HoneyBook: Automation, Systems & Streamlining with Jackie Klein

For this episode, I sat down with Jackie Klein, HoneyBook expert and CRM consultant, for a candid chat about what this popular platform really does—and whether it’s the right fit for your business.

You’ll hear:

• What HoneyBook actually is and how it compares to CRMs like 17hats and Dubsado
• Who it’s best for, and what kind of businesses might love it (or not)
• How to use workflows and automations to create a smooth client experience
• What to customize, what to templatize, and how not to overthink it
• The underrated features that can seriously save you time

Whether you’re HoneyBook-curious, just love a good systems convo, or want to stop leaving money on the table—this episode is full of practical gems.

About Jackie:

Jackie Klein is a HoneyBook expert, educator, and CRM consultant who helps women solopreneurs simplify and scale their businesses with confidence. A former middle school English teacher, Jackie combines her passion for education with her deep knowledge of business systems to make client management effortless. By leveraging the power of HoneyBook, she empowers entrepreneurs to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and reclaim their time—so they can focus on growing their business, not running it.

Jackie’s Links:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/kleincrmconsulting 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackieklein 

Website: https://www.hellojackieklein.com/

For those who use HoneyBook exclusively: https://www.hellojackieklein.com/services

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Transcript

Patti: Welcome back to another episode of the Biz Magic Podcast, your place for all things tech in your online business with solid. So General Biz Chat two. My name is Patty Meyer and I am the CEO and founder of Biz Magic, where my team and I support entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed by the backend tech of their business.

We create, implement, and teach the tweaks that help our clients make a bigger impact with less stress. Today we are diving into HoneyBook, one of the many CRM and business management platforms available to small business owners. Some of the competitors of HoneyBook include Dodo and 17 hats, and so whether you are just starting to explore systems to streamline your client experience.

Or you've been circling HoneyBook for a while and wondering what it actually does. Hopefully this episode will help you out. So as always, I encourage you to choose the best platform for you and your unique business. And I am not pushing HoneyBook. In fact, I've tried it in the best. And I don't particularly love it, but a lot of people do.

So that's why I wanted to shine a little bit of a light on it. And so we are just gonna share some info, um, and get that information from a HoneyBook expert. And her name is Jackie Klein. Jackie Klein is a HoneyBook expert educator and CRM consultant who helps women solopreneurs simplify and scale their businesses with confidence.

A former middle school English teacher, Jackie combines her passion for education with her deep knowledge of business systems to make client management effortless. By leveraging the power of HoneyBook, she empowers entrepreneurs to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and reclaim their time so they can focus on growing their business and not running it.

In today's conversation, Jackie is gonna share exactly what HoneyBook. Is how it works, who it might be best for, and how it can help build workflows that actually make your life easier. And the cool thing is that because HoneyBook has competitors that have a lot of similarities, again, like Dodo and 17 hats, a lot of this information.

Can be used towards those tools as well. So not only is this information helpful for HoneyBook, but it is also pretty informative for other tools and ways that you can kind of look at them. So hopefully this can help you out a little bit and, uh, let's dive in. Hey Jackie, thanks so much for joining me today.

Hi, Patty. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I'm super excited to have you. Um, so I did do a little bio in the beginning, but if you would like to just sort of share a little bit of information about yourself, how you got into doing this, why you do it, all that good stuff. Um, that'd be awesome.

Jackie: Yeah. So I have kind of a unique story. I'm a former middle school teacher, uh, middle school English teacher, and then COVID happened, and then I, I've realized my financial guy was like, you can retire now. And I was like, yay. But. Now what? Because I'm not, I call it graduated 'cause I just don't feel old enough to be retired.

Yeah. Um, thought I would do corporate. Didn't realize I didn't wanna work for COVID was a huge turning point I think for a lot of people. 'cause I didn't know I would like working from home. Yeah. Because I'd never done it. And so then I found a freelancing course, started as a VA and then found HoneyBook to use for my business and then realized I didn't like.

Being in somebody else's business. I wanna help them with their business, but I don't want the pressure. Yeah. So then I just, about a year and a half ago transitioned into HoneyBook and, um, I really, it is, I, I love it because as a solopreneur myself, I like to work with other solopreneurs who are like, how do I do it all right?

And I see I'm can help with 90% of that. So I love helping people that way. 

Patti: Yeah. I love that. Um, middle school teacher. Woo. 

Jackie: That is. I get that a lot. They're like, wow, I loved it. I couldn't do the elementary, like mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm too sarcastic, so I would make kindergartners cry. Oh, the middle school's perfect then.

Oh yeah. Middle school's perfect and they could, they can dish it right back. So you have to have a, because you never know what they're gonna say. 

