Episode 235: How To Use Honeybook To Grow Your Design Business with Mac Hughes

August 24, 2022

As a business owner, you’ve probably found that you can’t run your business without a solid set of tools and platforms, but are your tools as efficient as they could be? Today I’m joined by Mac Hughes from Honeybook (the CRM that I use in my own business), who is sharing all about creating efficient workflows in your business and building consistent client experiences all within Honeybook. Listen in as she shares a few of her favorite features with Honeybook, along with a bit of encouragement if you’re just getting started!

If you’re ready to get organized in your business by streamlining a consistent client experience, try Honeybook today! You can try it for free today, plus get get 50% off your first year when you use my link to sign up!

From organizing candy in the checkout aisle as a kid, to her degree in entrepreneurship, Mac has always had a passion for creating and organizing. Currently working alongside new and existing HoneyBook members to help them streamline their processes and make the best decisions for their businesses so they can get back to doing more of what they love.

Utilizing Tools in Your Business

Your business needs tools to operate efficiently and with intention. As you’re just getting started, you may want to try out a variety of tools or even use a few different tools to meet your different needs. This could be through creating brochures, gathering client signatures on contracts, or collecting payments. If you’re using different tools to take care of each of these tasks, you not be as efficient in your business as you’d like too be.

Consolidating All of Your Tools by Using Honeybook

Honeybook is an all-in-one tool that allows you to manage your inquiries, brochures, email communication, proposals, payments, questionnaires, and more all inside one platform. In turn, this streamlines the backend work within your business to keep you more organized and productive.

Honeybook Features that Benefit Your Client Process

While every business is different and the tools are going to be unique to you, there are a few Honeybook features that will automatically benefit your business:

  • Automatic Job Tracking: Inside your Honeybook pipeline, you’ll see automatic updates for signed proposals, payments, and more so that you know exactly when you need to step in.
  • Automated Workflows: As soon as your client takes an action, you can automate the next step based on the type of project. Ex: Sending an onboarding questionnaire as soon as a clients signs on to work with you.
  • Scheduling Tool: With a built in scheduling tool, you have synced your calendar to show your availability and your clients can schedule calls with you as needed based on your client experience.
  • Time Tracking: If you invoice your clients based on hours, you can track your time within the app and invoiced based on those hours.
  • Team Management: If you have multiple team members working on projects, you can incorporate them into your projects to view and collaborate.

While Honeybook does have all of these amazing tools and more available, you do not have to utilize them all immediately. You can start small and build as you grow or shift your workflows.

Creating a Consistent Client Experience with Honeybook

Not only does Honeybook create an efficient and streamlined process for you in your business, but it also helps support a consistent client experience. Consistency in your business experience is so valuable, especially in design businesses. From your brochures to proposals to email communication—Honeybook helps you work with consistency.

Encouragement in Business

No matter what stage of business you’re in, knowing your worth, owning your zone of expertise, and leaning into it is key to finding success in your business. That confidence will come across in your client interactions and client experience. That is what is going to set you apart. That’s what they’re going to remember. So when you’re talking about building an unforgettable experience with your clients through Honeybook—that really is gonna shine through when you know your worth and you’re owning that expertise.

Get Started with Honeybook

If you’re ready to get organized in your business by streamlining a consistent client experience, try Honeybook today! You can try it for free today, plus get get 50% off your first year when you use my link to sign up!

Catch the Show Notes

Get to Know (1:43)

What Makes Honeybook Special (6:14)

Features that Benefit the Client Process (15:12)

Consistency in Your Client Experience (22:22)

Encouragement (25:28)

Connect with Honeybook

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instagram.com/honeybook

facebook.com/honeybook.co

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Bonnie:
Hi friend, and welcome to the brand strategy podcast. A show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity. You need to build the brand of your dreams. I’m your host, Bonnie BTI, brand designer, strategist, and founder of Thery from sustainable strategy to heartfelt encouragement. Each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams, because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way. So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey. Won’t you friends. Welcome

Bonnie:
Back to the brand strategy podcast, where today we are talking about how to use honey book to grow your design business with Mac Hughes of honey book. I was so excited to be able to have this conversation with her today, because as you know, if you’ve been a long time listener, or if you just happen to stumble across these specific episodes, I’ve talked about honey book here on the podcast before, and it’s because that is the CRM that I use to serve my design clients and to grow my business. I’ve been using it for years. And, um, I have to say I I’m a fan . So Mac is here to share with us about how honey book is going to help us when we’re growing our design businesses and how it’s something that we can utilize to make our sales process is easier. How we can use it to leverage a seamless and intentional client onboarding experience, how we can use it to manage our projects and all of these kinds of things.

