business insights
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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Best Passive Income Ideas for Your Small Business in 2022
In this day and age of online business, it’s extremely easy to give into the elusive passive income trend. We talk about it with our family and friends, and we learn from marketing gurus on the internet that the end goal is to “make money while you sleep.”
Sure, it does sound great. Being able to give little to no effort yet still have money rolling in sounds like a dream. Spoiler alert: What they’re teaching you isn’t really passive income.
Keep reading to find out the true definition of passive income, our honest thoughts around it, and what you should do instead.
Roundup -The Best Business Resources for Creatives in 2021
This year has been a wild year of content for us! We’ve cranked out almost 200 total blog posts and podcast episodes, dropped almost 50 new collections of templates, updated some of our programs and added a new one, and overall have really been dedicated to helping creative business owners.
We thought the perfect post for the end of 2021 would be to gather all of the best resources for creatives and wrap them all up with a pretty bow. (Late Christmas gift, maybe?) We have a lot to dive into, so let’s get started!
The BEST Tool to Help Land High-Paying Clients Consistently
The biggest struggles we’ve seen service providers face includes difficulty landing high-paying clients consistently. They may land just one or two clients per month at their highest package, but the rest always fall on the smaller scale. This can lead to just breaking even each month, which leads to feelings of discouragement, worry, and self doubt.
But before we say “Just raise your prices!”, we understand that there are other steps that go into that as well. Part of being able to offer a premium package is providing more value through your client experience. That may sound to you like you need to start holding your clients’ hands more or putting more of your time into how you take care of them, but that simply isn’t the case.
You can completely transform your business with one single tool that we’re going to share with you in this blog post!
Dubsado vs. HoneyBook Feature and Interface Comparison
There are two top dogs in the CRM game right and now, and they’re crushing it: Dubsado and HoneyBook. About half of the service providers you talk to will be Team Dubsado, while the other half are Team HoneyBook.
No matter which team you choose, though, having a CRM is a massively important piece of running a service-based business. You need some type of system to help you streamline your processes, leads, client communication, and more, and either of these platforms will help you do so.
So, which team are we? Today we’re going to dive into comparing Dubsado vs. HoneyBook’s features and interface. For us and many others we know, these are the two main deal breakers when it comes to choosing any sort of software, not just CRMs. Keep reading if you want to find out who comes out on top!
How to Start Charging More for Your Services So You Can Work Less
When you think of how you can free up time and make more in your service-based business, what comes to mind first? Your most likely goes to what all the online business marketers are preaching:
Grow your list and audience.
Offer a low price point product.
Make it digital so it’s passive.
But the reality check here is that right there isn’t the fastest way for you to make more and work less (quite the opposite, actually).
So have you ever looked at your services and what you’re currently charging? Have you worked backwards on how much you say you want to make vs. what you’re actually charging?
The real key to putting your life first in your business again is to know exactly what you need to charge + how many clients you need to work with in order to reach your goals. Let’s break it down in this blog post!
How to Use Testimonials to Attract Your Dream Clients
Client testimonials are the proof in the pudding to potential clients about how amazing you are. You need to be able to back up your claims of being able to achieve XYZ results for your clients and the wonderful experience you provide. Not only do they serve as a diverse marketing asset that you can repurpose in numerous ways, but they’re also like hanging those sticky fly traps.
The fact of the matter is that dreamy clients know other dreamy clients. As soon as you land who you consider a dream client, you have to use that person and their testimonial for every referral or potential client that you can because you’ll get even more like-minded clients from them.
So in what ways can you use testimonials to signal more dream clients that they should work with you?
How to Collect Powerful Testimonials on Autopilot
Marketing your business as a service provider can be super nerve wracking and awkward. You might be thinking, “So I’m just supposed to talk about how good I am all day long and hope people believe me?”
The short answer: not exactly. You don’t always have to be the one doing the talking. There’s one single marketing asset for service-based business that’s the most powerful…
The client testimonial.
What is a VIP Client Experience + How to Create One Easily
As a service provider, besides delivering your services well, there’s only one other thing that can truly make or break your business. It all ties into how you make your clients feel while working with you, or you may also know it as your client experience.
