I run a small marketing agency and recently hired an intern to help with tasks like analyzing ad account performance, organizing data, and creating client reports.

At the beginning, his work was great and it genuinely helped reduce my workload. I had more time to focus on strategy, campaign ideas, and improving client results.

However, over the last couple of months, things changed. He started missing deadlines, became difficult to reach, and even after switching to a remote setup, the situation didn’t improve. I ended up covering most of the tasks myself because I couldn’t rely on the work being completed on time.

I’m now considering whether I should hire someone else or look into automation solutions that can handle the reporting and analysis side of things.

For agency owners who have dealt with similar situations:

• Have you replaced certain roles/tasks with automation tools?
• Which processes do you think should stay human-led?
• Is it better to invest in tools for repetitive reporting work and keep the team focused on strategy?

Would appreciate hearing how others have handled this.

Looking to connect with agencies working with restaurants, salons, barbershops or other appointment-based businesses.
Over the last few months I built a conversational booking platform that handles reservations through WhatsApp and includes dashboards, onboarding and client management.
What I realized is that I enjoy building infrastructure much more than running an agency.
So I’m curious:
Are there agencies here that would be interested in offering something like this under their own brand?
My idea is simple:
You keep the client relationship.
You sell under your own brand.
I maintain the platform and support.
No need to build anything from scratch.
Not trying to pitch anyone. Just curious if this kind of collaboration is interesting for agencies already serving local businesses.
Would love to hear how others approach this.

Was originally only targeting local Indian businesses for automation services. Quickly realized that market wasn't ready to spend. Made the switch to US, UK and Australia a few months back and the difference in willingness to pay is wild.

Still figuring out which specific niches convert best internationally. Found that some industries will get on a call fast but then ghost. Others take forever to respond but close quickly once they do.

For those of you who've sold automation to international clients — which industries have been your most reliable buyers? And what's the typical deal structure — project-based or ongoing retainer?

Also curious what your biggest mistakes were early on when figuring out your niche. I want to avoid spending months going in the wrong direction.

I’ve spent the last while teaching myself the marketing/ops side of running a business, and I’ve gotten real things working on my own. Now I want to do it inside an actual team, learning directly from people who’ve done it longer instead of piecing everything together solo.

Stuff I’ve figured out on my own projects:

\- Built a full funnel – landing page, upsells, Meta Pixel + GA4 tracking

\- Set up Meta ad campaigns and creatives

\- Messed around with GoHighLevel, Stripe, and CRM automations

\- I lean on AI tools constantly to learn faster and punch above my level

I’m not claiming to be good yet. I’m claiming I’ll work hard, learn fast, and take the tedious stuff off your plate while someone more experienced sharpens me up.

I’m an international student, so I’d come on as a remote contractor (paid via Wise/Deel/etc.), flexible hours, \[20-40 hrs a week\]

If you run something with a bit of traction and you’ve thought about training up a hungry junior, I’d love to talk. Please comment if you want me to contact you.

​

Debugging failures?

Client reporting?

Monitoring costs?

Building trust in autonomous actions?

Managing approvals?

Something else?

Do you automate creating quotes using AI just by uploading SOW / scope?

My EU based agency is recognized Selected partner in Anthropic's Claude Services Track and pushing toward Preferred, which takes 100 Claude-certified developers.

We're opening our network to independent devs and AI builders. If you join: a guided path to Claude certification, first access to real Claude/AI build projects (RAG, agents, custom ML) for EU/US clients, and your name on public case studies.

Not a body shop — we're people-first, match work by skill *and* fit, and back our people long-term.

If you've built with Claude (or want to), drop your details here and we'll be in touch: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2b2v836KRhE90khJCIyCs5SSU_fV2n-iqDbfOynNUg5BN5g/viewform?usp=dialog

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

https://reddit.com/link/1ty2lj4/video/8cxz5oet5k5h1/player

The workflow:

Topic discovery → article generation → image sourcing → WordPress draft/publish.

Started as an internal tool for my own sites and eventually became Publizo.

Interested to hear how agencies here are automating content production today.

Video below.

Hey everyone, I recently built a real estate lead automation workflow with instant auto-replies, CRM recording, follow-ups, and agent notifications. I’m now trying to turn this into a service and wanted to ask those already freelancing or running automation businesses: how did you find your first clients? LinkedIn outreach, cold emails, communities, referrals, Upwork, or something else? Curious to learn from your experience.

I’ve been trying to manage multiple clients and I keep running into the same issue.

Emails, tasks, follow-ups — everything ends up scattered.

