Welcome to Season 1 Episode 9 of the Creative Business Success Podcast! Today I'm chatting with Mariah from Mariah Magazine. She's a web strategist and designer who helps entrepreneurs optimize their websites. Her business systems are a bit scattered, so she wants to get them whipped back into shape, both for her own sanity and so that she can confidently hire an assistant. We're going to talk about both the technical side and the personal side of creating systems and preparing to hire a VA.

Here is a cheat sheet of some of the episode highlights:

Mariah's intro, 0:26

Mariah's current systems and client process, 1:27

A new workflow - start with a lead capture form, 2:48

Splitting workflows for different target audiences, 3:28

Triggering workflows, 6:42

Systemizing the project process, 7:52

Getting content from clients! 11:20

Canned emails to improve processes, 12:11

Automatically creating tasks for you and clients in Dubsado, 12:56

Splitting and pausing workflows, 13:25

-Link to the Dubsado Facebook group we mentioned-

Getting processes and systems ready for a VA, 14:58

Managing a virtual assistant- email newsletters, 15:35

Prep your VA for your own brand of crazy! 16:40

Creating a system to assign and monitor VA tasks, 18:04

Give a new hire some adjustment time, 20:36

Document specific tasks for your new VA, 21:07

Don't be afraid to trial a few VA's, 22:08

Where to connect with Mariah! 24:57

Don't forget to grab your free trial of Dubsado to help you manage your clients and workflows!

Let’s dive a little deeper into a few solutions to help you expand your local marketing and clients, though!

1 | Automated workflows to the rescue!

If you feel like you're going to pull your hair out when you think about all the moving parts in your client and project processes... it's time for an automated workflow. In this episode, I talked with Mariah about how she can turn her go-with-the-flow processes into a streamlined system. The tool I suggested was Dubsado because you can automate your entire workflow from start to finish!

For Mariah, that means she can embed a lead capture form on her website that allows the lead to select a field that will trigger a specific workflow within Dubsado. It then automatically takes the client through the proposal (based on what they selected in the lead capture form) to the contract and down payment on their invoice. Mariah can also build in some delay so that she can check in and make sure they're suited for the package they've selected. If not, she can pause the workflow, adjust things, and restart it.

Once they've paid the down payment, the client will move through the rest of the workflow. Dubsado can automatically create tasks for Mariah and her clients, enabling the clients to watch Mariah's process as she checks off tasks as well as get reminders to upload necessary content to their personal client portal. This can save Mariah HOURS of time that she would normally spend fielding emails about where she is in the process and trying to hunt down the content she needs to move forward with a project!

In other words, if you want more time to relax and enjoy NOT babysitting clients (hey, we've all been there), you need to automate...