The Investment Guide Toolkit
Save time, convert new leads, and make a strong, first impression on autopilot.
Are you waiting around for clients to come to you?
Here’s why that's a bad idea (and what you can do instead).
Most design professionals expect their good work and reputation alone will bring in new work + better clients. It’s what we’ve been taught - and as a result we’ve been doing it without challenging if it’s actually the best or most efficient way.
But, this approach to onboarding new clients is a huge waste of time. It allows 'time-wasters', ‘brain-pickers' and 'price-shoppers' access to your expertise for free.
Not only are they wasting billable time, they're destroying your focus. And as a busy design professional you do-it-all; nothing is more precious than your time.
You really can’t afford to individually respond to every new inquiry.
You have to streamline and automate your business processes. Don’t wait for people to contact you. Reclaim your weekends and set your business up to automate your client acquisition process.
Convert prospects into projects + screen out unsuitable clients before they ever waste your time with the Investment Guide Toolkit
This is the sales + marketing tool every design professional needs to save time, convert leads into projects, and make a strong, first impression.
The Investment Guide Toolkit includes a fully editable template with 40 pages (.key), along with instructional videos that show you how to customize and implement this automation.
More than just. Another. Pretty Template.
Most investment guides out there are aesthetically pleasing. Download them, add your brand logo and colors, swap out the stock images and you’re off to a reasonable start. Or so you think.
I know, because I’ve purchased and sampled quite a few, before I realized one very frustrating aspect. They look okay but that’s about it. You’re left to your own devices trying to figure out how to actually use them in practice. Where does it fit in your operations? How do you automate the delivery? What do you fill it with?
Most templates don’t include the insights required to actually make them the effective sales + marketing tools that would actually save you time by filtering out the bad clients and nurturing the right ones.
The Investment Guide Toolkit Will Help You Automate Your Client Acquisition.
And I’ll show you how:
Getting started is easy
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1. Add your logo, branding, colors, imagery.
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2. Add all the copy specific to your business.
- You’ll receive a video that helps you populate the template and an example of a finished guide to reference.
- You’ll also find all pages have an editable blocks and image placeholders to help you get started quickly. Keep anything that serves your brand and change what doesn’t.
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3. Automate
- To deliver your newly created Investment Guide to your potential clients you’re going to set up an automation; I’ll walk you through each step in the process.
- I'll even give you the onboarding email templates which you can edit and customize to suit your business and service offerings.
Most design professionals are still building their business using outdated, manual marketing tactics.
You don’t have to be one of them anymore.
The Investment Guide is - essentially - a lead magnet. It's one of the most effective tools you can use to build an email list in online marketing. Most design professionals are still relying on the old ways: passively - and anxiously - waiting for someone to reach out.
This is a missed opportunity.
Most of the prospective clients browsing your website aren’t ready to hire you on the first visit. Most are there to research. They’re collecting information and trying to understand what it will take to design and construct their project. They’re looking to you for expertise, they’re looking for answers and if they don’t find them, they’ll either leave and head over to a competitor, or jump on an un-billable phone call to get the answers directly from you.
The Investment Guide is designed to do this work for you… But it doesn’t stop here. It works all day, every day, on autopilot.
When you purchase this toolkit, I’ll show you exactly how and when new leads will receive it and the automations to set up to nurture them, all without spending hours of your time.
✔ Get more leads on autopilot without any of the frustrations that come with cold calls or manually replying to the same four questions in every inquiry email.
✔ Imagine being able to screen out unsuitable clients without wasting dozens of your billable hours every week on pro-bono education.
✔ Show potential clients how you’re different from your competition and what they can expect from working with you without offering any free consultations or brain-picking sessions.
✔ Educate prospective clients about their biggest concerns working with a design professional: cost, schedule, dispute resolution, aesthetics, process, portfolio, etc. without any of the manual work.
✔ Establish a luxe client experience from the very first touch point someone has with your brand.
This toolkit is a system that's been generating multiple six figures for my business each year.
And it’s been refined over the 10+ years I’ve been using it to get leads on autopilot while screening out unsuitable clients. It can be worth anything from thousands of dollars to millions in the long term, depending on your business.
At a minimum it will save you about 2 to 5 hours a week. No more back-and-forth between cold calls and emails with people who can’t afford your services, or small scope projects.
Multiply that by what you’re currently charging per hour, and this investment can pay off almost immediately.
Your Instructor
Hi, I'm Eric, an award-winning architect, entrepreneur and founder of 30X40 Design Workshop, a design studio located on Mount Desert Island, Maine. I'm also author of the Architect + Entrepreneur book series and creator of the most popular architecture-focused YouTube channel online. I've been designing simple, modern residential architecture for more than 28 years and a practitioner of all the novel, entrepreneurial business strategies I teach in my courses.
Here are some examples of my work:
“After a full month of hard work on it. The automatisation + guide is officially in place! Thanks for your guidance. It would have taken me years to figure it out by myself.”
- Jean-Michel H. Architect.
