Coffee (mine’s a flat white please!), my Macbook, and Asana – three things my business just could not function without. I have tried my fair share of organisational tools and project management systems – every time someone mentions a tool I haven’t tried before, I immediately run off to try it out. But Asana is the one that I keep coming back to. It’s the one I recommend to everyone, whatever your business is, no matter what stage you’re at!
So, why am I such a massive Asana fangirl?
Different Levels of Organisation – Teams, Projects, Tasks and Subtasks
When I tell you that I spin a lot of plates at one time, I need you to imagine an entire IKEA hall full of them. Between the work for my clients, several businesses that I run, and my own projects, if I didn’t have a way to organise the mess in my brain, I would implode, and all of those plates would come crashing to the ground.
And I know I’m not the only business owner out there who feels like this!
With Asana I am able to organise everything I do into different levels – teams, projects, tasks and subtasks. For example with client work, each client has their own team, separated into various projects, with a layer of tasks that need completing underneath it.
These different levels mean that when I need to focus on a specific project or area of my business, I can see all the work that needs doing for it, and don’t end up getting overwhelmed and sidetracked by other things. It’s the hub of my business and I can keep everything I need in one area and allow my brain some well-needed thinking space.
Delegating to my team
I have an incredible team. And of course, I often need to allocate them tasks to do, which I can do directly from Asana. One thing I love about Asana is that I can choose exactly what I share with each person; whether that be a client or a member of my team, they only have access to what I choose to show them. This serves two benefits: it keeps things private and confidential as needed, but also means my team don’t get overwhelmed by seeing a whole load of things they don’t need to worry about. In fact, they can choose to only see the section titled ‘My tasks’, and have a clear overview of what they need to complete and the deadlines.
I also have my Asana accounts set up so that each project has a section at the top that includes all of the key information they need including links, branding, our goals for that project and much more!
Switching between different views
So many people love Trello for the board layout. But it lacks a lot of functionality. Other people work better from lists which is why Google Docs, notebooks, and paper planners are so popular.
Everyone works differently and sometimes, we ourselves work differently depending on the project, or even just how we feel on a particular day!
For some things, such as future project planning, it can be useful to use the calendar view, especially when you want to see what your next month or quarter looks like at a glance. For other things, you might want a simple list view or a board view – it’s totally up to you. You can set each project up differently, or switch between the views with one click, depending on what you need.
As an added bonus, when your team members log into their accounts, they can view the projects in a way that suits them best too!
Automating recurring tasks
There are some tasks I have to do every day, every week, or every month and if I had to write these into my to-do list every time, I wouldn’t have any time to do any of the tasks. Thankfully, I can just set these up once and change the settings for it to reoccur as often as needed. It will automatically show up in ‘My Tasks’ when relevant and it means that things such as checking my social media analytics don’t get forgotten about (because honestly, I swear I blink and it’s the last day of the month again!).
The satisfaction of ticking things off
Obviously, ticking things off your to-do list is always amazing, but Asana offers you the chance to have animations to celebrate each time. So yes, sometimes I am a little motivated to finish a task by the promise of seeing a little unicorn whizz across my screen on a rainbow. Whatever works.
Asana is the best project management system I have tried because it’s intuitive and easy to use, but allows me to personalise things to my business. The set-up can be quite involved, but once you’ve got your system established, you have created a one-stop hub for your business that will house everything you need in one place. Boom!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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 “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?
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
If you feel like you are constantly drowning in admin tasks and never actually have time to work on the “money-making” tasks in your business, it might be time for you to streamline your business systems.
I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of an efficiency nerd. I love trialing new systems which promise to streamline my work processes, and love finding the best, most effective and easiest way to do those boring admin tasks, leaving me free to work on the bits of my business that I really love.
Going through your regular tasks, as well as your systems and streamlining the ones that you can, will take a little while but it will save you huge amounts of time in the long-run. I’d suggest spending the weekend getting them set up so you’re ready to hit the ground running on Monday morning with your shiny new systems!
Super Simple Ways to Streamline Your Business
Why you should streamline your processes and systems
Before we dive into the how let’s ask ourselves the all-important question…why?
Why should you carve out some time in your already too busy schedule to work on your own process and systems? I mean, you’re already spending all of your time serving your clients and on top of that, you’re trying to regularly post on social media and create new blog content and send newsletters to your list. Plus, you’re “just a solopreneur”. Fancy processes and systems are for people with teams, right?
