Client onboarding is the most crucial beginning phase to starting a project with a new client. It sets the tone for the working relationship and can make or break your project depending on how you handle it. If handled poorly, it can lead to your client having a bad experience with you, and it’s the client experience that determines whether or not you’ll receive positive testimonials, repeat business, and future referrals. (No pressure!)

After working with clients during both our time as separate businesses and even after we first became business partners, we know a thing or two about client onboarding and making sure the client feels comfortable and taken care of before, during, and after the project.

With that said, let’s dive into our ultimate guide to client onboarding, plus crafting an extraordinary client experience!

We preach often (probably entirely too often) about the importance of your client experience, but it’s one of the key defining factors between a client having a good time with you, referring you to others, and leaving a positive testimonial… Or not.

Mastering the art of providing an amazing experience for your clients is crucial to your reputation as a service provider. We know this sounds super scary, but it can actually be pretty dang easy. As long as you’re able to check in often, respond quickly, and provide important information, you’re already at an advantage.

One way of stepping off on the right foot with a new client is by sending a welcome packet. You may have also heard it called a welcome guide, onboarding guide, or onboarding packet. We’ve sent a welcome packet or two– or a million– during our years in business, and now we’re here to share 10 must-have details you should include in your client welcome packet!

So you have a freebie created, your opt-in form set up, and your freebie delivery email ready to go so that you can deliver the goods when someone joins your list. But before you start telling people about it… Do you have a welcome sequence?

When someone joins your list, they’re the warmest within the first few days. That’s your window to let them get to know you more and show them what you can offer before they forget who you are or why they even subscribed in the first place. After all, first impressions matter, and this is your way to make a great virtual first impression on your audience!

We’re huge fans of welcome sequences because it means that when the time comes to sell to someone, they won’t be in the dark about who you are– they’ll already know, like, and trust you (or at least that’s the goal). So, what actually goes into a welcome sequence? Read along as we walk you through how to write a welcome sequence that converts subscribers to buyers!

If there’s a way to save time and be more productive in our businesses, we’re all over it. One of our favorite ways to do this is to plan all of our social content. Otherwise, it can be way too overwhelming!

Before we started batching our content, we quickly realized that posting a day at a time was not the way to go. Our thoughts would become scattered from all of the ideas we had, yet no actual system of turning those ideas into content. One we did create a system for batching though, it saved our time, sanity, engagement (no more gaps in posting!).

So, today, we’re going to walk you through our step-by-step system for planning a month’s worth of social content at once, so you can get back to being the productive queen (or king) you are.

One thing about us is that we’re always looking for ways to improve our systems and processes to keep things streamlined and running smoothly. And a favorite system of ours that allows you to do this very thing with your client processes is Dubsado.

When we were a service-based business that dealt with one on one clients, Dubsado was our absolute favorite CRM, and that was back when they were fairly new and weren’t as robust as they are now. Since they’ve made total updates and added new features, they’ve become every business owners dream system.

So, today, we’re going to share with you different ways that you can use Dubsado to streamline your projects and tasks!

The month of December (a.k.a. the month of goal-setting) is one of our favorite times of the year. Nothing fuels us more than to sit down with each other and discuss our aspirations for what we aim to achieve in the new year. For some reason we’re especially fueled this month, probably because we can’t wait to leave behind the chaos that is 2020 (or soon to be was).

However, a struggle for many of our fellow creatives is actually staying motivated all year long. We know the feeling– you’re pumped to crush your goals while you’re planning them, and you still have the ball rolling through Q1, but then.. it slows down.

And it keeps getting slower.. and slower.. and slower until you reflect on your year, realize how shitty it’s been, aim to change that in the next year, get all pumped up again, and the cycle repeats.

So, how do you break the cycle?

With the new year right around the corner, you may already be thinking about all of the things you want to accomplish in 2021. Will this be the year you launch that new product or service? Will this be the year you bring in enough revenue that you can hire a web designer? Will this be the year you reach 6-figures?

It’s so fun and refreshing to list out all of the goals we want to accomplish in the new year. The thing is, cooking up new goals and ideas is easy, but unless you’re reflecting on your past goals, you’ll have a harder time bringing them to fruition, if at all.

We think one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your business is not dedicating recurring time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished (or not) in the past. It’s imperative to look back on previous years before jumping the gun and setting new goals, and here’s why.

We all know that testimonials are a crucial part to a functioning business. Unfortunately, many of us are met with fear and anxiety just from the thought of having to ask clients for testimonials/feedback.

“What if I’m actually not doing a good enough job to warrant a great testimonial?”

Thinking of actually bringing it up to your clients almost makes you want to run away or barf (or both). It can even seem like a super awkward conversation, like you’re saying, “Hey, I know we’ve working together for a while, and I think I’ve been doing a great job, but can you just confirm that by writing a testimonial that will potentially be shared with thousands of people depending on how good it is?”

Okay, so you won’t actually say it that way, but it can seem like it! So today, we’re going to walk you through how you can put this task on autopilot so that you can avoid the testimonial-asking anxiety. Or if you’re just simply the worst at remembering to ask for them, these tips are also for you!

Instagram recently released their new feature, Instagram Reels, and it’s catching like wildfire due to the similarities with its rival, TikTok. The reason TikTok is such an amazing platform for businesses is all thanks to the possibilities you have of organically reaching a large audience, and now Instagram has adopted this capability.

Accounts have been able to grow by the thousands after landing on Instagram’s explore page and gaining views from hundreds of thousands of people (similar to what happens when a TikTok video lands on the For You page). If you tailor your content to catch the attention of the right people, the opportunity to grow on Instagram is higher now more than ever.

But for those people who aren’t experienced with TikTok and the culture that’s now been brought over to Instagram, it can be super difficult determining what kind of content to post, how it works, etc. So, with that, we want to give a breakdown of Instagram Reels, how to use it, and what kind of content to post so you can increase your organic reach!