There comes a point when you can't take on more work alone. Building a team, whether one second shooter or several photographers, lets you take more jobs, cover more areas and spend more time growing the business. This guide covers when to grow, how to find the right people, how to pay them fairly and how to keep quality high.
In this guide: when to grow, finding people, setting pay, onboarding, assigning jobs, keeping quality high, and paying on time.
1. Know when it's time
- You regularly turn down jobs, or clients wait more than a few days for a slot.
- Editing and admin are eating your evenings and weekends.
- You want to cover areas or services you can't do yourself, such as drone or video.
If two of these sound familiar, adding help is likely to pay for itself.
2. Find the right people
- Look at Meet Local Pros on your Home page: photographers, videographers and assistants near you, with their skills. Message them to get to know them. Skills are self-reported, so check their work before you hire.
- Ask for a portfolio, and do a paid trial job together before handing over a full shoot.
- Look for reliability and good communication as much as talent.
3. Set fair pay
In RebookMedia you set each team member's pay for each service, as a fixed amount per job or a percentage of the job. Fixed amounts are simple and predictable; percentages share the upside when you sell bigger packages. Make sure what you pay plus your costs still leaves you a profit on every job. See Pay your team members.
4. Onboard them properly
- Invite them from your Team page with the right role: Photographer / Creator for people who shoot.
- Set their working hours and service areas, and tick them as a provider on the services they do.
- Share a short guide on how you work: shot lists, editing style, arrival time, dress code and what to say to clients.
- Send them Work as a team member so they know how to use their account.
See Add and manage team members.
5. Assign jobs
- Assign team members to the services or visits on a project. They get the job by email, see it in their Projects list and receive the calendar invite.
- When clients book online, they can choose a team member, and the job is assigned automatically.
- Use the day schedule when scheduling a visit to avoid double-booking anyone.
6. Keep quality high
- Review uploads before delivering: team members upload straight to the project, and you deliver to the client.
- Read every client review and share praise with your team.
- Give feedback quickly and kindly, with examples.
7. Pay on time
Pay becomes due when you mark a project Completed. Pay your team promptly, by recording a payment or sending it through Stripe; nothing keeps good people like being paid fairly and on time. Your team members see what they are owed and paid on their Earnings page.
Still stuck? Book a free 30-minute call with our support team and we will walk through it with you.