← This Can't Be That Hard
This Can't Be That Hard
368 - Airtable for Artists: Tech that Works With Your Brain with Ashley Rose
00:38:16
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- [00:00]
A
Hey guys, real quick before we dive in today, if you are feeling nervous this year and wondering if the upcoming busy season is actually going to be profitable for you, I want you to come to my free live workshop this May. It's called Economy Proof your busy season. And I am going to walk you through three specific ways to grow your photography income without raising your prices. We've got three sessions to choose from, including time zone options that are Australia and Europe friendly friendly. So hopefully there's something that you can come to live. Head to thiscan'tbethard.com economy to grab your spot. Registration only takes about 30 seconds and of course, the webinar is completely free. All right, now let's get into today's episode. All right, I wanna ask you something and I want you to be honest with yourself when you answer. I want you to think about the tools in your tech stack and whether or not they fully work for you. Now, I don't mean that the tools that you have don't do what they're supposed to do. I'm saying how many of them are actually doing what you need them to do? Because the thing that keeps coming back to me as I think about software and tech and all this stuff is that most tools are kind of opinionated about your workflow. They were built for somebody else's workflow, right? And you have to adapt your business to fit inside them. And sometimes that's helpful, especially in the beginning because we all need somebody to guide us on, you know, what to do, what to say, when to say it, when to do it. But over time, as you start to develop your own opinions about how things should go and when they should happen and what should trigger them and all that sort of stuff, you often feel like you are outgrowing the software that you have. Airtable is different. And I know that sounds like something that I'm pitching, but airtable is not anything that I make any money on. And so I want to tell you why I'm saying that. I have been using airtable for, I guess it's about four years now. And it has literally become the connector of everything at this can't be that hard. My client data, my production workflows, my business dashboard, all of it lives in there. It has also become the connector for all kinds of things in my personal life, in my husband's business, my in laws are getting ready to move and I have an air table built that's somewhat simple but also contains a lot of really important information. We're organizing all of their belongings because they're paying movers and they want to know where things are and where they're going and where they're going to be able to find them. It was so simple for me to set up because I know how to use this tool to do basically anything that I want it to do. And the reason I know how to do all those things is, is because of Ashley Rose of Systems Over Stress. Ashley was on the show back in February, so if you haven't caught that episode, you should go back and listen to it. It was a lot of fun. But I specifically brought her on the show back then just to kind of introduce her to the audience, introduce you guys to her, so that you could be aware of, have this woman in your back pocket like I do. The way that she thinks about systems and about organization and her knowledge of airtable is super inspiring. And back in February, we were really just talking about the organization side of things, right? What it means to build systems that fit your actual life. But today is part two, and this is the part where we get to go deeper, specifically about airtable. What makes it genuinely different from a spreadsheet where it fits alongside tools that you already have, like Dubsado or Honeybook, and the kinds of things that photographers are actually building inside of airtable that you might not have even imagined yet. So if you have ever heard me talk about airtable or heard anybody talk about Airtable, if you've ever poked around in it for an hour and then kind of close the tab, this episode is going to be for you.
- [04:33]
B
Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Anna Mi Tonkin, and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it, and I can show you how.
- [05:03]
A
Ashley Rose, welcome back to this Can't Be that Hard. It's great to see you. How have you been?
- [05:08]
C
I'm great. I love being here. I love. I love talking tech with you. I know.
- [05:13]
A
Same. It's. That's part of my. This is like. My personal reason for bringing you on the show is just because I really do love nerding out about this stuff. But I have been, you know, you have been sort of. Your name has been dropped in plenty of my circles. I send out emails that reference you. I talk about you, you know, every once in a while. Your name comes up on the podcast just because you really did play a very pivotal role in my own tech journey when you introduced me to airtable, which has become such a huge, huge. Like, it is the spine that connects absolutely everything in this can't be that hard and my life. So, yeah, you're one of those people that, like, ranks real high in my. In my own journey, so I'm happy to have you back.
- [05:57]
C
Yeah, I love hearing, like, you know, we teach one specific thing in airtable, and my. In my business, we teach client management. But then to hear like, oh, now I manage my whole podcast flow out of it and all of this and that and that, like, the ways that people branch out to use this tool is really cool once they see what it's capable of.
