What CRM do you suggest, if any? I currently use GHL but find it very basic and bland for the agency I'm building, with a lot of roadblocks.

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What CRM do you suggest, if any? I currently use GHL but find it very basic and bland for the agency I'm building, with a lot of roadblocks.

I usually build mine out in ClickUp — pretty simple: intake, meeting booked, proposal sent, closed-won or closed-lost, sometimes with a couple of intermediate stages. GHL is great as the 80/20 option for beginners — if you've never run a CRM before, it gets you 80% of the way there quickly, but it gets tough once you want to go deeper. That said, at your current stage — just getting the agency up and running without much revenue yet — GHL might genuinely be enough for now.

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What is your opinion on GoHighLevel (GHL) as an all‑in‑one CRM, and would you recommend diving into it?

I’d dip my toe in GoHighLevel by watching a 30‑minute tutorial and setting up a test environment (which costs about $297 for agency access). I’d spend only a couple hours experimenting—maybe building a simple automation—until someone actually asks me to build a GHL solution. That’s my general approach to new platforms: learn just enough to deliver value when a client needs it, rather than trying to master every feature upfront. Let clients guide what you learn based on the opportunities and money they present.

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I run a graphic design agency that now handles a client’s CRM, outbound email, lead generation, SEO, and blog. Do you have any recommendations, especially around email and lead generation, for a young funded startup?

Sure. First, don’t over‑invest in the blog unless the startup is a low‑ticket SaaS where SEO and content can drive a lot of volume. For larger or agency‑type businesses, the blog isn’t a priority. Keep the CRM extremely simple – they probably have no money and no existing leads, so a lightweight system is enough. Don’t build a massive, custom CRM that can handle half‑a‑million clients before you actually have that many; you’ll waste time and resources. Focus on outbound email and cold‑email outreach; that’s the most effective channel for high‑ticket sales, while low‑ticket SaaS will rely more on volume and SEO. Use AI tools to help generate content chunks, but never let the content be 100 % AI‑generated. Keep the tech stack lean and iterate as the startup grows.

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Should I use a CRM to track leads when I’m still under $10,000 a month in revenue?

I wouldn’t worry about a CRM until you consistently hit $10K a month. Below that, the real bottleneck isn’t organization—it’s simply doing the work over and over. A CRM would be a waste of time. I personally run everything from a plain to‑do list and use low‑effort, automated follow‑up sequences. When someone replies, I move them forward; otherwise I keep them in a simple Gmail label or a follow‑up list. You don’t need a full CRM at this stage.

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Is GHL required to start an agency?

No, GHL isn't necessary. It's just a tool that gives you about 80% of a good CRM out of the box, and it's fairly well pre-configured. However, you can often get a better setup by adding your own process knowledge to other platforms like ClickUp, Monday, ASA, or Trello. The pre-configuration of GHL can lock you into a specific workflow, so don't feel compelled to use it.

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