Step Three: Keep it simple!

Bookkeeping doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use something as simple as Mint.com to keep track of your income and business expenses.

You can label each expense and track it throughout the year. So easy and FREE. Outright might also be helpful for finance tracking. Remember, done is better than not done, so just pick a program and get going.

Step Four: Taxes.

Use your brand new, shiny business savings account for taxes so you have a nice little cushion when it comes to tax time. If you end up saving more than you need, you can use the extra money to pay the accountant, reinvest in your business, or help Kristen donate to orphan care.

I suggest taking 25-30% of the money you earn and automatically put it into your savings account — and at the end of the year, tax time is going to be easy and stress free!

Do you know of any great, inexpensive, easy to learn accounting programs? Please share in the comments!

Psst! Karie wrote a bio to include here, but I scratched it to include something personal. This woman, a Financial Freedom Coach, helped me to organize my personal finances (business? Easy! Personal? Um, there’s money in the bank so let’s spend it, woohoo!) in an incredibly short amount of time with supreme amounts of care and humor. Years of dragging my feet were cleared up in a few phone calls.

Karie Hill is amazing, which is why I recommend you go and download her free Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom at Kariehill.com. You will heart heart heart her. And she’ll be back on Tuesday, hooray!

Want to read it on the blog? Personal + Business Money Breakup: Part II

Let’s say you’re allowed to eat a whole cheesecake when you make $10,000, or 3 cheesecake squares each time you make $1,000.

Tiny goals and steady rewards keep you motivated.

In both scenarios, you get to eat a WHOLE cheesecake.  But by splitting your heart’s desire into smaller rewards, you get to stay motivated.  (And not get instant diabetes!  Bonus!)

If you’ve got a big project or goal you’re working on, why not break it into smaller goals with steady rewards?

I even thought up sample rewards to get you started:

A trip to the library to check out a book you’ve always wanted to read.

A luxurious bath with fresh rose petals and a glass of wine.

A walk through the park to gather ‘treasures’ with your kiddos, where treasures are blossoms, buds, leaves, sticks, stones, caterpillars…

A latte with your best friend.

An hour alone to do whatever you’d like. Meditate, dance, sing, watch Bravo.

Time to learn a new recipe or to perfect an old one.

Create three smaller goals and choose three smaller rewards (steal mine or make your own) to earn over the next three months.  Business, personal, whatever…the same principles apply!

Now, lemme have it.  What are you gonna do and how are you gonna reward yourself when you do it? 

I’m in India hugging orphans (more about that here, if you’re confused), but you can bet your sweet bippy there’s wifi and I’m paying attention when I can.  Hugs to you!

Want to read it on the blog? HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED WHEN YOU’D RATHER EAT CHEESECAKE.

So. Happy.

Want to read it on the blog? The View From My Mosquito Net

Ready?

If your personal and business finances are still together, it’s time to break them up!

This is one of the easiest ways to get organized and relieve stress or overwhelm in your business.

For most people, talking or thinking about money makes them cringe. We would rather pretend like it doesn’t exist and hope that it magically works itself out at the end of the year.

You did not start your business so you could be an expert on taxes, business expenses, and income streams.

You are an artist and you just want to do what you’re good at.

I get it.  But finances aren’t going anywhere because you ignore them.

If you’re at a place in your business where you can afford to hire a bookkeeper, hire it out!

If you’re like most and doing it all on your own, I’m going to make it easy for you in these four steps.

Step One: Remember, you are NOT your business.

It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just not working anymore.

You are not your business, so your business and personal money don’t belong in the same account.

Get your calendar and block out a two-hour window where you can head to the bank and open a business checking account and a business savings account (and a retirement account if you want brownie points. It’s really easy. I promise.).

You can also use an online bank depending on what you’re comfortable with and what’s best for your business. Research it.
You’ll need a few things (this varies state to state so double check before you go):

- Tax id number or Social Security number
- Proof that your business is registered

If for some reason you don’t have the required documentation, just open a regular account and treat it as your separate “business” account.

