Summer is here and the fall busy season is just around the corner. In today’s episode, I’m discussing one of my greatest tips for managing your busy season and getting your time back: outsourcing your editing. I’m sharing why it is so important to start with an editor right now in order to get back years of your life and so much of your energy.
The Shoot It Straight Podcast is brought to you by Sabrina Gebhardt, photographer and educator. Join us each week as we discuss what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, Shoot It Straight Podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
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This episode is brought to you by Image Salon, a high-touch partner available to outsource your photo editing and get your time back. I have been working with Image Salon for years, and I love the hours that it gives back to me. Use code SABRINA50 at checkout to save fifty percent on one standard turnaround order. Let this be your sign to outsource your editing and get your time back today.
Review the Show Notes:
Busy season will be here before you know it (2:44)
You should not be doing your editing (4:17)
My own experience with outsourcing (5:54)
Get started with outsourcing (9:14)
Episode Links:
Review the Transcript:
Today’s episode is brought to you by image salon. Image salon is a high touch partner to outsource your photo editing and get your time back. I have been working with image salon for years to outsource my editing. In fact, I just submitted my 490/5 order. If you do the rough math on that, each order saves me about three hours of editing time, that is 1485 hours saved. That’s more than 185 work days. That’s six months of work days. Getting all that time back has allowed me to do so much more with my life. In some seasons, I use that spare time to be with my family, and other seasons, I use that extra time to take on more clients.
And most recently, I have used all this extra time to build my education platform so that I can pour into coaching other photographers and creatives just like you. Now, years later, I literally cannot fathom doing all of my own editing. I love the support that image salon gives me and I love all the hours it allows me to spend doing things that matter to me and my business. If you use code Sabrina 50 at checkout, you can save 50% on one standard turnaround order. This can be used for both new and existing clients. So let this be your sign to outsource your editing and get your time back. Today’s episode of the shoot it straight podcast is specifically for the photographers out there. Most of this show is truly meant to inspire all women creatives, but today is for my photographers out there. One quick note. If you’re not a photographer, you may still want to listen to this short episode. Because while this specific topic might not apply to your business, I bet the overall premise behind this episode will actually land with you. So maybe stick around until the end. All right, let’s dive in.
Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host Sabrina Gebhardt here I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur. while balancing business motherhood and life. myself along with my guests will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in yet willing to talk about the hard stuff to to shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight. I know it’s currently the start of summer, you’re probably traveling with your people enjoying days at the pool, sleeping in and generally hopefully working at a slower pace.
But let me warn you fall busy season will be here before you know it right now. Your Business probably feels delightful. If you’re anything like me, you have a loose plan to manage your time well this summer. And you’re allowing yourself to spend more of your daytime hours with your family and having fun summer experiences. While filling in a few photo sessions here and there. And pulling back from your client facing work a bit. It feels manageable, it feels a little slower, things are great. But fall is coming.
The crazy busyness of it all is coming and now is the time to get prepared. I know you’ve heard me talk over and over and over about outsourcing. And that is what I’m going to do today. In this episode, I’m going to tell you, and hopefully persuade you to finally get the process started to outsource your editing once and for all. Before you roll your eyes and hit next and swipe to the next episode. Please hear me out. I know that you probably don’t need to outsource your editing right now. And it feels like you have plenty of time and you’re staying on top of things. But you and I both know that come fall, you are going to be singing a different tune.
Every photographer I know wants to poke their eyes out in the fall. They feel like they’re doing one of two things every hour of the day photographing clients or editing images. And I just want to remind you that while you still need to photograph clients and I definitely want you to you know have an intentional schedule and set boundaries and not overdo it this fall. You don’t have to do the editing. In fact Hear me when I say this you should not be doing your editing. In this day and age. There are so many photo editing companies photo editing individuals and even AI software that will edit for you. There is literally no reason to do your own editing. Add this line item to the cost of doing business and enjoy the freedom that handing all those hours of editing off to somebody else will give you I promise you it will give you sanity like nothing else will I get it, handing over your editing is an issue of control, you feel like you’re handing over your creative process, you worry that someone else is not going to do it as good as you, you worry that your clients won’t be as well taken care of if somebody else is doing the editing, or maybe you don’t want anybody else to do your editing, because you haven’t actually perfected the process yourself. And maybe you’re a little bit ashamed to share it with someone, or maybe you just don’t want to pay for it.
