Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
28. How to Add Hours Back to Your Day with Mallory Underwood
9 Plays6 months ago
“It’s like having an executive assistant working on your behalf 24/7/365.”
In this episode, co-host Mallory Underwood shares the power of workflows and automation in streamlining small business operations. Harness these time-saving techniques and brainstorm all the ways a CRM can help make business feel better.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
- Distinguish workflows and automations from traditional task lists.
- Harness the power of CRM systems like Dubsado for repeatable duties.
- Implement workflows for lead management and podcast guest coordination.
- Understand the initial time investment required for setting up workflows.
- Save 30% on Dubsado CRM and get a free consultation with Mallory!
For more inspiration, subscribe to Unbound Turnarounds on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
LINKS:
- Connect with Nicole
- Connect with Mallory
- Connect with Mallory: https://www.moreyouagency.com/workflows
- Get your free copy of The Game-Changing Way to Simplify Running Your Business: https://www.moreyouagency.com/free
- Save 30% on Dubsado CRM: https://dubsado.com/?c=moreyouagency
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Unbound Turnarounds
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Unbound Turnarounds, a podcast all about the challenges women business owners think about constantly, but rarely voice.
Meet Nicole and Mallory
00:00:11
Speaker
We're Nicole and Mallory, entrepreneurs, friends, and co-founders of Business Unbound, a community helping women alleviate the headaches, heartaches, and backaches. So work actually works for life. This is your safe space for the ups, downs, and the turnaround.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome back to Unbound Turnarounds.
Time Management with Mallory
00:00:36
Speaker
We are in season three, episode two, where I get to turn the mic around and interview my co-host Mallory about time management. So in my episode, we talked about my favorite, my favorite tool for this, which was the red, yellow, green sticky note exercise. But Mallory has a whole other zone of genius, my friends, and
00:00:59
Speaker
She is actually turned into part of her business. She's made a pivot towards it because she thinks it is so powerful. And I've actually seen it at work because she uses these kind of skill sets for business on bound on the back end, which you guys never see.
The Power of Workflows
00:01:15
Speaker
But I want to know why you think that things like systems and workflows, super sexy, are such a game changer for business. So tell me everything.
00:01:32
Speaker
Okay. So yes, my favorite way to save time is by implementing and optimizing your systems and specifically workflows, which is what we're going to talk about today. And the reason why to answer your question is because this.
00:01:50
Speaker
actually gives you, it feels like it gives you more time, it creates more time for you, it creates more brain space for you, and it gives you more energy. So, I mean, if there is one tactic that you could implement in your business to make it feel better, which is all what Business Unbound is about, making business feel better, it is implementing
00:02:17
Speaker
systems and specifically workflows into how you run your company.
00:02:22
Speaker
I will hang my hat on that all day long. Yes, I know. And I agree with you now because I've seen the light. But I had never, I don't think I'd ever heard of automation workflows before. Or I just thought they were for big companies. That's what I thought. So what even is a workflow? What's an automation? Give us the baseline. And so I'm glad you mentioned that because
00:02:49
Speaker
I think that's part of the education that I'm coming up against that needs to happen for entrepreneurs and even the word entrepreneur. So as I'm starting to post more about this concept on LinkedIn, I'm talking to people who are, okay, we call you all entrepreneurs, but your contractors or your freelancers or your part-time hustlers, you know, maybe you are a part-time employee for a company.
00:03:13
Speaker
You have like a side gig. It's all of those things. You're a realtor. You're a podcast host. Any of those people is who I'm talking to. So I'm not talking about big companies. Yes, they are utilizing workflows in a much higher, different level. So that's who I'm talking to. What a workflow is, is it's actually, it's simple. It's just a series of steps that take
00:03:38
Speaker
a client relationship, let's say, from an initiation point, like they are not a client yet, to a completion point. And it might not be the end of them working with you. It might just be they are a lead and now they are a client. And it's all those little steps that happen to get them to that point. And then it might be they are a brand new client and I need to get them to like be onboarded. So now it's all these little steps to get them onboarded. And then maybe it's a workflow for
00:04:06
Speaker
managing that client. Maybe it is what Nicole is referencing for Business Unbound is we use it to manage our podcast guests and to execute our podcast. You don't want to know how many steps are involved in executing one episode of Bond Turnaround. And so it's all those, a workflow is literally the group of those steps together. So that's what a workflow is.
00:04:37
Speaker
Now, the automation piece.
