After running my business for 5 years, these are the top 8 essential programs for photographers that I use on a weekly basis (all the time really). Keep reading to find out what they are and how I use them!

Hey you!! This is my first blog post for my education website and I’m so freakin excited. I love helping you and giving you free education to help your business grow! I just wanna teach you everything I know — SO BUCKLE UP! Here’s my top 8 programs that I use that have helped me grow my small business exponentially.

Top 8 Essential Programs for Photographers

#1 – HoneyBook

HoneyBook is the number one product that I’ve invested in, hands down. This client management system seriously does it all and has given me SO MUCH sanity with the backend of my business. Are you struggling to remember allllll the things to do for your clients? Which person to send that dress recommendation to? Crap, where was that timeline attachment that one bride sent me?

If you’re feeling like you have a million internet tabs open in your brain at all times — YOU NEED HONEYBOOK HONEYYY.

All your client management in ONE PLACE. Emails, files, brochures, questionnaires, invoices, contracts, scheduling, templates, automations and so much more. When I invested in HoneyBook, I got my time back and started serving my clients better (without having to remember all the things!)

If you want to try HoneyBook for free and get 50% off your first year – I’ve got a discount code for you!

#2 – Google Calendar

To go along with why HoneyBook is so great, you can integrate other systems you already use to utilize it even better. I use Google Calendar to basically drive my life hahaha. I put everything in here from coffee dates, to client meetings, to weddings I’m shooting. Everything goes in here. So when I learned I can integrate HoneyBook and Google Calendar together — my life was changed.

Why is this so great? Whenever you get an inquiry for a wedding date, HoneyBook will put an inquiry on that date in your Google Calendar. Even better – when they book with you, it’ll turn into an event on your Google Calendar! This means no overbooking ever again. If you go to schedule a coffee date, you’ll see that you’re already booked that Saturday with a wedding and can schedule it for another time. This integration has made my booking and organization next level. I truly can’t live without them now.

Checkout Google Calendar here.

#3 – QuickBooks

QuickBooks has saved my life when it comes to taxes. All your income and expenses are funneled through one location, you can add your accountant, sort your expenses into categories, view projections, gross vs net, and send invoices to clients seamlessly. I use QuickBooks Online and my accountant said it was enough for small business owners. This could vary based on the business you have, so I would ask you accountant just in case! But if you’re just starting out, this is a great place to start.

Try QuickBooks Online and get 50% off your entire subscription PLUS a $50 giftcard when you sign up!

#4 – Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic reduces the time I spend culling photos by 10x I swear!! It’s so fast and allows you to sort your RAW images extremely fast. I used to upload all my photos into Lightroom and it would take me forever to sort through my photos – now it’s a breeze. I also use Photo Mechanic to rename all my photos for clients and when I’m blogging!

Checkout Photo Mechanic here.

I’ve always been a fan of Photo Mechanic, although Narrative Select just came out recently and a lot of people have been raving over it. I’ll update you once I try it! You can checkout Narrative Select here.

#5 – Lightroom and Photoshop

Obviiii. My two go-to programs to edit photos! I use Lightroom mostly for color correcting & cropping, and I use Photoshop for removing objects (blemishes/stop signs), and putting final edits on my work. Checkout Lightroom and Photoshop, and all the other products offering by Adobe, here.

#6 – Tailwind App

Tailwind is the shit. Upload photos you want to share to Pinterest and it does all the work of posting them at specific times when your audience is most active — that way you don’t have to. I have pins scheduled for the next year, automatically thanks to Tailwind App.

Tryout Tailwind App, here.

#7 – Narrative Publish

Narrative is a program that allows you to bog your work or share helpful tips faster than anything else. You can add 100 photos to Narrative, click their magic wand, and Narrative blogs for you. It creates a beautiful layout in literally 1 second. You can tweak it to your liking and start storytelling more, and worrying about blogging, less. Plus, they have integrated SEO sections to plugin keywords, meta description and so much more. It will also will give you a red, green or orange light depending on how well your blog post will perform and how your SEO and keywords are ranking — like you’re kidding. Amazing.

#8 – Pic-Time

Pic-time is a gallery sharing program where you can upload all of your photos for your clients, and deliver them in a beautiful, easy to use experience. My fave thing everrr is delivering a beautiful gallery that they can visually see right away, versus seeing a bunch of ugly file names lol. That’s not cute.

Another reason why Pic-Time is amazing is their online story and marketing automations. You can setup an email campaign for a Black Friday sale for example, and sell prints, albums, ornaments, frames, etc and Pic-Time will have an entire email campaign ready to go for you. All you have to do is tweak the emails to sound like you, and upload your branding colors and logos. THAT’S IT. I made thousands from passive income print sales last Black Friday thanks to them. A definite must.

If you want one month for free – click here and type in this code: 3BGJD3

Was this Blog Post “Top 8 Essential Programs for Photographers” helpful for you!?

I’d love to know!!! Send me a DM on IG (@transformed_workshop) or comment on this post and let me know your thoughts.

More Resources

Head back to the Blog for more free help, every other week!

Click here to checkout my mentorships and how and I can help you one-on-one!

The Shop – Courses, guides and resources to grow your business

Events – Signup for our waitlist to be notified when our next workshop / event launches!