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fotoClient — The easiest way to run your photography business
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@callmeed Hi Erik, great question! We think we can add a lot more value (and build a solid business) by focusing on building a great tool for pro photogs. Currently, our biggest group of users are wedding, portraits, and fashion photographers.
In a previous life I was an aspiring photographer; I still have one Nikon SLR left with all my lenses (no not D-SLR!). The little bit of client work I did was fun but, not unlike freelance design in those days, ultimately super old school—Excel spreadsheets, Dropbox folders, payment by check (!). fotoClient looks crazy powerful and my photog friends sing its praises, I would have loved to have it back then.
Hey Elijah and Isaac - been following you guys for a while now.
Amazing job on the UI/UX really impressive.
Couple of questions:
1. What stack is it built on?
2. What does the future look like? What are you going to be focusing on?
3. What is your user base like? Mostly professionals or semi-pros or hobbyists?
4. What's one thing you wish you would have done differently in the beta?
@adamevers Thanks Adam!
1. It's a MEAN stack -- (Mongo, Express, Angular, Node.js) This enables us to create a fast app-like user experience where data transfers are optimized and cached so there's minimal waiting for page reloads, etc
2. More features with a focus on the event photographer's specific needs -- we're planning more in the area of financials/accounting and paperless things like contracts, client portal, etc
3. All of the above; probably mostly professional however we feel the hobbyist/just-starting-out group is largely missed by other solutions and want to include them so their business can grow with fotoClient at the beginning
4. Our previous app design/framework had some limits, and had we restructured it much earlier it would have been an easier switch...but we're there now!
Hi Elijah & Isaac! Couple questions:
- This is clearly not the only business management software on the planet, but the first I've seen that's tailored specifically to pro photographers. What are some of the workflow quirks that are unique to photographers, and what features did you build into fotoClient to target those needs?
- I see on Twitter that you were in an invited beta for a while... what did you learn from those users and how are those learnings reflected in this release?
Congrats on the hunt and thanks for stopping by!
@jgulden Hey Josiah! You're right that a lot of the concepts for business management apply to many fields. I personally tried a few solutions before starting to build fotoClient and my biggest frustration was all the setup and customization necessary did not translate well to my needs as a photographer. I really wanted something simpler that did not just add more work to my life.
— Most creatives like photographers have a hard time translating their strength into creating systems or process that can scale. We worked really hard to create a product that is built around events & customized event/tasks workflows.
— During our beta we got a lot of feedback from our users and incorporated many changes and features based on that. One of the main things was identifying difficult points in the app where people would get confused and restructure it to make everything as intuitive as possible. The new release includes user requested digital invoicing with online payments and full mobile support with a redesigned interface.
Thanks for the question!
Glad to see another player in this space, there are a lot of options but none of them really leads the pack like ShootQ used to. Excited to see how this pans out for you. Let me know if we can help you spread the word to our audience!
Thanks Tyler!
Hey everyone, fotoClient streamlines your photography business workflow in a clean, simple & intuitive way without creating additional overhead. We also recently integrated stripe-powered invoices to help you get paid faster!
What makes fotoClient super powerful is that tasks are broken down into different workflows— you can create and customize a workflow for each type of shoot e.g. weddings, family, fashion, etc. Let's say your client calls you needing christmas family photos for next Thursday. As soon as you create that event in fotoClient, your checklist is automatically imported as tasks.
No more using sticky notes or spreadsheets to run a photography business. Just one uncomplicated, central hub. You can check it out with a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
@chrisgscott Thanks Chris! We're excited for the opportunity in the industry right now. We'll take all the help we can get -- email us at hello@fotoclient.com and we can get something setup. Thanks!
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