Patti: Yeah. I loved it. Feel inundated by middle school students, even though I'm in my forties, like I feel like I shouldn't be scared of them, but I am. 

Jackie: Yeah. My nephew just graduated eighth grade and I was at his graduation party and I was trying to hug him and he shoved me out of the way and I was like.

Patti: Yeah, 

Jackie: that tracks. Okay. Yeah. I know he loves me, but he's got hormones right now, so it's not his fault. 

Patti: Exactly. Exactly. Well, I love it. I mean, yeah, there was a lot of transition that happened in 2020. A lot of people kind of migrated to the online space and found things and tools like HoneyBook that have been around, um, really got to shine.

And I, I think grow a lot in their own ways because they got to experience a higher level of demand and a different sort of, um. Need, right? People like the same with Zoom, right? Like need was drastically different than anything they had done before. So a lot of these platforms that had kind of been around had to really step in and be like, okay, what do we look like now in this kind of new world?

Right? So HoneyBook, I think I really saw HoneyBook doing that. During that period of time, because that's really when it came into my awareness a bit more. I was using 17 hats since 2017, but HoneyBook came into my awareness probably maybe a little bit before then, but definitely around then when it was doing like the $1 deal or whatever it was doing for a little while.

That's how 

Jackie: I found 

Patti: it was 

Jackie: the $1 deal because I'm like, I have no money yet. So yes. 

Patti: Right. Yeah, and so, but I know even. Since then, it's grown a lot. Mm-hmm. Um, because I remember I tried it then and I was like, me, you know, and I was so used to a different platform, but I've, I know that it's grown a lot, um, since then.

Yeah. So, so for anybody who's not familiar with what HoneyBook is, with what a CRM is, can you just sort of tell us a little bit about that? Give us a little overview of HoneyBook and what it does. 

Jackie: So A CRM is customer relationship management, former English teacher. You gotta define the vocabulary first, right?

Yes, absolutely. And it's basically, I call it the backbone of your business. It's all the things that you should be doing, but a lot of people don't have time for and, and so the automations, you can automate your inquiry process, your calls, your contracts, your. Invoices. All of it is there, which is what I like, because I do not love having 20 tabs open when I'm working.

Mm-hmm. Happens a lot though. M working better about that doesn't matter. I know, I know. But for my business, most of it's in HoneyBook and then I use email marketing as a separate. Platform, but it's just, it's in one place. And the thing that I loved about it was, it was fairly easy to learn. Now I came from it.

I sent a link, I built an automation, super proud of it, sent a link to a friend. Nothing happened 'cause I didn't know how to trigger it. Mm-hmm. Um, thankfully it was a friend, so she didn't judge me or anything 'cause she was learning things too. Yeah. And um, but I was able to find out how to do it. I went to their help page, but I spent hours.

It's just scouring their help page going on their community. And I didn't, well, I didn't have any clients yet, so it was fine. Yeah. But we don't have time to do that. So my goal is to always make that simpler for other people. Yeah. 'cause I had to go through the, the learning curve myself. Um. I love it just because they are constantly changing, which does annoy me a little bit.

'cause I'm like, wait, I just got used to that. Right. But they're doing it based on client input. So like a year and a half ago I was like, can we use lead forms to trigger more than one automation? And about a year later they made it happen and they, and I was like. I wasn't the only one requesting it.

Right. So they listen to their, their, their users and they make the changes based on user input. And I think that's super valuable. 

Patti: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's in sort of what I was saying too. Yeah. Like, right, like they grew as their demand grew and as they actually were able to assess the needs. Of their community and of the people who are, are using it.

Um, so I love that because that's really important in a tool that you're using, especially because your business grows, technology changes and grows. Yes. So they're not able to stay and, and or interested in staying on the cutting edge of that. They're just gonna fall behind. So I love, I love hearing that.

That's really great. Absolutely. Um, had you always been, um, or have you been, uh, kind of drawn to tech in any way? Uh, because it takes, you know Yeah. When you get into doing a lot of that stuff and the patience for learning the automations Right. 'cause I've always loved that stuff. So it, has that been a thing for you?

Jackie: Yeah. So. Here's what happens in education. For those that don't know, whenever a district or a school implements a new platform, they bring in these trainers, right? Mm-hmm. Who sit there for an hour, an hour and a half, two hours, and say, step one, do this, step two, do this step. And I was always sitting in the back going, let me just do it.

Show me how to log in. Yeah. Show me the menu and let me just do it. And I remember I was at a training once and I was about five or six steps ahead of her and she was, she gave us work time, which I laughed 'cause I was working the whole time. And she came over and she said, how are you doing? And she said, oh, you're fine.

