Dubsado Setup Tutorial: 2 Ways to Convert Leads to Clients

Dubsado Setup Tutorial: 2 Ways to Convert Leads to Clients

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Dubsado, Processes and Business Operations

2 Methods of Turning Leads into Clients with Dubsado Setup (Tutorial)

You’ve been getting email inquiries or messages in your Instagram DMs. You’ve had a couple of discovery calls scheduled and more than a few interested people, ready to work with or buy from you. But the whole process is a ton of work. Scheduling calls that line up with everyone’s schedule? Exhausting. Following up with details you need before a call? Easy to forget. Making sure the interested person is the right fit for you before a call? Nearly impossible. At least, that’s how it all feels.

Did you know there’s a way to collect leads’ information, keep track of important details, and have all the information you need to host a discovery call or confidently let a lead know you’re not the right person or brand for them? It’s called… Dubsado. If you’re a return reader, you know that I love Dubsado. If you’re new here, well, now you know, too.

If you want to make it easier to turn leads into clients faster, let’s talk about how to use Dubsado to your advantage. I’ve got setup tutorials below for two great Dubsado options that have worked wonders for some of my clients. These processes can speed up the conversion process and help you weed out leads who may need to find someone who better fits their needs. But first, let’s talk about what you need before digging into Dubsado.

How to turn leads into clients using Dubsado

Prep for Your Dubsado Setup

You don’t want to just start slapping things together for a discovery call or inquiry process — trust me. Instead, take a minute to think about the actual flow you want people to go through. Do you want people to give you a lot of information before the call? Are you OK with a little less information? Are people going to be scheduling a discovery call, or are these appointments for services/deliverables (i.e. a VIP day, a coaching call, etc.)? 

You should also think about what you and your inquiring lead will need to know before the call. Do you want them to bring anything to the call? How many reminders will they need so they don’t miss the Zoom link? 

You should also think about when you want to take these discovery calls (or project calls), and how many per day you want to take. This is all important information that will help you set things up in Dubsado faster. Now that I’ve got you thinking about all that, let’s talk about the two different ways to vet leads in less time.

Option 1: The Discovery Form Setup

Do you keep getting inquiries that you know aren’t the right fit, but only after you’ve spent time and maybe even a good hair day discussing it with them? 

While you may need to bring on a few not-so-ideal clients as you get your business up and running, you don’t want to keep attracting those kinds of leads. That’s where Dubsado can really shine for you. With a discovery form (sometimes called an application form), you can set up “standards” and required fields that give you information about a potential lead — before you ever have to schedule a call with them. 

For example, this discovery form is embedded on my Dubsado Setup Services page — and it makes it super clear how I work, what they need help with, and more.

example screenshot of Dubsado lead form

The best thing about this automatic discovery form process is you get to vet the lead BEFORE you schedule the call. 

This way, you can make sure it’s a strong fit beforehand, and nobody has to spend time on a call that isn’t right for them. If it’s not a fit, you can gently let the person know (with an automatic response inside Dubsado, if you like!) that someone else or another service may be more in line with their needs. It’s a timesaver for you, helps you maintain your boundaries, and can make potential clients feel cared for even if they can’t work with you.

How does the discovery form process work?

Before I break down this automation into all the nitty-gritty steps, it helps to have an overview of the journey your lead will take through your discovery form process. So here are the basic steps: 

  1. A potential lead finds your website, social account, videos, or other materials and is totally wowed by what you do. They think to themselves, ‘Yeah, this person can definitely help me.’ They want to know more, so they visit your website and click on your discovery call link, or click on your services/packages pages to learn more.
  2. The discovery call link takes them to the lead intake form (rather than a scheduler), which you’ve set up to ask helpful questions, like ‘What are you looking for?’ or ‘What services do you need?’ If you’ve set this form up correctly, you should learn who they are and what help they need from you.

    Here’s a tip: Don’t make the lead form too long. Be strategic with the questions you ask, but don’t make it take too long. This can discourage people from working with you!

  3. The lead submits the form and is either directed to a page that says, “We’ll get back to you soon!” or they can schedule a call from there. You’ll get a notification of their lead form. You read it over and decide if you want to extend a call invite, or whether or not to take the call they scheduled.
  4. If you do decide to move forward with the call and it’s a match, you start the onboarding process. Huzzah!

