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I’m officially building my first Al app. No code. No hoodie-wearing co-founder. Just me, my idea, a no-code tool called Lovable.dev, and two years of quietly training an Al on everything I know about marketing, messaging, and digital products.
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100 Profitable Digital Product Ideas
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Mastering the Transition from Business Owner to CEO: A Comprehensive Guide for a Successful Shift in Role
As a business owner, you inherently are a CEO, but it’s how you show up in that role that makes all the difference. CEOs play a super specific role in the company that evolves as the business grows. Right now, you may still be doing a lot of things related to your skill set and the results you bring to clients. After all, getting paid to do the things you love are part of the whole reason you started your business in the first place. But in order to run a successful and sustainable business, this involves doing things and having conversations that are otherwise out of your comfort zone.
Keep reading as we help you define what it means to step into your true CEO role and essential skills needed to run your business as the founder.
Service Providers Making More Than $20k Per Month: Essential Skills You Need For Sustaining & Growing Your Business
We know firsthand how challenging it can be to build and grow a business that can withstand the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We’ve worked with service providers in all stages of business, and while they can all equally be difficult to navigate, they each come with their own unique struggles. For the service providers who are already hitting $20k months and beyond, there are essential skills needed in order to continue building a sustainable business and experience continued growth.
The Brand New Incubator
We recently wrote about whether or not service providers should pivot your offer or start over (you can read that post over here). We wouldn’t be Boss Project if we didn’t practice what we preached, so we’ve had a change in the works regarding our program, The Incubator. After 18+ months of data from clients going through our program, we saw a need for our own pivot. We’ve always prioritized not adding fluff and making sure that our offers aren’t overwhelming, so we analyzed our data and cut what wasn’t making a difference.
Go From Service Provider to Agency: How to Scale Your Marketing Business
Being a lone service provider is fine in the beginning, but to really scale and grow your marketing business to the next level that will allow you to hit big financial goals and actually spend less time in the weeds, you have to scale to an agency. This means you outsource many of the services through your team that you were previously doing yourself. As you hire team members who specialize in certain services, you can even expand your business offering to market to a larger audience.
But first, there are critical action steps to take before growing to that next level. Keep reading as we dive into how to scale your marketing business to go from service provider to agency!
One Week to More Clients (Without Paid Ads or Social Media)
The thing about paid ads and social media is that no matter how excellent your strategy is, more often than not, you’re bombarded with leads that aren’t at the quality you need them to be. Heck, any kind of marketing can be confusing because of all of the new trends that come in hot and go just as quickly. We’ve said it a million times before, but relationship building and networking is where you’ll find your highest quality leads and potential clients. It’s even possible to do this and gain new clients in just one week.
In this post, we’ll be teaching you how to narrow down your offer, find your network, reach out to potential clients, and hold discovery calls and coffee dates all in the span of a week.
$118k In Contracted Revenue in 30 Days - Here’s How We Did It
For the last seven years, we’ve worked with clients in a variety of capacities. When we first joined forces and started offering services, we were a local branding and marketing boutique. Then we flourished in the online course industry, but over the last year, we’ve been working with a handful of clients outside of our typical education products inside the Incubator. We loved getting back to the 1:1 experience, so we decided to open up a waitlist for our done-for-you services to a wider audience.
Lots of tweaking and repeating took place, but in 30 days we’d contracted $118k at a 60% close rate. Keep reading as we break down how we did it!
How Service Providers Can Identify Their Result and Deliver a Profitable Offer
Looking back there is something magical about the beginning stages of business. It’s like we all had this young naive way of thinking at the beginning. You’re learning all the things, you’re hustling, you’re saying yes a lot (probably more than you should have) but you’re doing it. You’re building something that is yours.
And then you get to a point where you’re hitting 10K months consistently. You did the thing! You’ve become an established business owner BUT you’re still holding onto that “beginner” energy. Yeah, you might be making more money but you’re still feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and stretched thin.
Complete Guide to Dubsado’s New Form Builder 2022
As two self-dubbed Dubsado connoisseurs, we were over the moon when we first learned about the updates to Dubsado’s form builder. While it wasn’t terrible to use before, this upgrade that just rolled out for all accounts in July has increased our love for the platform times a thousand. Even though all of the blocks and options are basically the same, the form builder now has a whole new look that the majority of users will find more intuitive and easy to use.
We were part of the lucky group who were able to use the beta version of the new form builder for months, so we’ve already gotten used to the upgrade and have been sticking to it exclusively. Because of that, we knew we had to put out this unofficial guide to Dubsado’s new form builder!
