30: DIY vs DFY Dubsado Set Up (The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast)

In this episode, we’re continuing the conversation about all things Dubsado. As a Dubsado expert and family/branding photographer, one of the most common questions I receive is about the difference between a DIY Dubsado set up versus a Done For You set up. Taking the time to understand the difference and decide which option is best for you is so important. I am so excited to share all the information I can to help you streamline your systems and find new freedom in your business. 

The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast is brought to you by Dolly DeLong Education. This is a podcast for creative business owners who want to learn tangible steps to automate their business through workflows, systems, tools and strategy in order to go from scattered to streamlined with purpose. Because even muggles can become automated wizards.

Dubsado Toolkit for Creatives

Are you a family photographer looking to utilize Dubsado for your business? I’ve created the essential toolkit you need for your family photography business in order to better streamline & automate the backend of your client’s journey & services!

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Review the Show Notes

Are you ready to automate your business? (2:47)

Is a DIY or DFY Dubsado set up better for you? (6:11)

The Dubsado VIP Experience For Family Photographers (11:25)

Streamlining your systems to find freedom in your business (15:50)

📖And if you would like to read a FULL blog post dedicated to this topic read it HERE

Dubsado is an all-in-one business management tool that allows you to send contracts and invoices, handle project management, create questionnaires and other forms, manage bookkeeping, track your time, send and receive emails and SO much more… all from ONE place.

Try Dubsado >>

Links Mentioned

Dubsado Toolkit for Creatives

Try Dubsado & Get 30% Off Your First Month or Year

How to Create a Contact Form that Wows

The Dubsado VIP Experience For Family Photographers 

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Review the Transcript:

Welcome to the systems and workflow magic podcast where I help entrepreneurs go from scattered to streamlined in their creative businesses. I’m your host, Dolly DeLong, a wife, a mom and a photographer turned systems educator. Join me every week as we have conversations centered around creating tactical workflows, and automations in your business. Now, let’s make some strategic workflow magic.

Hey, Hey, and welcome back to the systems and workflow magic podcast. I’m your host, Dolly DeLong, your favorite Dubsado and workflow BFF. And, of course, your favorite fellow Hufflepuff. If you’ve been listening to the podcast and reading the blog for the last few weeks, then you know, we’re talking about all things Dubsado Right now, we are officially in week four of the Dubsado series. And I am excited to talk to you about this specific topic this week. Because this is a question that comes up a lot in my DMs. And it’s what is the difference between DIY Dubsado setup services. So doing it yourself versus the benefit of a done for you service setup. Okay. But before I really begin answering that question, I just want to preface it by saying, as you know, I am a family and writing photographer based in Nashville.

And personally, I know how important it is to have a workflow or workflows for your business. And then to automate that workflow so that you have more time for your business, your clients in your family or the whys of your life. So since we’ve talked so much about why automation matters in the last several episodes, I want to spend some time today to chat about how you can reach that level of automation. Thus, the topic we are talking about is we’re going to start with what is the difference between DIY Dubsado setup versus the benefit of doing a VIP setup experience like a done for you setup experience. So I would say start there. And very specifically, let’s talk about setting up Dubsado. And whether or not you should he should go the DIY route that might be the best solution for you right now? Or should you have a Dubsado expert help you navigate these waters? Either way, like, let’s discuss what would be the best solution for you. So my first question for you is this Are you ready to automate your business? Now that you’ve established your creative business, and you’re ready to move beyond, you know, that hobby stage, and you really want to take your business full time, it’s important to take all aspects of your business seriously.

So as you move into that full business realm, the reality of running your own business, it will start sinking in, you’re handling all aspects of your client experience. Okay, you’re handling your inquiries, you’re sending contracts, you’re sending forms, you’re sending invoices, you hopefully are getting paid, you are sending reminders about pay when payments are due. It’s literally all on your shoulders, okay, in the beginning years of your business. And if you’re trying to run things alone, it can get overwhelming, it really can be so overwhelming. Again, there is no shame in all of that. Like we have all started off doing things on around. I know I did before I started hiring out contractors and help. So I was handling all aspects of my family photography and branding, photography business. Again, we are not all wizards. This is why I talk about the magic of automation and the magic of streamlining your business. So whenever you reach a point in your business, where you begin to feel like you might be in over your head, it’s time to automate. Maybe it’s not time to automate all the things because that can be overwhelming. But start automating one thing at a time. And frankly, in an ideal world, you have already considered automating before you even got to this feeling of overwhelming this, this point of overwhelm. All right, I’m winking at you. You can’t you can’t see me, but I’m winking. Like hint hint.