Here’s exactly what you’ll get:
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Investment guide template, 40 pages (use as many or as few as you'd like)
- Cover (1)
- Welcome message from the founder (1)
- About (5)
- Social proof (1)
- Process (6)
- Deliverables (1)
- Case Studies (5)
- Investment + Timeline (5)
- FAQs (7)
- Testimonials (2)
- Team (4)
- Next Steps (2)
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Editable template files
- Keynote Presentation file (.key) for macOS
- Keynote Presentation file (.key on iCloud) for Windows users + quick setup video
- You'll create an Apple ID + use the FREE iCloud version of Keynote
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Investment guide instructional video
- Walkthrough of how to fill in every section in your guide
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Automation process instruction video + email templates
- Step-by-step video teaching you how to automate the delivery of your Investment Guide
- Editable email text templates to deliver your Investment Guide and nurture new leads
- Lifetime access to all the course content, SOPs and templates + free updates
- BONUS: PDF example guide with text, FAQs, images, videos, links, etc. (excerpt shown below).
BONUS: Get my client onboarding system, THE WELCOME GUIDE (VALUE $97)
- Once you have a new client, you’ll need an onboarding process too. Using our Welcome Guide, your onboarding process can be automated to walk a new client through their next steps. This saves you time ensuring you don’t leave anything to chance, it affirms your client’s good decision to hire you and shows you’re delivering the premium service they’re expecting. You’ll get instant access to this bonus when you get the Investment Guide Toolkit.
Included email templates for onboarding automation
Sample Investment Guide to use for Inspiration (46 page PDF)
“What if I don’t have any leads coming in?
Is this still a good investment?”
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+ What if I don’t have any leads coming in? Is this still a good investment?
Many design professionals think they don’t have any leads coming in because nobody is reaching out, but that isn’t always the case. If your website is getting traffic, if you have a social media presence, you’re being seen. Without a lead magnet like an Investment Guide and an automated system for triaging you could be missing dozens of new prospects each day. Don’t miss the opportunity to collect these leads and bring them into your system. The Investment Guide gives your potential clients a reason to learn more and an opportunity for you to continue the conversation.
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+ I’m not tech-savvy. Will I still be able to use this system?
Yes, I’ve included instructional videos on how to edit, customize and automate the delivery of your Investment Guide as well as the follow-up nurture sequence to continue the conversation.
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+ I'm a...( Student, Landscape Architect, Interior Designer, Engineer, Draftsperson )... is this course good for me?
If you have a business and need clients, this tool will be invaluable. At a minimum it will save you about 2 to 5 hours a week, no more back-and-forth between cold calls and emails with prospects who can’t afford your services and those who might not be a good fit for you. Multiply that by your hourly billing rate, and this investment can pay off almost immediately.
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+ 40 pages sounds like a lot of work. Can I start smaller?
Absolutely, you can begin with a more concise version of the Investment Guide (or you can even make it longer). The template is fully editable, meaning you can remove, add or duplicate pages as you see fit. At a minimum, it should include the most common questions your clients are asking: cost, schedule, your process, FAQs, and a case study or two.
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+ I don’t have a strong portfolio yet. Can I still use this?
Yes, there are plenty of ways to workaround this issue.
- You can always use stock imagery as a placeholder (either AI generated or from websites such as Unsplash, Pexels, etc.) until you have more built work.
- You can develop your portfolio by developing self-funded speculative projects. The kind you’d love to showcase to your future clients (it’s what I did with my kitchen makeover and the design of the LongStudio.)
- Or, use an On the Boards section to show how you work and design work in progress. Some design pros I work with take local land lots currently for sale and treat them as design problems to solve and showcase what can be done.
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+ Isn’t this included with your other products and courses?
The only place you’ll find The Investment Guide System apart from this page, is the brand new course, How to Find New (+ Better) Clients. So, if you already purchased that course, simply login into your learning area and scroll down to module 2: A BETTER PROCESS.
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+ How can I edit the template?
I’ve built this template to be editable with Keynote Presentation for macOS and the FREE iClould version of Keynote for Windows users. It’s dead simple to use and easy to edit, even easier than a Canva template!
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+ Is there a refund policy?
As the template and instruction videos are digital and delivered immediately upon enrollment, I have no way of recovering them and thus I’m not able to offer refunds. If you have any questions as to what’s included, please reach out to [email protected] before enrolling and I can answer any questions you may have.
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+ Are the video tutorials downloadable?
Video tutorials are only available to stream online via our learning platform (Teachable) or using the Teachable mobile app. All PDFs and other resources are downloadable. Accessing the course is possible from all devices.
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+ Are there additional paid software or programs required to implement the Investment Guide toolkit?
The only additional cost (if you don’t already have one) would be an email service provider (ESP). This is required to deliver the Investment Guide (and Welcome Guide) automations. I use and recommend ConvertKit (14-day free trial, then paid) and that’s what is demonstrated in the course. There are other ESPs noted in the resources that including free options for you to explore. As your email list grows, the cost of these services will far outweigh the cost.
TERMS OF USE:
All assets are intended for unlimited use by a single person (the Purchaser). The Purchaser cannot resell, duplicate, share, copy, distribute, or offer the Agreement to any third party or marketplace without express written consent from 30X40 Design Workshop, LLC. 30X40 Design Workshop, LLC retains title and ownership of all items included in the course, including - but not limited to: videos, PDFs, Keynote Templates, images, and copy) and reserves the right to pursue legal action against violators of the terms of use.
Work smarter. Not harder.
Imagine no longer wasting time in email threads that go on forever, or taking consultation calls that go nowhere.
And you meet the client at their site or home ONLY after they’ve passed your automated pre-screening process and you’ve determined the project goals, aesthetics, budget and program are reasonably aligned.
The Investment Guide Toolkit is how you get there.
And remember: this isn’t another Canva template. It’s an automated process that pre-vets, nurtures and converts prospects on autopilot.
Get access: