1: Why I Started this Podcast

When I first started my business, I was balancing so much, because I wasn’t full-time in my business yet. I quickly learned about the value of systems and workflows, which came so naturally to me. I realized this wasn’t the norm—so I created this podcast for business owners who want to learn how to automate their business! Come join me on this journey to better automate 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.

Click below to listen to Episode 1 of the Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast

Review the Show Notes:

Get to Know Dolly (1:04)

How Dolly Got Started in Systems & Workflows (1:17)

The Magic Behind Systems & Automations (4:49)

Write out your client’s customer journey from start to finish in phases. (7:50)

Top of the Funnel / How Clients Find You / Point of Entry (9:25)

Connect with Dolly:

instagram.com/dollydelongeducation

facebook.com/DollyDeLongEducation

pinterest.com/dollydelong

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.

Oh, my gosh, I just cannot believe I’m actually doing this. I’m hosting and starting a podcast. You all it has taken me years to be brave enough to show up in this way. But I have a fire in a drive in me to help other creative business owners see the value and magic of using systems and strategic workflows and automations in their own businesses. So since this is episode one, I will start with a little bit about myself, as you heard in the intro, my name is Dolly. And I’m actually a creative business owner myself, I have my own family and branding photography business have been a full time business owner since 2018.

And because I wear all the hats of operating my business as a side hustle for over eight years, yes, it took me over eight years to go full time into my own photography business. I taught myself how to automate and streamline my own business over time, so that I could either experience more freedom with my time and experience the true power of scaling because of workflows and Strategic Systems. So around 2018 2019 is when I was finally able to go out on my own with my photography business, I actually had a lot of other creative business owners reach out to me either through Instagram, or Facebook, and even within my own network of clients, and they would ask me how I ran my business, how I was running it being a solo business owner. And if you don’t know anything about me, you’ll learn this. I’m pretty much an open book when it comes to sharing what I have learned with others.

And honestly, you want to know a secret. I thought everyone knew how to automate and create systems for their own businesses. Like literally, I thought this was a built-in like gift that all entrepreneurs had already. Literally, I thought that, but after going through to masterminds, and my mastermind peers constantly commenting on how amazed they were at how different my brain works for my creative business, I thought, well, maybe I need to dig more into this workflow and systems path. Now. Okay, I want to pause there and say, don’t get me wrong, I am still learning in this area of systems and all things, strategic workflows.

I don’t have it all figured out. I mean, I mean, I am a muggle, after all. But it wasn’t until late 2020 That my mastermind and business coach leader, Pat Schmoyer, totally encouraged me to dig into systems and workflow education, and not just for myself for continued education, but to help others because this is where I was thriving, but I wasn’t digging into it. And so I’m just gonna admit openly. I was terrified, it terrified me, because I have major imposter syndrome. And honestly, I’m not the coolest person. I’m kind of a nerd. And I waver between being either introverted and extroverted. You just never know. I’m a mixed bag sometimes.

And so I kept on making excuse after excuse to not really dig into this path. But something clicked, I would have to say around June of 2021, is when I was wrapping up a mastermind, and I was approached by several different creative business owners asking me to help them with setting up workflows, and automations in their own creative business. And being the helper that I am I thought, Hmm, okay, well, maybe I am sitting on a goldmine of knowledge. And maybe I should create content that leads others to get to know tangible steps in ways of automating and setting up workflows for their own business. And maybe the hub of where this education should be and could be, could be in a podcast format. So this is where the systems and workflow magic podcast came from.

You may be wondering why I keep on using the term magic. Well, it’s really because I have seen firsthand how magical automating your business can be and how relieving it is when you have everything in place, and you actually get it like you have that aha moment. And you just want to do a fist pump in the air. Also, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. So if there’s any way I can insert my love of all things, Harry Potter, I’m down for that. I am an avid podcast listener myself. And although I have been blogging consistently for over eight years now, because remember, I am a family and branding photographer, so my content is very visual. I know that many creative business owners don’t quite have the time to sit down and read a lengthy article or blog post about systems and workflow tips. But they do have the time to pop in some earbuds and listen to a podcast on the go. I do this all the time as a mom on the go, I love learning, but I have a very active child. So whenever I’m outside with my son, I normally like to put in my earbuds and listen to a podcast while we walk around the neighborhood or while he is playing outside. And I’ll just watch him and pop in my earbuds. I love learning while I drive as well.

Because guess what, like most parents, I’m in the carpool line a lot. And I’m on the go driving my son from one activity to another. And I’ve discovered that I can learn business information in bite sized pieces via podcast. Also, I like to challenge myself to get outside of my comfort zone by talking into a microphone, which is extremely scary to me. And to truly impact other creative business owners with encouragement when it comes to systems and strategic workflow education. Like really, really want to show up every week with strategic tips, resources, and invite fun guests who can help. So some of the goals of my podcast include serving this audience, my listeners, you by bringing education to the creative industry about systems and workflows, lifting the veil of mystery to show that implementing strategy and workflows isn’t that scary. It’s actually fun and very doable. And finally bringing on other industry experts who can share how they use systems and workflows in their own businesses.

Because again, I don’t have all the answers. And I want to continue to learn alongside you as well. So now that I’ve shared a little bit about my origin story of why I started this podcast, let me share some tangible things you can do today to get started with workflows and systems, because I’m all about taking action. And I want you to walk away with confidence in yourself that you can implement this today. So if you are listening, this is the part where you may want to take out a piece of paper or open up the Notes app of your smartphone to jot down some notes. And easy way to get started with workflows and systems is to write out your clients customer journey from start to finish. So when it comes to your services, so if you are a photographer, for example, jot down everything from how they are finding you to the inquiry process, to the booking process, to the day of the session. And then what are your steps? Like what do all the steps look like when you deliver that final gallery, so jot all those steps down and you will notice they are different phases.

And I mentioned phases, because a lot of people don’t know this, but that is like a for me, it’s a five phase process. Each phase has its specific steps. And sometimes how you move to the next phase depends on what your clients did or did not do in the previous phase or steps. So let’s break this down just a little further. At the very beginning phase of your workflow. I like to call that the top of the funnel or how the clients are finding you or I have heard this being called the point of entry. So there are three different types of names I would call this space. So jot down all of your points of entry meaning where are your clients finding you? Are they finding you on Facebook, tick tock Instagram, word of mouth, Pinterest, your website?

Where are they finding you? These points of entry should have one main URL which should be your contact form to direct people to contact you and start the conversation with you. If you are not streamlining this process from the very top, it’s no wonder you feel so scattered and discombobulated when people are finding you from everywhere. And you are treating each client differently. Because there’s no clear cut system of a form, everyone fills out to funnel them into the same workflow. So what I want you to do, again, is to jot down where all your clients are coming from, so their points of entry, and then brainstorm ways how you can streamline that, from that very first process from the very first step to positively affect the funnel of your workflow. It may simply mean creating one general lead capture form in your CRM, your client relationship management tool, like dubsado, or HoneyBook, or whatever client relationship management tool you use, and putting that link everywhere so that everyone has a consistent start to their client journey with you.

Believe me, I could go on and on about points of entry versus systems of your client journey. But I’ll stop. Just promise me that you’ll send me a DM on Instagram at dolly DeLong education. And let me know you have done this one action step for your creative business. So I’ll see you in the next episode, where I’ll be sharing more tips, advice and encouragement and on all things systems and strategic workflows. Because workflows for your business are magical. I’ll chat with you later.

Thank you so much for listening. 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 favorite 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

Transcribed by https://otter.ai