And she walked away. She didn't even stay because I've always been just jump in and learn it. Yeah. And learning is messy and, and that's something I always tried my. Student encourage my students to do. 'cause sometimes that's just how you do it. Yeah. And so I became like the tech support person, the unofficial tech support, like my principal asked me what she said.

If people are confused, can I send them to you? And, and I, yeah. And so for me, this is like a, a good merging of my skills because I have the teaching consulting skills and I am pretty adept at picking things up quickly. Yeah. Um, which is why when I can't pick things up quickly, like I was, I. A quiz and all of that.

And it took forever and it just drove me nuts. 'cause I'm like, I should be able to figure this out. Yeah. So it doesn't always happen. 

Patti: Yeah. I really love that, that learning, that learning is messy. Um, because I think that's a really great way to look at it, because that's something I always encourage people is don't be afraid to just click around and get in there and try it out.

Put in yourself as a test contact and send yourself all the things and try it. And if it doesn't work, take the time to figure it out or hire help or, yes, but, but I love that because it's true, especially when you're learning a platform. It takes time and it is messy as you're figuring it out and stumbling through and.

It's always nice to take time and, and, and test out, but I really love that. Um, so you got in, you got into HoneyBook during the $1 days then? Mm-hmm. And, and what kind of led that to become your preferred tool? Is it because it started because you're like, this is affordable, let's do this. Have you tried other CRMs and, and business management platforms?

Jackie: I've looked into others. Um. I think for me, because when you're a teacher, they expect you to do like five things at one time. Yeah. Which I could do, but you don't. I, I know enough about brain science that our brains just don't work great that way. Um, and so when I, I think I was like, I found something. I know how to work it.

I've got an automation that works. I'm gonna stick with it. 

Patti: Yeah. 

Jackie: And then. Little did I know that that would lead to what I'm doing now because I was still doing virtual assistant work. Mm-hmm. But I didn't really know what that was. And I was trying to market myself, but I didn't know what I was doing.

Right, right. I didn't know what I was doing when I started HoneyBook either. But, um, so for me it's just like, it's in one spot. 90% of my business is there. I know it pretty well. The thing that I struggled with the most when I transitioned is I knew how to teach. Mm. Yeah. I was very good at it. And you're. I left that and I was glad to leave it.

It was time, but when you're learning something new, it's just super overwhelming and super frustrating. Yeah. So for me, when I was like, okay, I know this, I got it. I can talk to other people about it. I'm like, I'm done. But you know, I know that's not true for everybody. Everybody has a different story with that.

Patti: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So what kind of business owners do you find are kind of the best fit for, uh, HoneyBook or tend to get the most out of it? 

Jackie: Yeah, so a lot of creatives use it, like photographers, wedding planners, um, event planners, and they've made a lot of like integrations with like, um, platforms for photographers and stuff.

So everything is all in one place, but I find it also works well for consultants. I know VAs that have used it, it's. Pretty generalized. Um, I know there are platforms specifically for like accountants because they have those rules. They have to, yeah. Keep in mind, um, it's kind of a wide variety of people, but I know, I know several coaches that use it too, and they really like it.

So I think it just depends on what you're looking for. Yeah, because it has different options. 

Patti: Yeah. And, and I agree with that. I have clients and I have people on my own team that all use HoneyBook as well. So, and that's, yeah, everything from coaches to VAs to other types of service providers. So I agree that there's a lot of, of variety of people in there.

And so what does it look like if somebody has, um, like let's say a client is setting things up inside of. Of HoneyBook. So what might be kind of a typical workflow that somebody might set up for maybe, uh, their own client's journeys within it? 

Jackie: So I think well, really you need the inquiry process first, right?

So they wanna book a call with you. What happens after that? So I always encourage my clients if they're building that, to map it out on paper first. Yeah. And say, this is what I want it to look like. So they know. So that. When they, especially if they're doing it on their own, then they're not super overwhelmed by the tech.

They can take the time to figure out the tech. Yeah. So booking a call, like I send a questionnaire for majority of my packages because I wanna prep for the call. Yeah. Or the thing I love about the new lead forms is I've actually eng integrated it that into my lead form. So it's just one form, so I don't have to worry about that.

So if they decide to work with you, contracts and stuff, I don't recommend you automate because you have to personalize and you have to add the client info. So. But HoneyBook can, you can add a reminder to the automation. So it'll say, you know, after three days, send a contract and HoneyBook will alert you to that if that's something you need.

