Post 52: A typical work day

For some reason, a lot of people think that when someone is a photographer, and own their own business, the only days they work are the days they spend shooting. False. I wish this was the case. I wish I would get to just sit around and wait for clients to come to me, while I sit around and play NHL 13, or pet my cats. Anyone who owns any type of business, but especially my fellow photographers, know this is not how running a business happens. This post is going to focus on what a typical day for me when I'm not shooting might look like from when I wake up to when I go to bed. Hopefully this will extinguish the idea that photographers get to do whatever they want until they feel like working.

A typical day for me looks a little something like this:

6 a.m. Devan wakes me up before she leaves for work to say goodbye. Sometimes I wake up now, sometimes I go back to sleep. This day, I fell back asleep.

7:30ish a.m. I wake up and start checking emails to see if anyone wants to set up a session. Then I get out of bed, take a shower, eat breakfast, etc. etc.

9 a.m. After eating, most likely, some type of egg dish, I hop on the computer. For the next hour or two, I'll either look up ways to get more people to look at my website or how to get more clients. 

11 a.m. After researching how to get more clients, I'll usually spend the next hour or so emailing new, potential, clients, showing them my portfolio and discussing rates. Some days I don't do this because there are only so many people in my area I can email. Some days I'll think of someone or a company I haven't contacted yet, though.

Noon Next, I spend an hour or so looking at how my website has been doing using a number of different tools which keep track of visitors, how many people have clicked on my links, where the people who are looking at my site are from, etc. Usually I'll also take the time either during or after this to figure out more ways to make it easier for people to find my website.

1 p.m. After working on my website, I'll take a look at my social networking sites, primarily Facebook. I don't usually spend much time looking at this, but I'll usually respond to any messages I've received, look at how many people have viewed the "photo of the day" and pick out new "photo of the days" for the upcoming week or so. I might also type of a blog post, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

2 p.m. Lunch break.

3 p.m. I probably spend about an hour everyday learning about new things about photography, which will hopefully make me better and more consistent. I learn from either other photographers on YouTube, or by reading articles online. 

4 p.m. I check Facebook again, check my email accounts again, and check to see how my website is doing again. After replying to messages and emails and making any phone calls I have to, it's around 5, which is when Devan gets home. Once Devan gets home, I don't usually get much else done.

This is what a typical day might look like for me. Some days are shorter, some days are longer, and I don't always do all of these things in the order above. Generally, I try to put at least five to seven hours of work in at least four days a week. 

So, as you can see, I get the luxury of working from home and being my own boss, but in order to be successful and build my business, I have to put in work, just like everyone else. But, unlike everyone else, I wake up loving my job.