If you’ve been signed up and sitting with a CRM that hasn’t been officially set up for your business, you’re leaving time and money on the table. Today’s guest was doing exactly that—Brittany Herzberg has had an account with HoneyBook for the last 6 years, yet she never took advantage of the built in features that could save her time and money. Listen in as we discuss the importance of simplification and automation of business processes and how Brittany’s new HoneyBook setup has saved her time and reduced stress.
Make sure you listen to part one of this conversation over on The Basic B Podcast.
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Guest Bio:
Brittany Herzberg is the copywriter service providers call when they want to show up as the answer to a Googled question. After test driving her skills with a variety of projects, it dawned on her—her superpower lies in social proof.
That ^^ combined with her 15+ years in the healthcare field, has shown her that clients search for—and book with—people they connect with & TRUST.She believes your #1 business building task should be to create a powerful human connection with strangers—using SEO & story.
As an SEO + Case Study Copywriter, she knows how important it is to:
– craft messaging with intention
– highlight the client experience &
– strategically use your clients’ words
You can usually find her sitting on the floor—parked next to her almost-16-year-old-dog, Jac—with an iced oat milk latte in-hand.
Today’s episode is brought to you by my CRM Setup Services! If you’re in a space where you know just how valuable getting organize with workflows and automations in your CRM can be for your business, yet you just don’t have the time or energy, I offer a range of setup services to help you tackle your systems to-do list inside Dubsado and HoneyBook. Click on the links below to learn more!
Here are the highlights…
01:27 – Importance of Case Studies
01:49 – What is a Case Study?
03:59 – The Role of SEO and Storytelling
05:48 – Brittany’s Systems Before HoneyBook
09:47 – Simplifying Business Processes
18:50 – Creating Effective Systems
22:19 – Regular Business Process Reviews
23:01 – Embracing Automation
23:31 – CRM Comparisons: HoneyBook vs. Dubsado
25:56 – Streamlining Podcast Guest Management
26:51 – Automation Success Stories
27:38 – The Importance of Time Savings
33:58 – SEO and Case Studies
40:37 – Final Thoughts and Future Plans
Mentioned in this Episode
HoneyBook vs. Dubsado Blog Post
How to Optimize YouTube Case Study Videos w/ Jamar Diggs
Honeybook Setup Case Study w/ Brittany Herzberg
Connect with Brittany
Website: brittanyherzberg.com
Instagram: instagram.com/brittany_herzberg
Podcast: brittanyherzberg.com/seo-podcast
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Business First Creatives Podcast. Today is a first. Uh, you may or may not know, about a year ago, I announced that I was finally adding HoneyBook to my list of services that I would provide as a strategist. And Brittany Herzberg has been on the podcast before. She was on the podcast about a year ago during the Simple SEO series, and she talked about case studies.
So, isn’t it amazing that she is going to be on the podcast today talking about her experience working with me to get her honey book set up and in the end, it is going to end up being a case study that I can share with all of you again and again and again. Brittany, good morning and welcome back to the podcast.
Brittany: Good morning and thank you for having me. I love being repeat guest when I can be.
Colie: I mean, I do. I love the repeat guests. I, there are certain people that I try to have on like three times a year or like every six months for Dan Moyer. Hi, Dan. I get a little itch. I’m like, okay, I haven’t spoken to Dan in at least six months. Let’s, let’s ask him what he’s feeling about right now so I can have him back on the podcast.
But. I’m super excited to have you here because you do what I am obsessed with, which is you are an SEO copywriter, and we’re just going to squeeze the words case study in between them. You and I both know, I mean, I am fascinated by case studies. I really know the value of them, both as someone who is looking to hire someone, but also as a services provider to show my leads and clients what is possible.
So just in case people live under a rock and they didn’t listen to the Simple SEO series last year and they didn’t hear your first episode, can you give us a quick recap about what a case study is and why you are so passionate about them?
Brittany: Sure, of course, I, especially with services, the reason I love case study so much is because there’s no other way that a service provider can give this like tactile, like feely experience of what the actual journey is going to look like without a case study, the case study allows you to let people touch feel, see, smell, poke around and see what it was like.
I know it’s such a visual, but it is very true. Like we get to see what that journey is like before we did. Decide to put, you know, money into it. And there’s no other way you can do that. We can do this with video, like we’re doing. We can do this with audio, like we’re doing, and we can do this with writing.
And in my opinion, in my world with SEO copywriting being such a focus, why not do all three, why not utilize all three and get your long form content out there in all the ways, and you can repurpose it from there. So that is really like at the crux, at the core of why I love doing this stuff. And essentially if we boil it down.
