Laura Kåmark
Hey everyone. Welcome to the Be Bold Make Waves Podcast, a show bringing you inspiring stories of women who are growing and scaling their business. I’m your host, Laura Kåmark, a website and tech integration specialist who works with online business owners who love their work and not their website. Join me as we have incredible conversations about business mindset, productivity, and of course, the website and tech behind the business. Let’s go ahead and dive in to this week’s episode. Hello, and welcome to this week’s show. I’m so excited for everyone to be here today. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Laura Kåmark. I’m a website and tech integration specialist who works with women who love their work, but not their website. My guest today is Anna Bradley, she is wife to Dave and Mama floor. She started her business most sincerely Anna in 2019, and is a Dubsado specialist who enjoys helping mom CEOs build profitable businesses through efficiency and connection. When she’s not working, you can find her spending time with her family enjoying the outdoors, or an adventure in Italy, my kinda gal. Anna, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Can you tell our listeners a little bit more about you and how you help people?

Anna Bradley
I am thrilled to be here. And of course, I would love to talk about that it’s probably everyone’s favorite topic, right? Um, I have started, I started my business back in 2019. And love helping build connection and have found a way to do that through automation, which is not typical, but I love just being a little unique in that way. Kind of a backstory, my children are all almost grown, my youngest is 17. And so about what is it almost? Well, it’s been three and a half years. And I realized that the part time job that I had wasn’t going to cut it because my husband was traveling without me. And I was having to work around my part time schedule, you know, and I just didn’t feel like that was something that I wanted to do anymore. Plus, we were homeschooling our kids and wanted to be, you know, more involved. And in that needed to be in fact, and so I started this business and I started as a VA, I had no idea that that even existed, but was quickly introduced to the online space and actually loved being a VA at the beginning because I felt like it gave me kind of a overall view of everything. And then as I got accustomed to that I knew that I needed to niche down and I wasn’t sure what, but started doing social media management. And and then I started setting up my business and dubsado and loved that and knew that that is exactly where I needed to be. So now I help online service providers, social media managers, website designers, brand branding designers, just really anyone who can do like a one on one type business. So that also includes coaches and things too.

Laura Kåmark
I love that. And I can relate to that so much. I actually when I was first starting out, I went the VA route as well. And I really enjoyed it because I like doing a lot of different things and having some variety. And being a very like techie person I love like getting into the weeds of things and like solving all the tech problems and just doing all that sort of stuff. So I can relate to that so much as being like the starting place and then be like, Okay, how am I going to niche down and like really like, figure out what direction I’m going with that. So I love that you were able to find like dubsado and get into that. Can you actually tell our listeners like for those who may not be familiar with dubsado? Can you talk a little bit about what dubsado is?

Anna Bradley
Sure. So dubsado is a what’s called a CRM. And that stands for client relationship management and I love that relationship part in there. We dubsado helps you connect with your clients when you are seeking out clients, such as leads. And if you have like a form that you would send to a lead, or have a form on your website, and you want them to connect with you, and then have a discovery call and and then you know, after the discovery call, you want to onboard them. So you send them a proposal and you send them a contract, and maybe first month’s invoice or, you know, whatever it depends on the service, but dubsado helps you organize that all in one place, scheduler forms, invoicing, keeps all of that together for us. And then if you need to on off board clients that can help you with that, send surveys, things like that. But the time management that you can have through Sato is probably the biggest benefit. For me, it was having everything tie together in one spot. But it’s basically, I mean, I hope that answers the question. There’s so many specific things that you can do in dubsado. But it does depend on the service that you have and the business that you have.

Laura Kåmark
I really love that it helps us sort of automate the back end that to me is such a huge component in having an online business is really cleaning up the back end of the business and getting some systems and processes in place. Because when that part starts to fall apart, or doesn’t have a smooth process, that kind of bleeds out into how you show up for your clients. And really having that like great client experience, I find is just like what can sometimes set me apart from other people in the industry is that it’s just, it’s so smooth for them.