And then I've started using it actually for the outflow too. So like when a client's done working with me, I send them an email asking for a testimonial. Mm-hmm. Asking for a Google review, and I don't have to worry about it because. I, I'd like, I'm good at a lot of things. For some reason I forget about follow up.

I'm not sure why that is. Probably because I'm like, okay, that's done. Moving on right on time. Um, and the great thing about HoneyBook now is they've got conditions on their automations. So you can add a no. So like if you meet with a client and they're like, yeah, I'm interested, and you don't hear from them for three days, HoneyBook will send them a reminder email.

Like, Hey, just sent you this invoice or this contract. Let me know when it's finished. And then you don't have to be tracking that manually and HoneyBook will do it for you. So any way that you can automate that is, it's just a time saver for sure. 

Patti: Yeah. Yeah. I, anything with automation's, workflows, um, and a lot of these platforms have these site sorts of mm-hmm.

Automations and workflows that. I've sent reminders and all of that, and they will say that even though I, I agree also having the contract kind of in the workflow, because you wanna customize that a bit, but you, they all have templates, right? Yes. So you can't templatize your contract and then you just, it's still a fast process.

You just go, yes, yes, yes. Do a little customization and then you're moving on. Yeah. 

Jackie: Yeah, my, all my contracts are on company book already. All I have to do is add it to the project and then that auto-populates every, make sure I have the start dates and everything included. Yeah. Yeah. It literally takes less than 10 minutes to do that.

Yeah, 

Patti: absolutely. Yeah. Same. I do the same thing in 17 hats. I have my contract, my intake form, and then my invoicing all goes through that. And then same thing, I do an offboarding questionnaire. Um, and all of that, and it all happens just automagically. Um, but I do's beautiful, do the same thing. I customize the template for the contract or the, not the template.

I customize the contract before it goes out and then that triggers everything else that can be automated. Right, right. Yeah. It's so brilliant and it saves so much time. And the, the. Compliments that I receive on my workflow. And again, I know we're talking about HoneyBook and I use them. Yeah. But they're all very similar.

They're all, 

Jackie: they're all very similar. 

Patti: They're very similar. So I, I'm sharing this to kind of say, Hey, this is this, this is why it's such a great. Tool to have, because the, when I start working with new clients, a lot of times once they like, they've already said yes, and then they get my onboarding process and then they're like, I want that, whatever you just did, I want that.

And so that's really, that's a compliment to me and what I'm doing at the system that I'm using and why workflows are so important because that is an exceptional client experience that makes 'em want to come back. Right. Or makes 'em want to refer. When they have a higher level experience, which a lot of times these platforms offer.

Jackie: Yes. And, and then it's set up. And then it's done. You don't have to go back to it and redo it and then as your business changes, you're gonna have to make changes. But, so I have the client I just built a system for, she does monthly emails, 'cause she's got a six month retainer package. Those are all automated and she's been doing that manually for three or four years.

And so when I met with her to hand off the system and I said, they're all there, she said. What? And I said, no, they're all done. Yeah. And she said. Why she didn't, she kind of didn't know what to do with it. 'cause she was like, what? I don't have to go to my Google file and copy and paste. And I said, no, they're all there.

Yeah. But she was thrilled because who knows how much time that's gonna save her. Yeah. Yeah. And, 

Patti: and, and lost. Potential, right? Because right, like you said, if you send a contract off, but then there's no follow up system and then you get busy with some other current clients because maybe this client isn't starting until a month out.

I mean, and if they get distracted or something else happens, like you now have potentially lost that lead. Whereas Yeah, absolutely. System. It's sending them reminders and you can have things set up to say, Hey, I've noticed you haven't signed this yet. What's going on? You know? Um, and so I think that these are really important parts of your funnel that not just save you time and, and create a positive client experience, but save you money and or.

Don't leave money on the table. 

Jackie: Right. Yeah. None of us wanna leave money on the table. No. That's not good for business. No, 

Patti: no. Not at all. So, so let's talk, are, are there cons that you've experienced with HoneyBook or is there anything that you're like, I wish HoneyBook would do this, or I wish they would improve?

Yeah. This a little bit. 

Jackie: Yeah. So doing group emails or, you know, batch emails on HoneyBook, it's just a little clunky. Mm-hmm. I don't, I don't love it. So, um, I don't usually use that feature, so that's why I have like, so it doesn't work for email marketing, but most CRMs at this price point don't have that.

I, I agree. Yeah, no. So, you know, um, but it's, you know, is it on my wishlist for sure. The, I think my biggest pet peeve is their A CH payments take forever to deposit. I do not know why that is. I know a lot of people have asked them about it. Um, and like I just had a major client, it, it took like. They say four to five days, but it takes and could be my bank too.

