Organize with Projects / Lesson 1: Intro to Projects

Описание: If you had a filing cabinet in your office, would you throw all of your notes and official paperwork loosely inside? I mean, you might - and we get that! But creating folders within that cabinet keeps your client work organized, easy to find, and less overwhelming when you look inside. In Dubsado, those folders are called projects.

Once your account is ready for active clients, you’ll probably spend most of your time on the "Projects" tab. That's because Dubsado is organized around projects. Everything you do with a client, such as sending a contract, creating an invoice, even sending a simple email, always starts with a project. Depending on your industry and business model, you may use projects one of a few different ways - but no matter what, each individual project will be associated with an individual client. In this lesson, we'll learn how to create a project.


How to create a new project...
To create a new project, click the New Project button and enter the project title, the client, and the current project status.

You can name the project whatever you want. An easy title is a short description of what you're doing for the client, like "Brand Photography."

Next, identify the client, or main point of contact. If you're creating a project for a brand new client, click 'create a new client' and fill in the client's first name, last name, and email.

If you've worked with this client before, you'll find their client profile in the drop down menu. If you are still on a trial, you can select the existing Sample Client so you don't use up one of your three trial clients, and swap out the dummy email for your own later on.

Finally, set a status for this project. This example is for a new lead, so I'll select a "lead project." The term "no status" here just indicates there's no custom subcategory under leads or jobs.

You can also add project tags and project dates at this point, but we'll cover those features in later lessons. Click "Create Project" to create a new project with these details.


Examples
Let's take a look at some different examples of how you might use projects. This web designer has one project per website she works on. When her client asks for an ongoing maintenance plan, she creates a separate project for the maintenance contract and invoicing.

As a photographer, you might create one project per photoshoot. In this example, working with the Jones Family every year, there is a separate Dubsado project for each of those sessions. In another example, focused on weddings, there is one project created per couple, even though there are technically two shoots - an engagement session and the wedding - because the engagement session is included in the cost of the wedding package. But another option is to keep the engagement session and wedding in two separate projects.

Even if you don't consider your work to be "project-based," you will still use projects in Dubsado for working with your clients. As a consultant, you might work with clients on an ongoing basis with no defined end point, so you could create one project for each client. Another example would be working with clients on an ongoing basis, but offer different packages with varying contract lengths. If a previous client wishes to start a new contract, you would create a new project.

If you offer services on a retainer basis, you may also create one project per client. In some cases, it will make sense to create a project for on boarding purposes that stores the contract and initial documentation and then create an additional project each quarter or month to keep frequent communication more organized. This extends to the client portal as well, where all documents are organized by project.

As you can see, there are many approaches to using projects, but the most important thing is to choose the method of organization that works best for you!



Tip #1
Not sure how to use projects in your business? A good rule of thumb to start with is to create a new project whenever there needs to be a new contract and a new invoice for a completely different set of services.



Tip #2
The client associated with the project is the main point of contact. They'll be the one to receive any emails, forms, and invoices you send. You can create as many projects as you'd like with the same client, but each project can only have one client.


Tip #3
Feel free to create a TEST PROJECT anytime you need a safe area to practice in while you're learning. Using your own email address as a pretend client, you can create and send content to yourself without the risk of emailing it to a real client by accident.


Tip #4
If you have any additional questions about projects, feel free to reach out to our chat support team using the green circle icon in the lower right-hand corner of your Dubsado account.