Bonnie:
So if you’re curious about just who Mac is, she is so fantastic. She has such a fun story. She actually started out as a kid organizing candy in the checkout aisle, like get the go getter. She has a degree in entrepreneurship and she’s always had this passion for creating and for organizing. She currently is working alongside new and existing honey book members to help them streamline their processes and make the best decisions for their businesses so that they can get back to doing more of what they love. Mac, welcome to the show. I’m so excited to get to chat with you today.

Mac Hughes:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so happy to be here..

Bonnie:
I am so happy to have you, and I love that story that you shared in your bio of like, you know, as a kid, you were, you were that kid who was, um, you know, organizing candy in the checkout aisle and that’s something that just kind of that drive has fueled you throughout your life to, you know, pursue that degree in entrepreneurship, which is no small feat. So I would love it if you’re comfortable sharing, just to learn a little bit more about who you are and then also what it’s like to be a part of the team at honey book.

Mac Hughes:
Oh my goodness. Yeah. So I am a bit of a serial entrepreneur. Um, I don’t know if there are other folks listening in today who can relate to that, but I often find myself, um, dabbling in, in multiple different kind of, uh, entrepreneurial streams. So I’ve had, um, a vintage online retailing shop. I’ve had a copywriting business, um, as of late, I’ve been doing interior design. So there’s always something going on in my little side hustle outside of working in my tech career, which is kind of what keeps the lights on over here for me usually. So I have worked at mind body, um, and mostly worked at honey book. My majority of my career has been spent at honey book. So I’ve seen the product and the company go through so many incredible faces. And, um, I have to say this year is one of the most exciting, we’ve got some big stuff coming up. So I’m, I’m really excited to be here. Um, working at honey book is a real dream truly. I mean the last few years have brought on some new challenges, obviously working from home the majority of the time. But I think it says something that I am really itching to get back in and be around our amazing family of employees. And I mean, the kombucha on tap doesn’t hurt.

Bonnie:
no, I bet not. That sounds amazing. Yeah. Um, and I love that. I love that. It sounds like you’re a part of a team culture that really is, is positive and uplifting. I mean, you know, just in, in conversations I’ve had with so many people over the last, you know, pretty much the last year, not everyone feels that way of being excited to go back into an office. Right. If they, if they’re working in a more traditional kind of shared office space. And so I personally just love knowing that there are companies out there and, and brands out there that are, are building those kinds of like family, you know, healthy, safe workspaces, like absolutely. Yeah. Like that

Mac Hughes:
Yeah.

Bonnie:
So you hinted that there were some fun things in the works. Um, anything that you are able to kind of give us a little hint about, or is it all pretty hush hush for now?

Mac Hughes:
It’s pretty hush hush, but I would imagine folks are gonna be hearing about it in the next couple months. So it’s, it’s right around the corner. Some new, exciting, long asked four features and big updates coming. So definitely stay tuned if you have checked out honey book in the past. And there were a couple things that weren’t quite meeting the mark, or if you’re a member, um, who’s been looking for a little bit more customization, definitely things to look forward to at some point this year and crossing our fingers in the very near future.

Bonnie:
Ooh, very exciting. Well, I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for those updates, but great. For those who are tuning in today, who maybe they aren’t familiar with honey book or, um sure. Maybe they’re not quite at that point in their business yet where they’ve decided to use a CRM, they’ve kind of, you know, been like flirting with it, but it just ha they haven’t, you know, felt comfortable making that commitment. I’d love that. If you could share a little bit more about like what makes honey book special? Like what is it about honey book that makes business a little bit easier?

Mac Hughes:
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you bring up the idea too, that folks feel like maybe they’re not quite at that part in their business yet, because of course I’m a little biased here, but I also talk to business owners of different sizes all day long. And I would argue that there’s no too early of a point in your business to invest in a system that’s gonna make your life easier. Right. Mm-hmm so for honey book specifically, it’s really focusing on end to end client management for independent business owners. So, okay. That’s a pretty high level definition, right? So what am I talking about here? So this is everything from lead capture through booking all of your communications, any file sharing that you do, automatic job tracking everything in between there. So what I find is a lot of the businesses that I’m working with to onboard them to the honey book tool and get them up to speed.