    Here’s another tip: You can even set up a ‘not a good fit’ process for potential leads who didn’t pan out, where you can periodically send them news and updates on your products or packages. 

As you can see, this process is focused mostly on getting information from the lead before a call. It’s seamless for them and you, and makes it so much easier to see who’s a good fit before ever hopping on another Zoom call (we’re all tired of Zoom, right??).

How to automate the discovery form process in Dubsado

Follow this super simple Discovery Form Checklist to make sure you have everything in place.

  1. Set up your scheduler: 
    1. What days and times are you available for leads to book a discovery call?
    2. Set your meeting location (i.e. a specific Zoom link)
    3. Set other relevant scheduling details (i.e., adding buffer time between calls, etc.) 
  2. Lead intake form:
    1. What information do you need from a lead BEFORE you meet with them? 
    2. What problem are they trying to solve?
    3. What is their timeframe? 
    4. Ask open-ended questions about their industry, business, current struggles, and what they’ve already done to try to fix things
    5. Make sure to rename the lead form once you’ve created it
    6. Make sure the privacy settings are set to PUBLIC
  3. Optional action item: You may want to adjust your standard email templates for the discovery call process by changing the wording or updating your email signature.
    1. Create or update your appointment confirmation template
    2. Create or update your appointment reminder email
  4. Sync everything with your calendar to avoid double-booking
  5. Create the webpage for your lead form through your website platform
  6. Embed the discovery lead form link on your website using the embed code found when you click the “Share” button in the form builder.
Sharing lead capture form to your website from Dubsado

See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? This is a super simple way to create boundaries around scheduling and discovery calls, and learn more about your leads. 

But what happens if you want to make it easy to schedule a call for things like consultations, VIP days, strategy sessions, and more? You may have already vetted those leads and now it’s time to turn them into paying clients faster. Keep reading to see how to do just that!

Option 2: Direct to Scheduler Setup

Do you feel like your inquiries are generally from people who are good fits? Do you have a lead generation process down that seems to send the right people to your calendar? That’s amazing! And the good news is… that means you can have a little cleaner discovery process that just requires a Dubsado scheduler embedded on your site or landing page.

Dubsado embedded inquiry scheduler

The scheduler option is so helpful if you’re at the stage of the business game where you know what you do, and you know how to explain it really well to your potential leads. It’s that sweet spot where you’ve got your processes and workflows figured out, so everything is humming nicely, and you just need to start churning clients through your system. 

The advantage of the scheduler option is that it skips the vetting process of the discovery form and lets you get started faster. At this stage, the discovery call is less of an awkward first date to see if you’re the right fit for one another and more of a marriage proposal after a few years of dating — you’re pretty sure they’re going to say yes.

How does the scheduler process work?

Just like the discovery call process, the lead still fills out an intake form, gets confirmation emails, and picks an appointment time. But the beauty of the scheduler is that this all happens at once, so things go faster. The lead picks an appointment time from the embedded scheduler, fills out a (usually shorter) intake form, and then gets a confirmation email. There’s no back and forth or vetting. The appointment is booked and ready to go.

How to automate the Scheduler in Dubsado

Unlike the discovery call, there is no workflow for this process. It’s all happening simultaneously, so you just want to ensure that everything is in place and correct BEFORE it’s live. This checklist can help.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

01:06 Basic Process Steps

01:45 Process Steps In Dubsado

02:15 Checklist: Before You Build

03:34 How to Edit the Dubsado Lead Form Template

04:56 How to Edit the Appointment Confirmation and Reminder Emails in Dubsado

07:25 How to Sync Your Calendar with Dubsado

08:16 Syncing, Importing, and Exporting Your Calendar with Dubsado

09:48 How to Build Out the Discovery Call Scheduler in Dubsado

18:49 How to Embed the Dubsado Scheduler in a Website

20:02 Resize the Dubsado Form for Your Web Page

21:31 Previewing the Dubsado Embedded Scheduler

22:14 Tips for Testing Your Dubsado Setup

23:14 Custom Dubsado Setups from The Efficient/Creative

  1. Ensure that all your intake forms, scheduler, and email templates are in place
  2. On the scheduler: 
    1. Check that your discovery call form is attached to the scheduler
    2. Add appointment reminder emails
  3. On the lead form: 
    1. Make sure that it’s clear and direct
  4. Make sure your appointment confirmation emails and reminders are in place
  5. Embed the scheduler on your website
  6. Test the scheduler BEFORE you make it public! Trust me, don’t skip this step. It can help you see any issues or problems your leads may encounter and fix them.

