Day in the Life of a Photography Mentor

What is like behind the scenes of the screen as an online photography mentor? I’m going to give you a little timeline to my typical day and share a few little tasks that keeps the VuePoint running.

Morning

The start of the day is when you’re most motivated – when you’re most willing to tackle anything. This is the time I start on any jobs that I’ve been putting off for ages. I like the Dennis Taylor approach to work – always do the hard/boring stuff first.

I find it more effective to work this way around for 3 reasons;

Like I said, we’re more motivated in the morning so why not use up those energy cells while I’ve got them.
I can’t put these jobs off forever; they’re generally stat collecting, email replies, analytics updating, engagement & reach counts, plus admin stuff – but they are important so it makes sense to do them before I find a reason otherwise.
Once the boring jobs are done, then I can get on with the jobs that I enjoy and that makes sure I’m motivated for the whole day as I’m doing tasks that are creative or educational.

I’ve always gotta have some type of music in the background while I work. I cannot work in silence, the random ambient sounds around the office are too distracting and inconsistent. I need to be locked in, focused and in a vibe to help me work fast.

Afternoon

Once all the morning jobs are done, midday marks the time to be getting on with the big projects of the day. I aim to start them as early as possible, not always at 12, just depends how much donkey work is needed before hand.

My main tasks range from recording critiques for photographers who’ve sent in their photos for review. This can take a while depending on how many they’ve booked for. The import, recording, editing and exporting can typically take anywhere from an 60 to 90 minutes. Doing a couple per day can take up most of the afternoon – but it’s what I love doing!

I can’t have the same playlist on all day. I like to mix up the music and lock in something I’ve not heard for a while when exporting my critiques – maybe some 80’s throwbacks or some one hit wonders?

Once all my client work is ready to send I’ll update my schedule sheet and email any critiques and links out later in the afternoon. Given that this takes up a lot of computer power, I switch over to my tablet to check-in on my Instagram.

I don’t waste too much time scrolling aimlessly, I go straight to my followers timeline and drop in comments on anything that catches my eye. Remember to reply to any comments you get too! I’ll check out what’s looking good in landscape and woodland photography hubs and see if there are any new and engaging photographers worth following and I’ll drop them a hello.

Don’t get lost on the explore tab, you can lose hours scrolling. Hit the feed with purpose. Check in on your stats and get yourself some new content ideas with saving posts, carousels and reels that you like.

Evenings

I don’t work a typical 9-5 structure some days. Mentoring requires you to work to the schedule of your clients some days. So I may take a break in the afternoon, take the dog out and then come back for an evening mentoring chat which I do online. They’re normally around an hour long and so much fun to help out other photographers.

If I don’t have an evening book then I hop back onto the tablet and log on to Canva or Pixlr X and prep some new social content. The pressure of social media and running a business means you always need to be consistent and present in the online world for customers to hear your message.

Weekends

So when do I actually take photos? Yeah feels like that’s only a small percentage of my time, but very crucial for a number of reasons.

I always need to learn more about photography, my kit and myself as a photographer. Constant practise helps with this.
I need new images to tackle new problems – my clients sometimes experience photo problems that I haven’t so getting out and living the issue for myself helps me come up with a plan to help them.
Photographers are discoverers by nature, we’re looking for answers to an unknown question (well some of us are!) It helps relax the mind after a busy week, decompress and tune into nature.