don't have the time or energy for, and she loves helping other creative entrepreneurs grow their businesses by taking a few tasks off their plate so that they can focus on what they love.

10 Tips to Prepare for Maternity Leave as a Business Owner

As a business owner, there’s nothing scarier than the idea of taking an extended time away from your business. Trust me: I get it! I’ve taken maternity leave TWICE now as a newborn and family photographer. After the first time when Grayson was born, I realized that it absolutely was possible for me to and I worked hard to prepare for Adelaide’s maternity leave this summer. While I know the idea of stepping away from your business for maternity leave (or other extended leave) can be frightening, I want you to know that it is possible… and not only that, but you SHOULD also take time off! Today, I wanted to share 10 tips to prepare for maternity leave so that you can prepare ahead and enjoy your time off with that new baby!! 

Plan ahead for your finances! 

Start setting aside money in savings at the beginning of your pregnancy (or before!) to cover expenses during your time off.  As a business owner, your expenses will not change just because you're not working, so plan ahead and start saving early to ensure that you have a steady stream of "income" from your maternity leave savings that you've built up over these past 40+ weeks.  

Set the dates early for when you want to be off! 

Make sure you know ahead of time when you plan to be out of the office. It’s also smart to plan to take more time than you think you'll need.  With my first baby, I took 2 months off, and I was planning to work right up until 37 1/2 weeks, but then I was induced early and I had to reschedule a portrait session, which I did when he was only a few weeks old.  It was stressful and exhausting, and I learned my lesson.  Never again.  

With my second baby, I planned to stop working at 36 weeks to give myself some time to wrap up client tasks, nest, and enjoy those last days with just my son at home, and I planned a full 3 months away from my business this time around.  You have to do what feels right for you but set those dates and stick to them.  At first it was hard turning away sooooo many new inquiries for the dates that I would be away, especially when they wanted something that was technically before my due date.  As business owners, so many of us have trained ourselves to the "feast or famine" mentality and it's hard to turn away work.  But trust me, saying "no" to clients and new inquiries will get easier the more you practice it, and if you stick to your policy and your dates you will be happier in the long run.

Prepare content ahead of time!

When you’re thinking about what to prep before you leave, don’t forget content! Plan for the months you'll be away, but also for the first month back, so you have it ready to go when you're getting back into the swing of things with work. Content includes your blogs, social media, and newsletters – so make sure to think ahead. 

Bonus Tip: Outsource tasks when you can! I have loved the freedom that comes with having a virtual assistant handling certain tasks for me, and it's nice to have them prep as much as they can for you while you're prepping for your leave and delegating tasks as needed.  Get this set up well before your leave so that everything runs seamlessly by the time you are out of the office.

Schedule your clients in advance! 

Reach out early to clients to get everything scheduled with them in advance so that you can fit them in around your time off.  You don't want your planned time off to catch them by surprise, so prep them months in advance that this is happening. 

Let your clients know what to expect! 

Take the time to let your clients know what to expect while you are on your maternity leave -- how much time you're taking off, how long it may take you to reply to emails, your plans for after maternity leave.  If you're using an assistant or if you've hired someone to take over your inbox while you're away, introduce them to your clients ahead of time (a newsletter or a personalized email will do!) so that they know who to contact should they need anything.

Limit how clients can communicate with you! 

I prefer email only, so I have turned off Instagram DMs and Facebook messenger on my business page. While you're busy at home with the baby, you don't want to have to keep track of a million messages coming in from all different channels. Your focus should be on your family during this time off – not answering all your messages! 

Set an auto responder on your email! 

Prep your email auto responder so that it's ready to go live when you are ready to step away from the office!  The last thing you want is to be figuring out the perfect wording while in labor at the hospital, or while juggling a newborn.

Consider scaling back your content during your time off.  

You are on leave and enjoying time at home with your baby, so your business can be a little more relaxed if you want it to!  I plan to publish fewer blog posts each month, and fewer newsletters.  If you don't want to be marketing your business a ton while you're stepping away for a few weeks or months, then don't.  Make it work for you.

Give yourself the freedom (and the flexibility!) to work or not to work during your leave.  

See how you feel, and if you find that you want to get a little bit of work done, go for it!  Have a list of "if I'm up for it" tasks that prepped ahead of time so that you can get right down to business during baby's naptime one day.  For me, these are all non-client related tasks and more focused on the back end of my business because I don't want to have any client responsibilities or client deadlines looming over me when I am trying to adjust to life at home with a newborn.

Plan for what your work schedule will look like when you do go back to work after your maternity leave.  

You may want to give yourself a few weeks to ease into it with a transition period rather than jump in full speed ahead, so plan to take on fewer clients during that time and still delegate certain tasks, in addition to having marketing tasks automated ahead of time for that period and ready to go live without much (or any) effort from you.  Allow yourself plenty of flexibility and grace and know that you're doing your best and that that is good enough.

As you can see, prepping for maternity leave is mostly about planning ahead, clear communication, and expectations for yourself and your clients. Stepping away from your business may seem scary, but I promise you: you’re going to want that time off to adjust to life with a newborn and to help your family through this new transition. You’ve got this!!

All of my maternity photos were taken by my dear friend Lauren Kirkham Photography.

Email templates to help photographers send client emails in 5 minutes or less

As a busy mom and business owner, I’m always looking for ways to save time in the office so I can serve my families well. One of the ways I’ve been able to do that is to streamline my client communication process. I want to keep everything easy for myself and for my clients, so there’s never any confusion… but also so they feel prepared and excited for our portrait session together.

How to streamline client communication.

Streamlining client communication is as simple as using email templates! I’ve created sets of email templates for my newborn clients and my cake smash clients. Because of these templates, I’m able to send the appropriate emails out in less than 5 minutes. I know many photographers hesitate to use templates because they want their correspondence to feel personalized - but that’s the beauty of these. I am able to quickly update and customize these emails with their names, dates, and details about the family and their session. Nothing ever feels like it was copied and pasted when my clients read them. But, I’ve managed to save time in my office that day!

That’s a win-win.

When I can spend less time worrying about the day-to-day work in the office, I’m able to focus on what matters for my photography business. I can spend my time focusing on my client relationships and nurturing them because I can step away from my inbox. I can be with my family and make sure I’m spending my limited time where I really want to be.

I love my email templates…

That’s why I’m excited to share that these email templates are for sale in my online shop! If you’re ready to take back control of your time, while also improving your client experience, today’s the day to grab a copy. All of the templates can be customized to match YOUR brand voice - so there’s no reason not to grab them. Take back your time, focus on what matters most, and keep serving your clients well.

Grab the set you need using the buttons below - and share this with a photographer you love who needs more time back in their life outside of their inbox!

Tips for Photographers: How to make your studio space welcoming and comfortable for your clients

Recently a new mom was in the studio for her newborn session. She was sitting on the couch nursing her two-week old daughter, and her toddler was playing with toys in the corner while her husband hung out and helped hand her a few things from the diaper bag. We were in between setups and we had just finished the family portraits, and she looked around and said:

“Your studio is just so welcoming and cozy!
I feel so comfortable here. You’ve really thought of everything!”

In that moment I was so happy to receive that compliment, and I told her how much those kind words meant to me. You see, I had only moved into my new studio less than 3 months before her session. We had installed new floors, painted the walls, assembled furniture, hung artwork, and organized all of the things. I had worked my butt off to create a space that was calming, welcoming, and versatile while maximizing every inch of space.