Want My Help Turning More Leads into Clients?

Converting your leads into paying clients is a big part of owning your business, and these processes can help. But if playing around in Dubsado isn’t for you, or you’re making the switch from another system that isn’t working for you, let me help!

With my custom Dubsado setup services, I’ll help you create automatic processes that make it easier to wow leads, convert them into clients, and grow your business — with fewer emails, less calendar math, and less chaos. Want my help? Fill out my Dubsado Setup form below! (See how easy it is??!)

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6 Signs You Need Better Project Planning

6 Signs You Need Better Project Planning

by | May 24, 2022 | Planning, Goal-Setting & Habit-Building, Processes and Business Operations

6 Signs You Need Better Project Planning for Your Business

Are you a big idea person who struggles to make your vision a reality? Do you find yourself scrambling to put together launches, presentations, and sales pitches right up to the last minute? Is your to-do list a pile of sticky notes sprinkled throughout your house? If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or confused when it comes to project planning, raise your hand because you’re not alone. 

As a Project Manager, I’ve worked with many clients who have fantastic ideas and businesses and the talent to pull it off, but they are still struggling to hit their goals. When that’s happening, usually it’s because there isn’t much focus on planning — or their current planning strategy isn’t working. 

If this all sounds too familiar, here are a few signs that it’s time to take a new approach to planning projects within your business — and how you can make changes.

The Symptom: You’re rushing into big projects

If you always feel like you’re scrambling right up to the last second with big projects like launches, you’ve got a problem managing your time. You may need help with better scheduling or aren’t giving yourself enough time for each task. Do you even know how long certain tasks take to complete? If the answer is no, that’s a hint that you’ve got an issue.

The Treatment: Working backward

Open up your calendar, set a date for when you want to accomplish your next project, and then list out all the tasks. How long will each of those tasks take individually? Once you’ve got the list of everything you need, you’ll likely realize it takes more time than you think! For example, if you need to have a sales page up at least one week before launch, you have to have the design ready for review at least a few days before that and copy a few days before that. That’s going to change your timeline! 

When you break down projects into action steps like this, you will realistically see when you need to start working on everything, so it launches on time (and without chaos). If you do this exercise and realize you should’ve started weeks ago, it’s a good sign you need to move the date out — or put in some extra hours to get it done.

The Symptom: You’re missing deadlines

Missed deadlines often can feel like big, red “F” marks (even when we’re long out of school). If you or your team keep missing deadlines, it’s easy to let frustration, shame, or guilt overrule your reaction. That’s why it’s especially important to dig into the “why” behind the missed deadlines with open communication—even if you’re only talking to yourself.

Treatment 1: Talk it out

Check in with a team meeting about what’s going on behind the scenes. Set and help keep a tone of open engagement and curiosity to steer away from potential finger-pointing or playing any blame game. 

It’s often better to adjust the project plan than it is to force an otherwise trustworthy individual into a process that can’t work for them. Start by giving each member of your team my free Skills and Strengths Assessment to take stock of the gaps on your team, as well as their preferred communication methods (and how they prefer to be incentivized!)

Treatment 2: Hack your task management

If you’re using a task management system like ClickUp (full disclosure: that’s my affiliate link), Asana, or Teamwork, use their built-in features to keep things humming.

  • Play tag! Build the habit for team members to “tag” the person affected when they’ve completed their task. Most systems allow you to tag team members by using the “@” symbol.
  • Alternatively, if you’re a little more tech-inclined, set up task relationships (or “dependencies”) so that when one task gets completed, the next one in line becomes available.
  • Use date ranges and time estimates. The way many of us use our task management apps means that we may only see a task appear on the day it’s marked “due”. And if a task takes a lot of time, that’s a missed-deadline guarantee. When assigning tasks, try to include a rough idea of how long it should take and, when possible, include a start date in addition to the due date.
6 Signs You Need better Project Planning

The Symptom: You lack follow-through

A lack of follow-through can often more accurately be diagnosed as a lack of clarity. When I work with a client who struggles to stay motivated or doesn’t know what to do next, they usually have a few unanswered questions hiding in their plan. They can see their end goal but there are a few muddy areas when it comes to specifics.

