If you missed the intro to this 2010 Recap series, we’re covering what worked well last year in René Tate Photography, what didn’t work well, and what we’re going to do in 2011.  Today, here are just a few of my thoughts as to what did not work well in 2010.  To catch up on the first part of this series, click here: What Worked.

Pre-Wedding:

— We put together a gift of a few of my favorite things to give at a consultation to say thank you for meeting; and not having this stuff in stock at beginning of year causes too much drama

— Snail mail contracts.. what a hassle

Shooting/Blogging:

— The lighting on our family photos – was insufficient, inconsistent

— The lighting and shooting of our details – was insufficient, inconsistent, and rushed

—  Not having regular feedback sessions with Jesie to go over her work and how she can improve

— Photographing the bride and groom portraits (on only 2 weddings) after the reception, due to a very early end time – our clients, though surprisingly not too disheveled, were just way too tired for a portrait session

— Not blogging enough personal stories

—  This is a big one.: Blogging too many wedding images.  I started 2010 deciding to blog two parts to each wedding with 75-100 images total that tell the story of the day.  (Even though I pass out event cards to every guest that lists the Pictage gallery with ALL the wedding photos.)   This turned out to be way too time consuming for me and bottom line: I ended up posting work that I wasn’t super proud of.  When the posts did go up, they weren’t timely and people had already seen the wedding posts.

— Not knowing what to blog when I decide it’s time to blog… need to preschedule this stuff, plan ahead

Post-Wedding:

—  Album design process – letting clients choose their own images was too difficult to put into a layout that made sense both chronologically and aesthetically.  We found when clients chose their own images, they’d pick grossly disproportionate numbers from the day (say 1 detail shot and 8 cake cutting shots) thus making it very difficult to design.  Further more, we ran into difficulty when the client selected 8 color images from an event and 1 black and white from the same event.

—  Not having a designated day to visit the Post Office – mailing packages throughout the week was a waste of Michael’s time.  Now we just have one ship day/week.

—  Giving clients a estimated completion time and forgetting to update them when that time changed

— Similar to above, turning things around quickly so clients don’t have to ask when they’ll have their pictures or products – this was so stressful.

Other:

—  Not having the lifecycle of a wedding client made into a convenient checklist so each client is treated equally and in a timely manner.

—  Not having a system in place for getting published in blogs, magazines, and newspapers

—  Running the business by myself 3 days out of the week.  Jesie works a full time job and pretty much just shoots with me, Michael works two days a week mostly editing.  I need more hours of help.  I need to not worry about certain parts of the business and hand that off to others in-house. This is a whole other blog post in itself.

— Getting overwhelmed by looking at lots of photography blogs and thinking, “OMG, these people are so much better than me; I have so much to learn; there’s no way I can do it all.”  That was NOT helping! Need to start focusing on RTP’s strengths and maximizing those. Being my own business.

— Checking Facebook regularly.  It’s dumb.  I’m embarrassed to admit it.  But I love that crazy web site and what it can do for a business. Though it’s a big, fat waste of time.

What’s Next for us?  Check back later today!