I don't know. So it takes like a week and I just like to know that money's in the account. Yeah, that's just me. Yeah. Um, they are working on a full service banking part of the platform. They're calling it HoneyBook Finance. Um, and that would just, those payments would get moved instantly and they wouldn't charge you fees either, which I love that.

There's been a bit of a delay. Um, I, I went on and I'm like, Hey, is this ever gonna happen? 'cause I would like this because I like things all in one place. Yeah. So hopefully that's something they're working on. I'm not sure the process there. 

Patti: Yeah. So I love that again, that they listen and that they're trying different things.

I do think a CH across the board takes time, so I think it's, yeah. Not just a HoneyBook issue. Yeah. Um, it isn't like I've stopped accepting Aach H because Me too. Yeah. They would take so long and I'm like, you know, at least with Stripe and stuff, I can suck it up and pay a fee if I want it next day. Right.

Like, you can't even do that with a CH. And so I'm right. I just want my money. When I need my money. You know? 

Jackie: I think it, and I think we all want that. I, she just advised my latest client, I'm like, I turned off a CH on these. Yeah. And she said, why? I said, because it takes forever. And she said, okay, that works.

Yeah. You know, 

Patti: so much. 

Jackie: That's one thing I 

Patti: didn't think of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. So when it comes to like, customizations within HoneyBook, so whether it's the workflow or the templates or anything like that. What does that flexibility and customization look like? Because I will say that's one area that I've seen, um, in 17 hats I don't love, is that there's, there's some customization when you get into things that you just can't do as much.

It's a little more strictly templatized than like dub sodo is and like emails and contracts and things. Mm-hmm. So talk to me a little bit about the customizations you can make within, um, within HoneyBook. 

Jackie: So HoneyBook kind of offers the best of the both worlds. So with their automations, they have what, 20 or 25 pre-made automations that you can just use from onboarding to scheduling to all of those that you can just plug your stuff in.

Yeah. I open one and it's got like 50 steps and two, three conditions and it. Totally stressed me out. I'm like, okay, that doesn't work for me. I think because when I started with HoneyBook, they had some prebuilt ones, but my process was always different. So I just built my own. I'm, I'm kind of a nerd, I just like building my own.

I'm here for you. Um, you know, um, but the thing I love about them is, is the branding piece is super easy. You can upload your colors, you can even upload fonts. Um, okay, great. And you can, so like all the headers of all my forms look the same. Mm-hmm. They have this, the, they had a stock picture of mountains and I live in Colorado, so I'm like, yes, I'll put that on there.

But then my business info is, you know, on top of that and everything looks cohesive. Mm. And that was the easiest part. Even though I didn't really know how to upload stuff at first, I had to figure that out. Yeah. So I know that whenever somebody clicks on a link, they're gonna get a professional looking document, which I think is also really important.

Yeah. And it does reflect my brand. Um, and it's very easy and they have so many templates for every kind of form that you can choose and then you can. Delete sections or add sections to make it more what you need. Um, just that little plus icon and it gives you like five or different choices. Like is it a question, is it an invoice?

It's just really user friendly to, to customize those as you need that. 

Patti: Yeah. And so you've mentioned automation several times and we both know what automations are, right? Right. So let's, for anybody who might be listening that doesn't know what, when we say an automation, when you say, oh, there's all these automations, and they have different, like, can you just break down what that actually means for somebody who might not know what the heck we're talking about with 

Jackie: automation?

Yeah. So automations is also commonly known as workflow, so you can use those two different words. It's basically the step-by-step process of what your client is going to experience or think of it as like your SOP. Yeah. So when a client wants to work with you, what happens first? What happens second? What happens third?

And then the automations is you can plan out when you want those things to go out. Um, I went to a workshop very early on in my HoneyBook journey and she's like, time, everything to seven minutes because it makes them think you're at your computer writing that by hand, but you're not. And I was like, okay, so I just use seven minutes.

I don't know if that's true or not, but 

Patti: interesting though. It's an interesting idea. It 

Jackie: is an interesting idea. I mean, and I think a lot of people are like, well, automations aren't. Warm and they're not friendly. Well, you can make it warm and friendly with your text. Yes. And your, the content that you're sending them, what automations do is they just make it so you're not doing it yourself.

Right. Um, my coach actually calls me the automations queen because I look for every opportunity to, and it's in my personal life too, like if I can, my mortgage is automated. All because why? I don't wanna have to sit there and go log on and go make the payment and do, yeah. Nobody wants to do that. And so it's, it's just a huge time saver.

Patti: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the more that we can do for that, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Like you said, I think, and I had a, a conversation, um, in one of my, my, uh, episodes about this. We talked a little bit about automations and um, we kind of discussed that same thing of making, like how making it still seem warm and personalized.