It is really important to me that my studio is a space where new parents feel like they can relax. So much about those first few weeks (months, or even the first couple of years!) is a swirling sea of unknowns. But when they step into my studio I want them to feel like they can take a deep breath and let the space soothe them, allowing them to enjoy our session together and enjoy watching their baby at their first portrait session.

So, how do you replicate that in your studio?

What are the things you can keep in mind to create a space that is just as welcoming and cozy?

First, get into the mind of a mom. Whether you are a mom or you’re not a mom, surely you know other moms and you can ask them what would make their lives a little easier. This will vary for every stage of parents that you have in your studio, and newborn parents will need different things than first birthday parents, who will need different things from toddler parents and school-age parents. But start to think what would make them feel more relaxed and at ease when they come to your studio.

Let’s start with right when they walk in the door.

A designated place to hang their coat, leave the baby carrier, and drop their diaper bag and shoes.

A comfy couch to rest on, ideally in a spill-proof and wipeable fabric so they don’t have to worry about their little one making a mess on it.

I write their little one’s name on a chalkboard sign by the entrance, and it makes them smile knowing that I personalized it just for their baby! Right away they feel welcomed and special.

Then show them around and let them settle in. Thoughtful little touches make a BIG difference!

Show them where the snacks are. Speaking of snacks, if you don’t have snacks for families this is an easy place to start! I have a little three-tier cart filled with kid-friendly snacks like goldfish, raisins, and chocolate chip cookies. My studio is peanut-free and tree nut free, and I make sure all of our snacks are, too. I also have water bottles and juice boxes on the cart, and paper towels, baby wipes, and tissues, too.

Coffee & tea! I have a little Keurig machine in the studio with cute little mugs and coffee pods. I make sure to plug it in and warm up the water ahead of time, and I always make sure parents know they can help themselves to some coffee.

A bathroom. Show them where it is, and make sure it’s well-stocked before they arrive.

Do you have a place for them to get changed? What about hooks up high to hang long dresses so they don’t reach the floor? I’ve turned a corner into a changing nook by hanging curtains on a track from the ceiling, If you want to maximize your little studio space, this would be perfect for you! Be sure to put a full-length mirror in there, too, and open the curtains when it’s not in use to make the space appear bigger.

Is mom nursing? Have a Boppy pillow handy to offer her. Bottle feeding? Keeping a bottle warmer in the studio is a great idea! When she’s feeding the baby, try and read the vibe she’s giving off, and if it seems like she might want a little privacy then make an excuse to sneak out for a few minutes to give her some quiet moments with her little one. This is especially important for nursing moms, and some brand new first-time moms can be a little anxious about feeding the baby in public and getting everything in just the right position, and this might be her first time nursing the baby outside of the comfort of her home where she can be walking around without a shirt all day. Other moms don’t care whatsoever and are completely comfortable around anyone else in the room, it just varies from mom to mom! So just read the vibe and give her space if you think she might appreciate it.

Big brother or sister? You want to have ways to keep them entertained. I ask about their interests ahead of time and I try to keep toys in the play corner that will occupy them. I have board books, blocks, little horses in a stable, cars, trains, and some manipulative activities and puzzles to keep them busy. I bring in new toys from my son’s toy stash based on their interests. One little tip: avoid crayons or markers, especially if you don’t want to have to worry about their drawings accidentally ending up on the walls!

Display samples of all of the products you offer, showcasing different types of sessions and portraits. Let them see your newborns, cake smashes, outdoor family portraits, and more! This gives them inspiration for upcoming sessions, and they’ll know without even asking what types of portraits you offer!

Get them involved and let them select a few items for their session! Have your wraps, headbands, and little outfits displayed in a way that clients can look through them and choose a few favorites. This helps them be more invested in the session and more excited about creating personalized portraits!

Create an overall feeling of warmth and space.

Even if you have a small studio space, there are still ways you can create a welcoming atmosphere for your clients. I use a cohesive color palette throughout to make everything flow together seamlessly. Those colors fit my brand, so for me it’s all white, cream, muted gold/champagne, and natural unfinished wood. This helps the space feel airy, even though it’s in a basement with low ceilings.

Wipe everything down with a lightly-scented sanitizing wipe before the session, but make sure there is not an overpowering smell in the studio when they arrive. You want it to be clean and fresh, but not so much that it’s all they remember about their session. You don’t want them going home complaining about the photographer’s studio that stinks like too much lemon lysol. ;o)

Create space. Try not to have anything crowded around the seating area/couch so that families have space for their bags, toys, clothes, and room to move around. You don’t want them to feel like they are tripping over everything when they stand up to get a snack.

Turn on all the lights when you can so that it’s not dark, and make sure to keep the temperature comfortable! Keep a space heater in there, and also fans or AC for the warmer months.

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Did you notice that I haven’t said a thing about props? Having a studio isn’t all about having, storing, and displaying your prop collection. A studio is a space where you can welcome your clients. It is a space they come to for their portrait session, and while yes, props are important, they are not the ONLY thing to think about when you are setting up your studio.

You want to be the photographer who keeps the client’s comfort and needs in mind first.

Make sure you are welcoming them into your studio, helping them feel comfortable, and doing everything possible to give them an extraordinary experience. Then those will be the clients who can’t stop raving about how wonderful you are, who are eager to come back for another session, and who tell all their friends about you.

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Download our freebie checklist!

Now it’s time to refresh your studio space! Download this checklist to help you create a client-focused studio that is just as welcoming & cozy!

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Are checklists totally your thing?

Check out our Cake Smash Prep Bundle for more tools to help your business!

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Tips for Photographers: Where to buy backdrops & what to avoid

Hey, photographer friends! 

If you’re new here, you may not know that I created a Facebook group three years ago for cake smash photographers.  It has turned into a huge global community filled with inspiration, crazy amounts of talent, plenty of questions, and insightful advice.  If you’re not in our Cake Smash Inspiration for Baby Photographers group on Facebook, go join now!

One of the questions we see most often in the group is, “Where should I buy backdrops?”

This question is often followed up with, “I don’t have a lot of money to spend on these, so where can I get something cheap?”

There are so many options for backdrops besides purchasing a pre-made backdrop from a company.  Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• seamless paper

• paper garlands to match a theme (make them on a Cricut or buy them from Etsy)

• ribbon garlands

• crepe paper walls

• floral walls

• greenery

• hanging branches and hanging flowers 

• hand-drawn backdrop on seamless paper

• watercolor backdrop on seamless paper

• fabric

• print an original image on a fleece blanket

• balloon garland

• shower curtains

• tapestries

If you’re looking to build a collection of actual backdrops, you can start by searching destash groups where photographers are selling their gently-used backdrops.  There are groups like this for most of the major backdrop company brands on Facebook, and your local photography groups will probably have people destashing a few times a year, too.

And then when you’re ready to start purchasing your own brand new backdrop, PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST.
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As a small business owner yourself, you should always support small business backdrop shops.  

I spoke with the owner of a reputable backdrop company, and she told me that “as the owner of one, I can ensure you that we all pour our hearts and souls into our business and supporting companies such as Amazon, Ali Express & Kate is truly a terrible disservice to the industry.”

Wait, what?  You might be confused right now because you thought that that backdrop you bought from Amazon or some other site was such a bargain, that how could that possibly be wrong? 

Take it from this backdrop company owner:

“What many photographers do not know is that these companies steal original designs from small backdrop businesses such as my own, and sell them for a fraction of the price. They are often stealing them off of websites & editing out logos. Additionally, they are messaging customers and offering to pay them to sell them an image of their backdrop hung and then turning around and printing that file. The hard work that goes into each of these designs is then instantly degraded and sold on these platforms. If we could all ban together and educate the industry on why it is wrong to support these companies, recommend them, link them etc we could make a huge impact on stoping these thieves from profiting off of hard working small businesses.”