Step Two: List out recurring monthly/yearly business expenses.

Hey, I let you chew gum, so don’t go staring out the window during this part!  If you had any monthly charges taken out of your personal account, switch them to your business account.

Anything business related should go in and out of your business checking account.

The only thing that should go into your personal account is your big, fat paychecks that will be transferred from your business account.  Transfer any recurring expenses from being taken out of your personal account to being taken out of your business account.

That’s it! Tell me one thing you’re going to do today to help your business break up with your personal money in the comments, would you please?

Psst!  Karie wrote a bio to include here, but I scratched it to include something personal.  This woman, a Financial Freedom Coach, helped me to organize my personal finances (business? Easy! Personal? Um, there’s money in the bank so let’s spend it, woohoo!) in an incredibly short amount of time with supreme amounts of care and humor.  Years of dragging my feet were cleared up in a few phone calls. 

Karie Hill is amazing, which is why I recommend you go and download her free Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom at Kariehill.com.  You will heart heart heart her.  And she’ll be back next Thursday, hooray!

Want to read it on the blog? Personal + Business Money Break Up: Part I

“I’m not ready to ‘outsource’ my editing.”

You might not be.

Every week I get to make new friends with photographers. They call with questions about our service, how it works and whether or not this is for them. I’ve heard it all.

Before we talk about how to figure out if you’re ready to “outsource” your editing, can we first talk about the word “outsource?”

I hate it.

I think “outsourcing” is something you do with manufacturing a commodity… Something that’s replaceable, dispensable, inanimate and without a soul.

And this may be the first problem with “outsourcing.” Maybe the terminology is uncomfortable, sterile, and apathetic.

So let’s start with a better mindset.

If you’re ready to work with a company to do your editing, think of it as a partnership. Think of it as hiring a person to come work in your studio.

Only you aren’t doing payroll, scheduling, and purchasing a new workstation and software. You must be as comfortable with a company as with a live person you interviewed and hired to work in your studio. (And by “studio” I mean whatever space is designated as your work space.)

“Fine, I’m not ready to partner with a company to do my editing.”

Okay, you might not be.

Let’s walk through a few thoughts to help figure out if this is true.

First up, can you afford it? It all goes back to the math.

I know… Photographers typically hate math. But if you don’t know the score, how are you going to win the game? Know the score. Win the game.

I’d challenge you to take a real hard look at how many hours you spend from start to finish. Estimate your time spent for every client you serve. From initial contact to final delivery. EVERY. SINGLE. STEP.

And be honest.

Maybe you can’t afford NOT to partner with a company to do your editing.

Start with your typical package price. Subtract your cost of goods sold and divide that by your hours spent.

For many of you, this could be very revealing as to why you feel an imbalance. Maybe you feel like a slave and have considered going back to your day job. At least you can make overtime “working for the man,” right?

The point is, please run the numbers. If you have a Napoleon Dynamite moment (“That’s like a dollar an hour!”) then you really need to change things.

Go ahead and run your numbers now.

No, really… I’ll wait…

Still waiting…

Got ‘em? Great. Onward!

OK, so unless you’re a real whiz-kid with Lightroom, I’m guessing when you log your post production time, you’re going to see about a 2:1 ratio. (Two hours of post production work for every hour you spend consulting, shooting, or taking care of a client.)

Several industry surveys have confirmed our own survey that reveal most people spend 20 hours of post production per wedding.

Think about that…you spend more than twice the amount of time it took you to actually shoot the wedding in editing if this ratio is true for you.

Reclaiming that time opens up so many more options. We’re talking about better care for your clients, better networking with friendly vendors, promoting your business and growing your business.

And of course there’s that thing we like to do called “having a life” which is worth more than I can articulate here.

“I think I’m ready to partner with a company to do my editing.”

