new episodes tuesdays + thursdays

If you run a business online, then this is the show for you. Listen in as your host, Abagail Pumphrey delivers semi-ranty business strategies touching on everything from building a profitable offer to scaling sustainably to growing an ethical culture and everything in between.

top 10 business podcast | 4 Million+ downloads | 750+ episodes

Meet Your Host

Semi-ranty business strategies for successful small business owners.

Hey, it’s your host, Abagail Pumphrey. And I’m on a personal mission to help more small business owners become financially free.

I like to nerd out on all things business, marketing, and most definitely the numbers. I’m talking all the lessons learned as I turned a layoff into a 7-figure online business.

I like to share it all and no conversation is off the table. We talk actionable strategies, biz challenges, and all the things life throws your way - grief, anxiety, loss, and resilience are all topics you’ll find here.

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Podcast, Leadership Abagail Pumphrey Podcast, Leadership Abagail Pumphrey

How to Combat Productivity Paranoia with your Team

There’s a toxic culture rearing its head in the small business world– monitoring productivity. What’s the buzzword? Productivity Paranoia! That’s the fixation that leaders have with their employee’s work, which leaves them thinking way too much about how their staff is spending their time, and what the resulting output is.

Today, we’re here to share how we monitor our teams without micromanaging them. We’ll talk about the effective systems we use to keep our team connected and all moving toward the same direction without any creepy stalking.

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

Pitch Deck Vs. Proposal: The Pros and Cons of Both Part Two

A pitch deck and a proposal serve the same purpose, but they’re certainly not interchangeable. Simply put, a proposal takes everything mentioned in a long form pitch deck and distills it into a streamlined piece of communication to back up everything you have already mentioned and sold to your client. The response you’re seeking when you send this along is “Oh yes, this is what we discussed.” That’s why, when we hear that you’re sending off proposals without any previous communication, we get worried! People are skipping the communication altogether and putting together proposals without any setup.

Could you still convert people by simply sending them an email? Yes, totally. Especially if you’ve done a lot of education on your website. But if there’s any confusion at all about what you do, without a presentation, you’re going to lose someone. This is a part of your process we really want you to start caring about. It’s an opportunity to stand out by going above and beyond what other service providers are doing.

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Podcast, Project Management Abagail Pumphrey Podcast, Project Management Abagail Pumphrey

The Importance of Quality Control and Playing to Your Strengths With Jared Pumphrey

This week, we have a very exciting episode with Emylee, Abagail, and Abagail’s partner, Jared Pumphrey, who joined the team earlier this year as Boss Project’s Marketing Manager! Join us as we dive into what Jared’s role entails, how it has impacted our business, and how he has no idea how we managed before we had someone dedicated to running the day-to-day operations. Tuning in, you’ll also find out how to set boundaries for a healthy marriage when going into business with your spouse, as well as what Jared and Abagail love about working together.

Jared unpacks the importance of having an internal system for quality control and why, if you're the last person who did something to a document, you can't verify that it's perfect. Later, we reflect on how a team can thrive when they are allowed to play to their strengths, what that entails, and how you can go about helping them operate in their zone of genius.

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Podcast, Project Management Guest User Podcast, Project Management Guest User

Strategies to Help You Develop and Iterate on Your Product or Offer with Becca Berg and Sam Gioia of Dubsado

Today on the podcast, we are joined by our good friends from Dubsado, co-founder and CEO, Becca Berg and Sam Gioia from their product department. Most of our listeners are well aware that we are big fans of Dubsado and how they help businesses thrive by taking away the busywork. Dubsado is a fantastic platform, especially for small businesses! They have created an all-in-one system that helps you stay in motion, build relationships, schedule appointments, and create workflows to streamline your projects from start to finish.

In this episode, we chat with Becca and Sam about the many new features Dubsado has in store for its users. We hear about how they’re finding innovative ways to interrogate and test the usability of their platform, and the pressure and sense of overwhelm that comes with a desire to make your software, service, and product perfect before releasing it to the public. As a response to this challenge, we examine how you can break that intimidating perfection down into tangible goals and steps, allowing you to accurately view the progress you’re making on the elements you want to improve for your clients, students, or anyone else you may be working with.

We cover a host of concepts in this episode that are relevant to anyone, not just software companies, making this an excellent listen for anyone interested in improving products and services for their clients! Dubsado has an ethos of service, which resonates strongly with Abagail and Emylee as ex-service-based owners. At our core, we are both driven by how to best serve our clients and customers, but this episode offers some excellent ideas that can be implemented in any business and is also an exciting behind-the-scenes look at Dubsado’s new features that they’ll be rolling out soon. Be sure to tune in to this information-packed episode on all things development, customer service, and so much more!