Before you click “Add to cart” on some too cheap, too good to be true replica being sold online, stop and think about it for a minute.  If this backdrop is a mere fraction of the price of what the backdrop companies sell theirs for, there must be a reason, right?  Very likely it’s stolen and being sold without consent or profit for the original owner and designer.

Think about how hard you work on your small business.  Think about all of the effort that goes into creating each setup, executing each session, editing the images, fostering that client relationship, and creating those beautiful products and heirloom artwork.  Now imagine if someone just steals all of that from you with the click of a button, doesn’t get your permission, and starts profiting thousands of dollars from your work with no commission coming back to you.  That’s just wrong!

Here’s how one backdrop designer feels about it: 

“So - the truth is... as a creator of any kind, seeing your work taken without your knowledge and then sold for money makes you feel like you’re worthless. Income aside, you feel violated. I work incredibly hard on my sets and sell them because I know people benefit from having sets already pre-designed... but it makes me not want to design anymore. Just like when your words on your website are stolen - you feel helpless and hopeless and nothing is worse than someone taking the fire inside you away. Forget the fact that they are also taking money away from you and your family.”

Please, please, please.  We see it too often that photographers say they didn’t know a backdrop was a stolen image and replica.  That they had never heard about this problem in the industry before.  That they can’t afford $80 for a backdrop so the $14 will have to do.  But just stop and think about it before you purchase that and support a business that is stealing from your peers, a business that is stealing from YOUR INDUSTRY.  It is so incredibly damaging to the entire industry and to our entire creative community. 

If you can’t afford the $80 backdrop, take a look at your cost of doing business and adjust your prices to be more profitable so that you can start buying a few drops for your business.  Find a destash group and purchase a used backdrop.  Create your own backdrop with the tips at the beginning of this blog post.  But just don’t hand money to companies that are preying off of talented individuals without their permission, taking their designs right out of their hands and stealing money from their families.  

Wondering which backdrop companies are legit? Check out this doc in our Facebook group with a list of reputable backdrop companies. When you buy from these companies, you are supporting small businesses, designers, and their families.

Rocking your business & your baby: Planning for maternity leave as a business owner

Hey, mom-preneurs!  

This one is for you.

We’re starting a new series on the blog called “Rocking Your Business & Your Baby.”  As I enter into motherhood with the arrival of our baby boy this spring, I am excited to connect with so many other mamas out there who have learned (and are still learning!) how to balance business & babies.

I’ve been a business owner for SIX YEARS.  Think about that for a second — my very first newborn clients are going to be first graders in the fall.  Wow.

For 6 years, this business has been my baby.  It’s held my hopes and dreams, it’s connected me with so many amazing people, it’s been the big thing that I work hard on every single day.  I’ve truly loved watching it grow and evolve over time, and seeing how I have grown and changed as a business owner in that same time, too. 

And now I’m adding on a new role, the most important role of them all: MOM.
 

I know that things are going to change for me as a business owner with the arrival of our baby boy.  This little business of mine won’t be my only "baby" anymore.  Working from home will hold a whole new meaning, and my time is going to look a lot different moving forward.  I’m excited to connect with other business owners who are rocking their businesses while rocking their babies, and to share some insights with all of you as I learn as I go!

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Today we’re going to talk all about preparing for maternity leave as a business owner.  If you’re waiting on your little one to arrive — CONGRATULATIONS!  You must be so excited as you count down the months and the weeks until the day you finally get to meet your sweet little baby.  But if you’re anything like me, you might also be a little bit nervous wondering,
How in the world am I going to get everything done? 
How will I continue running a business with a baby at home? 
What will happen if I just drop off the face of the earth for a few months when the baby arrives? 
Can I even afford to take maternity leave?

I have had all of the same thoughts, worries, and concerns over these past 9+ months, so I’m sharing a little insight into a few things that helped me prepare for maternity leave with the idea that hopefully they will help you as you embark on this new adventure, too!

It’s never too early to prepare.
 

I hired a virtual assistant long before we even decided to have a baby.  Kristina started working with me a full 16 months before my due date.  I knew back then that there were so many things in my business that I could outsource to free up my time and attention that would be better spent focusing on other areas, and I found the perfect assistant to do that for me.  

We spent more than a year establishing a solid workflow where she completely took over some of the behind-the-scenes tasks that allowed me to focus on growing my business in other areas.  For example, because she took over social media and blog prep, I could streamline my marketing to bring in even more clients, and my sales to bring in even more revenue. 

Which leads me to number two…

Save, save, save. 
 

Save up as much extra income as you can before you go on maternity leave to cover your expenses so that you can enjoy some downtime at home getting to know your new baby.  You’re going to want to take time off to rest, bond, and find your groove at home as a family of 3 (or 4, or 5!).  Having the financial freedom to do that will give you one less thing to worry about.

As soon as we got pregnant, I started saving every penny because I knew that I wanted to take a few months off once our little one arrived, but we would still have bills to pay.  Actually, you’re likely going to have even MORE bills to pay than you do now because of hospital bills, baby items, formula, diapers, and all of the other expenses that come along with bringing a little 8-pound human home with you.  So plan to grow that business well before your due date so that you have enough saved up to cover at least 2-3 months of expenses during your maternity leave.

Automate your business as much as possible.
 

Preparing for my maternity leave felt a lot like what it was like to prepare to take a sick day when I was a teacher, times about 1,000!!!  I wanted my business to continue running, so I scheduled blog posts, social media posts, and newsletters that would go out automatically during the weeks I planned to take off.

This way, I can be out for a walk with my baby and a new blog post goes live.  I might be struggling through a sleepless two-day stretch, but my social media posts are still fresh and my followers see that we’re still an active business with a lot going on.  We could be visiting with the grandparents, and  a newsletter will go out advertising our summer sunset sessions.  

As a business owner, you are always marketing and reaching potential clients and past clients.  It's important to stay fresh in their minds so that they remember, "Hey, I really want to work with you!"  Automating some tasks to keep your business running even while you're taking a break will help to do that for you.

Your business can run itself if you prepare ahead of time.  IT’S A LOT OF WORK, but it’s worth it not to have to worry about a thing when all you really want to do is stay at home and marvel at how perfect your baby is. 

Block off time on your calendar, and stick to it.
 

I stopped traveling for sessions 1 month before my due date.  Since I drive back and forth between two states for sessions, I didn’t want to worry about going into labor while crossing the Berkshire Mountains, so early on in my maternity leave I planned which weekends would be my last ones in Massachusetts, and I made those dates known to all of my clients, stacking them full of sessions to save time and maximize profitability.

I also planned to stop working around week 37, so I wrapped up all of my client work by then.  All orders from sessions were completed, albums were designed, print orders were placed with my labs, and everything that I could package and deliver was sent out so that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything being left unfinished in case the baby arrived early.

I knew that I could still do behind the scenes work after week 37 (blogging, social media, newsletters), but it was important to me that all client work and obligations be done to have one less thing to worry about.

Plus, you’re going to want to take it easy before the baby gets here!  I was in full-on nesting mode and I spent months looking forward to having a few weeks “off” to clean, organize the nursery, prepare food for after the baby arrived, and spend some extra time with just my husband.  We fit in a few extra “date days” and other little things that we wanted to do that would be so much easier without a baby in tow, so take your time to relax and enjoy that end stage of your pregnancy without working up until the end!

Have a plan in place in case your baby arrives early.

