The ONE Tool That Saved My Business

If you’ve been around here very much, you know that I absolutely love any tool that helps me be more productive. And if it also gives me a good deal of control over how it looks, then I’m sold!

Before I share with you the one tool I cannot live without in my business, let me take you back to before I started using it.

Back in Summer 2017 I was still designing custom wedding stationery and working with several clients at once on multiple pieces of their wedding stationery. I’d often have every single client at a different stage of their project, paying through a different payment plan at different times of the month, and some texting me with feedback and questions, some emailing me, and some using Asana (another favorite tool!). So managing the documents and communication of the project was not exactly easy (do-able, but not easy).

In addition, booking new clients took forever. I’d have to create a custom proposal, send that to the clients and wait for a response. Then customize a Word Document with all the specifics for their project, save it as a PDF, upload it to a document signature service (I used Hello Sign most often), email that to my clients. Next, create the invoice, manually enter each line item, manually create a payment plan (if requested), and email that to my clients. Then wait for everything to come back.

The process of getting everything to the client took several hours. And then waiting for them to sign everything and pay could take up to a week, depending on how tech-savvy the client was.

IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!

And then I found a software that would make ALLLLLLL of that so much easier! And would allow me to book clients in as little as an hour!

This software is DUBSADO.

If you’ve been hanging around here for very long, you’ve heard me talk about Dubsado and how much time it saves me. But today I wanted today share 3 of my favorite ways Dubsado is saving my business.

1. Proposal, Contract, and Invoice can all go out together in one email.

This one is a bonus for both me AND my clients. By connecting all 3 pieces of the booking process together, I’ve been able to condense 3 emails and links into one email with one link. In addition, clients can move seamlessly from the proposal to the contract to the invoice without leaving the screen!

What this does, is encourages my clients to complete the booking process at one time. They can sit down, approve the proposal (which these days is usually just picking how many months they want to work together), sign the contract, and pay their first payment — all at once! No more hunting email for links. No more attachments. No more PDFS. No more confusion over what needs to happen in order to secure their spot on my calendar.

Dubsado makes it easy for them to complete the booking process with ease and feel confident they have completed everything necessary to get to work with me.

2. Applying Payment Plans & Sending Payment Reminders is only a few clicks

Before Dubasdo, payment plans used to be a pain. I’d have to create several invoices and manually calculate and enter the due dates and then remember to go into my accounting software to send out the invoice a few days before it was due. Payment overdue reminders were a mostly manual process too, and I usually forgot some step of the process.

With Dubsado, though, I can create all the reminder emails and attach them to a payment reminder timeline. And Dubsado takes care of sending out all the emails AUTOMATICALLY for me! It’s one of the best “set it and forget it” systems I’ve found.

I can create several payment plans in advance (the most common ones my clients request) and set the % of the total payment due at each due date and set relative dates that update when I apply the plan to a project.

For example, I can say payment 1 is 34% of the total invoice and is due immediately, payment 2 is 33% of the total invoice and is due one month later, payment 3 is the final 33% of the total invoice and is due one month after that. And Dubsado will automatically fill in the correct dates and amounts for me for each project!

No more manually calculating due dates! No more manually calculating the total for each bill due date! No more stressing about getting paid!!!!

3. Tracking & communicating with leads is no longer stressful

Tracking leads before Dubsado involved me keeping a VERY close eye on my inbox, using an Asana board-style project, and building several Zaps to help me get all the information in the right place. It was messy, frustrating, and often things and people slipped through the cracks.

With Dubsdao, though, I have a lead capture form embedded directly on my website that automatically adds them to my leads tracking area inside Dubsado. I have customized my categories to allow me to track each lead through the entire leads process. I’m also able to send out emails automatically, so I don’t have to watch my inbox like a hawk and feel the constant pressure to keep my phone on me or hitting the refresh button.

Leads are emailed immediately after they complete the lead capture form with a welcome email and instructions for the next step of the process + what to bring on our upcoming call. And all emails are kept inside Dubsado so I no longer have to hunt through my inbox for emails with my clients. They are all in one place and easy to find.

This has eliminated so much stress for me! I know exactly where each lead is in the process. I know they are being taken care through my automated (but still friendly and personalized) emails. And no one slips through the cracks anymore! Which means more bookings and more money in the bank. Yes, please!

So have I convinced you yet that you need Dubsado for your business? Because you absolutely need a system like Dubsado for your business! My personal favorite is Dubsado and I recommend it to 9 out of 10 of my clients.

And you are in luck! Because Dubsado is currently on sale for their Birthday! And… if you use coupon code “chelseabfoster” when you sign up, you’ll get 20% off your first payment! Savings on savings!

And, because I don’t want you to leave you hanging. I’m teaching The COMPLETE Dubsado Workshop on March 15th and I’d love to see you there! More details are coming on Monday, but the gist is that we’ll be going through everything in Dubsado and I’ll be helping you set up your account during this day-long workshop. You’ll walk away understanding all of the features, how they can be used in your business, and be really far in the setup process of your own account so you can start accepting and managing your clients ASAP. Click here to save your seat.

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