Replacing Retainers with VIP Days feat. Jordan Gill

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the All systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sale systems in your business the right way with your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:31
Welcome to the All systems go podcast. I’m your host Chris L. Davis, founder and chief automation Officer of automation bridge, the place online to learn about Small Business Marketing and Sales Automation, where we focus on turning digital marketing professionals into automation service providers. And if you’d like to become one or learn more about what that all entails, we invite you to find out more by visiting automationbridge.com/asp. If you’re new to the podcast, make sure you subscribe and share. Once you’ve listened to this episode in its entirety, I want you to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into the level of insight value and content that you will be receiving weekly every Thursday. And at the time of this recording the All systems go podcast is free to subscribe to an all platforms. Okay, so you can find it in all main podcasting apps like Apple podcast, Google podcast, you can subscribe on YouTube. For those of you who are listeners that haven’t subscribed, please do so now. And while you’re at it, leave a five star rating and review as that would be greatly appreciated and helps us get the word out and instruct these podcast hosting platforms that we are a podcast worth mentioning worth featuring in worth appearing in the search results when people are looking for small business, marketing and automation. In this episode, I got a chance to sit down with Jordan Gill and Jordan Gill is an operations consultant and the founder of system saved me that helps overworked one woman shows become streamlined solopreneurs and she is really about creating a cohesive operating system for managing your task files and inbox. She has been on podcast like what works and CEO vibes, sharing her love of replacing monthly retainers, which is the topic of today. With one day virtual intensive. She currently lives in Dallas, Texas with a collection of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles that she does in the meantime, which is another thing that we share. So sit back and enjoy if you’ve been looking at a another way or if you’ve just been, you know open to other ways to scale your service based business without retainers, this is going to be the podcast that you’re going to want to tune into and take notes. So enjoy the conversation between Jordan and myself. Jordan Welcome to the podcast excited glad I’m hard to contain myself

Chris Davis 3:21
to have you on and with this. How are you doing?

Jordan Gill 3:24
I’m doing so well. The feelings are mutual. I listened to the podcast as a fellow tech and automation. Like just obsessor so I’m super thrilled to be here. Thanks Chris.

Chris Davis 3:35
Yes, and I have to say your your name I mean do this your name comes highly respected and and highly recommended. Within my my realm of influence of students, everybody spoken highly of you some have gone through your your systems in a day and some have had clients send them through it.

Chris Davis 3:58
So either way, anytime systems comes up, they’re like, hey, do you know Jordan? Hey, do you know Jordan? So now

Chris Davis 4:08
right and we’re gonna make it official on the podcast, which anytime I get to talk systems, it just makes you Tingley all over. So give the listeners a little bit about yourself and your business.

Jordan Gill 4:20
Yes. So like you said, my name is Jordan Gill and I’m the founder head honcho over a system saved me and I’ve been in business a little over five years. And I live in Dallas Texas, so that’s fun. And you know I when it comes to systems and those things that was something that kind of a fun fact is I didn’t really know that it was a thing to be good at. I just thought that that’s how everybody operated. You know, you kind of just grow up and and and move in your own sphere. And actually it was one of my past employers who recognized But I am a systems person. And she was like, do you just have a system for everything? And I was like, I mean, yeah.

Jordan Gill 5:08
Okay, well, and at the time I was doing content where content development work, which is a very systematic way of writing as well. So it made sense. However, she was like, how about we like move you into more of like a process oriented role. And that’s really where I flourished and was like, oh, like, where I’m locking, like, really how I operate. And so obviously, with the name system, save me, I’m all things systems. automations integrations, give it all to me.

Chris Davis 5:38
Yes. And you know, what, Jordan, why you said this a while I’m listening to you, I realize that I didn’t know that systems was the thing that you could be good at either. And it actually took me back, I’m pretty sure if I think hard enough, I can go even before that. But in college, in college, I had a system for note taking, I would get the binder, and then I would get the folder dividers for every course for every class that I took. And then in the back, I would have the loose leaf notebook paper. And what I would do is put the syllabus Of course in every every compartment there probably a compartments. But when it came to take notes, I would take one of the loose leaf papers out, have the binder close and it was so clean, like cuz you, you know, in college, those little bitty little bitty desk, you can’t have a notebook open and all of this, so it was clean. And then afterwards, I would just put the paper right in, you know, the appropriate binder. And that was a system. Just

Chris Davis 6:39
Just now realize that this I’ve been graduated for so long, I still have the nightmare of I missed a class, I still have that nightmare. Like I wake up. The entire semester is over. And I’m like, Oh, I forgot to go to class.

Chris Davis 6:53
So I think most college people have that. I think that was like that was the first thing that came to mind when you said I didn’t realize that that was a system. And that was my first time realizing like, as I look back, I was very systematic, even before technology. Totally.

Jordan Gill 7:09
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Same here. Yeah, I have I have a college story too, of how I chose the college I went to, I actually looked at the percentage of alumni who hired new hire new students, new graduate students. So I would call up alumni as a 17 year old Alumni Associations and be like, Hey, what’s the percentage of alumni that hire your graduating students? Wow, majority of them like, I couldn’t see their face. But I imagine it being like, who is the 17 year old calling me right now with this crazy number. But that’s how I came up with going to University of Kansas is where I ended up going. And I had 12 internships throughout my college experience. And I was able to get an apprenticeship and job and all that stuff outside of college. And so I feel like my hypothesis worked. My system worked. Yeah, not but we’re Yeah. You’re a systems person. You’re you’ve got your your nuttiness, and in a variety of ways, not just like automations and tech.

Chris Davis 8:10
Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t realize you went to KU. I went to K state.

Chris Davis 8:19
Right, right.

Chris Davis 8:21
Wow. So so so many, so many correlations here. Yeah. All right. So tell us so I’m interested in your migration into entrepreneurship. What What was that? That thrusting point where you’re like, Okay, I’m either gonna do this from birth, or I’m done with this. And I’m going this route.

Jordan Gill 8:42
Yeah, yeah. Oh, totally. So I, I was blessed in the fact that I’ve been kind of in love online. I’ve grown up, I guess, in the online marketing industry. I’m 31. Now and I first entered the industry at 25. When more

Jordan Gill 8:57
and I worked for, like one of the bigger wigs at the time, Melanie Duncan, who was in like the Amy Porterfield, James Wedmore. sphere. And I was really blessed to be able to see the but the inner workings of like a, you know, eight figure business and this sphere, when I was like, really young. And so I worked with her for two years. As an employee, I learned a lot, because we were doing six figure, you know, million dollar launches. And that’s usually not how people are introduced into the space. And so I was able to get it from a bird’s eye view. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t fulfilled in a position I actually really enjoyed the position but for me, it was a God thing that was kind of like it’s time to go and I was like,

Jordan Gill 9:46
again, I’m a systematic planner person, like you can’t just you know, roll up on me and say, like, time to go like, that’s not that’s a way to spontaneous. But you know, I

Jordan Gill 9:59
I, you know, walked into obedience. And it was a beautiful thing. And I gave six weeks notice without a personal Instagram definitely didn’t have an email list, I just had a bank account, figured out an LLC situation and an email address. And within those six weeks, I actually was able to solidify four monthly retainer clients that then resulted in about $12,000 in monthly retainer revenue. So may 1 2016, your girl started out with a $12,000 in monthly retainer work, which was pretty incredible. Five months later, I was burned out. But

Jordan Gill 10:39
as that happens, but you know, it was it was a blessing to just again, I was expected to kind of, you know, eat ramen in the dentist’s office basement apartment or something, you know, grind and figure it out. But it was really actually a really nice stepping stone into entrepreneurship. And I learned a lot for sure.