It happens.  Babies arrive whenever they are ready, and if you’re counting on your little one not making an appearance until you’ve accomplished x, y, and z…. well, you might find yourself in a sticky situation!  So be prepared to be flexible and just go with the flow.  

If you allow yourself enough time to wrap things up before your due date, hopefully you won’t have to deal with too much of a surprise and be scrambling to get things done.  But let those clients towards the end of your workload know that you’re approaching your due date and that it’s possible you might need to reschedule their appointment if the  baby arrives early, or mail their order to them if you can’t deliver it in person, or that you might wind up meeting through video chat or FaceTime if you can’t be there in person for an appointment. 

This actually wound up being a blessing in disguise since our little one arrived THREE WEEKS EARLY, as soon as I had finished up many of those loose ends with my business tasks!   I had to reschedule one gallery reveal appointment, and one cake smash session.  Thankfully those clients were incredibly understanding and knew that my due date was right around the corner back when we booked, so it was no issue marking a new date on the calendar for them.  I was even receiving messages from them "just checking in" while I was at the hospital with our baby, and I thought it was the sweetest thing that we were on their mind!

Give them enough heads up, and thank them for their flexibility.  They’ve been in your shoes before, and they will definitely understand and be accommodating!

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The most important thing is don't stress too much about stepping away from your business to focus on your family for a bit.  Your business will be there when you're ready for it, and you're going to find a whole new balance to your life as you adjust to being a mom AND being an entrepreneur.  

Do you have other topics you'd like to see in our "Rocking Your Business & Your Baby" series?  Let me know by sending an email to education@nicolestarrphotography.com.  I'd love to hear from you!

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Behind the Lens: A Photography FAQ with Nicole Starr Photography!

Hey, photographer friends!

I’ve compiled a list of some of the questions that I get asked most often by other peers in the industry, and I wanted to share them on the blog today!  Enjoy a peek into some of my favorite things!

What’s in your camera bag?

I shoot with a Nikon D750.  I’m a huge fan of prime lenses, and over the years I’ve sold off all of my zoom lenses because I just didn’t use them often enough.  My favorite lens for outdoor sessions is the 85mm 1.4, and for my indoor sessions I often use the Sigma Art 35mm.  The 35mm comes with me to all of my Fresh 48 and lifestyle sessions, too!

A few unexpected items in my camera bag are a little rattle to catch babies’ attention, a stash of Smarties candies for a quick little bribe, and I can usually find slips of paper with everyone’s names written on them from past sessions so that I don’t forget anyone’s name!

My camera bag is a Kelly Moore bag that I've had for YEARS!  It's beautiful, durable, and it fits everything that I need.  Usually it carries 2 bodies, 2-3 lenses, and a few other odds and ends.

What studio lighting do you use?

I started using studio lighting two years ago, and it was a total game changer in my studio.  I use an AB400 with a PLM, and I sync it up with Cyber Sync triggers.  I highly recommend the studio lighting course, “Illuminate” by The Milky Way for anyone who is just getting started with studio lighting.

How do you get babies to look at the camera?  

Seriously, guys, I finish my sessions completely winded and exhausted after working so hard to get the babies to look my way!  I have a little rattle that I love using, and I also use a couple of squeak toys to get little ones looking my way.  If they’re on the floor, I’ll get down to their level and tickle their toes and chin, leaning back to catch their reaction on camera.  If mom and dad are in the room, I ask them to stand right over my shoulder to be sure the baby is looking towards me and not away from me.  Sometimes I have to resort to holding mom or dad’s phone above my lens with their favorite song playing on Youtube.  I avoid giving the phone to little ones at all cost because let’s face it — you’ll never get it out of their hands, and you don’t want to edit it out of every single image!

What are your favorite props?

I’m a bit of a minimalist when it comes to props (which is rare for a baby photographer, I know!).  I recently shared this blog post that lists the props I consider most essential in my studio.  I hope you find it helpful!  Just remember that these babies are so perfect just the way they are, and they don’t need to be surrounded by clutter that overwhelms the photo and takes away from the real focus of the portrait — them!

What are your favorite places to shop for DIY backdrop materials?

For my newborn sessions, I love buying jersey knit fabric by the yard at the fabric store.  Get something with a good amount of stretch, and buy at least 2 yards for the beanbag.  If you’re making your own wraps, you can do a 1/4 yard in a pretty fabric with good stretch.

I get all of my seamless paper through Amazon because of their Prime shipping.  Savage Seamless is truly the best.

For cake smash decor, become very familiar with the scrapbook paper aisle at the craft store.  I have bought nearly every color to create bunting, banners, hanging garlands, and elaborate backdrops for our birthday sessions.  Invest in one of those 12x12 plastic cases to store the extra paper in, and after each session you can fold the garlands up and store them in clear plastic bags for easy access next time.  The more you can reuse, the more profitable your sessions become, plus the less time you’ll have to spend making new decor each time!

How do you edit your images?

I spend most of my time in Lightroom doing adjustments to the images. I started out with LR years ago, and it's just the software that I'm most comfortable with and that works for me!  I've created a few presets that I use on nearly every image, and batch editing helps to speed up the process. 

In every session there are a few images that need to be taken into Photoshop for cloning, backdrop extension, headswaps, liquifying, or general cleaning up.  I do light retouching in Photoshop on these images, and then bring them back into LR to save them.  I find that I mostly use Photoshop for graphic design purposes, and I love it for that!  

An Open Letter to a Newbie Photographer: Finding Balance

Hey, big dreamer!

I see you over there, working your butt off as you move from one busy season into another.  The months flow seamlessly one into the next, a blur of shooting, editing, marketing, sales appointments, and emails.  You feel like you blinked and summer was over, and you’re not even sure where it disappeared to. 

Those sunny summer evenings were filled with portrait sessions, and your days were spent in front of the computer working.  Now you’re in that fall rush trying to get everyone’s holiday card portraits done before the beautiful foliage is gone.  There’s just a few weeks left, and the pressure is on!

You decided to start your own business because you were passionate about photography, passionate about capturing these moments and documenting the joy of childhood.  You wanted more flexibility in your day-to-day, and you wanted to be your own boss.  But somehow you’re working more hours than you ever did in your 9-5, and maybe you even forget to schedule days off.  Remember when you used to get two days off a week, and Saturday & Sunday were just glorious?  You miss that sometimes, don’t you? 

We’re business owners trying to make these big dreams a reality. 

I see you over there, because I’ve been there, too.  Half the time, I AM STILL RIGHT THERE BESIDE YOU.  The other half, I’m trying to figure out how to catch my breath in between all of the work that keeps piling up.

The truth?  I have no idea what happened to August.  The entire month slipped by unnoticed as I edited, delivered, blogged, printed, packaged, and shared our summer beach sessions.  My business has been experiencing a baby boom since mid-July, and with so many newborns mixed in with family sessions, there hasn’t been a moment to rest. 

Normally I try to balance my busy periods by packing a bunch of sessions into one week, and then taking the next week to slow down and edit those sessions, schedule the gallery reveals, and finalize orders.  This tends to work really well for me — a busy period filled with client shoots, followed by a slower period to catch up, edit, and work on client orders and marketing.  But unfortunately it doesn’t always work out that way.  

Want to hear about the mistake I made this summer?  Because I am just like you, and we all have an "oops!" every now and then. 

I filled the second half of July with countless family and baby sessions, and then I looked at August and I filled that up, too.  Turning the page on the calendar, it’s like I forgot that one month followed the other and that there was absolutely no rest in there for a solid month.  Summer is my absolute favorite time of year, and I didn’t schedule in a single day off to enjoy it.  

