5 Signs You Are Ready To Outsource Your Editing | Guest Post By Aly Matei
Hi friends! Today starts the first day of the RGP Guest Blog Post series! This will be a series of educational blog posts written by other creatives in the industry. I’m superrr excited about this first post from my friend Aly Matei! She is on my team over on Elevate & Educate, as well as on my personal photography team as my editor. Outsourcing with Aly has been a game changer for my business and I can’t wait for you to read this post!!
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Hi, I’m Aly. I am a private editor that is here to walk you through the signs that you are ready to outsource your editing. If you’re reading this, you are probably considering taking the next step with your photography business by outsourcing your editing. I know that it is a bit of a scary thing to think about handing over some responsibility to someone else. It is a big step.
Before you read all of these signs, do a quick exercise for me: Look at your Fall 2020 and upcoming weddings for 2021. Are they all close together? Did your Spring weddings reschedule to the Fall because of coronavirus? Now is the time to start thinking ahead for your business.
1. You are wanting to grow your business
You want to go into the education field, but never have the time to brainstorm? You want to host a styled shoot, but can’t find a break between galleries to begin planning? You want to take on more weddings or add an associate, but you know you don’t have the time to edit more galleries?
Editing can take up a lot of time and for those who want to use their strengths to grow their business, editing your galleries might not be the best use of your time. By outsourcing your editing, you will get back hours of your day and not have to worry about the stress of finishing a gallery. You can take back those hours that you spent editing and put them back in to growing your business.
2. You want to shorten turnaround time
We all have a gallery delivery time in our contract that we tell clients. For most it is usually between 8-12 weeks. I know that you say 8-12 weeks, but we all want to deliver well before that, right? Our couples are eagerly waiting to see their galleries and honestly 8-12 weeks can feel like FOREVER.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to tell them 8-12 weeks but then deliver in 4-6 weeks or even 2-4 weeks?! How do you think your couple would feel? I bet they would be ecstatic to receive their gallery earlier than expected!
This all circles back to your client experience. You want to deliver the best service for them! If you do decide to outsource your editing, I suggest keeping the gallery delivery time the same in your contract, but always surprise them with an early gallery delivery. They will love you even more!
3. Editing just isn’t your jam
Do not be afraid to be honest with yourself. Editing doesn’t have to be your jam. I promise that you are not the only photographer that isn’t a fan of editing. This is probably the number 1 reason that I hear from photographers who are looking to outsource their editing.
If editing isn’t your jam, it will probably take you even longer to finish the gallery. We tend to drag things on if they are things that we don’t like as much. Editing doesn’t have to be your jam because there are people in the world who are passionate about editing. For those of us that love editing, we can power through a wedding day gallery in less than a day (yes, you read that correctly)!
4. Your personal relationships are suffering
Are you starting to notice that you have to pass on gatherings with friends and family because you are having to work overtime? A lot of photographers chose this career path to be able to have the flexibility to spend time with our family and friends. Your work should not suck up your personal time. It may not be something that you have noticed quite yet, but now you are starting to think about it more and more.
I am a firm believer that every person needs to have a balanced home and work life. If your work time in leaking over into your personal time, take a step back and see what you can do to make a change. Outsourcing your editing may be your saving grace to get your time back to be with family and friends.
5. You are approaching burn out
Do you feel that you are being stumped creatively? Are you feeling exhausted and not motivated to move forward? It is okay to feel this way, but what’s not okay is not doing anything about it. Being busy isn’t a bad thing until you start to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, stunted creatively, and overworked.
You need a break. By outsourcing your editing you can take back those extra hours spent editing to do a passion project, take a nap, treat yo self!, and simply get back to feeling normal. Let your editor to the work and allow yourself to get back to being you!
When reading these 5 signs did you think to yourself, “that’s so me”? Let’s connect and talk through what you are feeling to see if now is the time to outsource your editing.
The time to get an editor is not when you are busy. The time to get an editor is before you are busy so you can ensure a smooth process for your business and ensure the highest level of service for your clients. Editors’ calendars fill up 6 months to a year in advance. With everything being rescheduled, both photographers and editors have the time to connect and create a process that will allow you to be ready for your busy season.
