What Is The Mental Load? | Virtual Assistant for Photographers

Jan 27

When you picked up your camera and started your photography business, I bet you weren’t thinking about the unseen labor that has nothing to do with photos. What is the mental load? Let’s talk about it.

The mental load for photographers is all about the tasks you carry that no one but you sees. DMS you haven’t responded to, invoices that need to be sent, blogs that need to be written. Your editing queue. That new lens you’re considering purchasing. Oh, and yeah, what am I going to eat for dinner?

Taking photos and meeting new people are the bread & butter of your job. And that’s the fun part! The ever-whirring machine of photos and editing and building your customer experience and just enjoying the shit outta your work! It’s why we do what we do. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a constant rotating list of things to do in your head behind the scenes. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes those tasks just seem relentless. And it’s not like we have co-workers per se, to bounce ideas off of and collaborate on solutions.

When I was a coach with USA Swimming, my colleagues and I would regularly grab a beer after work and dish about everything going on on the pool deck. It was a healthy way to manage work stress and address the mental toll of a job. Fast forward to now, and not only do I not have co-workers - I’m also in the trenches of parenting little people. Which, let me tell you, does not lend itself to 10pm beers at the local bar lol

So what is the mental load and how do we handle it as photographers?

As women we deserve to prioritize our mental well being WHILE running a business and parenting (or doing whatever we want to fill our time with). But that does mean we need to be strategic and mindful about the way we balance things. (Very mindful, very demure). I have found a few things really help me manage the ongoing to-do list that like to swirl around in my head:

have clear work hours scheduled; this helps tremendously
hire childcare if applicable; is there anything worse than trying to work while a toddler needs you every 2 seconds?
outsource anything that drains you mentally; whether it’s blogging or responding to emails or setting up your system…. get it off your plate so your mental energy can go towards things that are more productive for you.
get outside; this is one I’m working on! It clears my mind so much to start off the day with a walk or spend lunch outdoors.
take your work email off your phone; turn off those Honeybook notifications if they distract you, and remove your work email from your phone. You can always access it from safari, but I like to control when I’m receiving work information vs when I'm “off”.
find a low-mental-barrier hobby: for a while mine was streaming grainy eras tour. listening to an audio book. skincare. something that doesn’t take a lot of thought. your brain is in high power mode so much of your work day!
get a therapist; having someone to work through the gymnastics of running a business + running a busy life, and allllll the aspects that come with that- is invaluable.

So if you’ve wondered what is the mental load? How do a mitigate it as a photographer? You’re in the right place. Hopefully this gave you some ideas. I’m always rooting for you to succeed and have a wonderful life that you love. That’s our whole mission here at The Focus Co.

If you want help making it all happen, you know where to find us (hint: click here)