Mac Hughes:
A lot of folks wait until they’re spread a little too thin and you’re using, you know, your email inbox, you’ve got different program for basically every aspect of your business. You’ve got a scheduling tool and invoicing tool. You’ve got forms on Google forms. You’ve got contracts with the different programs. So what we’re talking about when we’re talking about a tool like honey book is having all of that consolidated under one roof so that your tools can speak to each other and are gonna start working a lot harder for you earlier on. So you’re hitting the ground running with a system that makes sense, and not allowing yourself to get spread too thin, and then having to rush to a program like ours and, and say, ahm, I need help. Like, how do, how do I get all these things transitioned in the learning curve that comes with that, the transition process that comes with that? So I always say it’s better to start out with a system like this and kind of let the tool lead you, right? Like let honey book and the tools that are available, show you what a, what a system and what a good business process could look like. And then customizing those tools to really fit the client journey and the client flow that you want to build.

Bonnie:
Mm. I really love that because, um, when I am chatting with designers who are just getting started, maybe they’re just starting to kind of like dip their toes into the world of freelancing, or maybe they’ve been freelancing for a little while and they’re ready to kind of take their business from, you know, that freelance business to like actually treating it like a, a, you know, proper, small business. Mm-hmm I find that you’re exactly right. Like when people are in those early stages of growing, it’s easy to fall into that, that kind of habit. And that pattern of like just hustling. Yeah. And there’s a ton of hard work and there’s a ton of scrappiness that we need to call on in order to, to grow our businesses and to really get them up off the ground. And I think that, um, the idea of almost giving yourself the gift of investing in a system like this early on, so that you don’t have the stress of managing like 10 different tools in order to, you know, capture, uh, a leads information or send them a proposal or invoice them, you know, capture that signed contract, all of that stuff that, that gets to be a lot to manage.

Bonnie:
And like, I can speak from personal experience because that’s absolutely what I did when I was first getting started and I would not recommend it. So I think that it’s a really, it’s, A’s a, it’s a simple shift of, of kind of mindset, but I think it’s a powerful one to go from, you know, am I ready to invest in something that honey book to, how can investing in honey book now create more space, more ease, you know, and even create more flow in my business, basically.

Mac Hughes:
Exactly. Yeah. And I think too, like it’s difficult as a newer business owner or just a business owner in general sometimes to have that foresight of like, what tools am I even gonna need? Sometimes the opportunity has to be in front of you or the need, or the pain point most times has to be in your life before you can recognize, okay, something’s gotta give. So when you invest in a tool earlier on, I think it allows you to see those tools right away and say, okay, this could help me. Even if I don’t have an immediate need for it right now, there probably will be a need for it in the near future. And you can start that process earlier.

Bonnie:
Mm absolutely. Speaking to one of the aspects of investing in a tool like this, right? Like it’s yeah. Like honey book exists, not just to help us do business with more intention and to make our lives easier, but also to help us, you know, as a byproduct make more money. And sure. So how does honey book help make that sales process? The client onboarding process a little bit smoother for us?

Mac Hughes:
Yeah, absolutely. So, as I’ve been talking about to, it’s basically the nature of the product to have these built in tools that make things automatically more streamlined. So the way that a typical onboarding process would look in honey book is using some of our lead capturing tools. Like the contact form that you can embed onto your website or the scheduler that you can embed onto your website or the direct link version that you can share really anywhere else as a catchall that would then automatically funnel your leads into the honey book pipeline, which is where that kind of automatic draw job tracking aspect comes in that I mentioned. Um, so all of the client information gets pulled into your pipeline. So you can automatically see where you stand with those folks. And then from a communication onboarding sales perspective, that’s where we’re gonna say, Hey, here are the tools that you’re gonna need to customize.