Anna Bradley
Exactly, yes. And we think of automation in a kind of a negative way. But I like to point out that it doesn’t need to be and there’s several different things that you can do within automation. But think about being on a beach somewhere and your your lead form link is on your website, you have people checking that out, and they’re signing up, and they’re booking a discovery call with you. And you’re still sitting on the beach, wherever that is, while all of that is going on behind the scenes. And really up until you have a discovery call or up until you even like send a proposal. You, you don’t have to have that connection. But there are other ways of showing that connection. In building relationships, even though it’s automated, I don’t want to jump ahead.

Laura Kåmark
It’s, yeah, I love that. It’s I I mean, I actually because I live at the beach and walk my dog on the beach twice a day, I get discovery calls, book notifications come through on my phone, I don’t personally use dubsado I, I’ve worked with clients who use it. And I think it’s an amazing product. And I love again, I love anything that can help systematize automate the back end of the business that to me, it just is simplified. It’s simplification, which is a huge value that I have for my business.

Anna Bradley
It does. And actually just backing up a little bit to we’ve talked about the process of an automation within dubsado. But to begin with, setting up your services, and getting all of those things fine tuned to set up in dubsado brings clarity and a vision for your business that for me was such a transformation that I wanted to help other clients with that. Because a lot of times when you’re just starting out your business, and you don’t know what services you want to offer, or you you kind of are, are lost and how much charge or you know, different clients come along and you don’t have your boundaries set up. And you know, all of those things are fine when you’re just starting out. But there comes a time when you really need those to be fine tuned. And you don’t want to have to adjust that every time you onboard a client. So getting your systems fine tuned, helps with that and brings clarity to some of those questions that you have as you’re as you’re going along. You have to stick with it. You don’t want to change it too often.

Laura Kåmark
Bakley Oh my gosh. I would love to know When do you find that like, at what point in someone’s business is a really good time for them to like, reach out and work with you and set up dubsado.

Anna Bradley
So, like I mentioned, when you’re just starting out your business, and you’re not sure of some things I have worked with very few people at that level, the people that I work with the most know the direction that they’d like to have, they may not know exactly the strategy or the system behind what they want to do, but they do. They have that vision already set. And then I come along, and I help them, you know, get that process down onto paper, but also into dubsado. So I would say, most of the people that I work with are kind of in the middle of beginner and full fledged. You know, what do you what do you call that? I’m not sure. In the growth. You know, in some, you know, our businesses are kind of all evolving in some way or fashion. But I guess the direction and vision is there.

Laura Kåmark
Absolutely. Oh, my gosh, I love it. I would love to talk a little bit about the other tech that you use in your business. As a website and tech integration person, I love talking tech. What do you use for like, what platform is your website built on?

Anna Bradley
So my website is Squarespace. And I would I mean, I’ve liked it I tried doing well, you’re the website designer person. So tell me the the most the hardest one out there? What is that? WordPress? Yes, I tried it in that was not not for me, I was at a point in the business while I was doing DIY. So that was not for me. And then Squarespace really fit? You know what I needed to have? And it still does, you know, and I like that I can go in and tweak it and, you know, add photos and update things as I need to.

Laura Kåmark
That’s great. And then do you have do you have any courses,

Anna Bradley
I have a coaching program, that I it’s not Evergreen. And I do that for a reason. I feel like if you’re going to do tech, if you’re going to do something like dubsado, the coaching side of it is really crucial. So I have a program that is a four week program, and we go in and we set up your workflows and your system, you do the work, and I’m there to guide you. We meet once a week, and we talk about what we’re going to implement. And then you can go back and implement that. And then we meet together the next week and I answer questions and and kind of guide you in that whole process. So I’ve really enjoyed that. So I guess to answer your question, it’s kind of a combined course and coaching program.

Laura Kåmark
I love that. So is that kind of for like the DIY or who needs a little more support than just like, here it is. Go do it. It’s the one who just a little more support along the way to kind of help hold the hand.