Treatment 1: Move information out of your head with a brain dump

When you have no idea where to start, sometimes the easiest (and most helpful) action is taking all that stuff in your head and just getting it out. A simple brain dump is straightforward and so helpful! All you do is set a timer and start writing. 

Don’t worry about formatting, ideas, or making it perfect. Put whatever words, phrases, diagrams, or thoughts you have floating in your head on the page. When the timer goes off, put it aside for a bit and then return to it. 

When you come back to it, you’ll likely be able to take the ideas from your brain dump and organize them into a clearer plan for moving forward.

Treatment 2: Ask yourself two magic questions

Think about the place in your plan where you feel stuck and ask yourself:

If I were going to sit down right now to complete this task, could I? If not, why not?

Is there another job that actually needs to be done first? A decision that needs to be made or research that needs to be done? 

With these new discoveries, ask the question again. Is that new task one you could do right now? If not, why not?

I envision this process as starting with a boulder (this big, unwieldy, heavy thing) and breaking it up into smaller pieces you can sort and handle easily. Make the pieces (tasks) as small as you need to make them until they feel doable.

The Symptom: Your team is stuck

If you feel like your team is spinning their wheels or constantly asking you what to do next, it’s time to get detail-oriented. Delegating tasks to your team isn’t as simple as saying, “Do this,” or “Do that.” You have to be specific about what you want, why you need it, and how it should be done. Otherwise, your team may not have enough to get the work done, or the work they turn in wouldn’t hit the mark.

The Treatment: Use Standard Processes (SOPs) and encourage questions

If you want your team to do the work as well as you would, you’ve got to give them the tools they need. A library of SOPs (aka Instruction Manuals, Team Processes, Operational Guides, How-Tos) comes in handy at times like this! Then, if your team needs to know how to do something, they can just look up the SOP. Also, encourage a collaborative, open environment so team members feel like they can ask questions when they need help!

The Symptom: Your work isn’t moving you closer to your goals

The whole point of owning your own business is to meet your goals. It’s why you set them in the first place. But if you find you’re spending hours and hours working, but you still aren’t closer to your overall goal, something’s not adding up. It’s either that your goals aren’t aligned with what you do or that your work doesn’t align with your goals.

The treatment: Track your time

Usually, when we aren’t seeing progress, we’re spending too much time on tasks that aren’t making an impact. For example, you will not reach revenue goals if you’re constantly sending emails to clients but not doing client work. So do a time study — track your time for an entire week and see where you spend your time. 

If you realize you’re spending your time on things that can be outsourced, that may be your next step. On the other hand, if you realize that you’re spending time where you need to be, it might be time to evaluate your goals. Are they a bit of a stretch? Is it aligned with what you want to do? If the answer is no, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and set some new goals.

The Symptom: You’re doing work that you thought you “should” do

If you spend hours checking off tasks on a to-do list just because other businesses or your competitors are doing it – stop. Ask yourself, “Do I really need this? Does this help my business?’’ Stop wasting your time and energy on what you think you need to do, and focus instead on what you know you need to do.

The Treatment: Kill your darlings

When you do your time study, this will help you see where you’re spending time that isn’t helping. Remember, your time is an investment, and you need to get a good return on how you spend it. For example, you might realize that you don’t need to spend so much time making TikToks because they aren’t bringing in leads. Instead, you may realize that you need to spend MORE time creating LinkedIn content because that’s where your leads are coming in.

A final note on improving your project planning: Customize it!

Your business is unique, so why are you using the same old plans and processes as everyone else? There is no one-size-fits-all way to run. Instead, find what works best for your business and focus your time and energy there. Develop planning techniques and strategies that work for your needs. Otherwise, you’ll find that you’re running into these problems repeatedly without ever finding a solution. 