- [06:13]
A
Totally. I mean, it is and that. And it's actually the specific reason that I wanted to dedicate an entire episode in this tech and software. The whole month is being dedicated to that topic. And I wanted to do a whole episode on airtable because I feel like the trick with certain kinds of software is that it's like, it's so big, and so there's so many possibilities that people get lost in, like, what to use it for, and then they just kind of bounce. So, you know, you were on the show back in February. We talked a lot about the philosophy of organization at the time. Right. Like figuring out systems that work with your brain. And since then, I have talked to a lot of people who have said that that month about organization and everything really got them thinking differently about the way that they run their businesses. But when it comes to Airtable in particular, I feel like a lot of people just don't know where to start. So I wanted to kind of dive in there. And before we get into the how, I was wondering if you could just remind people a little bit about what makes Airtable different from something like Google sheets or spreadsheets. Because that's the part that I think is probably the number one point of confusion.
- [07:34]
C
Yep. Yeah. So without. Hopefully y' all stick with me. Cause I'm about to use some nerdy terms like databases. But what airtable is. Airtable is a database that connects data together. If you just look at them, if you open them up side by side, they look very similar. They have the grids, they have the columns, they have the rows. But all of us have used spreadsheets to manage our clients or to manage moving pieces, our business. And we know a spreadsheet lives in a silo. So, like, you have onboarding details over here, you have their payments over here for the client, but they're not connected. And airtable is a database. So all of those tables are not just tabs in one Google sheet, but they really are. They're. They're connected, they're cohesive, they reference each other. And you really create, like, a client profile. So you can open up Ashley's profile and see, here's. Here's the last time she submitted an onboarding form. Here's when her next shoot date is. Here's when, like, I'm supposed to get the files to her. Like, all of that just becomes, like, way more customizable and cohesive. So instead of all of that data living in different pieces in your Google sheets and in your notes app, it's all in one central spot. So it becomes this really organized, centralized, like, source of truth for your clients and on all the parts of your business.
- [08:52]
A
So the. I don't feel like you got too nerdy at all about that. It was a really concise way of saying it, which I appreciate because I feel like sometimes I get into this spiral where somebody asks me about it and I don't know where to start and I don't know where to stop talking about it, which in many ways was what stopped me from learning about airtable for so long was just because I couldn't articulate and I couldn't get anybody else to really clearly articulate what it was, how it was different. People would say the word database and I would feel like, yep, I don't have anything to do with databases. Yeah. But since I've learned about how databases work through my interaction with airtable, which is like, baby steps when it comes to true databases, I think. But the more that I learn about it, the more I see opportunities everywhere, not only for. I mean, not only are companies, big companies like, you know, Netflix and stuff like that, they're all run on databases. And I think Netflix in particular is on airtable. But. But then I come across situations like hospital records and things like that that don't connect well with each other, where you go into a doctor's office and they take your patient history or whatever, and then you go into another doctor in the same network, and they don't have any of that information. They don't have access to that information, which just means that, like, they have essentially built their databases in spreadsheets instead of databases, which ends up just being super inefficient for everybody. And I feel like, yeah, the more I learn about it, the more I want to evangelize about it. So.
- [10:36]
C
Yeah, and just. I. I just was at the doctors yesterday, and it's funny that you mentioned that. Cause I'm like, oh, funny that the nurse asked me the same question that the doctor just asked me. I'm like, y' all aren't even like, where is your note taking?
- [10:46]
A
Yeah.
- [10:47]
C
And when you go into, like, client management and the ways that we work, it really affects your clients too, especially if you want to start to grow and maybe you have assistance or maybe other customer service people like to be asked a question that, you know, that you've already answered to them or, you know, you've submitted that form. Why are they asking me where that is? Like, it just, it. It erodes trust in a way. When your client experience that, that just if you have the right systems, you can. You can really be like, remembering people is impressive and makes people feel good. And just all of that is like, that's what your systems and your databases can allow you to do.