Anna Bradley
Exactly. Yeah, there’s, you know, dubsado does definitely have a learning curve. And a lot of people are scared away by that when they don’t need to be there’s definitely resources out there. And then I also have my VIP setup that I completely come in and do for you start to finish

Laura Kåmark
for the people who are like, Just do it. Yes. I don’t want to touch it like

Anna Bradley
Yeah, and that’s kind of how we met through VIP. I, we were talking a little bit about it earlier. And I started that in 2020 in April of 2020. And I have loved it. I have loved just the whole aspect of my VIP service. And then I love I love the person that I went through to learn all of that too.

Laura Kåmark
Yeah, and just for our listeners so you guys know it was Sara Massey is the one that Anna and I both had gone through her program and And we met in a program we’re currently in, that’s under another wonderful Sara Massey container. So Sara was on one of the earlier episodes of the show, I can link that up in the show notes. But she talked all about the magic of VIP days, which are just life changing.

Anna Bradley
They are they really are. I’ve had so much flexibility. And you know, just everything that my business stands for, I found in that

Laura Kåmark
love that I’d love to know, as like we all know, like, being an entrepreneur, it’s not for the faint of heart. Like there’s a lot of mindset junk that comes up. And I’d love to know, like, what were some of your fears and doubts that you had when you were starting out your business? And how did you overcome them?

Anna Bradley
Well, I mentioned that I had no idea what was in the online space. So overcoming some of that, when I first started out was a little bit of a hurdle. i And I’m not one to really be I guess you could call me a what is that? Saying that they they always say, you know, when you know just a little bit about everything, but you’re not really an expert in anything. And that’s how I felt sfpa And, and you know, your, your client may ask you to do several different things. And if you’ve not done it before, you have to learn all of those things, and then you may not ever use them again, you know, so that’s one of the reasons why I niched down and, and then was really specific, even with dubsado. Because I am an expert in that now. And, and I love that. So that was one hurdle, and I just my mind set, I am one that just looks for a solution. I don’t, I don’t think about things too much, or I will not do anything. And so I just you know, if I’m way, if I’m way too overwhelmed with something, I just don’t even I don’t start. And so I know the feeling that my clients have, you know, when they come to me with dubsado, and they just don’t even know where to begin. So that’s maybe something I know about myself, and I just make sure that I need they’re surrounded by support from people who do know, certain things, you know, or I just tried to do it messy. And learn from that.

Laura Kåmark
Badly. I love doing it messy around here. I heard once on a podcast, and it was something that stuck with me just forever. And it was being an expert doesn’t mean you know everything, it means you’re willing to find out the answer. I was like, Oh, that’s so good. And it’s so true. Because like we can’t know everything. But we have to be willing to go and find the answer. Yeah. And so I love that like giving us permission to not have to be, you know, the other thing too is like someone that I follow pretty closely. Denise Duffield Thomas, she always talks about Don’t be a guru be a contributor.

Anna Bradley
Hmm, yeah, like that one too. Yeah, I’d

Laura Kåmark
love to know, what would you say that you’re doing that’s being bold in the industry, something that you’re doing that’s different than kind of anyone else who’s doing, you know, like, setup, you know, that automation setup, the back end system setup.

Anna Bradley
So, like I mentioned, automation is not typically known for connection. You know, when we think of automation, we usually think of a robot, or, for me, it was, I always, I always go back, and I might be dating myself here, but I always go back to when self checkouts were, you know, non existent. And they started coming in. And I didn’t like them because I didn’t want to have it, you know, replaced replacing a human. And of course, now look at look at where we are. But automation doesn’t have to be that robotic. It doesn’t have to be. We don’t have to lose connection when we automate. And so I like to bring out that there are different ways to build connection within automation. And one big way is just through branding and making sure that your voice is heard. You know, Within canned emails and within different other aspects of dubsado, what your forms look like and things like that. And then just making sure that you are connecting with your clients, or you know, your potential clients in different ways on social media, and getting involved in their life in some way. And the number one reason I think for that is, when we do that we notice when something is wrong or different, and when something’s not quite right for our client. And, you know, hopefully, it’s not anything catastrophic. But if it is, you don’t want to be sending a candy mail, that is inappropriate, you know, whether it’s saying something that doesn’t fit or at an inappropriate time. And what I like about dubsado is that you can go in within the client project area, and change the form or change the the template or the email, without changing the main template that goes out to everyone. And maybe that’s a little over your head. But the main, the main idea is that you can be flexible, and you can adapt when those situations are needed.