If you aren’t sure what works best for you, let me help. My UNSTUCK program helps business owners find the support to develop planning strategies and processes that WORK for them. Together, we will find strategies to help you stay motivated and get work done, so you’ll feel less overwhelmed and stressed!

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Managing a Team in a Growing Business | The Efficient/Creative

Managing a Team in a Growing Business | The Efficient/Creative

by | May 10, 2022 | Processes and Business Operations

How to Strengthen Operations as Your Team (and Business) Grows

If you want your business to continue to grow, you’re going to need help. That’s the long and short of it.

That means you’re going to have to hire help and actually show those people how to do what you do. If you’re a Type A personality (who, me?), trusting someone to do your work or manage your clients’ deliverables can be a huge source of stress. I won’t say that you can make your team growth initiatives flawless, but I do have some good news: You can make managing a team in a growing business a lot more impactful and a lot less stressful by addressing some operational challenges upfront.

People can’t help if you don’t have processes

When you’re hiring, processes are key. New employees or contractors need to know how to do things your way, or how to complete a project in a way that makes the most sense for the rest of your team. Often, when someone says a new hire isn’t working out, it’s because the new hire doesn’t have clear (or any) processes or systems to lean on to do their job correctly!

Process challenges will come up, especially during periods of growth, when you are figuring out how to scale your business and train your team. Of course, you might be wondering, “Is this person just not getting the support they need… or did I make the wrong hire?” You can figure out that by asking yourself:

  • Does it feel like you are constantly training/retraining team members?
  • Do you keep sending work back to be fixed?
  • Do you feel like you/your team are reinventing the wheel with each new lead, client, or project?
  • Are you or someone else spending an excessive time writing client emails and drafting proposals?
  • Are you struggling to hand off work to other members of your team?

If you answered yes to more than a couple of those questions above, you’re probably facing operational challenges — which can be addressed before you just fire and hire again.

Without clear processes, your team can’t help you do the work, either, and that’s not their fault. Ultimately, that responsibility is yours (and your business manager’s). If you want to overcome those issues, it’s time to create standardized operations.

Managing a team in a growing business title image

When you don’t have the right people in the right places

Checklist: how are your team operations?

As the team leader, it’s up to you to assemble a top-notch team that you can trust. But building your team and getting them to work together well is a whole different ball game. You’ll know you may need a time-out if you or your team is constantly:

  • Doing tasks that you hate and would like to pass off to someone else (but it keeps falling through)
  • Feeling resentful about how you are spending your working time
  • Spending more than 30% outside of your high-value skill set (i.e., admin work)
  • At capacity or over capacity
  • Unable to move forward with a project until you or a team member learns a new skillset

Remember, you’re the team leader with a high-value skill set. You should be doing high-value work like content creation, client deliverables, strategy, planning, and sales! That’s why you are in charge. If you’re not, it’s time to evaluate how your team is working together and make some changes. It may be time to offer more training, find an additional team member, or even replace someone (as much as that sucks).

Not sure if you’ve got the right people in the right places? Start with a team analysis (more on that below.)

When your team isn’t big enough for your business

Checklist: is it time to grow your team?

You may have really strong SOPs — or be well on your way to getting a robust SOP library built. You may have the right people in the right positions on your team. You may feel great about how you’re handling your current workload and how things are being delivered. And still… you can feel like you and your team are struggling.

This happens when a business grows really fast, and it’s frustrating because it can be a really good thing! But if you’re constantly stepping in to:

  • Complete client or internal projects because your team can’t do them
  • Fulfill orders or onboard clients
  • Manage team member deadlines or availability
  • Fix things after a client or customer responds negatively

… you might have capacity issues. Here’s how to address it if this is your challenge: 

  1. Hire more help. Don’t drain your well dry. You can’t make people do more work than they can do. That’s when you know that it’s time to hire more people to help. If you don’t have the budget to hire more people, you have two choices. You either need to evaluate the priority levels of the work people are doing (i.e., spending too much time on low-level tasks that don’t help the business), or you need to turn down some work or projects until you have the capacity.
  2. Do a team analysis. If you want your team to run smoothly, you need people in the right positions (and make their roles clear). A team analysis can help you identify your team members’ strengths and weaknesses to assign work and projects more effectively. If you need some help conducting your team analysis, try out my free Team Skills tool!