- [11:21]
A
Right. And I'm sure that anyone listening can relate to the idea. Even if you're brand new in your business and you only have a hand clients, so you know everything about them, and you know every family member's name and every detail of everything that you've done together. You know that at some point, the goal is to get to a point where you don't have all that information readily accessible in your mind. Or if you do, then your mind works way better than mine does. I need all of the support that I can get when it comes to remembering those kinds of things and holding on to those details. And you're totally right. When someone feels like the person they're talking to remembers the. Not just who they are, but, like, the smaller details of the conversations that you've had, it makes them feel important and it builds trust versus the opposite, which is where, you know, that trust starts to erode, that client experience starts to get kind of murky, and they feel like, oh, you know, I've run into clients, photography clients, you know, out in the wild at the grocery store or whatever, and totally spaced on names, which is the worst feeling. And of course, it's not practical for me to whip out airtable at that point, but I wish I could. I really do.
- [12:39]
C
Yeah, I have ADHD and depression, and a lot of my clients are neurodivergent. And, yeah, it's like I needed these systems just to get by. I'm like, maybe a neurotypical person could keep 10 people in their head. When I could only keep five, but no one can keep 20, 50, 100 people. Like all of that data in your head. And that's specifically what I love about airtable is that all of my clients, we have a photography client, she's pet photography, she wants to engage like she wants to say hey I'm, hey Ashley, I'm so excited to have your shoot with you. And insert pet name here. Like our airtable automations can do those types of reminders and customizations to her emails automatically. So whatever touch points she wants to automate that care and those reminders to it, it's so flexible that it can do it and pull in the right names and the right dates and the right like all of those moving pieces without you having to, to dig.
- [13:35]
A
Yeah. Okay, now I don't know which direction to go first. I want to, let's go in the direction of automation. So you mentioned automations which I think is another key way that airtable is different from any kind of spreadsheet that's out there is that there are all these built in automations that you can build that pull from the data are triggered by things happening in the data. Do you want to talk a little bit about the kinds of ways that automations are being used in your business or might be used with like your photography clients?
- [14:12]
C
Yeah, totally. So the first step is to get all of your client data in one place. So when they become a client, how much they've paid when their photography session is all of those things, when all of the data is in one airtable base, then the thing like the things you can automate are limitless. So if you have your onboarding forms connected to client profile and you can see they booked seven days ago but they haven't filled out their session form yet, send them an email, remember asking them to fill that out. So you can send automated engagement reminders so you can do that based on, and then if it's been 10 days and if it's three days before the session and they haven't booked it, they haven't filled out a form and you have a cancellation policy, you can like any of those things that all, all of us have different policies, different procedures and how we want to handle client engagement, you can automate that based on your unique like policies. And so that's something that you can automate but then also just automating, I automate reminders all the time. We do, we do coaching calls, I do calls with my delivery assistants and our clients and so the day of a call I'M like, hey everybody in Slack. Airtable and Slack are directly integrated so you can send a Slack message. Hey team Ashley and Karanda have an experience audit call today. Reminder, here is the sop, here is the, here's the client name, here's like what we should be thinking about, here's like all the important links. So it just helps you kind of be briefed on what you're supposed to be working on that day. All of those different types of things.
- [15:45]
A
Yeah. And I have stats that pull from Airtable and auto populate for me each week so that I can be looking at, you know, what's going on in the business, how many new email subscribers we have, all those kinds of things without me having to go do that work. And it packages it up and sends me a little Slack notification that has that information in it on Monday morning. So I, I mean these are little things but they sure do, you know, like lighten the load on a week to week basis and a day to day basis.
- [16:20]
C
Yeah, and I am seeing, it's, it's interesting. People are really excited about AI right now and like they're like, oh it can, it can generate this like cloud cohort can do xyz. And I'm like airtable has been doing that for me for years at this point. It's a pretty simple automation. And so it feels like airtable to me is like a very strong foundation to build your business off of. And, and people are kind of just getting the shiny software of AI and cloud cowork and all those things. And I think that directing some of that automation, streamlining energy more over to airtable versus AI I think is a, is a smarter, more sustainable way to kind of go about some of these things.
