Tips for Overwhelmed Wedding Photographers / Part I
Why Wedding Photographers Feel Overwhelmed & How It Is Negatively Affecting Them //
There are many different reasons why some wedding photographers feel overwhelmed. If you are reading this article, I am going to assume that you are struggling with overwhelm due to the challenges that come along with doing life and running a wedding photography business.
In part 1 of this series, I explore what might be leading you to be feeling overwhelmed. I then go over the negative effects of overwhelm. I also touch upon the benefits of minimizing overwhelm for you and your wedding photography business.
Before you read any further, I want to quickly inform you about a FREE digital planner that I am making available to you in order to help you reduce the feeling of overwhelm.
My Wedding Season Planner is a digital planner that is custom-designed to help overwhelmed wedding photographers who are feeling stressed out because they are struggling to:
stay organised, keep track of their client work and reach their goals.
Get instant access to the planner: Sign-up now!
Hi, I am Aida, host of My Wedding Season -The Podcast!
If you prefer listening, this blog post is also available in audio format on my podcast: Episode 25.
To start off, it is important to establish why you might be feeling overwhelmed. Afterwards, it is important to note how overwhelm many be negatively affecting you and your wedding photography business. And lastly, I will address what desirable outcomes can result from overcoming the sense of overwhelm.
In part 2 of this series, I will provide you with actionable steps to help you minimize feeling overwhelm.
WHY DO SOME WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS FEEL OVERWHELMED?
If you are feeling overwhelmed, have a look at the following 10 reasons why that might be to see if any of them resonate with you:
- You have a hard time keeping track of your client work: You have a hard time being organised and haven’t implemented proper structure into your business. Additionally, you haven’t optimally arranged your physical enviornment or your digital space.
- You aren’t focused and don’t plan ahead of time: Whatever you do in your day-to-day business operations – you tend to wing it. You are constantly multi-tasking, which doesn’t get you far.
- You haven’t developed the necessary soft skills for running a business: For example, time-management, stress-management, communication, emotional intelligence, marketing etc…
- You haven’t set-up and implemented useful processes and systems: You waste time doing repeatable tasks which can otherwise be streamlined and/or automated. You don’t use workflows, templates or checklists. You are unable to provide a seamless and consistent experience for your clients.
- You are stuck in the business hamsterwheel: You basically do everything in your business (editing, emails, marketing, bookkeeping, acccounting etc…). You take on too much work / too many projects at one time. You are working long hours, but yet always have a never-ending list of to-dos. Your editing work constantly piling up and you are hardly meeting your gallery delivery deadlines?
- You are often working with not right-fit clients: You are not inspired by the weddings that you take on. Conflicts with clients arise on a regular basis. You keep getting bad feedback/reviews.
- You are constantly neglecting your personal needs: You have a tendency to keep prioritising your business over your personal care (mental, emotional and physical). You don’t take enough time to rest, spend time with your loved ones, and eat healthy. You don’t even take enough time to reflect – you are always on the go!
- You are not meeting your financial goals: You are not getting enough bookings or are taking on way too many bookings (but still not making enough money). You are not making wise financial decisions. And you are constantly working in your business instead of on your business.
- You lack support: On one side, you are not a part of a photography community. On the other side, you do not delegate/outsource tasks.
- You are not intentional in your business: You neither set goals nor do you have an action plan to grow your wedding photography brand and business.
HOW CAN OVERWHELM NEGATIVELY AFFECT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS?
There are several ways in which the negative impacts of overwhelm are showing up for you and your business.
Do any of the following resonate?
- You are a chaotic mess who does not have an overview of pending client work.
- You lack clarity and don’t have a sense of direction. You also have a tendancy to miss deadlines.
- You are frustrated due to a lack of soft-skills that have negative implications on your business.
- You often waste time on repeatable tasks and make avoidable mistakes. You are inconsistent in your brand messaging.
- You are feeling burnt-out.
- You often deal with upset clients and get negative feedback/reviews. Your word-of-mouth marketing is low.
- You are not feeling well: mentally, emotionally and physically.
- You are financially struggling.
- You are feeling isolated.
- Your business is stagnating or failing.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MINIMIZING OVERWHELM AS A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?
There are many wonderful possibilities when you aren’t feeling overwhelmed and are able to work properly on your business:
- You have a proper overview of your client work!
- You are able to gain clarity and make progress in your pursuits. You are able to hit your deadlines!
- You feel more confident and competent when you have improved upong your soft skills.
- You are able to save time and reduce human-error in your work. Your brand messaging is consistent throughout!
- You feel calm and at ease.
- Your brand attracts right-fit clients and you create an awesome client experience.
Your clients convert into raving fans! - You feel better mentally, emotionally and physically.
- You meet your financial goals.
- You have the type of support that you need.
- You are able to build a thriving wedding photography brand and business.
My advice to you now is to take time to reflect on the points that resonate with you. You can already start brainstorming the changes you need to make in order to get there. Check back here on April 13th when I will come back with part 2 of this series – I will talk about the various action steps you can take to help you minimize feeling overwhelmed.
In the meantime, don’t forget to get your hands on My Wedding Season Planner 2022 / Digital Planner. The main focus of this planner is to help you become organized, save time and reduce stress. It will help you stay on top of your client work, which will ultimately enhance your client experience. And furthermore, you can keep track of your goals to make sure that you are sticking to them throughout the year. You can find out more details about the planner by clicking over to: www.wedding-photography-podcast.com/planner
If you do decide to sign-up to get instant access, it would mean the world to me for you to share it with your wedding photography friends so that they can get their hands on it as well. To make it super easy for you to share on social, I have a graphic already prepared for you that you can share on Instagram Stories (feel free to download and share the images below). Please tag me @aidaglowik so that I can personally thank you and reshare it! I also want to follow your journey on Instagram.
If you have any questions or comments, just hit me up on Instagram @aidaglowik
Cheering you on,
Aida
