Business

  • BTS, Business

    BTS: A look at November 2021

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    Over the past few months, I’ve been trialing these new posts – a behind-the-scenes look at business and life. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can read the August edition here, the September edition here, and the October edition here.

    This is totally inspired by the wonderful Ruth Ridgeway. I absolutely love reading her behind-the-scenes posts and the transparency she brings through them. More and more recently I’ve been feeling called to share the full business owner life with people – I try to share snippets on Instagram but, let’s face it, I’m rubbish at posting consistently!

    These behind-the-scenes/monthly reviews are going to be a mixture of income, regular expenses, who I’ve hired, what investments I’ve made, what’s been happening outside of the biz and, most importantly, how I’ve been feeling about things…because we all know that the numbers don’t actually mean anything in terms of how we feel!

    So, let’s get into it…

    Income

    I’ll start with income as I know that’s probably why you’re here 😉. These are the numbers that hit my bank account (so after PayPal fees, conversion fees etc. but before expenses, taxes etc.)

    I’m a big fan of having multiple income streams in my business. As you’ll see from the numbers below, most of my income comes from 1:1 clients at the moment. Over the next few months, I’m going to be focusing more on “passive” income streams and affiliate marketing/income.

    1:1 CLIENT WORK: £7,400 (about $9,810)

    Each month varies quite a bit depending on a) what is going on for my clients and how much support they need, and b) when the invoices are paid! I send invoices on the last day of the month for most clients and sometimes they pay on the same day, sometimes it’s a few days later but this makes a difference in terms of which month the money hits my bank account!

    This is about £200 more than last month. The difference is due to the dates that clients paid me.

    November just flew by! We took the first week off for our family holiday so the other 3 weeks of the month were making up for lost time 😂 – some of my highlights included:

    • Prepping for Lizzy’s Christmas Party – there are some AMAZING submissions this year, if you haven’t signed up and grabbed a goody bag (or two!), you can do that here right now!
    • Helping clients prep their submissions for Lizzy’s Christmas Party. Here are some of the things my incredible clients have contributed:
      • Lizzy (obvs!) – The Anti-Planning Workshop (Regular Goody Bag, usually $97) and Make a Flash For It! (Premium Goody Bag, usually $497)
      • Daire – The Unshakeable Goals System (Regular Goody Bag, usually $97) and Unapologetic Wealth (Premium Goody Bagm, usually £444)
      • Sandra – Opt-In Page Copy Template (Regular Goody Bag, usually $50) and Sales Email Sequence Copy Template (Premium Goody Bag, usually $150)
      • Sarah – The Well Planned Planner (Regular Goody Bag, usually $67)
      • AnnMerle – Your Hallelujah Hips Mini-Course (Regular Goody Bag, usually $47)

    You can grab the Goody Bags here.

    DIGITAL PRODUCTS: £540 (about $718)

    So this is about half of what I made last month but still a good increase on the previous two months (which were £200).

    I know I’ve not really been sharing my offers with the world so it’s no surprise really! One of my big goals for 2022 is to actually share my business and my offerings more!

    This figure is made up of sales of the following:

    I’ll be honest (because I always am), I’m not massively happy with this but there have been other things going on (see further down the post!!!) and I know I can turn this around,

    AFFILIATE INCOME: £94 (about $125)

    I didn’t realllllly do much affiliate marketing stuff in November so one of these is a recurring affiliate commission and the other is an “accidental” affiliate sale!

    What I’ve been working on

    1. Preparing submissions for bundles

    I’m in two different bundles in December so I’ve been working on getting the course content all updated, setting up the tech, and scheduling promos.

    The first bundle I’m in is Lizzy’s Christmas Party where my Easy Delegation for Busy Bosses course is included in the Premium Goody Bag (it’s usually $300 but you can access it plus 200+ other courses for just one payment of $100).

    The second bundle-type thing that I’m taking part in is Kimi’s 25 Days of Deals. I looooove Kimi’s countdown/advent calendar style bundles so much that I purchased her course to learn how to run my own (more on this below). I was behind the door for Day 4 with my Create Your Simple Client Onboarding System course. You can still grab it a hugely discounted rate here PLUS check out all of the other goodies (I don’t want to ruin the surprises for you!)

    2. Setting up evergreen funnels

    I currently have quite a few products and courses available to purchase through Organise & Grow but not many of them are linked together or have any sort of funnels so I’ve been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work recently to get things flowing better in the background.

    3. Myself

    In November I sent an email to my list explaining and sharing the struggles I’ve been facing recently with my mental health (you can read it here if you want).

    I’ve found myself at a crossroads with my business and have some big decisions to make in both my life and business so a lot of time in November has been spent mulling over things and making decisions. And a huge part of this decision-making process has been about checking in with myself and really trying to trust my gut.

    I really hate to be that cryptic person but there are still a few decisions to be made and plans to be finalised before I share any more info! Sorrrrryyyyyyyyy!

    Black Friday!

    I’ll get straight to it…Black Friday was a huge flop for me.

    I put out two offers – Dani Dollars and 50% off Day of Voxer offers and I made approximately $0! Yep! You read that right!

    I absolutely believe that this was a mindset issue – as much as I love these offers in terms of pricing and what they provide, my mind and energy were NOT in the right place for promoting them properly and I kept telling myself “I know I’m not going to make any sales”.

    Expenses

    NEW INVESTMENTS: £144 (about $195)

    E.g. courses, templates, etc. (one-off payments)

    It was Black Friday so of course, I had to make a few new purchases! Here’s what I grabbed in the sales:

    REGULAR/RECURRING EXPENSES: £840 (about $1,112)

    Includes tech tools, recurring fees, memberships, etc.

    We have quite a few annual subscriptions that renew in November due to signing up for things during Black Friday deals in previous years!

    TEAM: £305 (about $425)

    Includes accountant and 10 hours of VA support.

    Tech I used

    • WordPress + Elementor (website, sales pages etc.)
    • ConvertKit (for sending emails, creating sign-up forms, delivering freebies, etc.)
    • ConvertBox (for setting up popups on my website – there’s so much more I can do with this but I’ve not explored it yet!)
    • ThriveCart (for my checkouts and running my affiliate programme)
    • MemberVault (for hosting courses)
    • Voxer (for running Voxer Office Hours and chatting with clients)
    • SmartMockups (for creating mockups of courses, templates, etc.)
    • Asana (for keeping everything organised. If you’re interested in exploring the power of Asana, check out Organise and Grow Your Biz with Asana here.)
    • Otter.ai (for transcribing client voice notes and calls, creating closed captions for videos, etc.)
    • Vimeo (for hosting videos for courses)
    • Dubsado (for invoicing clients, managing client contracts, etc.)
    • Canva (for creating graphics, PDFs, and more!)

    Numbers

    Instagram: 1,031 followers (+29)
    FB Group: 261 members (+10)
    Pinterest: 354 followers, 3.9k monthly views (+2, +400)
    Email Subscribers: 2,194 2,235 (-41)
    Income: £8,034 / $10,653 (-£1,146 / -$1,514)

    Other businesses

    For the first time everrrrrrr I have things to report here!

    Starting with FBM. We used Kimi’s Digital Advent Calendar System to create 11 Days of Deals over the Black Friday period and we made £344 from £11 products.

    I am SO, so happy about this because we’ve never made sales through FBM before (we’ve just offered free content until now) and we definitely could have promoted it more than we did…although I’m pretty sure that always feels true, no matter how much you promote things!

    Next up is Mantra + Moon – we have a product in Lizzy’s Christmas Party which seems to be capturing the interest of lots of people which is really exciting. It’s also allowed us to play with some new branding bits and pieces!

    Personal life stuff

    I already mentioned that we took the first week of November off for a family holiday. We went to our favourite place in Yorkshire and spent lots of time playing outdoors, visiting places and chilling in the hot tub!

    I’m pretty sure that’s my first week off this year!!! Hopefully next year will see a LOT more family holidays happening.

    On our way home from our holiday, we stopped by to visit our friend Codie and her small people. Ella and Ruben were alllllllmost born on the same day (they were born hours apart but on different days) and it was SO cute for them to finally meet. Plus it’s always nice to see Codie – we chat every single day but have only ever actually met twice!

    Apparently seeing Codie once in a month wasn’t enough because I saw her again like a week later at a yoga retreat. I went on an incredible yoga retreat earlier this year, hosted by Paris Yoga and loved every single minute of it so when she announced her November retreat I snagged my spot pretty much immediately! Not only was the yoga retreat amazing but it was so nice hanging out with Codie again…we even got some work done once the retreat was over!