Chris Davis 11:00
Great, great. I love the story. And it’s, it’s, I have to say, it’s twofold, right? One, one side is given the opportunity to be behind the eight, nine figure business. The second is answering the call. Because there are many people that could have been placed in that seat and still just kind of fizzled out. I saw something similar when I was at lead page, and it was just like, I would think that Oh, anybody could have done it. But after a while, and I look back and say wow, we were a lot of launches, very fast moving environment, a lot of details like no, it had to be a specific type of person, you know, to fill that seat. So kudos to you. And again, just a highlight to you showing up and, and performing, you know, in that environment. And you give your all right, you give your all and it gives it back and you walk away, everybody walks away, you know better for us. So now we fast forward to today, you’ve got system saved me. And I will say I don’t think it’s far fetched to say you’re you’re a industry leader. And one day or four day, however you want to call it implementations, you call them VIP days. But before we jump into that, let’s just give everybody let’s make sure we’re all on the same playing field here. When you say systems.

Jordan Gill 12:22
What is it that you’re referring to a system as Yes, my definition of systems is that you’re taking chronological actions toward a specific goal. And it can be you know, setting up a really cool evergreen funnel situation, or it can be my five minute makeup routine, or my 17 minute curling routine for my hair. These are real things. And so, you know, I think that people overcomplicate it with it, especially in our industry, because we’re online business owner, so everyone thinks every system has to attached to a tech situation or or software systems are way beyond that. And everyone does systems every day, even you know, whatever your breakfast is your workout regimen, like all that stuff is systems.

Chris Davis 13:15
Yes, yes, I love it. And I like how you say, you know, chronological order for an output, right? Because that’s what is the system without the output. I mean, we measure our effectiveness by the output, and then we measure the efficiency by our fatigue

Chris Davis 13:36
in generating set output, right? Like you said, everything is a system. And when you start to look at your business, there are so many systems at play. So many systems, which which makes the title system say just immediately resonate with anybody who acknowledges that on any level. So talk about how you, you know, you went from client work, and now you’re doing VIP days? What was the decision making behind that? And then what what, what are VIP days?

Jordan Gill 14:08
Totally. So like I said, I was working for one person doing, you know, six, seven figure launches. And then when I went to have my own business, I was working for four different people, three of which were also seven figure business owners doing major launches and about five months into my entrepreneurship journey. three out of the four of my clients were launching in the same month. So it’s one thing to do a six or seven figure launch for one person and it is an entirely different scenario to do six or seven figure launches for three different people. And that was that was the breaking point. I call it launch again in September 2016 was launched mageddon for me. And I just was like this is this is for the birds. This is not For me, and so after that month I let go of to clients purely just based on like, I want you to be able to have somebody that is able to facilitate more for you. And that’s not me. And so I was kind of went down to two because I was like, How much money do I really need to make to live and like, be good. So then from there, I was like on a self discovery journey. I’m just like, well, what else can I do? Because I enjoy clients, I enjoy doing the service. What else is there besides monthly retainers? And so I actually hired a sales coach at the time who did VIP days, had a really great experience. And I thought like, like, can I do, like, an actual implementation VIP day? versus just a strategy? One? She was like, Yeah, of course. So I kind of played around with it. And within a couple of months, I actually did my first VIP day for systems. So my specialty is really in client relationship management. So I enjoy, you know, leads and prospects to an actual client, how are you managing them? And then how are you offboarding them like, that’s the system that I really enjoy. There’s multiple, many systems in there. But from that A to Z spectrum. And so my first client was actually a coach for bodybuilding competitions.

Jordan Gill 16:25
And, you know, I have a very eclectic client roster of like, weighing professionals, tax professionals, hail damage, folks like wine grape consultants, like it’s very, so I was like, who, who am I working with, and I came to realize it’s seasonal business owners. So bodybuilding competitions have a very strict season for when like, they’re all happening. And she worked with me and her offseason in December. And same thing with wedding folks, tax folks, hail damage, you know, you don’t need Hail Damage folks in the summer, for most parts anyway. So I realized, like, that’s my niche is seasonal business owners, if you have an on and off season, I’m your girl. And so I just went kind of all in with that I have worked with people who are non seasonal, but I would say that’s, that’s the minority. But I really enjoy looking at, okay, when it’s busy, like your systems have to be in place. And they’re thinking, you know, I don’t want this season to be like last season. And so I really was able to hone in my messaging and target those people. And everyone’s season is different. So I can kind of pivot my marketing and it feels like a variety to me, because I don’t like doing the same thing over and over again, as a systems person, you build the system, so you don’t have to do it over and over.

Jordan Gill 17:45
Which I’m sure you can relate to. So I think the variety of clientele really then gave me that variety, but I still was in the lane of client relationship management, like it was all about clients, which made it super fun. So so then from there, I was like, this is it like I can’t, like I love VIP days, because you can get it done in a day, literally. And then I move on. And I can work, you know, four to six days a month with, you know, different clients, and then the rest of the month is for me. So it’s it’s been beautiful. And it’s been awesome. And I just realized that, you know, in a lot of entrepreneurial journeys similar to mine, I just jumped into monthly retainers, because that’s what I thought you had to do. And I thought that was the only option. And so now, I’m talking about VIP days a lot, because I’m like, there is another option like you don’t have to go to burnout town anymore. And for some people, not the retainers feel really great. And keep on keepin on because we do need you. And for those of you who doesn’t is not a great fit VIP days are great for you. So I would, I would say VIP days, how I define them is really, they are a again, four figure investment, which I’m sure we’ll come back to, that lasts about three to eight hours within a 24 hour period with about a three to five phase transformation, meaning that this isn’t where people just ask you questions and you answer them like you’re bringing them through an actual framework or methodology. That generally is like three to five phases long. So I love numbers because we can measure it.

Jordan Gill 19:21
And so you will know if you have a VIP day, if you follow that that framework.

Chris Davis 19:26
I love it.

Chris Davis 19:28
I see so much of your journey in it though, right? You had to be very calculated, very measured. You know, I think you said Melanie Duncan, you had to be it wasn’t an option.

Chris Davis 19:43
So that was your that’s your frame. That’s your foundation there. Yeah. And then as you go and you’ve got clients and it’s like wait a minute, three launches. Anybody in their right mind could have just said no, wait a minute, tap out. Can’t do it. But you’ve had this experience.

Chris Davis 20:00
In these fast moving environments, you’re familiar with the launch model. So you’re just like, hey, why not until afterwards? You’re like, Oh, that’s, that’s why.

