Not so long ago, in a small town in the American Midwest, there existed no less than 5 photography studios: all branded in bright colors, along with the photographer’s name. Nestled in downtown, each studio storefront displayed cheerful young families, forever frozen in an almost identical pose.

"I just need a few quick shots for a holiday card/engagement announcement. It won’t take long.”

Clients will assume you’d jump at the opportunity to take a couple of photos; it’s easy money after all. The shoot itself won’t take more than 20 minutes from start to finish, right?

Wrong.

Your tape’s in one drawer, while your scissors are in another. Those cute tags you just ordered? Sitting in a box by the front door. And your boxes and bags are stored all the way in the garage.

No wonder it takes you 30 minutes to wrap a simple order. What you need is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Now that you’ve refreshed your packaging line with products from Design Aglow’s Paper Shop, do yourself a favor and get your supplies organized with a dedicated packaging station. With a trip to IKEA and some imagination, we created ours in an afternoon for less than $250, and we’ll illustrate how you can too.

‘Tis the season...for clients to be harried and forgetful and scrambling for holiday gifts. Needless to say, the fall/winter crush is when we all get, well, crushed. Why not capitalize on that by offering ready-made gift certificates your clients can present as last-minute gifts? Consider printing a stack of 5x7” cards on beautiful stock to have on hand (or in frames) for clients having a “oh my gosh I didn’t get something for them” moment. Promote this service to your clients through your blog and email newsletter, and offer gift certificates as a simple upsell after every photo shoot. Another smart idea: run a holiday promotion enticing clients with cash for cash, where your studio matches the amount of any gift certificate purchase with product credit.

For wedding photogs, it’s summer. For portrait photogs, it’s now.That’s right: it’s crazy time. Your inbox explodeth, and your phone doth hellishly ring. Not to get all Shakespearean about it, but an overflow of good converts to bad. So how do you manage it all? When the long view looks bleak (which in photographer terms means from now until late December), what will your coping mechanisms be?