Firstly, what SEO copywriting is all about is you showing up as the answer to a googled question. Even just this morning on Instagram, I had a conversation on threads and I saw this comment and the person was like, oh yeah, I found that thing, I googled it. Your people are smart. If they have a question, they’re gonna go to Google, and then they’re gonna check that with their people.
But you, with a case study, get to help them skip that middle step of checking with their people. They may still do that, but you get to provide things and be proactive about it. And also, like you were talking about with this case study, you’re gonna be able to repurpose it and utilize it and point people to it and save yourself time.
in that process.
Colie: So in anticipation of interviewing you today, I have been binging many of the episodes on your new podcast. Guys, this is totally a plug. If you are not following the basic B podcast where Brittany talks about everything SEO, I highly recommend that you add it to your playlist, but I want to ask you a question before we jump into the content that is going to become my case study, because you ask everyone on your podcast a question.
And so I’m going to ask you today. Okay. Okay. Brittany, when it comes to sales, do you think SEO or storytelling is more important?
Brittany: I love that you asked me this question and I could totally see this coming as soon as you were teeing it up. It’s, it’s both. It’s a yes and. They matter, they both matter because you need the SEO in order to get people to your site, in order to get people to where you are. It could be your podcast, it could be your social media platform profile situation, it could be your website.
You need SEO to get people there. And then if you have robotic text on there, they’re going to go away, so you need to have the storytelling to keep them there, to keep them engaged, and to convert them. And as a reminder, conversions can look like money, they can look like sales, or they can look like someone joining your email list.
It could look like a new podcast listener. It could look like a referral. So, it can look like a bajillion different things. I’m only calling out a few things. So, Bear that in mind. But yes, it is a yes and situation in my world, and that’s why we do SEO and case study copywriting over here.
Colie: There you go. I mean, I feel like. In the last episode, which we are not going to rehash this guys, if you haven’t listened to her previous episode, it is linked in the show notes, but I feel like in that previous episode, we spent a lot of time talking about the differences between testimonials from clients and then actually having a case study, whereas the case study can be very rich with SEO words.
And that’s how you’re getting found because if you slap up a testimonial. Chances are no one is going to find your website because of one testimonial that you put on there. Now, when they’re reading your page, that testimonial might hook them in and want to learn more. And then that’s when you can steer them to a full case study so that they can see that full transformation that someone went through.
And speaking of that transformation, Brittany, let’s jump into
Brittany: I love
Colie: with me on your HoneyBook. So, I haven’t asked you this, but why don’t you tell me what your systems were like before we started working together? Like, you’ve had HoneyBook for how long?
Brittany: I have had oh gosh, this question, I knew it was gonna trip me up. I’ve had I’ve been signed up at least for like six years, let’s
Colie: so a really long time.
Brittany: A little while. Mm hmm.
Colie: you have any automations?
Brittany: So, what happened was, I had a very good friend of mine come in and help me with some automations, but here’s the thing, I have such a trust issue with tech, funny enough, even though I’m an SEO pro, I have such a, I have such a trust issue.
It has screwed me over as a massage therapist where it triple booked me on more than one occasion. I have had, uh huh. I have had issues with meetings being deleted, automations not actually doing their automating for me behind the scenes. So because of that, I had some automation setup, but a lot of it included manual steps because I had that trust issue.
So yes, but for that answer. I mean,
Colie: you had a lot of to do tasks. And like, that is like a red flag for me. And I just want to let you know, you are not the only one. Like sometimes I go into someone’s account and I look at their workflow and Dubsado or their automation inside HoneyBook. And I’m like, you just have a series of eight to do tasks that you have to approve or that it’s reminding you to do something.
Yes. The reminder is good so that you can still give people, you know, what they need in a timely manner. But in order for those to do tasks to work, you have to actually go and do the thing that it’s prompting you to do. And I would say in at least 50 percent of your to do tasks, all of them were to send an email or to send a form or to do something that a robot could have done for you in five seconds and there was absolutely no reason that you had to go in there and push the button because pushing that button is delaying your client from getting the thing that they need.
Mm
Brittany: It is, and I recognized that, and I got to the point where I was like, screw this. I cannot, this is not sustainable. So, when we had the opportunity to work together, I was like, I am so jumping on this because I desperately need it, and I was so tired. A big thing for me in 2024 is to remove the stuff, the chatter that is happening in my head all day long, and as a business owner, one of those things was all of these freaking to dos.
I needed to stop with that. So do I still have a couple of syncs? Yeah, sure. It’s like the things of put the things where the buttons and the links and stuff need to go, which is a lot more sustainable and doable for me as my business grows. Because if I want to stay stuck, I could have kept on doing those to do things.