Great! First, be ready to talk. Sometimes it can be hard to express what you like about your look. Take a few moments to find the right words to describe your vibe. Then be ready to chat about it once you get in touch. The more you can convey what you need, the better your company can serve you.

Second, set proper expectations. As you’ve found out, editing can consume a LOT of time. If you’re editing 700 images one-by-one in Photoshop, it’s unrealistic to expect any company to duplicate your look. And sadly, it’s just cost prohibitive.

Ask yourself as you edit, “Is this for the cover of Grace Ormonde? Martha Stewart Weddings?” If the answer is no, you’re probably investing too much in that grab ‘n grin of those sauced frat boys on the dance floor. It’s time to let go of some control.

Most services have their “lab standard” which is basically a neutral, natural skin tone with protected, but bright highlights and crisp shadows without clipping the detail. The editing should be consistent from beginning to end.

That may be enough for you. The idea is to establish a good baseline image you can proof to the client and maybe then you take your favorites into Photoshop for your own personal creative touch.

Some companies let you customize your profile as much as you like. Explore your options, invest in your partnerships and develop a connection.

After all… your images are irreplaceable, indispensable, wildly animate and indeed have soul. Invest in partnerships that will support your vision and get to know you well and enjoy the life you expected when you became a photographer.

If you have a question about outsourci…er, partnering with an editing company, fire away in the comments! Leon will be by to answer your questions — and to take the Wacom pen of editing control from your death grip, if necessary.

Want to read it on the blog? HOW TO OUTSOURCE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY EDITING WITHOUT PANIC.

Once you’ve got your project nailed down, you have one of two options:

a.) Wait for book publisher to call and offer you a book deal. This is my rather unusual experience, so we’ll talk more about it.

b.) Have some inkling of what you’re doing, get an agent, shop your book around, and do a victory dance when your persistence pays off.  This is the general idea of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan, and it would have been helpful to have prior to my experience with scenario a, as mentioned above.

So, scenario a.).  Your work is out there.  You have lunch with an acquisitions publisher.  The universe aligns, you pinch yourself, you can’t believe you are in Vegas in the middle of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant having lunch and talking about contracts, timelines, dates, delivery, and dreams come true.

You look over at your co-author, one Jonathan Canlas, who is simply bursting with joy.  You squeal and shake your head repeatedly.  You allow pure joy to wash over you with your pizza and that appetizer that comes with smelly cheese on top.

You work for ten months on this book baby, preening and primping.  You shake your head at random times for the sheer luck and joy of it all.

You laugh.  You stress.  You hit deadlines.  Barely.  You consider throwing your printer out the window at least 200 times.  You stay up late.  You eat pizza.  You ignore your husband, even when he dances around the room half-naked singing an improvised song to get your attention.  The deadline is your world.

You wonder how your life got to be so jet-set.  So “Oh yes, the book deal went down in Vegas.  It was simple, really.”

And then…and then the publishing date changes by 10 days.

You’ll be in India when the book baby emerges.  You’ll be without the comforts of a first world country, and in particular without a bookstore containing English books, when your books arrive via Amazon pre-order and on bookstore shelves.

Your heart breaks.  You’re going to miss it.

Luckily, you have friends.  People who will, because you will bribe them quite effectively, buy your book and post pictures of it on the internet for you to come home to.

From now until launch day — January 30th — pre-ordering a copy of Film is Not Dead entitles you to a super-special bonus: the Portra 400 guide to film in PDF form.

Just pre-order your copy here and then forward your Amazon receipt to heather.tullis@gmail.com — she’ll send back your freebie to enjoy.

And please, post pictures of my book baby on the Film is Not Dead Facebook page for me to enjoy when the time comes.  It would mean the world to me!

Edited to add: a shipment of my author’s advance copy books came on the same evening this post went live. This is the moment I got my hands on the book for the first time, while I was dashing off to dinner at a friend’s house.  Also, Matt completely upstages my joy.

