The #1 Thing That Will Save You 10+ Hours a Week (It’s Not What You Think)

Think working harder—or hiring help—is the only way to get your time back? Think again.

In this episode, I’m sharing the real key to saving 10+ hours a week in your business (and spoiler: it’s not hustle or headcount—it’s clarity).

We’ll talk about why mapping your process matters more than any fancy automation, how clarity helps you spot bottlenecks and wasted energy, and the simple shifts that make your systems actually work for you.

I’ll share real client stories—from a jewelry designer who stopped reinventing the wheel to a wedding planner who gained massive clarity before ever automating a thing—and how both used clarity to transform their client experience and reclaim their time.

If you’re tired of feeling scattered and want a business that runs smoother (without running you into the ground), this episode is for you.

Mentioned in this episode:
Book your System Strategy Session
to map out your client experience step-by-step and finally find the clarity your business needs.

Stay in Touch with Us

Book a Free 15 Minute Discovery Call to Learn How I Can Help You Work Less, Make More & WOW Clients: www.amysgould.com/book-a-call

Website: www.amysgould.com

Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SystemsforCreatives

Share your take-aways by email: amy@amysgould.com

Connect with us on Instagram: amyspearson_

Chapters

• 1:17 Busting The Productivity Myth
• 1:44 Clarity Over Hours And Headcount
• 2:50 Map Your Process To Spot Waste
• 3:50 Repeatable Packages Beat Custom Chaos
• 5:56 Sticky-Note Mapping To Five-Star Systems
• 7:00 Strategy Sessions And Client Journey Design
• 7:50 Decision Fatigue And Consistent Messaging
• 8:48 Strategy First, Tech Second Always
• 9:55 Invite To Map Your Client Journey
• 10:37 Closing And Listener Action