    I mean…how cute is the venue?! I think we might start having more team meetings there!

    I think that just about wraps up November! I might do a slightly longer post for December orrrrr I may end up writing a month review post AND a year review post…who knows!

    READ MORE

  • BTS, Business

    BTS: A look at October 2021

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    Over the past few months, I’ve been trialing these new posts – a behind-the-scenes look at business and life. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can read the August edition here and the September edition here.

    This is totally inspired by the wonderful Ruth. I absolutely love reading her behind-the-scenes posts and the transparency she brings through them. More and more recently I’ve been feeling called to share the full business owner life with people – I try to share snippets on Instagram but, let’s face it, I’m rubbish at posting consistently!

    These behind-the-scenes/monthly reviews are going to be a mixture of income, regular expenses, who I’ve hired, what investments I’ve made, what’s been happening outside of the biz and, most importantly, how I’ve been feeling about things…because we all know that the numbers don’t actually mean anything in terms of how we feel!

    This one is coming to you a little later than usual as we took a family holiday/vaca at the start of November and I wasn’t organised enough to get this done before we went away!

    So, let’s get into it…

    Income

    I’ll start with income as I know that’s probably why you’re here 😉. These are the numbers that hit my bank account (so after PayPal fees, conversion fees etc. but before expenses, taxes etc.)

    I’m a big fan of having multiple income streams in my business. As you’ll see from the numbers below, most of my income comes from 1:1 clients at the moment. Over the next few months, I’m going to be focusing more on “passive” income streams and affiliate marketing/income.

    1:1 CLIENT WORK: £7,200 (about $9,770)

    Each month varies quite a bit depending on a) what is going on for my clients and how much support they need, and b) when the invoices are paid! I send invoices on the last day of the month for most clients and sometimes they pay on the same day, sometimes it’s a few days later but this makes a difference in terms of which month the money hits my bank account!

    This is about £300 less than last month. The difference is due to the dates that clients paid me.

    October was another really busy month – some of my highlights included:

    • Launching Amanda Jyll’s new website – take a peek at it here.
    • Sarah Lidwell-Durnin’s Resilient CEO quiz – if you haven’t taken it, go do that now!
    • Starting prep for Lizzy’s Christmas Party – there are some AMAZING submissions, it’s so fun looking at them as they come in
    • Celebrating Tonia G’s book launch 🎉🎉🎉

    DIGITAL PRODUCTS: £1,940 (about $2,630)

    The previous two months were £200 so this is a huge jump! There are a couple of things that contributed to this. Firstly, I actually shared my stuff! I posted on social media and emailed my list about various PLTs and offers happening in October and guess what? People bought things! Who knew 🤷‍♀️

    Secondly, I was in two different bundle-type thingies and made quite a few sales of order bumps (more details on these two bundles below)

    This is made up of sales of the following:

    I’ll be honest, I’m pretty pleased with this!

    AFFILIATE INCOME: £40 (about $54)

    I did absolutely zero affiliate marketing stuff in October so this isn’t at alllllll surprising!

    🎉🎉 BIG MILESTONE 🎉🎉

    In October, we passed our $100,000 mark for this calendar year (i.e. income since January).

    This actually came with a lot of mixed feelings that I’ve been exploring with my coach, Hannah. I was reluctant to celebrate it because I’ve always been so against this idea that 6 figures = successful and it certainly isn’t my definition of success. I’m also the kind of person who hits a goal or milestone and then immediately moves on to the next thing without taking a moment to celebrate.

    BUT, after chatting things through with Hannah, I’ve realised that just because 6 figures isn’t my definition of success, it’s still a big milestone in my business and that should be celebrated! So YAY ME!

    What I’ve been working on

    1. Updating Fully Booked Without Pitching

    I ran Fully Booked Without Pitching as a live workshop back in June. Since then, I’ve chopped it up into smaller lessons and added a few extra resources but at the start of October I decided that it was time for a proper overhaul.

    I’ve now added lots of new lessons, tech tutorials and templates PLUS all of the videos now have closed captions and written notes AND you can get them as a podcast so you can listen to the lessons on the go!

    You can check out the full details of the course here.

    2. Create Your Simple Client Onboarding System

    I ran a Paid Live Training on the 14th October on how to create a simple client onboarding system for your service-based business. It was hands down the most fun I’ve had delivering a live training!

    The training was supposed to be 60 minutes with time for a live Q&A session too but it ran to just over 2 hours 🙈

    I started promoting the training the week before the live and sold 12 spots (£484 / $658) which I was really happy with. I’m in the process of chopping up the training and turning it into a self-study course which should be ready to enrol in very soon!

    If you’re interested in adding paid live trainings to your business, I highly recommend Lizzy’s course The Quickstart Guide to Profitable Live Trainings – honestly, it’s a TOTAL gamechanger.

    3. Back to Business Bundle

    In October I was a contributor to Kate Doster’s Back to Business Bundle. Between 4th and 12th of October, the bundle was being promoted and people were able to sign up to over $3,000’s worth of business goodies completely free.

    This was an amazing opportunity for me and my biz! During the course of the bundle I added 1,437 new subscribers to my email list (which also means 1,437 new students enrolling in Organise & Grow Your Biz with a Team) and made £589 / $800 in sales from the $27 tripwire offer I had set up.

    4. Online Business Playground Summit

    October was also the month of Lizzy’s Online Business Playground Summit. I submitted my Fully Booked Without Pitching course to her Ultimate Play Pass and had 107 sign ups/enrollments. I also made $90 in sales from the order bump on my checkout.

    Another successful collaboration for the books! 🎉🎉🎉

    Note: I know that offering your products up for free might feel counter-intuitive but I really do think opportunities like these are great for your business. For both the Back to Business Bundle and the Online Business Playground Ultimate Play Pass, I submitted products that already existed – I had to do a couple of hours work TOTAL to make sure that the tech was set up so that people could access the courses for free and that they were tagged properly to enable me to check stats. And that’s it. A couple of hours work and I now have 1,544 people in my world who weren’t there before! AND I made almost $900 in sales of the tripwire and order bump.

    Fun things…

    I love learning new stuff, trying out new tools, and generally exploring what other business owners are offering right now! Most months I sign up for something new!

    1. Learn+ from ThriveCart

    I’ll be honest…I thought I’d tried lots of new things in October but it turns out, the only thing I bought was the Learn+ addon/upgrade on my ThriveCart account.

    I’ve had a quick look at the Learn+ features and I’m excited to fully explore the possibilities!

    Expenses

    NEW INVESTMENTS: £144 (about $195)

    E.g. courses, templates, etc. (one-off payments)

    Just the Learn+ upgrade this month!

    REGULAR/RECURRING EXPENSES: £680 (about $500)

    Includes tech tools, recurring fees, memberships, etc.

    TEAM: £305 (about $425)

    Includes accountant and 10 hours of VA support.

    Tech I used

    • WordPress + Elementor (website, sales pages etc.)
    • ConvertKit (for sending emails, creating sign-up forms, delivering freebies, etc.)
    • ConvertBox (for setting up popups on my website – there’s so much more I can do with this but I’ve not explored it yet!)
    • ThriveCart (for my checkouts and running my affiliate programme)
    • MemberVault (for hosting courses)
    • Voxer (for running Voxer Office Hours and chatting with clients)
    • SmartMockups (for creating mockups of courses, templates, etc.)
    • Asana (for keeping everything organised. If you’re interested in exploring the power of Asana, check out Organise and Grow Your Biz with Asana here.)
    • Otter.ai (for transcribing client voice notes and calls, creating closed captions for videos, etc.)
    • Vimeo (for hosting videos for courses)
    • Dubsado (for invoicing clients, managing client contracts, etc.)
    • Canva (for creating graphics, PDFs, and more!)

    Numbers

    Instagram: 1,002 followers (+40)
    FB Group: 251 members (+54)
    Pinterest: 352 followers, 3.5k monthly views (-9, +300)
    Email Subscribers: 2,235 (+1,250)
    Income: £9,180 / $12,454 (+£1,230 / $1,639)

    Other businesses

    Absolutely nothing to report on these for October other than having a whole bunch of ideas that I don’t have time work on 🤣🤣🤣

    Personal life stuff

    I LOVE autumn – even more so now we have Ella.

    October was jam-packed full of trips to pumpkin patches, dressing up, and generally having spooky fun! I’m pretty sure I took at least one full day off each week throughout October (which is unheard of!)

    I think that just about wraps up October! I’ve had so much fun writing this so keep your eyes peeled for another one next month!

