It's almost April and taxes are due. Trust me, I am feeling your pain. Well, almost. This year, for my new portrait business, I chose to work with a bookkeeper and an account. You see, numbers and I are like oil and water. We rarely mix, so outsourcing something I didn't like to do simply made sense.

While I fought with myself and said I could take care of tracking my mileage, reconciling my books and itemizing my receipts, letting go really felt liberating. I could now return my focus back on making images.

But if you are just starting out, or you have attempted to keep your own accounting straight and you are disciplined, I have something for you that might quickly ease your frustration.

Most of us have to keep accounts somehow. Some resort to Excel spreadsheets and some use online or offline software programs. If the word: “QuickBooks” makes you shudder in fear, consider QuickBooks For Photographers, a series of step-by-step video tutorials that will walk you through the program, setting you up and bringing you peace of mind.

Jenny and Josh Solar are the brains behind this and the other programs I am going to tell you about today. Not only were they super helpful through the video series, they also resolved the questions I had after I had watched the program. The reason I am recommending this and their other programs is because they are well organized and useful from the get go. While I had off-loaded my QuickBooks work to my bookkeeper, I still went back to my desktop program to see if I could follow along and set things up as I was instructed. It was super easy and the fact that I could see the results right away made it all the more useful to me.

QuickBooks For Photographers is available for both Macintosh and Windows users. So, rest easy people!

Mastering Tax Time E-Book for Photographers is also something I would recommend to you, so that you can be prepared for next year's taxes. Right now Mastering Tax Time E-Book for Photographers is on sale for $19.00, saving you $10 right off the bat. If you are a pack-rat like me, hoarding receipts for years (but not being able to track them), you will get much relief in hearing how the Solars keep track of everything and can easily find all those pesky bits of paper when you absolutely must (that is, during tax time).

“This guide is designed to help you get organized and stay organized with all things tax related. It covers everything from bookkeeping to mileage, home office deductions to equipment lists and more!”

Lastly, there would be no numbers to plug in if you didn't have any sales, right? Well, you may have a ton of expenses, but it's always nice to run a business in the black, not red.

The Solars have a product called In-Person Sales. If you have been posting your images to an online gallery and haven't seen an uptick in sales, this 29-page guide book is for you. Given Jenny and Josh's long experience as wedding and family portrait photographers, I trust what they have to teach me about this topic. In fact, In-Person Sales is one of the books I am consulting right now as I structure my portrait business in Connecticut.

Here's the deal: If you Solar power your business and buy all three products mentioned above, I'll give three (3) of you 1/2 hour of my time ($150 value each) via a Skype video call. We can talk about your business. We can talk about specific photography issues you are encountering. We can talk about how you are using social media. I am not promising you that I know everything, so if you stump me, I'll either figure it out and let you know or will direct you to someone who does. So, come back here and tell me you bought QuickBooks For Photographers, Mastering Tax Time and In-Person Sales. I'll confirm with the Solars and then I'll pick three names out of the hat. Deal?

My photography business is Solar powered. Is yours?

Couple of days back, I published a guest post by Aaron Hockley about how photographers can or should choose their social media channels carefully.

Days after that post went live, I heard Jonathan Canlas (in a conversation with Todd Reichman of A Man To Fish fame and podcast) say rather bluntly that while it's all well and good to be on Facebook, Facebook “LIKES” don't pay bills. It made me think more about how I've been using social media, be it Twitter (nearly 8,300 followers) or Facebook.

The discussion in that podcast inspired me to also look at “why” I was using social media. Was it a source of real information? Or, was it entertainment? With a Twitter or Facebook presence, was I truly “marketing” to my target audience? I wanted to know how my posts measured. Ultimately, the question is: Am I able to convert visitors to actual paying photography clients.

Now, as a photographer, I am committed to doing one thing well – making images. Marketing, while exciting, comes in at a distant second, at the utter chagrin of both my accountant and my wife.

I know, as probably you have figured out for your own business, that being “out there online” is a vital part of your day. If you don't exist online these days, it's very difficult to sustain yourself as a business. Your clients are online, and so should you. But how to parse your day into useful chunks of time – time spent that can be measured and will bring in the results you want for your bottom line?

I didn't have an answer for that question until I ran into Chris Brogan‘s new offering called Mastering The Digital Channel [affiliate]. While I haven't taken this self-paced course yet, what I really like about Mastering The Digital Channel is that one has direct access to Chris Brogan!

As a photographer you may or may not have heard of Chris Brogan. He is the CEO of Human Business Works, a company that is dedicated to helping professionals understand and run relationship-based businesses. I've enjoyed his presence on Twitter and follow him there, but despite a large number of followers, he has always responded to my questions directly and promptly.

Chris, with Julien Smith, have written two books – Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust and The Impact Equation. Independently, Chris has also written Google+ for Business: How Google's Social Network Changes Everything and Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online. If you own a Kindle or an iPad with the Kindle application, consider buying It's Not About the Tights: An Owners Manual on Bravery.

Am I fan of Chris Brogan? You, betcha! I've always enjoyed his no-nonsense, fluff-free delivery of his blog posts, or when his podcasts. He comes across a genuine guy who loves to teach.

Right about now you are probably wondering why you should consider Mastering The Digital Channel by Chris Brogan. I hear you loud and clear.

It's only natural, easy and convenient to reach among those you already know in the photography industry. But I truly believe that if you want to shake things up, you should also be looking outside your bubble.

Now, let me be clear: Mastering The Digital Channel, isn't for everyone. However, if you've been spending your time online and seeing absolutely no return, right about now you probably think social media is a joke or you don't even try to dip your toes into it for long stretches of time. I hear it from a ton of people I meet at photography gatherings. But before you dismiss it completely, shouldn't you have the right frame of mind, the right tools and the right guidance to make a truly informed decision? That's where Mastering The Digital Channel comes in.

This course is just about to launch and yes, there is a launch special. In fact, if you use the code “special”, you save $200 off.

Being online isn't “the IN thing,” it's the “right thing” to do for your business.

Learn to master your digital channel from an attentive and qualified teacher. I know you won't go wrong if you follow the steps Chris Brogan outlines in his course.

Sign up for this course now and save $200.

Full Disclosure: Like all other programs or products I mention or promote here, I do make a small commission from each signup to support the running of this website.

I have to admit, the word “stupid” in our house, with two young ones, is a “bad” word. Anytime the kids have a spat between each other, that word “stupid,” pops up and of course they get admonished.

So, I was a little nervous showing Richie Norton's book off to my sons, who now knowing how to read, were blushing at the title of the “Advance Reader's Edition” that I had just received from publisher.

I hadn't read 10 pages of this new book, when my friend Josh Solar who is friends with the Norton's, offered to introduce me to Richie Norton. Richie is now based in Arizona, where he is finishing his MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

I couldn't pass up the chance to discuss with Richie, his book and other topics relating to setting personal goals, the life of an artist, what get's in the way of our making decisions and well, things I think you will find interesting.

So, here we are talking over a somewhat spotty Skype connection (so please bear with us if the audio or video cuts out a bit):

After I stopped recording, I couldn't help but continue discussing some of these topics with Richie. At one point, Richie suggested that I tell you about a chapter deep in his book about “Authenticity.” In it, he said, he interviewed photographers Michael Colon and Jonathan Canlas. I have another 100 pages to go before I get to that chapter but if the front of the book is any indication, I'll get there quite quickly.

Richie's writing style is elegant and simple. No jargon being tossed at me and most definitely no psychobabble. I told Richie that it was as if a friend was reading the book to me. It's also peppered with examples to inspire and remind one that there have been a slew of people in the past and present who have been told that their idea has been “stupid” but have excelled at it. Is it a feel-good book? Perhaps. But I also think it is a practical book, without it being overly pedantic. Richie is clear on this from the get go – you may have ideas, but if you don't jump in and put in the work, those will remain only as ideas. Perhaps when I finish the book, I'll come back here and review it more thoroughly.

Richie Norton's book, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, comes out today – March 5, 2013.

Order your copy from Amazon or other more local bookstores of your choice.

If you read it, please come back here and tell us about it. Your comments and questions are always welcome. By the way, I am up to Chapter 3 now.

Some of you lucky ones living in warmer climates are already out creating portraits or photographing weddings. But New England, where I live, is still experiencing winter with more snow coming this weekend.

Rain (snow) or shine, your business has to keep going. If you are showing off images from last year or two years ago, it may be time for an overhaul. You are probably already tinkering with your website. Your marketing collateral – that which you either give to clients to take home or display prominently in your studio, is vitally important to keep fresh.

Amata Pictures is a new business venture I'm launching and I've already talked to local vendors with large wall spaces about displaying my images in their offices.

I could easily go with traditional prints. However, large prints, most of the time, require larger frames. And they aren't inexpensive investments. I really do love canvas prints and there are a number of great companies all providing quality canvas prints. One among them is Canvas Pop.

When I saw this PhotoDough offer (3 days left as I publish this post) to buy one gallery wrapped 20″x30″ canvas print from CanvasPop, I had to share it with you. You can get it now for $59. That's 60% off the normal $149 price.

If you buy a canvas print using this affiliate link, I get a small commission that helps keep Tiffinbox (mostly a labor of love) running. When you click that link, you will see the offer in the right-hand sidebar of the page. Do know that there is a $14 shipping charge.

If you are in the midst of a marketing massage anyway, why not consider buying a large canvas print for your wall. Save yourself some money in the process, too. Even if you don't own a storefront studio but work out of your home, you still need to display your work, right? How does that mantra go?

“You sell what you show.”

P.S. Once in a while, I will publish these types of posts. I assume, as a fellow photographer you are busy and appreciate these types of “head's up” articles that lead you to services and products that can genuinely help your business. If you have strong feelings about this one way or another, don't be shy about posting your thoughts below or contact me.