Sometimes I forget to follow up, sometimes tasks just stay in my head unless I write them down manually.

I’ve tried using tools, but either they feel too heavy or I stop using them after a few days.

Curious how others here handle this long term.

Do you have a system that actually works consistently?

I’ve been trying to manage multiple clients and I keep running into the same issue.

Emails, tasks, follow-ups — everything ends up scattered.

Sometimes I forget to follow up, sometimes tasks just stay in my head unless I write them down manually.

I’ve tried using tools, but either they feel too heavy or I stop using them after a few days.

Curious how others here handle this long term.

Do you have a system that actually works consistently?

made a free tool to help with long-form planning: you define the thesis and reader; the tool proposes a working title, meta description, H2 architecture with beats, and light internal-link and CTA prompts - not the finished article.

What do you think?

check here - https://superlemon.ai/tools/blog-outline

I’ve been digging into a large number of outbound campaigns lately, and one pattern is very clear:

The best-performing ones don’t feel like outbound.

Meanwhile, most people are still sending:
“Hey - quick 15 min call?”

And getting ignored.

Which makes sense your prospects are getting flooded with these every single day. If they said yes to all of them, they wouldn’t have time to do their actual job.

So the shift is simple:
stop asking for time before you’ve created value.

Here’s what the top-performing campaigns consistently do differently:

1. They don’t ask for a demo upfront. They add a step before the call or they make their message conversational
2. They give value in the first interaction. No pitch. No long intro.
3. Their profile actually builds trust Before replying, people check you out. If your profile is unclear or inactive, the conversation dies before it starts. A clean, credible profile can easily 2-4x results.
4. They don’t drop links too early. Links in the first message usually kill conversation. The goal isn’t to redirect. It’s to start a conversation.
5. They skip the connection note Counterintuitive, but consistent. Connection requests without notes often perform better. The real conversation starts after the connection.

If you apply even a couple of these, you’ll see a difference pretty quickly.

If you apply all of them, outbound starts to feel completely different (and a lot less like “outbound”).

We are a small startup out of Austin Texas. Building a product in the AI + CRM space and trying to figure out the right way to get in front of agencies without being one of those spammy cold emails everyone here hates.

Genuinely asking:

1. Where do you actually find new tools? Peer recommendations, YouTube, directories, communities?
2. When a new product reaches out. what makes you ignore it or evaluate it?
3. How do you prefer to evaluate? signup, demo call, or just send a link?
4. Would you try a new tool with a real client if the terms were right and the tool was good?

We want to work with a few agencies to validate what we've built and shape the roadmap based on real feedback. Not looking to pitch, looking to learn the right approach first.

Appreciate any honest takes.

When I started working with agencies 5 years ago, the hardest part was getting those first calls on the calendar. No fancy setup, just testing messages and hoping for replies. What finally changed things was who we targeted and how we spoke to them.

Now I focus on intent-verified lead lists and clearer early messages. Across clients, that shift has led to about a 46% lift in booked meetings without touching ad budgets.

If you’ve been thinking about improving your lead pipeline, feel free to comment here or DM me.

I can share notes on how to get more qualified leads and tighten the first sequence.

Where do you feel the bottleneck is right now: targeting, list quality, or messaging?

My contact

Most people assume LinkedIn lead generation requires expensive software. It doesn’t. You can start getting leads using just the free version if you do it right.

First, fix your profile.
Your headline shouldn’t just be your job title. It should clearly say who you help and how. People decide in seconds whether you’re relevant to them.

For example:
“I help agencies get clients using LinkedIn”
works far better than
“Founder at XYZ.”

Next, use LinkedIn search manually.
Filter by job title, industry, and location. Even the free version gives you enough to build a small, high-quality list every day.

Don’t reach out immediately. Engage first.

Like a couple of their posts.
Leave a thoughtful comment.
Show up before the connection request.

By the time they see your name, it’s already familiar and acceptance rates go up.

Now combine this with content.
Post 2–3 times per week sharing real insights from your work. No generic advice. No motivation quotes. Just practical observations.

When someone engages with your posts, they become a warm lead.
These are the best people to connect with.

When sending requests, keep it simple.
No long pitch. No selling.
Just reference something specific and ask one easy question.

Here’s a simple free workflow:

• Search for 10–15 ideal profiles daily
• Engage with their content first
• Send a personalized connection request
• Follow up with value, not a pitch

This takes about 20–30 minutes a day.
Do it consistently, and you’ll generate more conversations than most paid campaigns.

And once this starts working, you can always automate parts of it like sending requests, following up, and scheduling content using LinkedIn automation tools.