00:04:40
Speaker
It doesn't mean like, because you have a workflow, it has to be automated. Automation is an option. So you can have automated pieces of those workflows. And all that means is that certain things happen, certain steps happen without you manually having to do it. Now this is where, okay, a workflow alone gives you brain space, right? Because now all those steps are out of your head, but automation takes it to the next level because now you have,
00:05:08
Speaker
Time back, you know what this makes me think this gives me an analogy all over the place where I'm like, okay, so like you can drive to the grocery store in a manual car or an automatic car, but
00:05:23
Speaker
which one is more efficient, right? Which one has less steps? Which one is easier? Which one do you not have to think about while you're getting to the destination, right? Like if you've had a manual car and that's your workflow, and then you switch to an automatic and you're like, oh, like I can also eat chips with this hand now, like this is great news, right? Yeah, no, that's a great analogy. Workflows,
00:05:51
Speaker
those are like the steps, getting all the steps in order. But then taking away the manual nature of that, that's where automation comes into play. Yes, any size company, we all should be doing it. And I'm not an advocate for automating everything. There are some pieces, parts of the workflow are actually action items for you to do.
00:06:11
Speaker
It's an actual to-do step that you need to do that's not taking place in the system where the workflow lives. Part of automations might be just setting up emails to go out, but it requires you to put a personal touch at the top or something personal, personal link, and then approve it before it sends it out. So if you're nervous about automation, some of the things
00:06:35
Speaker
can just be behind the scenes, things that nobody sees. So you don't need to be nervous about that. It can just flag things and tag things and categorize things, add people to new email lists, whatever. But it also can be regulated so that you can have some comfort in the automation until you're really comfortable with it and maybe you can automate more pieces. Yes, it doesn't mean your business is now run by a robot.
00:07:00
Speaker
Like you still have agency over it. Exactly. And really it's doing the opposite. You're not putting less personality in. What you're doing is showing a professional, streamlined, easy to use process. So your leads and your clients are going to appreciate that. Yes. And one of the things that it's been helpful for us was just like scheduling reminders.
00:07:23
Speaker
Right like for us not to ever have to remember to make this graphic send this card upload this to the website like these are the things that are so repeatable.
00:07:34
Speaker
but you need reminders, and now both, you don't have to remember to remind us about every little task, and I don't need to worry about if I'm gonna remember to do it, because it's gonna trigger me a note. And that's where the brain space gets saved right there. It's lightening the cognitive load, which we talked about in season two in several different episodes, because it's all down in the system. Now, as you're saying that, people might say, well, why couldn't you do that in a project management system or like in a Google Sheet?
00:08:03
Speaker
So yes, of course you can list all your steps in both of those places, but you can't get it triggered automatically and sequentially for like this step happens, so now it triggers this one to happen. You lose some of that automation without implementing it into a workflow system.
Discovering Dubsado
00:08:23
Speaker
So tell me about the systems, right? Like where is this stuff living?
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, okay, so it takes place in what is called a CRM, so a client or a customer relationship management system. And there are many, many, many, many. Some are geared toward enterprise and corporate and they are very expensive. Like HubSpot, for example, and there are capacities within that system that are great, but it's also like, it's a lot and it's a big investment.
00:08:58
Speaker
I actually knew this year I'm a certified Dubsado specialist, which is me. I've been working in the system for six years, five years, something like that. I know the system very well. And so now in MoreU, we're specializing in helping entrepreneurs get set up in the CRM system and implement and strategize these workflows.
00:09:21
Speaker
We help them strategize the workflows and then we actually implement them and then we train them on how to use them. And this is the big pivot of what we're doing this year because it's, like I said, the main one thing that can help make your business feel better and add longevity. But it does require some best practices and it does take a lot of time and a lot of strategy. So this is where our expertise can help support.
00:09:47
Speaker
The CRM, so Dubsado is actually built for entrepreneurs and that's why I like it so much. So no system is perfect. There are little tweaks and I'm sure, you know, I put in lots of requests and they, you know, will make updates and there'll be changes, but there are some things that maybe doesn't do, but the volume of things that it does do right for an entrepreneur is so valuable. They actually call it like a hub, a centralized location for multiple types of systems.
00:10:16
Speaker
So it actually has your online signatures for contracts and proposals. You don't have to have a separate software that costs money for that. It has an online scheduler so you don't have to now have a Calendly link and a paid option for that. It has a client portal if you want some places where clients can log in for things. It has invoicing. It has bookkeeping transaction tracking so at the end of the year you can send your profit and loss right to your
00:10:44
Speaker
accountant right from there. Time tracking, you don't have to have another system if you are tracking time for good. So it has all these things in one spot. It's one monthly system fee and it's not even that expensive. It's like around 400 US or something a year.
