Alternate title: Why Dubsado Setups Cost So Much

Full, Done-For-You Dubsado Setups are not cheap, but for good reason. Paying to have CRM customized to your business is a LONG TERM INVESTMENT in your business, which is why even big companies pay bookoo bucks to have a dedicated CRM specialist to help them set up and maintain a system that allows their business to operate. But I want to take some real time today to explain what it costs you to NOT pay for a pro Dubsado Setup.

Here’s the thing: a full done-for-you Dubsado setup isn’t really about Dubsado.

• It’s about streamlining, systematizing, and automating the “backend” operations of your business- which is literally the backbone of HOW you do what you do.
• It’s about developing an AMAZING and CONSISTENT client experience- that will leave every single one of your clients singing your praises.
• It’s about making things easier for yourself so that you can breathe, and easier for your leads so that they are more likely to book.
• It’s about being able to make more MONEY because you can serve more PEOPLE with all the time you free up.
• As all those EXTRA people are shouting from the rooftops about how much they loved working with you, your demand will grow and you’ll be able to raise your prices (MORE MORE MONEY) – getting paid more, to work less, with people who love you.
• It’s about the SECURITY that comes from knowing that no matter how bad of a day you’re having, your clients are going to get what they NEED from you! No really, what would you do if
  • you came down with COVID and needed to reschedule 3 client meetings?
  • your kid needed to go to the doctor and you were supposed to send a lead a proposal?
  • you need a day to take care of your mental health but you were supposed to spend the day catching up on sending client education emails?

When you work with a Workflow & System Strategist, you’re essentially working with a business coach. Someone who is going to help you identify areas for improvement in your business where you could streamline to make more money. Someone who will help you grow and scale to the next level so that you NEVER have to worry about where your next paycheck is coming from. Someone who is going to identify inefficiencies in your process that can be remedied to give you more TIME (priceless). Someone who is going to listen to what you need and then move mountains to do all of the heavy lifting of implementing those improved systems & tools FOR you.

Workflow & System Strategists come to the table with a variety of skills that you usually can’t find all together in a solopreneur so that they can be a one-stop shop to helping you accomplish your goals. These skills include:

• Coaching you through improvements you can make to your process and business to make you more money and to give you more time back to revenue generating activities (or you know, resting & self-care)
• Project management skills to keep this complex project on time, on budget, and on POINT with quality materials being created and implemented into the fabric of your business.
  • For additional context, the task management board that I use to keep track of my setup projects has over SIXTY tasks on it that have to be completed in a very specific order. If they’re not completed in that order, then things take even longer because you have to stop what you’re doing, go complete the missing piece, and then get started on the original task again.
• Excellent writing skills to write copy consistent with YOUR voice and brand for all of the various emails needed throughout your process (and even if you already have email templates, we still have to go through them and make adjustments based on the new process that we outline with you and to make sure that they are infused with Dubsado lingo).
• Graphic design / website design skills to make beautiful imagery and artwork to match your website and brand. Lots of pros even learn CODING *just* so they can bring you beautifully designed and interactive CSS and Conditional Logic forms. This is literally expanding the use of Dubsado beyond what Dubsado themselves can offer- meaning that you have features and functions that other users of the platform DON’T! Think of how much would you pay someone to custom code a website for you.
• The ability to effectively communicate and teach a complex, tech-heavy system in a customized 1:1 training in a way that will make sense to YOU so that you can manage the system moving forward without needing to come back to a pro for every little thing.

Return on Investment

If you’re not hearing the value of what I’m expressing here, let’s just get down to numbers:

TIME

• Time Learning Dubsado:
  • Dubsado Beginner Course Active Time: 8 Hours
  • Dubsado Intermediate Course Active Time: 4.5 hours
• Time setting up all settings & hidden parts of the system: 5 hours
• Time designing forms: 10 hours
• Time writing emails: 4 hours
• Time creating and implementing workflows (realizing you forgot some piece and going back and creating that too): 15 hours
• Time redoing and updating workflows as you realize that your intended process won’t work in the system as planned: 40 hours
• Time that you’re spending still manually doing tasks because you can’t figure out how to automate them: 3-4 hours per week

TOTAL TIME INVESTED: 86.5 hours over the course of a year with countless mishaps and frustration along the way.

MONEY

So let’s make some conservative guesses at how much money you’ll spend getting everything in order for a DIY setup.

• Cost to hire a business coach to help you with strategy for the 12 months it would take you to implement everything: $12,000
• Cost to hire a form designer for 1 custom design (you probably need about 5 forms): $1200
  • Alternatively: cost of a Dubsado form template you have to custom design: ~$100 and 10 hours
• Cost to hire a copywriter for ~25 emails that convert: ~$500
• Cost of the other services you still pay for
  • Virtual Assistant: $300-$400 monthly to help you answer emails and keep up with client requests ($3,600-$4,800 annually)
  • Calendly or other scheduling tool: ~$100 per year
• Income lost from not leveraging Dubsado (slow response times, unprofessional proposals, client experience not being great with emails misfiring so they’re not referring you, etc.): Unknown but significant – likely thousands of dollars

TOTAL COST TO *NOT* HIRE A DUBSADO PRO: $16,300 on the LOW end over 1 year plus losing out on priceless security, benefits, and time (literally, this isn’t even factoring in all of the time you’re spending that you’re NOT getting paid for)

OR, you could hire someone for $3000-$5000 and be done with it all in a month or less.

And finally, I leave you with this meme.