How I Balance A Photography Business with Life

It can be quite challenging to balance a photography business with everything else that is going on in your life. I find that it is most difficult to find the perfect balance between my day job, my family, and my photography. Those are the three things that have the most competition with each other. They are all quite time consuming but there is a way to manage it all. Here is what I do to be able to keep track of everything without losing my sanity.

How I Balance Photography with My Full-Time Job

• To balance time with my full-time job I try and work around my schedule. It isn’t always easy, but I do what I can to make the best of my free time.
• I manage all my admin stuff on the edges of the day. I wake up an hour before I have to start getting ready for work, mainly because I need that time to wake up, and I work on my business. I plan my blog posts, other content, and other computer work. I also use the time at night after dinner but before bed to finish up what I’ve started.
• I spend part of my lunch hour creating my inventory. I turn some of my photo prints into greeting cards, so when I finish eating I work on them.
• On my days off, I take my camera out. It’s easier for me to go out for sunrise when I don’t have to rush to work afterwards. I also go location scouting on those days for the same reason. By only going on my days off, I can take my time and not have to worry about being late for work.
• I look for art and craft fairs for my weekends off for the same reason. I don’t want to risk calling in unnecessarily and risking my job.

How I Balance Photography with My Family

• To balance time with my family I try and work on my photo business when I’m home alone. Our days off don’t usually coincide which is unfortunate for our relationship, but for my business it works out ok. By doing it that way, I don’t miss out on what little time we have together.
• That time between dinner and bedtime is also helpful for me to do my social media posting. We spend that time watching a movie, and I can’t just sit and enjoy the show. I have to be doing something with my hands, so I might as well do something productive.
• When we are on vacation, I invite my husband to go out and watch the sunrise with me. It doesn’t always work out, but I have managed to convince him to join me a couple times. And those trips are extra special to me because we got to spend them together.
• My husband is an outdoorsy person, so talking him into joining me for afternoon or early evening photography walks in the park are much easier. And they happen more frequently than the sunrise ones do. He also has a good eye and he usually points out compositions that I’ve either missed, or passed on initially.
• He joins me at the craft fairs; we joke that he’s my intern. He helps me set up my booth and talk with all the people who stop by. We use the time in the car to talk and make plans.

What I Want to Incorporate

That is what I do right now to balance my photography business, my full-time job, and my family. There are a couple of other things that I want to try and incorporate into my current routine.

• In a past life I got into bullet journaling and I loved it. But I don’t think I was doing it in a way that was working. I was tracking things that weren’t necessarily important. I recently decided to use my journal as a monthly to do list, so I can keep track of what I need to do.
• I want to find a way to manage my time better. I wind up getting distracted by the internet whenever I go to create a post. Who doesn’t, I know, but I waste way too much time there. Any suggestions? Maybe I should get a kitchen timer?
• I am trying to be a more consistent creator. Which means I should try to use my journal to create deadlines and make a calendar, and then I need to stick to them. However, I don’t want to be too consumed by this so I need to make easy deadlines and find that balance.

How do you balance everything you have going on? Any tips or tricks that I should work on? I’d love to hear what you think. Comment below with what you’ve found that helps you.