You like to run a lean business, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, time is money. And the biggest time suck that photographers have is editing. If I could tell you that you could gain back hours every single week for just a few dollars. That seems like an absolute no brainer, right? That is the beauty of outsourcing your editing. So I want to share my own experience with outsourcing, I hope that it will inspire you. And I want you to really listen to these details. Several years ago, I got exactly to this point, I realized that I could not photograph more clients and I could not grow the education side of my business that I was wanting to without handing something off. And editing was the simplest thing to let go of that would also in turn give me the most time back. But I was nervous for all of the reasons I listed above. I didn’t think I could afford it. I didn’t think someone could do it as well as me, I worried what my final galleries would look like, I wasn’t sure how it would fit into my workflow. There were a lot of concerns, not to mention the fact that I am known to be somewhat of a control freak. But I finally got to a breaking point where I realized it had to happen. So I scheduled a call with the image salon. I have been a happy customer of the image salon for years. I love the way they run their business, I love the way they onboard clients and their customer service is absolutely top notch.
In fact, at the time of this recording, I have had the image salon edit 512 photo sessions for me 512 photo sessions that I have not had to edit. So let’s do the math on that. Okay, because I want you to realize just how much time I have gotten. So I’m not a fast editor. I never have been, hence the reason why I wanted to hand it off. So let’s say on average, these 512 sessions saved me about two hours each. All right, some would have taken me more because they were longer sessions. Some may be less but we’re going to average two hours. That equals 1024 hours of time saved 1024 hours that I did not have to sit at my computer, or I could do other things with Okay, so I work an average of five hours a day. I’ve got school aged children, so five hours a day is my work day.
So do the math on that. That is 204 work days given back to me over the the years that I’ve been working with the image salon. Okay, let’s take that a step further. I work five days a week, Monday through Friday, so that equals almost 41 weeks, given back to me 41 weeks of workdays, my friend when you add in weekends and vacation time, that is almost an entire year that I have been given just by using the image salon. Did you hear me correctly? They have given me a year of my life back that I have used to grow my coaching and education business. I’ve started speaking at conferences, I have launched this very podcast, I have built multiple courses. I have held multiple webinars, I grew a membership. I launched a mastermind I have had multiple retreats. I have also had the time and the bandwidth to invest in myself. I have invested in multiple coaches taken additional education myself, and I’ve also been traveling with my clients every summer. The image salon has single handedly transformed how I spend time and my business. While I love working with the image salon and I highly recommend them to everyone I know. I don’t care who you use to outsource your editing. I just want you to use someone scheduled interviews or onboarding calls with multiple people or companies and see which one feels right. You will definitely have a connection with somebody and your gut is going to tell you which way to go.
Pricing wise it is all about the same, but it does depend on how much editing you do. Of course, if you are a very fine tuned Photoshop editor and you do a lot of skin details and background removal things it’s gonna cost you more than if you just do a simple preset or overall adjustments. Whoever you meet with will walk you through the entire editing process and give you a price based on the work that you do. It is super customized. Yes, having an editor to outsource all of your work costs money. And yes, it is such a small fee in the grand scheme of things. The beautiful thing about outsourcing your editing is that it is directly passed on to your clients, you only pay for it. When you are working with a client that has paid you, it’s not an underlying cost that you pay for no matter what. So you can average out what you will be paying per session and simply increase your session rates by that much to cover the cost. I don’t want you to make less money, I want you to charge more, and pay that money to an editor and get time back. Because that’s what we all want more of whether you want more time to lean into new things in your business, or to photograph additional clients or just enjoy your family. It doesn’t matter what you hope to do with your time, I just want you to have more of it. So if you’ve been sitting on the fence about outsourcing, this is your reminder to do it and to do it now.
Again, I know that we are at the start of summer and you don’t technically need an editor until this fall when things are really busy. But here’s what I need you to know, there is a little bit of a process getting started, there’s a little bit of back and forth in the beginning, the very first gallery you submit to your editor is not going to come back perfect. You will send your feedback, they will tweak their process and things will get better and better as you go. This is why it is absolutely crucial to set up a system working with an editor. Now, work out all the kinks now, get into a rhythm. Now add this into your workflow and get used to it now. So that come fall. When you are slammed beyond belief and you can’t think straight, you are already rocking and rolling with an editor that will help you manage your time and survive this fall better than you could ever imagine. You have to do the legwork. Now, if you wait until September or October when you’re slammed, getting started with an editor then is actually going to add to your headaches and stress. It will not feel easier, it will not feel good. And you will be very frustrated. That’s why I need you to do it. Now when things are slow. You have the bandwidth to work out the kinks and the process and get everything smoothed out. Now, like I said, if you don’t know where to start, I highly recommend the image salon, I actually had the privilege of meeting the CEO at WPI.
Earlier this year, we had drinks together and shared stories. And now I can tell you that I love this company even more than I did before. If you’re interested in scheduling an onboarding call with my friends at the image salon, or just jumping in and getting started. I’m going to share a link and a discount code for you in the show notes. The great thing about this discount code is that it is valid for new and existing clients. So if you already use and love them fabulous, you get to take advantage of this discount code as well. So that is it for today my friend now I want you to hop off this episode and schedule an appointment with an editor and get that process rolling now. We’ll see you next week. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash podcast comm find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhardt photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.
