Dubsado | How I Use It as a Photographer

How I use dubsado as a photographer

What is Dubsado?

Dubsado is a client management software that allows you to cut out a lot of the busy work you often find yourself dealing with in day-to-day business management. Through Dubsado you can organize almost every aspect of client management like sending contracts, building email templates, building workflows, tracking your progress with clients, sending invoices, taking payments, scheduling calls and events, and SO much more. Dubsado has truly changed the way I run my business and has allowed me to focus on my client experience and less on mundane tasks. 

If you’re interested in trying Dubsado, click here to get 20% off your first month or year. 

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How Does Dubsado Work?

In Dubsado, for every new inquiry, you can create a “project”. The project is where you can organize everything, and I mean everything, that has to do with this specific client or event. You can keep track of email chains, workflows, contracts, questionnaires, sub-agreements, invoices, tasks, and track any notes you have! 

Top Features I Use in Dubsado

1. Dubsado Forms 

The forms feature in Dubsado is incredible! You can upload templates for contracts, sub-agreements, questionnaires, proposals, and lead captures. Then you can add any of these templates to a “project” and make any changes (like adding names, date, total price, etc) before sending it off to your clients. It has cut down my work time by so much. 

Contracts

I have contract templates for adventure elopements, intimate weddings, adventure sessions, portrait sessions, and any other event that could come up. Each of these templates is customized with specific clauses I need to protect my business for each session type. 

Side Note: I purchased my contracts from The Legal Paige click here to view more. 

Once a client is ready to book, I go into their project, upload the contract into it and add any details like pricing, date, and names (you can automate this process too with Dubsado’s smart fields). Then I can send an email to the client through Dubsado, that shows the contract link as a button. They are able to sign everything online and I get a notification when it is complete. 

Questionnaires 

Questionnaires are a great way to get to know your clients and learn more about what they’re looking for, with the ability to check and refresh your memory later. You can create questionnaire templates in Dubsado, add them to a project, and send them out through an email integration. Clients can fill them out at their leisure, save drafts, and once they submit you get a notification. 

I use them to keep my client information organized and create a better experience for my couples! 

2. Canned Emails

Do you find yourself sending almost identical emails to clients again and again and wish you didn’t have to start from scratch each time? That’s what canned emails are for! You can create custom email templates that save you the time of rewriting them for every single project. I have canned emails for every step of my client process and instead of spending time trying to convey the information I want, I just spend a few minutes personalizing the templates before I send them off. 

You just go into a client’s project, click send an email, and import any email template you want. After you send it you can keep track of client responses and see each time the message is viewed! 

3. Invoices and Payment Plans

I used to take payments over Venmo, Paypal, and credit cards through a third-party system. It was hard for me to keep track of who paid what and how much. Using Dubsado’s invoice feature I can create custom invoices and payment plans for each client. It is also SO easy to learn and use. 

If you have packages you sell often you can create invoice templates that you can upload to a client’s project. If you have custom packages you can very easily create an invoice for a specific client in their project and send it out to them. You can be as detailed as you want in the invoice, giving them a breakdown of everything included, or a vague description, it is completely up to you. 

Payment plans are also customizable. I have a default payment plan that I set up as a template (it's a standard deposit and final payment due 30 days before) that I can add to an invoice with a click of a button. That payment plan template has automatic email reminders that go out to remind clients of upcoming payments. If a client wants a custom payment plan, I can set that up within minutes and add it to their project. 

Dubsado keeps track of when they make a payment, if it is overdue, how much they still owe, and has no additional transaction fee! It keeps me extremely organized and I never have to worry about getting disorganized. 

4. Dubsado Workflows 

This is my holy grail and the best part of Dubsado. I genuinely do not think I could run my business without this. Dubsado gives you the ability to make custom workflows for every step in your process. A workflow is essentially a task template that organizes your entire client interactions and helps you keep track of where you are with each client. Everything I just talked about, can be added to a workflow! 

For example, I have an “inquiry to booking” workflow for elopements. This workflow has every single email I send out to clients organized into one massive to-do list. There are pre-set reminders for when I need to send follow-up emails, pre-set invoices, payment plans, and more. 

Once I get an inquiry, I add the workflow to the project, and immediately all of my canned emails are pulled up and tasks are added to my list with pre-set reminders and to-do dates based on the date the project was created. It keeps me SO organized and I can check what the status is with a client with just one look. 

Dubsado has changed the way I run my business and I truly can’t recommend it enough. If you’re interested in trying it, here is a link to get 20% off your first month or year. 

Dubsado Pricing

Dubsado has two plans: Starter or Premium. 

The starter plan is $200 per year or $20 per month and includes unlimited projects & clients, invoicing & payment plans, and form & email templates. 

The premium plan includes everything in the starter as well as the scheduling, automated workflows, public proposals, multiple lead captures at once, and Zapier integrations. The premium plan is $400 per year or $40 per month. 

If you’re interested in trying Dubsado, click here to get 20% off your first month or year. 

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Meet Me

Hey, I'm Bridget!

Adventurer turned adventure elopement photographer helping other photographers create the life they've always dreamed of! From photography basics to the inner workings of how to run a business, I help photographers level up their business and reach their goals.

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