But if I want to grow and scale, which I do, then I need to have some, some help. And that could look like a robot, that could look like a VA, that could look like a combination. But for right now, it’s going to look like the robot being like, send the email. Okay, here we go.
Colie: Well, and I will say the only to do tasks or the only approvals that you have left are the ones where you truly do have to go in there and do something. Because when you work with someone on a case study, for example, um, in the end, you have to send them the case study. Yeah, that email has to get customized before you send it.
Otherwise, they’re going to get a, and here’s your case study file. And there’s no link. There’s
Brittany: don’t know if you’re like, that’s cute.
Colie: So, I mean, that still needed a to do task, but anything and everything that could be automatically sent, we are now doing, and I am so proud of you.
Brittany: I’m so proud of me, too.
Colie: Yes, that
Brittany: And thank you for helping, because, I, and it’s not that I couldn’t have gone back to this other friend who helped me in the first place, but the one thing I really love about working with you is that you have this plethora of knowledge of all of these platforms and systems and softwares and even on our discovery call you were like, oh yeah, this can do this and you can link that to that thing and I was just like, what?
Okay. Do that. I don’t know what the options are. Yeah.
Colie: And I will say, so one thing, I mean, in addition to having a bunch of to do tasks, I will say that the second thing that I did for you, that you are not alone in, is everybody builds these. Price pages on their website. They’re usually hidden if you are someone that doesn’t necessarily gatekeep everything.
I mean, maybe you’re telling people how much it costs, but you’re not laying your entire process out until they contact you for additional information. But you did have some super awesome pricing and services pages on your website. We don’t want someone to inquire with you. And then you’re sending them back to the website for all of that information, and then you have to pull them back in the HoneyBook in order to complete that booking process.
So one of the things that we eliminated was sending them back to your website and then trying to bring them back in the HoneyBook. Because HoneyBook in particular has smart files where you can really jazz up. The smart file to include the services, which then links them to the contract, which then links them to the invoice and you get paid.
Plus, if you are someone who needs to actually schedule a service, like a kickoff call for your SEO clients, or a planning call, like whatever it is that you want to call it, All of those things can be combined in one smart file and then your clients don’t have to go back and forth with you. You can do that entire booking process in one step without feeling like it’s a ping pong ball, like sending them to your website and then bringing them back and then sending them back.
Brittany: Exactly. And that’s something that with my workflows, how they were before, I always, I joke, I joke about this, but it’s like for real, for real. I always make the most complicated version of, of a path. for myself, for my clients. It’s just what I do. I hodgepodge things together, and then eventually I meet someone like Colie, and she simplifies it for me.
But I was doing that, and for me, it’s like, okay, no big deal, because if I want something, I will jump through all of the hoops. I will come find you. I will chase you down. I will be like, I went to work with you, and everyone’s like that. And I really wanted to be mindful of that with these new automations.
I wanted to make it easier for my clients. I wanted to put more things in one place so that they could easily go do XYZ. In one spot and not have to chase me around the internet. So thank you for mentioning that. And I’m just so glad that I was able to, with these automations, simplify things for them.
Colie: I am really glad that you used that word simplify. I feel like simplify is going to be highlighted in my case study girl, but I have been thinking about that a lot recently because I was on threads like you. I’m a little obsessed with threads. I never post on threads, but I do love reading threads.
Someone posted recently, You know, I’m really tired of all these people telling everyone to automate when they just need to simplify and I was like, I might have taken that just a little bit, just a little personal, but the truth is, I don’t talk enough about the word simplify, because that is just part of my process.
Like if you tell me these 20 things that you do with every client, of course, I’m going to try to simplify it and figure out if we can cut a bunch of those steps out, like the whole sending them to your website and then bringing them back and giving them a proposal. That has the exact same pricing that you just sent them to your website to see like that’s redundant.
And so as a strategist, the moment that you tell me what you want to do for your clients, I am already looking to eliminate anything that doesn’t have to happen, particularly in the booking process. My goal is to eliminate any and all booking friction, because there shouldn’t be any of that back and forth.
Once you present your lead with the offer, everything that they need to make that decision should be presented to them. And Hey, if you end up getting leads and they look at your smart file and they come back and they ask questions, guess what guys, those frequently asked questions are something that we are going to integrate in the next version of your smart file and, or.
We might even add those to your contact page on your website for SEO purposes, but also just to make sure that you are answering the questions that everybody has in order to find out if you are the person that they want to hire for the service that you offer.
Brittany: exactly. And I love that you even mentioned having the FAQs on the contact page, because I don’t know if you relate, but like so often I give advice and I’m like, Oh, I should really apply that to my own business. So that’s one of the things.