00:11:00
Speaker
for all of those things, for one system, all in one spot. And the best part about that is then it can feed off each other. It knows when the contract is signed so then it can trigger the invoice and then the invoice is paid so it can trigger that and it all works so beautifully together. And so I'm very bad at knowing this concept. Where I get slowed down as an entrepreneur is thinking,
00:11:22
Speaker
good grief, like, what if I have to do this myself? Like, what if I have to learn the system, right? So in season one, all the way back in season one, we had our photographer, Jen, on and she talked about how much she loves Debsado. And she talked about when starting her business is one of the first things that she invested in was learning the system, getting it set up and getting as much automated as she could because she had another job.
00:11:47
Speaker
So this actually is possible for non-technical people, or they could hire someone to help them. But this is something for small businesses. I came from the corporate world, and that's what I thought this was for. And it's so cool that there is
00:12:08
Speaker
you know, a variety of CRM tools specifically for kind of these one-stop shops of solopreneurs. Well, their backstory is really cute, actually. So they're eight years old, Dubsado is, and they, it started, the reason why Jen, I think, loved it, it started for...
00:12:27
Speaker
a photographer, and Jen is a photographer. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, nice. So the founders are a husband and wife. And the wife was a photographer, or maybe she still is. And she was looking for a system. She's like, I just need something for all in one spot that's for me, not for corporate. And the husband was a developer. And so he built the system for her. And now they've grown it, and they have a team, and more developers, and they're eight years old, and they're celebrating that. That's awesome.
00:12:57
Speaker
So it really, when I say it's built for entrepreneurs, it's built for entrepreneurs. Yeah. Like you're also supporting a smaller business, not just some tech giant when you use this tool. And I think a lot of women feel really good about doing that.
Dubsado Discounts and Benefits
00:13:12
Speaker
Now, does that mean that they have to pay full price? No. So now that I am a specialist,
00:13:21
Speaker
I can get you guys a discount. So in the show notes, how much tell us actually now you get 30% off your first year. Oh, I love it. Big savings. If you do the yearly option or be 30% off your first month. The other thing I really like about dubs auto, you know how a lot of systems they give you a 30 day trial or a week or whatever. So dubs auto actually lets you try the system until you have three clients in the system. Interesting. Okay. Now.
00:13:51
Speaker
if you put someone and save them in the address book, that counts as a client. So you have to be mindful, like anybody you put into the system at all counts as a client, even if they're not paid yet. But what it does is it allows you to sign up. You could sign up right now. And you could take three months to build your workflow and implement it and do whatever you wanted to do. You either have great training videos, you could take your time. You could get it set up and really process, lay the process out before you even had to get a paid plan.
00:14:21
Speaker
I love that. That was clearly built by an entrepreneur who knows that that's what we need. It's great. And that is what I did in the beginning. Now, if you partner with someone like our team, I mean, obviously you're going to get...
00:14:34
Speaker
exponentially faster in running it and up to speed. And also the workflows are intricate and there are little things. I do have an hour or so long training on how to do it. That's how I originally learned and then built my own workflows and then worked with many. We've been building this and doing this for clients all the whole time. We're just pivoting to offering it as a solo offering now in a short-term relationship with clients.
00:15:00
Speaker
So it can be done. You will get faster up to speed. If you partner with somebody that is going to be in the system, you add them in as an admin role, then you do need to have the paid version right away. Or if it allows you to transfer from another system, if you're uploading an address book from another CRM,
00:15:20
Speaker
those, you know, you do have to have the pay because that'll take your three spots right away. So there are some caveats to that. But if you want to do it on your own, yes, you absolutely can just get started for free. And it is possible, right? Jen did it by herself. And it, I think it comes back down to what's red and green for you, right from last week. And it's like, if processes and organizing and systems, if that's your jam, then like you can totally do this.
00:15:47
Speaker
If processes and systems live on reds like they do at my house, you can totally hire someone to do it and then get rid of all those extra clicks that you were doing to not have anything be automated. I love that there's the option for both.
00:16:08
Speaker
Love what you're hearing? Business Unbound online courses help you implement the ideas from this show and change how your company runs in big and small ways for the better. Our courses are meticulously crafted, packed with tactical tools and solutions, and designed to help women genuinely enjoy the day-to-day business journey.