Chris Davis 20:09
Right? But it’s this tenacity, right? Like, just take it head on. And then you stumbled across something that it’s like, wait a minute, I can take all of this specialized knowledge, coupled with a model that was given to me in a in an advisory, right? And let me piece this thing together. And it only works Jordan, because you have to have that systematic approach to it. Right? Here’s where we start. Here’s where we end. And here’s what it looks like afterwards. And I think a lot of people struggle with that level of clarity, you know, especially when there’s money on the line, you know, four figures to five figures, that’s an easy yes to somebody just getting started. And they’ll do anything, I can’t tell you, the amount of students that I’ve worked with that are just like, I’m grandfathered in my client at like, $200 a month, and I’m doing everything for them. I

Chris Davis 21:02
don’t know how to get out of it, right? So I get it, and I understand where it comes from, but to be able to operate with that level of clarity and specificity. Right? So do you find that to be one of the harder things to teach when people come into the VIP day training? To get them to say, No, no, no, not? We could not? We can, but what will you do is that one?

Jordan Gill 21:28
Yes, that is definitely the one of the more common mistakes that I see is, I can do all of these things. And so then people create like a VIP day offer and then make this list of like 15 different things that they could do in a day. Yeah, that is super overwhelming. As a client, I don’t know what I need in this list, you’re making me work. I’m out like people tap out. And so I find that the more clarity that you have, the better. And the more specific you can get in defining your result, your transformation, or if it’s who exactly you’re working with, then it’s just going to be that much easier. And I think it feels weird, because we have this mentality. And I don’t know if it’s like really Western culture. But just like more is more like, we just want to be able to, you know, I think, you know, in college, we take all these courses we don’t necessarily need, but it makes us more well rounded or whatever. Like, you know, and that’s not really the case, in business, I think that the more specific you can be like, that’s really where the sales will come in. And I think because I know exactly who I work with, and who I don’t, I know who to refer people to, and I feel super happy and joyful about it, because I’m not stressed out, they aren’t able to get the result that they you know, want,

Jordan Gill 22:47
you know, I would never want that to be the experience, I don’t want to be drained. They don’t want to be drained. You know, why overwork myself because I can help them.

Jordan Gill 22:58
I think that it can be hard, especially as somebody who you know, similar to you so much, you’re probably a lot of people listening and like you can do a lot of stuff. Like if you’re a tech person, like you can really figure out anything like not that we’re all superheroes or anything, but just, you know, like we we can go into any platform, any software, any this any that and figure it out, because they, they all the same, basically. So, you know, you really have to hone that in and pull back when you want to step into VIP days. Because the specificity is key for those higher tier clients. They want to know exactly what’s going on, and what result they can expect. And if you’re like whatever you want, then it throws them off, and then they’ll just leave. Yeah, it might.

Chris Davis 23:42
Yeah, I agree. And I found that even with this influx, I don’t know if we can call it an influx. Maybe it’s just a new awareness of just online. Yes, in digital marketing. People don’t know, they don’t know the value of even just something as simple as a landing page that converts. Also somebody that doesn’t know that that’s just like one checkbox onto a landing page, a sales page email sequence. And before you know it is this long list of stuff, that may look good, but then when you produce it, you can’t produce any of it at the level of quality or effectiveness that it really needs. So it’s like it does it takes a mature and willing business owner to step back and say, hey, look, I’m going to give you these three things. In five hours, we’re going to complete these things. They’re going to be excellent and and you’ll be off you’ll be up to the next level. Right? Yeah.

Chris Davis 24:38
That’s a different conversation.

Chris Davis 24:41
A totally different conversation. And I can feel listeners now maybe that maybe they’re a little more intrigued now like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe they’re thinking about offering them or they’re thinking like, Oh, I never realized I could hire somebody and get something done in a day. So what are some examples

Chris Davis 25:00
From the from the trenches, and from your students of some of the things that people can realistically expect to be done in a day,

Jordan Gill 25:08
yeah, it’s been really fun to see the variety in which that this can happen. So I, I’ve bought a lot of VIP days.

Jordan Gill 25:17
And I, you know, as a client, and I also obviously have, I’ve had students who’ve created them, and it can range I think that, again, we it’s more service providers, coaches, consultants, so I wouldn’t say product based business owners not that there, they may not be listening anyway. But I haven’t quite figured out VIP days for y’all yet. It’s a little challenge myself, but for service writers, coaches, consultants, we’ve seen a variety between someone can build a six page website in a day, there are people who can write a sales page for a program in a day, there’s people who can build evergreen funnels. In a day. I’ve we’ve had

Jordan Gill 25:59
a relationship coach who can help you and your partner communicate more effectively. We’ve had the most interesting VIP day that took some noodling, was actually a woman who could produce songs that helped to alleviate trauma responses,

Jordan Gill 26:22
which was like, so such amazing work. And I was also like, let me think about this. And so I went to a friend of mine who kind of was in that space, and was like, would this be helpful to have done in a day? And she was like, Oh, my gosh, she asked, like, center to me immediately, like, this would be an amazing referral for me. And I was like, Okay, well, this works. And so then she got passed along. And she’s been able to get clients with that sense. And I think it’s, it’s, that’s really, really beautiful work. And so there’s really a range, I’ve seen all the things and Active Campaign setups I’ve seen, you know, I think that, for the most part, if you’ve been doing something on a monthly retainer, it probably can be, you know, created into a de type container.

Jordan Gill 27:10
But again, it just has to have that defined result, define tangible and intangible result, like, you need to know, like, okay, you’re getting, you know, a month of your content created in a day, which is going to give you peace of mind for the rest of the month that you don’t have to think about what to post on Instagram, which is quite lovely.

Jordan Gill 27:33
So really thinking through those things will help with you selling it to you need to know both the tangible and intangible result.

Chris Davis 27:40
That I love it. I love it. And it’s like with anything, right? Anything can be made into it if you understand a what you’re doing and be how to position it to the market. Yeah, right. But it’s always interesting just to kind of hear even something as specific as a six page website in a day. I can’t count how many people I just had a text last night. Hey, bro, I need some help on a website. And I’m like, I don’t even know where where you’re at. Do you know what a website is? Do you know what a domain is? Are you a GoDaddy? Are you a Squarespace like what’s going on? So for people like that, who are just like, Hey, I would like to get started. That’s the heavy load lifted, you know, heavy load lifted for them. And then of course, for the implementer, you always have the opportunity to add some maintenance in there and say, hey, look, we’ll build it. And then next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, whatever the case is, I think we need more, you know, of that hand holding, and something for a specific result, right, so that people know exactly what they’re getting. So I’m a huge advocate of it. Let’s, let’s shift a bit to automation. So we’ve talked about systems, and now if we put automated in front of it, they become automated.

Chris Davis 28:59
Right? And there’s no greater joy than having a process defined, right? And then systematize, to where, like you said, in chronological order is producing the desired result. And then adding a layer of technology. What, what do we just you see that every techie just did what you did? They’re driving, they’re on the treadmill, just like you just ate a moist Piece of cake. Right?

Jordan Gill 29:27
Right.

Chris Davis 29:28
When you look at your business, give us some insight on some of the areas that you’re most proud of. We’ll say we’ll say some of the areas you’re most proud of your your automation. Oh, goodness, how, how do we even keep this short? So right.

Jordan Gill 29:44
That’s so many proud moments.