Colie: I mean, so can I just tell you, I actually don’t have any FAQs on my contact page, but I was literally like obsessing over this last week. You know this about me. I think the listening audience knows this about me, but when I get something in my head, it’s like I can’t focus on anything else until I get that done.
So I’ve had a couple of projects. on my like to do list. A lot of them are related to HoneyBook. And now that I have finally like crossed those off of my list, I’m like, okay, what are these other things that have been on my list of things? Like, Hey, Colie, you might want to do this. And one of them is definitely adding FAQs to my contact page.
I have a really weird contact page in that. If you are trying to hire me to do something in Dubsado, I have a Dubsado contact page because I feel like it’s very important to bring you through Dubsado so that you get the scheduler in Dubsado, you get the emails in Dubsado so that you know what’s possible.
And I want that exact same thing for my HoneyBook clients. So like right now I have two tabs. It’s like, what service are you interested in? Dubsado. Or Honeybook, and then there’s a little note. If you don’t know what you’re interested in, and it’s not Honeybook, just choose the Dubsado one, because, you know, that has systems that are more built out than the Honeybook one.
But like, one of the things that I got asked, or that I get asked all the time is, how do I choose between Honeybook and Dubsado? And so I just want to say, if you landed on this podcast episode, And you did not know that this is part two of a conversation that Brittany and I had. Please go check out the Basic Be podcast where my guest episode, Honey Book Versus Dubsado is now live and you can get what we kind of talked about in there.
And then maybe you should get to my contact page and make sure that I have linked that episode and that I have added it to some frequently asked questions on my contact page. How do you like that for accountability, Brittany?
Brittany: I very much love it. You know, I’m over here just like clapping you up. I, so something that I heard, I want to say it was from Ellen Yin. She was doing this like podcast marketing situation of like how you all these organic marketing ideas. I think she had seven or nine and only one of them was paid. One of the ideas she had, and I would love for us to test this out.
So I’m dropping it mid interview is about taking that, Podcast episode and embedding it. So even if it’s my, on my podcast, you having that embed code and putting that somewhere in your FAQ section, somewhere in your contact form, so people can actually hear it.
Colie: So I just want to say, also linked in the show notes of this one is going to be, if you listen to the previous episode and Brittany, I’m telling you this now, I don’t know if you remember, but when we recorded that episode, I was like, I’m going to make a freebie that goes a little bit more in depth.
Honeybook versus Dubsado. I didn’t end up making a freebie. I just wrote a really long blog post.
Brittany: Oh, I love it.
Colie: it is, yes. And it has really amazing graphics where it’s like, this is this and this is this. It’s great. But. Um, that blog post is live and the moment that my episode on your podcast goes live, I am intending for you to give me that embed so that I can actually put it in that blog post to kind of pair it with the things that I said, because one of the things that I did when I wrote that blog post was I took the transcript of our episode.
And made sure that, like, what I was putting in the blog post was not competing with it, it was expanding it. So, I mean, you know, you and I did this podcast episode, I could probably go on for literally hours talking about the differences between HoneyBook and Dubsado, why you might want to choose one or the other, what my special feature, or what my favorite features are in each one.
But, I mean, that’s hours and hours and hours. And so I ended up writing these things down to accompany the conversation that you and I had. on the Basic Bee Podcast. There
Brittany: love that. I mean, this is just one of the reasons I love working with you. Our brains just like, there’s such synergy there, where you like, you have an idea, or I have an idea, and nine times out of ten, like, one of us is ahead of the other one, and it’s like, oh my gosh, I just had that idea, and like, it matches with what you were planning.
Colie: you go. So we talked about what it was like before you worked with me on your honey book. Now let’s talk about during, like, what did you think about my process of kind of pulling the things out of your brain that I needed and also giving you the opportunity to tell me what was important for you at the end of working together.
Brittany: Yeah, I loved it. In short, I loved it. I always appreciate, I mean the two times that I’ve had this done where people come in and help me with these automations, I absolutely love that opportunity, but it’s also like a little bit of a love hate relationship, but I love it, ultimately, of getting to sit down and write down all of these steps.
Because every time I do that, I get more refined on like, okay, Even like I was talking about earlier with you where you’re like, okay, steps two and three, we can totally shove those into one and like make everyone’s life a little bit easier and happier. So I always appreciate that even if it’s a little bit challenging.
But that was so great. And really, truly what I loved from that original call was you took the time that we needed. You asked me questions. You would sometimes rephrase the question and get me to answer it again. Or it would like revisit us toward, you know, 20 or 30 minutes later. And you, I could tell that you really wanted to understand me.
My life what would work for me as well as my clients and really like what am I doing here with them? What is the next step? You’ve got me to think a little bit differently. Okay. How are they coming in? What’s step one? Where are they going afterward? What’s the ultimate goal here? What’s going on in there like you really cared and you really wanted Make the best path for everyone, for all involved.
So I loved that. I just thought it was so thoughtful, so smart. And I truly loved every single time where I was like, here’s the workflow. And you’re like, Oh no, we can do this better. We can come over here and do this. I’m like, yes, because that’s what I need.
Colie: Well, and I do want to say, first of all, it’s great that you are working with me and that I was getting you to really think about your processes. I think that that’s a big part of working with a strategist because often I have people who come to me and they’re like, okay, but Colie, like, I don’t know what I should be doing in my business.
I’m like, number one, you have processes. Even if you don’t know that you have processes, believe me, you do. Even if they’re bad, you have processes. And number two. It is my job to listen to what you’re currently doing, figure out what I think you should be doing. And then we figure out the best path together because I don’t ever want to create a system for someone that doesn’t feel good to you to use.
Because you know what happens if I create like this massively automated system that doesn’t really fit your business, you end up not using it. And then that’s a waste of my time. It’s a waste of your money. Like it’s just a waste. So we have to make sure that whatever I end up delivering to you is aligned with your business and also how your brain works.
Like I’ve got this joke. I would tell people sometimes, no, I can automate the shit out of just about everything, but it does not mean that the people who come to me need me to automate every single thing in their business. Like sometimes. you will get automations that are just too much for you to handle.
And I always say that your systems are like living, breathing things. And so I give you this system now and guess what? After you start using it and after you get comfortable with it in six months, maybe you are to the point to where you’re like, you know what, Colie, I kept sending this one email over and over again.
And now I think that I’ve written it in a way where it doesn’t require customization. Like I can just send it. Guess what? I’m going to give you a little instruction. Well, go do this. Put in this trigger and then remove the approval button. And then, you know what, you can just send it.
So these are things that people should be doing inside of their business every six months minimum. And like you said, I really made you sit down and think about your processes. Guess what, Brittany, in six months, even without me being there with you, you should sit down and do it again and write down your processes and see if anything has changed in your business.
With your offers and then in terms of how comfortable you are now using the automations versus how little you trusted them when we first started working together.
Brittany: I know. I’m definitely excited to, to refine things. And even, I mean, it hasn’t been that long and even still, I’m like, Oh, I could read that a little differently. Oh, I could do this a little differently. So I am, and I do feel confident to go in. and to navigate the automations and to tweak them just a little bit.
Now, that’s not saying that there won’t be a, Hey Colie, please help me voxer someday.
Colie: I mean, I’m here for
Brittany: I know, I know, and I appreciate that too. It’s like, it does not feel like Colie is creating this for me and then she’s like, Peace out. Good luck. You know, you can do this on your own. Like it very much feels like you’re around.
No,
Colie: is the fact that now that I’ve given you this system, if you do find it necessary to tweak your emails, when you go into the email templates, it automatically updates your workflow. I’m going to say that is something that’s missing from a few very popular CRMs.
I’m just going to put that out there. Like we have to update the template. And then we have to go back into the workflow and like, re choose the email so that it updates. One of the most annoying things, and now that I’ve had, you know, quite a few HoneyBook setups under my belt and I had to do all of this stuff for my course, I’m like, why is this not a standard thing for everyone?
And like, there’s no real easy way in other CRMs to determine where an email is used. So you basically just have to be like, Oh, well, I know that it’s in this workflow, this workflow, this workflow, and then go update every single one of the workflows. Like,
Brittany: that’s not annoying at all.
Colie: it’s not annoying at all. I mean, in my HoneyBook versus Dubsado, HoneyBook definitely gets the check mark for that.
I’m just saying. Mm
Brittany: too. I mean, the conversation that we had the podcast that we recorded, it’s very interesting to hear. And we did that before you came in and helped me with my workflow. So I was very much in that interview. Like, Do I really want to stick with HoneyBook? Do I maybe want to go to Dubsado?
But after hearing what you said, I really, again, felt confident moving forward with that and trusting that that was a platform that I wanted to use. It’s helped me, and to your point, I go in there. I like going in there. I like using it. It works for me. Maybe one day I’ll change to Dubsado, but for right now, I’m really enjoying using HoneyBook.