00:16:28
Speaker
We've poured insights from our collective 13 years of entrepreneurship and work with more than 100 clients into every course. And the good news is that we're just getting started. We're on a mission to unite women entrepreneurs who understand challenges, loneliness, and vulnerabilities of running a business. And we want you to be part of it. Visit UnboundBoss.com to browse our course library. We cannot wait to join you on your journey.
Workflow Applications in Business
00:16:56
Speaker
What I'm curious about is if you can tell us, like for people who are new to this, what are some examples of the types of things that you might use a workflow for?
00:17:07
Speaker
Yes, there's lots of ways to use workflow. So the first one really is lead management, right? So somebody finds your website and they fill out a form on your website and then, or let's pretend that the workflow doesn't exist. What happens normally? They email you, hey, so-and-so referred to you, or I saw you in your podcast episode, whatever, right? And now there's an email sitting in your inbox and you're like,
00:17:35
Speaker
Great, now I have to do something with that, which you should just be excited. Yeah, but you're like, you should be happy, right? Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
So what it can do is you can then either take that person and put them into Dubsado and add the workflow right there. You can also create a form to put on your website. So if they fill out a form, it can trigger the workflow to automatically get attached to them. And it can set up an email for you. And again, you can personalize it or maybe there's some materials that go out first before you even engage with them.
00:18:10
Speaker
So I can then take them through the whole process of the lead management. So you can schedule meetings with them. You can have your scheduler there. You can have as many schedulers as you want. You can set as many different days, lengths of meetings, locations. You can sync with video or you can just put phone calls in.
00:18:28
Speaker
And then the process is laid out to get them all the way through. So the benefit is that it's saving you time, but it's also giving them a beautiful first impression of what it will be like working with you. Right. Right. And I think we've heard that. We've heard that even in our
00:18:45
Speaker
you know, podcasting world where guests are like, this is so easy. Everything is like exactly when it needs to be. And I'm like, I wish I could take credit, but that's totally gallery. I mean, yeah, as a, as a little Pat, just to like the impression that it gives is great. I think that one of them said, this is the, like the most organized or easiest podcast I've ever been on. Yeah.
00:19:11
Speaker
So yes, podcast guest management. If you're just doing episodes, maybe you could get away with a project management. But if you have guests, so you have some external interaction, honest, I would never want to do it without this. If you are managing a podcast with guests, you really should have a CRM with workflows.
00:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, you need the automatic car. Honestly. Because if you're doing one a week, you're constantly at some stage for each episode. And you don't want to forget, you want to remind them when their appointment recording time is, you want to make sure you get your forms in from them and you get their headshots and you get their social handles and you get their bio. And you want to make sure that they get their promo material so that they promote it in advance of the show.
00:20:00
Speaker
You also want to follow up and you want to ask them for ratings and other guests that you could have on. There's so much in there. Yeah, actually we even got the best practice to have guests sign a contract. Just saying if they change their mind and they're like, just kidding. I don't actually want you to say all, post that. Be like, well, you recorded it and you said we could and we have it slated for tomorrow. So if you don't put it out, you're going to really mess up our cadence. Yeah, so you can have a contract in there.
00:20:29
Speaker
Podcast guest management is another one. For folks who don't have podcasts, like I mentioned, onboarding. Onboarding is a perfect way to use workflows. So this can be clients. For my clients, when we were doing long-term relationships, that looked like a little virtual welcome packet that talked about
00:20:49
Speaker
me and their OBM they were working with, their online business manager. And it talked about how to work with us and like kind of the FAQs and the holidays and whatnot, invoicing, kind of like a little packet. I had a questionnaire. So I need to know what systems you're in. I want to know what your goals are. What does success look like working with us? So questionnaire, I get their birthday and then I have it remind me to send them a birthday card or a birthday gift.
00:21:15
Speaker
or an anniversary, like you've been working with me for three years now, here's a coffee, right? Make it easier to wow people. Yeah, like you can add in those little customer satisfaction and happiness things, right?
00:21:31
Speaker
yearly annual feedback forms for these long-term relationships. So that's kind of client management long-term, but even just getting them onboarded, you know, obviously there's a contract as well. If you're doing prepayments for invoices, you can start that or you can just put the invoices later into the process.
00:21:47
Speaker
So client onboarding and client management. There's also teams. So team onboarding. Now, most of the clients we work haven't had actual employees, but some have. So you can certainly do this for employees, of course, but you can also do this for freelancers.