If you want the technical definition, the client experience is the sum of all interactions a client has with you. It involves every single stage of the client journey, from before they’ve even booked you yet!
The goal is to create a total VIP client experience to make your clients feel like they’re receiving top-notch, exclusive services. And today, we’re going to show you how you can create a VIP client experience and why it’s so important!
How to Automate and Personalize Your Client Experience Using Dubsado
As a service provider whose calendar is quickly filling to the brim, it’s imperative to find ways to free up space so that you can feel less stressed and overwhelmed, plus have more time to take care of your clients. The key method of getting back as much time as possible is automation.
Automation, quite simply, is when you put certain tasks or processes on autopilot in your business. (Personally, any and everything that’s able to be automated, we automate it.) These tasks either completely run on their own, or they require extremely little effort from you to make it happen.
What is Relationship Marketing: 5 Ways to Create Lifelong Customers
In this day and age of hot trends that dissipate just as quickly as they come, the backbone of marketing tends to be forgotten about: relationships. In every social media strategy, you’re trying to post the things that will build a better relationship with your target audience. When running paid ads, you’re picking and choosing who you want to display the ad to so that you can nurture those relationships. But when you strip away whatever conduit you try to mask it in, relationship marketing will bring so much more reward when implemented as the real, raw thing.
We’ve been able to successfully sell our services over the years mostly thanks to relationship marketing, and we can’t wait to share with you 5 ways to create lifelong customers and clients.
The Best Way to Streamline Your Client Projects as a Service Provider
Managing your client experience is one thing, but managing and streamlining your client projects is a whole other beast to tackle as a service provider. You might be wondering what the difference is, so when we talk about managing your client experience, we mean all of the communication, appointment scheduling, sending forms, proposals, contracts, getting paid, and all that jazz. (Dubsado’s our trusted CRM for that– here’s why.)
On the other hand, you also have to deal with the actual tasks that come with fulfilling a client project for both you and your team. For this, we recommend using a project management system like Asana. It’s robust enough to handle even the most complex projects, yet simple enough that if you don’t need to use all of the fancy-shmancy extras, you don’t have to.
Today we’ll be diving into the best way to streamline your client projects using Asana!
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.
The 3 Best Scripts to Use With Existing Clients to Increase Revenue and Get More Leads
You probably hear ten new sexy strategies to increase revenue every single day. But, if we’re honest, at the end of the day there are TWO main routes you can take.
One is with brand new, cold leads that you nurture and hope that you can convert into a client. The other is to take what’s already available to you with your existing clients to generate more revenue and super warm connections (that will take a heck of a lot less time to convert.)
Why don’t service providers do this more often? From what we see time and time again, it’s because you’re scared or just don’t know how to start those conversations with your clients. Introverts thrive on avoiding as many uncomfortable conversations as possible, but they don’t have to (and shouldn’t) feel that way. Here’s why.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dubsado Proposals
Dubsado is an all-in-one CRM that allows you to do many many things right within the software. One of those things includes creating a variety of different forms, like proposals, contracts, questionnaires, and lead capture forms. Proposals are one of our favorite forms because when you send them, you have the option to make it an easy 3-step process for your clients where they can choose a package in your proposal, sign the contract, and pay the invoice all in three streamlined steps
Sending them is easy, and creating them can be even easier. Dubsado has a drag-and-drop form builder that makes building your proposal a breeze, which we’ll be diving into later. So, keep reading for our step-by-step guide to creating Dubsado proposals!
10 Tips for Networking When You Hate Networking
Networking is one of those words that can either make the social butterfly beam with excitement or the introverted feel more stressed and anxious. It’s not everyone’s favorite thing to do but if you’re a business owner it’s important to put yourself out there.
Making connections can help your business in so many ways. It enables you to meet influential people, gather info that may be beneficial to your business, and/or even just attain some biz support with like minded people.
Businesses are built around relationships. It’s truly who you know in many instances. So here are our 10 tips for networking when you hate networking.
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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