- [16:56]
A
Yeah, well, and I actually participated a summit last fall where I spoke about how airtable is this like super necessary piece of the AI puzzle. Because if you want to use AI, AI is only as good as the information that you're giving it. And if you're spending a ton of time hunting down information to give to AI, you're kind of negating the benefit. Right. And I feel like Airtable, when you've got all of your, if it's your client data, if it's your sales data, if it's like if people fill out an onboarding questionnaire, you know, when somebody books your photography business and they fill out a questionnaire, if you've got all that questionnaire sitting, all that questionnaire data sitting in a spreadsheet somewhere and you're not really doing anything with it, it's just kind of dead in the water. When you are then able to pull that really easily or filter it the way that airtable allows you to filter data and say, okay, I just want, you know, maybe I have two different kinds of photography clients. I photograph weddings and I photograph families. I just want all the answers from my family clients In a spreadsheet. You might spend two hours trying to pull that data manually, whereas with airtable it's as like quick as the click of a button and then you can export it and get going with it.
- [18:17]
C
Yeah, you create these really simple filtered views and if you don't know what airtable is, that's fine. But if you do know, like basically how I look at it is you can set up views to answer any question you have about your business. So if, yeah, if you only want your lead data, if you only want family clients, if you only want wedding, then you can just set up these one click filters. So then you can just get right to the data that you need to get to.
- [18:40]
A
Speaking of photographers who have a couple of different lines of business, when we were talking ahead of this episode about the photographers that you're working with and how you're seeing photographers use airtable, you had mentioned a pet photographer who does like equine horse photography, but also dog photography and uses different locations. I'd love to hear kind of the nuts and bolts of what you're working on with that person and how that is looking.
- [19:11]
C
So before working with us, she was using Honeybook or she was using Dubsado for everything and for like managing the sessions and the questionnaires. And I know a lot of photographers love and use honeybook and Dubsado and we, we like it too. It's one of the best ways to take payments, contracts, invoices, proposals, all of that. It's really nice for that. But she was hitting the limitations when it comes to the management of the actual sessions and also zooming out and seeing the data for all of her clients over time. Dubsado really works in Silo. It's kind of very similar to spreadsheets in that way that it's just really hard to be able to like zoom out and see your data. So what we ended up doing with her, even though she had um, her, her intake questionnaires, like her contact forms are built in Dubsado, she couldn't have the sophistication that she needed to get the right messaging to the right person, depending on what they selected in their form. So we actually rebuilt. And this is, it makes sense why some, a lot of people are confused because it's like well Dubsada can make pretty forms and airtable can make forms. So why would I build them in airtable versus like there's just so many competing features in all of these softwares that it's, it's hard to see why, where to do what. But we moved a lot of her forms from Dubsado to Airtable specifically because of some of the automation flexibility we could do. So we could very easily say if they select Equine and they're in the northeast part of her region, send them this booking form with this list of locations and all of that was able to be really detailed and easily segmented through the Airtable automations. So that was one thing that we did. And then now when they book they get these really simple forms. When they pick the location in Dubsado it would just be like a little form that said like location. I don't know Farm one, Farm two, Farm three. But in Ern table she has now a full database table that's her location. So there's Farm 1, Farm 2, Farm 3, but then the contact information for Farm 1, 2 and 3. So that way when a Farm 1 is booked she can reach out to Farm 1 automatically and say hey, contact name, I got a new client, we're coming on this date. You know, all of those like the deeper pieces of her management, you can go really, really deep with that stuff. So even though top level it might look, the forms look the same, what you can do with the data is so much richer inside of Airtable than it is in Dubsado. You will always hit a wall when it comes to Dubsado Honeybook. I have not really hit any walls when it comes to Airtable necessarily of what we can do and build and automate there because it's so flexible.
- [21:53]
A
Yeah, same. And it's crazy. I was a Dubsado user for years and I needed that because I didn't have, you know, a CRM was a major step out of chaos for my business. So I appreciated that. I guess I feel like at this point you're totally right. There are a few things that those CRMs do that airtable could do. Like you could build it out. But it's going to be, you're going to have to integrate some other tools that will allow you to do like online signatures and things like that. I mean it gets kind of complicated and tedious. So I wouldn't, I don't know Would you recommend that somebody ditch their CRM or.
