I’ll pencil you in…

I pretty much book packages exclusively now. It’s become a part of my business model. I’m constantly getting asked how I keep it straight, how I remember to book the remaining sessions…and do I forget upcoming sessions and overbook sometimes?

It wouldn’t be kidding to say I have an elaborate system of graphs and flowcharts to keep me on track. (In an addition to constant iCal pop-up reminders.) The photo above is an example of the first half of my monthly schedule print outs for 2009-2010, and also one my package booking sheets by client for 2009-2010.

The sheet on the bottom is one of my monthly schedule lists. If you look really closely you can see the names checked off for each session completed in the early part of 2009. The sheet on the top is one of my package bookings lists.

Each client has every session in their package broken down by “completed”, “scheduled”, or “schedule”. Dates already on the calendar are in Tiffany blue. Each of the package types I offer is jewel-coded, and a client doesn’t get a jewel by their name until their contracts and model releases have been sent back.

Both systems remind me, by month, that it’s time to schedule upcoming sessions. As does iCal. The monthly breakdown also allows me to see when any given month is full and lets me know to close it off for future bookings.

If you’ll look to the left of my monitor in this old office photo from 2008, you’ll see one of these multi-schedules poking out. I keep copies posted to the wall in my office right behind my desk, and also in the kitchen near the phone. That way all I have to do is cross-check a given month (right now through November 2010 as I already have holiday sessions on the schedule for next year) when a potential client inquires about my availability.

I always remember to pad a weekend off in the schedule every few weeks, not only because time with my children and husband comes first and foremost to me (and my boys are not getting any younger – one starts kindergarten this month). But also because when dealing with births, babies never fail to surprise you and all arrive at once, be it early or late. I had six newborns in May 2008 because two from April went late, two from May were born on time, and two from June went early. It was like the perfect storm. Without that extra padding, I would have been doomed. It also allows me to catch up on my processing / orders and guarantee some much-needed “downtime”.

I took most of July 2009 off as a mini-summer vacation with my boys. Of course, it took me until the last week of the month to finish proofing sessions and fulfill print, product, and canvas orders. But now it’s August and I’m mentally ready (especially now that I’m “caught up”) to dive head first into the holiday season, which for me begins in September on my shooting calendar.

If you’d like to see more of my office, I have a group of photos tagged on Flickr. And don’t miss this photo by Pinkletoes—she single-handedly defines office organization.

I should have another guest-post up on the site this week so stay tuned! It’s in the final tweaking stages!

As mentioned previously…I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

showcase showdown

This is another guest post by Heather James of Heather James Photography in Princeton, NJ. I’m beyond excited that she’s sharing these here. The idea is nothing short of brilliant and the presentation is absolutely fantastic!

I have quite a long price list as most of us do. Typically, I’d email a potential client a few hyperlinks to various web pages that showcased my work, what my sessions are like, and what my pricing is. It has been a great way to get my information out quickly and in an eco-friendly way. Then I had an inquiry from someone who doesn’t have an email address. WHAT? I was completely in shock mostly because the person sounded much younger than my 75 yr old grandmother who ichats on a regular basis. I needed a way to sell myself, my work and get all 5 hyperlinks into 1 envelope without breaking my bank account. So the accordion price guide was born. The following was a must to have on:

1. get all of my pricing in.
2. share a few of my best images.
3. most importantly: share who I am and why I am a lifestyle photographer and get them excited about scheduling a session with us.

Once I set the guidelines in place, designing it was a breeze for me. I just went with my gut and created something I would enjoy looking at every day – and I do look at it just about every day! The entire front side is all about the session. The only pricing is my session fees and each panel discusses who we are and what we’re like. When I say we, I mean my husband and I, as we truly are a team in every sense.

The back is the nitty gritty stuff. All of my print packages, special collections and premium à la carte pricing. There’s a few photos scattered around both sides that showcase most of the types of sessions I offer. Its neatly sealed in a white envelope with a round 1.5″ sticker from zazzle.com with my logo on it.

I find now that I not only send this to potential clients who don’t have access to the internet, but I also give this to my clients with a thank you notecard and a business card at the end of each session. Now that their session is complete, it gets them thinking about the next step in the process and excited about their proofs coming!

Every 3 months, or when I run out, I update the photos on the card based on the season and am always introducing new sessions into my marketing. And I always send along a sample of any marketing piece I use a client’s images on to them. They get super excited and show all of their friends and family their 5 seconds of fame which is instant free marketing for me!

Thank you so much for sharing these Heather! Drop by her blog and say “hi“!

As mentioned previously…I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

real page turner

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in January 2009.)

My album company offers swatch-sample sheets. They’re very nice, laminated and “fancy”. However their name and logo are very prominent and that’s information I like to keep to me, myself, and I. I wanted a way to present the samples to clients that was also functional. So I ordered a 5×7 sample album and got out my paper trimmer.

I basically turned one of the albums into a scrapbook so not only are clients able to hold an actual album sample in their hands (and see the cover fabric, page thickness, etc.) but they also can view color options and styles available to order.

I also bring a sheet with the different cover types listed under thumbnail images (front and back), and we both can mark down and discuss their cover choices in person before ordering. There’s a notes section at the end for them to write in and check off the titles of their favorite swatches. I used the album company’s online sample images to put the album order sheet together and I leave that sheet with my clients after I go. My clients place their orders online so this “try it before you buy it” is essential for my sales.

I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. (Don’t miss Christina McCall Photography’s blog entry about her recent guest stint here.) If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!

know when to fold ‘em

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in June 2008.)

I sell accordion albums but it had always been difficult trying to help clients visualize what photo would go where. My ordering software allows them to pick the position of each photo, but without being able to “see” the layout it was difficult to translate from thought to order.

So instead I made the template above to help them understand what the numbers mean (click here to download it in full-size). Much less Advil required all around.

I also include the following text:

The top row is a flip-image of the bottom row.

I’ve also put in the fold lines for you on the images that will “face” one another in the accordion folds — so #2 and #3 face each other when wide open — #4 and #5 face each other when wide open — #7 and #8 face each other when wide open — #9 and #10 face each other when wide open — and #11 and #12 face each other when wide open.

show ‘n’ tell

Today kicks off the first in what I hope will be a series of “guest spots” here at Paperie Boutique — “May We See Your Packaging, Please?” The photos in this entry are courtesy of Christina McCall of Christina McCall Photography (formerly Reflections of Life Photography).

I asked if she’d mind sharing some of her gorgeous packaging photos and tips here and she graciously said “Yes!” I’ll let her say the rest!

• No need to buy the vendor’s belly bands — dress up wallet and announcement boxes, as well as cd cases, with ribbon and buttons (or even pewter charms!) instead. When I find ribbon I love, I stockpile enough to last a while (usually whatever amount they have on hand). The ribbon on the announcement boxes and cd cases is my ‘signature ribbon’, so I periodically raid the stores that carry it to buy up all they have on hand.

To finish them off, I add a button or two over the seam to hide it from view.

• What’s even better about the boxes I use for wallets and announcements? I don’t stamp my logo on them and encourage clients to reuse the boxes and belly bands for gift wrap rather than tossing them after distributing the prints/announcements enclosed.

• My clients love the fact that I package orders to look like a gift — whether delivered in person or shipped! After I package everything, I use paper ribbon bows on sacks and wrapphia on mailed orders and to bundle items within sacks. To complete the look, I tie on a tag I designed with my logo or one of my business cards.

• My absolute favorite packaging item are Moo stickers! I use them as envelope seals, to seal print bags, on proof disc cases, and when tissue wrapping odd shaped items (usually on the lower right corner).

I have a variety of phrase stickers — from ‘Thanks’ to ‘Memories Enclosed’ along with designs including dingbat images and my logo.

• Paper Source‘s baby envelopes are my newest love: they’re great for mini wallets — my client thank you gift — as well as for holding referral or business cards. I seal them with a Moo sticker and stamp my logo on the front.

Thank you so much, Christina! Please visit christinamccall.com for more!

If you would like to feature your packaging / marketing / product lines here, please drop me a line. My e-mail address is over in the sidebar (robyn @ this site’s URL) or you can just leave a comment. I’d really like this to be a full sampling of all the different options available out there, and not merely a showcase of my own items.

And if there’s anything of mine you’ve seen in the past and would like to know more about, post it in the comments. I’ll do a free-for-all Q&A entry when I have enough requests.

merci beaucoup

Today marks a week over here at paperieboutique.com — so to celebrate I’m putting this thank you card template up for (FREE) download. I use these photo cards to send a personalized note of thanks to clients for booking with me inside of my welcome packets, or tuck them inside client orders.

This template is designed to print as a 5×8 photo with lustre finish. Make sure your lab prints this non-standard size! The template is sized at 8¼ “×5¼” to allow for standard cropping in-lab.

You will need to insert your logo, an image, and customize with the background and border colors of your choice.