This is why we’re talking about automation. Alright, I digress. So if you’re ready to speed up your workflows, and get some of that work off your plate on a regular basis, you need to get your CRM like Dubsado set up and automate that workflow. Okay. Okay, so that’s like, I just wanted to start off with the conversation with that. So if you are, let’s just take a step back. And if you’re ready to truly automate certain points of your business, you’re at this crossroads like, Should you DIY this process for yourself? Can you DIY? Do you have the mental capacity to DIY? Or should you hire out help an expert to help you out with this? Alright, so if that’s freaking you out and just want you to take a deep breath, because I get it, when you first log in to Dubsado or your CRM platform, it can feel very overwhelming, because you don’t know where to begin. You don’t know what to do. But that is where it Dubsado experts like myself comes in. And I’d like to help other creative business owners with Dubsado setups. But before I go into that, let’s back up for one more second. So if you answered yes, that yes, you want to automate your business with Dubsado. And now you’re at that crossroads again, you’re like, Okay, no, I want to automate certain parts of my business with Dubsado. But now I’m at the crossroads of okay, do I want to do this on my own? Or do I want to do a more done with you done for you Dubsado setup, here is the heart of the matter.

Knowing whether this automation setup is something you feel comfortable doing yourself, or if you should hire out, so you need to look at both sides. And I’ll be explaining both sides too. But I really want you to start thinking through both sides before you dive into one of these decisions, and then you regret it or you kick yourself. Okay, so on one side, I believe you should tell, you can totally DIY your setup. If you are someone who is pretty familiar with Dubsado, or a similar CRM, or you let’s say you like to figure things out as you go, you like a good challenge that I say, you should totally DIY the process. I think it’s also important that you consider how much time you have available to dedicate to this process. Because these setups do require a lot of time, and energy and strategy and attention. So think about this side. But if that if time is what you have in abundance in the beginning years of your business, and you feel very, very confident, then try the DIY setup, and get to know Dubsado and get your hands dirty with Dubsado.

Okay, or let’s say you’re not that tech savvy, but you are on a tighter budget, okay, then a DIY setup may have to be an option for you only because the beginning stages of your business beat may require a lot of your time and might be a little tighter. Alright, so thankfully, there are many DIY solutions for you. For example, my podcast because I like to center the show the theme of some episodes around Dubsado. And I want to help other creative business owners understand how to use Dubsado. But if you are wanting to take a deeper dive into Dubsado on A more DIY route, and still you want again full control of how you set it up, then I want to suggest checking out my new resource called the Dubsado toolkit for family photographers. So it is a resources designed by family photographer, me, for family photographers who want to go from scattered to streamlined in under one week. So I have taken my VIP client framework. And I put it into a mini course format so that other photographers can go at their own pace, and preferably have everything set up and running in seven days. The tagline for this is I call it Dubsado in seven days, I know so original, but I want to make it very bite sized and doable for other family photographers.

So if you’re interested in this DIY route and you need more, I guess, more structure for yourself. The link to this resource is in my show notes. Again, it’s called the Dubsado toolkit for family photographers Dubsado in seven days, all right. However, if this option seems overwhelming and stressful to you and you want more hand holding, then option two on the flip side, you should consider are hiring someone to do a done for you Dubsado setup service. Again, this is a good option if you have no idea, especially like, if you think I don’t have a lot of time, I am stressed out to the max, I just need somebody to hold my hand technology and CRM, like I don’t really want to figure this all out. Over time I like I really just like want to get it set up and I want to get going in two or three weeks, then I would say absolutely consider hiring someone to help you out. Alright, it would be much easier to take advantage of all the good parts of Dubsado. If you actually know they exist, and you do this when you hire an expert. Again, if as mentioned, if you’re short on time, you should absolutely hire out. So my VIP clients have me working on their software, meaning Dubsado For two weeks, so it’s like a two normally between two to three weeks.

We do they’re done for you and done with you setup service. And again, if you don’t have big chunks of time to dedicate setting up your workflows and automations on your own. Let me remind you let someone else do it for you. So you might be thinking, okay, Dolly, I’m in the dunk for your category. Can you help me? So yes, of course, I offer a Dubsado VIP experience for family photographers, to help them jumpstart their business and get their systems within Dubsado. I’ll set up a Dubsado family photography, VIP Experience intensive, is a done with you and done for you strategy session that helps other family photographer so you set up an intentional and fully branded family photography workflow that is unique to your family photography business. So it is a no fluff experience from start to finish, it really is personalized every single VIP client. After two weeks, you will leave with your Dubsado account setup, one workflow setup, and all of your necessary forms for your business, and most importantly, a better understanding of how to use Dubsado So that you can use it in confidence. As you continue to grow your own family photography business. I don’t want to just set up the software and leave you hanging, I really want you to understand how to use it so that you can implement the programs in the future as your business grows.