Jordan Gill 29:47
I would say, you know, for our done in a day program, we have our onboarding. 100% automated and what that looks like is if somebody joins our program and they purchase it

Jordan Gill 30:01
There is an integration for them to sign their contract. Once their contract is signed, several things happen,

Jordan Gill 30:07
which is they get sent an email, my coach is tasked with CO signing the document. So I guess that’s a little manual, but I don’t have to do it.

Jordan Gill 30:18
And they get an email with links to the actual, you know, Thinkific login, they get access to or a link to the Facebook group that they can join, they get access to the podcast version of our program. Um, it’s a specialized link from Hello audio, which I absolutely love. And they’re given, you know, a Google calendar invite for coaching calls for when critiques or do like, all of the Google invites, like, it’s a beautiful email, they just get all set up and ready to rock and then they show up and we can get started. And I think that it’s, that’s just like one, it feels like a very baby system to me. But it’s also it can show you like, imagine if people could sign up for things and you don’t have to manually go figure out a contract, sign up, you know, or send it over, have them re sign it back. And then you have to wait for that. And then you have to like, remind them, and then it’s like this whole thing.

Jordan Gill 31:17
And then you like have to enter them into Thinkific or enter them into Active Campaign and enter. It’s like, No, none of that is happening. So yeah, back that my students can get a really beautiful, exciting experience. And actually, about three to four days after they join, they get a welcome box that’s also automated, from that standpoint, physically in the mail. So again, it’s about creating that experience. And it’s not even just, you know, to get the load off of me, it’s also because I want every student who’s coming in to have the exact same awesome client experience. And when you’re doing things manually, as we both know, you can’t possibly deliver that same experience to every single person, because we’re human.

Jordan Gill 32:01
And you know, we’re relying on our energy that day maybe off or we forget something, or whatever the case is. And so that that deteriorates the experience. And it’s not because we don’t care, it’s because we’re relying on our brain or post it notes to get us through. So so that’s one that I’m really proud of. That’s like pretty specific.

Chris Davis 32:23
Yeah, no, I’m glad you brought that up. And it seems appropriate, right? For somebody that loves the client management

Chris Davis 32:32
side of things, that you would have a fully automated onboarding. And you’re exactly right there. I know it seems simple, but there were so many details in there that could be dropped. That could create just more time, more work more effort on your part. More people, you know, so I find Jordan right now the time of the of this recording,

Chris Davis 32:57
more production can be had or let me say more success can be made on the fulfillment side of things. Oh, yeah, I think so many people don’t get me wrong. We start with marketing and sales. Without that there is nothing right. But it is so short sighted to start and stop there. And there are so many people, especially digital marketers, that start and stop with the sales funnel can do nothing after the sale. When when you think about it. That’s the beginning of the experience.

Chris Davis 33:31
Right there. So I’m so glad you mentioned that I spent more time engineering my onboarding. No, I’m not ashamed of it, because it was well worth it. I know it’s got the signatures. I’ll share you some some insight on mine. I like to use the wait until action in Active Campaign. So all of these things happen. And then they hit this wait until and is waiting until they they sign all the documents. Yeah. So it’s like, hey, look, you can move at whatever pace you want to move at. Until you sign those docs because it’s going to tag you in Active Campaign, you’re not going to proceed and then after they do that, all kind of access is unlocked with tags and login credentials and all of that. So as simple as that sounds, Jordan, you enter a person in that one junction that says wait till some sign maybe they forget to look at their email and it’s fine and the person is waiting six hours to 12 hours to get access. Those small things make a big difference. You know, they really do so I’m so glad you mentioned that. I feel it was extremely appropriate. By the way everybody I did not tee that up prior to I did not warn her. She’s gonna ask that.

Chris Davis 34:47
That was purely organic. Jordan, I have to thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. I learned a lot about VIP days myself. I’m a huge fan of clarity though. You know, I I’m the type of person that always

Chris Davis 35:00
spend the extra 30 minutes on the contract terms. You know, I’ll put the extra effort to make sure everything is clearly understood. So I have a different level of appreciation for what you do. If people want to find out more connect with you on social, what’s the best place for them to go?

Jordan Gill 35:17
Yeah, all the places. So Instagram is my main jam. So you can come @systemssavedme, that’s plural saved me, not just one system, saved me.

Jordan Gill 35:26
And my website is also systemssavedme.com, also plural. And we do have a podcast. And that is system saved me It’s currently as at the time of this recording, paused, and then we’ll jump back in eventually. But there’s an archive of a lot, almost 300 episodes, that again, if you’re a systems person, you’ll you’ll enjoy a good binge there. So I would say those places.

Chris Davis 35:51
Yeah, highly recommend the podcast, you do some highlighting of your students to in there. So it’s also good to see those stories. So it is definitely in my playlist as well. So thank you for that. Jordan. I’m excited about everything that you have done everything that you have going and some of the stuff that you have in the pipeline coming up. So I’m sure will more than likely have you back on when the time is appropriate. But thank you for taking the time today is greatly appreciate it.

Jordan Gill 36:21
Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, Chris.

Chris Davis 36:23
Yes, yes, yes, I’ll see you online. Jordan. Sounds great. Thank you for listening to this episode of the All systems go podcast. And I hope you’re inspired, encouraged, and I and I hope that there’s clarity around the potential path to replace retainers with VIP days.

Chris Davis 36:44
You know, everything that you choose to do comes with a set of considerations and things to be aware of. And I hope that you are that much more clear on what it takes or what it could possibly take for you to conduct a VIP day. And if there’s something that you want to add to your business model. And at the same time, if you know somebody who this would be perfect, maybe they’ve been talking around this topic, but didn’t necessarily know what they are called. They’ve got a perfect business for it. They’ve got a raving tribe and community and they’re looking at looking at trying to scale in a more streamlined fashion, share this episode with them, share this episode with them and see how it resonates. And if you found value in today’s episode, please make sure that you are subscribed, you’ve left a five star rating and review and you are sharing it across all social platforms. Okay, it’s greatly appreciated here at automation bridge, we’re dedicated to training digital marketing professionals to become automation service providers. If you didn’t know what automation service provider is, that is a marketing professional that specializes in the delivery of the service of automation across marketing and sales systems. Okay, they are a specialized digital marketer. Okay, because their focus is creating systems of scale, starting with marketing and sales and beyond, okay, small businesses are in dire need of these types of specialized marketers with this ability. Okay, navigating the marketing technology landscape along with strategy, piecing them together to deploy automated systems for rapid growth. Okay, so if that’s you, we’ve made it easy for you to get access to everything that you need, okay, if you go to All systems go podcast calm, you will not just get access to the latest episodes, but you’ll be able to get your hands on our amplify my automation package. And it’s dedicated to showing you teaching you how to put automated marketing and sales systems in your business. Over the next six months. The automation service provider program is part of that package. Okay, we also have a free Facebook group if you want to get connected, and start to learn and just get deeper and become more specialized as a digital marketer. And if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, or refer someone to be a guest on the podcast is greatly appreciated, by the way, but you can do all of that and any and get access to any resource that we’ve ever mentioned on the podcast, one URL to remember get you access to it all. And that’s allsystemsgopodcast.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. And until next time, I see you online. automate responsibly, my friends