Somehow I fit 20 sessions into that month, plus the hours upon hours of work that accompany each session before & after the actual shoot.  Honestly?  It really was a lot of fun getting to spend my evenings on the beach and my mornings with the cutest little babies.  I love all of the shoots that we had this summer, and I truly enjoyed the artwork that came with them, even if it was exhausting.  

Miraculously, I ordered all of the prints & products for 20 different sessions, packaged them up, and delivered them without one single mix-up.  I was truly worried that I was going to mess up at least one order with so many things going on at once, and time and time again I kept asking myself why I didn’t plan ahead and hire an assistant to help me with order fulfillment.  (By the way, I do have an assistant for other things, and I’ll be sharing more about my experience with her later on the blog, plus the ways that hiring her has allowed my business to grow this year!)

But why am I telling you this?

Because I learned an important lesson from this busy period,
and I want you to learn it, too.
 

BALANCE.  In the creative industry world of small business owners, everyone always tosses this word around and talks about this all-too-elusive concept.  We talk about the hustle all the time — working hard, giving your clients 110%, creating, brainstorming, sharing with the community, and doing bold things in your business.  

But we rarely talk about slowing down.  We rarely talk about how as a business owner, as a creative, and as a human being you truly need moments of hustle and moments of calm.  You can’t work-work-work with no break because you will burn out, you won’t give your best to your clients, and you will run your business into the ground.  If it’s all hustle and no rest, you’re doing a disservice to your clients and to yourself.  

So how do we balance the two?  Very intentionally.

Moving forward, I’m being more intentional with my time.  I’m scheduling busy weeks filled with hustle, filled with excitement and creativity and so much productivity.  And then I follow that up with a slower week, a week at my computer where my days are a little more relaxed, when I can take a walk around my neighborhood midday if I need a break, or start my morning slowly with a warm mug of chai tea on my back porch.  Days where I don’t need to log into my email at 7:30am and get going right away. 

I’ve found that I can get so much done on those “slower weeks,” and some weeks I happily cross the very last item off of my to-do list on Wednesday afternoon, proud for a moment that I accomplished everything on the list… before adding ten more things that I should be working on next!

I’m in the Northeast, and winter will be here soon.  It’s naturally a slower season for portrait photographers, and I will embrace that chance to rest, look at my business, and make some big changes for the new year.  Some portrait photographer dread “the slow season,” but I’m looking forward to it!  I love being able to take on more creative projects in January and February, and I love how refreshed that always makes me feel. 

This is my challenge for you.  In the busy fall season we’re in, schedule some time off. 
Plan a lunch date with a business owner friend. 
Bake an apple pie. 
Take a walk around your neighborhood. 
Spend the afternoon jumping in leaves with your kids. 
Aimlessly wander the aisles at Target. 
Or just take ten minutes and sip a cup of coffee at your quiet kitchen table without any screens nearby to distract you. 

Whatever you do, take a moment to slow down and intentionally schedule this into your day.  You’ll finish feeling so refreshed and ready to take on the world — or at least ready to take on the next seven sessions you need to edit, the mountain of emails in your inbox, and get that client newsletter prepped to send out next week!

You’ve got this! 
Comment below and let us know how YOU plan to intentionally slow down and find balance this fall.  Can’t wait to hear about it!

 

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Have you read our other open letters to newbie photographers?  They're not really for newbies, but any photographer!  Check them out here:

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Telling a Story through your Cake Smash Session Images

I am a storyteller with a camera. 

As a cake smash photographer in Saratoga Springs & Boston, I am all about telling the story of my littlest clients’ first birthday celebrations.   Personally, I love doing this in a classic way with a first birthday cake smash session.  

But it’s not just about making a mess out of the cake.  

As a photographer, your job is to discover and tell a story.  There is an entire story that unfolds when you place a cake in front of a baby, and today’s post will help you discover the key elements so that you can capture the full story in your next cake smash session!

START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY

While you can’t exactly have the words “Once upon a time” to obviously clue us in that this is the beginning of your cake smash, there are so many other ways to visually portray the start of the session and the beginning of the baby’s birthday story. 

I like to start my cake smash sessions with a pull back shot of the entire setup BEFORE the baby is even in the frame.  Capture the cake, the decor, and close ups of the little details.  Capture the perfection before the mess that occurs later on!  I do this while parents are getting the baby ready, and I tell them that I’m just testing out my light — which is true!   Sometimes I take a few test shots while waiting for the family to arrive as well, just to make sure there are no other adjustments I want to make to the setup.

After those couple of quick shots, the focus is no longer on the decor, and it’s 100% on the baby.  Forget about the decor and watch the story unfold!
 

Get ready for the action

Next we’re ready for the baby!  I explain to the parents where they will place the baby in the setup.  I ask them to place the baby behind and off to the side of the cake just a little bit.  This way, the baby can crawl or walk towards the cake, showing off their new gross motor skills.  It also gives you a great opportunity to capture the excitement, interest, and curiosity on the baby’s face as they see their colorful cake for the first time!

You are on camera duty, and the parents are on baby-chasing duty.  If you keep getting up to position the baby, you are going to miss a lot of incredible shots, so I make sure the parents know that they’ll bring the baby back into the set if the baby crawls (or walks!) away.
 

WATCH THE STORY UNFOLD

It’s all about the angles!  Start from far away and move in with your camera to capture the entire scene, and then close ups of the baby.  I like to get really close and capture the frosting on their feet, the little pieces of cake that they’re putting into their mouth, and those tiny fingers grabbing the cake.  

One of my favorite angles to capture in the middle of the shoot is the bird’s eye composition.  I grab my step stool and shoot from up above with my 35mm lens.  I sing, clap, and do anything I can to get the baby looking up at me.  It’s my favorite shot every single time showing those wide and sparkling eyes, their beautiful outfit, and the messy cake that they’ve enjoyed all in one shot.
 

FIND A NATURAL ENDING

The image that you use to represent the end of the session may be the very last frame that you capture that day, but I find that the image I choose to show the end often isn’t the very last frame, but one from earlier on when the baby was just over it.  

Maybe they’re crying or crawling away from the cake.  Maybe their big brother or sister came in for a few photos and for a taste of the birthday cake.  Maybe mom’s arms are reaching into the frame to pick up the baby at the end.  Maybe the baby is signing “all done” with their hands all covered in frosting.  Whatever it is, there’s your shot to show the end of the story!

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Some cake smashes last for 20 minutes, and others last for 5 minutes. If you prepare the family to expect this ahead of time, it will be no big deal if the sessions goes a little short because the baby is not feeling it.  Nevertheless, you can still capture a beginning, middle, and end to the story through your images by changing your angles, composition, and looking for storytelling transitions that occur naturally in the session.


Think they're all perfect and filled with smiling, happy babies?  No way!
If your next cake smash session doesn't go as planned, don't worry!  
Check out my favorite blog post that's a compilation of so many recent sessions: 

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After the Session

Don't let the story end with that last photo!  Take it to the blog to share behind the scenes pictures, details about planning the session, and tell your readers a little more about what happened in between frames to tell the full story of baby's first birthday cake smash!

An Open Letter to a Newbie Baby Photographer: Part 2

Hi, there! 

If you missed Part 1 of our Open Letter to a Newbie Baby Photographer, go start there and then continue reading here with Part 2.

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Remember how we were talking about all of the things I wish I’d known when I started my photography business?  The list goes on and on, and now that I’m five years in I realize that there are so many things that will help YOU in your journey as a baby photographer.  Read on for the remaining 6 tips for newbie baby photographers!  

