Please meet my friend Marie Poulin, a digital strategist and product designer. She helps entrepreneurs and small businesses bring their ideas to life online, whether it be through branding, online course development, community building, or digital strategy. She mentors designers through Digital Strategy School, and she is currently co-creating an online course building and launching application with her partner over at Oki Doki.
What were you struggling with before taking Systematic Success?
SYSTEMS!! I had my own way of doing things behind the scenes, but I knew that if I really wanted to elevate the kind of work I was doing and create more impact, I had to tighten up my systems. Sure, I had been able to “get by” with the systems I had in place, but it felt a bit like I was re-inventing the wheel with each new project. When I read the Systematic Success sales page, I identified immediately with the picture that was painted. I felt like on the outside I was doing great work. Behind the scenes, I was scrambling. I was embarrassed about not having the rock solid systems I knew I needed.
What changes have you seen as a result of taking Systematic Success?
My business is in a completely different place since taking Systematic Success. For me the biggest change was not just learning about specific systems (like Client-intake, etc), but about creating a systems mindset. I began seeing every single part of my business as part of a greater system, and I got hooked on the idea of streamlining each and every piece!
Systematic Success trained me to think differently. The sense of accomplishment that came from systemizing everything was addictive and fun. While I do believe that my business systems can and will always use improvement, the program helped me to kick-start a new way of seeing my business. Seeing my business in this new way also gives me a lot more confidence about what I am doing.
Natasha also planted the seed for me to “patent my process,” which to some extent became the inspiration of my 6-month program, Digital Strategy School. The systems mindset I learned enabled me to seriously streamline all the elements of my launch for the program. So, even though I had never launched a product of my own, I had systemized every aspect: from how I collected emails, to how I welcomed my participants, and automatically adding paying members to spreadsheets, etc.
My business model has now shifted from being mostly client focused with a side project/product to being a product-service hybrid with client work on the side, which was exactly what I have been wanting to do for the last 2 years, but wasn’t quite sure how. From what I learned in the Systematic Success program I made my business totally scalable!
In a nutshell, since taking the Systematic Success program I am more organized, my business model has improved, my confidence changed, and my new mindset has definitely allows me to scale my business in a way I never previously thought possible!
What are the biggest accomplishments you have taken from Systematic Success?
I was able to create and launch Digital Strategy School, which was no small feat! It took roughly 8 months to assemble from beta testing to final launch.
I was able to run a small Beta of 15 people, which grew to roughly 20 people, which grossed nearly 10k. While this income did not reflect the time that I invested in the group and the content creation, it supplemented my client work while allowing me to test the waters and grow both my content and confidence while transitioning from designer to design mentor.
When I finally re-launched Digital Strategy School this year, it grossed more than 32k (over the course of 6 months). It is still a huge time-investment of course, but now I have a product that I can leverage in different ways over time. Later, I can decide whether or not to relaunch as a hands-on offering, or as a DIY option.
I was able to earn a good living, while also having the time to invest in product creation.
I was able to realize my goal of inverting my workload so that my personal projects are where the majority of my time is spent. That gives me more flexibility and control over which client projects I take on (or don’t). I now spend my time on 75% on Digital Strategy School and 25% on client work. In the future, this will shift again as Ben and I look to launch Doki, but for now, I have much more freedom and control over my business, and I’m so completely in my element now!