Mac Hughes:
You get to ultimately say what you want the system to do. It’s not like a cookie cutter impersonal, cuz this is another point of pushback. I get from a lot of my members where folks who are earlier in their business stage, they’re like, well, it, it can feel really impersonal or I’m worried about it being impersonal. If I implement a system or a tool like this, I wanna have that, that personal touch with my clients. So what honey book is doing is it’s just kind of the skeleton for you to fill in with the customization that you need. You get to tell the system how you want it to work for you. And you kind of put in that upfront work of building out your beautiful onboarding document, where your clients can answer questions and kind of qualify themselves. Um, schedule a call, uh, select the services they’re interested in, whatever, you know, you want to kind of build into that process.

Mac Hughes:
Honey book is going to give you the tools and customization to do that. And then you build it out one time and you kind of get to replicate that process, maybe customize a thing here or there, depending on a specific client’s use case. Um, and then you can even send that automatically. So again, you don’t have to send it automatically. You don’t have to use all those tools I just mentioned, but that’s just kind of to paint a little bit of a picture of what it could look like. You ultimately get the autonomy as a business owner with honey book’s tools to say what happens and when.

Bonnie:
Mm, absolutely. And that’s something that as a honey book user, I have appreciated because I know that honey book has so many features and so many tools that I’m probably not even utilizing and I’ve been using it for years, but I know what works with my client workflow. I know what my clients enjoy and what’s easy for them. And I also know what information I need to be gathering from my clients. Mm-hmm . And I love that I have that flexibility and that freedom to build out an automation or build out a, a brochure or a questionnaire or anything like that, that is capturing the information that I need. And also really making me look like a total pro to my clients, which doesn’t hurt either.

Mac Hughes:
Right. For sure.

Bonnie:
So with thinking about, you know, honey book has so many incredible features built in and it’s designed to give us that kind of foundation that we can build on in order to customize it so that our onboarding process is exactly how we want it to be when we are actually working with the client. So after we’ve got that payment plan set up after we’ve got that contract signed and executed, mm-hmm what are some features that you personally recommend to people when they’re working with their clients and throughout that actual process together?

Mac Hughes:
Sure. Yeah. So , I mean, this is kind of a tricky question, right? Because every business is different and every business owner is gonna have a different set of tools that they’re really leaning on in that part of their communication with their clients. Mm-hmm . Um, but I would say the automatic job tracking is a huge one just because you are going to be able to see, you know, when that payment comes through, when that contract gets signed right there in your pipeline at a bird’s eye use, you know, the exact moment that you need to kind of step in and get more involved, you know, when to send a thank you email, you could even automate this end of a thank you, email or onboarding documents. For example, I guess a couple of the tools you could use there would be, you know, sending a brochure file to onboard them.

Mac Hughes:
Like, Hey, you just paid your invoice and signed your contract. We’re officially in business. Here’s what I need from you. Here’s what you can expect from me and really taking a moment to kind of set those expectations and give them a run down there. And again, you could send that automatically, um, with a trigger in honey book, based off of that payment submission, I would say the scheduling tool is probably a huge one, especially as, um, like brand people, design people. You’re gonna need to have some, some back and forth, some proofing going on, some meetings kind of collecting that information, really any business once your client has paid you, the odds of you not talking to them anymore are pretty slim . So that scheduling tool is really gonna be a huge help in making sure that you guys can get on the calendar quickly.

Mac Hughes:
There’s not any kind of ping pong, communication back and forth. You’re just gonna show your availability, let them choose the time that works for them and move forward from there. So that those two things actually in conjunction sometimes. So the brochure file with the ability to schedule is a really cool option. I already touched on automations a little bit. Um, time tracking is another one that, that, you know, folks, if you’re, uh, tracking your time and you need to invoice your clients based on that, um, that’s a tool that’s available specifically in the app, I think is kind of the best way to use it, cuz it works like a stopwatch. So you can, you know, hit start and hit end on that and kind of collect your hours and eventually bill with that. Um, also team management, if you have a team of folks that you kind of, you know, someone handles the sales process and then passes off to you to kind of get the work done. That is something that is available in honey book as well. So it really depends on the business and what kind of client flow you’ve built out that works for you? Um, again, honey, book’s just gonna kind of be that, that skeleton that you get to say, Hey honey book, this is how I want you to work for me. And this is what I built for my business. And, and then you set it up and it runs like a well oiled machine.

Bonnie:
Mm absolutely. And I know that there’s so much flexibility. There’s so many different like options that people can explore so many different like configurations, even to

Mac Hughes:
Sure.

