I remember when Katie Monroe and I first met. She told me she was copying and pasting everything to run her wedding photography business from Google Spreadsheets…
Then she told me she had burned out multiple times. My heart hurt for her.
I knew it was completely unneccessary to do that much manual work as a photographer and everything would change once she implemented a CRM.
When Katie and I met, she had been photographing weddings for ten years, she loved it, but she wanted more…
While Katie absolutely loved photographing weddings, she’d been yearning to add branding and commercial photography to her business. She’d also been wanting to start coaching young photographers, but didn’t have the bandwidth for any of it.
At the end of every wedding season, she was absolutely exhausted.
She knew she couldn’t keep doing things that way if she wanted to grow her business and thrive as a photographer, wife (and a brand new mom.)
THAT’S WHERE I CAME IN
Katie was a Wedding Photographer Who Wanted to Grow Her Business But Knew She Needed a CRM to Make it Happen
She started researching CRMs (Client Relationship Management software) first and reading reviews. She knew she hated HoneyBook because the forms weren’t beautiful so she looked into Dubsado. Luckily, she Googled Dubsado specialist and I was one of the top ten in her search. When she read my website, it just resonated with her and she immediately booked a discovery call.
Katie said “I just remember thinking if I don’t write someone now I’m gonna be in wedding season and I’m never going to do this. I wanted to get this dialed in before I went crazy. I loved that we were able to get on a call really quickly and it was smooth and easy to get started with you.”
She was a brand new mom who was exhausted and KNEW there was no way that she could continue to run her business the way that she’d been running it. Especially not if she wanted to increase her revenue.
She knew Dubsado (a CRM that was originally designed for photographers) along with systems and automation could make a huge difference in her business, but she didn’t have time to figure out how to automate everything and complete a Dubsado set-up for herself.
My Life as a Photographer Before Working with Amy to Setup Dubsado as my CRM
“Prior to working together, I was very set in my ways, and they were totally functional because I was so used to them. When I think about what I was doing for 10 years…
I was manually copying and pasting names and emails into Google sheets and Google Docs. I cannot believe how many hours a week I spent just maintaining my old system.
Again, it worked. I was landing leads and the business was fine, but I was literally tied to all of those administrative tasks. I had no idea how I would scale my business.” – Katie Monroe
When I saw all of the things Katie was doing manually in her business, it made me want to cry.
She was…
- Typing every client’s information into her spreadsheet herself.
- Manually scheduling every appointment and sending reminders herself. (There were lots of back and forth emails and no shows were a real thing.)
- Copying and pasting EVERY email to send to clients and customizing them all.
- Keeping track of every step of her process in a Google spreadsheet.
- Creating proposals from scratch for every prospective wedding client, then setting up the contract and invoice in her system to send to them. (While the system worked it wasn’t the gorgeous proposal that she now has in Dubsado with contract and invoice all in one.)
“I just busted my butt until the off-season hit. During COVID I wasn’t gonna prioritize this because it was COVID. Every off-season, I get big projects. I never even realized that this was what needed to happen until it did.” – Katie Monroe Photographer & Coach
IF WE HAVEN’T MET YET
Hi! I’m Amy Gould,
Systems and Automation Pro for Creative Entrepreneurs.
I live in a small beach town near the shores of Lake Michigan with my two dogs and five (Yes FIVE) cats. Someone in my house can’t say no to a cute kitten and I can’t say no to that human….
I went from Human Resources Benefits Administrator to Automation and Client Experience champion thanks to the pandemic.
I’m so excited you’re here learning how systems and automation can free up your time.
LET’S GET BACK TO KATIE’S STORY ↓
AS SOON AS SHE SIGNED THE CONTRACT, I GOT TO WORK!
So. What does it look like as a photographer to have someone set-up your CRM?
Well, if you ask Katie, she’s going to say
I just gave Amy my vision for each service and she ran with it.
The best part is Katie was able to focus on everything else that was going on in her life right then… ten month old baby, buying a house, moving, her husband just had surgery, it was a stressful time in her life.
I’m so glad I was there to be a friend and business bestie during that time and beyond.
THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S TRUE
All I want you to do is show up, tell me your vision for your client experience (& share some key information) then go about running your business with the confidence that I’ve got it from there.
I’LL TACKLE THE LIST OF DUBSADO SET-UP TASKS THAT INCLUDE:
- Helping you create an incredible client experience and translate it into Dubsado workflows.
- Write every single email required to automate everything (usually 20-30 or more.)
- Design gorgeous on brand forms
- Make sure all of your settings and integrations are set up 100% correctly.
- Set up all of your schedulers
- Create a branded client portal.
- Build & test all of your workflows.
- Provide 30 days of offboarding support, a client training library & offboarding guide to help you get up and running right away.
…AND MORE!
“I’ve been obsessed with Dubsado. First of all, the workflow itself. Just getting all of the information when someone fills out a lead capture form on my website. Knowing all of it auto-populates into Dubsado and we just roll. That right there saves me 30 minutes EVERY TIME!” Katie Monroe Photographer
From our very first meeting, Katie – as with all of my clients – knew what to expect.
I’VE WORKED REALLY HARD TO MAKE IT THAT WAY FOR YOU TOO
Here’s the process I use with every photographer (and other creative business owner) as I set up their CRM.
- Sign the contract & pay the invoice
- Complete your onboarding form
- Schedule your workflow mapping session with me
- Share any other needed information
- HERE’S SOMETHING ELSE KATIE SHARED:
“I was stressed out and now I feel like this it’s so easy. It’s a one-stop shop. I’m a new mom and I’m really fucking tired and I feel like this is what I needed all the years and I did not have it.”
I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY SHE HAS IT NOW RIGHT?
In fact- she was able to reduce her weekly time on admin tasks by 20 hours a week shortly after she started using evrything we put together.
SHE’S ALSO BEEN ABLE TO…
She created a group couching program to help other photographers
Katie automated her coaching client process by re-using parts or her set-up.
Stressful Mini-Sessions are a thing of the past
The back and forth emails to book mini-sessions & extra work are just gone.
She has been able to book more clients by offering payment plans & doesn’t have to chase clients to get paid
With payment plans and reminders
Made more money that year than she has in 4 years
Due to her upgraded client experience & ability to add more revenue streams
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