Laura Kåmark
I love that. So basically, you’re saying you can have a template that setup for everyone that’s at a certain step in the workflow. And then you can also go in and modify the template for one specific client, without it changing everything or having to change everything. And then so you can be specific within and also have the outside umbrella. Yes, exactly, exactly. Love that. I love that. I do a lot of saved replies in Google, or in Gmail, whatever it’s called these days. And it helps me so much to just have those like templates to go in to remember, because I don’t remember what, and I have processes in there for all the different types of services, and I get off a call, and here’s the things I send out. And so I love having those templates in there, which I do a lot of times, tweak them around and make changes to them so that they fit with the situation.

Anna Bradley
Yes, yes. I think that’s so key. And knowing when those situations are is is another key aspect of that.

Laura Kåmark
Yeah. I would love to know, I’m like such a huge fan of celebrating our wins. Like, I get the champagne out, I’ll get the cheese played out, like I’m so big on like, we got to celebrate our wins. What is something that you’re really proud of when it comes to your business that we could celebrate?

Anna Bradley
Oh, that is a fun question. Um, okay, give me just a second here. Well, I have my program launching up again in February. And so just the fact that I’m past the beta stage, and now I’m doing the, I’m calling it 1.0 is exciting, because I feel like I am at a I have answers that the beta round gave me and I’m feeling more confident going forward. And, you know, that’s a win to me. Um, you know, we always hear of imposter syndrome. And if I compare myself to someone like Sarah Massey, I would easily have impostor syndrome. But when I compare myself to where I was, you know, six months ago, or something like that, I’m I’ve progressed and I’m winning. And I think that’s something to celebrate.

Laura Kåmark
I think that’s a huge celebration. I mean, I think we all get into comparison itis. And when we can get out of our own way, and stop doing that, instead, compare ourselves to where we were. Because that’s the only place we should be comparing ourselves, not to others, because you can’t, it’s it’s not apples to apples. Exactly, yeah. So I love that. What What were some things you learned in the launch of your program, I recently launched at the end of quarter four, in 2022, I did my first launch of a digital product, and I learned so much from that launch, like the first email I sent out, was like, it’s here. It’s live, go get it like and then I immediately get an email from one of the gals that had actually gone through as my like, case study user and she was like, there’s no link in the email. I was like, oh, no, I was so careful. I’m like, checking by had everything else right. I completely forgot. even put a link anywhere. And then I kept started getting other emails from like friends are like, sorry, I hope you’re not gonna have a heart attack. But there’s no link. I’m like

Anna Bradley
what good friends though, too. I mean, I would love to have people like that I don’t mind correction, you know, I want to be able to do it right. Um, I probably learned while I’m still learning, but it’s a huge process to launch anything. And there’s so many bits and pieces. And I have a systems brain. And I need to see it clearly. And so, but then I also learned by doing so, I think I probably learned more about the process because I did it. That so this round, I am more clear on my process. And I’m more prepared for, you know, all the bits and pieces. Where before, I was probably scrambling around trying to do them last minute, you know, because Oh, yeah, I need to do this. Oh, yeah, I need to get this done.

Laura Kåmark
I always tell clients when they’re doing any sort of launch, I’m like, just remember, launches will always have something tech that doesn’t go right. And really the first launch, in my opinion is the first launch is meant to get all the emails written and all the text setup and find out what wasn’t connected properly. And like get it all ready to go. So that on launch to that part’s all done. And then we can have different hurdles to climb. Yes. Yeah,

Anna Bradley
that’s exactly it. I mean, that’s just, this round seems to be going so much easier. And it’s like you said, it’s because most of it is already done. So. Yeah, I love that. And nice, nice.