It’s okay to fail.

You know the quote, “What if I fail?  Oh, but my darling, but what if you fly?”  Remember that.  It’s okay to fail, and it’s going to happen.  You’re going to have a session that doesn’t go well.  You’re going to have a client that doesn’t like their images.  You’re going to have a computer malfunction and lose everything.  It’s going to happen.  But you know what else is going to happen?  You’re going to keep moving forward.  You’re going to keep learning and growing.  You’re going to shower your clients in love and fix everything for them so that they can’t stop singing your praises.  You’re going to fly.

Find your tribe.

I have a handful of amazing photographer friends, and we love to bounce ideas off of each other, ask for advice, share a difficult situation for some insight, and brainstorm our marketing ideas together.  For my first many years in business, I did’t have any “colleagues” in the photography business that I could reach out to for help.  Don’t be afraid to connect with others, share ideas, and ask for help.  You never know who you’ll meet and what you’ll learn from each other! 

Focus on YOU before you focus on everyone else.

When you’re admiring other photographer’s pages, saving your favorite posts on Facebook, pinning inspiration on Pinterest, it’s easy to lose track of yourself and your style.  It becomes a game of comparison when you always feel like you’re not good enough, not hustling enough, not busy enough, not talented enough.  Stop for a minute and realize that YOU ARE ENOUGH.  Focus on you, your business, your style, your clients.  Shoot what you love, style your sessions a way that makes your heart happy, pamper your clients and treat every single one like your absolute favorite client in the world.  Doing this is going to get you so much further than wasting hours on Pinterest and Facebook, and it’s also going to make you feel a million times better about yourself, your work, and this crazy dream you’re chasing.

Learn your numbers.

Don’t just pick some random number and decide to do all of your sessions for that price (which, by the way, if you’re doing sessions for anything in the double-digits, you are waaaayyyy too low!).  Figure out how many sessions you can take on each month, how many hours you’ll spend at the session, driving to and from the session, editing the session, creating a gallery or prepping for an ordering session, ordering their products, and delivering their images.  

Figure out your cost of goods (prints, boxes, ribbon, labels, postage, gallery hosting software, business cards, thank you cards — just to name a few!).  Figure out the cost of childcare you’ll need to pay for to shoot & edit your session. Figure out the cost of your gear that you’re saving up for, because how are you ever going to save up for it if every penny you make goes into all of the things I already mentioned here?  Insurance, taxes, software, new equipment, props, heat for your newborn sessions 12 months a year, business apps, website hosting.  The list never ends.  There is so much more that goes into this than just the photos themselves, so know your numbers and price yourself appropriately so that you’re still paying yourself at the end of the day. 

Become business-savvy.

Running a successful photography business is about so much more than just pictures.  You need to invest in quality education related to the business side of things. Marketing.  SEO.  Sales.  Building a brand.  Reaching your ideal client.  I am going to share soooooo many more blog posts on these topics because I have photographers ask me about them all the time and I know that these are topics that everyone could use a little help with, but just remember that this is a huge part of creating a successful business and you need to step away from the camera & Lightroom sometimes to focus on other areas of your business in order to be successful.

Finally, learn how to say “no.”

I know, it feels like such a dirty word.  We want to be people pleasers so we say yes to everything and everyone.  But when you’re running a business, you need to learn when to say no so that you can say yes to other things that truly set your heart on fire.  No to a session that you have no interest in specializing in, no to a location that is not going to allow you to create your best work, no to a prop that really doesn’t fit with your style.  No to taking on a session that cuts into your valuable time with your family, no to “just one more set-up, I promise he’ll finally smile for the next one”.  No to giving away all of the digital images at a bargain price just so they can go print them at Walmart (where they’ll turn out with orange skin and harsh shadows, no fault of your editing).  

Because when you say no to these things, you can say yes to growing your business.  To finding a niche to specialize in and becoming really good at it.  To developing a style and a brand that people seek you out for, an experience that they value, artwork that they can’t stop talking about.  When you say no to these things, you’re saying “no” to failing and “yes” to flying.

What if I fail?

Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?

I see you over there.  And you know what?  I’ve got your back.  You can do this.  Keep chasing your dream, keep asking and learning and creating and growing.  Keep at it, because this is the stuff your dreams are made of.  You’re doing just fine.

With love (and a nice little kick in the pants if that’s what you needed in your business today!),

Nicole Starr

P.S.  Are you on our mailing list for photographers?  Join today, and receive occasional emails straight to your inbox packed with tips & inspiration for building your baby photography business!

An Open Letter to a Newbie Photographer: Part 1

Hi, there.  

I see you over there, a newbie photographer who is just getting started.  A girl with a camera and a dream, so excited to get subjects in front of her camera that she’s giving away her time for free.  You’re looking around and seeing so many beautiful posts in your newsfeed, wishing your own images looked like the ones from the photographers that you admire so much.  

You’re eager to do everything you can to become an amazing photographer, so you shoot 1,256 images at every session.  You spend hours every night culling & editing while trying to learn Lightroom and Photoshop, agonizing over which of these fourteen similar images is the very best.  You tilt your camera at just the right angle to make your photos look “artsy” and more creative.  Your camera becomes a permanent extension of your body, and you almost never leave home without it.  You’re in all of the photography groups on Facebook, and whenever someone mentions a prop vendor, a camera bag that you absolutely must have, or a DIY project, you jump right on it.  You are certain that this is the thing will change your life and your business. 

I see you over there, saying yes to everyone and everything that comes your way.  Yes, I’ll do a cake smash for your baby.  Yes, we can do your family’s session at noon on Sunday.  Yes, I’ll shoot your wedding for free because the exposure would be great.  Yes, I would love to take photos of your five dogs in your red living room with one tiny window.  Yes, I’ll give you an extra sneak peek and all of the RAW files and spend hours editing that hair elastic off of your daughter’s wrist in every.single.photo because I forgot to tell her to remove it before the shoot.  Yes, yes, yes.

You’re up at all hours of the night, finishing another gallery and answering another email.  You’re exhausted.  You’re wondering why your images are so grainy and what camera settings you’re supposed to use.  You can’t figure out why the newborns won’t ever sleep for you during their sessions.  But you’re still so excited to call yourself a photographer, so excited to capture these moments for families that will value your artwork.  You are chasing this dream, and you’re loving every minute of it.

I want to tell you something…
YOU ARE DOING JUST FINE.  KEEP AT IT.  CHASE YOUR DREAM.  DON’T GIVE UP.

When I started my business, there was so much I didn’t know.  So much.  Actually, I wasn’t even trying to start a business, but somewhere along the way that happened.  Like every photographer, I have learned so many lessons during my first years in business.  Here are a few, and I hope that they will help you!

Don’t overshoot.  

You don’t need 1,000 images from every session, and your clients don’t need a final gallery of 100 images.  They’ll probably only display 5-10 images in their home, so a gallery of 20-25 is more than enough without overwhelming them.  Get the shot, and then move on to get a new angle, new pose, new location, new outfit.

Don’t overbuy.

That new wrap, basket, bucket, bag isn’t going to make you a better photographer.  Set a budget for your props, and stick to it.  Only purchase items that fit your style, and remember that if it looks cheap, then your photography will look cheap.  To become a high-end photographer, your images and everything in them need to look high-end.  Invest in a few quality pieces and use those in every session. 

Learn posing & safety.

