How Automating Repetitive Tasks Helped a Coach Support More Clients Without Hiring

A preview of the system I created for her business:

Kajabi → check it → Airtable → log it → Excel → check it → log it back into Airtable → countless other tiny manual tasks

Kajabi updates Airtable automatically → the team gets notified → nobody has to go hunting for information.What Ope’s system used to look like:

The problem? Her online course had too many clients to manage and tools were only helping her so much.

Ope Ojekale started SDR Accelerator in late 2024, a high touch membership program to help people land their first tech sales job, after changing her own life with one. 

But behind a program that was producing real results, was a process and backend that was held together with a patchwork of tools and DIY attempts. 

It started with an Airtable template, creating multiple workflows in Zapier that could’ve been simplified, and fiddling around in Kajabi — hours and days she was spending learning how to use these tools and still feeling stretched thin. 

And at the stage of the business she was in, she thought she was doing that. But nearly a year later, months after getting her systems set up, she reflected, 

“Running the whole business is a whole thing, but I was spending almost as much time on making the business run, the automations, the stuff behind it. 

Doing things manually just wasn’t worth it. I could’ve instead been on a sales call making 4k more instead of spending all that time trying to fix an automation.”

But it wasn’t just the time it was taking her or even how long it took her to learn how to do it. It was that client data lived across three different tools — Kajabi, Airtable, Excel — and with no communication between them, Ope and her client success manager (CSM) would have to manually check one platform, log into another, then check a third. 

What changed? Well, she was talking leads out of joining her program. On purpose.

The real cost was that it was holding her back from growing her business. 

Despite being a strong closer, Ope realized she was quietly discouraging qualified leads out of joining her program. 

“I was almost discouraging them from joining because if even two more people joined, that’s more work for me. If 10 more people joined, that’s a lot more work for me.”

If she couldn’t keep up with the admin work that came with new clients, it could very easily result in a bad experience for them. And more admin work wouldn’t be worth it if it took away time spent with her son. 

But she was still convinced she could do it herself. She wasn’t even actively looking for help until she came across a few posts on Threads, where I showed a couple of things I’d built for clients. 

After attending one YouTube live, where I walked through a real client problem and the system I’d built to solve it for them, Ope started seeing what could change for her business. 

“I didn’t even know what I needed yet. I just know this thing isn’t working, but I don’t know what good looks like. 

What I liked was that she was going to create it with you. Not just, ‘Tell me what you want me to create’, but, ‘Tell me what the problem is and I will create something that solves that.”

In between booking her GlowUp and actually kicking off — because yes, I sometimes do book out months in advance — Ope made her first hire: the CSM I’d mentioned earlier. 

So I ended up being her first hire and she began worrying even more. But the worry wasn’t about the Glowup, but rather, if there was anything to even improve in her business. 

“I don’t think I was ever skeptical about her ability. I was skeptical about my ability because it was all jumbled up in my head. I didn’t even know what I needed yet.

So I was nervous about paying a lot of money for someone to come in and find out there wasn’t much to improve. 

THE PROCESS: You don’t need to know what system you need. You need to know what’s broken.

Onboarding: Give me all the deets

Once you secure your spot, you’re given a short form to fill out. You might think that me creating and fixing up your existing system means one of two things (or both):

1. I’m going to force tools upon you that you either dislike or won’t be comfortable using..
2. You have to figure out what tools your business needs and give me the entire rundown of it.

My goal really is to give you a system you’d be comfortable using within 3 weeks of handover, confident enough that you’ll actually love and be able to use it yourself.

Which is why the form is short. All you have to do is write down the goals you want with this system, and I’ll present the best course of action in our kickoff. 

The abbreviated version for OPe’s goals looked something like:

1. Help her support at least 50 active clients without increasing her workload or overwhelming her CSM.
2. Have up to 80% of operational tasks — client communication, touchpoints, and workflows — happen without manual intervention.
3. Have a central operations hub to oversee client, lead, and program data, so nothing requires manual data entry.
4. Have dashboards that pull data automatically, helping her make CEO-level decisions instantly.

