Photographer Burnout (and How To Avoid It)
It’s fall here in Buffalo, and because it is one of the prettiest times of year, it is also one of the busiest. Fall has been a prime portrait session time for years now, but over the past 10 years, it has also become prime wedding time - so for those photographers that do both family portraits and weddings (and engagement sessions), it ends up being so busy that by the end of October your family is left wondering if you even live with them anymore.
If you are slammed with sessions, staying up until 3am to edit, feeling guilty when you spend time with family instead of working - and then feeling guilty when you work instead of spending time with your family - I have some tips to make your life in the fall (or any time of year) a little more balanced.
Create a Work Schedule
I know creative souls aren’t really the best about being organized and scheduled, but this is priority numero uno. A lot of photographers complain that people don't treat their business as a real business (asking for discounts, free sessions, inviting them to parties “if you bring your camera”, etc) - but you aren’t treating it as a real business either. What business doesn’t have business hours? What other business answers emails at 3am? Do you ever call to make a dentist appointment and have them say “ok, when do you want it?” and allow you full control over the calendar without suggesting times? Make yourself a schedule, and stick to it.
Include the days and times you will do sessions. And then those are what you offer to clients when they say they want to book with you.
Include time for the business stuff - everything from scheduling social media posts to reconciling your finances. Do it weekly or at least monthly instead of on April 14th.
Include editing time!
For each session you book, schedule 4 hours of editing time within the next week for that session (or however long it takes you to fully edit a session… If you don’t know how long that is - track your time on one session from the time you start downloading to the time your upload a gallery).
If you do weddings, block off 20 hours (or time yourself) broken up however you need to break it up. If you tell your clients their wedding will be done in a week - block your whole week off after a wedding,
Include days off. Yes - FULL DAYS OFF. You shouldn’t be working seven days a week. You should have days where you don’t work at all. And I even mean to post on social media or to check emails.
Turn on an auto responder for emails and social media that lets people know what your days off are. Then don’t check your emails those days.
STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULE.
If you have a client ask when you can fit them in but your sessions are all booked up for the next three weeks, what are you going to do? Yup - you tell them the next available session time - you don’t add extra portrait spots in and take your off work time away.
Exceptions: If you have to reschedule a session due to rain (and therefore had that day off when you should have had a session), or if your client is from out of town and will only be in town on your days off - and then you switch which day off you have and take a normal session day off.
If this tip makes you squirm a little, ask yourself why. Why aren’t you ok with giving yourself the LIFE part of work-life balance? What is it about telling clients that you have specific hours that worries you?
If you won’t be able to live on the amount of money that you would make if you kept to a stricter schedule that gives you a life - head on down to my last suggestion first.
Schedule Social Media
Social media is the best and worst of things. It is a great tool, but can suck the life out of you if you are constantly worrying over posting every day (or more). There are so many awesome options of social media schedulers out there. I use Planoly and love it - I love that it allows you to see what your grid will look like while you are scheduling it, and with paid plans allows you to save hashtag groups. But I also haven’t researched all the schedulers out there for pro’s and cons… I’ve tried a few others and Planoly was my favorite.
Planoly referral link if you want to try it out: https://www.planoly.com/referral/beccasutherlandphotography - I think I get a credit if anyone signs up, and I’m not sure if it gives you anything to use it, but I hope it does!
Outsource
This one freaks some people out, because we are all a little bit of control freaks. I know, your art is part of your soul, and letting someone else have control over that is HARD. But if you can’t have a life - or even sleep - because you are too busy editing or blogging or social media posting… maybe you should outsource something. Pick the thing that you ALWAYS put off, and that drives you crazy and sucks your time and soul, and outsource it. You can always review their job and make adjustments if needed, but even if someone just crops and properly exposes and white balances all your images for you, leaving you to do the creative edits, it’ll save you tons of time!
Raise Your Prices
Most of the time it’s everyone’s first suggestion, but I don’t think it is the first thing you should try. Get your business organized first… and then, if you have stuck to your schedule, outsourced what you can, and are still overwhelmed and overworked - raise your prices.
Yeah, you won’t book as many clients - and that’s the point. You’ll work less for the same amount (or more) money.
*Please note: These are all just tips to help you succeed! Obviously it’s your business, and you should do things that feed your soul and are true to you and your brand. If you are in the business of photography because you love it, love your clients and love being your own boss - don’t allow photographer burnout to cause you to hate your passion!