It's not about. The time that it takes or that some, a robot, for lack of a better term, like is doing it. It's, you can still make that a warm, welcoming experience and personalize the text and there's all sorts of things you can do to do that. But we wanna think about it from also the, the perspective of like, let's say there's somebody that is wanting to hire you from another country, and so.

You are sound asleep and it's there. Yes, time or something, and they wanna get the ball rolling. And so instead of having to wait for you to wake up, get to your email, do your thing, get through other things, get to them. And by that point, they're in bed. Right, an automation, they will have received whatever they needed to already without having to wait for that.

Mm-hmm. And so it also makes sure that you don't, again, lo leave money on the table. You don't lose potential leads. Um, and it's just a, it's a nice way, especially in a world where we've. Created this idea of instant gratification all the time, like, right? Yes. Right. So people kind of expect these immediate responses and so it allows for that, which I don't think is a bad thing.

Jackie: No, no. I always say automate your process is not the relationship. So the more the processes are automated, the more you can spend your time working with your clients. Mm-hmm. And leading 'em through and helping them, because that's why we're all here, right? We're not here to just do this for ourselves.

Yeah. 

Patti: Yeah, absolutely. So we've talked a little bit about the kind of tasks that HoneyBook can automate. So a little bit about, um, onboarding clients and things like that. Are there any other tasks that you think are notable to share that HoneyBook can do to kind of save somebody time or take things off of their plates?

Jackie: I think payments is the biggest one. So I have a client that. She's actually a former colleague and a friend. So I've been, she's living off outta country, so I'm doing stuff for her here while they're not overseas. And, um, she would either forget to pay me or I would forget to send the invoice. So it would be like, are you gonna send me that invoice?

Or I would be like, and I hate that. Are you gonna pay me text? I hate those. Oh my God. Nobody wants to do those course. 

Patti: Nobody wants to chase people down for money. No, 

Jackie: no. And so, and I didn't. I hadn't learned how to do the recurring payments yet. It's just a little thing that you, you slide over. I mean, it takes literally two seconds.

So the more, and especially if you're on a multi-month retainer, automate those payments now, they will send the client the, Hey, your payment's gonna come. We're gonna, you know, charge your card. It does notify them, but they don't have to worry about it, and you don't have to worry about. Yeah. It's just, it makes life so much simpler.

Patti: Yeah. And those, um, the reminders also make a difference. So even if you're not having somebody on a recurring payment, right. So I have, there's, right, we're talking if we're talking to coaches or VAs and things like Right. Especially who maybe are on hour for hours or they're just, things change and ebb and flow a little bit.

The nice thing is that you have it all automated and then you can still send a reminder and so I. To what I started doing to make it, because I also hate that like, excuse me, you owe me money is I just put the comm I put in there. This is a friendly automated reminder. And so I have reminders. I love it.

So it's like I am not sitting there hitting the button to be like sent. Yes, yes. I'm not, sometimes you can go in and send remands automatically when they're taking Yes. Annually, which I do. Um, when they're really dragging their feet. It makes it warmer and friendlier and that's another way to do it, but also makes you feel like you know you or you create the fake alias of like, Susan in accounting is the one 

Jackie: that's a good, I had not thought about the fake alias.

That's, that's brilliant. I might have to start, Susan will be in touch. Susan will be in touch. Yeah. I have to ask chat for a good name for that personality. I'm sure he'll gimme one. That's a great idea. 

Patti: Yeah. So yeah, I love that. I love like those automations and, and those reminders and things like that, that really make a big difference.

But Me too, I do all of my payments through 17 hats and um, it just makes my life so much easier to just, boop, it's done. I don't have to think about it. Reminders. All the things. Um, well, in a 

Jackie: tax time, it's all there. Yes. Yeah, 

Patti: exactly. That's another good reason. Exactly. Especially if you're choosing not to use something like QuickBooks with mo, which most of these, um, integrate directly with QuickBooks.

Mm-hmm. And most of these all integrate with all sorts of platforms as well, so that you can. Set up, um, a lot of integrations with other platforms, right. Um, as needed. So I have, um, and all of them integrate with Zapier. And so yes, like I do my scheduling through Acuity. When somebody sets up an appointment in Acuity, I have Zapier add their information directly into my 17 hats, into my CRM.

So that when I go to move forward with them with a contract and an invoice and everything that's already done, and I don't have to do any of that data entry, you know? Right. Oh yeah. Coming from a lead form, which automatically puts them in there. Then I'm having Zapier input them. So there are other ways outside of that that you can use HoneyBook and integrations to kind of make things move forward as well.