Want to read it on the blog? FILM IS NOT DEAD BOOK LAUNCH, BABY!

Thing is, I’m a pretty light packer.  I’m not good at imagining worst-case scenarios, so I don’t pack Midol, Advil, Pepto, Ibuprofen, and Nyquil when I go on a journey — just clothes, toiletries, possibly laptop, and books.

I’m having trouble packing it all in.

Because it’s just more junk to lug around, and surely they have some form of Pepto in India?

This got me to thinking about packing it all in, time-wise.  And about time management.  And I was going to write a moderately brilliant article but I realized I had already written that article and had forgotten about it, so…click here to make time management easy peasy pumpkin squeezy.

And please, pray I don’t need the lice shampoo.

Want to read it on the blog? PACKING IT ALL IN.

Not because I don’t think these things, but because I assume the person I’m dealing with already knows them.  Of course I’m grateful for your effort to make the meal or solve the problem or answer my e-mail.  It’s a given.

So I’m just gonna say lots of things I fail to say, in case you don’t assume I’m a puddly pile of loving goo over here.  Because I am.

Thank you to the hundreds of people who have signed up for the free photography sales class and the free dream job class.  Your enthusiasm makes me do happy dances and call Haunani to give regular updates, complete with improvised songs that go something like, “They’re so happy!  I’m so exciiiiiited, it’s gonna be so aaaaawesome…”  Look, I can’t sing, but you get the idea.  I’m thrilled to have you.

Thank you for asking questions, even if I don’t say “Good question!” each time you do so.  The perky part of my personality didn’t make it out of Kindergarten alive.  Too much paste sniffing, maybe?

Thank you for sharing your successes with me via e-mail (brandcamponline@gmail.com if you’ve got something to share!) and via Facebook.

Thank you for sharing your struggles so I can help with ‘em in some capacity.  I’m a natural problem-solver and a deep listener, so I’m happy to offer solutions.  I’m not a good sit-here-and-wallow-er, though, so I apologize if my problem solving has ever come off as not listening.  I do hear, and I want to help.

Thank you.

Want to read it on the blog? THE THINGS I FAIL TO SAY.

If you’ve see my Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail bios, you’ll see the title of Orphan Hugger appear.

Uh, Kristen. That sounds made up.

Exactly. And totally. One day, I was reading the Twitter bio of TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie and saw that his title was Chief Shoe Giver. He’s in charge of the entire company, but the thing he chooses to put in his bio is not CEO or Founder, but Chief Shoe Giver.

That struck me as the best job on the planet. No, wait! The best job on the planet would be Orphan Hugger.

As in, someone who hugs orphans. Someone who gives much-needed love to kids who are part of the system. Kids who have been separated from or abandoned by their parents. I can’t fix their plight, but I can be a bright spot in their lives.

I made up my title and you can make yours up, too.

Just because I co-founded Brand Camp with Haunani and I write books doesn’t mean my title has to be limited to my business. My favorite title is what happens in my life as a result of my business: orphan hugging.

You see, I get kids. I look into their eyes and see who they are without judging any of what I see. It’s a rare gift, and it generally leads to kids shooting their arms straight out to be held by me – a complete stranger – at restaurants. They sidle up to me in line at the grocery store and the movie theater. Sometimes they just walk past and wheel around to end up walking backward, staring into my eyes and smiling. (Apparently adults who get kids are a pretty rare find.)

The best job in my world, then, is to truly see children who are never seen as anything but part of a group: orphans.

Why aren’t you doing this in the United States, Kristen?

Oh, honey. There are no orphanages, only foster care in the U.S.. I couldn’t foster a kitten, let alone a child, because I could never give a kitten or a child back to the system. That process would destroy me.

Orphan hugging lets me share one of my greatest gifts and travel as part of the process.

I made up the best job on Earth, and now I get to do it. That’s the joy of being in business.