And I do think, especially for someone like me, where there’s a little tech phobia, it’s hugely important that I like what I’m using. Which is just like, I’m not super drawn to Airtable for everything. I enjoy going into Notion, so I’ve got Notion stuff built out. I am unfamiliar with Dubsado, I’m super familiar with HoneyBook, and I’m getting more and more familiar with it, and I’m comfortable with that, so I’m going to stay with that because I’m going to go in, because I’m going to use it, because I’ve learned to trust it, thanks to Colie.
Ah,
Colie: business is the one that you’re going to actually fucking use. I’m just saying, I mean, point blank, there is no point for me to set something up for you. And every time you open the app, you’re like, Oh, do I really have to work on this today? No, you know what?
Maybe I’ll just come back tomorrow. No,
Brittany: Or maybe never. Like, we don’t need that. No.
Colie: Like, no, that is not a good idea. Okay. So I know that you’ve had podcast guests because just for the listening audience, Brittany has two main offers. She has her SEO work in the form of an SEO packet slash audits, and then she has case studies. And then the third branch is of course her podcast.
And I ended up working to set up all three of them in a more streamlined, automated way inside of HoneyBook. I know that you’ve had podcast guests that have through the process. How’s that gone for you?
Brittany: it’s been amazing. It’s been just easier, more effortless. I definitely trust that automation. I mean, it’s working for me. So it’s just a different experience for me and for the podcast guests and I even had some people where they were booked in like the let’s say the old automation and I was like, excuse me, please disregard that email.
This is the new one. This is the new like you get the fancy experience and everyone was so excited that they went and booked.
Colie: Yeah, that’s exciting. What about your paid work? Have you been able to use either of your automations to book any new SEO or case study clients? Because I know it hasn’t been that long since I set it up.
Brittany: It hasn’t been that long, however, and I’ve been able to kind of like put part of the automation on for some of the clients that I had existing and, and use it from there. So using it from like, let’s say step three instead of step zero, and that’s been amazing. And then I have a couple new clients where they’re just about to the point where like we’re fully officially like signed on the dotted line and all of that.
So I’m very excited to be able to. Go in and really use the systems, use the automations, and the way that they were designed to be used, it’s, and I’m excited about it. And like I said previously, I, tech phobia was not, not trusting over here, and now I’m just like so stoked for it.
Colie: Now, Brittany, I know that you like numbers for your case study, and this is always an interesting thing because when people ask me, well, you know, what kind of data do you like to share regarding your services? Like, do your clients have an uptick in how many in their booking rates? I’m like, absolutely.
But I don’t ever ask them for that number. I’m like, I am not an income marketer. I don’t sell my services by saying, Hey, if you streamline and automate your process, I know the fact that people end up booking 30 percent more clients. Like I don’t, I don’t do that. What I do instead is I like to talk about time saved.
I am very invested in making sure that every business owner gets as much time back as possible so that you can do more of what you love. And for some people, That’s hanging out with your family. That’s taking vacations. That’s going to Disney. Oh, oh, I’m, I’m sorry. Not about me, but other
Brittany: No, it can be. This is fun. We can talk about Disney. I knew you were going to mention it. I was like, tell us about Disney!
Colie: mean, you know, and then for other people, it is about making more space to actually scale your business and take on more clients because the more time you streamline.
in the administrative work means the more time if you want to reinvest it back in your business, it’s the more time that you’ll have to actually work with clients. So Brittany, what is your goal with implementing these systems into your business? And do you have any idea how much time it is saving you either in a week, in a month or per booked client or per lead that you want to share?
Brittany: That is interesting. The first number that’s coming to mind, and I don’t even know why, is five hours. I’m at, like, things are at least saving me five hours a week. At least. Let’s just say that. We’ll guesstimate it, and by the time I write the case study, we’ll have an actual number, because I will go back and scope that out.
Colie: There you go.
Brittany: So on a day to day basis, saving me a ton of time. On a weekly basis, saving me a ton of time. And Even if I don’t know that number, I still just feel freer. I still feel like I’m able to Lock into a project and stay locked in. I was able to write two case studies this weekend. I was able to help three seo packet clients last week.
That’s huge. That is big for me and It just, like, there’s this sense of ease, and there is now a sense of trust that I can trust that these automations are going to go and do what they need to do, and that I don’t have to sit there and micromanage. Like, Brittany is over that life. So, there’s that, but there’s also, like you mentioned, the scaling and the growing of my business, and I don’t want to have a huge amount of clients each month.
I want four. Quality done for you clients. That could be two SEO packets, two case study clients, or however that ratio would break down, but four big ones. And then we’ve got some blog writing. We’ve got some podcast show note writing. We’ve got all the little things that I love doing that are my passion projects that I don’t want to give up.
