Before we dive into this, I want to first share that the tools you use in your business are going to be dependent on your service model. There are a variety of tools you can use depending on your service. Now this isn’t a blanket statement, but ideally, you want to work towards having packages in your business. That way you can streamline and optimize the time it takes to offer, onboard, and deliver those services to your clients. The more personalization there is, the more tools you’ll need to use, which could actually end up pushing you farther away from the efficiency you want. This doesn’t mean that you can’t customize packages, but you’ll definitely want a standardized baseline. 

Alright, so these options I’m sharing are options that will help you systematize the operations of your business, thus increasing your efficiency. But the first tool of operational efficiency is structuring and packaging your services. Now you don’t have to use these tools and I strongly encourage you to do your research to find what makes sense for you and your business, but I just want to share what has worked for me on my journey.

Dubsado

Dubsado is a great tool that you can use to build workflows. Workflows are a set of steps that a program will follow once an action triggers it to do so. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you do a lot of PD, and are always sending out contracts. If the contracts are for the most part the same (meaning you change a few things like total price, delivery date and client name) you can create a workflow around that. It would look something like this. 

You update your contract template → Send your updated contract to your client → Your client signs the contract → You are notified of this, and then your client gets a confirmation email that the contract is signed with a copy of the contract. 

There are plenty of other things that happen behind the scenes (actual invoicing, creating the workflow itself, etc.), but that’s an example of a workflow that you can create in Dubsado. 

I want to note that Dubsado is not a payment processor, and typically when you’re working with schools or a district, they’re not paying by card. They're paying by check and the more sophisticated schools and organizations will pay by ACH deposit. A workflow in Dubsado could kick start the invoicing process, but receiving payment would happen outside of that. 

Honeybook is another tool that I haven’t used but have heard is similar to Dubsado in it’s functionality. 

Hurdlr, Wave & Quickbooks

Before you get scared, I want to share that when you’re just starting out in your business, you do NOT need Quickbooks. What you do need is some sort of software that tracks your income and expenses. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had a strategy session and the client knew exactly what their goal revenue was, but had absolutely no idea how much money they were actually bringing in or sending out monthly. 

That cannot happen! It ain’t sustainable, and no shade, but how you don’t know where your money at?!

I started with an app called Hurdlr. I was making around $60,000/year and every time I got a check, I would tap that app on my phone and document it. My business expenses weren’t crazy, but even then, everytime I bought something for the business or paid a subscription I tapped that app on my phone and documented it. 

I was consistent, and at the end of the year, I could go to hurdlr.com and download my spreadsheet. It had my income and expenses right there, which made tax season so much easier in the beginning of my business. It also encouraged me to create a financial structure in my business which helped tremendously when I eventually did grow my business enough that I needed Quickbooks and a CPA.

Okay, so those are my top two tools that you can use to increase efficiency in your business. I hope this helps and the biggest thing to remember is that packaging and streamlining your services will help you determine what kind of tools you’ll need in your business to maximize efficiency.

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