I have the background set to white, the inner border set to grey, and the bottom solid-stripe set to pink right now — but you can change these by clicking the color fill layers for each section — just double-click each box and you can change to any color you’d like. (Some of the content to alter is located inside folders. Make sure to open them.) The pink arrow in this image shows where you click to change the colors.

Don’t forget to hide the logo and main image placeholder layers before printing! The font I used for the contact information section is News Gothic MT.

→ download link ← (please note this file was designed in CS2 and you must have Photoshop or Elements and know how to edit a .psd layered file — I do not provide technical support for this download)

You can write on the photos easily with a super-fine Sharpie. To finish the look, I use Paper-Source A9 envelopes sealed with Moo stickers.

Thanks again for all of the well-wishes, comments, ReTweets and link-backs during this first week. I look forward to watching this place grow up!

This template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2009. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

bragging rights

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in September 2008.)

These books can make very nice “under $25″ thank you gifts for your best clients. (Ordering a soft-cover drops the price even more.) The photos shown here are of the ACI’s photo memory book — 20-pages, size 4×6. I upgraded to the black art cloth cover and linen pages. Each page is the thickness of a linen art paper postcard. There is a solid black divider page at the very beginning and end of the book. You can have the pages scored for an additional cost, and I highly recommend doing so due to the page thickness. Dust jackets are also offered for an additional fee.

I actually created my own guide-template (FREE in the download link below) based on ACI’s specs in ROES. The “HIDE crop layer before saving” layer should be deleted before print. It is just a guide. All the light area in that layer is the crop-area. Only what’s inside that light area is guaranteed to print. The two darker strips on either side alternate being relevant one at a time if the page is on the left or on the right of the book — the area in the dark strip is what will be lost to page mount / fold. Basically you’ll start with a 6½x4½” crop and then make sure your page content fits in the grey guides, and then delete the crop guide layer before saving. I numbered my finished pages “page1.jpg”, “page2.jpg”, etc., so there would be no confusion in ROES when it was time to build the book.

Here is an example of the three (FREE!) templates you can download now:

These templates are ©Robyn Pollman, 2008 and 2009. All rights reserved. They may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

All three pages shown include the crop guide layer. → download link ← (please note these files were designed in CS2 and you must have Photoshop or Elements and know how to edit a .psd layered file — I do not provide technical support for this download)

(Just make sure to upgrade to the linen paper if you want your finished product to look the same as mine.)

stick ‘em up

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in February 2008.)

Tired of printing my own circle stickers and having that blasted white ring around the edge, trying other online printers and having that blasted ring around the edge……….I decided to give Zazzle one more try because they do a computer-generated preview of what your printed label will look like. I wasn’t all that happy with them the last time I ordered because the white ring wasn’t even. But this time, I’d say about 80% of the labels are perfect. It makes a big difference having the border solid to the edge. Someone with OCD like me doesn’t notice the 1mm border shift as much that way.

Now they obviously feed these things into a machine automatically without any quality control, because the other 20% are slightly off.

But hey, I don’t have to deal with printing them myself now — the printing is decent — they’re gloss instead of matte, and you can order as few as one sheet at a time for under $5/sheet.

Here’s your chance to make your own 1.5″ bordered-circle sticker with Zazzle until a better alternative is found.

→ download link ← (please note this file was designed in CS2 and you must have Photoshop or Elements and know how to edit a .psd layered file — I do not provide technical support for this download)

There are two layers — border color and label color:

I have the border set to black and the label center set to white right now, but you can change both of those by clicking where the pink arrow is pointing in each section — just double-click each box and you can change to any color you’d like.

The maximum height to fit your logo or image in the center is 360-pixels high or 360-pixels wide.

Save your image as a .png, .tiff, .jpg, or .gif file.

Make sure to select the 1.5″ labels from Zazzle: zazzle.com/custom/stickers

Check to make sure everything looks centered and how you want it to appear in their design-generator. (I suggest not adding text in their editor — do all of your editing in Photoshop before upload.)

Voilà! (I accept thank you’s via Sephora.)

This template is ©Robyn Pollman, 2008. All rights reserved. It may not be copied, resold, made available for download or given away elsewhere, or redistributed without my written permission.

show me how you do that trick

Paper-Source has several invaluable tutorials online – from photo examples to video. A select few:

1. How to tie a bow
2. How to tie a square knot
3. Using sealing wax

Kate’s Paperie has an “ideas and inspiration” section as well.

And wonder where I get a lot of my packaging materials and supplies? I’ve previously posted the answers to Shutterblog, and now here!