How to use Aksho

A tour of every section in the dashboard — what it does, how it saves you time, and when to use it. This page is for the photographer or content creator deciding whether Aksho fits their workflow, and for the new user who just signed up and wants to know where to start.

The first 10 minutes

Once your signup request is approved (usually within 48 hours):

1. You receive an invite email. The link takes you to a page where you set a password (min 10 characters — we check against known breached password lists).
2. You set a 6-digit PIN. This is your recovery key. Write it in your password manager right now. If you forget both password and PIN, your data is gone — we cannot recover it.
3. You land on the dashboard. A checklist walks you through: add first client, log first shoot, log first expense, subscribe to Aksho. Dismiss it any time.

Dashboard — your home base

What you land on every time you sign in. Shows outstanding balance (money clients owe you), your onboarding progress (until you dismiss it), the current financial-year stats (shoots, expenses, net earnings), and overdue items that need chasing.

Tap the calendar icon (top-right) to jump to the calendar. Tap + New Shoot to start logging a booking.

Shoots — every booking, one card

The heart of Aksho. Each shoot card holds:

• Client name (linked to your Clients section)
• Event date, time, location
• Shoot type (wedding, engagement, product, personal, etc.)
• Package (from your saved list — set in Settings → Packages)
• Quote, deposit, and per-milestone billing. Track what's been invoiced, what's paid, what's overdue.
• Notes, vendor assignments (photographer, videographer, editor), and payment ledger.

Filter by status (upcoming, in-progress, delivered, overdue). Search by client name or event.

Clients — the people who pay you

Every client you've worked with, with their name, phone, email, and full shoot history (linked back). Add tags like "wedding", "repeat", "referral" to segment your book.

Aksho blocks you from deleting a client if they have unpaid shoots — so you don't accidentally lose money you're owed.

Cash Flow — where your money actually is

Runs the numbers across all shoots and expenses in your current financial year (India: April – March):

• Earned — total invoiced across all shoots
• Collected — what's actually landed in your account
• Outstanding — invoiced but not paid (who to chase)
• Spent — total expenses (including gear depreciation)
• Net — real profit after everything

Broken down by month. Use it to spot slow seasons before they hit and to decide whether you can afford that new lens.

Expenses — every rupee out

Log ongoing costs (rent, subscriptions, editor payments, travel, marketing). Categorise so year-end tax filing is grep-able, not a memory game. Attach vendor tags to see who you paid this year.

A recurring expense can be flagged so it auto-suggests itself next month — useful for rent, SaaS, cloud storage.

Vendors — everyone you pay

Freelance photographers you hire, editors, printers, transport services. Each vendor card shows total paid year-to-date and links to every expense entry against them. Useful when deciding who's actually worth the price.

Gadgets — depreciation without a spreadsheet

Add each camera body, lens, drone, laptop, and light with purchase date, purchase price, and expected life in years. Aksho computes straight-line depreciation and folds it into Cash Flow's "Spent" figure. When you sell or lose a gadget, mark it retired — depreciation stops on that date.

Subscriptions — SaaS bleeds you slowly

Adobe, Google Drive, editing software, portfolio hosting, cloud backup — every recurring charge that isn't a studio-visible expense. Aksho totals monthly and annual burn so you can decide what to cancel.

Loans — EMIs that follow the gear

Bought a camera on EMI? Log the loan with principal, interest, tenure, and monthly EMI. Aksho auto-generates the amortisation schedule and shows what's principal vs. interest each month. Interest gets logged as an expense; principal reduces the outstanding loan.

Capital — money you put in, or take out

When you invest personal savings into the studio, log it here. When you draw from the studio for personal use, log that too. Aksho keeps a running capital account so at year-end you know exactly what the studio owes you (or owes back).

Reports — what you show your CA

One-tap Excel export of your entire studio — shoots, clients, expenses, vendors, gadgets, everything — for your accountant or for backup. The export is a real .xlsx file, one sheet per table, formatted for reading. Not a random JSON dump.

This is your backup path. Take an export at the end of every quarter and store it somewhere safe (Google Drive, iCloud, external hard drive). If your Aksho account ever becomes inaccessible, this file is what saves you.

Friends Network — hand off shoots to a colleague

If you're double-booked, you can hand off a shoot to another Aksho user at a fixed quote you agree on. The other studio sees only what they need — event date, type, location, the quote — not your client's name, contact, or your pricing.

Once accepted, both sides get a linked ledger entry so neither has to remember what was owed.

Inbox — actions that need you

Assignment offers from other studios, shoot updates, and overdue-payment nudges land here. When it's empty, you're caught up.

Calendar — the visual view

Every shoot on a month grid. Colour-coded by status. Click any date to see what's booked. Useful for spotting double-bookings and empty weeks.

Settings

Grouped into:

• Profile — studio name, phone, contact info
• Payment — your Aksho subscription (₹99/mo); cancel any time
• Packages — your saved shoot-package list
• Expense categories — customise the dropdown
• Security — change password, change PIN, enable Maximum Security Mode
• Friends — manage your Aksho network

Two habits that make Aksho pay for itself

1. Log the shoot the day you confirm it. Not the day of the event. Aksho works because everything's in one place — it stops working the moment you're "I'll log it later."
2. Check Cash Flow → Outstanding once a week. Every rupee overdue is a rupee you're financing for your client at 0% interest. Send a friendly nudge and it starts moving.

Where to go if you're stuck

• Email support@aksho.in — we respond within a business day
• Read the security details if you're worried about your data
• Read the privacy policy for legal details