So I feel just like I can do that now. And like, I don’t have all of these swirling tasks happening in my brain and I don’t have to keep the ever, ever running to do list in my head. By myself that I can actually outsource a lot of this stuff and it’s gonna be taken care of and I can trust that It’s gonna be taken care of.
So yeah, I don’t know if that really answers your question, but I just feel freer
Colie: I mean, that’s, hey, a sense of not being stressed in your business is definitely a win for me. I mean, it’s not a numeric win, but it’s definitely a win. I mean, I want people to feel good about their business and about their systems, and I do want people to not feel like they have to micromanage. Every single portion of the client experience, because there is so much in the client experience that can be streamlined and automated so that every single one of your clients is getting a consistent experience, which, I mean, I spent a lot of time stressing over, uh, Oh, did I send that client that client questionnaire or, Oh, did I send them that email?
And then of course, before I had a CRM, I was looking in like four different places. Okay. Let me look in PayPal and see if they paid me. Let me look in mock forms to see if they signed my contract. Yes, girl. I was all over the place. Oh, I can’t remember if I sent that email. Okay. Let me go on Gmail. Let me go on the set folder.
Let me type in their name. Let me see. I mean, I think a lot of us take for granted now, even if you’re not fully using your CRM, That’s CRM because it centralizes a lot of your business operations is saving you time. Now there’s another layer when we get your processes down and we do get you using from workflows and some email templates and form templates because every hour that you spend working on templates is going to come back at least tenfold.
Like you never have to create that template from scratch for another client. ever again, which someone gave me a stat that they were like, well, what if you were just saving one minute for every email? And I’m like, wow, one minute, you must be really efficient. I was like, I always say that I’m saving my clients at least five to 10 minimum, maybe 20 minutes.
Because when I would write an email, I’m like, oh, I need this. Okay. Let me go dig in a folder and find this one thing. And, oh, you know, I need to put in the price. I mean, it was so time consuming to make a proposal. Customized from scratch to write the email to send the proposal to write the email once they book you.
I mean, every single time you are communicating or sending something to your client, if you have a template for it, it is saving you that 5 hours that you said, like, 5 hours minimum a week. It’s great.
Brittany: At least and like I said I will go back and I will be I will be clocking myself now just to see and just to notice and even to your point I love the customization of the emails for every single person. I don’t want anyone to not feel seen or heard or like I get what they’re coming in and what they want and what’s going on in their world.
I want to be very mindful of that because I appreciate that when that happens. But and, sending a templatized email does not mean that they’re not going to get the fact that I care. And in fact, while we were working on, while you were doing the setup of all the emails and the systems and the automations, I can’t tell you the number of people who are like, Oh my God, your emails, like, feel like they’re filled with confetti.
Oh my God, I love reading your emails. Oh my God, this is amazing. I’m like, sweet baby Jesus. This is awesome. Like, I don’t even have to worry about this. My personality and my care and them being seen and heard is going to come through no matter what.
Colie: All right. I have one final question for you, Brittany, and it’s kind of related to, in my binging of the Basic Bee Podcast, I listened to your episode with Jamar Diggs, where you guys were talking about the power of SEO on YouTube, specifically for case studies. And earlier in this episode, you mentioned that, you know, the case study awesomeness can be in a written form, it can be in a video form, and it can be in audio, which by the is going to end up on all three.
Hello, podcast. This is the audio. I put all of my podcast episodes on YouTube. And then of course you are writing an amazing blog post, which I am going to end up publishing on the blog, but from your work with case studies. After talking to Jamar, or maybe even before, I don’t, I didn’t know this. Is there anything that you are doing when you work with someone on a case study that is going to help them optimize that SEO juice when they publish it to like, let’s say the podcast or to YouTube, or is it just the written form?
Like, do you have any, any tips or any guides, which, hey, I’m going to tell you, Brittany, if you don’t have one, I think we’re going to create one before this goes live.
Brittany: We very much are. We need to. And you even mentioned that when we were working together, that I need, like, more of these best practices, resources, and stuff like that. And it got my brain thinking, and it, you know, things are swirling in a good way. Um, is there anything that I do? Yes, it’s not something that I do standard, because not everyone comes to me with a podcast, not everybody comes to me with a YouTube channel.
but I love doing those little surprise and delight things. So when I can do that, I definitely take advantage of that. And I will say, I mean, with that conversation with Jamar about YouTube SEO, as well as website SEO, there’s a lot of overlap. And I would even say that speaking with him made it sound like YouTube SEO could be easier and simpler than website SEO.
It’s more of like that first question that comes to mind or the question that someone asks you that, you know, you’re answering that one thing. You could just use that as your title and you could use keywords that relate to that. And you very likely wouldn’t even have to check something like, uh, what is it that I use, TubeBuddy?