- [22:37]
C
So I actually think that calling a. I don't, I don't like that Dubsado markets themselves as CRM because I don't think it is that. I think it is a very good contract invoicing and payment software and con like content. It's great for contracts, get proposals. It's great for invoices. It is absolutely awful for client relationship management. And that's what a CRM is like. You can't do a lot of that stuff. Once they pay you, then the rest of it is very limited. Like you can get. You can give them an intake form. Sure. But the data of that intake form is. Lives in their client profile. It can't be like it lives in this silo. So I think it's a very poor CRM, but an incredible payment like contract and invoicing software. So it's. I think right now it's $55 a month. So it's about $500 a year. If you are taking more than $5,000 in contracts, proposals, invoices, I actually recommend you keep it for that, Keep it for the contracts. But we use Aerith, how they work together. I think this is relevant for a lot of the people who use these softwares is you actually handle the lead management in airtable once they're ready to become a client. In airtable, you say create proposal and contract in Dubsado and it automates that and sends that off to them. That's all it does, is it's just going to send the contract, payment, invoice, nothing else. And then everything else gets managed in airtable. So that's my difference. I really, I think it's a disservice to call that a CRM because it's just. It's just not. That's not the right tool for that.
- [24:08]
A
Yeah. And I think that this is the limitation that Airtable removes is there are so many pieces of software out there and I'm sure we can all relate to this. Whether you have a CRM or anything else where you're like, ah, I love that it does X, Y and Z. I wish that I could make it do A, B and C. And you contact customer support and they're like, great, please submit that as a feature request. Yeah. And then, you know, three years later, that still hasn't even like made it onto their future list, much less actually gotten done. So in Airtable, I feel like with a little bit of creativity and you know, this is a great use case for Chatting with Claude, like how would I set this up in airtable if I, if I needed to. Now I will say that when it comes to this kind of tech stuff you can go down some pretty annoying like goose chasey type situations. With AI, it's not always, you do have to understand how it works and not just blindly follow. But it's a great way to learn if you've got something that doesn't have like a hard time deadline ahead of it.
- [25:15]
C
Yeah. And I, I've said this for years, that airtable really is like Legos. Like I can't you give me Legos, I'm, I can't build anything with that. But like if you give me a temp, like if you give me the walkthrough and you make sure I have the right pieces, like I can put something together.
- [25:31]
A
Right.
- [25:32]
C
And so it's really that like there is that like knowledge and skill to where like you're getting a fully blank canvas. And so that's why I know you have airtable templates. I have airtable templates. Starting from a template is really helpful. I've also, I'm, I'm totally for using AI to handle some airtable troubleshooting. I've seen it recommend some pretty hairy stuff like it will offer to make automate a script and so it'll give you all this code which is really hard to decipher when it's breaking and troubleshooting. And there's a lot of easier ways to build automations in airtable than just like skipping because it's a robot. So it's like pop this script in and it'll do all these things that you don't actually know. It's very like black box feeling versus if you set up an automation that says when a record says send email it's going to send a Gmail and like you can read it easier. And so AI is, is not giving us, I'm sure you could prompt it in a way that can give you simpler stuff. But that's why I do recommend starting with a template from somebody from a person who knows your business, who knows the strategies that you're kind of looking for and then use AI to kind of help you refine that, that template over time.
- [26:44]
A
Yeah, for sure. A lot of, I mean I would not have ever gotten off the starting blocks with airtable if I had just been handed the keys and said here, go make some stuff. It just never would have happened. And I imagine that that's true for, for a lot of the people Listening to this episode, like the. We are a creative bunch in many ways, but sometimes when it comes to tech, it just gets, you know, it can be overwhelming. And that limitless possibility in some ways is a bad thing. When you're first starting, as soon as you understand the way the pieces fit together and, like, how to build the LEGO structures, you know, then if you want to get nerdy about it, I am here as a living, breathing testament to the fact that you can take it as far as as you want.
