Dana Salsbury - Inspiring me once again. Thank you Melissa!
Brock - Thanks Melissa! :)
Tahiry - Hey Melissa! I'm obsessed with this post and pretty much your whole website.
One question, if you'd be so kind - do you not offer digitals (included) with packages? Since I saw the proofing part.
Melissa Jill - Hi Tahiry! So glad to hear! :) Yes, I do offer high res digital images for purchase in my packages. With PASS we can allow people to order professional prints through us and also enable digital downloads through the gallery. So it's multi-purpose!
Carmen - Thanks for sharing Jill! I'm just curious...with the extensive list of items you outsource...what do you keep on your plate? Do you just focus on blogging and shooting? I struggle with the idea of 'then what would I be doing' if I'm outsourcing as much as you. I don't have kids - just dogs and a husband - so it's not like I have little ones to worry about.
Melissa Jill - Great question Carmen! Here is the list of things I feel that I uniquely need to do myself: shooting, culling, color correcting & editing my favorites (about 80-100 from each wedding), blogging, some email communication, client meetings & phone calls, networking, updating the brand and website (at least giving input & direction), thinking big picture and improving the business (this includes learning, reading & problem-solving), managing employees and independent contractors, growing other streams of income. No matter how much I delegate and outsource, I never find myself twiddling my thumbs. There's always more to do to push the business forward.
Erika - Great post Melissa! TIL: I need to hire an office manager! :) Hadn't thought of all the ways this person could take responsibility for things I've been dying to do. Any chance you'd write a post about finding the right office manager for an at home business?
Melissa Jill - That's a great suggestion for a post Erika! I'll try to tackle that at some point!
Tabiah - Ha at outsourcing ya work out! Let me know ASAO when you've found that "holy grail." Great post as usual. Quick question though, can you really do most of those things, if you're now starting out?
Melissa Jill - Hi Tabiah -- I haven't outsourced all of these things from the beginning, but I've found that the more I outsource, the more my business grows. Feel free to take inspiration from this list and outsource what makes sense to you for where you're at now. But always be evaluating whether you can get more off your plate to free you up push your business forward in new ways.
Elizabeth Langford - This is an AMAZING list! I particularly love the housecleaning and yard maintenance. Thanks for sharing Melissa!
Tony - Great information. There are so many of these we have wanted to outsource to enable us to spend more time shooting and spend more time with our family. Many of these we have been reluctant to let go such as image editing and album design. This is what takes the majority of our time, but we feel like we would lose control of a major portion of what makes us special. Thanks for posting this has given us some additional ideas to look into.
Melissa Jill - Great thoughts Tony -- thanks for sharing! I know it can be scary to outsource at first, but if you think of your partners as collaborators, it doesn't have to feel like you are losing who you are or all of the control. You can work with your partners to achieve an end result that is representative of your brand and the quality and service you want to give your clients.