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the All systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sale systems in your business the right way with your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:31
Welcome to the All systems go podcast. I’m your host Chris L. Davis, founder and chief automation Officer of automation bridge, the place online to learn about Small Business Marketing and Sales Automation, where we focus on turning digital marketing professionals into automation service providers. And if you’d like to become one or learn more about what that all entails, we invite you to find out more by visiting automationbridge.com/asp. If you’re new to the podcast, make sure you subscribe and share. Once you’ve listened to this episode in its entirety, I want you to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into the level of insight value and content that you will be receiving weekly every Thursday. And at the time of this recording the All systems go podcast is free to subscribe to an all platforms. Okay, so you can find it in all main podcasting apps like Apple podcast, Google podcast, you can subscribe on YouTube. For those of you who are listeners that haven’t subscribed, please do so now. And while you’re at it, leave a five star rating and review as that would be greatly appreciated and helps us get the word out and instruct these podcast hosting platforms that we are a podcast worth mentioning worth featuring in worth appearing in the search results when people are looking for small business, marketing and automation. In this episode, I got a chance to sit down with Jordan Gill and Jordan Gill is an operations consultant and the founder of system saved me that helps overworked one woman shows become streamlined solopreneurs and she is really about creating a cohesive operating system for managing your task files and inbox. She has been on podcast like what works and CEO vibes, sharing her love of replacing monthly retainers, which is the topic of today. With one day virtual intensive. She currently lives in Dallas, Texas with a collection of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles that she does in the meantime, which is another thing that we share. So sit back and enjoy if you’ve been looking at a another way or if you’ve just been, you know open to other ways to scale your service based business without retainers, this is going to be the podcast that you’re going to want to tune into and take notes. So enjoy the conversation between Jordan and myself. Jordan Welcome to the podcast excited glad I’m hard to contain myself

Chris Davis 3:21
to have you on and with this. How are you doing?

Jordan Gill 3:24
I’m doing so well. The feelings are mutual. I listened to the podcast as a fellow tech and automation. Like just obsessor so I’m super thrilled to be here. Thanks Chris.

Chris Davis 3:35
Yes, and I have to say your your name I mean do this your name comes highly respected and and highly recommended. Within my my realm of influence of students, everybody spoken highly of you some have gone through your your systems in a day and some have had clients send them through it.

Chris Davis 3:58
So either way, anytime systems comes up, they’re like, hey, do you know Jordan? Hey, do you know Jordan? So now

Chris Davis 4:08
right and we’re gonna make it official on the podcast, which anytime I get to talk systems, it just makes you Tingley all over. So give the listeners a little bit about yourself and your business.

Jordan Gill 4:20
Yes. So like you said, my name is Jordan Gill and I’m the founder head honcho over a system saved me and I’ve been in business a little over five years. And I live in Dallas Texas, so that’s fun. And you know I when it comes to systems and those things that was something that kind of a fun fact is I didn’t really know that it was a thing to be good at. I just thought that that’s how everybody operated. You know, you kind of just grow up and and and move in your own sphere. And actually it was one of my past employers who recognized But I am a systems person. And she was like, do you just have a system for everything? And I was like, I mean, yeah.

Jordan Gill 5:08
Okay, well, and at the time I was doing content where content development work, which is a very systematic way of writing as well. So it made sense. However, she was like, how about we like move you into more of like a process oriented role. And that’s really where I flourished and was like, oh, like, where I’m locking, like, really how I operate. And so obviously, with the name system, save me, I’m all things systems. automations integrations, give it all to me.

Chris Davis 5:38
Yes. And you know, what, Jordan, why you said this a while I’m listening to you, I realize that I didn’t know that systems was the thing that you could be good at either. And it actually took me back, I’m pretty sure if I think hard enough, I can go even before that. But in college, in college, I had a system for note taking, I would get the binder, and then I would get the folder dividers for every course for every class that I took. And then in the back, I would have the loose leaf notebook paper. And what I would do is put the syllabus Of course in every every compartment there probably a compartments. But when it came to take notes, I would take one of the loose leaf papers out, have the binder close and it was so clean, like cuz you, you know, in college, those little bitty little bitty desk, you can’t have a notebook open and all of this, so it was clean. And then afterwards, I would just put the paper right in, you know, the appropriate binder. And that was a system. Just

Chris Davis 6:39
Just now realize that this I’ve been graduated for so long, I still have the nightmare of I missed a class, I still have that nightmare. Like I wake up. The entire semester is over. And I’m like, Oh, I forgot to go to class.

Chris Davis 6:53
So I think most college people have that. I think that was like that was the first thing that came to mind when you said I didn’t realize that that was a system. And that was my first time realizing like, as I look back, I was very systematic, even before technology. Totally.

Jordan Gill 7:09
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Same here. Yeah, I have I have a college story too, of how I chose the college I went to, I actually looked at the percentage of alumni who hired new hire new students, new graduate students. So I would call up alumni as a 17 year old Alumni Associations and be like, Hey, what’s the percentage of alumni that hire your graduating students? Wow, majority of them like, I couldn’t see their face. But I imagine it being like, who is the 17 year old calling me right now with this crazy number. But that’s how I came up with going to University of Kansas is where I ended up going. And I had 12 internships throughout my college experience. And I was able to get an apprenticeship and job and all that stuff outside of college. And so I feel like my hypothesis worked. My system worked. Yeah, not but we’re Yeah. You’re a systems person. You’re you’ve got your your nuttiness, and in a variety of ways, not just like automations and tech.

Chris Davis 8:10
Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t realize you went to KU. I went to K state.

Chris Davis 8:19
Right, right.

Chris Davis 8:21
Wow. So so so many, so many correlations here. Yeah. All right. So tell us so I’m interested in your migration into entrepreneurship. What What was that? That thrusting point where you’re like, Okay, I’m either gonna do this from birth, or I’m done with this. And I’m going this route.

Jordan Gill 8:42
Yeah, yeah. Oh, totally. So I, I was blessed in the fact that I’ve been kind of in love online. I’ve grown up, I guess, in the online marketing industry. I’m 31. Now and I first entered the industry at 25. When more

Jordan Gill 8:57
and I worked for, like one of the bigger wigs at the time, Melanie Duncan, who was in like the Amy Porterfield, James Wedmore. sphere. And I was really blessed to be able to see the but the inner workings of like a, you know, eight figure business and this sphere, when I was like, really young. And so I worked with her for two years. As an employee, I learned a lot, because we were doing six figure, you know, million dollar launches. And that’s usually not how people are introduced into the space. And so I was able to get it from a bird’s eye view. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t fulfilled in a position I actually really enjoyed the position but for me, it was a God thing that was kind of like it’s time to go and I was like,

Jordan Gill 9:46
again, I’m a systematic planner person, like you can’t just you know, roll up on me and say, like, time to go like, that’s not that’s a way to spontaneous. But you know, I

Jordan Gill 9:59
I, you know, walked into obedience. And it was a beautiful thing. And I gave six weeks notice without a personal Instagram definitely didn’t have an email list, I just had a bank account, figured out an LLC situation and an email address. And within those six weeks, I actually was able to solidify four monthly retainer clients that then resulted in about $12,000 in monthly retainer revenue. So may 1 2016, your girl started out with a $12,000 in monthly retainer work, which was pretty incredible. Five months later, I was burned out. But

Jordan Gill 10:39
as that happens, but you know, it was it was a blessing to just again, I was expected to kind of, you know, eat ramen in the dentist’s office basement apartment or something, you know, grind and figure it out. But it was really actually a really nice stepping stone into entrepreneurship. And I learned a lot for sure.