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Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User

Creating Systems and Project Management Tools that Work for the Way YOU Work with Braden Drake

While it doesn't take much talent to have a creative hobby, it takes skill, practice, and, most importantly, systems to monetize your creative passion and turn it into a career. By working with creatives, today’s guest is able to use his skill in law and tax while also vicariously working in the creative industry through all of you amazing ‘creativepreneurs’. Braden Drake is your gay best friend who also happens to be an attorney and tax pro, but aren't talking about the boring (but necessary) legal stuff today! For that, you need to head over to Braden’s podcast, Unf*ck Your Biz. Today, we are talking about creating systems, standard operating procedures, and processes that work the way YOU want to work in your business!

This is a roundtable-style discussion about how our individual personalities impact the way we organize our to-dos and develop our SOPs, as well as how you can create systems that will actually benefit your business rather than wasting your valuable time as CEO. We also touch on the Profit First methodology and how it ties into getting “your legal and tax shit legit,” as Braden says. Tuning in, you’ll learn about the three things you need to consider when creating standard operating procedures for your business, how to create processes that work for your personality type, and the system Braden suggests to stay legal and compliant, plus a whole lot more!

Make sure not to miss this informal and informative conversation full of practical tips with your new best friend, Braden Drake.

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Podcast, Mindset Guest User Podcast, Mindset Guest User

Letting Go of Your Creative Identity in Order to Grow

Today we are going to talk about doing #allthethings, or rather, not doing them. We know a lot of you have so many things on your plate and are really struggling with what to let go of. You are feeling married to every department that you are the head of, and not really seeing or understanding how you could give up any of those things. So with that in mind, we want to holler at you in the way that we do best and permit you and help you let go of some stuff if you have been trudging along in your workspace, your day, and your business.

We used to be the people who didn’t only not want to pay to give up things but also were super intimidated and concerned with delegation. It has been something we have had to work hard to do because we used to be aware of everything that happens in our business and we were at the point where if we didn’t let go of some of it, we were going to slow down the business. So we have had some life experience in this department and hope you can take away some of the lessons we have learned and apply them in your own life and business after this episode!

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Podcast, Client Experience Guest User Podcast, Client Experience Guest User

Creating a Positive Customer Service Experience Amidst Uncontrollable Delays

If you are in the small business space as a buyer or a seller, you might have noticed a wave of disgruntled online shoppers that don’t necessarily fit the stereotype that wants to speak to the manager! In today’s episode, we want to talk about what we are dubbing the Digital Karen. Since the start of the pandemic, Emylee and Abagail have noticed more and more conversations between makers, shoppers, and sellers who are having a difficult time dealing with the increase in customer service issues that have been popping up in their inboxes and DMs, from unrealistic custom order requests to one-star reviews for reasons that are beyond their control.

There has been a growing need for customer education regarding what is and what isn’t within the control of shop owners and business owners. For a long time, buyers have convoluted the experience of buying from big companies like Amazon or Nordstrom and tied that same level of expectation to shops on Etsy and Shopify, for example. In today’s episode, Emylee and Abagail talk about how sellers can emotionally and mentally deal with the age of the Digital Karen and continue to create a positive customer service experience amidst uncontrollable delays, as well as what buyers and shoppers can do to make the experience better for business owners!

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

Creating a Successful Opt-in and a Psychology Driven Brand Strategy with Kaye Putnam

Today on the podcast we have Kaye Putnam. Kaye is is a psychology-driven brand strategist for entrepreneurs. Through work with over a 100 clients, from Fortune 50’s to entrepreneurs, she developed the In Demand Brand method. She has had some crazy success though with her famous opt-in. 55,000 people have taken her psychology quiz all about branding and y’all need to take it too. Inside this episode, all three of us nerd out pretty hardcore. We talk about the psychology behind understanding your competition and establishing your brand presence. We uncover a couple of the most popular archetypes and the least popular ones.

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Podcast, Client Experience Guest User Podcast, Client Experience Guest User

Creating a Premium High-Touch Experience Utilizing Dubsado with Cami Monet

Today on the podcast we have Cami Monet, a watercolor artist, and custom wedding stationer. She is all about paper goods with purpose and personality. Camille Monet operates under two branches where she has custom wedding clients and does all their custom stationery. Her product line is also available for both retail and wholesale. When she isn’t doing all of these things, she also has a podcast with a friend, where they share ways to make business strategy a piece of cake for paper people.

In this episode, we’re talking a little bit about processes, using Dubsado, and all about how to create a high-touch premium service with your clients. This is for anyone who wants to dip their toe into charging premium prices this year, and for those who are already offering premium services. This episode will also give you some good ideas on how to be high-touch without having to be in the process every time. Camille shares details about her speedy process on getting clients in the door and paying. The customization and personality aspect of her process is unlike any other that we have heard of, so we know you guys are going to get some really good takeaways today. Let’s get going!

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Podcast, Client Experience Guest User Podcast, Client Experience Guest User

Optimizing Your Services and Making More Money Through VIP Days with Jordan Gill

Today on the show we have Jordan Gill. Jordan is an operations consultant and the founder of Systems Saved Me. She helps overwhelmed, one-woman shows become streamlined solopreneurs and her jam is creating a cohesive operating system for managing your tasks, files, and inbox. But today we are actually talking about something that could really change the game for you if you are running a service-based business. If you are the type of service-based babe who resents client workloads and is not a fan of the lengthy, back-and-forth communications, and is thinking about changing your entire business because you are almost on the brink of burnout, we encourage you to listen to this episode first!

What we are sharing today is all about VIP days. With VIP days, you’ll create an amazing, lengthy, costly, profit-inducing service for your clients that also leaves them with a great impression of you. VIP days will also help you to free up your time for the rest of the year so you can do other things in your business. Jordan shares all about how she structures VIP days, how they changed her business, the lessons they taught her as a creative, and how you can implement them in your own business. Spoiler alert – in part of this episode we are talking about using a system that is going to make your VIP experience even better. And that system is Dubsado!

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Utilizing the TASK Method to Streamline Prospects into Clients with Dolly DeLong

Today on the podcast we have Dolly DeLong. She is a photographer and she has been in business since 2006. In 2020 she started educating small business owners on how to go from scattered to streamlined using powerful tools like Dubsado.

This episode is jam-packed with her exact framework, the TASK method, that is going to walk you through how she utilizes it in her business to really streamline her interactions with potential clients and actually turn those prospects into clients. Abagail had a ton of fun interviewing her! If you haven’t been introduced to the wonders of Dubsado yet, after this episode you most definitely will want to. If you haven’t signed up for a free trial yet, visit this link, and upgrade when you are ready! You can get 50% off your first month or year with the code BOSSPROJECT at checkout!

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Podcast, Scaling Guest User Podcast, Scaling Guest User

Scaling Your Service-Based Business to 6-Figures Using Dubsado with Elizabeth McCravy

In today’s episode, we are talking with Elizabeth McCravy. She is a Nashville-based website designer and business strategist. She designs strategic and fun website templates for female entrepreneurs. Today we are focusing on her journey utilizing Dubsado to grow her business to six figures plus. We are going to be looking behind the scenes at what features she loves most about Dubsado, what order of importance she recommends for you to set up using Dubsado’s features, to get stuff off your plate so you can focus on clients and actually scale.

Elizabeth says she was only able to scale to six figures because of Dubsado, so if scaling and clients are in your future, Dubsado is going to be for you. We also do a little sneak peek on how Elizabeth has set up Dubsado to use for her podcast guest’ inquiries. She also answers the question of what feature Dubsado should have if it could only have one! We hope this one is an eye-opener for you as far as different strategies to implement in Dubsado in your client-based business, podcast, guest blogs, or anything related to getting people interested in working with you. Let’s get those workflows set up!

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Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User

Increasing Client Conversions and Offloading Admin Tasks Using Dubsado with Colin Tierney

On the show today, we have brand designer Colin Tierney joining us. He owns and runs Tierney Studio where he has grown his branding and started a whole new business before the pandemic hit, which we will get into today. Talking to Colin, we give you another perspective on a Dubsado customer’s experience and how they have used the software and CRM to perfect their client process, land deals faster, offload projects, and more.

As a fellow designer, Abagail wishes she knew about Dubsado when she was still in the design business since their software takes the client management side of things off your hands to free you up for doing the design work. There are just too many benefits of signing up for Dubsado, as you will hear from Emylee, Abagail, and Colin. If you’ve had questions about the capabilities of Dubsado or have thought about getting started with the platform, this episode will give you a really good peek behind the curtain. Remember, as a listener of the podcast, you can also get Dubsado for 50% off your first month or first year!

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