This is especially important for newborn sessions.  Please educate yourself before you start working with newborns.  Most of the images you see online are composites of two or more images woven together in Photoshop to create a final image.  Babies are fragile little beings, and it’s important to know what their bodies can and cannot do.  They are your most precious little clients, so you never want to hang them in mid-air, place too much pressure on their joints, put them in a glass bowl, or place them in any precarious situation where they can tip over and hurt themselves.  Safety first.  

Be fearless with light.

For years I was worried that studio lighting would be too hard to learn, too expensive to invest in, and that it wasn’t the “right” thing to do because other photographers that I loved so much advertised themselves as “natural light photographers."  But you know what?  Making the leap to studio lighting was the best thing I ever did for my photography.  My images are more consistent than ever before, and I am confident to shoot in any situation and environment.  

Learn your gear.

Learn to shoot in Manual.  Learn to shoot and edit RAW images.  Learn to shoot in challenging lighting situations.  Once you can figure it out in camera, you’re going to spend a lot less time editing your images.  You’re also going to be a lot less frustrated when your images start turning out exactly the way you imagined them to be.

Invest in quality gear.

Figure out what you need to create truly beautiful images, and save up for the very best that you can afford — even if it takes a few months to save up enough money, it’s worth it.  Making the switch to a full-frame camera will be a game-changer for your portraits, but only if you know how to shoot in manual (see above: Learn your gear).  Rather than getting cheap lighting off of Amazon, save up for an Alien Bee or an Einstein. You’ll love it the very first time you use it, and it will last you for years with an amazing customer service team that is ready to help, fix, and replace it should anything go wrong.  This goes for your props, too.

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Whew!  Thanks for reading, but that’s just the beginning!  Once I started writing, it just kept flowing and this is only the first half.  Be sure to check out Part 2 on the blog, too!  

Oh, and by the way… remember that camera tilt I mentioned in the beginning of this letter?  Drop it.  It’s not artsy, and your client shouldn’t have to tilt their head at an uncomfortable angle to get a better look at their family’s portrait.  We've all been there, and we've all tilted the camera.  Learn from it, and keep your horizons straight.  Your images will look much more timeless!

With love (and a nice little kick in the pants if that’s what you needed in your business today!),

Nicole Starr

P.S.  Are you on our mailing list for photographers?  Join today, and receive occasional emails straight to your inbox packed with tips & inspiration for building your baby photography business!

12 Tips to Grow Your Baby Photography Business in the "Slow Season"

You're reading this post, which means you're probably a lot like me, aren't you?  You're a small business owner and you started the new year with lots of energy and goals, big dreams and plans.  You want to make EVERYTHING happen and you want to grow your baby photography business this year.  But you don't know where to start.  So, let me help you!  

Here I've compiled a list of 12 ideas that you can put into action during the slow season to set your baby photography business up for growth in the new year.  I hope you find these helpful, and that you're able to implement a few of them right away!

• Make a list of goals & dreams that you want to accomplish in the new year, and then pull out a calendar and start marking down how you’re going to make that happen! Stick to you plans, make deadlines, and find a friend to hold you accountable.
  
  

• Outsource. Free up time to do what you love (and generate more income) by outsourcing tasks that can easily be done by someone else. As business owners, we know that there are so many daily tasks that are absolute time-sucks. Editing, posting on social media, prepping your images for the blog, answering emails, designing albums, creating marketing materials, bookkeeping... Just a little help will go a long way! Think about the areas that you love the MOST about your business, and carve out more time to spend on those tasks than on the tedious tasks that someone else would happily do for you! I’ve been working with a virtual assistant for a few years now, and it’s such a time saver! I don’t know what I would do without her!
  
  

• Have you been dreaming of a welcome guide for new parents? This is the perfect time to create one! Gather your favorite images from the past year, and pull everything together to create the perfect packet for your clients.

• Update your website! It only takes an hour or two to go through your website, remove any images that no longer reflect your style, and upload your very best recent images. This is the first thing that your clients see, so make sure it reflects YOU and YOUR BRAND.
  
  

• Use templates to save time! Spend a few days designing your contracts, invoices, and questionnaires in a client management software like 17hats. Then when it’s time to send one out to a new client, all it takes is a few quick clicks of your mouse and you’re done!
  
  

• Use this time to get out of the studio and connect with local businesses! Have you been talking about collaborating with an OB/GYN office for months? Or about going into that baby boutique downtown? This is the perfect time to get in there, meet the owners, and chat about how you can help each other.
  
  

• Write those canned responses for your emails that we’ve been talking about! I can’t say enough amazing things about canned responses. (Check out a tutorial here!) In the past year, this has saved me COUNTLESS HOURS. Keeping on top of my emails is no longer an issue when it only takes 2 minutes or less to reply to a client or new inquiry that is sending the same questions that you always receive. To get started, make a list of all of the types of emails you send out regularly, and then create your templates in Gmail so that you can add them to your email responses easily in minutes!
  
  

• Rebrand! If your online presence no longer reflects you and is no longer attracting your ideal client, it’s time to hit the refresh button. The slow season is the perfect time to find a designer whose style you adore and who meshes well with your personality. Find someone who you can talk with easily, and who really listens as you tell them your goals, likes, dislikes, and inspiration for your new website. Considering a switch to a new website platform? This is a great time to research your options and find a designer who can set that up for you!
  
  

• Create a stash of blog posts so that you always have something ready to publish! This is a great time to go through last year’s sessions and create posts about your favorite images — favorite newborn sessions, favorite daddy & me images, favorite cake smashes, favorite sibling shots, Fresh 48 sessions from a certain hospital, etc. Not only will this keep your content fresh on your website and help your SEO, but it gives your clients a chance to see themselves in new posts on your page while new clients can see a nice portfolio of your work all in one place!
  
  

• Create a blogging calendar! Maybe you’re really good about blogging and you sit down each morning and publish a post before breakfast. Good for you, I admire that dedication! I’m so not like that, though. Designate a certain day of the week (Thursday mornings) or a few days each month (every other Wednesday) to crank out a collection of blog posts that you can schedule ahead of time. If blogging is the task that you always put off, make sure you schedule your blogging day early in the week and during the morning so that nothing else can interfere with this getting pushed to the bottom of your to do list. Make it a priority, and it will get done!
  
  

• While you’re at it, create a marketing calendar, too! Every year I see posts from photographers in our online groups that say something like, “Christmas is in two weeks. What should I offer for holiday sessions?” This year, be prepared! Pull out your calendar NOW and mark off when you would like to hold those sessions this year (Easter, Mother's Day, Back to School, Halloween, Christmas). Then work backwards and figure out how many weeks you’ll need to properly market your sessions to your clients.
  
  

• Most important of all… REST. Take some time for yourself to just relax. Read a good book, plan a weekend away, go out for brunch with your girlfriends, enjoy a hot chocolate in the afternoon, take a walk, binge watch old Gilmore Girls episodes, get a manicure, catch up on sleep. You work so hard in the “busy season”, and you need some downtime to recharge and grow your business in the new year rested and inspired. Make sure you plan some time when you turn off the notifications on your phone, put up an away message on your email, and enjoy some time that has absolutely nothing to do with your business. You need this. You deserve this. You’ve earned this.

Do you have some more ideas to add?  Leave them in the comments below to share with our online community!

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11 Apps and Systems to Streamline Your Small Business: Work Smarter, Not Harder!

(Psst!  Hey, photographers & creative small business owners!  Read through to the end to join our new online community for helpful resources to help you on your journey in the new year!  More details coming in 2017!)

This year was all about working smarter, not harder.  