SOPs are critical for team and business growth

easier ways to create process documents for your business

Regardless of whether your operations challenges are related to process or team (or both), you need to really think through your SOPs. Creating an SOP bank will help you document your processes and create a scalable system that makes it easy to delegate and increase capacity. SOPs also help team members take ownership of their work and find answers when they struggle. 

Of course, creating SOPs can sound really overwhelming — especially when you’re the CEO or owner trying to do it all. I have good news for you, though: You can get your current team to help make the SOP bank as they go. Here are a few ways you can do this. 

    1. Use Loom to create videos while you (or they) complete a common task. Then, upload these videos to a shared library for team members to reference. 
    2. Have team members create SOP process documents as they complete tasks and add these to your shared library. 
    3. Limit communication channels. Sticking to exclusive communication methods like Voxer, Asana, emails, and team meetings is a great way to set boundaries and keep everyone updated and on the same page. A standardized method of communication will help build the structure of your operation as your team grows and keep you from tearing your hair out trying to answer messages in five different places!
    4. Hold regular team meetings to keep everyone updated and on track with the company’s progress. 
    5. Use a task management system BUT don’t stress over which type of system you use. There isn’t a perfect system. My favorites are ClickUp, Asana, and Teamwork. Find the one with the best tools for your team to use every day. 
    6. Stick to your system! Once you decide on a task management system, you’ve got to make everyone stick to using it. Set an example of checking for comments, assignments, and notes every day and have your team do the same. The more you build up solid operational habits like this, the smoother things will go.

Get the help you need to grow with less stress

free operations organizer sop dashboard and how-to template

Let’s call a spade a spade: Growing a business can be incredibly stressful. You will be tested and you will have to learn a lot as the leader and owner. Most of all, though, you’ll need the right processes and people in place to help reduce friction.

Without the right processes and people, you and your team will constantly be stretched to the limit and clients or customers will start to notice. Make sure you’re creating a business that is supportive for you, your team, and the people you serve by building these foundations today. If you need help creating SOPs or understanding your team needs better….

My FREE Operations Organizer can help!

Operations Organizer SOP Dashboard Mockup

This kit will help you:

  • Organize your business processes into one easy-to-find place (no matter where they live in the cloud… and even if you haven’t made them yet)
  • Create a simple structure for your business systems that can apply to the tools you’re already using
  • Prep your business for future challenges (like when a team member gets sick or you need to hire, like, yesterday)
  • Create an easy and consistent process for keeping all of your business docs up-to-date

PLUS, I’m including a bonus How-To Template to make sure you’re giving your team all the information they need to confidently implement your work (more clarity + fewer questions + fewer interruptions + better quality).

GRAB YOUR OPERATIONS ORGANIZER HERE

What to Do Before You Automate Processes | The Efficient/Creative

What to Do Before You Automate Processes | The Efficient/Creative

by | Apr 14, 2022 | Processes and Business Operations, Dubsado, Productivity

Do THIS Before You Automate Workflows in Dubsado

I’m going to let you in on one of the biggest mistakes I see when people try to automate their business processes. Are you ready?

Don’t automate processes that don’t exist yet! 

What do I mean? Well, automating your process isn’t going to fix what’s wrong with your business. It’s not going to create a streamlined customer experience if you have no customer experience process! Instead, you’re going to spend time reworking your Dubsado automations and workflows (or other tools’ automations) because your process wasn’t ready for it yet.

If that’s what you’ve been dealing with, don’t feel bad! This mistake often happens with business owners who are either new to the industry or have a brand-new offer structure. They haven’t test-driven their strategy in the real world, so they don’t know what roadblocks will come up. So when they automate their processes, they find themselves editing and rebuilding their Dubsado automations more often than not.

Of course, I’m not just going to tell you to stop creating automations before you’re ready Instead, I’m going to show you how to create a process that makes it easy to automate down the road, whether you use Dubsado or another tool!

Do This Before You Automate Processes in Your Business

How to create an automation-ready process

1. Build your roadmap

Start sketching your ideal process. Ask questions like: How does a lead contact you? What happens when turning a lead into a client? What needs to happen for onboarding? Offboarding? Take the time to ask these questions and build your process path — it will absolutely help in the end.