Chris Davis 11:00
Great, great. I love the story. And it’s, it’s, I have to say, it’s twofold, right? One, one side is given the opportunity to be behind the eight, nine figure business. The second is answering the call. Because there are many people that could have been placed in that seat and still just kind of fizzled out. I saw something similar when I was at lead page, and it was just like, I would think that Oh, anybody could have done it. But after a while, and I look back and say wow, we were a lot of launches, very fast moving environment, a lot of details like no, it had to be a specific type of person, you know, to fill that seat. So kudos to you. And again, just a highlight to you showing up and, and performing, you know, in that environment. And you give your all right, you give your all and it gives it back and you walk away, everybody walks away, you know better for us. So now we fast forward to today, you’ve got system saved me. And I will say I don’t think it’s far fetched to say you’re you’re a industry leader. And one day or four day, however you want to call it implementations, you call them VIP days. But before we jump into that, let’s just give everybody let’s make sure we’re all on the same playing field here. When you say systems.

Jordan Gill 12:22
What is it that you’re referring to a system as Yes, my definition of systems is that you’re taking chronological actions toward a specific goal. And it can be you know, setting up a really cool evergreen funnel situation, or it can be my five minute makeup routine, or my 17 minute curling routine for my hair. These are real things. And so, you know, I think that people overcomplicate it with it, especially in our industry, because we’re online business owner, so everyone thinks every system has to attached to a tech situation or or software systems are way beyond that. And everyone does systems every day, even you know, whatever your breakfast is your workout regimen, like all that stuff is systems.

Chris Davis 13:15
Yes, yes, I love it. And I like how you say, you know, chronological order for an output, right? Because that’s what is the system without the output. I mean, we measure our effectiveness by the output, and then we measure the efficiency by our fatigue

Chris Davis 13:36
in generating set output, right? Like you said, everything is a system. And when you start to look at your business, there are so many systems at play. So many systems, which which makes the title system say just immediately resonate with anybody who acknowledges that on any level. So talk about how you, you know, you went from client work, and now you’re doing VIP days? What was the decision making behind that? And then what what, what are VIP days?

Jordan Gill 14:08
Totally. So like I said, I was working for one person doing, you know, six, seven figure launches. And then when I went to have my own business, I was working for four different people, three of which were also seven figure business owners doing major launches and about five months into my entrepreneurship journey. three out of the four of my clients were launching in the same month. So it’s one thing to do a six or seven figure launch for one person and it is an entirely different scenario to do six or seven figure launches for three different people. And that was that was the breaking point. I call it launch again in September 2016 was launched mageddon for me. And I just was like this is this is for the birds. This is not For me, and so after that month I let go of to clients purely just based on like, I want you to be able to have somebody that is able to facilitate more for you. And that’s not me. And so I was kind of went down to two because I was like, How much money do I really need to make to live and like, be good. So then from there, I was like on a self discovery journey. I’m just like, well, what else can I do? Because I enjoy clients, I enjoy doing the service. What else is there besides monthly retainers? And so I actually hired a sales coach at the time who did VIP days, had a really great experience. And I thought like, like, can I do, like, an actual implementation VIP day? versus just a strategy? One? She was like, Yeah, of course. So I kind of played around with it. And within a couple of months, I actually did my first VIP day for systems. So my specialty is really in client relationship management. So I enjoy, you know, leads and prospects to an actual client, how are you managing them? And then how are you offboarding them like, that’s the system that I really enjoy. There’s multiple, many systems in there. But from that A to Z spectrum. And so my first client was actually a coach for bodybuilding competitions.

Jordan Gill 16:25
And, you know, I have a very eclectic client roster of like, weighing professionals, tax professionals, hail damage, folks like wine grape consultants, like it’s very, so I was like, who, who am I working with, and I came to realize it’s seasonal business owners. So bodybuilding competitions have a very strict season for when like, they’re all happening. And she worked with me and her offseason in December. And same thing with wedding folks, tax folks, hail damage, you know, you don’t need Hail Damage folks in the summer, for most parts anyway. So I realized, like, that’s my niche is seasonal business owners, if you have an on and off season, I’m your girl. And so I just went kind of all in with that I have worked with people who are non seasonal, but I would say that’s, that’s the minority. But I really enjoy looking at, okay, when it’s busy, like your systems have to be in place. And they’re thinking, you know, I don’t want this season to be like last season. And so I really was able to hone in my messaging and target those people. And everyone’s season is different. So I can kind of pivot my marketing and it feels like a variety to me, because I don’t like doing the same thing over and over again, as a systems person, you build the system, so you don’t have to do it over and over.

Jordan Gill 17:45
Which I’m sure you can relate to. So I think the variety of clientele really then gave me that variety, but I still was in the lane of client relationship management, like it was all about clients, which made it super fun. So so then from there, I was like, this is it like I can’t, like I love VIP days, because you can get it done in a day, literally. And then I move on. And I can work, you know, four to six days a month with, you know, different clients, and then the rest of the month is for me. So it’s it’s been beautiful. And it’s been awesome. And I just realized that, you know, in a lot of entrepreneurial journeys similar to mine, I just jumped into monthly retainers, because that’s what I thought you had to do. And I thought that was the only option. And so now, I’m talking about VIP days a lot, because I’m like, there is another option like you don’t have to go to burnout town anymore. And for some people, not the retainers feel really great. And keep on keepin on because we do need you. And for those of you who doesn’t is not a great fit VIP days are great for you. So I would, I would say VIP days, how I define them is really, they are a again, four figure investment, which I’m sure we’ll come back to, that lasts about three to eight hours within a 24 hour period with about a three to five phase transformation, meaning that this isn’t where people just ask you questions and you answer them like you’re bringing them through an actual framework or methodology. That generally is like three to five phases long. So I love numbers because we can measure it.

Jordan Gill 19:21
And so you will know if you have a VIP day, if you follow that that framework.

Chris Davis 19:26
I love it.

Chris Davis 19:28
I see so much of your journey in it though, right? You had to be very calculated, very measured. You know, I think you said Melanie Duncan, you had to be it wasn’t an option.

Chris Davis 19:43
So that was your that’s your frame. That’s your foundation there. Yeah. And then as you go and you’ve got clients and it’s like wait a minute, three launches. Anybody in their right mind could have just said no, wait a minute, tap out. Can’t do it. But you’ve had this experience.

Chris Davis 20:00
In these fast moving environments, you’re familiar with the launch model. So you’re just like, hey, why not until afterwards? You’re like, Oh, that’s, that’s why.

