So today, I want to do something a little different and give you a peek into one of the tools that I use that has helped me run my business so much smoother! If you have not heard of Dubsado before, let me give you a quick walkthrough of how it has impacted my business!
Let me take you back….
Let me start off by saying that running a photography business was not everything I envisioned it would be. When I first started out, I only imagined meeting up with clients (of course, so. many. clients!), getting to know them, taking their photos, editing their photos, them loving their photos…I never really imagined the part that turned into what 85% of running the business actually is. Emails. Contracts. Scheduling Appointments. Taxes. Forms. Model releases. More emails. More taxes.
As someone who had never even taken a business course before launching my own business, this portion turned out to be…slightly overwhelming.
The first few years of being in business was an experiment of how to save receipts, keep track of expenditures, and a hodge-podge system of how to organize and respond to my emails.
And then I discovered Dubsado, which helped transform my business. In case you have never heard of it before, Dubsado is a business managing system that helps streamline all of the backend portions of running a business. So let me take a moment to run you through a few of my favorite features that Dubsado has to offer.
Projects Tracker
Prior to using Dubsado, I was a 100% paper planner user. And I still am, but Dubsado’s online scheduler makes seeing the business end of my life so much easier. Not only does it have the standard calendar, but I am also able to set my own parameters of when I am available on a weekly basis, so I don’t accidentally book someone during a time when I may not be available. All of my projects are laid out chronologically, so I can easily see who is up next, who has signed their contracts, paid their invoices, and I can double check their answers to my questionnaires, which brings me to my next several points….
Contracts
This feature has helped make my life so much easier. Prior to using Dubsado’s contract feature, I relied on a paper system, which usually involved me printing out my contracts, remembering to bring them to our sessions, having clients sign the contracts right before the session, and then having a separate file for these contracts. It was a mess, and it really wasn’t fair to my clients to be seeing it right before the session.
Now, I have been able to send my contracts electronically with their initial booking email, so my clients have the chance to look over the terms and conditions well ahead of time, sign it, and get it back to me with plenty of time before their sessions. Dubsado offers sample contract templates if you have no idea how to get started creating your own–these are not a bad place to start if you have never put one together, but I definitely recommend sending copies over for your own attorney to look over and make changes to.
Invoices
This is another area that has changed my life. Prior to Dubsado, I primarily trusted clients to bring payment along to their sessions, which was also a mess. Sometimes, I received cash, sometimes I received checks (which I ended up washing not once, but twice on accident when I forgot to pull them from my pockets. That was embarrassing having to ask clients to resend payment. And I got stood up on more than one occasion, as I did not have a great system in place to receive deposits ahead of time.
Now, my invoice goes out at the same time as my contract, and clients have the option to pay their session fee in full ahead of time or simply the deposit and make installed payments after that. Either way, I have not been stood up by a client once in the three years that I have started using Dubsado, and I have never had an issue with payments (or accidentally washing my checks).
Questionnaires
This has been hands down one of my favorite features of Dubsado. Since I offer so many different kinds of sessions, it was always a little tricky to figure out how to best get to know clients prior to their sessions so that I could best capture their personalities. Now, I am able to create personalized questionnaires for clients to look over and fill out, which helps me so much with the planning phases! I am able to ask what type of locations they are envisioning, get a feel for how laid-back they are, whether they want something relaxed or formal, even how they hope to display their photos once they receive them. All of this is so handy when customizing sessions, and reading over client’s answers is my favorite part of the initial process.
Taxes
Finally, let me address how Dubsado has made my tax life so much easier. For every session that I book and accept payment for, Dubsado automatically keeps track of the sales tax, the profits and files it away by the type of income I have earned. When tax time comes, I can literally just click over to the last quarter to see what I have earned, what amount of sales tax is due, and make sure everything lines up with my bank statements.
When I am on my game, I also like to go through once a week and add in my expenditures, which I am able to categorize easily for tax time. This feature by itself easily makes up for the cost, as I have so many fewer headaches, haha!
In conclusion…
Writing all of this out has reminded me what a game changer Dubsado has turned out to be for my business. I have never considered myself to be very tech-savvy, but the platform has turned out to be easy and beautiful to use, and helps me present my business in so much more of a professional way.
Be sure to check out Dubsado’s website and see if it might be a great fit for you!
Christina Freeman is a baby and child photographer based in Anna, TX, serving McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Wylie, Lucas, Celina and other Collin County communities. She seeks to photograph the fun and messy moments that connect us all in our ordinary lives, from the very beginning to the very end. If you have loved everything you have seen so far, be sure to check out my details page for an idea of my general pricing, and be sure to get in touch to start the process today!