    READ MORE

  • BTS, Business

    BTS: A look at September 2021

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    Last month I thought I’d try something new on the O+G Blog – a behind-the-scenes look at business and life. If you missed it, you can read the August edition here.

    This is totally inspired by the wonderful Ruth XO. I absolutely love reading her behind-the-scenes posts and the transparency she brings through them. More and more recently I’ve been feeling called to share the full business owner life with people – I try to share snippets on Instagram but, let’s face it, I’m rubbish at posting consistently!

    These behind-the-scenes/monthly reviews are going to be a mixture of income, regular expenses, who I’ve hired, what investments I’ve made, what’s been happening outside of the biz and, most importantly, how I’ve been feeling about things…because we all know that the numbers don’t actually mean anything in terms of how we feel!

    So, let’s get into it…

    Income

    I’ll start with income as I know that’s probably why you’re here 😉. These are the numbers that hit my bank account (so after PayPal fees, conversion fees etc. but before expenses, taxes etc.)

    I’m a big fan of having multiple income streams in my business. As you’ll see from the numbers below, most of my income comes from 1:1 clients at the moment. Over the next few months, I’m going to be focusing more on “passive” income streams and affiliate marketing/income.

    1:1 CLIENT WORK: £7,500 (about $10,200)

    Each month varies quite a bit depending on a) what is going on for my clients and how much support they need, and b) when the invoices are paid! I send invoices on the last day of the month for most clients and sometimes they pay on the same day, sometimes it’s a few days later but this makes a difference in terms of which month the money hits my bank account!

    September just flew by! I honestly have no idea where it went or what I worked on 🤣 There was lots of work to make sure that everything ran smoothly for Lizzy’s Online Business Playground Summit, we worked on a HUGE website design project for Justin Mabee, plus some other top-secret client projects that I can’t share yet!

    DIGITAL PRODUCTS: £200 (about $275)

    This is made up of sales of the following:

    This is pretty weird – the amount is about the same as it was last month but it’s made up from a different combo of products!

    AFFILIATE INCOME: £250 (about $340)

    I’m still working my way through Elizabeth Goddard’s Lazy Guide to Affiliate Marketing because I don’t reallllllly do much with the affiliate programs I’m part of and, well…I’m lazy! I’ve already started seeing small changes and made £100 more than I did last month from affiliate sales 🎉🎉🎉

    • ConvertKit – Email marketing system
    • ConvertBox – An incredible pop-up building tool (I mean, there’s so much more to it than that but that’s the quick one-liner)

    What I’ve been working on

    1. My everything page!

    Special shout out to Elizabeth Goddard for this idea! You can read Lizzy’s post about creating an everything page here.

    I’ve been meaning to create this page for a while as a way to have all of my offers in one single place but it’s been one of those things that I just kept putting off! I’m really glad I’ve done it because it made me review the current offers I have AND gave me the kick up the butt that I needed to create pages for my new offers. This leads me nicely onto…

    2. Creating new offers

    As I mentioned in last month’s post, I’ve been moving away from being “just a VA”. In August I was working on updating my messaging so it made sense that in September I started to switch up my offerings!

    I now have 2.5 new ways to work with me (because the third way kiiiiiinda already existed but I never really shared it and I’ve shaken things up a bit!):

    1. Get Sh*t Done Day of Voxer
    2. Biz Strategy Day of Voxer
    3. VIP Get Sh*t Done Day with Dani (that’s me!)

    3. Outlining new courses and programmes

    Alongside the new ways you can work with me 1:1, I’ve been outlining some new self-study courses and a group programme that I’m hoping to launch in January. Hopefully I’ll be able to share a lot more about these things in next month’s roundup post!

    4. Preparing submissions for various “things”

    As I mentioned last month, the next few weeks and months are looking pretty busy for me with live trainings in clients’ memberships and courses in bundles.

    Right now you can get my Organise and Grow Your Biz with a Team completely free as part of the Back to Business Bundle (usually $333).

    5. Planning a NEW business launch with my biz friend/VA

    Yep, you read that right…3 businesses is not enough businesses for this gal! I really hate to be that dickhead who’s suuuuper cryptic about things but I genuinely cannot say much about this project right now except that it’s going to involve crystals, jewelry, printables, candles, clothing and SO. MUCH. MORE! We are both so excited about this and you’ll be the first to know when there’s more info.

    Fun things…

    I love learning new stuff, trying out new tools, and generally exploring what other business owners are offering right now! Most months I sign up for something new!

    1. Joined WAIM

    In September I joined Wandering Aimfully Unlimited. I’d had my eye on it for a little while but the price had always been a barrier for me. After I saw Ruth mention it in her Facebook Group AND list out her affiliate bonuses, I decided that this year was the year to join.

    I’ve had a brief look through the content and it looks amazing. I need time to sit down and figure out what to work through first…oh, and get those infamous coaching calls in my calendar too!

    2. Virtual VIP Day Bootcamp with Jordan Gill

    I’ve been wanting to dive deeper into the idea of VIP days for a little while and they fit really well with my vision for Organise and Grow. I grabbed Jordan’s Virtual VIP Day Bootcamp as a tripwire offer to her free VIP Day Roadmap. The freebie AND the bootcamp are both really good and filled me with lots of exciting ideas!

    3. KDP things galore!

    This month I’ve signed up to two different KDP courses:

    In all honesty, I bought both because I love the idea of creating my own journals and planners but also because it seems like a really fun thing to have a go at doing. PLUS I love both of these creators so I knew that what I was buying would be great.

    Expenses

    NEW INVESTMENTS: £255 (about $350)

    E.g. courses, templates, etc. (one-off payments)

    In September I purchased Ruth’s The Journal Template Kit, Julie’s KDP Magic, Credit from Kimi Kinsey, and Smart Quiz Bsuilder from AppSumo.

    REGULAR/RECURRING EXPENSES: £680 (about $500)

    Includes tech tools, recurring fees, memberships, etc.

    TEAM: £305 (about $425)

    Includes accountant and 10 hours of VA support.

    Tech I used

    • WordPress + Elementor (website, sales pages etc.)
    • ConvertKit (for sending emails, creating sign-up forms, delivering freebies, etc.)
    • ConvertBox (for setting up popups on my website – there’s so much more I can do with this but I’ve not explored it yet!)
    • ThriveCart (for my checkouts and running my affiliate programme)
    • MemberVault (for hosting courses)
    • Voxer (for running Voxer Office Hours and chatting with clients)
    • SmartMockups (for creating mockups of courses, templates, etc.)
    • Asana (for keeping everything organised. If you’re interested in exploring the power of Asana, check out Organise and Grow Your Biz with Asana here.)
    • Otter.ai (for transcribing client voice notes and calls, creating closed captions for videos, etc.)
    • Vimeo (for hosting videos for courses)
    • Dubsado (for invoicing clients, managing client contracts, etc.)
    • Canva (for creating graphics, PDFs, and more!)

    Numbers

    Instagram: 962 followers (+14)
    FB Group: 197 members
    Pinterest: 361 358 followers, 3.2k monthly views (+3, +200)
    Email Subscribers: 985 (+189)

    Other businesses

    Flourishing Business Mums

    I’ve pretty much been ignoring this business for the past 2 years! Buuuuut I’m finally getting organised with my team and we’ll be chipping away at a few projects over the next few months.

    Expenses: $49 for ConvertKit
    Income: $42 from affiliate sales

    Kick-Ass VA Academy

    I’m finallllllyyyyyyy getting the website for this little passion project set up! Nothing else to report on this for September!

    Income: Nothing
    Expenses: Nothing

    Personal life stuff

    August felt like the month that we FINALLY started to do things outside of the house again and September was almost back to pre-COVID life!

    I had a wonderful spa day with my mum at Moddershall Oaks. She actually got this for me for my birthday last year but lockdown was announced a couple of days later so we’ve only just been able to re-book. It was so nice to chill out for a day AND spend ome quality time with my mum.

    We had a family day out at Peak Wildlife Park and Ella got to feed some of the animals. We’ve been taking her here since she was born and she LOVES it. I also fell off the kids’ bouncy castle so that was fun!

    We went to BeWILDerwood TWICE. I took Ella on my own when Mark was away for the weekend and Ella absolutely loved it. Mark was jealous of our amazing day out so we went back the following weekend with Mark too! It’s honestly one of my favourite kids places and we’ve booked to go to their light show in October.

    Ella had her first hair cut and didn’t move anywhere near as much as I thought she was going to…seriously, I thought there was going to be a real risk of her losing an ear but she sat like a little legend!