2. Create your templates

Once you know the process you want to follow, you can start collecting the tools you need to get there. For example, start building your forms, contracts, invoices, emails, etc. Alternatively, you can also create as you go for your first few leads, then save those items so you can update and edit them as you refine your process.

3. Stick with a manual process

Until you’ve refined your workflow, don’t worry about automating your workflow. You haven’t put your process to the test yet, so you don’t know what kinks or snags may come up. Instead, you’ll save time and energy by using the templated materials you’ve already prepared and simply editing them as you adjust your process.

4. Find the weak links

As you go along, you’re naturally going to find the places where the process breaks down or needs fine-tuning. For example, you may need to combine a few emails into one email or send out your questionnaires sooner. Take notes of these snags, make adjustments, and smooth out the process as you go along.

Don’t be afraid to make BIG adjustments if need be (it happens way more than you think!). The more time you spend refining your process to better suit your needs and your customers, the better it will be.

5. Don’t automate until your process is consistent

It’s only time to automate your workflow when your process is (mostly) standardized. Once you’ve stuck with the same process a few times with success, you’ll know it’s ready.

Giving yourself the freedom to explore the correct process BEFORE automating takes time but it will save you so much time and energy. You’ll have the freedom to experiment with what works and what doesn’t, and ultimately, it will make your workflow better than you thought it could be.

Call for help when it’s time to automate

Finding the right processes for your business can be messy at best — but sorting through those processes to make them more concrete and automated is a key to long-term success. 

If you’re ready to get help setting up the processes and workflows you’ve established, I want to help! Working together, we can automate and streamline your operations through my Dubsado setup services — in about 1 day! If that sounds like the kind of support you want to help you create workflows, you can apply for my Custom Dubsado Setup. 

All you have to do is: 

  1. Give me a snapshot of your current business setup
  2. Choose your Dubsado Setup Day on the calendar
  3. Send me your current client assets
  4. Sit back and relax! 

Once I’m done creating your Dubsado workflows, you’ll get a step-by-step walkthrough of your shiny new Dubsado workflow (plus all your forms, emails, schedulers, questionnaires, etc.) We smooth any rough edges together and train you on every step to make sure you’re ready to fly on your own!

The best part? You’ll have your refined process set up as a Dubsado workflow with all your assets in place by a Certified Dubsado Expert who knows all the “secret handshakes” and is on-call for your follow-up questions! If you’re ready to finally automate those workflows and processes you’ve been working on for a while, my Custom Dubsado Setup Services are the perfect solution.

FILL OUT MY DUBSADO SETUP APPLICATION!
Didn’t Hit Your Quarterly Goals? Read This | Efficient/Creative

Didn’t Hit Your Quarterly Goals? Read This | Efficient/Creative

by | Mar 30, 2022 | Planning, Goal-Setting & Habit-Building

Didn’t Hit Your Quarterly Goals? Let’s Talk About It

The end of the quarter is here and I have some exciting news for you: I didn’t hit all of my quarterly goals. Before you clutch your pearls, let me tell you something else: There is NO shame in not finishing your goals. 

It took me some time to feel OKAY about not completing my goals. The hustle shame is real and, as entrepreneurs, we’re constantly told to do more. But I learned a long time ago that I’m not always a completionist. Sometimes, the best thing is to walk away from something that’s not bringing me joy or helping me anymore. 

But if you’re reviewing your quarterly progress or looking at your metrics and feeling like you didn’t do enough, let’s talk about shame as business owners — and how learning to let go and say “No” can help us overcome it.

Do you have to be a ‘completionist’?

You don’t have to finish everything you start, contrary to what your parents, grandparents, or guardians may have said. 

After graduating high school, I decided I would read all of the Lord of The Rings trilogy. Well, I got through all but the last 100 pages (yup, RIGHT up to the very end), and that was it for me. I wasn’t feeling any joy and realized I was just forcing myself to read. So I shut the book and never picked it up again. This story HORRIFIES my completionist husband, so if you’re similarly appalled, you’re not alone.

Now, before you come for me, Tolkien-heads, I’ve seen all the movies. The books were just not my cup of tea. 

no shame if you missed your quarterly goals

What does this have to do with you and your business? I hope it demonstrates that you DON’T need to be a completionist (or obliger) as a business owner. You’re not in grade school anymore. There’s no one waiting to give you a shiny perfect reading award for finishing every page.