- [27:34]
C
Yeah. I will say they're 100% a learning curve with Airtable, and it can look harder than something like Notion. A lot of the times I see somebody try to use airtable, they get frustrated. They see how easy Notion is and how intuitive it is and how drag and drop it is, but you're going to hit a ceiling. And like, I would rather you figure out a foundation and something that's like, a little more technical, that can really grow with you, then build out your entire client. Client system in Notion or in Dubsado, and realize, like, this actually isn't. Like, I'm going to keep hitting walls. And so it's. I'm. I wish I know somebody's doing it, like, set up your client systems in a day with Dubsado in under an hour. And I'm like, that's unrealistic inside of airtable. It's also. You can do some. Some parts in Dubsado, but it's just like, it's. It's important as a systems person to, to help people, like, see the light at the end of the tunnel.
- [28:25]
A
Yeah, yeah. Paint the bigger picture for sure. I have never really gotten into Notion. I have an account and have played around in there a little bit. I totally get where the branding is prettier and the, you know, it feels more kind of like a really, I don't know, like, approachable, pretty notebook. But. But it. I've just. Yeah, I very quickly ran into like, nope, this doesn't do all the stuff I want it to do. And the fact that airtable, for so many people, all they ever need is a free account is another piece of it that I'm just like, oh, my gosh, please go try this tool. Even if you only use it for a handful of things. It's like saying, well, I don't want to get into Google Suite. Like, why wouldn't you use Google Docs? It's available, it's easy. And. And, yeah, so I feel like I just, I want everyone to have access to this thing. That I feel like, feels techie and hard, but doesn't have to be if you've got some of the basics in place.
- [29:31]
C
Yeah. And airtable, I really believe airtable is an optional for any, any business. It's like whether you have like zero clients, it's a great place to track your leads for free. Other software like a spreadsheet is too basic. And Dubsado and Honeybook you have to pay. Airtable is 24amonth. Dubsado is 55amonth and it does a fraction of the things that you need it to do. So I'd rather if you're like cutting costs and figuring out things, it's like invest in the free version of airtable and do and maybe send your contracts manually if you can't do Dubsado. Like there's so many workarounds. But in terms of what tech to invest in first in your business, I think airtable is absolutely one of the best ones you can use.
- [30:10]
A
Yeah. And that's a like a relatively new thing for me for years as an educator been like, go get yourself a CRM. Do it today. I feel like it's kind of a crazy thing that I am now walking back that recommendation and saying, you know, there's an asterisk beside that, if you're really on a budget, pull up our sleeves and learn some stuff. You can really take it as far as you want to go.
- [30:36]
C
And yeah, in my program we have a 12 month system support program called Systems Over Stress and we have a ditch Dubsado training. But the first thing I say in that training is if you want a simple billing and contract system that like you only have a couple clients and you want like that $500 a year, you really want to save like you can. Like here is the path to ditching Dubsado. However, if you can afford it and you can swing it and you want that simplification, then like it's good. It's, it's a great thing to, to use. So it's, it is that feeling. But like Airtable is the foundation and the core either way. So I think a lot of people think I need a CRM. So they think they need ClickUp says their CRM, sometimes honeybook themselves, they're all marketing themselves as that Airtable doesn't care about photographers, it doesn't care about small business owners. They're marketing to Hulu, Netflix, the big, the big companies. That's where they're putting their focuses. And so it's up to people like us to Be like, we found this magical tool. Here is how you can use it in the context of your business. Because they're not creating the, you know, the, they're not putting millions of dollars into their marketing strategies to market to us like other businesses, other software is.
- [31:47]
A
Yeah. And nor do they need our money. So that's why we get the super cheap or free options with tons of feature availability, like all those automations that we were talking about. That's not gatekept behind a paywall, which at minimum, even if you do get to the point where you're using it enough that you want to upgrade to that $24 a month, you know, basically free cost at that point, you know everything about it. You have had plenty of experience with all of it. So you're not, you're not just guessing that it's going to be useful.
- [32:23]
C
Yep, a hundred percent.
- [32:25]
A
Amazing. Okay. Okay, so last question. I know that we promise to keep this one short, but if somebody is listening to this episode and they, you know, they want to try airtable, they want to dive in, what is kind of the smallest possible starting point? What. Where could they. Is there like something that they could dive into for an afternoon to kind of figure out whether this is going to be useful in their business?
