Original subtitles

It's time to start getting into the nitty

gritty side of workflow and editing within my

business.

And as I've already stressed in previous sections,

I'm here to make money.

I don't run this business for a laugh

and a giggle.

I want every element of it to be

as streamlined and as efficient as possible.

Just don't confuse that for cutting corners.

I do not cut corners.

Do I, Amy?

Definitely don't cut corners, do I?

So why is it important to have a

workflow and system in place?

Well, see this as the foundation of your

business, in the same way the lesson of

keeping a tidy bedroom instills, the idea that

you know where everything is and don't need

to rummage around the chaos of a messy

floor to find what you need.

If you're set up and well-structured within

your approach to workflow, getting images to suppliers

is effortless.

Digging out images for a blog is easy.

Finding some new images for an Instagram post,

you just know where to look without thinking

twice.

Your business will be stronger and healthier if

you organize it in the right way and

it will be messy and chaotic if you

don't.

And you soon realize a year into weddings

that the volume of images and files that

you're dealing with, it can be easy to

become very messy very quickly.

The second and probably the most important factor

for the system though is ensuring your work

and in particular your client's images are safe

and secure, even in the worst case scenario.

So backup and security will be a big

part of this section.

I'll take you back to my previous business

for a brief second.

We were heading to a fair one day,

a transit van full of stock, like 15

to 20,000 pounds worth of clothing in

the back.

And five minutes into the journey, the van

just cut out on the A38 leaving Derby.

We managed to roll it onto a slip

road, jumped out to look into it and

underneath the van, flames were licking the tarmac.

That's not a good sign in a van.

And within five minutes, the entire van had

gone up.

We were okay, but it was a catastrophic

write-off.

But it was going to get worse.

We called our insurers to put in our

claim, only to be told we didn't have

stock in transit insurance, which obviously we needed

for that claim.

We didn't know about that insurance or need

it until we needed it.

Now fast forward almost a decade, I'd moved

into a new studio where I was renting

a desk as a photographer.

I got a call at 8am from my

friend who owned the studio and he never

calls me at that time of the day.

So I knew straight away that something was

up.

We've been broken into.

Someone had seen us moving iMacs and shiny

stuff into this new studio and decided to

crowbar the door open and just help themselves

to most of our kit in July, which

was the middle of the wedding season.

And my iMac was no longer on my

desk when I got there.

By 10am, I had my MacBook Pro plugged

into my system and I continued to edit

the gallery I'd been working on the previous

day with no loss of work or time.

Put yourself in that position just for a

second.

How do you want to feel or react

in that moment?

Do you want to be, shit, shit, shit,

what do I do?

What do I do?

What do I do?

All of my images, how am I going

to tell my couples?

Oh my God, I feel sick.

Or do you want to go, right, okay,

let's get the laptop plugged in, let's carry

on editing yesterday's wedding and I'll call the

insurance company in a bit.

Anyone for a brew?

You don't need your system until you really

need your system.

And just slightly away from workflow and backup

systems for a second, a quick nod to

just working in general and some of the

other decisions that I've made that have made

a profound impact on me and my work

-life balance.

I don't work weekends anymore unless I'm actually

at a wedding working.

Client meetings only take place during office hours

or two nights in the week at 9pm.

We already have to work weekends throughout the

summer, so those free dates are valuable, even

more so if you have a young family.

If I work a Saturday and Sunday or

I'm away for a destination wedding, I always

take the Monday off.

You can't pour from an empty cup.

Look after yourself first, your body and your

mind if you want to have a successful

business.

Now, I know not everyone is fortunate enough

to be able to rent a small space

or desk from their friends like I have

for the past five years before taking on

this new studio, but I would encourage you

to just explore the idea and if not,

and you have no choice but to work

from home, that you set office hours and

some rules or guidelines as to when and

how you work.

It's very easy when the office is at

home to always be at work.

Give yourself and your mindset the opportunity to

close the door to work when you power

down and to stick to it.

Don't just nip back upstairs to check those

emails.

Get changed and showered in the morning and

go to work.

We've all been there and I'm pretty sure

some of you are watching this in your

dressing gown and it's now the afternoon.

Am I wrong?

Social blockers.

Put them on.

Put your phone away.

Give yourself breaks to check Instagram.

Turn off notifications.

You know this stuff.

Okay, that's it for now.

In the next few videos we'll go through

the workflow I have in place, the tools

I use and we'll dive into some editing.