    Me and Mark made time for a coffee date at Wild & Wild. It’s my favourite local coffee shop and I love working there. But it’s been soooooo long since me and Mark went out together on our own so we made time for a morning coffee and cake break!

    I’m pretty sure some other things happened too but if there’s not a pic of it on my phone, I tend to forget about things!

    I think that just about wraps up September! I’ve had so much fun writing this so keep your eyes peeled for another one next month!

    READ MORE

  • BTS, Business

    BTS: A look at August 2021

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    So I thought I’d try something new on the O+G Blog – a behind-the-scenes look at business and life each month.

    This is totally inspired by the wonderful Ruth XO. I absolutely love reading her behind-the-scenes posts and the transparency she brings through them. More and more recently I’ve been feeling called to share the full business owner life with people – I try to share snippets on Instagram but, let’s face it, I’m rubbish at posting consistently!

    These behind-the-scenes/monthly reviews are going to be a mixture of income, regular expenses, who I’ve hired, what investments I’ve made, what’s been happening outside of the biz and, most importantly, how I’ve been feeling about things…because we all now that the numbers don’t actually mean anything in terms of how we feel!

    So, let’s get into it…

    Income

    I’ll start with income as I know that’s probably why you’re here 😉. These are the numbers that hit my bank account (so after PayPal fees, conversion fees etc. but before expenses, taxes etc.)

    I’m a big fan of having multiple income streams in my business. As you’ll see from the numbers below, most of my income comes from 1:1 clients at the moment. Over the next few months, I’m going to be focusing more on “passive” income streams and affiliate marketing/income.

    1:1 CLIENT WORK: £7,800 (about $10,800)

    Each month varies quite a bit depending on a) what is going on for my clients and how much support they need, and b) when the invoices are paid! I send invoices on the last day of the month for most clients and sometimes they pay on the same day, sometimes it’s a few days later but this makes a difference in terms of which month the money hits my bank account!

    August was such a fun month for client work, with lots of prep for launches and events, including Lizzy’s Online Business Playground Summit (grab your free ticket here), Daire Paddy’s Unshakeable Business Academy, and Amanda + Carli Bybel’s Related Community and Membership!

    I’ve also been building a new website for the amazing Amanda Bybel. It’s not quite finished yet but I cannot wait to share it.

    DIGITAL PRODUCTS: £200 (about $275)

    This is made up of sales of the following:

    AFFILIATE INCOME: £110 (about $150)

    I’m currently working my way through Elizabeth Goddard’s Lazy Guide to Affiliate Marketing because I don’t reallllllly do much with the affiliate programs I’m part of and, well…I’m lazy! (so I’m excited to see these numbers go up)

    What I’ve been working on

    1. Live Round of Organise and Grow Your Biz with SOPs

    I ran my first ever live round (technically it’s still ongoing as today is the last day!) and it was. SO. MUCH. FUN!

    I only made 1 sale in the run-up to the live round which I was a little disappointed about buuuut all existing students were invited to join the live round so we had a good group working through the course content and getting their SOPs set up. I absolutely LOVED Voxer Office Hours each week and seeing people take action!

    2. Updating my messaging

    For the longest of times…well…for as long as this business has existed, I’ve called myself a VA but I’m not really just a VA 🤣 – I sell courses and templates, run live trainings AND I’m no longer taking on new VA clients.

    So, after a great chat with my coach last week, I’ve decided to drop “VA” from my website and main messaging and switch to “Systems and Ops Strategist”. It’s a work in progress but I’m very excited about the changes ahead!

    3. Preparing submissions for various “things”

    Over the next few weeks and months I’m running live trainings in clients’ memberships, submitting a course to a business bundle, and including one of my courses in a summit all-access-pass (spoiler alert! It’s Lizzy’s Online Business Playground Summit!)

    Fun things…

    I love learning new stuff, trying out new tools, and generally exploring what other business owners are offering right now! Most months I sign up for something new!

    1. Working with Hannah O’Donnell

    I’ve only just started working with 1:1 Hannah and it has been a game changer already! In our first session she completely shifted the way I think about my business and I’m suuuuuper excited about implementing the things we dicussed, starting with my messaging! I can’t wait to see what we achieve together over the next weeks/months.

    2. The Viral Content Club™

    I’m not going to lie, I snapped this up before the price increased but I haven’t actually had time to dive into it yet BUT I’m hoping to use it today to plan out my content for the week ahead. I went all-in for the annual membership so that I can access previous templates and prompts (to mix things up a bit!)

    Expenses

    NEW INVESTMENTS: £290 (about $400)

    E.g. courses, templates, etc. (one-off payments)

    In August I purchased an annual subcription to The Viral Content Club™ and the The Digital Business Bundle from Adriane Galea.

    REGULAR/RECURRING EXPENSES: £300 (about $415)

    Includes tech tools, recurring fees, memberships, etc.

    TEAM: £305 (about $425)

    Includes accountant and 10 hours of VA support.

    Tech I used

    • WordPress + Elementor (website, sales pages etc.)
    • ConvertKit (for sending emails, creating sign-up forms, delivering freebies, etc.)
    • ConvertBox (for setting up popups on my website – there’s so much more I can do with this but I’ve not explored it yet!)
    • ThriveCart (for my checkouts and running my affiliate programme)
    • MemberVault (for hosting courses)
    • Voxer (for running Voxer Office Hours and chatting with clients)
    • SmartMockups (for creating mockups of courses, templates, etc.)
    • Asana (for keeping everything organised. If you’re interested in exploring the power of Asana, check out Organise and Grow Your Biz with Asana here.)
    • Otter.ai (for transcribing client voice notes and calls, creating closed captions for videos, etc.)
    • Vimeo (for hosting videos for courses)
    • Dubsado (for invoicing clients, managing client contracts, etc.)
    • Canva (for creating graphics, PDFs, and more!)

    Numbers

    Instagram: 948 followers
    FB Group: 197 members
    Pinterest: 358 followers, 3.1k monthly views
    Email Subscribers: 796

    Other businesses

    Flourishing Business Mums

    I’ve pretty much been ignoring this business for the past 2 years! Buuuuut I’m finally getting organised with my team and we’ll be chipping away at a few projects over the next few months.

    Expenses: $49 for ConvertKit
    Income: $42 from affiliate sales

    Kick-Ass VA Academy

    I’m finallllllyyyyyyy getting the website for this little passion project set up! Nothing else to report on this for August!

    Income: Nothing
    Expenses: £350 to team members to help with blog post creation and social media.

    Personal life stuff

    August felt like the month that we FINALLY started to do things outside of the house again!

    We went to Dino Kingdom in Manchester – a pop-up outdoor event with some epic dinosaurs! Despite being 2 and a half, it was Ella’s first time experiencing face painting (although she wanted claws on her arms rather than having her face painted) AND her first time on a fairground ride. It was also the day of the dreaded dinosaur-related back injury 🙈

    I headed up to Southport for a beautiful 2-day yoga retreat organied and hosted by the fabulous Paris. I couldn’t do a huge amount of the yoga due to the aforementioned dinosaur-related back injury but I met some amazing people, spent time meditating, practising Reiki, journalling, writing letters to my future self, and working on some deeeeeep manifestations. I’ve just booked on to Paris’ next retreat which is happening in November (if you’re UK based, come and join us!)

    We had a family day out at Arley Hall. The sun was out, the gardens were beautiful, we got some stunning photos for the gram. Ella also had a meltdown, screamed and refused to walk sooooo…you win some, you lose some. After some snacks (a girl after my own heart) she perked up and we had adventures in their play area and ate ice cream! No injuries were sustained on this day out.

    I think that just about wraps up August! I’ve had so much fun writing this so keep your eyes peeled for another one next month!

    READ MORE

  • Business

    10+ Essential Elements of an Awesome Client Offboarding Pack

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    So, you’ve come to the end of your coaching program with a client, and it may feel like your work here is done, however, a decent client offboarding pack can really help to round out the experience and end things on a really positive note – and potentially get you some extra work from the end of it too! Once you have perfected your coaching client offboarding pack, you will be able to personalise it for each client in a matter of minutes, and end things as professionally as you started them with your welcome pack. 

    Here are some things you should consider including. 

    A goodbye video

    In your welcome pack we discussed creating a personalised welcome video, and having the same to end things is a really nice touch. No one is expecting a 2 hour Hollywood blockbuster, but just a short video thanking them personally for working with you, perhaps reflecting on some of the things you’ve done together, and wishing them well in the future, will go a long way and is a really special touch. 