- [32:56]
C
Yeah, totally. So I have a masterclass. I think like we said, it's. So if you just go to airtable you can create a free account, you can click around in it, but I think you'll probably get overwhelmed because it is so like it's, it's a lot to look at. But I have a masterclass called the three Simple Automations to set up so things are so client experiences stop slipping through the cracks. Something like that. Essentially what I do is I show you how airtable will fix a lot of your scaling problems or your growing problems. And like showing you screenshots of like, this is what Air Table can look like to help you manage your clients. Here's how it can help you streamline your lead process. So, um, I, I wish I, I actually don't wish I made this very conscious decision. I don't give like airtable free Air Table templates because you don't have like, you need the whole cohesive system. And so it's helpful to see like you could like, I'd rather you just look at the master class and see all the things it can do and while you're doing it, go ahead and pop open an airtable account, kind of click around and get experience in it. But that's like my Biggest of my biggest next steps is, is look at a system. Look at a person who understands your business, who's. I've been in the software every day for the last six years. Like, I know how airtable can support you. My company is called Systems Over Stress and I really take that to heart. Anytime you're stressed out, there is a system that will solve it. That system, almost 100% of the time is built on Airtable and so really helping you see if you're struggling with this. Here's the airtable system that could help you with that and be able to like, help you paint that picture.
- [34:30]
A
Yeah, yeah. And I will personally vouch for the content that Ashley delivers, not just in her master classes, which I've been to several at this point. And I always take something new away. It's always fun and educational and like inspirational really. But also, you know, if anybody does have an interest in learning how to make this the foundation of your business, I fully support, you know, the investment of time, energy and money that goes into setting this up up front. Will be paid off a zillion fold as you learn. And it took me, I'm going to say, I don't know, four to five weeks of poking around and feeling like I don't really understand what's happening here. And then all of a sudden it clicked and I started to see I wasn't just following directions. It was like I was thinking a couple of steps ahead and I was like, oh, I see how this is all coming together and it's just grown from there. And again, I have you to, to thank for that, so. Thank you, of course.
- [35:41]
C
And I just like, especially with the AI of it all, and so many things are just promising that speed and ease and like set up this thing by just telling you what it wants. And I just don't think that's necessarily the way that we're going to build, like, long term, very financially healthy businesses. Like systems are a skill you need to master. Just like marketing, just like sales, just like delivery. And systems help you with all of those things. And what I love to see is when people join my program, they ask pretty basic questions in the start. So we have support ticketing systems that'll be like, I'm like, it's just very rudimentary Airtable 101 questions. But then a month in they're starting to ask like, hey, so I want to, I want to do this, Is that possible? And we help them with that. And then later on, I think you've been one of These people where it's like, okay, so I've created this new base and now I'm adding roll ups and now I'm doing interfaces and you're like, using terms. I'm like, you didn't know those terms like three weeks ago. And so you're the. While the learning curve is there, like, the things you can do once you have this skill, you feel powerful and you can feel like, oh, I can add features to my offers that, like, make my clients feel more seen. Like, I know how to build the things that I want to build in my business. And that is, like, very, very powerful and very freeing. So, yeah, investing in and learning about systems is one of the best uses of your time and money, for sure.
- [37:03]
A
Super cool. All right, Ashley, where can people sign up for your masterclass?
- [37:08]
C
Yeah, the best place to go to is just my Instagram systems overstress. And you'll see whatever I'm promoting at the time of this. And yeah, we have. I have a live masterclass that I'm doing May 12, but if not, there'll be replays and versions of it and just more. More systems help. I hang out a lot on Instagram and threads, so if you're. I love a voice memo, so if you made it this far. I had people slide into my DMs at the last podcast I was on and had great conversations with your people. So feel free to reach out and let me know this is where you saw me from and we'll continue the conversation there.
- [37:37]
A
Amazing. So good. All right, well, thank you so much. I appreciate you and all that you do for our industry.
- [37:43]
C
Thanks so much.
- [37:44]
A
Have a great day.
- [37:46]
B
Well, that's it for this week's episode of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads@thiscantbethathard.com learn. If you like the podcast, be sure
- [38:04]
A
to hit the subscribe button.
- [38:06]
B
Even better, share the love by leaving a review in itunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.