Bonnie:
To set up the same or similar kinds of kinds of actions just using different tools.

Mac Hughes:
Yeah. And I think that’s the thing that feels a little daunting too, which is why you get folks who are like, I don’t think I’m ready for all of that. So again, if this is like overwhelming you, I mean, even Bonnie is saying she’s not using all the tools, right? So this by no means has to be this perfect science that you come to honey book with. I’ll tell you, I work with businesses who have, you know, been in business for 10 years plus, and they’re still, you know, working with scattered things and scattered systems and honey book is helping them bring that process together. So don’t let this conversation intimidate you. You are absolutely not alone in that idea of like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna make this work? Honey book can help you figure it out and you can start small to not be scared.

Bonnie:
100%. And that’s such fantastic advice. I think that when I think back to when I was getting started with honey book, I looked at it as an opportunity to present the client onboarding process with more Polish and with more ease so that my clients weren’t having to open up this link here and wait for this email there and, you know, go over from, you know, like this invoicing system to this contract system and you know, like, yeah. And of course all the links were like, everything I was using was like basically free at the time. Sure. So it was all like, you know, not, not branded, not cohesive. Didn’t look like the B for Ronnie design brand. Yeah. And I loved at kind of like the, the bare minimum. I was like working with honey, but choosing to use this product is going to ensure that I’m able to send out incredibly branded polished invoices to our clients.

Bonnie:
I’m gonna be able to send them proposals that include the payment schedule that include the contract. It’s all right there. Right. And they can sign it. They can look at everything, make sure that it’s looking good and we can move forward. And you know, like hit the ground running from there. Right. And as I got my feet wet with that, as I started looking at that, I was like, wow, there’s so many other things that I can do with it. So also when you’re investing in using a tool like honey book, you don’t have to put a pressure on yourself to maximize every single thing. Right. Immediately once you subscribe to it, right. You can take your time and you can build on it. And also the cool thing about it is like, I know people who they are just honey book systems, strategists, like they, they help you. That’s their whole business is they help you customize and set up your honey book system as well. Right. And I think that it’s just so cool that as entrepreneurs, as business owners, we have access to these resources that we really can just customize. However we want to. So ultimately they’re us best. They’re saving our time, protecting our energy and helping us do more of what we love consistently.

Mac Hughes:
Right. I love that. Protecting the energy. I love that.

Bonnie:
Mm, absolutely. Well, I mean, if I think about how much energy I was spending, and this was back in like 2012 mm-hmm um, when I think about how much energy I was spending, like having to send over a contract and DocuSign. Yeah. I can’t even remember. I think I was just like invoicing via PayPal, which is a whole other thing um, and I was just doing all of these, all of these different things in order to just, just get the client to sign on with me. Right. And it wasn’t efficient for me. It wasn’t a good use of my time. It wasn’t a good use of my mental or physical energy, you know, like going from site to site manually adding, you know, in the content customizing the invoice every single time. Like I’m, that’s why I’m such a big fan of templates.

Bonnie:
And that’s why I love how in honey book, all of my invoices, all of my services, like those are templated. Yeah. They’re, they’re saved in my honey book account. So when I’m going to create, uh, an invoice to send to a new client, I can pull from a list of services that already has all the deliverables outlined already has all the payment information outlined. I mean, I can even like stylize it. So it looks pretty on the actual invoice. And it just, I know that it doesn’t sound like it’s that big of a deal because it’s, you know what, like five minutes here and five minutes there. Sure. But if you take that time and you add it up client after client, after client, mm-hmm, , that’s, that’s a lot of time that you then can spend and free up and spend elsewhere in your life or your business, however you choose. Yep.

Mac Hughes:
Yeah. And I think that goes back to like the consistency to like giving your clients a consistent, predictable experience as well.