Wrong! Processes and systems are the perfect way to streamline your business, creating MORE time in your business to focus on serving your clients, even if you’re a team of one.
It’s time to work smarter, not harder
There are only so many hours in a day, and when you’re trying to juggle running a business, alongside all those other life things that need doing (you know, like eating and occasionally sleeping for example), you need to learn to work smarter, rather than just amping up the number of hours you’re doing (3 hours sleep is fine, right?!)
It might take some time to set up these processes and systems, but the time you’ll save in the long run is going to be invaluable.
Give yourself the gift of time
The joy of streamlining your processes, to make them as sleek and simple as possible, is that you will save yourself so many little chunks of precious time which can really add up and allow you to finally get to those important jobs that have been sat on your to-do list forever (guilty!)
By automating things like your onboarding process, you will suddenly have a few extra hours each week to serve your clients, work on that eBook you’ve been writing for years or even just relax!
Automate before you outsource
Obviously, I am a huge promoter of the benefit of hiring a VA, but at the same time, there is no point in hiring someone to do something that you could be getting a tool, system, or template to do for you.
It’s a waste of your money, and a waste of your VA’s time, which could be better spent utilising their talents for something that will really help your business to grow. I’m not saying that you should automate instead of outsourcing but, by looking at what tasks can be done automatically, you’re freeing up time for your virtual team to really make a difference.
You’ll also probably find that your VA (or other freelance helpers) will be much more efficient in what they can get done if you have already streamlined your business as much as possible before hiring them.
So, how can you streamline your systems and get back all this magical time?!
1. Take note of where you are spending (or wasting!) your time
The first step in streamlining your business is to figure out where you are spending most of your time and then focus on how to create systems and processes around those tasks to help free up more of your time.
The best way to do this is to track how long you spend on all of the different tasks you do in your business. This will add some extra time to your already busy day but you only really need to do it for a week and the time you’ll save in the long-run is definitely worth it!
So, for every task, or type of task, you complete in your business on a day-to-day basis, time how long you spend doing that task and make a note of it.
Pretty soon, you’ll have a great idea of what you are spending a lot of time doing. For me, it was creating and sharing new content for my blog and replying to emails so I knew that I needed to set up processes and systems around these tasks to cut back on the time I was spending there.
2. Get rid of everything you don’t need
This is a tough one because we often feel like we need to be doing everything – blogging, and have a podcast, and a YouTube channel, and be posting on ALL of the social media channels – in order to have a successful business. On top of that we actually need to be finding clients, having discovery calls, onboarding new clients and serving them to the best of our abilities PLUS taking care of our own business admin tasks.
Don’t worry, I’ll be telling you how to streamline all of these things shortly. But, for now, let’s just get rid of everything we don’t need to be doing.
Hate posting on Twitter? Don’t do it!
Know that your ideal clients aren’t on Facebook? Get rid of that Facebook Group that you’re spending hours a week on.
Hate writing other people’s newsletters? Don’t offer that as a service!
Anything that you don’t need to do in order to run your business, get rid of.
Anything that you hate doing in your business, get rid of. I say this because when we’re doing tasks that we absolutely hate, even for clients, it takes up a lot of our time and energy that could be better spent in other places.
3. Create SOPs, workflows + checklists
The next step we’re going to take to streamline your business is to create SOPs, workflows, and checklists for all of the tasks that you regularly do in your business and for your clients.
Dig out the list of tasks you made in step 1 and, for each task, create a step-by-step guide or checklist. Don’t forget to include all of the tiny details that you usually spend time checking. For example, if you find yourself looking up a particular hex code each time you create a new sign up form, add the hex code to your guide.
Add these SOPs, workflows and checklists to your chosen project management tool so that you can refer to them, or even duplicate them, each time you complete a task.
These documents will help you streamline your business on a couple of different levels.
Firstly, if you’re following the same steps each and every time you do something, the work you are doing will be consistent – each blog post will be formatted in the same way, each client will receive the same onboarding experience as the next, and so on.
