Last week I started talking about growing my business during quarantine without breaking any laws. Practicing my skills was hands down the most fun way to grow my business. But it was the never ending quarantine, I honestly can't remember how long it lasted. Was it 6 weeks? If you know, feel free to tell me. All I know is it seemed like an eternity.
Apparently, most people spent a lot of time cleaning and re-organizing their houses. For those who don't know me, cleaning and re-organizing anything is not anywhere near the top of my to do list. Not even close. My house at any given time could probably be best described as lived in. There's a reason I use a specific entrance to the studio and have a designated studio space and don't do the tear down and put back up method. I need to have a small area that I keep from looking so lived in. Even a quarantine didn't change this fact for my house. I had zero motivation to do much house cleaning on quarantine. I did however do cleaning, maintenance, and organizing for my business while I was on quarantine.
While I do try to keep the studio tidy, with all my creating different flat lays and studio practicing, I had my prop and background storage in a bit of a mess. Who else out there has the problem of there never can be enough totes to store things in? I need to get out and buy more sometime again. While on quarantine I took the time to get things neatly put away in the studio. I went through the backgrounds I had piled high over the ironing board and put away the ones I won't need anytime soon. I also went through and picked out and photographed some old ones to sell that I don't use anymore to try and de-clutter and de-stash. These are some things that I kept meaning to do but didn't have the time, quarantine made sure that was no longer an issue. Keeping props and backgrounds clean and easy to locate is always helpful!
Another task I decided to tackle was finally getting around to painting the studio wall. It was on my to do list since the new wall was installed after Christmas, but I just couldn't find the time to get it done. Sure, painting one wall doesn't take too long, but wet paint and photo shoots don't mix. Plus, given the type of paint we had to use to paint the new wall, the studio needed a couple days to air out. So one week I set out to get the wall painted finally. It took 3 coats to get it covered, but man oh man does it look good now that it's done! The only problem is, now I want to paint the rest of the studio!
I mentioned my flat lay work in last week's blog post, but what I didn't mention was the style mats that I made before taking the flat lays. In my research on ways to improve my flat lay game, I came across a lot of photogs recommending style mats. These mats look amazing, but they can be pricey. Fortunately, I found a really great tutorial on how to make my own for a much more reasonable price. I actually found the tutorial awhile back, but again, it was one of those things I needed time to do. Enter quarantine, and bada bing bada boom, all the time in the world. The mats weren't hard to make, but they did take a good deal of time and patience. I am really glad I made these because I just love what they add to my flat lays, and I am so looking forward to using them for my clients.
One of the other jobs I set my mind to do was calibrate my lenses. I have wanted to check the focus on my lenses for quite some time now, because I know things can arrive out of whack or need adjusting over time. I just didn't know the first thing about how to do it. But who doesn't love a good Youtube tutorial. I watched a couple tutorials that seemed promising, I like to compare what several people say to see if they are lining up on the same route or if someone is way out in left field. After I got an understanding of what I needed to do, I printed out my calibration sheet and set everything up to tackle to task before me. It really wasn't hard to do at all and didn't take me long. I think the more I learn about my equipment and how it functions, the better a photographer I will be. I really enjoyed learning how to calibrate my lenses on my own, there's just something about being able to handle tasks for yourself.
All of this might not seem like a big deal, but one of the things I have learned is that small things add up to big things in the end. This is why I set out to focus on one small change I could make here and there to make a lasting impact on my business down the line.