Bonnie:
Absolutely. That’s something that, you know, as a brand designer and strategist I’ve found, um, is such an easy, simple, thoughtful way to inspire that, that sense of trust with the, the people that you’re working with with your clients. Um, and now as a coach for designers, I’ve also seen like, if, if that’s, if there’re just a few simple things that as designers, we are able to implement and able to, you know, guide our clients through it doesn’t have to be the most perfect flawless design. It doesn’t have to be the most intricate, complex onboarding experience. It can just be simple. It can just be simple and thoughtful and well done. And your clients are gonna be so wowed by that. And they’re gonna, they’re gonna, that’s gonna set you apart in their mind from someone who’s a hobbyist as someone who is a serious business owner and they’re excited to work with you,

Mac Hughes:
Right? Yeah. I mean, we talk about this all the time, too. Like as a business owner, your clients are hiring you because they don’t know what you do. They don’t know how to do what you’re gonna do. So really leaning in and owning that kind of zone of expertise. Right. And, and letting that come through and the different materials and communications that you have with them and really taking that moment to set those expectations with them, your clients don’t know what you know. So using those different opportunities to convey even really simplistically, like you’re saying simply and well done, that’s gonna make a huge impact. So I love that.

Bonnie:
Mm-hmm for sure. I, um, I feel like you’ve shared so much great advice. Like you, you peppered in all this like encouragement and advice throughout our conversation today. But one question that I always love to ask during every single episode here, kind of centers back to this idea of what kind of encouragement or final piece of advice would you want to share to those who are tuning in today, who are really curious about honey book, they’re ready to kind of take that plunge and start using honey book to grow their design business.

Mac Hughes:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. There’s so much, there’s so much I could say. Right. um, we could talk for a whole hour on this I’m sure. But absolutely. I think maybe I’ll go through it like as stages in your business, right. Mm-hmm so I think everyone kind of needs this reminder all the time. No matter what stage of business you’re in, cuz we get that kind of insecurity creeping in every now and then, but just knowing your worth and owning that zone of expertise like we’re talking about and just really leaning into that and being confident in that, because that will come across in your client interactions and those client interactions, the client flows, the client experience they have with you. That is like, you’re saying Bonnie that’s, what’s gonna set you apart. And that’s what they’re gonna remember. So when you’re talking about building kind of an unforgettable experience with your clients that really is gonna shine through when you know, you’re worth and you’re owning that expertise and, and kind of inviting them into that when they’re doing business with you, that’s where you’re really gonna start to have an impact and really kinda leave, leave an impression with them that they’re gonna be talking to other people about.

Mac Hughes:
So I would say that’s kind of a good general reminder, but especially when you’re first starting out and that initial doubt is creeping in just own it and lean in and you’re gonna be successful. And I already touched on this a little bit too, but your clients are hiring you to tell them what to do. Just always know that your clients don’t know what you know, and it’s really important and really, um, impactful when you’re able to, like we’re saying, invite them into that process and, um, set those expectations with them. This is what you can expect from working with me. Here’s what I expect from working with you. Here’s, um, you know, my process, here’s what we’re gonna be doing over the next X amount of time together and really kind of clearly outlining that in your onboarding, I think is really crucial too, because it sets the tone, um, and gives them access to that information proactively rather than a bunch of emails in your inbox.

Mac Hughes:
Hey, when is this coming up? When are we gonna do this? When is this part? Um, but giving that information up front, I think is just always a really good investment again, at any point in your business, really, to kind of sit down and address where you can more clearly articulate that to your clients and set those expectations, which kind of leads me a little bit to another point of just paying attention to where there are gaps or kind of holes in your process. Maybe we know that every business that we have is our baby, right? We’re so committed to being in every detail in every nook and cranny of our client’s interactions. But where can you afford to maybe let go a little bit and let a system like honey book, schedule a meeting for you, right? Like you don’t need to be involved in all those back and forth scheduling emails.

Mac Hughes:
Let’s use a tool to kind of alleviate some of that time on your hands. Um, I think specifically two, and I know Bonnie, you touched on this as well when you’re looking at your process. If I could say one thing that you leave here today and kind of sit down and think on is specifically the point in your process where your clients sign a contract and pay you and look at that part of your process and make sure, kind of put yourself in your client’s shoes for a second and, and walk through it. Think, you know, basically the question I want you to ask is like, is it as simple as checking out on amazon.com or is it as simple as swiping your card at the grocery store? If it’s not, we can improve. And that is a huge thing because when it comes to getting paid, you wanna remove as many barriers to entry as possible.