    Package recap

    This is a good place to remind your client of the specifics of your work together, including an overview of the package they chose, contract and payment terms (especially if there are any outstanding invoices to be paid!) and a reminder of the goals and intentions you set at the start of their coaching. This can literally be taken from your onboarding pack, and copied into this document, just as a way to remind your client of the expectations and agreements that were decided at the start. 

    A reflection of your time together

    It’s time to reflect on everything you’ve done together during your coaching.

    This is useful for you as a coach, as well as your client, and you both might be surprised by how much you have managed to cover. Writing this out as a timeline is useful as you can see the progression week-by-week, and your client can see what you’ve covered, homework and tasks you’ve set etc.

    Outcomes

    This is a really important one, as you want your client to be able to see exactly what has come from their sessions, and how valuable they really were.

    A lot of times, when clients have made a lot of small changes or been working on their mindset, it can be hard for them to “see” the progress that has actually happened and appreciate everything that they have achieved.

    Your client offboarding pack is the perfect place for you to highlight all of the amazing outcomes that your client has achieved whilst working together. Having them written down in a document that they can come back to again and again is a really powerful tool to arm your clients with.

    It can help to be noting these things down as the weeks go on, so you have plenty to record in the offboarding document and don’t have to try and remember everything at the end of your time together.

    Important links and info

    This is where you will need to add plenty of links! If you recorded your sessions, link to the audio or video files here, and a link to a shared Google folder with any documents you created together.

    Any helpful articles that you discussed, or feel that your client will benefit from can also be linked here, and anything else that you feel might be useful for them to know, such as names of books, or methods you recommended.

    This will add real value and ensure that your clients can carry on achieving even when your coaching has come to an end. It’s a really simple way to continue supporting your clients even after your sessions together have ended.

    Top tips for continuing to smash your goals 

    A coach is only as successful as their clients, and so you want your clients to continue to smash those goals that you have been working on together long after your final session.

    Some of these tips are likely to be generic across most of your clients, but you might also have some specific tips for each person that you want to remind them of here. This is something they will be able to refer back to whenever they need it and keeps you fresh in their mind should they ever want to work with a coach again. 

    Feedback request

    It’s important to reflect on your coaching clients, and see what you can learn from each experience. One way to do this is to request some feedback and use this to inform your practice moving forward. Have a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions, so you can get useful comments, as well as seeing how different clients score different parts of your offering. 

    You can include these questions in your client offboarding pack and ask your clients to complete and return them, or you can include a link to an online form using a tool like PaperForm, AirTable, or Google Forms.

    Testimonial request

    After all that amazing value you’ve given your client, it’s only natural that they want to shout about you, right? A polite request for a testimonial will fit in perfectly here, and as cringe-worthy as it can sometimes feel to ask for, testimonials will be amazing on your social media and website, and hopefully can be used to get you more clients. With it being a seamless part of the offboarding package, it’s much easier than having to ask directly. 

    Again, you can ask them to leave a testimonial in the pack itself and return it to you, you could ask them to email the testimonial to you or you again link to an online form where they can submit their testimonial.

    Final actions

    Is there anything else you need your client to do? Final tasks, invoices that need paying, perhaps channels that need closing? It’s time to make sure all loose ends are neatly tied up.

    Client referral program invitation

    The best way to get new clients is through word-of-mouth and so don’t be hesitant to invite your client to become part of your referral program.

    Add the details and a link to join, and that’s a big part of your marketing strategy taken care of!  

    Details of group programs, certifications, membership, etc. AND summary of packages and extra support

    It’s time for a cheeky upsell!

    In these two sections, you’re going to want to add details of everything else you offer, from memberships and group programs, to different packages and additional support.

    Your client has just spent the past few pages reminding themselves of all the fantastic work you did together, they’re hopefully feeling pretty amazing towards you, and then here you are, giving them a menu of other things they can do to work with you and achieve even more incredible results – perfect! Even if they don’t sign up for themselves right now, they’ve got plenty of information to pass on to people they know as part of your referral program! 

    FAQs

    Anything you think they might need to know? You can probably include some of the FAQs from your onboarding pack here, and any other questions that clients might want to know at this stage of their journey with you. 

    Resources I love (with affiliate links) 

    Again, this might be another page you lift from your onboarding pack, as you can never shout about things you love too much! Whether this is books, products, programmes, or subscriptions, a page of things you love that your client might find useful is a great addition and even better if you have affiliate links too! 

    This is another way to use the client offboarding pack as a tool to continue to support your clients after their coaching sessions have ended with you. This offboarding document doesn’t have to be just about saying goodbye, it can be an invaluable resource for the clients to continue working with.

    Contact Info

    Finally, you will want to include your contact information, so that when they’re ready to book again(!) or pass on your details to all their friends, they’ve got them to hand! 

    It can sometimes feel a little bittersweet when a client ends their work with you, but remember that you have done your job and also given them plenty to go away and think about! Nothing can last forever and now you have a spot for someone new to help. 

    READ MORE

  • Business, Systems

    5 Things You Need to do After Booking a New Coaching Client

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    So you’ve put hours and hours into promoting your biz, networking and connecting with potential clients, smashed the discovery/sales call and landed the new client – but now what?

    It can be overwhelming to work out where to start after booking a new coaching client. But don’t worry, we’ve got you! Here are 5 things you need to do after booking a new coaching client because an amazing onboarding process is the start of an exceptional journey. 

    Send out a welcome packet

    Don’t be put off by how much work this sounds, I promise it doesn’t have to be 100 pages long, and once it’s created you can use it for all your coaching clients. It starts everything off on the right foot and is something personal and professional to set you apart from other coaches out there.

    Your client welcome pack should welcome your new client, set expectations, detail how to get hold of you and include payment details, at a minimum. Ideally, everything they need to get started should be in that handy little document for them to refer back to as needed. 

    Recommended Post: 10 Essential Things to Include in Your Coaching Client Welcome Pack

    Set up your sessions

    Next up on your to-do list after booking a new coaching client is getting those all-important coaching sessions in the diary!

    It’s good to get your first session booked in as soon as possible so you can harness the excitement that your client has about working with their awesome new coach.

    You might want to agree on a set day and time every week/fortnight/month for the period of their coaching package with you or you might want to schedule calls based on what is happening with your client e.g. if they have a launch coming up.

    Make booking calls with you easy by using a scheduling tool like the scheduling feature Dubsado offers, Calendly or Acuity.

    Schedule reminder texts or emails

    We all have so much to remember so it helps to have a little reminder of those 1:1 sessions you just booked – for both you and your clients!

    Most scheduling tools allow you to send automatic reminders, or you can schedule them manually from your email system. This will mean that you’re less likely to be sat around waiting for them for a 1:1 coaching session that they’ve forgotten about. 

    Send them something to do

    Booking a new coaching client is the end of your “sales” process and the start of the actual coaching…you know, the bit that love, love, LOVE to do!

    Both you and your client are excited to get started but it might be a few days, or maybe even a few weeks until your first 1:1 coaching session is due to take place. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a start on things!

    People love value for money, and your coaching clients are going to want to know that you are thinking of them as an individual. Send a task for them to do or something to think about ahead of your first session. This might be something like completing a client welcome questionnaire so you can better understand their current position and their desired outcomes from working with you or a task where they compile a list of all of their business offerings. This will help you plan for your coaching sessions and give you some background information to kickstart your work together.

    Celebrate! 

    Every new client is a reason to celebrate. That can be however feels right for you. It might be a glass of fizz, or a cup of tea. A hot bath, a takeout, or just a little happy dance in the kitchen to 90’s pop songs. Remember that like attracts like, so spend a moment feeling happy, grateful, and proud that you’ve landed a new coaching client and think of all the good you are going to help them bring to their lives. 

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  • Business

    Client Welcome Pack: 10 Essential Things to Include

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    Whether this is your first client, or your 101st, a good Client Welcome Pack can make all the difference, both to you, making the process easier, and also to your client, giving them all the information they need up front and giving them that 5-star professional experience from the start. It also ensures that you both have everything you need to start cracking on immediately, and avoids that awkward back-and-forth that seems to take forever before the real work can begin. 

    Here are some of the things you should consider including in your client welcome pack.

    A personalised welcome

    Every client should feel special, as though they are the only ones who matter to you, and one way to do this is with a personalised welcome. You might want to do this through a note, or even a personalised video, but the idea is to make your client feel special and remind them that they made the right decision in choosing you. 

    It also puts your client at ease, knowing that you understand them as an individual and as a business.

    A Table of Contents

    This should be the very next thing in your client welcome pack, to allow your client to find the info they need whenever they need it.

