Meet Melissa, Systems and Workflow Expert
Hello, hello friends! I’m Melissa from Virtually Done Systems, and I’m SO STINKING EXCITED to be Sprout Studio’s newest ambassador and partner! As a systems and workflow consultant, helping photographers get their CRMS up and running and optimizing their workflows with automation is MY JAM. As a former wedding photographer, I know firsthand the struggles so many photographers face when it comes to finding the right CRM and optimizing the heck out of it. All while making sure things don’t feel too automated and robotic AND while trying to stay on top of and maintain your shoot and editing load.
So – why am I here? I’m super excited to share that I’m going to be guest posting articles full of actionable steps and visual guides to help YOU set up Sprout Studio. My goal is to really make your Sprout Studio account work for you and your business.
A few times a month I’ll be popping in the Sprout Facebook Community with helpful tips, tricks, and video tutorials. They’ll focus on implementing systems and using workflows to help your business run more smoothly, make your clients happier and get more of your time back.
Lastly, I’ve got a super sweet discount for you to use if you’re just signing up for Sprout. AND I’m offering a super sweet discount to share if you need my help setting your Sprout Studio up. Talk about a win-win!
Way More Than Just an Expert
Here are a few other things you should know about me:
- I’m a corgi mama to two sassy ladies – let’s face it – they’re the true bosses around here
- I’m a puzzle junkie! As a kid I dumped 3-4 puzzles into a pile on the floor, and put them all back together, simultaneously. I’m pretty sure this is why building systems and sorting out operations is my superpower.
- I’m an Enneagram 6 and my human design type is a Manifesting Generator. This means I am the “doer and details person” to all of your big creative ideas.
But what really makes me qualified to help you with setting up your Sprout Studio account, your workflows and automations?
I started my career working on a process improvement team for a major healthcare IT company. I like to say that’s where I first fell in love with sticky notes and workflow mapping. Similar to so many of you, that was my full time job while I built up a side hustle wedding photography business with my husband on evenings and weekends. Before we knew it – the time came for us to make a decision – will we be corporate America lifers? Or will our “little photography business” become full time?
I bet you can guess which decision won out. 🙂
My husband and I ran our wedding photography business for 16 years. I know in my bones what it takes to run a successful photography business and deliver a seamless client experience, all while setting up your CRM for growth.
A Love Affair with Systems and Workflows
If you want the honest truth, I never identified with being a creative OR a photographer. I secretly loved all the time behind the scenes, running our business and setting up systems more than anything else. Scandalous, I know.
“This means that I intentionally CRM-hopped our business from platform to platform, just for the fun of it. Not advice I would give ANYONE but that’s partially what made me fall back in love with systems and workflows.”
– Melissa Rich, Virtually Done Systems
What I didn’t know, during all of this platform hopping, was that I needed an all-in-one platform like Sprout Studio:
- a specific CRM for photographers that would handle my client management
- offer easy booking and scheduling
- provide beautiful galleries and album proofing
- email marketing
- an IPS experience without all the requirements of traditional IPS
- an exceptional client facing experience and platform
I can’t even tell you how much I wish I had found Sprout Studio 10 years ago.
Introducing: Virtually Done Systems
Flash forward to the pandemic, and I started picking up some Virtual Assistant work to keep us afloat. I quickly realized that, as much as I loved photography, systems and workflows had my heart. Luckily for me, around the same time, my husband’s sports and marketing photography business took off. We decided to close our wedding photography business so we could both spend more time pursuing our passions.
I do realize it sounds slightly crazy for someone to think “systems and workflows” are their passion, but here’s the thing…
Having worked with a super-creative, ADHD/dyslexic photographer (a.k.a. my husband) for so long taught me so much about the struggles creatives face when it comes to putting systems and workflows in place. I’m guessing you, too, would much rather be spending your time taking photos instead of replying to emails. Plus, it’s hard to know where to start when building a workflow automation let alone how to build them in your CRM.
Now, I get to help photographers all over the world get systems and workflows in place in their CRM! Sometimes that means taking everything they’ve already created and building the workflow itself. Other times it means helping them map out their client experience from the ground-up, then creating the content and workflow automations. And sometimes, it looks like just troubleshooting or tweaking a misfiring automation.
Here To Serve You
Helping overwhelmed and stressed out photographers with their systems and workflows has been the joy of my life. It lights my soul on fire. It never ceases to amaze me how much better the photographer’s life gets once we get them up and running!
I am here to serve YOU, the Sprout Studio user community in any way that I can. As a systems and workflow consultant, Sprout Studio is my favourite platform to work in. It is also the CRM that I recommend most to photographers. I’ve had the absolute privilege of helping so many photographers set up Sprout Studio. To transition from “oh, it’s just a list of my clients” to becoming super workflow users. I LOVE that Sprout workflows are set up in a visual manner. This makes building and maintaining them so much easier – and I’m here to help make that even easier for you. And don’t even get me started on Sprout Assistant and advanced settings for automations. Hellooooo amazing tools!!
As someone who has seen firsthand the impact of well-designed workflows in a photography business, I am excited to bring SO MUCH knowledge and practical insight to the Sprout Studio community. My goal is to empower you with what you need to leverage Sprout and its features to the fullest. Whether you’re struggling with client management, setting up your sales pipeline or workflow automation building – I’m here to provide guidance and support.
Coming to a Blog Near You
In the coming weeks and months, here’s a peek at what you can expect from me:
- workflow automation help
- teaching simple strategy to help you build your own workflow
- behind the scenes videos of how to use my favourite Sprout features
- how to use automations without sounding robotic
- how to seamlessly start your email list in Sprout (and what the heck needs to go in it once you’ve got it started!)
- And so much more!
I can’t even tell you how excited I am to embark on this journey. I look forward to supporting the Sprout Studio community. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions, feedback, or suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered. Together with Sprout Studio, we can build a thriving community of photographers who excel in their art and run successful, stress-free businesses. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty awesome to me!
I would love, love, LOVE it if you would find me in the Sprout Facebook community group. Let me know if there’s a specific topic you’d like me to cover or something that you need help with. Remember, I am here to serve YOU. I want to make sure that what I’m passing along will help you move your business forward! You can also connect with me on Instagram @virtuallydonesystems. Be sure to say hello and let me know you’re in the Sprout community!
“Automation enables people to focus on tasks that require the human touch.”
Jack Ma
