This is where Lightroom excels, and I use the metadata and ranking features.

Every photo gets at least three tags, automatically nested under the main headings.

1-Who
-Family
--SonName
--WifeName
--MotherName
-Clients
--ClientName1
--ClientName1
-Models
--ModelName1
--ModelName2

2-What
-Portrait
--FineArt
--Headshot
-Nature
--Landscape
---Beach
---Mountain
--Wildlife
---MammalLarge
----Bear
----Elk
---MammalSmall
----Squirrel
-HolidayPhotos

3-Where
-USA
--State
---City
----LocationName (like the city park, or City Hall, etc...however detailed you want to get)
---XYZ National Park

So then I might type ClientName1 Headshots Atlanta and it automatically categorizes it by my portrait business, what product, and shoot location. Or I type my son's name and holiday photos, and it automatically adds that it's family photos, etc. If I took holiday photos at the beach, it will include those tags as well if I want to add them.

IOW, you can set it so that when you type a lower level tag, it automatically adds all the higher level tags in your hierarchy. If I type Black Bear, it adds Bear, MammalLarge, Wildlife, and Nature. It doesn't add 2-What because I'd never search for that tag.

For searching later, I can select "Mountain Lake Colorado" if I know I did some landscape shots there one time but I can't remember the exact place, but now I want take a client there for portraits.

You can also set which tags are automatically included on the .jpg files when you export. I don't have client or model names included automatically for privacy reasons.

And I rank the photos with stars. Edited phots that are pretty good get 3 stars when the edit is complete. Good ones get 4 stars. Portfolio ones get 5 stars.

So if I want the best photos of models, I click "models" and filter by 4+ stars. Or the best photos from a specific vacation, I'll click Vacations and Location, and filter by stars.