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

Hey there friends, welcome back to Systems for Creatives, the podcast where we help creative entrepreneurs work less, make more, and wow their clients through simple systems and smart automation. Today we're busting a big myth. One I hear all the time. If I just work harder or hire a team, things will finally run smoothly. The real unlock isn't working longer hours or adding more people to your payroll. It's clarity. Clarity about how your business actually runs and how you can make it run smoother. Now, if you're new here, I'm Amy Pearson, certified Dub's auto specialist, honey book educator, and your go-to system strategist for all things automation, client experience, and business simplicity. I've helped dozens of creative entrepreneurs, from photographers and planners to designers and coaches, build systems that let them stop reinventing the wheel and start enjoying the freedom they went into business for in the first place. So let's talk about that myth because I get it. When we started our businesses, we did all the things, we put in all the extra hours. I remember spending so much time building out a website, coming up with branding, putting together my email marketing software, and definitely building Dub Sato. And so when business feels chaotic, I don't know about you, but my first instinct is usually to throw more time or more people at the problem. But here's the truth: before you can fix your systems, you have to actually see them. And that's where the clarity comes in. When you take the time to map your process step by step, something magical happens. You start to notice what's missing, what's redundant, and where you're wasting energy. Maybe you're sending five different emails to say what one email could. Maybe you're following up inconsistently or spending way too much time customizing proposals that could easily be templated. When you have a map, you can start creating a repeatable process. You can templatize your emails, simplify your client journey, and make sure every client gets the same thoughtful experience without you having to start from scratch every single time. And the best part is you don't have to automate right away. You can start small just by following the same process every single time. That alone saves you hours every week. Let me give you an example. I remember one of my Done For You DeB Sado clients. She was a jewelry designer, and we spent a lot of time figuring out how to streamline her processes, especially when it came to the different types of projects that she was doing with clients. Now, when she came to me, she was doing everything from scratch, basically, for every client. And we really had to work on coming up with a repeatable process and following the repeatable process, which was a challenge for her. And I, you know, I've been there too. I find myself sometimes still to this day changing things up for one particular client or another, or making a package that's particular to one client. But every single time that I do that, I kick myself. It really just throws a monkey wrench in the whole thing and makes my life so much more difficult. And it was doing the same thing for this client. She was spending so much time managing things manually and then also trying to figure out how to make the automated system work when she threw that monkey wrench in there. And I'll tell you right now, it doesn't work particularly well when you switch things up on a system. They're meant to follow a certain order of tasks, and when you decide to go off the rails, basically the whole thing goes off the rails. So that is one of my biggest takeaways. Just stop reinventing the wheel. Start really just following the process. And if you need to make a couple different packages that allow you some flexibility with the offers that you're giving clients, don't reinvent the wheel every time. Just come up with different packages and have a process for each one. That is still gonna save you a ton of time. Sitting down and mapping out the process is a huge time saver. One of my clients, a wedding planner, did this before she ever got on a call with me. She literally had a wall full of sticky notes with every single step of her process mapped out. I was so proud of her when I saw that. It was such an amazing accomplishment, and I know firsthand how difficult it is to sit down and do that. The reason she did that was that she had been feeling completely overwhelmed and thought the answer was hiring help. But once she sat down and mapped out her entire client journey from start to finish, she started seeing exactly where things were bottlenecking, what she could drop or delegate, and how to make the client experience smoother. By the time we met for her Dub Sato setup, she had a really solid plan and I was able to take it to the next level. We streamlined her workflows, simplified some things, added touch points to make her client experience feel five-star, and built automations that made her new system practically run itself. And it all started with that clarity that she had done before we ever got on that call. But I'll tell you, you don't have to do all that by yourself. That is exactly what we do inside my system strategy sessions. We sit down and map the entire process for your services from lead to booking through onboarding, all the little touch points along the way of delivering your service, and then we map out a plan for offboarding clients so that they feel cared for and you stay top of mind with them even after you've completed work. So if you want help mapping out your client experience, book a system strategy session with me at amiesgould.com backslash workflow dash strategy dash session. Or head to the show notes if you don't want to remember that link and book a call with me. I'll be happy to help you map that all out. So why does clarity save so much time? First of all, it eliminates decision fatigue. You're no longer figuring it out as you go. You know exactly how each client moves through your process from inquiry to offboarding, and that consistency gives you back your mental energy. It also gives you so much clarity when you're explaining to clients on discovery calls how you work. You know exactly what's gonna happen after that discovery call and can explain how they book with you, what happens after they book with you, and the process that you go through to deliver the service to them. And once you've got that clarity, then you can decide what to automate, what to delegate, and what to ditch entirely. Sometimes you don't realize the things that are bogging down your process until you map it all out and go, why am I even doing that in the first place? So I just want you to remember the map is more valuable than the tool. Strategy first, tech second always. If you don't map out the strategy first and you just go building the system, I promise you, is going to be a mess and it's gonna get confusing. And you're gonna hop around a whole bunch of times because when you are building automation, you have to have an email written, a scheduler built, all of these things. And so you go to build the workflow step and realize, oh, I need a scheduler for that. Let me go build the scheduler. Oh, I need emails written for this scheduler, let me go write those emails. Shoot, I wanted to send them a form to collect all their information about their wedding. Okay, now let me go build the form. What was I even doing in the first place? It's crazy. And as someone who builds systems all the time, I can tell you it's really easy when you don't have a plan in place to just run yourself ragged around your tool trying to set it up. So remember, strategy first, tech second. So if you've been feeling like you're spinning your wheels, you're constantly reinventing your process, wondering if you're ready to automate, or if you need a new team member, or gotta find hours in your day somehow, it might be time to get some clarity. During my system strategy session, we'll sit down together and map out your entire client journey. You'll walk away knowing exactly where your bottlenecks are, how to streamline, and how to turn your client experience into something you're really proud of. If you want my eyes on your system and one-on-one help building that foundation, head to amysgould.com backslash workflow dash strategy dash session to grab your spot. Alright, friends, that's it for today's episode. Remember, you don't need to work harder to grow your business. You just need a clear plan that works for you. If today's episode sparked a light bulb moment, I'd love to hear from you. Share it on Instagram and tag me at Amy S. Pearson. Tell me what you're mapping next. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time, keep working less, making more, and wowing those clients.