00:22:03
Speaker
all my team were freelancers, were contractors to more you. But still, I want to put them on the website and I still need their bio and their headshot and their contract and their questionnaire so I can also send them happiness and love. I can't send them things in the mail if I don't have their address. I can't send them a birthday card if I don't know their birthday. I get that all in the beginning. I get their W-9 or whatever form they're filling out if they're an employee.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, they also get a welcome packet. So onboarding and then training, that's the last step for them. Send them one email that says, here's all the steps to get your email set up. Here's this training video on how to use these four systems with our company. And you do that one time and you use it for every single person.
00:22:52
Speaker
And maybe you're only bringing on three people a year, but I tell you what, after you do it that first time, those next two people, you are very happy that you have that email ready to go and synced up and ready to send off.
00:23:03
Speaker
Well, and I'm curious, those are awesome examples and things that I think every entrepreneur could use. The other thing that I'm wondering is, are there ways to use workflows or automations in like a sales process? So like if you have a lead magnet or things like that, like can you trigger things based off of web forms?
00:23:26
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Okay, so you can kind of nurture along perspective clients as well and actually use this as both a time saver and a business funnel. Yes.
00:23:38
Speaker
There are email service provider platforms. This is not that. So this system, that's one thing it does not have is bulk emailing capabilities. So you do need to sync it with another system, but you can still do that here. So if you have an email service provider, yes, you can build funnels and you can do that there.
00:23:59
Speaker
Actually, my current lead magnet for Morio is a free guide. I'll put it in the show notes. You're going to go to a web page on my website and it's a form and you fill out that form. It's built through Dubsado on the backend. Actually, no, it's not. I switched it to Squarespace, my email service provider.
00:24:17
Speaker
but originally it was and Dubsado would audit once they filled out that form would automatically attach this workflow to it and it would automatically send them an email with the with the gift with the download and then it would have two or three sales emails following that and
00:24:34
Speaker
And then if they didn't trigger, you know, if they didn't engage, it would then shoot them over to my mass email list so that I could just continue to have them in my audience. Right. Again, I switched it and there's, this is where like the strategy and the different systems come into play and it can get confusing. Like what's the best thing? And so we can really help with that. But you don't, you don't have to, you could do everything right in Dubsado if you.
00:24:56
Speaker
Yeah. And it feels like you could have something where like if on your website you have like a free trial of your service for a month or a free consultation call, like that's really common. And maybe you want to then attach those folks to workflow and automation, you know, whether it's for email stuff or not, you know, maybe at the end of your one month trial, like
00:25:21
Speaker
your contract says that you automatically are enrolled in whatever. And so it just seems like there are a lot of different use cases.
00:25:30
Speaker
And this is not the reason I'm like, yeah, I would rather just have somebody to bounce the ideas off of. That's me. If you're a systems guru like Jen and Mallory, again, these may be green post-its and you will love nerding out about it. For the rest of us, luckily, people specialize in this. Well, honestly, there's just so many different pathways.
00:25:54
Speaker
Like I said, there's a lot of intricacies and I've learned some best practices and then especially being able to say, you know, I don't build workflows for people in honey books, which isn't others because there's all those little intricacies that
00:26:11
Speaker
I haven't learned. I am offering this service for Dubsado because I know that when you update a canned email, it doesn't update in the workflow and you have to re-sync it in the workflow. That is a step that you have to just learn from trial and error. That's not in the training videos, I don't think. There's just little things like that that certainly help. Again, you could also just get started.
00:26:33
Speaker
on your own and then see if you kind of get stuck. I also offer a consultation call if you want to just like have the call and get some expertise. Way, way smaller investment for you, but just to know you're on the right path to get you started. Right. Or just say, just make sense for my business.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, but this isn't really about a sales call. What this podcast is talking about is workflows save you time. It's like creating more time. I know you can't physically do that, but it can feel like that and energy. And if you can't tell, I love this. I get very excited. Can you tell my energy is higher? Because
00:27:13
Speaker
It would make me like nothing makes me happier than getting on a call with you as a business owner and strategizing about how to use workflows to make your life easier. That is my favorite thing.
00:27:31
Speaker
you're in touch with them, so we have specific examples from this CRM. But in general, you also just know a lot about workspace and automation. What are the differences that people might be able to tell in their own lives? You have automation to use for us, and what is the difference? What would your day look like if you didn't have them
00:27:53
Speaker
versus if you did, right? How is this making business feel better? I honestly, I think the biggest thing is the constant ticker tape of check, check, check, check, check are all these things done. So when I say I'm done working for the day, I don't need to then be thinking,
00:28:13
Speaker
Did I email the episode to the guest for tomorrow's episode going live? Did I send a reminder so that they don't forget to get on our recording? You know, I can then just trust that it's built and all the steps are taken care of. And so for me, that's the biggest thing. It's just knowing that when I step away from work, it's handled. Everything got done or will get done because it will remind me and it will email me and tell me to do all the things. So I honestly think
00:28:43
Speaker
I think that's the biggest thing. And it's brain space, right? It's cognitive load. It takes those little tasks off your plate in a sense. So maybe you're still executing them, but you're not having to think about them. Yes.
