Running any business requires efficiency, organization, and structure, but even moreso when you are a solopreneur.

Sure, you can do things the old fashioned way—with pen and paper—but having systems in place are going to help you significantly when you have a full client workload!

While not every application or software might be the right fit for you (and while also addressing the fact that there are a thousand and one ways to do anything nowadays), I thought it might be helpful for me to share the five applications I currently use to run my entire Pet Photography business from the client side of things!

I’ll share how I use the application, why it’s beneficial for me and my unique business, and more.

If the application has an affiliate link, I have made sure to link all of those throughout this post for you to check out if interested (and get a deal while you are at it!).

But, please know, we only use and recommend products we love. Learn more about our Affiliate Disclosure here.

So, I hope that if you are running a Pet Photography business as a solopreneur or one-person show that you glean something from this post and perhaps a new tool to help you along the way!

Let’s get started!

Psst… love this post? Be sure to pin it for later!

5 (Awesome) Applications That Run My Entire Pet Photography Business

STUDIO NINJA

First up is StudioNinja, which is my customer relationship management system or CRM.

There are literally so many things that StudioNinja does for my business that has saved me countless time and money over the years.

So, just as an example of a few of the things that StudioNinja can do for your photography business, it can:

Track leads coming in
Manage client information
Organize upcoming jobs
List all daily tasks
Create workflows
Design invoices and proposals
Send contracts
Manage my job calendar
Send appointment reminders
Automate tasks and emails
Collect payments
Act as your client portal
Serve as an online booking platform
And more…

What I really love though is how much StudioNinja helps me to automate my business while staying on track especially when I have a lot of clients that I’m working with at one time.

Also, I really enjoy that I can use StudioNinja on the go, so if I need to access something, their app is super helpful to manage my business when I’m not in my home office. That has been a life saver on more than one occasion!

I have looked at and used a lot of CRMs in the past and StudioNinja is a great fit for small photography businesses and large studios alike. Plus, compared to other CRMs the price point is economical, too.

If you want to scale your pet photography business and be able to take on a series of clients each month, eventually you will need to invest in a CRM to be able to keep track of everything and stay organized.

For just $25 a month, you can invest in StudioNinja for your own business. If you use my affiliate link code I’ll drop below, then you’ll get 20% off your monthly subscription, which trust me over time, StudioNinja will more than pay for itself.

Use this code to get 20% off your monthly subscription with StudioNinja: BSXI998X683H7W

Have questions about StudioNinja? Be sure to let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to help answer them!

FUNDY

The second application I use in my business is Fundy.

Fundy is something specifically for photographers who sell their clients custom artwork such as wall art, albums, prints, etc, from their session and that want to do so seamlessly.

What I love about Fundy for my own business is that I can quickly design coveted wall art collections for clients on their own walls or mock up custom albums in advance of our session.

But that’s not all—Fundy also allows you to create slideshows for client proofing, custom cards, and order your products directly from the Fundy Designer without having to go through your printer’s website.

If you want to sell more to your clients and offer them custom artwork, I highly recommend checking out Fundy Designer for your own Pet Photography business.

Not only will it make you look way more professional, but it will help you boost your average sale per client, too, so in essence make more money while you are better serving your client, it’s truly a win-win.

As of right now, Fundy is about $36 per month. So, while it’s on the higher end of monthly subscriptions for me, it’s totally worth it!

FLODESK

The third application I use for my Pet Photography business is FloDesk for all of my email marketing.

Why I chose FloDesk over so many other email marketing platforms is that it’s the most user friendly and you can create gorgeous forms, emails, sales pages, and workflows in just minutes!

From creating custom segments for different client types in my business to automated email sequences to forms where people can opt in, FloDesk has so much to help you grow your email list with success.

Compared to other email marketing platforms that I have used, FloDesk has the simplest user interface.

I actually get a lot of compliments on my emails from people in my community about how beautiful my emails are and that’s all thanks to FloDesk.

So, if you are a photographer and you want your emails to look as amazing as the photos you take, consider using FloDesk for all of your email marketing - I promise you won’t regret it!

Use this link to get 25% off FloDesk for your first year and I’ll get $15 as a thank you!

Not sure where to get started with Email Marketing?

If email marketing seems totally foreign to you, but you know that you want to implement email marketing in your Pet Photography business, I also offer my Email Marketing Class For Pet Photographers, which includes a FloDesk walkthrough of my own personal FloDesk and how I use it for business.

Email Marketing For Pet Photographers, if you’re interested, is just a measly $29 and it’s brimming with all the things you need to know about email marketing as a Pet Photographer!

PIC TIME

Pic-Time is the newest addition to my business arsenal.

For the first few years of my business, I used Pixieset as my image gallery hosting platform.

While Pixieset was fine to use, I felt that Pic-Time was way more customizable all the way down to choosing the select printers you want to use for your online store.

Pic-Time also has great email marketing capabilities (different from FloDesk that we talked about earlier) and customizable email templates for different types of clients.

Within Pic-Time, they allow you to set up sales with your online store throughout the year as various campaigns (think Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc).

Not only that, but whenever you deliver a gallery, you can set up sales automations to the specific gallery to encourage people to print their photos. You can also sell digital images, videos, and slideshows.

I also really like that clients can leave testimonials right inside Pic-Time along with segmenting galleries and customizing your public gallery for potential clients to see.

In other words, Pic-Time is a bit more of a workhorse than Pixieset. There are many things about it that I’m probably not even sharing here - these are just what immediately come to mind and work well for me.

Since I’ve started using Pic-Time (a little less than year and a half), I’ve made about $900 extra profit in my business due to the sales abilities. I know that as I continue to tweak and adjust it that I’ll definitely increase that significantly!

Did I mention that Pic-Time also looks super professional and high end, too?

Click here to get a free trial of Pic-Time. When you upgrade to a paid plan, we both get a month free!

SQUARESPACE

The last application I am going to share that I use to run my Pet Photography business is Squarespace.

Not only do I use Squarespace as my website and domain hosting platform, but it showcases my portfolio, hosts my blog, and also my e-store where I have educational resources available for purchase and more.

I have always used Squarespace for my website platform because it’s so easy to use, update, and change. It offers lots of templates and a drag and drop method, so anyone can use it or create their own website. There are a lot of templates specifically geared towards photographers, too.

I also like that my domains are also linked to Squarespace making it super easy and simple to get my website up and running quickly without worrying about nameservers, DNS, and all of that.

I know there are a ton of different website design platforms out there, but Squarespace has always worked super well for me. I love the versatility of it even if the price point is now steeper than it used to be!