How does your onboarding process work for gathering clients' Google Calendar access and other needed platforms?
Thanks for the question. On crushing tasks fast: I've been imperfect lately, but the key is to prioritize distribution over perfection—build a minimal viable version quickly, sell it, then improve based on user feedback. For onboarding, I hop on a kickoff call right after signing the deal. We go over timelines, expectations, answer any questions, then walk through the list of platforms (like Google Calendar) and sign up for everything live so I have all access up front. This avoids chasing passwords later. I've refined this into a simple SOP covering timelines, availability, platforms, and wrap-up, which gives the client full access by the end of the call.
Two ways to do this without needing a client's actual login. One: have the client create a Google Workspace account for you (or your automation account) and get invited as a user on all events automatically, so that account's calendar mirrors all the relevant events. Two: use Google Calendar's native sharing feature — the client shares their calendar with you (or specific events only, if some are private), and your automation runs off that shared calendar. Both let you build the automation without ever touching the client's login credentials directly. That said, I don't think a VAPI outbound calling agent is a very high-value approach to build your ads agency around in the first place — it's worth reconsidering the bigger picture, not just the calendar-access mechanics.
I recommend doing a kickoff call right after receiving payment or closing the deal. On that call, your sole goal is to gain access to every account you’ll need for the service. It’s straightforward: just say, ‘Hey Pete, let’s get everything running for you.’ In my experience, the main hurdle with automation integration is two‑factor authentication and access requests. If you’ve worked with someone like this before, you know people constantly ask you to unlock accounts or set them up—which I dislike. Instead, I handle everything ahead of time on a brief 30‑minute call: we walk through signing up on each platform together, I get the necessary access, and after that we don’t need to talk again except for my daily updates you receive each morning. By the end of the call I’ll have all required platforms—say, platform one, two, and three. If occasional two‑factor authentication is needed later, it’s easy because I already have most access. From there, you’ll have full access to their accounts and never need to build anything on your device and transfer it over; I’ve already done everything directly in their accounts, so there’sno handoff. That’s my recommendation.
I use make.com for the vast majority of my clients; it’s simple—just connect the account, click a button, and you’re done. For Google Calendar specifically, you don’t need to go through the full process of connecting a calendar to see events. If your goal is just to view events on a calendar, you can share that calendar with another calendar in the same organization, and the other calendar will see all events (and sometimes edit them) without needing the client’s Google Calendar. Instead, you can share your own Google Calendar, handling all the Google Cloud setup yourself. If that doesn’t work for your app, note that self‑hosted n8n will encounter more issues than cloud‑hosted n8n, requiring more frequent Google Cloud account handling. Cloud‑hosted n8n has built‑in direct OAuth integrations, making it easier (though slightly more costly). Overall, I think your mobile app idea is awesome and could be very valuable; just consider whether you can realistically invest the time and energy without immediate return, as SaaS apps often require that, whereas a service business lets you earn while you build, then later productize the solution.
It's a good question. My AI automation agency sells AI automations—primarily a monthly strategy service where I outline the shortest line path a person needs to take to improve their business growth. I actually do the building, so I’ll build out the automations and so on. My coaching arm offers a zero‑to‑one roadmap on how to get up and running with an AI automation agency, showing people what they need to do to build an agency similar to mine, plus some higher‑level coaching and one‑on‑one sessions for specific problems. So I’m selling quite a bit. As for onboarding, if you’re talking about my AI automation agency, it’s pretty simple. I get them on a kickoff call; on that call I have them sign up to all the platforms they need—usually about 10 to 15 minutes. I have a step‑by‑step list for each platform, pretty straightforward. Then I guide them through it via screen share; Zoom’s annotation feature lets me draw on the screen as they sign up. I’ll literally underline the button they need to press, tell them to go over here, click that setting, etc. At the end I’ll do two‑factor authentication, log into all the services on my end to verify I have access, and then I also cover timelines and expectations, get them laughing, and get them excited and stoked about me solving a problem they’ve had for a while. That’s how my onboarding works in a nutshell.