What It Really Costs You to DIY Your Dubsado Setup
(For makeup artists, hairstylists, photographers, videographers, and celebrants)
If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll just set up Dubsado myself,” you’re not alone. For many creatives in the wedding and events world, it seems like the most cost-effective option at first. But the hidden costs of doing it all yourself can sneak up quickly, and start affecting your bookings, time, and client experience.
Here’s what DIY’ing your Dubsado setup might really be costing you.
Time You Could Be Getting Paid
You might have opened Dubsado thinking you'd have it sorted in a weekend. But if you're still tweaking forms, watching tutorials, and trying to figure out what a workflow even is, you're losing valuable hours you could be spending on client work or content creation.
If your rate is $300 per booking and you’ve sunk 20 hours into trying to get your scheduler and emails to work properly, that’s $6,000 of income you’ve sacrificed. And your system still might not be running smoothly.
Missed Enquiries and Booking Delays
DIY setups often mean missed leads. Maybe your form isn’t connected to your scheduler. Maybe your follow-up emails aren't sending. Or maybe someone filled out your enquiry form and never heard back, because the automation wasn’t properly connected.
Every missed or delayed reply is a potential booking that went to someone else. When your system isn’t seamless, it shows.
A Clunky Client Experience
Even if your work is amazing, your client experience matters. If your process feels messy, your emails feel manual, or your proposal looks slapped together, it affects how clients perceive your business.
People want to feel taken care of from the moment they enquire. And a well-built system does that for you without the constant back-and-forth in your inbox.
Stress and Overwhelm You Don’t Need
Trying to piece together your own backend setup can be mentally draining. Even when you’re motivated, the tech side of things can become a huge source of stress. What starts out as a quick admin task turns into hours of second-guessing settings and Googling workflow logic.
And when you're already wearing all the hats in your business, that kind of ongoing stress adds up fast.
You're Not Using Dubsado to Its Full Potential
If you’re only using Dubsado to send contracts and invoices, you’re missing out on so much time-saving magic. Features like branded proposals, automated email sequences, enquiry forms, client portals, and reminder emails are what really make Dubsado shine.
Without the right setup, most of these sit unused. And that means more manual work for you.
What to Do Instead
At Artistry Automated, we help creatives in the wedding and events industry set up systems that are simple, streamlined, and beautiful. No tech stress required.
Whether you're:
Still figuring things out and need templates you can use in any system
Wanting support while you stay hands-on with a guided setup
Ready for someone to take it all off your plate and just do it for you
We’ve got a setup option to meet you where you’re at.
The Bottom Line
DIY might feel cheaper. But when you add up the lost time, missed bookings, tech confusion, and client frustration, it often costs you more in the long run.
Let’s build a backend that matches the quality of your work. One that saves time, books faster, and keeps your client experience smooth from the first click to the final thank you.
Explore our setup options here and feel the difference a real system can make.