This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Let's talk a bit about workflows, systems, and process. I know, doesn't that sound so exciting? Well, listen, as your side hustle grows, which it's gonna do if you pay some attention to it, and just make a little bit of progress every day, as it grows, it's so easy for things to get out of control. Now, I know this very well from experience. I'll talk about that a bit at the end, perhaps.
Smart side hustlers and small business owners think about process from the beginning. They don't wait until everything is out of control, or frantic, or whatever. But the thing is, many people who are good at starting entrepreneurial projects aren't so good with organization or systems. And it's that discovery that led today's featured case study to start an all-new project. She was already working as a freelancer.
I had been doing that for a while, but this project felt totally different because she was completely in control of it. She wasn't just working for other people, she was building something for herself. So, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, a person who, at times, who has struggled with workflow, systems, and process. So, at the end of the episode, I'll give you three quick and easy tips on how you can improve your systems.
All right, stay tuned. [Music]
Lori Bailey is a full-time freelancer with a broad skill set. From writing and graphic design, social media, and virtual assistants, she's run the gamut of freelance projects. Across all these projects, Lori began to see a noticeable trend. In her onboarding conversations with clients, they always expressed the same problems.
Their work was overwhelming, they felt behind on projects, they wished they had more hours in the day, and they could never, quote-unquote, get organized. Wait a second, is this me? I'm just reading a description of myself right here. Hearing these problems, Lori began to brainstorm different ways she could help people solve them. She looked at her own skills and saw she'd always been good at building systems and working with logistics.
She'd set up lots of efficient workflows to make her more productive in her freelance business and thought she could help her clients do the same. Although Lori saw this gap in the market, it took her a long time to actually start her side hustle. She felt gripped by the fear of rejection and didn't wanna start offering a service nobody wanted. So it's been around six months bouncing around in the back of her mind. Eventually though, she stopped hesitating and committed to taking small daily steps to start the business.
On the first day, she decided on a name, the second she bought a $200 website package from Squarespace, the third, she created one page of that website, and so on and so forth for a few weeks until her new side hustle was ready to open up. Lori's advice to anyone who struggles with the fear of rejection is to carve out time to create a simple business plan, keyword simple, that will give some initial structure to what you're going to do. People tend to overcomplicate the start in their heads, much like she did herself, which makes the process even scarier. Having a plan and not being afraid to simplify can go a long way to dissolving your fears. Lori named her business the Lab Creative Co.
At first, the LAB was a nice play on her initials, but she initially realized it was a good way to encompass the journey she was going to take her customers on. Lori would guide them through a six to eight week period, and they would work together to create unique productivity systems, which felt like she was taking them through a science lab. Startup costs were minimal. Outside of that $200 website package, the rest of her business needs could be fulfilled using free tools like Google Docs. Now, if you were to use Lori's services, you would be taken through a pretty rigid process, which looks to uncover the problem areas in your business.
It would start with a free 30-minute intro call, where Lori would ask questions such as, what are the things in your business you wish you didn't have to do? And what do you wish you could spend more time on? She would ask these questions to get a feel for the stressors in your business and uncover the emotional ties you have to certain activities. If you were happy with that session, you'd pay a deposit and move to a one-hour call where you can outline current problem areas in your business in more depth. Once Lori has an idea of where your business is currently at, she'll then start that six to eight-week process where you build unique systems that are a good fit for you.
She doesn't believe in cookie cutter solutions and instead feels each customer needs a unique approach. Her packages start at $250 and work their way up to $1,500. She decided on these prices based on how much time she puts into them, her desired income, and what she feels the client will save by using her system. Lori figured it was a good value proposition to tell a client from the beginning that they'll eventually save more money than they spend with her. I have a side note about this that I will circle back to at the end.
Since opening the doors to the creative lab at the start of 2019, that's right, really new project here, Lori has successfully guided five clients through this process. She projects that she'll earn a total of $30,000 this year, which would be at least 20 clients. And this is in addition to her regular work. To market her services, Lori has used a mix of Instagram and word of mouth. With her graphic design skills, she creates visual updates that catch people's attention in a busy newsfeed.
And she's never scared to ask for a recommendation or a testimonial. She says when she got her first organic customer, she absolutely freaked out. It felt so much different than the freelance job she did. Because this was a business she created from scratch and was fully her own boss. Looking ahead, she wants to increase the passive income portion of this project.
She started writing guides that isolate each of the steps she takes her clients through. This way, people with a lower budget can also get the benefit of her services. For this freelancer, it's a whole new world of freedom. [Music]
All right, a couple of things I wanted to highlight here, including these three tips that I mentioned in the beginning. But first, this part about how she's saving her clients money.
She mentioned something about how, when she talks with prospective clients, she always mentions how the client will eventually save more money than they spend on her. Now, I actually think working with small business owners, and this is a proven process, it works for people. They're gonna save a lot more than just the $250, you know, that her packages start at. So I really think that's a key point to highlight because your time is valuable, especially when you're trying to run this business, especially if you're trying to run that business, while you're also working a day job. Your time is valuable, so if you can improve your systems, it's worth a lot.
Now, the three tips on improving your workflow, they all relate to paying attention. Well, paying attention first and then taking action on what you notice. So first, pay attention to what you're putting off. Pay attention to those things that you have to do, but you just keep deferring because you don't enjoy them. Number two, pay attention to what you do over and over.
So in other words, not the stuff that you hate or you're just deferring, but the stuff that takes your time over and over. And then number three, pay attention to what you want to do, but feel like you don't have time for. Like the things that you always intend to do, but then they just kind of keep pulling off the list because all this other stuff kind of crowds it out. So you pay attention to what you're putting off, what you do over and over, and what you want to do, but feel like you don't have time for. Then try to make small decisions to make adjustments in each of these areas.
You don't have to do a whole audit and start making wholesale changes. I mean, you can if you're ready for it. But if not, those things that you're putting off, is there a way to create a system or a workflow or to outsource it somehow, or just to design it to where you don't actually have to do that? Then the things that you do over and over, is there a way to make that more efficient or to outsource that or to otherwise save time? So you don't hate this thing, but it's taking a lot of your time.
Therefore, it is kind of negative because your time is limited and you want to do more of that category three, what you want to do, but feel like you don't have time for. Is there a way that you can schedule? What's important to you? Is there a way you can schedule and say, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna block out 30 minutes to write or to work on this business development thing or to create this product, to take the next step in whatever's involved in that. And I'm not gonna do anything else until I've done that.
If you pay attention and you take action, like over time, you are gonna make these massive improvements. So I often like to study how people manage their time, hack their time, create little systems and workflows to gain that, you know, 5% edge or whatever it is, just because it can, as I said, add up. And last but not least, I took a look at Lori's site and she's got a free 2019 vision and goal setting printable that you can download. So you might want to check that out. I'm gonna link it up on the show notes.
Those notes are at sidehustleschool.com/810, episode 800 and 10. I hope you enjoyed this one. Go out and be productive, create some kind of system, even if it's a small decision, something small to move forward. I hope you'll do that and I hope you'll come back again tomorrow. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to "Sidus for School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
