If you are reading this now, I would bet you that you definitely do one of these: sell, promote, or even just build a personal brand online.
If you are indeed doing one of these, maybe you already know that processes matter.
For a long time, I wasn’t strict with myself or my projects. My main goal was simple, to enjoy what I was doing during my private time (outside of work). And honestly, I still believe that’s important.
But things are changing, we grow up, we try to become better every day. Now there are many tools that someone can use, which give us the ability to automate repetitive tasks, save us time, and in conclusion we can focus more on creativity, creating a strategy or even normalize our life outside of work (and into nature)
And that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.
This is where and why, structure becomes important.
Creating procedures and structures does not limit you, it can support you
I have concluded that we all need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management system)
Why? Because we can organize our contacts, track conversations and actions, follow a consistent process and if we have the ability to see our statistics, we can improve performance and results over time
If a user is running a business, promoting services, or simply growing their brand, a tool like a CRM can help in seeing what works and what does not
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I work and I realized that even though I enjoy what I do, most of the time I do not track actions or follow a specific process. This allows for many opportunities to be missed.
This is why I have been trying out to write down specific steps, define goals and hoping it will help me move beyond, faster.
Before using any CRM, you need to think and define something simple but powerful:
- Your process-
You should define the steps someone goes through from first contact to final result.
I am posting below example because I am familiar with how tourism / hotel bookings work and it was easy for me to implement it using a CRM
Example: Hotel Booking Process
Let's assume that we run a hotel, and want to create a process for booking requests.
Even if we have an online booking system, many guests or travel agents may still send messages, ask questions and so on, so we will need a procedure to track them and to see how our reservations systems works.
A simple example could be:
Request received → Send quote → Follow up → Close deal / Discard
That’s simple, clear and easily trackable.
- Turning the process into a Pipeline
Many CRM tools (like HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM) allow the users to create pipelines. This makes it visually very easy to see what leads are in which stage
For instance, the stages could be > New inquiry - Offer sent - Follow-up Closed (won/lost)
This helps the user sees almost immediately, where the leads are, avoid not sending follow ups, stay consistent with all steps and most important see which process should change to provide better results.
3: Everything should be tracked.
Inside a CRM, the user can save messages, set reminders, tasks, events, add notes and without guessing or assuming, we can understand where leads are lost or converted and how long it may take.
- Refine & Optimize
Rome was not built in a day. Neither can our processes. At first nothing will be perfect, and we should not be discouraged. We will eventually start refining as time goes by and we can see what steps to edit/add, what other information we need and to adjust anything as per our own needs.
We evolve, why not our CRM? :)
Why this and why now?
For me, this is mostly shift in mindset. I am trying to alter what I do every day, so that I can better improve my free time. I try to identify what I really should devote more time to and at the same time to enjoy what I have chosen to do - while being more organized
And with AI becoming part of our everyday life, combining:
Creativity + Structure + Automation …is probably the smartest way forward.
I’m currently experimenting with CRM setups and workflows, creating one for one of my jobs. Once I fully understand what works best and when I will have completed the set up, and optimization of it, I might even try to build a simple, user-friendly CRM tailored to real needs (maybe with some vibe coding involved 😉).
Are you using a CRM, have you ever used one or thinking of using one?
Some CRMs with free version that you can use are
- Zoho CRM (Bigin is the easiest version of it)
- Hubspot CRM
- Freshsales CRM
You may find more online, but what is important is that you first learn how to use it, what are more important functions for you
i.e. integration an email, how many users to have, how many pipelines etc... also, if this makes you more productive and earn more, why not subscribing to the one that fits your needs?
I would love to know your thoughts on this
p.s. image is part of an online image created with AI