One of the most useful and underrated tools in this day and age is effectively using your calendar. For professional photographers, the most critical tool to be used day in and day out is your calendar. From scheduling meetings, reminders, and appointments, it is imperative to stay on top of your business in order to be successful.

First and foremost, the most important person to the success of your business is your client. It doesn’t matter who it is, they all deserve the same attention and respect. Your potential client is counting on you to deliver what they want/need done. This means they need your time, they need you to be on time, and they need to know your turn around time.  To this very day, I utilize Google Calendar and have a paper calendar next to my desk, — always, so I can glance up and look at my week and know what to expect.

It can’t be stressed enough; staying organized shows professionalism. How likely are you to take a doctor serious if you walk into their office and its dirty or cluttered? Not likely at all. So why is your client going to take you serious if you’re late or can’t remember deadlines? The key here is setting reminders. Within a computers calendar settings or if you’re on your phone, you can set reminders that will pop up and show you what to expect up to a week in advance. This is great because now you can prepare your equipment the night before a shoot. The reminder setting is like a special imaginary friend that reminds you to be your best.

Another great feature of ‘Calendars’ is being able to create a meeting/appointment/scheduled date for a shoot and invite the client to what you just created. After you invite them, an email is sent to them and if they ‘accept’ the appointment is now on their calendar and now reminds them. How sweet is that! It really is a disservice to both parties to not utilize something so simple and easy. You can even create different calendars that can be created and shared with significant others and keep it separate from your work calendar. ‘Calendars’ on your technology can even be color-coded.

For those of you who have been procrastinating or just have issues with time, take it from me. After 7 years in the business, it is best practice to take organization and time organization seriously. There are nothing but benefits when it comes to handling whatever calendar option you choose to go with. If you have any of your own calendar advice, feel free to leave a comment.

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