How To Handle The Unglamorous Part of a Photography Business

The models. The lights. The action. The creativity. The people. The images! The fun part of photography is getting into the action and creating the images.

But when the day is done, you still have to do the other, not-so-glamorous parts of running a photography business. The daily tasks that make your business a business.

One of my least favorite tasks has always been accounting. So I’ve purchased systems like Peachtree and Quickbooks, and plod along doing only what’s truly necessary to keep my business in line. I’ve also done a ton of research over the last couple of years because I wanted to move away from software applications that reside on your computer, and move to a web based application that I can take and access anywhere.

A few days ago I was emailed an introduction to Wave Accounting. Intrigued, I started doing a little research, watched their video and looked through their screen shots, and decided to give them a try.

The best part of Wave Accounting is it’s Internet based, and it’s free. Yep, they won’t give you something for free at the lowest level, then charge you an arm and a leg down the road when you move up to the next level. It’s free from beginning to end. They make their money on the offers they make to you through your dashboard – business items like phone services and office products. If you choose to take advantage of any of the offers, Wave makes money from the supplier.

What makes Wave so powerful is its automation features. When you sign up for Wave, you can link your accounting system to your banks and credit cards. This means you don’t have to double enter many of your daily tasks – they are done for you. The dashboard system gives you an instant view of where you stand today, and you can quickly move from place to place seeing the things that matter most to you. Like who you owe – and who owes you.

While I’m still getting used to the system myself, I received another email today from a Wave Communications Assistant, Kathleen. One of Wave’s target markets is photographers – which means they have special features just for us photographers.

They’ve made June photographers month, and will be offering a variety of specials exclusively for photographers during the month of June. Things like

  • Photographer of the week profiles
  • Guest bloggers
  • A photo contest
  • Tips and FAQs about running a photography business

Which means now is the perfect time for you to give Wave a try.

To get started, head over to their Photographer’s Survey – it’ll take just a couple of minutes (I did it myself) and you’ll let them know what issues you would like highlighted during the month of June.

Then click the Sign Up Now button. You’ll have access to the backend system in just a couple of minutes, and you can start using a great tool that may just make accounting a little more bearable.