Jackie: Yeah. The thing I like about what HoneyBook does is, is when someone books a call, it starts a project for them and it keeps everything under that project. 

Patti: Amazing. Yeah. So 

Jackie: you don't have to go back and look, you don't have to search and try to figure out what's happened when. 

Patti: Yeah. I love it. So any 

Jackie: way you can do that is, it's just good.

Patti: Yeah. So are there any features in your experience when you've worked with people in HoneyBook, um, that they tend to underuse? 

Jackie: I really, automations is the first one. And I only say that because I go to several, uh, virtual networking events a month, and a lot of people are like, well, here's how I keep my leads.

And they show me a notebook and I have to put my not shocked face on because I don't, I couldn't do it. I mean, I tried it once with Google Docs and that lasted me maybe a week. Yeah. Because it's just, you forget. You don't know where it is. You can't find it. Um, you know, and they're like, well, I just, I sent my client this email and I had to work on it.

The more you can take that off your plate, the more you free up your, your space for your, the creative parts of your business too. Yeah. And so, yeah, it can be intimidating if you don't understand it, but if you take the time to learn it and just, I always tell people, just start with one. See what it does, and then if you are like, oh, this is great, you can build more, but you don't have to do it all at once.

Patti: Yeah, absolutely. I always recommend that. That's a great, great bit of advice is start small, start simple, and like build into it. You don't have to like sit down and be like, all right, I'm moving everything in, and we're starting all the automations and doing everything because that is gonna overwhelm you and it might make you stop and not end up bored.

Yes. The goal is to make your life easier. Not, mm-hmm. Harder, right? So we don't want people to get caught up in that overwhelm or the dec decision, you know, getting stuck in that analysis paralysis, like anything like that, right? We don't want you to feel overwhelmed and then avoid it. We want you to keep moving forward.

So start small. Don't be afraid of that. Which leads me to if somebody that's listening either, um, has been interested in HoneyBook and wanting to start, or they're using the 17 hats and they're like, you know what? I'm sold by 17 hats. Like, what is a good way for them to start exploring, um, whether or not HoneyBook is gonna be a good fit for them, um, without getting that kind of overload.

Jackie: So I they can, so HoneyBook has a a seven day trial. I actually have a code that will save them 30% off their first year. And I like it because it's both monthly and annually. 'cause I know there's all this pressure to do annual payments. I don't love that because I just changed my quiz platform and I was able to cancel it 'cause I was on monthly.

Yeah. Payments with them. I mean, that's just the way to do it. And then cry one thing. So I, I would say like, build a scheduler, set your availability, build a lead form and send it to somebody and test it. And then if you like, what you see on the back end when that happens and how HoneyBook sets that up, then you can, you know, maybe try questionnaire and try that out.

And then, and then if at the seven days, if you do the monthly, you can do the first month and, and build a little bit more. Yeah. And then. Just ease your way into it. So the client I just built her system for, she is not accepting new inquiries in the month of July because she's wanting to transfer everything over.

I mean, the system is built, but she wants to make sure it's all connected on her website, that her schedulers are set up the way she wants, and so she's taking the month off. To fully integrate HoneyBook into everything. Um, now most people don't have that option, right? Yeah. But you could, you could do like pay for HoneyBook and still pay for your other services with a goal.

Like in three months you're gonna transfer everything over and HoneyBook will, um, build contracts for you. If you just like input A PDF, they will build that for you. So that, that makes it a little less overwhelming too. That's great. That's a great feature. 

Patti: Yeah, that's great. So, um, I tend to ask people what their favorite platform is whenever they come on my podcast.

But I wasn't going to ask you because I assume HoneyBook is your favorite, but I don't wanna make that assumption. So do you have a favorite tool that is not HoneyBook? If the answer's no, that's okay. But I thought I would ask just in case. 

Jackie: No, that's a good question. I started using about a year and a half ago Meister task.

It's kind of like Trello. Oh. But it's, I don't know, Trello always seemed cl clunky to me. I just never really liked it. So my Meister task has the cards. Mm. And I, I, so I have three boards. 'cause I'm still on the free version. I'm like, when I get another client I'll, I'll pay for it. But, so I have one for my content, which has been really helpful because I have stages.

Mm-hmm. And so I plan out my titles for my YouTube and then I move it over. So I check it and go, okay, now I need to record. And once I've recorded, I move the card over. Um, and it just. It keeps me organized that way. And I also have one for my CI call it my CEO hub. Okay. Where it's my daily workflow, like what do I have to do each day, what are my daily schedules, and then I can move them through.

