Hello, hello, hello, friend!

And welcome back to First Class Operations!

This is your Captain Kuba speaking.

Today I’m feeling centered.

Checking in more with myself. Asking myself how I’m really feeling. Learning more about myself.

You’ve got a relationship with yourself too, you know? Don’t neglect it.

As part of my renewed self-care efforts, I’m listening to some nostalgic Pokemon music (see below).

And I’ve got the pleasure to compile the many, many pieces of great content + upcoming events for you to improve your operations! (Also see below.)

The soundtrack for this edition of First Class Operations is 10 hours of the New Bark Town theme from Pokemon Gold/Silver. Instant chills of nostalgia. Have you played this? Shoot me a reply if so; I want to know!

Captain's Address

🧑‍🍳 Process building feels like writing recipes

...except when it feels like these three other things

A good analogy unlocks a whole new way to talk about complicated concepts.

Process building can feel complicated and abstract…

…which is why recently I’ve been thinking that process building is like writing recipes. 🧑‍🍳

And now I give myself more permission to start with some incomplete scribbles (like “don’t overdo it with the paprika!” / “don’t forget UTM tags on the links!”) before I come up with fully fledged processes.

Over time, those scribbles will become detailed recipes that a person can use even when they’ve never been in our kitchen before.

But every brain is different, and uses different analogies…

…so I started a poll about this.

✅ What does process building feel like to YOU?

The link will take you to my LinkedIn post with 3 more analogies to choose from. The poll is still running, so go ahead and vote! Or comment with another alternative.

I’ll be sure to share the final results of the poll in the next First Class Operations edition.

(Did you know that when you start working with ZenPilot, you get our whole cookbook of agency process recipes ready to plug-and-play in your new ClickUp/Teamwork build? Agencies have used these to start whole new service lines that they hadn’t offered before. Grab a call with us to check what we can do for your agency operations.)

In-Flight Announcement

✌️ Two Webinars!

That’s right, we’ve got two webinars coming up!

Integrating ClickUp and HubSpot to Improve Client Services

Are you using ClickUp and HubSpot, but not getting the most out of the integration between the two tools?

Are you considering adding ClickUp and/or HubSpot to your tech stack?

Or do you just want to know what is possible and see some of the best integration ideas between two of the fastest-growing platforms?

If so, this webinar is for you.

On October 12th, our co-founders Gray and Andrew will be pulling back the curtain on some of the most effective ways to connect the two tools to streamline your operations.

What you'll take away from the webinar:

💡 Real-world integration examples and use cases to apply to your business

💡 An understanding of workflow automation possibilities between the platforms (both native and custom via API)

💡 Inspiration on how you can deliver a better client experience and better outcomes by making your company move at the speed of automation

👉 Sign up for our webinar to see the most useful ClickUp-Hubspot integration tricks in action

Registration is limited to the first 500 sign-ups, so don’t delay on visiting that landing page!

✨ ✨ ✨

How To Track And Improve Your Agency’s Project Management Metrics (with our friends at Upsourced)

Would you like to know…

📈 Which metrics to track to give you a clear view of the quality of your project management?

📈 How to craft a system that will allow you to reliably track the most important PM metrics?

📈 How to track the health of your client accounts so you never miss a client that needs extra attention—or one that would make a great case study?

📈 The surprising financial impact that improving your project management efficiency can have on your agency? (Hint: it can be the difference between razor-thin margins and a comfortable surplus.)

If any of that sounds useful, you should absolutely join our upcoming webinar with our friends at Upsourced Accounting.

Gray MacKenzie will be going live with Ryan Watson to unpack what you need to know to gather useful data on your agency’s project management and client account health.

Join us for this webinar on October 5th!

👉 Sign up for our project management metrics webinar with Upsourced here

In-Flight Magazine

🛫 New from the ZenPilot blog: Podcasts, videos and blogs

This section got quite huge last time, so I’m compressing it a bit for this edition. Let me know if you’d like more details/words here after all.