You started your business to be in control. 

If you get to choose where your time and energy goes, why waste it? 

Of course, I’m not telling you to throw your goals out the window or to give up striving toward your big vision for your business. I believe that you need to honor your commitments to your clients, customers, and partners. However, it is up to you to decide the direction of your business, and sometimes it’s okay to pivot or say no to future or current projects.

Watch out for shiny object syndrome

Many of us–especially those of us with ADHD–set many goals because it can be hard to nail down your focus to one thing. Sometimes, the new thing we want to try seems more appealing.

‘Shiny object syndrome’ pulls us away from what we know we need to do and makes us feel like we’re making progress when really we’re not. Before you know it, you forget about goal #1 while you work on goal #2 until you see something else–and so the cycle goes. 

While ‘shiny object syndrome’ can be an issue all in itself (hello, overcommitment), it can also lead to a lack of motivation.

When you’ve figured out how to do something well, it can start to feel boring after a while. Then you find yourself pushing through to the end, just to finish something. But when your motivation is just checking a box to say “You did it!” what’s the point?

What to do when you feel stuck

Are you feeling stuck right now, despite all the projects you started and quarterly goals you set for yourself 3 months ago? I’ve been there and so have many of my clients.

When my clients get stuck, I try to get to the bottom of the feeling. Maybe it is a lack of motivation or a strong case of shiny object syndrome. Sometimes they just need to set aside the project and take a break before coming back to it. And sometimes, they just need to step away entirely or say “No.”

Before I decide (for myself or my clients) that it’s okay to step away and not complete a goal, I go through a checklist. This checklist helps me decide if this is one of those times where I grit my teeth and get it done or if I should step away.

The “Feeling Stuck” Checklist

Question #1: Have I sat with the ‘stuckness’?

Sometimes, you have to sit with the feeling of being stumped and unmotivated, and you’ve got to identify the emotion behind it. Do you just feel ill-equipped and need more resources to help you finish? Or are you feeling resistance because it’s something that doesn’t align with your values? 

When you reflect on WHY you feel stuck, you’ll often find that you’re not sure what the next step is. Instead of quitting, get more clarity on your next steps instead of stepping away entirely.

Question #2: Am I still (truly) motivated by this goal?

Your priorities are going to shift over time, and that’s okay. Let it go if your goal doesn’t fit your values or priorities now.

Question #3: Do I need support?

Is this something you can do on your own, or is this something you need to delegate to someone else with more training?

There is NO shame in asking for help when you don’t have the resources or if your project doesn’t mesh well with your real life. Sometimes we don’t realize how taxing a project can be until we take it on.

Even if you want to do it yourself, some gentle accountability support can help you develop your consistency muscle! (I can help with this, but even partnering with a trusted colleague for some extra accountability can be a helpful boost.)

Question #4: Do I need to sleep on it?

Sometimes, the mind is willing, but the body is weak.

When you’re tired and overwhelmed, you might think it’s time to give up this goal. You can only do so much. But before you press the detonator, de-prioritize your to-do list and take a nap (literally or figuratively).

There’s nothing wrong with saying “not right now” and putting yourself first. After a little rest—or some time with a favorite hobby, you might even find that you have the energy to tackle your goal or a clearer mind to decide if it’s worth completing.

The best way to end shame? Normalize saying no.

I hope my mental checklist can help you decide if your Q1 (or any other) goals are worth carrying into Q2 and beyond. It works for me and my clients who are feeling overwhelmed by their lack of progress or shifting priorities.

But there’s one more element to ending the shame around not meeting our goals: Saying no.

“No” is empowering. Saying no is important if you want to overcome the shame around not finishing goals or finishing projects because, as Greg McKeown (and maybe others before him) put it, “if it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.”

Remember, my friend; working hard doesn’t mean you have to do everything. Don’t be afraid to kon-mari your business projects. If it’s not bringing you joy, it’s time to go. 

You can take a step back and say, “Thank you, I’ve learned what I need to from this, but now I’m done.” That’s powerful!

Related Read: Feel Guilty When You Say No? Say This, Instead.