Today’s post is for other photographers out there that want to get their life back!

I remember when I started this business, I used to stay up until the wee hours of the night just to get work done. And I would work while my kids watched cartoons and I would work some more. It was like my work was taking over my life. I always thought it was because I had to hustle in the beginning and “pay my dues” if you will to get where I wanted. I always thought that one day, I would “arrive” and the hustle would be less.

If you aren’t laughing at my naive thought process, you should be. The truth is running a business requires so much work. But working more productively can save you so much time! As a full time business owner and mom to 5 boys, I know how precious time is. And my to-do list would scare most of you. But the truth is, I like to stay busy as long as it is balanced right. So today, I am sharing a few of my tips for productivity!

1. CLEAR DISTRACTIONS-
This one is probably the MOST obvious one in the world, but it is also the most important. Turn off your notifications or better yet, put your phone in another room. Cut off your wifi if you have to (and you don’t need it). Allow yourself to focus on your task and your task only. I can’t tell you how many times early on in my business I burnt lunch or let clothes sour in a washer or got lost in social media, because I was juggling work alongside of my life. Now, when I have clear work time, I shut my office door and ignore everything else.

2. WORK ON SIMILAR TASKS TOGETHER 
I have found when I am on a blogging roll, I can knock out and schedule up to 5 post at a time if I just keep going. Or if I am editing, I can knock out an entire session in 20 minutes if I just focus. By bulking similar tasks together, you can keep the flow going and get more done in the long run. I also sit down and knock out all my emails at one time in a day. I set aside 20 minutes to tackle my inbox and get it done.  (*BONUS TIP:  when I am attacking emails, I will go into my inbox and open up reply windows on all the messages that I HAVE to respond to that morning.  Then I just go through one at a time and send my replies.  This saves me from getting lost in messages that don’t need my immediate attention and keeps me from missing anything important if I get interrupted).

3. LET YOUR COMPUTER WORK FOR YOU

I learned that by altering how I do things can allow me to get so much more done in the long run. For instance. When I have a morning to work I will spend my first 20 minutes on emailing, the next 30 on blogging, and then finish up the morning with editing. Why? Because when I finish my editing, I start the export from lightroom and then I walk away from my computer and let it do the work. Lightroom runs faster when it is the only application working and I don’t need to sit there and watch the files export. So I let my computer work while I go do that laundry I mentioned earlier or pick up my kids from school. Similarly, I start uploading my images to PASS at night while we watch TV. So while I am enjoying our couch date, my business is still getting stuff done! And the next morning, I am ready send that gallery during my email time I already have set aside and then blog it too!

BONUS TIP: Import all cards and cull right after the shoot. If I shoot an engagement session or a wedding, I import my cards the minute I get home. While they are loading up in photo mechanic, I enjoy my couch time with the hubby. It takes me minutes to cull a session and it is all ready to import into lightroom. I usually cull and start that import process in between episodes or start it before I go to bed.

If you liked this post you may also like stop hustling or how my work and home life are similar.