Slow Seasons

My business is relatively seasonal. I find that I book more sessions in the spring and fall than I do in the summer and winter. As a self-employed entrepreneur, it can be terrifying when work becomes slow and inquiries are few and far between.

Here are some ways I handle the slow season:

• Rest. I tend to overwork myself during busy seasons, so I must schedule downtime during my slow seasons. I take more time to ride my horse, go to horse shows, plan vacations, and step away from work. If I’m out of energy coming out of a busy season, I need to take care of myself. See my post about anxiety and self-care here.
• Catch up. Slow season is the perfect time to refresh my website and portfolio, follow up on leads and inquiries, prep social media posts and blog posts, clean and organize my office, and send my gear to Nikon for regular maintenance. Check out 10 Tips for your Website here.
• Plan personal work. I might be shooting less paid work, but during slow seasons I fill in any gaps in my schedule with personal work. See my post about unpaid work here.
• Analyze and forecast. I reconcile my bookkeeping on a daily basis, but I use slower seasons to analyze my session averages, compare my revenue to goals, and forecast the future. Here are a few ways you can analyze.
• Diversify income. When my photo shoot calendar slows down, I focus on other ways I can diversify my income. I might pitch story ideas to magazines, contact new companies to do commercial work, run a sale to encourage print purchases from past clients, try to sell more stock images, or work on my KMP Learn education page. See my post about commercial work here.
• Education. The slow season is the perfect time to learn! I pick up books, or catch up on courses I have purchased. Enjoy 25% off all KMP Learn courses right now with the promo code JULY