    By laying it all out clearly, your clients will be able to see what you’ve put together for them the first time they open the document. Also, later down the line when they need to reference something, they’ll be able to find it right away, rather than having to send you a message (yay, for fewer client messages and emails!) or trawling through a whole document and getting frustrated.

    If you are able to link the page numbers in the Table of Contents, through to the relevant page so that your clients can jump right to the section they need, even better!

    About you

    This is a great place to introduce yourself (and your team if you have anyone else who might be in contact with your clients) and talk about your experience, skills, and maybe a little bit of a personal insight too. It’s always nice to share how you started, where your specialisms lie etc, to help your new client warm to you and understand what they can achieve with you. 

    Details of the package they have chosen

    Next up in your client welcome pack you have details of the package they have chosen. This is where you will put all the details of the package that your client has chosen, including the price agreed, length of time, and what’s included in the package – for example, number of calls, Voxer access etc.

    This ensures that you’re both on the same page and expectations are laid out from the start. Again, if there is ever any uncertainty about what was agreed at any point, this is an easy way for your clients to check the details quickly without having to search through emails. 

    Timeline 

    Outlining the timeline of the package over the next X weeks or months (however long you will be working together) will help keep everything on track and let your client see the way things are going to progress. It also helps keep everyone accountable along the line. 

    Client homework

    It’s time to set your client their first piece of homework! This section of the client welcome pack is where you should ask your client for everything you need from them in order to kickstart their package. Make it really clear, perhaps set out in a checklist, so that you know that when it comes to starting work together, you have everything you need, without any delay. 

    In addition to being organised, this section of the client welcome pack can really help your clients make the most of their any sessions with you. You can use this section to encourage them to do prep work ahead of your first call together.

    FAQs

    Over time, you’ll start to notice that a lot of people will ask the same questions, so a simple FAQ page will save you a lot of back-and-forth, answering those same questions over and over again! Think about what things you’ve been asked before, and other information you know you want to make sure your clients are aware of, and form these into questions.

    As time goes on and you get more questions, you might find some more things to add to the next version of your client welcome pack. 

    Summary of any other packages, services and add-ons

    It might seem a little random to talk about other packages you offer to someone who has just signed up with you, however it’s actually the perfect spot! Your client may want to upgrade later on, or see some additional support that they could use, or alternatively if they ever want to refer a friend (which they will, because you’re amazing) they will be able to share the details of all your packages. 

    Pro tip: Make sure you keep this section up to date – you don’t want people referring their friends to you based on packages you no longer offer, or at prices you no longer offer.

    Resource Library

    Your client welcome pack isn’t just a place to tell your clients about you and your work, it’s also a great place to share helpful information and resources that will help your clients. Share details of all your favourite apps and tools (with affiliate links if you have them!) on one page, so that your clients can decide which tools to use if they don’t already use them. You can also share any links to articles, videos, books etc. that you think your client will find useful. 

    Remember: If you are including affiliate links, don’t forget to disclose them properly.

    Communication Guidelines

    It’s really important to set your boundaries from the start, so be sure to outline which methods of communication you are happy to use, what times you are okay with being contacted, and how soon you will respond. Setting expectations in terms of what you will accept, and what you will offer in return, will help keep everyone happy and avoid friction later on in your working relationship. 

    Contact information

    Finish with a really simple page detailing exactly how to get in touch with you. This will make it quick and easy for when they need to know how to contact you – and hopefully avoid them sending you a DM on your personal Instagram! 

    If you nail your client welcome pack, not only will you be starting your journey together on the right foot, with everything you could possibly need to begin, but your client will feel special and know they made the right decision in picking you.

    READ MORE

  • Business

    7 Simple tips to get the most from your Virtual Assistant

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    So, you’ve made the decision to outsource some of your admin tasks, leaving you free to focus on growing your business – great! But how do you make sure that you get the most from your Virtual Assistant?

    If this is the first time you’ve ever outsourced any work, you may need a little guidance to ensure you are getting your money’s worth and that the VA relationship works for both you and your assistant. 

    I’ve been on both sides of the fence – I’m a VA who has a couple of VAs helping me run my business…meta, right?

    1. Hire the right person

    This one is a bit of a no-brainer but I am continually shocked by the amount of people I see online who have had terrible experiences with their Virtual Assistants – people getting ghosted by their VA, VAs making mistakes and VAs not actually being able to do what they said they could.

    I’m not blaming the person who hired them for the VA’s incompetence BUT you can reduce the risk of this kind of thing happening by making sure you’re hiring the right person. Here are a few things to consider:

    • Make sure that you know exactly what tasks you want to outsource before you start the hiring process. You can’t possibly know if someone is capable of doing a task if you don’t know what that task is!
    • Do they have experience of the tasks/systems/tools that you want them to do/use? Do they have evidence of this?
    • Do you know someone who has worked with them? Are you able to see testimonials etc?
    • Cheapest isn’t always best! Whilst it might be tempting to go with the cheapest VA you can find in order to save money, this might not always be the best decision for your business. Make sure you’re hiring someone with adequate experience.
    • Interview any potential VAs before hiring them. This will give you more of an idea of their personality, their strengths and weaknesses, and their capacity (if they can’t fit you in for a call for 3-4 weeks, they might struggle to fit your work in!)

    2. Start things off the right way

    There will be some prep you’ll want to do before you jump in and start working with your VA.

    You need to make sure you know the answers to the following questions before starting work with your VA (although feel free to discuss some of them with your VA during the interview process to ensure you’re working in a way that suits you both):

    • What tasks do you want them to do (Content Writing? Design? Admin? Research? Emails?)?
    • How many hours per week/month do you need from them?
    • How are you going to share documents and tools with them?
    • How are you going to share passwords with them?
    • How are you going to assign tasks to them?
    • How will they track their time?
    • How will you communicate on a regular basis?

    If you jump in too quickly, you risk not having things set up ready for them. Ideally, once the contract is signed, you want them to start work so having everything ready for them before that point means that can get started immediately. If you’re just winging it, things can go pear-shaped and leave you with more work than you started with! 

    3. Communication is key 

    This seems obvious, but it really can’t be stressed enough. Communication is the most important part of a VA relationship and will ensure that tasks are completed correctly.

    How you communicate with your VA is a decision for both of you to make together – there’s not much point in deciding to communicate via Slack when one of you never checks it!

    There are so many options, from Slack and Voxer, to Whatsapp, email, and even an old-fashioned phone call! Whatever you choose, you both need to agree so that you know how to get hold of each other quickly if needed.

    In addition to regular communications, it’s important to have a clear process for assigning tasks if you want to get the most from your Virtual Assistant. You need to assign tasks in a way that is clear, contains all relevant materials that your VA may need, and is somewhere that your VA will see. Having things written down will help to ensure that mistakes aren’t made and that everyone is on the same page, which is what you need.

    That’s why I love Asana. Clients can assign a task to me, add a deadline, include a description, and add attachments all in one place. And the best thing is that when they do this in Asana, I receive an email to let me know it’s there.

    The clearer you can be with what you want, the better. If you have examples or templates, make sure to share them with your VA. This can be a really great way of making sure your VA doesn’t spend ages on a simple task, only for you to have to redo it, or ask them to make 1000 changes, because they’ve misunderstood. It’s better to over-explain than be too vague and end up with wasted hours!

    4. Be transparent

    The more open and honest you can be with your VA, the better they can work with you. Think of them as a teammate, with a shared goal of success for your business.

    Share with them your hopes and aims, let them be excited about being a part of your business, and helping it grow. For example, if they are monitoring your analytics and tracking your stats, tell them what you’re aiming for. That way they can take some ownership of helping you achieve those goals. It also makes the work you assign to them have more weight and meaning. Remember, they are business owners too, so your business goals will resonate with them.

    5. Work with systems

    You don’t want to be micromanaging your VA constantly, and if you’re both working in different timezones, you will need systems in place.

    Make it easy for your VA to find exactly what work you want from them, and all of the information needed, in one place. As I already mentioned, we use Asana (and I’m OBSESSED with it!) I can delegate work to my VA easily, with plenty of notes, links, etc. and set tasks to be repeated regularly (such as queuing up social media). She knows where to find the tasks I need her to do, and how to let me know if there are any issues. Plus, when she’s done with the task, she just has to mark it as “completed” and I receive a notification that it’s all done (which keeps my inbox clutter-free!)

    6. Don’t be afraid to delegate- it’s the whole point!

    A lot of us are kinda control freaks – and that’s okay! But when it comes to having a Virtual Assistant, you have to learn to let go of some things and let them take over, otherwise, what’s the point?