New podcasts and live streams:

[ZenPilot Live Show] I went live last week with Hannah Shark, one of our Client Coaches: How to build company processes—the fun and easy way. This was a fun one indeed, and included lots of useful and instantly memorable analogies such as… What are you doing to make your company “lottery proof”?

[Agency Journey] How Rocket Clicks Streamlined Operations And Improved Client Retention with EOS feat. Tyler Dolph, CEO at Rocket Clicks. Aside from EOS, the session also dives into why Rocket Clicks focused on culture and client retention, and lots of other tips.

New blogs:

• This was highly requested and now here it is: How to Build a CRM in ClickUp 
• Another frequently requested piece: How to Build a Client Portal in ClickUp 
• The Most Trusted Voice Wins: The Story Behind They Ask, You Answer (feat. Marcus Sheridan). A blog based on our recent Agency Breakthrough episode with Marcus.

New client stories:

• StoryBrand Marketing Agency Improves Reporting & Productivity Through Streamlined Operations feat. Ryan Crozier, Founder at Agency Boon

On The Radar

🧠 Content from the ZenPilot network

Here’s some inspiration from our Pilots and other places on the web.

🌐 From outside of ZenPilot:

• Our friends at Teamwork.com published their State of Agency Operations report. Benchmark your agency against over 500 other players on the market.
• Our friend Avery Lynch is pulling a few agency owners together to shoot video ads at a nice place in Nashville in October and has a couple spots left: details in this Doc.
• Mark Kilens shares a detailed play-by-play guide to turn your website visitors into an owned community for your brand. Seriously, this is detailed enough to just “steal” and apply; love it.
• Will Aitken (much love from ZP to Lavender!) shares 3 tips to overcome cold call anxiety—with a hilarious 7-second short to accompany them.
• Eric Doty on how to find out how much time projects really take and avoid overcommitting your future self.
• Christina Garnett shares Mariya Delano’s fantastic piece on Search Engine Land about fan-driven marketing. Be sure to click into the article and check out the graphic within; it really explains the concept in a simple way.
• John Bonini: “Most SEO content is too general to be effective.”

From within ZenPilot:

• How much time do you spend copy-pasting repetitive messages and templates from one place to another? At ZenPilot, we use TextExpander to save tons of time and keep our communication consistent. Check it out here (affiliate link—but I do genuinely recommend the tool).

• ClickUp just announced the inaugural class of their highest partner tier: Diamond Partners. ZenPilot is part of this exclusive tier.
• Another podcast appearance by Gray! He shared “Lessons from 10 Years Of Scaling Agencies” on the Louis and Kyle Show.
• From Maggie (our Account Management Team Lead): “Don’t be mad at math. Just *do* math.” AKA business lessons from helping her son get the upper hand on math problems.

🧑‍🏫 From Jeff:

• Task Types are finally here in ClickUp! This feature is a game-changer. Naturally, Jeff already produced a video guide on how to use it best.
• “75-80% of project management implementations fail. And the biggest reason is because the team never gets involved.”
• “This is an awesome story about how documented processes, streamlined operations, and a culture of accountability has a massive impact on profitability for agencies.”
• Jeff’s biggest takeaway from the INBOUND talk by Peter Coppinger (Teamwork.com CEO) and our very own Gray MacKenzie.
• “One of the most frequent conversations I had with agencies at INBOUND was how to best collaborate with clients in their project management system.” Jeff shares a heap of resources on building a Client Portal in ClickUp.

🎸 From yours truly:

• Did you know that I do a dramatic reading of each edition of First Class Operations—with additional behind-the-scenes commentary and dreadfully bad jokes? It’s true. Check out the reading of the previous FCO edition here, and follow me on LinkedIn to get the next one.
• What kind of habits do you track and how? Here’s my list + my favorite habit-tracking app in the comments.
• A George S. Patton quote that recently helped me get more done.
• I was featured on Kenny Lange’s How Leaders Think podcast! I talked about setting and communicating a vision as a leader; being an emotional leader; questions to ask during 1-on-1s; taking risks, and more.

And that's it for this edition of First Class Operations!

One question for you before you go though…

How am I doing? It would mean the world to me if you could let me know what you would like to see more/less of in this newsletter.