A weekly admin routine for your photography business
The work that keeps a photography business alive is the work nobody books you for. Leads go cold, invoices sit unpaid and a drive fails the one month you skipped a backup. A short admin block at the same time each week, with a list you trust, handles most of it in an hour or two.
Give admin its own slot
Admin squeezed into the gaps between edits never gets done. Block out the same time every week, like 90 minutes on Monday morning, and treat it like a client session. Monday works well for most photographers because weekend shoots are backed up and the week ahead is still open.
Keep the list in one place. Sticky notes and a notes app work until the season gets busy, then something slips.
The weekly admin checklist
Leads and inquiries
- Reply to every new inquiry. Within a day is a good rule, since people often ask two or three photographers at once.
- Follow up anyone you haven't heard back from, after about three days and again after a week.
- Note why lost leads went elsewhere, if they told you. Price, date and style each point to a different fix.
In CoreHue, set the Communication filter under Bookings → Inquiries to Needs reply and you have the list. See Managing inquiries.
Invoices and bookkeeping
- Send any invoices that are due to go out.
- Check what's overdue and send a friendly nudge.
- Record bank transfers and cash payments as they arrive.
- File receipts for gear, travel and software.
- Move a share of what came in to a separate tax account. Many self-employed people set aside 25 to 30 percent, but ask your accountant what fits your country and income.
Payments → Invoices shows what's Outstanding and Overdue at the top, and filtering to Overdue gives you the chase list. On Plus and Pro, payment reminders can do most of the chasing for you. See Your invoices list and Automatic invoice reminders.
Backups
- Make sure every shoot from the past week exists in at least two places before any card is formatted.
- Check your off-site or cloud copy finished syncing.
The common rule of thumb is 3-2-1: three copies, on two kinds of storage, with one somewhere else. Your working drive, a second drive at home and a cloud copy covers it.
Marketing
- Schedule the week's social posts.
- Write or outline one blog post. A full story from a recent shoot does more for search than a dozen captions.
- Ask last month's happy clients for a review.
Gear
- Charge batteries and clear cards before the next shoot.
- Clean lenses and check sensors after a dusty or rainy job.
- Note anything that needs a repair or a firmware update.
Monthly, quarterly and yearly jobs
Some admin doesn't need doing every week, but it does need a date.
| How often | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Reconcile your books, review what you earned, test a backup restore, deep-clean gear |
| Quarterly | Estimated or installment tax payments where they apply, review your prices, refresh your portfolio |
| Yearly | Renew insurance, review your contract with a lawyer, gather everything for your tax return |
For the money side, Reports → Finance lists every payment, refund and card fee for the period you pick, which is a good place to start your monthly review. See The finance report.
Setting up your routine in CoreHue
CoreHue tasks don't have to belong to a client. Admin jobs work best as tasks with no project, each with a due date so the reminders find you. Tasks are on every plan, Free included.
- Go to Projects → Settings, open the Labels tab and add labels such as Admin, Marketing and Gear. See Setting up statuses, labels and priorities.
- Go to Projects → Tasks and choose New task for each routine job, like "Chase overdue invoices" or "Check cloud backup". Leave Project empty, pick a label and set a due date. See Creating a task.
- For a job with several steps, like your weekly money check, open the task and add a checklist. See Adding a checklist to a task.
A "Studio admin" view
Save a view so your admin sits apart from client work:
- On Projects → Tasks, choose New view.
- Name it "Studio admin" and pick List for Layout and Due date for Sort by.
- Under Filters, set Project to No project.
- Choose Create view.
It sits under Views in the sidebar. Your account also comes with Due this week, a board of every unfinished task due Monday to Sunday, client work and admin together. Open both at the start of your admin block. See Saving task views.
Reminders and the morning email
Every task with a due date reminds you in the app at 9:00am on the day. Tick Email for 1 day before on the Reminders tab of Projects → Settings, and you'll get one email each morning listing what's due, earliest first. If something slips, a count shows beside Tasks in the sidebar and under Needs attention on Home until you deal with it. See Setting up task reminders.
Making a routine work without repeating tasks
Tasks in CoreHue happen once. They don't repeat on a schedule, so a weekly or monthly job needs a small habit to keep it going. Two approaches work well:
- Roll the task forward. For weekly jobs like your money check, keep one task. When you've done it, untick its checklist steps and move the due date on a week instead of completing it. It's always on your list, and its reminders keep coming.
- Create the next one as you finish. For monthly or quarterly jobs, complete the task so you keep a record, then create the next one with the new date straight away. "Check backup restore, November" takes ten seconds to add while you're in the moment.
Keep your full routine in a note on your phone, so restarting after a holiday is a matter of copying it back in.
For how admin fits alongside your client projects, see Running your studio with projects and tasks.
Frequently asked questions
How much time should a photographer spend on admin each week?
Most solo photographers need somewhere between two and five hours a week, depending on how many clients they have on the go. One fixed block, plus ten minutes on the days you shoot, keeps it from spilling into your evenings.
Can I set a task to repeat every week in CoreHue?
No. Each task happens once. Roll a weekly task forward by moving its due date, or create the next one when you complete the last.
What admin can I automate?
On Plus and Pro, CoreHue can send booking reminders and payment reminders to your clients for you. Your own task reminders and the morning email are on every plan. Backups are worth automating with your backup software too.
Will my admin tasks show in Google Calendar?
No. Tasks stay in CoreHue and reach you through notifications and the morning email. Google Calendar covers your bookings only. See Connecting Google Calendar.
Should admin tasks go in a project?
Usually not. A project is for one client's job, so admin is easier to find with no project and a label like Admin.