Real Results.
Real Businesses.
See how we've helped small businesses escape tool chaos and build systems that actually work. Names changed to protect client privacy.
Marketing Agency ClickUp Cleanup
12-person creative agency · Charlotte, NC
4 weeks
Implementation time
47 → 8
Folders reduced
100%
Team adoption
The Situation
A growing marketing agency had been using ClickUp for two years. What started as a clean setup had become a mess. 47 folders, inconsistent statuses across projects, automations that fired at random times, and team members who kept their own spreadsheets because they didn't trust the data in ClickUp. The ops manager was spending 5 hours a week just trying to keep things organized.
What We Did
Started with a workflow mapping session to understand how projects actually moved through the agency. Discovered they had three different service types (retainer, project, rush) that were all being managed the same way. Designed a new hierarchy with separate spaces for each service type, standardized statuses that matched their actual workflow stages, and built templates for each project type.
Rebuilt automations from scratch. Set up dashboards showing workload distribution and project status at a glance. Migrated all historical data to the new structure. Trained the team over two live sessions.
The Result
Workspace went from 47 folders to 8. Team stopped using side spreadsheets within the first month. The ops manager's weekly cleanup time dropped to about an hour. New hires can now be onboarded in a day instead of a week. Project managers know exactly where every project stands without asking.
"We tried setting up ClickUp ourselves. Twice. Jon asked questions we hadn't thought of and built something we actually use."
B2B SaaS Vendor Risk Save
8-person software startup · Remote
$15K
Saved from bad contract
3
Red flags found
1 week
Before they would have signed
The Situation
A B2B SaaS startup was evaluating CRM options. They had narrowed it down to a mid-tier platform that looked good in demos and had favorable pricing. They were a week away from signing an annual contract when they brought us in to help with implementation.
What We Found
Our vendor risk review uncovered three problems. First, the platform had suffered a security incident eight months prior that affected customer data. Second, their status page showed 99.2% uptime over the past year, which sounds good until you calculate that's nearly three days of downtime. Third, their average support response time was 72 hours for non-enterprise customers.
None of this came up in demos. None of it was in the G2 reviews they read.
The Result
The team decided not to sign. We helped them evaluate alternatives and they went with Attio instead, which had clean security history, 99.95% uptime, and responsive support. The original platform would have cost $15,000/year with a 2-year commitment. They avoided a $30,000 mistake.
"The vendor risk report saved us. We were about to sign with a CRM that had security incidents we didn't know about."
Professional Services Zoho Ecosystem
15-person consulting firm · Atlanta, GA
5 apps
Zoho apps connected
6 weeks
Implementation time
0
Spreadsheets still in use
The Situation
A professional services firm was running on spreadsheets, QuickBooks, and a CRM nobody used. Sales data lived in one place, project tracking in another, invoicing in a third. The CEO spent Friday afternoons manually building reports by copying data between systems. They'd tried implementing a CRM before but it never stuck.
What We Did
Implemented a full Zoho ecosystem: CRM for sales, Books for accounting, Projects for delivery, Analytics for reporting, and Desk for support. The key was connecting them properly. When a deal closes in CRM, it automatically creates a project in Projects and generates an invoice in Books. Time tracked in Projects flows to invoices. Support tickets in Desk link back to customer records in CRM.
Built dashboards in Analytics that pull from all apps. CEO can now see pipeline, project status, revenue, and support metrics in one view.
The Result
No more spreadsheets for core operations. Friday reporting sessions went from 4 hours to checking a dashboard. Team members update one system instead of three. New consultants can see full client history in one place. The firm actually uses their CRM now because it connects to everything else they do.
"Finally stopped using a spreadsheet alongside our PM tool. The Zoho setup just works. Team actually updates it now."
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