Chris Davis 20:09
Right? But it’s this tenacity, right? Like, just take it head on. And then you stumbled across something that it’s like, wait a minute, I can take all of this specialized knowledge, coupled with a model that was given to me in a in an advisory, right? And let me piece this thing together. And it only works Jordan, because you have to have that systematic approach to it. Right? Here’s where we start. Here’s where we end. And here’s what it looks like afterwards. And I think a lot of people struggle with that level of clarity, you know, especially when there’s money on the line, you know, four figures to five figures, that’s an easy yes to somebody just getting started. And they’ll do anything, I can’t tell you, the amount of students that I’ve worked with that are just like, I’m grandfathered in my client at like, $200 a month, and I’m doing everything for them. I

Chris Davis 21:02
don’t know how to get out of it, right? So I get it, and I understand where it comes from, but to be able to operate with that level of clarity and specificity. Right? So do you find that to be one of the harder things to teach when people come into the VIP day training? To get them to say, No, no, no, not? We could not? We can, but what will you do is that one?

Jordan Gill 21:28
Yes, that is definitely the one of the more common mistakes that I see is, I can do all of these things. And so then people create like a VIP day offer and then make this list of like 15 different things that they could do in a day. Yeah, that is super overwhelming. As a client, I don’t know what I need in this list, you’re making me work. I’m out like people tap out. And so I find that the more clarity that you have, the better. And the more specific you can get in defining your result, your transformation, or if it’s who exactly you’re working with, then it’s just going to be that much easier. And I think it feels weird, because we have this mentality. And I don’t know if it’s like really Western culture. But just like more is more like, we just want to be able to, you know, I think, you know, in college, we take all these courses we don’t necessarily need, but it makes us more well rounded or whatever. Like, you know, and that’s not really the case, in business, I think that the more specific you can be like, that’s really where the sales will come in. And I think because I know exactly who I work with, and who I don’t, I know who to refer people to, and I feel super happy and joyful about it, because I’m not stressed out, they aren’t able to get the result that they you know, want,

Jordan Gill 22:47
you know, I would never want that to be the experience, I don’t want to be drained. They don’t want to be drained. You know, why overwork myself because I can help them.

Jordan Gill 22:58
I think that it can be hard, especially as somebody who you know, similar to you so much, you’re probably a lot of people listening and like you can do a lot of stuff. Like if you’re a tech person, like you can really figure out anything like not that we’re all superheroes or anything, but just, you know, like we we can go into any platform, any software, any this any that and figure it out, because they, they all the same, basically. So, you know, you really have to hone that in and pull back when you want to step into VIP days. Because the specificity is key for those higher tier clients. They want to know exactly what’s going on, and what result they can expect. And if you’re like whatever you want, then it throws them off, and then they’ll just leave. Yeah, it might.

Chris Davis 23:42
Yeah, I agree. And I found that even with this influx, I don’t know if we can call it an influx. Maybe it’s just a new awareness of just online. Yes, in digital marketing. People don’t know, they don’t know the value of even just something as simple as a landing page that converts. Also somebody that doesn’t know that that’s just like one checkbox onto a landing page, a sales page email sequence. And before you know it is this long list of stuff, that may look good, but then when you produce it, you can’t produce any of it at the level of quality or effectiveness that it really needs. So it’s like it does it takes a mature and willing business owner to step back and say, hey, look, I’m going to give you these three things. In five hours, we’re going to complete these things. They’re going to be excellent and and you’ll be off you’ll be up to the next level. Right? Yeah.

Chris Davis 24:38
That’s a different conversation.

Chris Davis 24:41
A totally different conversation. And I can feel listeners now maybe that maybe they’re a little more intrigued now like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe they’re thinking about offering them or they’re thinking like, Oh, I never realized I could hire somebody and get something done in a day. So what are some examples

Chris Davis 25:00
From the from the trenches, and from your students of some of the things that people can realistically expect to be done in a day,

Jordan Gill 25:08
yeah, it’s been really fun to see the variety in which that this can happen. So I, I’ve bought a lot of VIP days.

Jordan Gill 25:17
And I, you know, as a client, and I also obviously have, I’ve had students who’ve created them, and it can range I think that, again, we it’s more service providers, coaches, consultants, so I wouldn’t say product based business owners not that there, they may not be listening anyway. But I haven’t quite figured out VIP days for y’all yet. It’s a little challenge myself, but for service writers, coaches, consultants, we’ve seen a variety between someone can build a six page website in a day, there are people who can write a sales page for a program in a day, there’s people who can build evergreen funnels. In a day. I’ve we’ve had

Jordan Gill 25:59
a relationship coach who can help you and your partner communicate more effectively. We’ve had the most interesting VIP day that took some noodling, was actually a woman who could produce songs that helped to alleviate trauma responses,

Jordan Gill 26:22
which was like, so such amazing work. And I was also like, let me think about this. And so I went to a friend of mine who kind of was in that space, and was like, would this be helpful to have done in a day? And she was like, Oh, my gosh, she asked, like, center to me immediately, like, this would be an amazing referral for me. And I was like, Okay, well, this works. And so then she got passed along. And she’s been able to get clients with that sense. And I think it’s, it’s, that’s really, really beautiful work. And so there’s really a range, I’ve seen all the things and Active Campaign setups I’ve seen, you know, I think that, for the most part, if you’ve been doing something on a monthly retainer, it probably can be, you know, created into a de type container.

Jordan Gill 27:10
But again, it just has to have that defined result, define tangible and intangible result, like, you need to know, like, okay, you’re getting, you know, a month of your content created in a day, which is going to give you peace of mind for the rest of the month that you don’t have to think about what to post on Instagram, which is quite lovely.

Jordan Gill 27:33
So really thinking through those things will help with you selling it to you need to know both the tangible and intangible result.

Chris Davis 27:40
That I love it. I love it. And it’s like with anything, right? Anything can be made into it if you understand a what you’re doing and be how to position it to the market. Yeah, right. But it’s always interesting just to kind of hear even something as specific as a six page website in a day. I can’t count how many people I just had a text last night. Hey, bro, I need some help on a website. And I’m like, I don’t even know where where you’re at. Do you know what a website is? Do you know what a domain is? Are you a GoDaddy? Are you a Squarespace like what’s going on? So for people like that, who are just like, Hey, I would like to get started. That’s the heavy load lifted, you know, heavy load lifted for them. And then of course, for the implementer, you always have the opportunity to add some maintenance in there and say, hey, look, we’ll build it. And then next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, whatever the case is, I think we need more, you know, of that hand holding, and something for a specific result, right, so that people know exactly what they’re getting. So I’m a huge advocate of it. Let’s, let’s shift a bit to automation. So we’ve talked about systems, and now if we put automated in front of it, they become automated.

Chris Davis 28:59
Right? And there’s no greater joy than having a process defined, right? And then systematize, to where, like you said, in chronological order is producing the desired result. And then adding a layer of technology. What, what do we just you see that every techie just did what you did? They’re driving, they’re on the treadmill, just like you just ate a moist Piece of cake. Right?

Jordan Gill 29:27
Right.

Chris Davis 29:28
When you look at your business, give us some insight on some of the areas that you’re most proud of. We’ll say we’ll say some of the areas you’re most proud of your your automation. Oh, goodness, how, how do we even keep this short? So right.

Jordan Gill 29:44
That’s so many proud moments.

