Running a photography business means using many programs and apps for a variety of purposes. I love hearing about a new program that can help streamline my processes to be more efficient! After eight years in business, I have found some amazing programs that I love sharing with others. These are the programs that I use every day to run my business.

*Some of these links contain affiliate links and discount codes.

WHAT I USE TO RUN MY BUSINESS

17hats – Client Relationship Management System. I use 17hats to send contracts to my clients, where they can electronically sign and make payments. No more snail mail, pen and paper contracts that get lost in the shuffle. Having everything online and available to both parties in one click is a great way to ensure mutual understanding. You can also setup workflows for questionnaires and emails.

Pic-Time – Online photo galleries and product orders in a minimalist and simple way. After using a few different sites for online galleries, I’ve happily settled on Pic-Time for this. I love the design and the easy user interface for my clients and their families. Use this code for a free month: UPSGMR

Showit – Finally, a website tool that is made with the user in mind. I’ve used WordPress and Squarespace for previous versions of my site, but I’ve found my forever home with Showit. Drag and drop features and beautiful templates to get you started make this a no brainer! And, their support team is top notch.

Davey & Krista Shop (The Palm Shop) – Design templates for Showit websites that are so aesthetically beautiful. Plus, their support team is great to work with and they’re always coming out with FAQ’s and ways to improve your website.

The Inquiry System Course – This course is great for understanding and implementing SEO for your business.

Adobe Creative Cloud – I use Lightroom to edit, Illustrator to design my PDFs. This is a must-have.

FloDesk – Start building your email list or migrate your existing list to FloDesk. Beautifully designed email marketing that is easy to learn and implement.

BlogStomp – Blogging isn’t so bad when you can do it quickly with BlogStomp. I use this to blog all of my images and you can do side-by-side vertical images and publish directly to your blog.

AlbumStomp – Album design got way better with AlbumStomp. I also use AlbumPrufr to communicate with my clients throughout the design process.

Photo Mechanic – Quickly cull with Photo Mechanic. This is way faster than culling in Lightroom. This is an inexpensive, time-saving tool.

Planoly – The easiest way to organize and plan your Instagram posts. I love the auto-post feature so I don’t even need to login to Instagram to post an image!

Design Aglow – I use this for my engraved USBs. They have all kinds of products, marketing templates, and education materials for photographers.

I hope you enjoyed reading through some of my favorite things that I use to run my business. Shoot me a note if this was helpful to you or if you have any programs you love that I should check out!