How to Develop an Experimental Mindset and Curiosity Culture in Your Small Business
We have seen too many business owners allow themselves to get stuck in a planning and research phase (because planning is fun!) that the big dreamy goals they have for their business never really come to fruition. The #1 thing that’s helped our business reach 7-figures, employ us and our amazing team, allow us to take time away and live Life-First, grow (when we want to) and sustain is the fact that we’ve created an Experimental mindset for ourselves and a culture of curiosity for our team.
In today’s blog we go over how to develop an experimental mindset not just for you and your business but how to also implement it within your growing business.
How to Figure Out if Your Next Step Should Be to Hire or Land More Clients
We can’t tell you how many times 6-figure service based business owners come to us stuck. Stuck in, what we call, the Cycle of Doom™. They come to us feeling super frustrated that, even though they’ve gotten their business to this amazing milestone, it all still feels so damn overwhelming. They know something needs to change, but what exactly is it? They’re faced with limited options - and maybe you are too. Today, we’re going to dive into the options that are available to you if you’re looking to scale past your first 6-figures and finally end the Cycle of Doom™ forever.
How to Use Systems to Scale Past 6-Figures in Your Service Based Business
We bet you’re thinking that if you start using a certain software, tool, or marketing mechanism, that’s going to be the thing to soar you past 6 figures in your service-based business. (You can probably tell where we’re going with this, but…) In all actuality, it isn’t.
After working with 5-, 6-, even 7-figure clients who are charging anywhere from $750+ on retainer to $60k one-time projects, we know a thing or two about helping service providers scale past 6 figures without the stress, overwhelm, or taking up all of their precious time.
We know you’re so close to finally reaching that point in your business, too, but you just don’t think you have the time or capacity to make it happen. So, in our own experience working with these clients, here are the 3 things we’ve noticed are required for service-based business owners wanting to scale past 6 figures and beyond.
How to Fire a Client (Without Ruining Your Reputation)
As dreamy as it would be to only ever work with clients we love, we know that isn’t always the case. There are even the few that put on a good front and seem like they’ll be a really great fit, but something goes astray during the relationship. It could be an issue as simple as miscommunication, lost expectations, scope creep, etc.
No matter the root issue, it’s hard! It may even be so hard that you’ve come to a point where you’re ready to fire a client and finally part ways for good. Before you let anxiety get the best of you, keep reading as we dive into how to determine if you actually need to say goodbye, some other ways to get back on track, and– if it comes down to it– how to fire a client without ruining your reputation.
How to Set up Business Systems That Work for You
Not many people would say systems get them excited but at Boss Project we feel passionately that systems are THE THING that gets us excited. (yeah, you heard us right!) Systems are what give you more time and freedom, they give you the opportunity to step away, they run your business smoothly, and they provide your clients with an excellent experience.
We’ve heard many business owners say that systems and automations are overwhelming to tackle because it’s one more thing to think about. If that’s the case for you then you really NEED systems. With some up front work, you’ll actually have less things to think about and more time to do other things.
The Art of the Customer Experience
When talking about the customer experience, there’s one word in particular that should come to mind: feelings. After all, that’s what it revolves around– how you make your customers or clients feel before, during, and after working with you.
But because the experience is based around feelings, that raises a ton of questions. How can you track feelings as a measurable KPI? What parts of your process should you focus on to invoke those positive feelings? Why the heck is all of this so important to begin with?
Keep reading for the answers to all of your questions as it relates to the art of the customer or client experience!
What Subject Matter Experts Need to Know About Running a Profitable Business
By definition, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a person who is an authority in a particular area or topic. They’re knowledgeable about their topic, they focus on a very specific field, and they’re extremely sought after. If you’re a 1:1 service provider whose expertise lies in a specific niche, then you, our friend, are a Subject Matter Expert!
For example, a general Social Media Manager wouldn’t usually be classified as a SME, but an Instagram Strategy Consultant for veterinarians could be. You can fill in the blanks with your specific niche and ideal client. This isn’t to say one is better than the other, but we do want you to understand the difference between a generalist title versus a SME.
In this post, we’ll be covering 4 things that we think SMEs really need to be aware of about running a profitable business!
Welcome to My Blog
Hey, I’m Abagail Pumphrey!
You know when you are so deeply passionate about something you can’t help but share it? That’s how this blog has felt for the last decade. I’ve written about my latest strategies, tech how-tos, experience with scaling and so much more. I hope you find just what you’re looking for. We’re here to help!
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