And I have also have one for like contacts that I wanna follow up on. Okay, because I go to these networking events on Alignable and they're great, and I do write, you know, keep a Google doc of all of those. But it's like, if I'm not following up with those, that's, it's not really helpful. Yeah. So, and it also can remind me, so it'll like notify me on my phone, like, you've gotta follow up with this person today, which is really helpful.

Patti: That's great. You know, I've not really, I've signed up for Alignable years ago and I don't hear people talk about it much. Are you finding success there? 

Jackie: I have. Yeah. That's where I built most of my, my network really is alignable. Yeah. So I am an introvert by nature. Me too. 

Patti: Which people, I don't even like it, but 

Jackie: yeah.

No, I know. Because then we will go and like not talk to people for three hours afterwards. Exactly. I'm like, I scheduled, uh, there's a networking event this afternoon. I'm like, was that a good idea? But it'll be fine. I've got several hours. Um, so they do these smart connects and I call 'em speed dating for business owners.

So Alignable is just for small businesses, right. It's like LinkedIn. Um, and I have met, gosh, I, I think I have over 300 people because I was going once a week for, for about a year. Now, the groups that I, I'm more strategic about my groups now 'cause I, I wanna work with women, so I go to the women's only events because it just makes more sense.

But I've, I've gotten several clients from there. I met my coach there and it's just, I can talk to anybody for seven minutes and, and they have a real strong position about, they do not want you to pitch. It's about relationship building, which I love because I love that. I mean, we, there are some MLMs that both members come and they're like, how are you for your health and wellness needs?

And I'm like, I'm good. You know, because yeah, that's not gonna happen. But for the, for night, most of the events I go to, they're all there for the same purpose. And so, you know, I'm starting to host the CEO. System, reset group calls for like five or six people just to get them to think. And so I went through my alignable list and with sending personal invites to those.

And so it's, it's a much more personal way. I mean, social media is, I, I do not love social media. I mean. For my, for my personal social media, it's my dog. Okay. I post, I post maybe like three or four times a year. That's all I do, you know? Right. My dog's pretty awesome. Right. But, um, but I have a business.

Instagram. I put, I post in stories occasionally, but it's not where I wanna spend my time because I feel like you have to spend all this time. And Alignable just takes a lot of that guesswork out and you're, you're all there for the same purpose, is to build your network. Yeah. And then if I, if a client comes from that, that's great, but that's not why you're there.

Patti: So it takes that pressure off too. I love that. I know this is totally off topic, but I love that and I think No, it's, anything is helpful when we talk business, so, uh Right. That is amazing because that's one of the, the reasons I don't do a lot of like in-person networking events here is because the pitching bit for me and as an introvert.

Yes. Well. Like our energy. People think introversion means that you just are shy and don't talk. But no, it's about an ener. It's an energy thing. And so 

Jackie: yeah, 

Patti: for me to go to those types of events are very draining and very, it's stressful for me. Yeah, it's very difficult. And so I went 

Jackie: to one and I just took a step to the side and drank some water.

'cause I'm like. Exhausted. 

Patti: Yeah, exactly. And then 

Jackie: somebody came over and was like, are you okay? And I'm like, no, I'm just taking a minute. 

Patti: I'm gonna go home and nap for five days after this. 

Jackie: Exactly. Right. I mean, it, it, it is, it is a drain. But the virtual, I can talk to anybody and it's just an hour. 

Patti: I love it.

Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm gonna re look at my alignable. 

Jackie: Yeah, well 

Patti: find 

Jackie: me. If you're on there. I'd love to connect with you there. Yeah, 

Patti: absolutely. Well, this has been. Super great, super interesting. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you sharing your expertise on HoneyBook and giving people kind of a peek behind the curtain for those who have been curious, um, or don't even know about it.

So, um, if somebody wants to work with you or find you, um, how can they do so, 

Jackie: so well? Alignable is probably the easiest place. Um, so if you look up Klein CRM Consulting, and I spell Klein like Calvin Klein. A lot of people don't know who he hates anymore, but, you know, which makes me feel old. Um, but I also, my website is hello jackie klein.com.

So they can go there and my, I have my free two minute systems audit quiz there where they can, you know. Evaluate where they're at and that'll get them on my newsletter list as well. So 

Patti: yeah, and I will share all of that in the, um, show notes as well. And, um, this has just been so great. So thank you so much.

Be great too, coming and chatting. 

Jackie: Thanks for having me, Patty. I enjoyed it. Yeah. 

Patti: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Biz Magic Podcast. Like most small businesses and podcasts, we rely heavily on word of mouth. So if you like what you heard today or in any episode, please share with your friends and co.

And rate, subscribe and comment on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time, cheers to your magical biz success.