Paper Planner Calendar – Keeping Photographers Organized All Year Long!

As a photographer, we wear many hats and keeping track of them all is extremely important to stay on track!

If you’re anything like me, you’ll forget things if they’re not written down. The past few years I’ve always relied on my client workflow lists but I often fall short and forget micro tasks, so I admitted defeat and finally bought myself a paper planner to help keep me on track. You guys, it was so worth it! I’m now setting weekly goals/tasks as well as getting ahead on work and scheduling media posts for my business!

Events

I love the events tab towards the beginning because I use it to plan out any mini sessions I plan on hosting through-out the year. As I’ve grown and kind of nailed down my niche and what I love shooting, I find myself offering less and less mini sessions and more of the style of shooting I love. The less is more concept works great, focus on what you’re good at, dump the rest. Clients appreciate and gravitate towards the things you’re good at and feel less overwhelmed. This section let’s me set up at a glance what I want to do for the year!

Monthly Calendar Breakdown

Alright it looks overwhelming but there’s a method to the madness. Highlighted colors mean different things. The way I go about this is at the beginning of the month I sit down and write out exactly what I want to share on media and then as it gets scheduled I highlight it. Colors mean different locations, Facebook, Groups, Instagram, Emails, Blogs, Events, they’re all listed in different colors and it helps me visualize that all my platforms are being used.

The right side I write out my editing que to keep me on track and in order of sessions shot. Then, the little check marks remind me whose been posted on media. 😉

Weekly Calendar Breakdown

I typically just write out daily tasks as needed, if I fill up the week, then I jump to the next one. The crossed out boxes mean I obviously finished the task. The filled in boxes means I didn’t need to do the task and an arrow through it means the task got moved to the following week/month pending what the task was. Simple and organized in my brain! The notes section sometimes has product orders that might need to go in otherwise it’s usually full of sticky notes that can be moved around as needed. The little sticker on the bottom left corner means everything from that week is finished up and I don’t need to look back on that week.

And yes, I’m digging these highlighters! They can erase which makes me feel like things can be moved around if needed! I added a link for them here: Crayola Erasable Highlighters

Back of the planner

The back section of “notes” of my planner is where I keep all the important things. I write out my annual goal lists, keep track of future blog post ideas, have my monthly product sales that I plan on offering, my list of high school seniors and the workflow necessary and so many other things. I like this section to remind me of what my overall business is doing and to inspire me of what I have on the pipeline for the future. I wanted to keep this section more personal so you can’t see a lot of the content as examples but get creative and use this section to make your business work for you!

PS – Writing your passwords on sticky notes in this section is amazing because then you can just peel them up and stick them in your new planner for next year!

So that’s it. That’s how I organize and utilize my planners! I try to keep it simple but motivating for me to focus on not just my weekly tasks but building and creating for future months. It truly has helped to keep me focused and not forgetting the little things that slip through the cracks. I also use this along with Quickbooks and Shootproof to keep my business organized and efficient. For more details on how I use those check out the blog posts linked below!