So how I do this is my VIP experience has three phases. We’ll chat on an onboarding call, spend the second phase, creating your unique workflow and doing a strategy session about that workflow. And then the third phase, I will be putting it all together for you. Normally, the biggest phase is the second phase, because this is where you will see where all of the puzzle pieces you’ll need for your workflow, what puzzle pieces you’ll need to create in order for me to put together and the great news is I film almost all of my work on Dubsado and Loom. So you’ll have a library of resources when I’m done. All right. So you can use it as a reference guide. So if you have a question, well, how did Dolly put together this canned email template for me? Or how can I do that for future workflow, I put that all together in a resource library for you. You’ll also receive branded and Dubsado templates and have all of the necessary documents in place to run your business smoothly. Now if that sounds like something your business needs, make sure to read all about the Dubsado experience in the shownotes and the link in my show notes. And I only take one VIP Dubsado client per month. So be sure to reach out to me if this is something that is of interest to you.

Raise your hand if you are a photographer who feels like you’re in the struggle bus Dubsado Because you don’t know where to begin with automating and streamlining your business. Yep, you feel like you bought the CRM platform only to feel more confused and frustrated. You just want to throw your hands up and try something else that seems easier. Well before you give up too early. I want to let you in on a little secret. I have been working behind the scenes to create a resource for family photographers that would break down the foundational concepts of Dubsado in bite sized and attainable pieces to make you feel more confident in creating workflows.

If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not. I have taken my knowledge as a certified Dubsado specialist and have created a framework I use for my own VIP clients. And I put it in the form of a resource called the Dubsado toolkit for family photographers, it’s a go at your own pace course, which I have purposefully divided up into seven parts to be consumed in one week, so that you can go from scattered to streamlined in your workflows in under one week. This resource comes with templates, swipe files, and loads of essentials to better automate your family photography business. To learn more about this resource, head on over to the show notes to join the waitlist. Because the doors open soon, to the Dubsado toolkit for family photographers, you know, I have so many bonuses, I cannot wait to share with other photographers, from one family photographer to another, I want you to be more organized and streamlined in your business so that you can make big and bold moves as you scale your business. So what are you waiting for? So we looked at both sides of the coin. All right. So whether you decide to do it yourself DIY, or do a done for you and done with you Dubsado setup, I would say take the time to ensure your systems are working properly. And also start asking yourself these questions like Am I ready to create workflows in my business?

Am I ready to automate certain aspects of my business using Dubsado? And then take it further and ask yourself can I do this on my own? Or will I want extra help in this process. So when you allow yourself to automate and streamline your systems, you’re going to find way more freedom in your business than you ever dreamed possible. And it is possible. Regardless if you decide to do it on your own, or if you do a done for you service, it is possible but you need to start asking these questions to yourself right off the bat. And let me remind you that if you’re brand new to setting up systems and your creative business, then definitely take the time to get to know your preferred processes. Because when you take the time to see how everything works, you will save time in the long run. Okay, so don’t be in such a rush. I kind of think of it as putting a band aid on, on something early on. Don’t just like slap something together, do something with intention and like start asking yourself these questions like do I have the time to do a lot of DIY aspects? Or can I hire out help to help me with certain aspects of my business? It’s okay to take the time to ask yourself these questions. But be intentional. Either way. So I know this was a shorter episode. But I hope this is helping you get your wheels turning to determine like what is the best path to take with Dubsado. Right. So if you are brand new to Dolly DeLong Education and the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast, you should know that I am a certified Dubsado specialist.

And I just love talking with other creative business owners about systems and workflows for their own creative business. So I am so excited that you chose to tune in today and I hope that you continue to tune in to this Dubsado series to see if Dubsado is a good fit for you and your creative business. Don’t forget to take advantage of my free resources in the show notes. Again, more resources created to help you better streamline and automate your small business. And as always, I hope you are having a wonderful and streamlined week and let me know how this episode has helped you out what you’re going to do.

Are you going to do the more DIY route or are you interested in a done for you setup service? Either way, I’m just so excited that you are starting to ask yourself these questions. Your business will thank you especially as you begin automating certain parts of it. So I will talk to you later. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast. You can find full show notes from today’s episode at dolly DeLong photography.com forward slash podcast. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be so honored if you’d subscribe and leave a review on your feed Your podcast player. Be sure to screenshot this episode, share it to your stories and tag me at dolly DeLong education over on Instagram. Until next time, go make some strategic workflow magic.