Have you been struggling with organization in your photography business? In today’s episode, I’m sharing one of my favorite organization tools, Notion, and how you can use it in your business. I know organization can be a foreign thing to most of us creative entrepreneurs, and for me, since I was a nurse, organization has always been ingrained in me since that time, but Notion has made my entrepreneurship journey so much more organized and much more fun too! If you don’t know this about me already, aesthetics are equally as important to me as functionality, and Notion, in my opinion, is visually appealing. Another bonus is that it’s free! Notion can be quite overwhelming at first to understand the ins and outs, but hopefully, this episode will give you guidance on how you can use it in your photography business.
And after learning about Notion, if you decide you want this kind of organization in your own business, just know I released my first Notion template for creative entrepreneurs. My hope for this template is that it makes organization a bit easier in your business to save you time. You can also use the special discount code I created just for my podcast listeners PODSQUAD for 10% off!
Now let’s get into the biggest ways I use Notion in my business!
The first and biggest way I started using Notion was to map out my goals, their supporting actions, and the tasks that have to do with that goal. In episode 15, I shared exactly how I will map out my goals for the year, figure out their supporting actions for each quarter or month, and then the smaller daily or weekly tasks that will help me reach that goal. I track all of that in Notion. As an entrepreneur, having a bigger picture is a non-negotiable for me because it helps me to determine where I need to put my energy. Using Notion in this way has helped me organize my must-do things every week.
From there, I post those tasks into my Google Calendar. Creating a workflow like this has not only improved my productivity but has also made me more aware of what I really need to get done. So, being able to just brain-dump those tasks and organize them will be so helpful for you.
If you want to learn more about the process of brain-dumping and task-batching, you can listen to episode 6. This is where my template comes into play. Rather than having to figure out how to set it up, you can immediately dive into dumping all of your tasks and assigning dates they need to be completed.
If you have a team, you can set the tasks that are high priority or what can go on the backlog that you want to have done eventually. It’s so amazing to have a streamlined approach so you know everything that needs to get done in your business.
Not only is it important to map out your goals and their supporting actions, but it’s also beneficial to brain-dump all of your thoughts, ideas, and passion projects you are hoping to pursue. If you’re anything like me, your brain can hold a lot of information, but it can also overwhelm you very quickly. So getting these thoughts out of your head and into an organized, digital space can be so relieving.
Here’s an example: I just had a brand refresh for my photography business and it was amazing! But I would think of things almost constantly that needed to be updated, so creating a page in Notion that had a checklist of those things allowed me to work more efficiently.
Another example is for my podcast episodes or educational offerings. I have an entire page that is dedicated to mapping out helpful episode ideas, programs I want to create, and more! So say goodbye to those sticky notes or notes on your phone you’ll probably lose anyway, and organize all of those ideas and passion projects in Notion!
This is something I have been doing for over a year now, especially with my location list. It’s so helpful to do all of that initial research because there is so much that goes into finding locations and figuring out the permits, so having a database that has it all listed so you can just copy and paste into its own database is going to be such a time saver.
Whenever it comes to location scouts and sending location recommendations where I have a whole location list of all the places I love in Colorado, I just send it to my clients, let them choose, but also give them guidance on which spots I think may fit their vision best.
When it comes to your vendor list database, I’ve always loved sending my couples my favorite vendors to work with, whether it be in Colorado or around the states, and this just keeps everything organized. You can organize it by planners, florists, videographers, have the name of whoever they may reach out to, their email, Instagram, website, even photos from a wedding or elopement you collaborated together on.
It’s just something that is helpful because all you have to do is send that link to your couples immediately after booking and then they can scroll through this entire database and be able to choose vendors that will be perfect for their day, and that means your experience as the photographer will be better as well!
This is one of the biggest ways I use Notion in my own business. Once busy season hits and I have more than two weddings on my editing list, it allows me to organize each wedding, elopement, and session based on where they are at in the timeline. There are many ways to filter how it looks, but I personally have mine organized in a board kind of style. It’s based on when I’m sending sneaks, if I’m culling, if I’m outsourcing the gallery, if I’m putting finishing touches on it, if I’ve sent it, if I need to create their album, or if I want to blog or submit some kind of publication, I can see that all through this list. This is SUPER easy to use and keeps me much more organized!
If you’re familiar with Trello, you know you can click into each tab on your board, and within that tab in Notion, I have even more details reminding me if I need to cull through for sneak peeks within two days, send sneak peeks within four days, and I have the due date that I plug in there where Notion then reminds me, which is also great if you get lost with your editing, especially during the busy season.
Another way I use this is by planning out my week with the must-dos and high-priority things. I can look back and forth between my tasks that way I’m ahead of the game and there’s more buffer time rather than waiting until the last minute or forgetting when a gallery is due.
I believe in this editing list so much that if you aren’t ready for the full Notion template, but would still love this editing list, I’ve decided to offer it for free!
My Notion marketing plan page has everything from Instagram caption ideas, to blog posts I want to write, to content pillars, to email marketing content, and so much more! If you’re wondering how other people organize their marketing plan so they can be consistent, then this marketing plan page within the Notion template is going to uplevel your business.
Notion is also a great way to be able to repurpose content since you’re writing it all out in there first. For example, if you love reading long Instagram captions, think about how you can repurpose that piece of content. Or maybe you had a post that did really well. How can you push that out in different ways to different audiences where you can make it last longer than just the 24 hours on Instagram?
One huge buzzword in this industry is to batch create your content, so if you would love to do that, having this organized space to go whenever you’re feeling inspired will truly help you be more consistent than just deciding to post on Instagram on a random day because you know you need to stay relevant.
Once you have finished mapping out your goals for the year, this list can end up looking like new hires you may want to add to your team or an educational program you know will further your business. The intention behind being able to have this wish list is so you can actually think about the purchase and how it aligns with your goals rather than just purchasing to purchase. This is something I even do in my own personal life because I love a good shopping experience, so being able to be more intentional behind what you’re deciding to purchase can be really helpful.
As a creative entrepreneur, work/life balance is super important, and I know for me, it helps to be able to track these habits so that I can hold myself accountable to them. Some examples of how I track my habits are making sure I’m working out three times a week so I can continue to take care of myself. Another way I do this is by remembering to drink enough water or getting in bed by 9:00 pm each night so I can read. These things are really important to me, so tracking these habits can help hold you accountable.
I could literally talk about Notion for an hour, but I really wanted to make this digestible for you since a lot of Notion is going into it and playing around with the software. I wanted to give you a look into the biggest ways I use it for my business, and how you can use it for yours as well. If you’re looking for this same kind of organization of tracking your goals, tasks, marketing plan, wish list, and habit tracker, then that streamlined template is going to make getting started so much easier for you!
Notion Template (Discount code: PODSQUAD for 10% off)
Free Editing List Notion Template
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