What I Learned While Setting Up My Dubsado Workflows
I talked about it a lot on social media this month because it’s taken such a big chunk of my time recently, but one of my goals for this quarter was to get my Dubsado workflows in place. Actually, it’s been a goal of mine for about a year and a half, but this quarter I moved it up the list to get done now ;)
Two things I knew I needed in order to set up effective workflows, were some direction from an expert and some accountability to actually follow through! So I hired Anna of Most Sincerely Anna to help me get the job done. She was offering access to her group coaching program called Simplified Strategies for Dubsado Workflows, or SSDW for short, and it felt like just the right fit for me so I joined!
The pitch was that in 4 weeks, she would walk through the best strategies for setting up your workflows and help you get a workflow into testing through a series of zoom calls, lessons, and support. She said, “With the SSDW Group Coaching Program, you’ll go from feeling overwhelmed and outside your comfort zone to finally marking your Systems Set-Up off your To-Do List!” I think setting up these systems will help me to keep my client’s projects on track in the midst of busy seasons being a mom to my little boys.
I am so glad I joined Anna’s program because it was just the sort of accountability and direction I needed to get the job done! I now have a workflow in testing and I am sure I’ll keep tweaking it as I see how it actually plays out with real clients, but it feels so good to have the bulk of this work done! Keep reading below the picture to find out what I learned throughout the process of setting up my Dubsado workflows.
Here are 5 things I learned along the way:
Workflows require clarity. The first thing that really stuck out to me after my very first session with Anna was that I needed to get really clear on exactly what my packages look like. In the past I’ve done a lot of custom package building, but the reality is that this doesn’t set you up to automate very much of your process and ends up wasting a lot of your time. So although I still have the option to create custom packages for clients that really have different needs, I was able to nail down 3 package tiers that I would ideally hope my clients can choose from and I think they will serve a lot of people really well. In the end it gave me a lot of clarity about how I want my services to look.
Workflows aren’t just about automation. Another thing that I learned along the way is that workflows aren’t just about automation and saving you time with canned emails. There are two much more important reasons why you should have a workflow in place: so that you can up-level your client experience and so that you can make sure your level of service is consistent! When this item was just a to-do on my list I was mostly thinking about how it could save me time on my daily tasks, but as I got into it, I got more and more excited about the experience I will take my clients on, from emails that help them plan their shoot to making sure I have their coffee order so I can treat them on shoot day, I really believe that my client experience will be so much better going forward!
Workflows can be flexible. I think I worried that workflows would put me in a box or that they just wouldn’t flow nicely and naturally, and while only time will tell how well my workflows will operate, I think they will actually be pretty flexible to work with too. The nice thing is that you can have actions be approved before they automatically go and you can pause your workflow at any time. This gives me a lot of peace of mind with pushing go on a workflow. I know that I can add in personal details to emails before they automatically send and I don't feel like I am totally letting go of control.
Simple workflows are better. I think I tend to overcomplicate things in my head and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Start with a simple workflow and you can always get more detailed as you go on. And consulting with a professional on your system is super helpful in finding the simplest path forward too.
Workflows instill confidence. Lastly, I want to share how getting my workflows all set up helped me to feel more confident in myself and my brand. I feel ready to face the world with my new workflows all setup! I know that nothing will slip through the cracks and that my workflows will keep me on track even when I am too busy to remember to do all the things. And I just feel like the real deal all around 😜😅 I really can’t wait to put these bad boys to use!