As a small business owner, there are always six million and one things that need to be done -- client communication, accounting, marketing, placing orders, packaging, blogging, updating your website, posting on social media, connecting with other businesses, loving on your clients, designing new backdrops, organizing the studio, sharing in online forums, taking education courses & workshops, shopping for props.... The list never ends, and not a single item in that list includes taking the actual photographs during my sessions, or editing them!

I've been in business since 2012, and as my business has grown I've realized that I was lacking certain systems to make my life easier.  This year I decided to WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER (although yes, I probably worked harder than I ever have before... but it paid off ten-fold because I was working smarter, too!).  

Today I'm sharing the eleven life-changing apps and systems that helped me manage my newborn & baby photography business this year, and many of them are lifesavers for all business owners!  Read on, and leave a comment below about which systems you have in place to work smarter and not harder!

1.  Mile IQ.  Oh, why oh why did I torture myself every April trying to figure out how many miles I drove for business the previous year?  Before I heard about this app, I never got around to keeping a notebook or mile log in my car like my accountant recommended to me.  It was a task I dreaded every spring of comparing my calendar with Google maps, and pulling up approximations of the drives to and from my sessions.  I wasted so many hours on this, and also lost so much money in tax deductions because I didn't count all of the other drives that I did for business besides just sessions.  

Now with the app, my miles are logged automatically.  Every time I get into my car, the app recognizes the drive and pops up later for me to classify it as either "personal" or "business".  This has seriously made my life so much easier, and I stand in line at the grocery store and swipe left or right.  Total savings this year?  More than $6,000 in tax deductions!  (Yes, I drive a lot for business since I work with clients in two different states!)

Cost: $59.99/year or $5.99/month.  Sign up with my referral link above!

2.  Planoly.  This amazing app lets me schedule out all of my posts on Instagram, including captions and hashtags!  Plus, I can click & drag the images around in a grid view to see how they will look in my feed.  I love this app, and I sit down once a week and plan out a whole week's worth of posts.  A reminder to post pops up on your phone when your scheduled post is ready, and with a few taps it gets posted to all of my social media platforms!

Cost:  $7/month, sign up with my referral link above!

3.  Shootproof.  This system isn't new to me, but I did discover something really cool about it in the past year or so.  I've used Shootproof to host my online galleries ever since I started first my business.  But did you know there's a free feature included that lets you share mobile apps with your clients?  These are such a wonderful incentive to reach higher sales points at your gallery premiere appointments, and they're a great little bonus to include for clients who purchase your top collections, too.  

Clients will download an app on their phones to keep their favorite images right at their fingertips, plus grandma & grandpa can download it on their phones, too.  It's a modern day brag book.  My clients even put the apps onto their kids' iPads, and the kids enjoy looking through their family's smiling faces, too.  Plus, it's an amazing referral tool since they can link right back to your website through the app, and they share it with all their friends when they go out to lunch or to their mommy & me yoga class!  Use it as a tool, and it will bring you so many more clients.

Cost: Shootproof started a basic plan that's free, and other plans start at $10/month.  Use my referral link above to sign up! 

4.  Afterlight.  There are a million editing apps for your phone, but this one is my favorite.  Any iPhone snaps that I take go through Afterlight for a few little tweaks on the brightness before posting to social media, giving all of my images a very consistent look in my feed.

Cost: $0.99 on iTunes.

5.  The Baby Shusher app.  If you are a newborn photographer, this is for you!  I used to use a white noise app, but I love this one so much better.  The studio is more peaceful with a steady "shussshhhhhhhh" rather than constant static.  It's the exact same noise as the popular handheld baby shusher, but I like the app because I can tuck my phone under the blankets or keep it in my palm as I'm cuddling with the baby to get him or her to sleep.  

Cost: $4.99 on iTunes.

6.  Square Register.  Are you accepting payments on location?  A few years ago I switched to taking all of my payments electronically, and it has made bookkeeping so much easier to have invoices, session fees, and product sales all in one location.  

Plus, Square gives you a little card reader that you can take with you to your gallery premiere appointment to take their payment on the spot.  No more waiting for delayed payments and unpaid invoices to come through.  The Girl Scouts use it to sell their cookies, so you can use it for your sales, too!  

7.  Google Calendar App.  You guys!!!!!!  Maybe I'm late to the game on this one, but I could never get my Google Calendar to actually sync with my iPhone calendar.  Now I use the Google Calendar app, and it's color coded and in the same monthly layout that I like to see it on my desktop.  I'm a super visual person, so this is a lifesaver for me to have access to my (very full and colorful!) calendar while I'm on the go.

8.  Gmail's Canned Response Feature.  Speaking of Google, go check this out.  Seriously, open a new tab with your email in it and do this RIGHT NOW.  I've talked with a lot of business owners lately who had never heard of this feature in Gmail, and I can't even begin to count how many HUNDREDS of hours it has saved me this year.  

You know when you get the same emails from new clients, and you don't want to spend forever typing out the same response a million times?  So then you go and look through your old emails and do some copy and paste magic, but it takes forever because you do it all the time?  Well, that's about to stop right now.

Last spring, I spent an entire day at a coffee shop with my laptop cranking out all of my canned responses (newborn inquiries, family inquiries, cake smash inquiries, newborn bookings, album proofs, birth announcement proofs, scheduling ordering appointments, etc.).  When I get one of those emails from a client, I just hit reply and insert the canned response!  Of course, I go through and personalize it and tweak a few things here and there so it's written especially for them and relevant to what they've written me about, but now I can respond to any message in under 2 minutes thanks to this feature.  

Here's a link to a really great tutorial to get you started.  You need to be on a computer (and not a mobile device) to set your canned responses up.

9.  17hats.  This is another automation system that I've been using for a few years now, and I couldn't live without it!  I use this to organize all of my contracts, questionnaires, and workflows.  

Just like with the canned responses, I spent some time making unique contracts for each of my session types.  When I want to send one to a client, I can personalize their contract with a few clicks of the mouse and their contract is waiting in their inbox in under two minutes.    

Cost: The basic plan is now free, and other plans are $17/month and $39/month.  Use my referral link above to sign up!

10.  Fitbit Alta & the Fitbit app.  One year into being a full-time business owner, I realized that I spend way too much time at my desk in front of my computer.  We need to move around during the day -- our bodies will thank us later!  

Like many others, I jumped on the Fitbit bandwagon and purchased the Alta this year.  I love it because it vibrates every hour to remind me to move, so I get up and take a little walk, make a mug of tea, have a little dance party in the hallway... you know, normal things like that to help me reach my step goals for the day.  ;o)  Plus, since I never wear a watch, this is great during my sessions for me to check the time to be sure that we're moving along at the right pace!

11.  USPS Mobile App and stamps.com.  This is my most recent discovery, and you guys!!!!  It's changing my life!  Ever since I moved to NY, the thing I have missed the most about my old city as a business owner is the automated machine at the post office that would let me skip the line, weigh my packages myself, and print the label.  

Trips to my new post office easily take an hour out of my already busy day.  So I recently bought a pretty pink postal scale, started an account with stamps.com to print my postage, and schedule my pick-ups with the USPS mobile app each day.  When the postal carrier comes to deliver my mail, he picks up my packages from the front porch!   No more wasted time in line at the post office -- plus, shipping is now actually cheaper than it used to be (up to 20%) and I save a few cents off of every package!

So, there you go!  The apps and systems that have streamlined my business this year to help me work smarter, not harder.  

We have so many more amazing resources coming to our online community -- join our mailing list to be the first to hear!  We'd love to have you come & learn with us in the new year!

Do you have any others apps and systems to share?  

Comment below!  I'd love to hear your tips to help other creative business owners better manage their time with the systems that exist just for us small business owners!