Mac Hughes:
Like this should be actually the most impersonal client interaction you have with them. When you think about it, like you don’t want them be spending so much time in the invoice and in the contracts really thinking it over, you want them to just be like, of course the expectation’s already been set. I know this is the right person for the job, swipe my card. Now let’s get started. They’re eager to get through that process quickly because they can’t wait to work with you. So I would just encourage anyone to really make sure that payment contract signing portion of your process is as smooth as possible because that’s gonna make a huge, huge impact as well. So I know that was a ton of information, but I think that’s like my, my hill that I’m going out on

Bonnie:
No, it’s fantastic. And I, I love that you spoke to different seasons of business. You spoke to practical, actionable steps that people can take or, or areas that they can examine in order to sure. And just, and really infuse more intention into the way that they’re using honey book and the way that they are serving their clients through that onboarding process as well. So yeah, I feel like we could honestly just sit here and probably nerd out over all the amazing things that honey book has to offer all day long. We

Mac Hughes:
Sure could.

Bonnie:
I wanna make sure that people who are tuning in today, that they can connect with you. They can connect with honey book and, and learn more. So where can people go to connect with honey book on, um, you know, on social media, for example?

Mac Hughes:
Yeah, sure. So we are on all of the social fronts, um, officially on TikTok this year as well. So check it out. Um, we’ve got Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and we have an amazing Facebook community of a ton of members over there too, talking about the product and business best practices. So all of those platforms are just gonna be at honey book, so very straightforward there. And then of course you can always find us on our website. There’s a ton of incredible re resources there. So our blog has a ton of great business content. We have downloadable guides, um, every month on a different kind of focus area. So definitely check out the website as well.

Bonnie:
Amazing and friends for those who are tuning in today. I also have a special little something that I can share with you, thanks to the incredible folks at honey book, they are putting together. And I should say they have put together this incredible offer where you can try out honey book for a dollar a month, which is just bonkers because I spend more on, I spend easily, easily more than that on coffee. like every day. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So you can for $1 per month for eight months. So like that’s almost an entire year, that’s a massive amount of time. You can try out honey book, you can really start to dig into it and see what it looks like. And, um, I would love to be able to share that offer with you. And so if you go to BS for Bonnie design.com/honeybook, you can click my link.

Bonnie:
You can try this out. You can literally sign up for $1, which, whether you’re just getting started in your design business or you’ve been in business for a while, but you’re curious about trying out maybe a different CRM. This is a very, a very low risk opportunity, a very low risk way to try it out and to dive into it. And then of course, you know that I use it. So if you have questions for me, you’re welcome to shoot me a message on Instagram or, you know, send me an email and I’m happy to point you in the right direction. But as always, everything that we’ve been talking about today, a full transcript, all the show notes, all of the links for everything that we have been discussing will be on the podcast website. So if you go to brand strategy, podcast.com and click on the latest episode link, that’ll take you where you need to go in order to check out all the resources and everything from today’s conversation. Mac, thank you again for joining me today for sharing more about, you know, just how fantastic honey book is and how, how we can use a tool like this in order to simplify and streamline and serve our clients even better. I’m so excited for people to get to tune in and for people to hopefully move forward and make some intentional moves with their CRM in the near future.

Mac Hughes:
I love it. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Bonnie. It’s been awesome.

Bonnie:
Absolutely. And friends as always, thank you so much for tuning in your support means the world to me and makes this podcast possible. So I can’t wait to welcome you back to the show next time. And until then, I’m gonna be cheering y’all on from Waco.

Bonnie:
Thank you so much for joining me today. Friends, before you go, I would be so grateful to receive your feedback on the brand strategy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or the podcast in general has helped you grow your brand. I’d really appreciate it. If you left us a review in iTunes, your positive reviews enable the brand strategy podcast to continue to grow and reach like-minded creatives. Just like you. Thank you for all your support and encouragement as together. We pursue building brands with purpose and intention until next time I’m cheering you on from Waco.

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My name is Bonnie – I’m a brand designer, strategist, and writer which all adds up to one eclectic conglomeration of qualities that enables me to serve you well! Past clients have dubbed me "the Joanna Gaines of brand design," and I've had more than a few call me a dream maker, a game changer, and a design wizard (my Harry Potter-loving heart didn't hate that one, let me tell you!). At the end of the day, I'm a big-hearted creative who will get teary-eyed as you share the heart behind your business; who will lose sleep over the perfect font pairings and color selections to bring your brand to life visually; and who will work tirelessly to empower, encourage, and equip you to share your work with the world intentionally. 

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