She was also invited to braindump all of her business struggles, and interspersed it with, “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what good looks like.” and “I don’t know how much you actually do but I imagine.”  because until that point, she wasn’t sure how a system would help her business problems or what that would even look like.

And then finally, she handed over account access and brand details so when I do work my magic, I have everything I  need. 

Planning session: Review the action plan and kickoff. 

Ope was almost tempted to postpone her kickoff because she was still unsure she’d have the words to explain what wasn’t working. 

I just told her the truth: let’s talk out those problems instead. 

Which really is the point of in the Glowup. My job is figuring out the root of the problem and creating the best, easiest-to-use solution for you. 

She’d explain her problem — which honestly wasn’t even the real problem — I’d get down to the root of it and turn that scattered frustration into a concrete plan in real time. 

I then presented how I’d be creating her system and the tools I’d be using. Because while Ope had talked about what she was already using — and wanted to use — I wasn’t going to work off her words in the form alone.

You don’t know the tools and automations like I do. But, what I do know is how to make it easier for you. After all, I’m building something that addresses the business problems she was having with her current setup, while making it easy to use. 

In 3 weeks, I’ll build the support systems that make your biz run like a dream. 

For Ope, I built out 15 custom deliverables across four core areas of her business, plus the supporting workflows, documentation, and automations needed to make them work together. 

LEAD CAPTURE AND QUALIFICATION 

Two separate systems now handle every lead that comes in — one for Ope’s quiz funnel, one for direct applications. 

With Tally quiz connected to Airtable and Kajabi, quiz leads are scored automatically ‚ as a cold, warm, or hot lead — and routed into the right nurture sequence based on their answers. Direct applicants are filtered by location, budget, and readiness, and routed to a decline, a call booking link, or a direct invoice link. 

All without a single manual review.

CLIENT ONBOARDING AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT 

Access to the program is now a controlled sequence as opposed to being automatic at checkout. 

Every new client now moves through a structured sequence — sign the agreement, watch the welcome video, complete the onboarding form — before a single curriculum link goes out. 

Once that form is submitted, Airtable updates their status, sends their welcome materials, grants Kajabi access, and notifies the team. All so the right team member knows what to do and when — and not have to wait for someone to flag it. 

CLIENT TRACKER AND INTERNAL DASHBOARD 

A live Airtable dashboard now shows Ope and her CSM a clear view of every single client. 

The dashboard shows everything at a glance — every active client’s status, days in program, sessions remaining, and action items — replacing the manual weekly report they used to build by hand. Hours saved and manual admin headache vanquished. 

MOCK REVIEW AUTOMATION AND SESSION TRACKING 

I also create deliverables that are specific to your business, the kind a template can’t replace. And for Ope, one problem was that client milestones had to be tracked manually.

Now, when a coach scores a client’s mock session, the system updates their session count and surfaces the feedback in their portal. And if any score comes in low, it fires an immediate Slack alert to the team, instead of waiting for it to surface at the next weekly call. Separate alerts are also fired when clients hit their milestones, giving the team early visibility to plan ahead.

Hello, customer satisfaction because of a better completion and success rate. 

TASK TIMELINESS TRACKER 

New timestamp fields track how long it takes to turn around client deliverables. 

A formula field calculates the elapsed hours and days automatically and over time, this data builds per-client and per-task-type averages in the client dashboard. 

This tracker was built specifically to support Ope’s goal of setting realistic performance metrics before bringing on additional coaches or contractors — so any outsourcing decision can be data-backed rather than a best guess.

OFFBOARDING WORKFLOW.

Previously, offboarding had been non-existent. 

Now it runs on defined triggers the moment a client’s status changes, and since implementation, Ope has been getting video testimonials from every person who wants to provide one.

You don’t get all the deliverables in one shot, though. 

Ope got it as each deliverable was done because a system like this needs to be built, tested, adjusted, and then actually used. 

Ope’s CSM’s reaction to the very first automated onboarding — a client paying and instantly receiving access with neither of them having to lift a finger — had her realizing her business had transformed. 

“Before this we had been doing a lot of stuff in Excel manually and it was a lot of calendar reminders, make sure you do this and it was a lot. 

When we saw the onboarding process the first time, without us doing anything, she was like ‘What? ’. I think she physically saw her job get a whole lot easier.