Laura Kåmark
I think it’s also important to to recognize the like the importance of continuing to launch something and let it keep evolving, and the different iterations of it and just keep going because, like, it’s not launched once you know, people, I feel like there’s all this talk of like, oh, I created this digital product, and I launched it I need $20,000 $100,000. Like, most likely they didn’t that wasn’t the first launch, there was different iterations of it, like you gotta baby step your way into it. I mean, yeah, don’t get me wrong, maybe there are people who have done that. But for the most of us, it takes time to build that up. And honestly, like, I know, my systems wouldn’t be able to handle this, like a large influx of everything coming through. So it’s meant to slow up gradually work its way up in my Yeah,

Anna Bradley
that is such a good point. So true. I love that.

Laura Kåmark
What would you say that you’re kind of making waves in the industry? How are you kind of like stirring up things?

Anna Bradley
Oh, wow. I’m not sure actually, because I kind of I have just enough of a view of other people in my industry. And I by that question, I think you’re meaning dubsado? Or do you mean like just the online service provider industry?

Laura Kåmark
That can be interpreted however you want? Okay.

Anna Bradley
All right. Um, well, as far as dubsado goes, I kind of put my head down, and I do my thing. I know what I do, I know that I do it well, and I know that my clients are happy, and that’s what counts. So I keep my head up just enough to you know, get up updates and things you know, to stay relevant. So I don’t really know if I’m making headway, I would say the one thing maybe that I haven’t seen a lot of people doing, and that’s the coaching aspect of dubsado I have a few I have seen a few courses and things. But I just really don’t think that it’s something you can you can buy a course and then go and do it and not have questions as you go along. And and then so I want to be there to answer those questions. I want to make it as simple as I can for the people who come to me and are DIY because I’ve been there. I know that process and I had lots of questions. And then as far as the online service provider space, I so I, we I mentioned Italy, or you did in the beginning and we do a lot of adventures. Italy and have for several years. So it’s one of my favorite places. And last year in March, I was there and just about to go and meet a friend that I knew from Instagram, but we’ve never met in real life and she lives in Bologna. And I just had this thought I was like, wow, what if we could have a retreat here in Rome. And so I, we met and we had an air b&b. And we spent like two or three days together, and I told her my idea, and she’s like, let’s do it. And so last year, we had a retreat in Rome for online service providers, and there was not as many people coming, coming after COVID I think the timing wasn’t quite right. But the people that came and the time that we had, there was amazing. And I don’t know if we’ll do that this year or not. But you know, maybe it’s like an every other year kind of thing. And maybe next year is the time and I you know, I don’t know very many people doing that, although there are quite a few popping up here and in, in the States. So

Laura Kåmark
I love that so much. I had for the longest time the dream was Italy, Italy, Italy, that was a dream. That was the big goal. That was what was on the vision board. And then in 2017, we went and we went with a 14 month old who had just I mean, she this girl learned, she took some of her first like running steps on the cobblestone streets have

Anna Bradley
been it was

Laura Kåmark
amazing, and so much fun. It was a lot of work. It was exhausting. We didn’t get a lot of sleep, which turned 15 months while we were there. We also went and saw the Swedish family, my husband’s side, the family’s from Sweden, so we went and spent time with them. And then we took off and went with the baby to Italy. And it was the most amazing it was everything I expected and better like it completely lived up to my expectations.