You could just go with that because you can trust that that’s going to be a searched term, a searched phrase, something that someone wants the answer to. So, that’s just like my little basic opinion that YouTube SEO is a little bit simpler and maybe even more intuitive. And when we’re doing website SEO, we need to be a little a little bit more strategic.
But yeah, to answer your question, whenever someone comes in and I know that there is a podcast interview with this or that this is going on YouTube, I’m very much like, you can do these things too, here you go.
Colie: Okay.
Brittany: So you get to look forward to that.
Colie: I mean, Brittany, I almost feel like I don’t even have to ask you how people can find you because guys, all of the ways are going to be linked in the show notes. I am going to link her previous episode on this podcast. I am going to link her podcast in general. I am going to link our previous conversation, which went live yesterday on HoneyBook versus Dubsado.
And then I am also going to link that episode with Jamar Diggs, because if you have a YouTube channel I I feel like we all need that reminder, like listening to you to talk, I was like, holy shit. I am not doing anywhere near enough for my YouTube and it would literally take like an extra 10 minutes when I am uploading it.
I will say I was good because I was already doing the uploading of the transcript and auto syncing it. I will say I pat myself on the back when he said that. I was like, yes. And I mean, honestly, I listened to y’all’s conversation at the gym, so I mean, I didn’t even like have a piece of paper to take notes.
I was just listening and I was like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then I was like, oh, yeah, I need to make sure that my titles are better because right now I’ve just been copying the title of the podcast episode and like, that’s not what I should be doing. I mean. Granted, my titles are a little bit SEO, but no, I need to be a little bit more snazzy in that when it comes to like a really good YouTube headline or title, like you want to ask a question that catches their attention.
So just listening to you guys talk was just a really good reminder that I need to do that before I hit publish.
Brittany: Yeah, and a quick tip, I mean, you can get to the point, I have done this, you can get to the point where you are being really super freaking smart with your titles, where you can have the podcast title be your YouTube video title, be your blog post title. I mean, honestly, you can. And hot tip for anyone listening, if Keep it around 60 characters or less.
That is ideal, and then you won’t see the dot dot dot where it gets cut off or truncated at the end of it. That is so key. Another thing, just because I cannot help myself, please make sure you put your guest names in the titles. The only human on the planet that I know of for a fact who can get away with not doing this is Ellen Yin.
Because people know her. She’s got a bajillion, you know, podcast followers. They don’t need to put the names in there. Their titles of, like, the transformation are enough. But, for us little fishies, who are still growing, who people don’t know us as well, make sure you’ve got your guest names in those titles.
Please thank you, The End.
Colie: Yes. And you know, I will say I was in, I don’t know if it was search console. I was something related to SEO. And I was like, it’s really amazing to me to watch how I rank for my guests. Like the other day, I was like, it told me that I had risen to light. Number 12 for one of my guests. I don’t even remember who it was, but I’m like, okay, that just came from the blog post of the show notes from the podcast episode.
Like,
Brittany: It’s Nutso.
Colie: Yeah, because, and if they’re popular and people are searching them, like, that’s a lot of SEO juice for you.
Brittany: It really is. I’ve got that. Yeah, definitely. Cause I’ve got that going on with a couple, it’s weird. So for anyone who doesn’t know me, my background is as a massage therapist. Now I do, you know, SEO and case study, copywriting, very different worlds, long story, go over to the podcast and listen to that episode.
But, and because of that, I’m training the robots that like, no, Brittany doesn’t do bodywork anymore. She’s over here with like online marketing and copywriting and messaging. But the robots still think that I’m over here in this camp, so we’re slowly transitioning. But I’m ranking every time, every time I have, um, I had my Akashic Records specialist friend come on.
It thinks that I do Akashic Records reading sometimes. I had my Breathwork specialist come on. It thinks that I do that sometimes. So it’s just funny what you notice, what it picks up. Then I’ve got like, Brand Voice that I’m ranking for. It’s really fun, but yeah, you totally will end up ranking for some of your client stuff and your podcast guest stuff, which can help you because it’s a door.
All of these things are doors into your world, are doors into, you know, invitations into just, what do you do? What are you about? How can you help me? Oh, maybe you can’t help me, but you can help my friend over here. So everything is an opportunity and just keep an open mind about it.
Colie: All right, Brittany. I think that I should make sure that you’re back on the podcast in six months so that I can figure out how your systems are treating you six months down the line. Everyone, I hope that you got something juicy out of this conversation. I know that I did. And I cannot wait to share the case study that Brittany is going to write about working with me on her honey book setup.
But guys, for this episode, that’s it. See you next time.
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