That was when we both thought, ‘Wow, this is worth the investment.”

3-week support window + SOP library.

I say it time and time again. The best system is one you’ll use. 

And of course, when it’s built by me, I’m going to help you get used to it. Because no matter what, a new system will be overwhelming. Which is why it’s important that you get comfortable with it. 

Ope didn’t just get a handover and a “good luck.” She had a three-week support window to ask questions, troubleshoot, and get comfortable actually using what we built. Along with a whole video library and SOP sheet so future team members know how to use it. 

“Ashley’s the kind of person that she’s not just going to give you the thing and be like, ‘Well good luck, time’s up.'”

THE RESULTS: “Now, I can scale without it being extra work for me.”

SCALED CAPACITY WITHOUT ADDING A SINGLE TEAM MEMBER 

Ope’s goal was never to build a bigger team, it was to support at least 50 active clients on the same lean setup of herself, her CSM, and tools. 

Before, her CSM was manually checking Kajabi at least twice a week and transferring information into Airtable. None of those tasks seemed huge on their own. But stacked together across dozens of clients, they created a constant layer of admin work.

Now, that information moves automatically, and the team is notified when action is needed.

“You don’t realize how long those little things take. I don’t even think I really knew what was possible with automations.”

FROM DAILY CHAOS TO A WEEKLY CHECK-IN 

Before, Ope and her CSM had to meet constantly just to make sense of scattered client data. Now, they only have to meet once a week.

“Before, my CSM and I spent a lot of time going back and forth about what needed to be done, what actions clients needed to take, and then looping me in to approve things. 

Now I can see everything directly in Airtable. That’s saved a lot of time on her end and given me a lot more visibility and comfort on mine.”

FROM DISCOURAGING LEADS TO “HEAVY HEAVY SCALE MODE” 

Before the Glow Up, Ope was quietly talking qualified leads out of joining, afraid of what more clients would cost her at home. 

Dashboards gave her the visibility to slow down just long enough to fix the bottlenecks that were actually holding her back — and then move forward with confidence.

“Now I’m like I can scale without it being extra work for me. So we are in heavy heavy scale mode right now.”

NO DROPS IN THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE.

With her leads taken care of right from onboarding, through the program ( even when they’re not hitting program markers) and all the way to offboarding, things are running smoothly.

The reason scaling now felt easier was because growth doesn’t come at the expense of client experience. 

TIME OFF WITHOUT HER BUSINESS SLOWING DOWN.

For the first time in a long time, Ope was able to actually step away from her business, trusting that her CSM had what she needed to keep things running without her constant involvement.

“I was even able to take time off for the first time in a long time without worrying. 

I was getting automatic notifications if anything went wrong, which it didn’t, and I trusted that my CSM had the tools to run things properly without needing me involved. That alone was amazing.”

FORECASTING AND CAPACITY PLANNING

Ope knew she was overworked but didn’t actually know what it took to run the business at different client volumes.

Afterwards, she could see:

• what capacity looked like
• where clients were getting stuck
• the bottlenecks that needed fixing
• the number of additional team members would actually require
• what she could realistically take on before the business would break

Her new systems give her the data she needs to make better decisions about what comes next.  This means future hiring and outsourcing decisions can be based on real capacity data, rather than a feeling that “we’re getting too busy.”

Just 3 months prior, Ope was spending time trying to learn how to use her tools. 

Her new normal now is spending that time thinking about how much further her business can grow.

If you’re still the one manually clicking between three apps to move a client forward ….that’s not an automation.

That’s just another task on your to-do list.

Automating repetitive tasks doesn’t always mean eliminating one massive task. Sometimes it means getting rid of 10 tiny tasks that were quietly stealing your time every day.

Add that up, and that’s a couple of hours every week you could’ve been spending moving your business forward instead.

Let’s fix that with a Systems Glow Up: a full-scope, done-for-you systems overhaul built around how your business actually runs, so growth stops costing you more of yourself.

GET IT UP AND RUNNING

This case study was built on recorded conversations with this client, going through our work together. Anything in quotes is a statement said by the clients on a recorded call or in feedback.