00:29:01
Speaker
And think about how much time that frees up for you, right? Like take all those little things off so I don't have to remember them. I'll just do them when it tells me to do them. And now I have time to get into a flow on this and to CEO this and to strategize this and be creative here because I'm not thinking about all those little things. So honestly, I think that is,
00:29:25
Speaker
the biggest thing. There's two folks I'm working with together because we're building them the same workflow. They're in the same industry. Realtors actually is, I think where we're going to focus is really supporting Realtors next besides podcast hosts. And so for the one, he was sharing with me, like, I think this will help me feel
00:29:50
Speaker
like I'm doing business better, like I'm doing it better. Like he wants, he kind of has some, maybe there's some like shame around like I'm not doing it as well as it could be done or I'm not representing my brand as well as it could be. And that removes, this will remove all of it. It just set up for you. So the process is smooth and it's a good impression on your clients, your leads.
00:30:15
Speaker
And so often, just like he said, right, we feel like we should always be doing something better or it's really hard to step away when it's your business. And the way I'm thinking about this now that I hear you talk is like, this is your executive assistant,
Workflows as a Business Assistant
00:30:32
Speaker
right? Like, she's always working.
00:30:34
Speaker
She's always working. She never forgets anything. She's super organized. Like she is on top of it. She works 24 hours a day, whenever something needs to happen. Right. And so instead of you being that person that always needs to be on, and this comes, you know, back around to like getting burned out, which is a huge piece of this time puzzle. Like you have another, it's basically like having another employee.
00:31:02
Speaker
working for your business all the time and you maybe pay $400 a year for them. Like, wow. Right. And so there's a couple other things to share too on this whole idea.
00:31:17
Speaker
Well, I didn't touch on that a really great way to use workflows as event management is another, another super powerful way. So, so useful. And I've have built this with actually coaches, coaching client, like managing coaching clients is another way. So if you're in the coaching industry, having a process around how you manage ongoing
00:31:39
Speaker
either group coaching or one-on-one coaching. So we've done workflows on that and event management, because you need everyone to have their contract and fill out their paperwork and submit their, you know.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah, like we did this during like right after COVID. So there was like that COVID form you had to fill out back in the day, you know, then you can like also send them a survey after get their feedback, you can send them then like an email afterwards wrapping up. But then the thing so that's another case use. But the thing about a CRM to that we didn't touch on is it means everything is in one place in terms of information.
00:32:13
Speaker
So that's where the client, the CRM part comes in. It's a customer relationship management. So it's not like I have this spreadsheet somewhere that lists all my clients and their addresses or I have my email provider where I have my like 100 email addresses or maybe thousands hopefully for you. It's like all of my interactions with this client are in one spot. So let's say they're a client and we do this work for them and then they come back two years later.
00:32:40
Speaker
What did I do for them exactly? What did they pay? What did they tell me? What systems were they in? What did they share with me? Sometimes I even write down their partner's names or their kids' names.
00:32:57
Speaker
And there's just like, there's a note section. So it just lives on their file. There's call log section. So as you can type notes for meetings that you have and like there's this client portal they can log into. So, and it certainly is an address book. It's like everybody I've ever worked with and they're tagged based on if they're current or past or leads or clients or partners, it's all in one spot. And as you have been working longer and longer, there's just more people. You can't possibly keep track of them all, right?
00:33:26
Speaker
So we didn't touch on that. And that's where the CRM part of the system really is helpful. The other thing I wanted to mention is that outside of your workflows, you can just have other forms and things living in Dubs Auto. What kind of forms? So let's say, especially this realtor idea. So when I have a new first time home buyer, I like to send them this PDF that explains whatever it explains.
00:33:57
Speaker
And it lives in drive somewhere, but it takes me two minutes every time to think about where it is and to find it. And then to draft the email, that's five minutes. So like every time I have a first new home buyer, it takes me like 10 minutes. Well, now it takes you one minute to personalize that email that's already drafted for you that already has the, you can literally attach the PDF that's already built in Dubsado.
