Today’s post is about a not-so-fun, but definitely important, a topic for family photographers: money. Let’s be real. This isn’t the sexy or exciting part about owning a business. And really, no one wants to talk about it. But we need to because we need to be prepared for financial success in our businesses. And having systems in place can make or break that success. That’s why I want to dive into how to use Dubsado for invoices as a family photographer. By creating a system upfront that works, you’ll be able to streamline this financial piece of your workflow as a photographer!
Before we dive into this, I want to be clear that I’m not talking about how to make money. I’m not a financial coach or planner. But, I AM an expert in systems and making your business more streamlined, so that’s what we’ll be focusing on!
Many photographers allow clients to pay through lots of different streams: Venmo, cash, check… and they don’t have a streamlined system to get paid. There’s nothing wrong with these methods (though Venmo isn’t the best option, read why here), it just gets overwhelming. Instead, I want to encourage you to set up packages and invoices through Dubsado so that you can easily send invoices and receive payment from your clients – just by clicking a button!
Inside Dubsado, you can go to your settings -> financial tab. Here, you can set how you want to be paid online. By setting up your preferred methods, you’ve made your life 100x easier! Now, you don’t have to worry about tracking cash or checks later down the line. Instead, you can offer credit card or bank transfer payment options.
Sit down and write out your offerings as a family photographer. List out the types of sessions you do, what’s included, and how much you offer them for. Don’t forget to include things like hair and makeup, albums, or styling options.
Now, you can create the packages from that list in Dubsado! Create a package for each type of session you offer so that you can easily go in, create an invoice, and apply the package you want. Make sure you include a description of the offering, any taxes you have to collect, and the category it falls into. This will help with your bookkeeping down the line, too!
It’s that easy! By doing this hard work up front and creating package templates, you’re now able to simply click a few buttons and create an invoice in seconds for your clients. How amazing is that?! And, when it’s paid, Dubsado will track that for you! No more having to log if they paid in cash or check – or worrying about getting that payment on time. It’s such a great feeling to know that you haven’t forgotten a single thing because you took the time to prep these packages ahead of time! And I LOVE the customizations offered on Dubsado – I can actually set different images with each package I’ve created so my invoices are even on-brand for me too. It’s the little things, I tell you!!
Now if you are a family photographer and you want to learn how to use Dubsado to better streamline and automate your growing photography business with this powerful platform, you can work with me in 3 ways:
Dolly DeLong is a Nashville-based family & branding photographer and a creative business owner who educates other family photographers on how to best streamline their family photography business by using powerful automation tools in order to find the JOY in workflows and systems. Dolly loves serving families, and business owners with her timeless, radiant photography. And, she also loves educating other business owners on how to set up systems and workflows that will ultimately help them save time in their business.
She has a heart for serving the larger business community. Dolly shares her knowledge of tools like Dubsado, Email Marketing, and Business Systems with new creative business owners & family photographers in an encouraging and supportive way because she believes that anyone can find joy in automation! Plus BONUS: Systems is where the MAGIC happens!
Dolly’s faith and love for her family motivate her to help other business owners find the joy and freedom she’s found in running a successful small business.
Whenever she has a spare moment, she enjoys watching TV (i.e. Survivor), loves eating way too many sweets, and listens to podcasts while running or walking. To work with Dolly DeLong Photography LLC, fill out her contact form here.
Interested in learning how to best automate a part of your business but you have no clue where to begin? Check out www.dollydelongphotography.com/automate to begin your automation journey today!
(*Click on the banners to get started! It’s super easy to work with Dolly DeLong & it’s super easy to automate your business today!)
Finally get those dreamy & classic family photos you desire & want!
[…] proposal. If you want to read about how to do that and why it’s important, check out another post HERE. This is really the foundation of your […]