Anna Bradley
So what were the major cities that you went to,

Laura Kåmark
we started in Venice, which was probably my favorite place. Venice, we picked up a car in Florence when we left, whenever to the coast to the five that I always pronounced wrong, so I’m not gonna say it thankfully, Terry, thank you. And then we went to Tuscany. And then we were trying to figure out on our way to Rome if we were gonna go the coastal route or go the inland route. And we were like, We live at the beach. We love the beach. We’re going my husband’s name is Stefan and we found a Porto Stephano, and we’re like, this just makes sense. So we went there. We randomly stopped at some beach. I can’t tell you where or what it was called. But someone then later was like, oh, that’s like the best beach in when the top beaches in Italy or something like that. I’m like, wait, we randomly stopped at the best beach in Italy. Like how cool was that?

Anna Bradley
Yeah, that’s,

Laura Kåmark
and then we ended up? Aren’t you just

Anna Bradley
so glad that we have? I mean, maybe I don’t know, when you started your business. But I am continually so thankful for the business that I have and the flexibility that I have. And and just, yeah, every bit of it makes things like that possible.

Laura Kåmark
Yeah, that’s exactly why I do this and why we do this not? I mean, that’s a piece of it. I also love like the clients I work with. And I mean, the impact I have, I don’t feel when I was working corporate, I was making that kind of impact on people’s lives, as I do now.

Anna Bradley
Yeah, I feel like it’s very individualized. In my area anyway. And I love helping other clients have that same flexibility, you know, with their businesses and stuff and dubsado and having automations like that provides that so

Laura Kåmark
it’s a win win. It’s a win win. How did you come up with your business name?

Anna Bradley
I started out with ACB freelancing when I was VA, and I didn’t really like that. I didn’t think it was very personal. And I just, I mean, it’s my initials, but nobody really knows that. So, um, so I was trying to think through and I don’t Well, the reason why it’s that is because if you think of like a letter that you get in the mail, and it’s signed most sincerely or you know, whatever and so, that feeling that you have when you’re connecting with someone and you’re getting a letter in the mail and you know, you know you’re special Well, that’s kind of the the thought process behind the most sincerely Anna so it’s like, you know That special, warm, fuzzy feeling that you get when you get mail.

Laura Kåmark
I love that so much. And that was exactly what I was assuming it where it came from. And I love it so much because it does like just reading. I’m like, what a warm, fuzzy feeling that gives me?

Anna Bradley
Yeah. Oh, good, good. Yeah. I I mean, it’s just a rarity that we have that kind of authentic connection. But that’s what I really want to strive for in building in, you know, building relationships in my business. So the name that,

Laura Kåmark
Anna, this has been so amazing, I do have one question that I asked everyone who comes on the show. And that is what is one piece of advice you would give someone when they’re first starting out, that would help them be bolder, be louder, and make waves in their business.

Anna Bradley
I would say the ideas that you have, and the uniqueness that you offer, are there for a reason. And don’t not do them because you’re scared or fearful or afraid of the unknown. Just go ahead, start, do it messy if you need to. But go ahead and just do it. And get that support behind you that you. So you can feel like you have all these people running behind you pushing you on.

Laura Kåmark
I love that so much. I really found that my business started progressing in a better way and going the, you know, going the direction I wanted it to when I started investing in like coaching and joining programs and communities where I had more support. And that was something that when I first started out, I did not have an online space. And so that was something that really changed my business.

Anna Bradley
Yeah, yeah. I would agree, I would say that the investments that I have made have paid forward. So, so much more than I ever imagined.

Laura Kåmark
Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Can you tell our listeners where they can find out more about you find out more about how you can help them and your program.

Anna Bradley
You will most likely find me on Instagram at most sincerely, Anna. And then I also have my website that is mostsincerelyanna.com. And my program is on there or just send me a DM and see if I’m launching I will launch probably three times this year. So the next one is coming up in February.

Laura Kåmark
Wonderful. I will link all that up in the show notes. Thank you so much for being on the show today. This is such a fun conversation.

Anna Bradley
Thank you for having me.

Laura Kåmark
Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode. Be sure to check out the show notes at Laura comark.com forward slash podcast. And if you’re ready to turn your website into a marketing machine, get more sales, save time and simplify the back into your business. Grab my free resource power integrations for your websites. Head on over to Laurakamark.com/power. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next week. Bye now.