00:34:19
Speaker
And that's nine minutes safe for every single time. And it can just live in there. It doesn't have to be part of a workflow. It can just be like, I'm so excited that you're considering being a first time home buyer. Here's this resource. Here's how home inspections work. Yeah. Yeah. Here's what bidding on a house means. And maybe they haven't done it before.
00:34:41
Speaker
Exactly. So that doesn't have to be part of a workflow. It can just be a resource in there. You can have all these things built that you can just send out one off any time. And can you also, so like within the system, when you have all of your customer prospect data in one place, can you tag people in different ways and then customize workflows or automations to that? Like could you have some people as
00:35:06
Speaker
first-time home buyers. This person is selling. This person is buying. Can you kind of niche down your own list? Yeah. So you can tag and you can have, in that case, you'd probably have a workflow built for a first-time home or maybe not. Maybe you would be buyers and sellers would have different workflows.
00:35:29
Speaker
But if they're tagged with first time, you know that you have a, you have a to do an action item in your workflow that says, make sure to attach this home first time home buyers to their first email that you send from them. Right. So yes, you can absolutely specialize it. If you weren't like, how would you even do it without external from the system? You wouldn't do very well. Yeah.
00:35:52
Speaker
And so you can really feel like you're honoring them and you're giving them your best service and you're honoring yourself and your business by giving it your best service. Because everything, the process is documented, nothing gets forgotten, and you feel like you're really doing your best work.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yes, nothing gets forgotten. The dream gets forgotten. And then the other thing that I actually really find super useful is that it can track all your emails with that inner with that client. So you're not trying to go back in your inbox.
00:36:23
Speaker
Even if you use a different, like if you use Gmail? Well, so there's the caveat to that. So it depends on how you have it set up. There's a second set up part of the, when you sync your email address to the system as your first step of setting it up.
00:36:39
Speaker
There's a second step that you have to integrate, that you have to follow the steps on to make it so it can recognize them from your other email. Okay, I had no idea this was a thing. But if you can't do that, as long as you start the interaction from Dubsado, so I email Nicole as a client from Dubsado. The email lives there, it's tracked. I can see it, she can see it in her client portal.
00:37:09
Speaker
Nicole responds to that email. It goes into Dubsado. It's there for me to reference it. It's there for her to reference it. It also comes to my normal email address because I'm not checking Dubsado to see if email comes. So I see it like it's a regular email. But now we have an engaged, we're emailing back and forth five different times. That whole chain is in Dubsado because I initiated it from the system.
00:37:33
Speaker
I love that. And if you do the second step, it can recognize them and still pull them in even if they initiate it. So even if you can't, because depending on your service provider, it can be tricky to get that to work. Gmail is not it, but like Bluehost or other things sometimes can. So even if you can't, there is benefit to that. But just think of how many times you've had to go try to find an email from somebody. I mean, I am on a super huge kick with this, like just less clicks.
00:38:01
Speaker
Right? It's the same as shutting off notifications, which we've talked about in the wellness season, in every season probably. Like it's just what keeps distracting you.
00:38:17
Speaker
from either doing your best work or just not working. Either of those are better than distracted living, distracted working. When you start to think about the amount of things that you do over and over,
00:38:33
Speaker
You just, I mean, it's why I do the red, yellow, green for me, because there are things that I do over and over that maybe I just thought would be fine and no big deal until I added 75 other things. And then now it is kind of a big deal, right? And in your case, like you might
00:38:52
Speaker
think, okay, well, I've done this five times manually. If I've done it five times manually, if I stay in business for 10 years, like I'm gonna end up doing this 500 times, at that point, it's just silly, right? So it's the mental, right? Like you said, it's the cognitive load of getting rid of all these little things because we live in a world that is so input heavy.
00:39:20
Speaker
And we're all just trying to figure out how to live in it without going insane. So title of the episode, live in it without going insane. You know what I mean?
The Impact of Automation on Entrepreneurship
00:39:30
Speaker
How do we do this in a world that is not set up to let us focus or be creative or be positive? This is how. This is how. And I also want to go back to you saying it's like another employee.
00:39:43
Speaker
Let's say, I know entrepreneurs sometimes don't want to take time off, or they feel badly about taking time off, which we are not advocates for. Not proponents, no. No. Because you're worried you're going to miss out. Clients, you can put up an out of office because they already have your email address, whatever. But you're going to miss out on a lead or an opportunity for taking a week off. You can have it set up.
00:40:10
Speaker
So you can, before you go out of office on your lead workflow, you could literally add, I am out of office. I am honoring this time so I can be better for you. And I'm, you know, thank you for honoring my time off. You know, I will be back at this time. You can add that in so that, and you can still send them information. You can still send them a scheduler so they can get on your calendar from your back. So you're not missing opportunities. So it is like having a backup person cover you when you're off.