    There are so many little jobs that are taking up your time, but not utilising your skills and talents, and this is why your business isn’t able to grow. As long as you choose the right VA for you, and explain things well, there’s no reason that they shouldn’t be able to take over some of these tasks and allow you to work on growing your business (or even having a little bit of you-time!) 

    It can be hard to delegate and release that control so start off small. Let go of the things that you hate doing the most, first. It’s easy to hand off tasks that you really don’t enjoy and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much of a relief it is to not have to do those tasks! Once you’ve experienced that sense of relief and freedom, you’ll be delegating things left, right and centre.

    As you gain more time and freedom to focus on the things you love, you’ll be more willing to let go of the things you don’t love (but you know, are still essential for you to run a business) And, as you get to know your VA better, and you start to trust them more and more, there will be less hesitation in letting them take over things.

    7. Remember that your VA is a business owner too

    I know I don’t need to tell you this but…if you want to get the most from your Virtual Assistant, you have to treat them with respect!

    You would be surprised how many business owners view VAs as “less than”, because they are “just assistants”! I actually once had someone say to me, on a discovery call, that they didn’t realise you could be a full-time VA because they thought it was just an entry-level role for people who haven’t got the skills to run a business of their own!!! The funny thing is, she was on a discovery call with me and thinking about hiring me…why would you want to hire someone who you thought was entry-level with no skills??

    Anyway, back to the point – if you treat your VA like the valued part of your team/business that they are, they are much more likely to treat your business as their own. They will show it the same love, care, and dedication as they do their own business and that will shine through in the work that they do.

    Having a VA can absolutely transform your business and your working life, and hopefully, this has helped you see how you can really get the most out of them! 

     

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  • Business, Systems

    Say Goodbye to Your Clients the Right Way with a Killer Offboarding Packet

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    As service-based businesses, there will always be a point where we part ways and have to say goodbye to, and offboard our clients.

    The BEST way to tie up your project and offboard your clients in a tidy, professional manner, is with an offboarding packet. 

    What is an offboarding packet and why do I need one? 

    Put simply, an offboarding packet is the same as, but at the opposite end of the project to your onboarding packet! Instead of welcoming your client to your services and telling them what to expect, you’re saying goodbye to them and handing everything back over to them. 

    Not only is it a really nice touch, but it will help both you and your client feel a real sense of closure on the project. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve just let things fizzle out with no real ending to it.

    It also helps prevent scope creep. If both parties know that the project is finished, the client shouldn’t be asking for add ons and extras. 

    What should I include in my offboarding packet?

    There’s lots of important information to include in your offboarding packet so here’s a full breakdown for you: 

    1. Goodbye message

    One of the perks of running a service-based business is being able to make 1:1 connections with our clients. As such, you want to be able to say goodbye to your clients the right way and (hopefully) continue that personal connection that you made well beyond your current relationship. 

    So, the first thing that goes into my offboarding packet is a personalised goodbye message. Small details like the name of the project, how long you’ve been working together, and what you’ve achieved together really make your offboarding packet stand out. At the end of your goodbye message, wish them luck for the future too. For example,

    “I’ve absolutely loved working with you on your project management systems and your Dubsado course over the past 3 months. The course launch was incredible to be a part of and I’m so excited to see where your digital products take you over the next year and beyond!”

    2. Explain the purpose of the document and why they should read it

    This one sounds a bit silly but bear with me here! You’re going to be putting some really important information in this document so you want to make sure that they actually read it!

    Not only will reading the information help the whole transition/offboarding process on their part but it’s also going to stop them from sending you a million and one emails asking questions that are answered in the document already. 

    3. A list of deliverables and/or outcomes (and where to find things)

    This section of your offboarding packet serves two purposes.

    Firstly, it reminds them of the value of working together (which will help when it comes to working with them again in the future and in them referring people they know to you) and it also ensures that they actually have access to everything they have paid for! 

    If you’re a designer or someone who has created a “product” (for want of a better word) this is fairly straightforward – pop the files into a Google Drive folder, Dropbox folder or share via WeTransfer – then add the link into the offboarding packet

    If you’re a VA or copywriter, make sure that anything and everything you’ve created for your client (even the drafts) are all saved in a shared folder somewhere and add the link(s) into the offboarding packet. 

    Pro Tip: Even if you’re not working with that client anymore, keep a copy of all of your deliverables, drafts, etc. for 6-12 months just in case your client loses them! It’s not essential but it’s just a really nice thing to be able to send them a copy of the work if they send you an email four months down the line to say that their hard drive just died! 

    As well as the deliverables, I would recommend including the outcomes and transformations that you have achieved too. If you didn’t create something that can be shared with your client in the way outlined above (i.e. you carried out work that delivered results rather than products), make sure you share the outcomes in the offboarding packet too. Again, this is reminding them of the value of working together. 

    Your outcomes might be metrics e.g. before working with you they had 1,000 Instagram followers, after 1 month they had 2,000 followers, after 6 months they had 20,000 followers. Or maybe, before they worked with you their website looked like screenshot #1 and now it looks like screenshot #2. 

    4. A list of things that you will be canceling/removing 

    If you and your client have a Slack channel together or an Asana project etc. that you both have access to, let them know that you will be leaving, closing it down, or canceling it within 2 weeks. 

    It’s also important to remind your client to remove you from things that they own, such as their website, their email accounts, etc. 

    Pro tip: Include a checklist for your client to ensure that they have everything they need from you. For example, the checklist in my offboarding doc includes the following: 

    • Have all outstanding tasks been completed by me? 
    • Are you happy that you know where all documents that I have created for you are saved? 
    • Have you removed me as admin from your website?
    • Have you removed me as admin from your social media accounts? 
    • Have you revoked access on LastPass so that I no longer have access to your passwords? 
    • Have you removed me from your project management systems?
    • Do you understand that I will be removing myself from any project management system that I have set up for you in 7 days’ time? 
    • Do you understand that I will be closing down/removing myself from any communication channels such as Voxer group messages, Slack channels, etc. in 7 day’s time?

    5. Tutorials (if needed)

    This is particularly useful if you’ve set up new tech for your client, or if there are some tasks that they’ve never actually done themselves with the systems that you have implemented. 

    Leaving them with a tutorial will make it much easier for them, and also avoid you being bombarded with questions long after you’ve stopped working together. 

    Record tutorials on Loom or Screencast-O-Matic with clear voice-overs, showing exactly what they need to do. Save this somewhere and add the links to the offboarding packet so that they can access it easily, all from one spot. 

    Pro tip: It might feel like overkill but I would recommend also including step-by-step instructions with screenshots. This will give your client a few choices when it comes to following along and they will really appreciate you going the extra mile, especially at the end of your project when most people are just looking to get outta Dodge!

    Don’t just assume that because you know how to do something, they do too. It’s better to provide a few extras that aren’t needed, than leave your client floundering trying to figure something out. 

    6. Additional resources

    If you know that your client is working on something in the not-too-distant future or if you’ve been discussing tools and apps with them during your work together, add them to a resources page in your offboarding packet. 

    They might need reminding of exactly what is what, so perhaps organise it under the headings of the project and with a line explaining exactly what the app or tool does, or the context in which it was mentioned. For example:

    New Green Initiative

    Canva – Super simple design software online – would be good for Jemma to use for the leaflet designs. 

    You don’t have to put a huge amount of detail into this section, but they will really appreciate your help on this, and it is a really fantastic touch that will help show how much you care about their business moving forward. After all, you want to end things on a really great note so that they come back to you next time they need the services that you offer.

    7. Ask for a testimonial

    A lot of service-based business owners seem to struggle with asking for testimonials from their clients, but chances are, if you’ve done a good job, your client will want to shout about you. 

    It’s a nice way to end a project, as you can really see how much your work is valued (and we all need that sometimes!) and you also have something to add to your website to showcase your expertise and evidence your results.

    Your offboarding packet is the perfect place to ask for a testimonial. You’ve just basically reminded them of all the work you’ve done on their project, so they’re hopefully going to be feeling really grateful and ready to shower you in (well deserved!) praise. 

    So how do you do it? Well, it’s super simple – just add a section for them to write in and leave them to it! 

    Pro tip: Don’t forget to actually do something with any good testimonials. Post on Linkedin, add to your website, share on your socials. It is much more effective if people actually see it! I add mine to my website, my Instagram Stories (and then save to my “testimonials” highlight), and also to my Instagram grid. Both the Instagram Stories and grid posts get shared to my business Facebook Page automatically – win-win!

