How selective should I be about the platforms I integrate for clients, especially regarding Salesforce?

#182 · how to sell on upwork & get your first AI client for $1,000

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How selective should I be about the platforms I integrate for clients, especially regarding Salesforce?

It really depends on where you are in your career. Early on, I’d take Salesforce projects even if I wasn’t fully confident—they’re painful but great for skill acquisition. Once you’re running a high‑quality agency pulling in $20k+ a month, I’d steer clear of work outside my core expertise. My current approach is to look at a platform and see if it fits into a category I’m already comfortable with—most CRMs fall into either status‑based or sub‑task‑based models. If it’s status‑based, tools like Monday.com or ClickUp will feel familiar, so I usually pick a platform that aligns with what I already know.

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Related answers

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What are the most common CRM platforms that small business clients use?

Small business clients can be anything from local service businesses—retail stores, flower shops, HVAC companies, digital marketing agencies—to other verticals. The best CRM depends on the specific niche, but the tools I see most often are ClickUp, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp for smaller organizations, while larger enterprises tend to use Salesforce or HubSpot. For specialized trades you can look for plumber‑specific or real‑estate‑specific CRMs. A good way to find options is to type the business vertical plus “CRM” into Google and review the top three results.

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As someone with a software development and cyber background who has built sites and one automation pipeline but hasn't done any outbound, offers, or positioning, and is interested in cyber, web app, dev, and automation, what should I focus on and how should I put myself out there to become a one-stop shop?

It's a common problem for beginners to spend too much time thinking about the business model instead of actually doing it. You're likely stuck in your head wondering what niche to pick, how to reach people, and which platforms to use. Rather than overthinking, you should test an idea in the market. Pick three things: choose an outreach minimum per day on platforms you have experience with—like DMs on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, communities, Reddit—and run it for a month without changing anything. After 30 days, if you do about 10 pieces of outreach per platform, you'll have contacted nearly 1,000 people, giving you real data to inform your next step. For example, you might find that your web development offer converts at 2.9% while your cyber offer doesn't perform as well, letting you focus on what works. This approach turns you into a scientist of your own life, gradually carving out the solution space and increasing your chances of success.

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youtube ↗Marketing

What are the most common CRM platforms used by small businesses?

GoHighLevel has grown a lot in popularity and many small businesses are using it, especially in the agency space. Beyond that, general‑purpose CRMs like ClickUp are huge among digital agencies, and Trello remains a popular Kanban‑style board. Notion is also gaining traction, but if I had to pick one, ClickUp is probably the most widely adopted for a broad range of small businesses. Specific industries have niche CRMs—real‑estate, plumbing, etc.—but for a catch‑all solution, ClickUp tops the list.

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youtube ↗Agency Operations

When starting to learn automation with the goal of becoming a freelancer, should I stick to one platform and focus all my development there?

Yes—pick one platform (Make or similar) and stick with it. Treat your portfolio as a checkbox: take one of my workflows, tweak it, screenshot it, add a title and description, and you’re set. For pricing, charge a fraction of the value you deliver; if you provide $10k/month value, $200–$3k/month is reasonable. Position your AI agent as a guaranteed‑revenue tool for photo‑booth rentals, offering a money‑back guarantee if you don’t hit the promised earnings.

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