00:40:39
Speaker
But then the other thing is if you actually have people that you want to help you, actual people, you can add up to three people on the base level plan in Dubsado, right? So on the team. On your team and there's different roles you can give them so they can see different things. But I actually, I put my bookkeeper right in there and she does all my reconciling with my transaction tracking from Dubsado with my bank account every month.
00:41:08
Speaker
So so I just put her in there and she has access. If you had a virtual assistant who's going to handle those to do action items, I said of show up in your workflow, you put them in there as an admin, and then you assign them the tasks instead of you. The dream. Right. There's ways to incorporate this with a team as well. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. And I feel like this has been a really good episode for
00:41:37
Speaker
combining tools and feelings, right? So that sounds like me. It does. It does. She is tools and feelings. She's in charge of tools and feelings. And what am I in charge of? graphics.
00:41:54
Speaker
Jokes and graphics. Yes, jokes and graphics, she is tools and tools and emotions. But it's something where like, here's an actual tool that you can apply to your business. But the whole point is again, making business feel better.
00:42:09
Speaker
And if you're not in a place where business feels good right now, you now have between this episode and the last one, two specific ways that can make it feel better. Two ways to have less clicks, less distractions, more flow state, just less stress.
00:42:29
Speaker
more feeling like you're working in your zone of genius. We want to be working on the things that give us energy. You guys can't see her, but when Mallory talks about workflows, she's all energized by it. It's adorable. If business isn't feeling really good right now,
00:42:51
Speaker
Addressing how you're spending your time and how those ways that you're spending time make you feel is like step one. Like that's why we're starting here, right? I mean, I think this whole season is going to be about that. But I think even in your episode last week about doing the exercise, the red, yellow, green, and then obviously in this case,
00:43:12
Speaker
This is a big time investment. So that's a small time investment. This is a big time investment. I'm not going to lie to you. This will take you time right now to implement it and learn it or to engage with us. We can't do it without your time. But it is return on time invested that you want to look at. In the future,
00:43:32
Speaker
The longer you put it off, the longer the future is away. You do it now, the future is sooner, and you actually will start to see return on that time that you invest in now. So that's what this is about. That's what yours is about. That's what probably a lot of the stuff this season might be about, is you put the time in now for these things that you have identified are important, and you will see an investment on that time by having more time in the future. Yes. Yes. 100%.
00:44:01
Speaker
And if people don't know where to start, just grab the free guide. It'll explain this a little more in writing. So it's like a little... It's good. It's a little cheat sheet for what we talked about today. That'll get you on my email list and then you can just kind of follow along. And I send an email once a week that kind of talks about different ways and uses. We do talk about these episodes on Unbound Turnarounds. And then we say, you know, another way that this...
00:44:25
Speaker
applies is by implementing workflows. It just really syncs with a lot of the different topics. So start there. If you're ready, we can have a call, you know, even just a consult call. There's a free half hour consult call. If you're like, is this for me? Let's just get on a call for half an hour and just talk.
00:44:41
Speaker
And then if you're ready, like I said, we can do just a paid consultation call for 90 minutes, or we can go in the whole partnership and go from there. So regardless, I just want this, like I said, this isn't to pitch sales. What it is is to educate entrepreneurs on what workflows are and what's available to them.
00:45:00
Speaker
And I would encourage folks, if they are curious about how I can change the way business feels, like head back to season one and listen to Jen, the photographer's episode, because we had no idea she used a CRM. We had no idea she set it up herself. And I mean, she lit up about it the way that Mallory does. And so if you want to hear from someone else who has used it, I would head back there as well. Plus, there's so many good things in season one.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. Well, thanks for letting me have this whole episode to really geek out about my favorite thing in business right now. I'm so glad to share this with as many people as possible to say, there's a way for it to feel better. Let's use this strategy. If you do one change in your systems this year, let's do this and see how it feels by the end of the year.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yes, I love it. I love it. I love it. So we are really looking forward to the rest of this season, which is going to have just tons more tools and tactics like this. And we're going to have a lot of guests lined up for you that have different zones of genius within time management and effectiveness and just the way that we are doing business and how we're spending our limited time. So we will see everyone back here next week.
00:46:23
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Hop over to UnboundBoss.com to join our community and leave us a voice memo. We absolutely love hearing from you. If you'd like the podcast, please subscribe, leave us an Apple review and share your favorite episodes with other women entrepreneurs. Talk to you soon.