Secondly, you will be saving yourself a lot of time. You don’t need to spend hours rummaging through your sent folder to figure out what you sent to the last client you offboarded, you won’t need to sit staring at a blank laptop screen trying desperately to remember all of the steps you take when setting up a new opt-in form and you won’t be clicking back and forth between 20 different tabs to have access to all of the information you need to create a new website for your latest client.
Don’t worry if you can’t remember all of the steps and key details when you first create these documents, you can always add to them the next time you complete that task and remember the additional details. Done is better than perfect!
4. Don’t be afraid of templates
If you find yourself writing similar emails from scratch each time, or perhaps when it comes to creating Pins for your blog posts you open up a blank document every single time, why not spend a little time creating some basic templates that you can adapt as needed.
Templates were definitely something that I really didn’t want to use in my business when I first started out. I wanted to give my clients a personalised experience and I was worried that, by using templates, I would sound like a robot and not be able to make real, human connections with my clients. That just wasn’t true.
Templates are the number one thing that has helped me to streamline my business (and my clients’ businesses too!) AND I don’t feel like my clients are faced with an automated robot either.
Forms + onboarding docs
The process that takes you from meeting a potential client to you actually starting work with that client has a LOT of moving parts and can take a lot of time, especially if you don’t use templates.
I actually use Dubsado for all elements of this process but you can do this using other tools too. Here are the templates I have created for this process:
Initial inquiry form
Discovery call booking form (and confirmation/reminder emails)
Proposals (one for each of the services I offer)
Client intake form (and email sending it to the client)
Contract
Invoice
Welcome packet
Email sending contract, invoice and welcome packet
Some of these things run completely on auto and have no input from me, such as the inquiry form as it remains the same regardless of the potential client however, a lot of the other documents and emails I tweak the contents and tailor them to the specific client, creating a beautifully personalised experience in just a couple of minutes!
Emails
I’m not suggesting you send a copy and pasted response to every email, but if there are certain bits that you often need to repeat (eg., your terms, prices, answers to frequently asked questions) then make the most of the canned response feature in Gmail, or if you use a different mail program, simply create a word document of templates to use.
Like I mentioned above, Dubsado holds a few of my template emails around onboarding and invoicing but I also use the canned email feature in gmail for other emails that I frequently send.
Graphics
The same goes for any graphics you need to create – set up some templates that are already the size and specifications needed, where you only need to change the text, and background image, and you’ll save yourself a whole bunch of time.
It’s no secret that I love using Canva for this. For each blog post I have templates for 4 pins, 3 social media images (Twitter size), a square featured image and an Instagram image. It takes me about 5 minutes to create ALL of them. Simple!
5. Invest in tools + Apps to make life easier
For most parts of your business, there will be an app or tool that will help you streamline things. Whether they just make your life that little bit easier or they allow you to automate the process completely, they are well worth the investment!
Client management
I know I’ve mentioned it before but I love Dubsado. It’s the perfect CRM for my VA business – I can automate the onboarding process, invoicing, appointment booking and offboarding process. What more could I want?
Invoicing
I mainly use Dubsado for my service-based invoices but there are lots of other options out there like Quickbooks and Xero.
Automate recurring invoices so that they get sent to clients on a regular basis without you needing to do a thing.
Social Media
Scheduling social media, for me, goes hand in hand with batching which is a great way to save time in your business and generally help things run a bit smoother.
For most of us, social media is a massive part of our marketing strategy, but finding the time during the day to post live can be difficult (and yet we never seem to struggle to find the time to scroll mindlessly through Instagram, or is that just me?!)
Set aside a chunk of time at the beginning of the week, or month, and queue up posts for your various social media channels. There are a few different systems that will help you do this, such as Buffer, or Hootsuite, but personally I use Smarterqueue because I can queue up posts for my Facebook groups as well as my pages and Twitter accounts. Once the posts are added to the evergreen queue, they get recycled over and over again.
If you’re working on your Pinterest strategy,Tailwind is the best way to make the most of your Pins. Spend some time setting up your account so that it posts on auto (Tailwind will figure out the best time of day for you), without you having to lift a finger.
Finally, I use Planoly to schedule and auto-post out my Instagram posts. I love the drag and drop interface as it allows me to see how my grid will look when my posts have been added and move them around if things don’t quite look right. You can also save groups of hashtags which saves a TON of time!
Looking for more ways to streamline your business? Join us in the Organise and Grow Hub.
