Monitor who’s pinned or repinned content from my site on Pinterest.Instead I participate in different networks at different times, and I have some reminders in OmniFocus to nag me to participate in places I might otherwise forget. Despite what some might want to believe, I don’t sit at my computer for twelve hours each day and do nothing but hang out online. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, and a few other places. While keeping tabs on client tasks is important, I find that OmniFocus really shines when helping with ongoing business, marketing, and networking work. Ongoing Business Tasks Not Tied to a Client I’ll set start dates for the days I anticipate beginning work on these items, and I use a hard due date when there’s a true deadline based on the contract or other agreement. You’ll note in my screenshots that the date columns are empty these get filled in as appropriate when I set up a specific job. We can’t deliver before we retouch, we can’t retouch before we select the photo(s), and so on: In general, the post-shoot activities run in sequence. I’ll have a set of OmniFocus tasks for processing and delivery. Let’s use a simple business portrait as the example where I’m producing one finished image. When I wrap up a shoot, I use a similar set of steps to ensure I don’t neglect anything with image processing and delivery. As I mentioned earlier, some of these things can happen in parallel (preparing the contract and invoice) while others need to happen in a specific order (I can’t verify that I receive payment before I send the invoice for example). I set these tasks up in a template project (more on that below) and when I book a new gig, this template gets duplicated and customized for the specific client and job. Here’s what that looks like in OmniFocus (this is a generic template, exact tasks might be altered or added for a given job depending on the circumstances): Preparing and packing gear for the photoshoot.Identifying gear needed and making arrangements for any rentals.Generating and sending an invoice for the job.Getting the client setup in my bookkeeping system (if they’re new).Preparing, sending, and storing the photography contract.When I acquire a new client, or begin planning for a new job for an existing client, I have a series of tasks to perform. The other projects are for ongoing tasks such as business development, marketing, bookkeeping, personal projects, and the like. I have two types of projects for my photography business: the first consists of projects for specific clients and jobs. OmniFocus for Photographers: Project Organization You’ll see where both of these flows (sequential and parallel) come into play for specific work items. This is one of the things where OmniFocus is set apart from many other task systems. I’ll explain how it works and give you a bunch of links to resources/options (some of which are affiliate links – your clicks or purchases help me produce resources like this).Ī couple notes about task sequencing/flow: when setting up a project (a set of related tasks) in OmniFocus, one can choose for those tasks to be worked either sequentially (one after another, with only one task potentially being in progress at a time) or in parallel (multiple tasks are eligible for work concurrently). Instead I want to look at OmniFocus for photographers – how it applies to our situations. This article isn’t intending to preach the virtues of GTD (but I do recommend that all professionals ought to read the book – it’s quite affordable). You don’t have to use GTD to make OmniFocus useful however. OmniFocus is based on the principles of David Allen’s popular Getting Things Done (GTD) system, with built-in support for GTD concepts such as contexts, projects, next actions, and the weekly review. My tool of choice for managing my tasks (photographic and otherwise) is OmniFocus, a suite of Mac, iPad, and iPhone applications from the Omni Group. Preparations for a photoshoot (both gear and things like invoicing the client). Professional photography is all about the (work)flow.
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