What about you? What’s the best job title you can dream up?

Sure, it can be Photographer or Artist or Butcher or Baker or Candlestick Maker. But wouldn’t it be cool to make your job title less about what you do, and more about the impact you want your life to have?

Kristen! I’m already a mom and a photographer, which makes me a sous chef, a customer service expert, a student of photography, and a master of healing scrapes and wounds.

Hold up! Put those thoughts on hold for a few minutes and dream with me.

Given the ability to affect positive change in any aspect of life on this planet, what would you choose to change first?

Maybe you’d opt for world peace, which speaks to your interest in social justice. Maybe you’d end world hunger, which means you’d be great volunteering with organizations dedicated to teaching sustainable farming in countries affected by famine.

Maybe you’d like to end a really annoying problem, like ______________________. (Hey, far be it from me to put words in your mouth!)

Maybe you’d love to travel to ___________ and help with community projects.

Write those dreams down! It’s all too easy to dismiss dreams as nothing special instead of listening to them.

Grab an index card, the back of a receipt, your day planner, or a piece of paper, and record your answers. Let them live for just a second before you squash ‘em like a bug, please?

Just because you don’t know how the everloving hell you’re going to make a dream happen doesn’t mean it won’t come true. (Shortly after choosing this title, I created the Becoming class to fund my journey. See that making-it-up-as-you-go-along theme?)

To learn more about making it up as you go along, as well as explore what your dream job (title) might look and feel like, you can join me on a f-r-e-e 90-minute teleseminar on February 21st, at 11am EST.

For those unfamiliar with this whole teleseminar process, that means you can call in and listen live via phone, Skype, or the web while I deliver about 45 minutes of absolutely fantastic content about finding YOUR perfect title and dream job.

I’ll also share the way I found my $750,000 skill.

(You know, the one I convinced myself couldn’t make any money when I was in college.)

Following that lecture (which is hard for me, ’cause I want to talk to you!), each caller will have a chance to ask questions on the spot. I’ll answer ‘em live, and we’ll all leave feeling better about being one step closer to doing what we were meant to do on this planet.

Even if you can’t listen live, I’ll send a recording of the call and any follow-up materials to your inbox. No sweat.

If you feel like your job could be more fulfilling or your business could be more closely aligned with your values — and what makes your heart sing — join me. I’d love to have you.

Once you’ve registered, tell me about your dream job title in the comments. Doesn’t matter if it’s totally scary or totally unrealistic — tell me anyway!

Want to read it on the blog? ORPHAN HUGGING AND $750,000 SKILLS. A JUICY READ!

Worse, you’ve been forced to believe portrait and wedding sales sessions have to be long. Full of pressure. Awkward. Inconvenient. And expensive.

Maybe you’ve given sales sessions a whirl and you wanted to poke your eyes out afterward because it was so awful. Maybe you got the runaway client who took four hours to choose three 5×7” prints. Maybe you ponied up over $1,000 for sales equipment, only to learn selling in person makes you break out in hives.

Sales make you feel frustrated, defeated, and like you’re behind the 8-ball. Ugh. Douchenoodles.

This free photography sales class will help you feel less douchenoodle-y about the whole sales process.

Portrait sales sessions can be short, sweet, simple, and cheap. I’ll get you started on the road to easier, faster, and less painful sales sessions during our 90 minutes together.

Best of all, there’s a live Q&A after my speech-talk-thingamabob, so you’ll be able to hit me with your questions in real time!

The Drowning in Lies free portrait sales class takes place on March 27, 2012 at 11am EST.

Register for free below, and I’ll send you a reminder with call-in details when the class is a little closer.

P.S. Can’t listen or call in live? Register anyway, and I’ll give you details for secret recording retrieval data (ooh, how very James Bond!) so you can enjoy the call even if you miss the live event.

Want to read it on the blog? Drowning in Lies: The Top 5 Sales Myths You’ve Been Forced to Believe