    8. Invite them to your referral program

    I always invite clients to join my referral program in my welcome packet but, if you know that they haven’t joined yet, now is the perfect time to invite them again (especially as you’ve just reminded them of how amazing you are!). 

    Use this opportunity to give your client a nudge towards sending more business your way.

    9. A list of your services

    You might think this is a little odd – after all, you are going your separate ways, why would you be telling them about the services you offer? 

    Firstly, it reminds them that this doesn’t have to be the end and there are other ways that you can work together in the future. They might not even know the huge range of things you can offer, and seeing it all written down can be a great memory jogger, so you’ll be first in their thoughts when they need something doing. 

    Secondly, you’ve just invited them to your referral program so now is a great time to let them know what services you offer that they can promote to their audience and connections! 

    10. A goodbye gift

    I’m a HUGE fan of sending my new clients a card and a little gift. This applies to offboarding too. It’s really not essential, but by doing this, you are going over and above what a lot of other service providers deliver and you’re more likely to stick in their mind.

    Next time they’re thinking about hiring a designer or VA and they see that candle you sent to them or the card you sent pinned to their office wall, you’re going to be front and centre of their mind. 

    PLUS who doesn’t love receiving things in the post?!

    If you include these things in your offboarding packet, you’re ending the project in such a positive and professional way. If it really is the end for you and the client, they will feel confident in the handover you’ve given them, appreciate the work you’ve done and hopefully consider referring you to friends. However, it also leaves the door open for more work in the future. 

    Ending things with a client is just as important as starting them, and something that a lot of people forget, so really stand out with the perfect offboarding packet. 

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  • Systems, Business

    A Sneak Peek at My Client Onboarding Process

    This blog post includes affiliate links for tools and products that I use and love. If you purchase using any of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you

    One of the very first processes that I put into place in my VA business was my client onboarding process.

    Especially in the early days, I was super keen to show my clients that they had made the right decision hiring me and what better way to do that than with a seamless onboarding process?

    I get a lot of questions about what’s included in my process, as well as comments from clients that they love the attention to detail, so I thought I’d share a behind-the-scenes look at my process.

    Whilst this is specific to my VA biz (obviously!), the steps will apply to most service-based businesses.

    Why do you need a client onboarding process?

    Your client onboarding process is what takes someone from complete stranger to paying client with an active project together.

    Having a process in place for this serves two main purposes:

    1. Firstly, it helps make a great impression on your new client. You want to wow your clients from day one and a well put-together client onboarding process will definitely help you do that.
    2. Secondly, having a process in place (complete with templates and automations) will make your life SO much easier! You can say goodbye to rummaging around in your inbox wondering what you sent to the last client and spending hours creating documents from scratch!

    So, what does my client onboarding process look like?

    My client onboarding process

    The client onboarding process actually starts way before your client gives you the green light on working together. I my mind, it actually starts with how your client finds you.

    Whilst finding clients is outside of this blog post (well, it is if we want to keep it below 2,000 words!!!), the very first step in my client onboard process is actually my content and social media marketing strategy which allows potential clients to find me online.

    But, for the purposes of this post (and keeping things short), we’ll start with…

    Client lands on my site, checks out my services pages + submits an inquiry

    On my website I have a services page dedicated to each of my services and each of those pages provides details about the services, along with pricing or pricing start points. From there, potential clients can fill out an initial inquiry form to show their interest in working together.

    I have a different initial inquiry form for each service, depending on what information I need. For example, the VA Services inquiry form includes:

    • Name
    • Email
    • Business Name
    • Website URL
    • Please tell us a little bit about the sort of support you need and what kind of tasks you would like us to take care of for you
    • How did you hear about us?
    • Is there anything else you’d like to share with us or ask at this stage?

    Whereas the website setup inquiry form includes the following:

    • Name
    • Email
    • Business Name
    • Do you currently have a website? If so, please provide the URL
    • Where would you like your new website to be built?
      • WordPress.org
      • Squarespace
      • Other
    • Please tell us a little bit about what you need from your website e.g. do you need an online store, a booking feature etc. (don’t worry, we’ll talk about this in-depth on our call)
    • How did you hear about us?
    • Is there anything else you’d like to share with us or ask at this stage?

    Gathering this information allows me to do an initial assessment of whether or not we would be a good fit for working together.

    The forms are created in Dubsado (use code “danifairhurst” for 20% off your first payment) and then embedded onto my website so that potential clients don’t have to leave my site in order to submit their inquiry.

    I review their inquiry and we schedule a discovery call

    After I receive the initial inquiry form I review the information given and do a little bit of research into the potential client to see if I think we are a good match.

    If I think we are, I send them an email inviting them to book a discovery call with me. This is where I am able to automate some of my client onboarding process to make my life easier!

    I have a template email that I edit for each inquiry. The email thanks them for their inquiry, mentions something I noticed about their business during my research (making it suuuuper personal) and includes a link to my booking calendar.

    My booking calendar is also created in Dubsado and I have a dedicated “Discovery Call” appointment type. This is set up to last one hour and potential clients are only able to book them during the slots that I have set as available in my calendar.

    Having a booking system like this set up saves hours of going back and forth on emails trying to find a time and day that suits both parties (and figuring out time zones!) They can just choose a time that suits them from the calendar:

    Client Onboarding Process

    Within the call scheduler settings I have 3 automated emails set up:

    • Immediate confirmation
    • 24 hour reminder
    • 1 hour reminder

    Each of those emails includes:

    • Reason for the call (discovery call)
    • Time and date
    • Zoom link where the call will take place
    • Link to cancel or reschedule the call

    Once I’ve sent the email inviting the potential client to book a call, I don’t need to do anything else, it all happens on auto!

    Discovery call

    Before the discovery call takes place, I like to do a bit more digging into the person and their business and jot down some questions I might want to ask them during the discovery call.

    I usually hold my discovery calls on Zoom unless they specifically ask for something different like Skype. One important thing to remember with your client onboarding process is that it’s as much about making your life easier as it is your client’s experience so, if you want to host your discovery calls on Skype as default, put that into your booking system and confirmation emails.

    The discovery call is your time to shine and really sell your services (without being salesy!)

    The client said “Yes” what happens next?

    This is the part of the process that people usually think about when you say “client onboarding process”. The client has said yes, they would love to work with you and now there seems to be some sort of mad dash to get everything ready. BUT, if you have your process and templates set up, it doesn’t have to be a crazy mad rush.

    Client intake form

    After I get the green light from a new client, the first thing I do is send them my client intake form. This is set as a template in Dubsado so all I need to do is open up my canned email, add the form to it, add a few personal touches to the email, and hit send.

    The purpose of this form is to gather the bits of information I need to complete the contract e.g. full name, address etc. I also ask for their birthday because I like to send birthday cards (totally non-essential!).

    Edit welcome packet and set up behind-the-scenes

    Whilst I’m waiting for the client to return their client intake form, I start getting things together behind the scenes. This includes:

    • Creating a shared folder in my Google Drive
    • Create a client portal for them in Dubsado (use code “danifairhurst” for 20% off your first payment)
    • Adding the client to my Asana as a new project
    • Adding the client to my “Client Work” Airtable (which is what I use to manage my time and plan out when I will do tasks)
    • Edit the client welcome packet to include a personalised welcome message, outline of the project, their unique links to their Google folder etc.

    Pro Tip: Create a workflow in your project management tool of choice for all of these steps. For each new client your sign, duplicate the workflow, and check everything off so you don’t miss anything!

    Sending the contract, invoice and client welcome packet

    Once the client has completed their client intake form, Dubsado pulls through their information such as name and address and adds it to the contract and invoice.

    I have contract templates for each of the services I provide so all I have to do is choose the relevant one and apply it to the new project. If you need rock-solid contracts for your business, I can highly recommend The Contract Shop for all of your business’s legal needs. Everything is created by a real-life lawyer and you can select your country of residence before purchasing to ensure that it’s legal where you live.

    After I’ve proofread the contract to make sure everything in the template is relevant to this particular project, I open up my canned emails, select the “New Contract and First Invoice” template that I have created and Dubsado automatically links through to the client’s invoice and contract at the right places. I then attach the client welcome packet as a PDF attachment (I also add it to their client portal and the shared Google folder for good measure!)

    Getting started

    After the client has signed their contract and I have counter-signed it, it’s time to get started!

    Some clients like to have a kick-off call to chat through the first steps we’re going to take together whereas others are happy to just start assigning tasks to me – check with your clients how they would best like to start things off!

    And that’s pretty much my entire client onboarding process. Do you have a process in place? Does it look like this?

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