Jordan Gill 29:47
I would say, you know, for our done in a day program, we have our onboarding. 100% automated and what that looks like is if somebody joins our program and they purchase it

Jordan Gill 30:01
There is an integration for them to sign their contract. Once their contract is signed, several things happen,

Jordan Gill 30:07
which is they get sent an email, my coach is tasked with CO signing the document. So I guess that’s a little manual, but I don’t have to do it.

Jordan Gill 30:18
And they get an email with links to the actual, you know, Thinkific login, they get access to or a link to the Facebook group that they can join, they get access to the podcast version of our program. Um, it’s a specialized link from Hello audio, which I absolutely love. And they’re given, you know, a Google calendar invite for coaching calls for when critiques or do like, all of the Google invites, like, it’s a beautiful email, they just get all set up and ready to rock and then they show up and we can get started. And I think that it’s, that’s just like one, it feels like a very baby system to me. But it’s also it can show you like, imagine if people could sign up for things and you don’t have to manually go figure out a contract, sign up, you know, or send it over, have them re sign it back. And then you have to wait for that. And then you have to like, remind them, and then it’s like this whole thing.

Jordan Gill 31:17
And then you like have to enter them into Thinkific or enter them into Active Campaign and enter. It’s like, No, none of that is happening. So yeah, back that my students can get a really beautiful, exciting experience. And actually, about three to four days after they join, they get a welcome box that’s also automated, from that standpoint, physically in the mail. So again, it’s about creating that experience. And it’s not even just, you know, to get the load off of me, it’s also because I want every student who’s coming in to have the exact same awesome client experience. And when you’re doing things manually, as we both know, you can’t possibly deliver that same experience to every single person, because we’re human.

Jordan Gill 32:01
And you know, we’re relying on our energy that day maybe off or we forget something, or whatever the case is. And so that that deteriorates the experience. And it’s not because we don’t care, it’s because we’re relying on our brain or post it notes to get us through. So so that’s one that I’m really proud of. That’s like pretty specific.

Chris Davis 32:23
Yeah, no, I’m glad you brought that up. And it seems appropriate, right? For somebody that loves the client management

Chris Davis 32:32
side of things, that you would have a fully automated onboarding. And you’re exactly right there. I know it seems simple, but there were so many details in there that could be dropped. That could create just more time, more work more effort on your part. More people, you know, so I find Jordan right now the time of the of this recording,

Chris Davis 32:57
more production can be had or let me say more success can be made on the fulfillment side of things. Oh, yeah, I think so many people don’t get me wrong. We start with marketing and sales. Without that there is nothing right. But it is so short sighted to start and stop there. And there are so many people, especially digital marketers, that start and stop with the sales funnel can do nothing after the sale. When when you think about it. That’s the beginning of the experience.

Chris Davis 33:31
Right there. So I’m so glad you mentioned that I spent more time engineering my onboarding. No, I’m not ashamed of it, because it was well worth it. I know it’s got the signatures. I’ll share you some some insight on mine. I like to use the wait until action in Active Campaign. So all of these things happen. And then they hit this wait until and is waiting until they they sign all the documents. Yeah. So it’s like, hey, look, you can move at whatever pace you want to move at. Until you sign those docs because it’s going to tag you in Active Campaign, you’re not going to proceed and then after they do that, all kind of access is unlocked with tags and login credentials and all of that. So as simple as that sounds, Jordan, you enter a person in that one junction that says wait till some sign maybe they forget to look at their email and it’s fine and the person is waiting six hours to 12 hours to get access. Those small things make a big difference. You know, they really do so I’m so glad you mentioned that. I feel it was extremely appropriate. By the way everybody I did not tee that up prior to I did not warn her. She’s gonna ask that.

Chris Davis 34:47
That was purely organic. Jordan, I have to thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. I learned a lot about VIP days myself. I’m a huge fan of clarity though. You know, I I’m the type of person that always

Chris Davis 35:00
spend the extra 30 minutes on the contract terms. You know, I’ll put the extra effort to make sure everything is clearly understood. So I have a different level of appreciation for what you do. If people want to find out more connect with you on social, what’s the best place for them to go?

Jordan Gill 35:17
Yeah, all the places. So Instagram is my main jam. So you can come @systemssavedme, that’s plural saved me, not just one system, saved me.

Jordan Gill 35:26
And my website is also systemssavedme.com, also plural. And we do have a podcast. And that is system saved me It’s currently as at the time of this recording, paused, and then we’ll jump back in eventually. But there’s an archive of a lot, almost 300 episodes, that again, if you’re a systems person, you’ll you’ll enjoy a good binge there. So I would say those places.

Chris Davis 35:51
Yeah, highly recommend the podcast, you do some highlighting of your students to in there. So it’s also good to see those stories. So it is definitely in my playlist as well. So thank you for that. Jordan. I’m excited about everything that you have done everything that you have going and some of the stuff that you have in the pipeline coming up. So I’m sure will more than likely have you back on when the time is appropriate. But thank you for taking the time today is greatly appreciate it.

Jordan Gill 36:21
Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, Chris.

Chris Davis 36:23
Yes, yes, yes, I’ll see you online. Jordan. Sounds great. Thank you for listening to this episode of the All systems go podcast. And I hope you’re inspired, encouraged, and I and I hope that there’s clarity around the potential path to replace retainers with VIP days.

Chris Davis 36:44
You know, everything that you choose to do comes with a set of considerations and things to be aware of. And I hope that you are that much more clear on what it takes or what it could possibly take for you to conduct a VIP day. And if there’s something that you want to add to your business model. And at the same time, if you know somebody who this would be perfect, maybe they’ve been talking around this topic, but didn’t necessarily know what they are called. They’ve got a perfect business for it. They’ve got a raving tribe and community and they’re looking at looking at trying to scale in a more streamlined fashion, share this episode with them, share this episode with them and see how it resonates. And if you found value in today’s episode, please make sure that you are subscribed, you’ve left a five star rating and review and you are sharing it across all social platforms. Okay, it’s greatly appreciated here at automation bridge, we’re dedicated to training digital marketing professionals to become automation service providers. If you didn’t know what automation service provider is, that is a marketing professional that specializes in the delivery of the service of automation across marketing and sales systems. Okay, they are a specialized digital marketer. Okay, because their focus is creating systems of scale, starting with marketing and sales and beyond, okay, small businesses are in dire need of these types of specialized marketers with this ability. Okay, navigating the marketing technology landscape along with strategy, piecing them together to deploy automated systems for rapid growth. Okay, so if that’s you, we’ve made it easy for you to get access to everything that you need, okay, if you go to All systems go podcast calm, you will not just get access to the latest episodes, but you’ll be able to get your hands on our amplify my automation package. And it’s dedicated to showing you teaching you how to put automated marketing and sales systems in your business. Over the next six months. The automation service provider program is part of that package. Okay, we also have a free Facebook group if you want to get connected, and start to learn and just get deeper and become more specialized as a digital marketer. And if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, or refer someone to be a guest on the podcast is greatly appreciated, by the way, but you can do all of that and any and get access to any resource that we’ve ever mentioned on the podcast, one URL to remember get you access to it all. And that’s allsystemsgopodcast.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. And until next time, I see you online. automate responsibly, my friends