Case Study: How Catalyst Automated 60% of Their Workflow

The Problem: Drowning in Manual Work

Agency: Catalyst Agency Founder: Ryan Foster Service: Social media management (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn) Team: 5 people Clients: 15 brands ($5K/month each = $75K/month revenue)

The breaking point:

Ryan's team was working 50-60 hours/week. Every new client meant more manual work:

• Creating content calendars in Google Sheets
• Manually scheduling posts (one platform at a time)
• Copy-pasting client approvals from email
• Manually pulling analytics reports
• Chasing clients for feedback

"We were spending 80% of our time on admin work," Ryan says. "Only 20% on actual creative strategy."

The capacity problem: They could handle 15 clients max. To grow, they'd need to hire. But margins were already tight at 18%.

The Solution: Automate Everything Possible

Goal: Reduce manual work by 50%+, handle 2X clients with same team.

Timeline: 3 months to implement, 6 months to see full results.

Automation #1: Content Approval Workflow

Old way:

1. Team creates content in Canva
2. Manually exports to Google Drive
3. Manually emails client with link
4. Client replies via email ("Approved!" or "Change X")
5. Team makes changes
6. Repeat

Time: 2 hours/week per client × 15 clients = 30 hours/week

New way (via Yuktis):

1. Team uploads content to client portal
2. Client automatically gets notification
3. Client clicks "Approve" or leaves comments
4. Team sees approval status in real-time

Time: 10 minutes/week per client × 15 clients = 2.5 hours/week

Time saved: 27.5 hours/week

Automation #2: Content Scheduling

Old way:

• Manually log into each platform (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook)
• Schedule posts one by one
• 30 minutes per client per week

Time: 30 min/week × 15 clients = 7.5 hours/week

New way (via Buffer):

• Bulk upload content with CSV
• Schedule entire month in 10 minutes
• Auto-publish across all platforms

Time: 10 min/week × 15 clients = 2.5 hours/week

Time saved: 5 hours/week

Automation #3: Analytics Reporting

Old way:

• Pull data from Instagram Insights, TikTok Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics
• Manually enter into Google Sheets
• Format into pretty report
• Email to client

Time: 90 minutes per client per month = 22.5 hours/month

New way (via Yuktis + Zapier):

• Connect social accounts via API
• Auto-pull metrics daily
• Auto-generate report (PDF + dashboard)
• Auto-email to client on last day of month

Time: 5 minutes per client per month (just to review) = 1.25 hours/month

Time saved: 21.25 hours/month

Automation #4: Client Onboarding

Old way:

• Send welcome email manually
• Manually create Google Drive folders
• Manually add to project management tool
• Manually schedule kickoff call
• Manually send contracts

Time: 2 hours per new client × 3 new clients/month = 6 hours/month

New way (via Zapier + Yuktis): Trigger: Deal marked "Closed Won" in HubSpot Actions:

1. Create project in Yuktis
2. Send welcome email with onboarding checklist
3. Create Google Drive folder
4. Send DocuSign contract
5. Auto-schedule kickoff call (Calendly)

Time: 0 hours (fully automated)

Time saved: 6 hours/month

Automation #5: Content Reminders

Old way:

• Manually email clients: "We need your content by Friday"
• Follow up manually if they don't respond

Time: 30 minutes/week = 2 hours/month

New way (automated reminders):

• Friday at 9 AM: Auto-email "Content due today"
• Monday at 10 AM (if not received): Auto-reminder
• Wednesday at 10 AM: Auto-escalation to account manager

Time: 0 hours

Time saved: 2 hours/month

The Results After 6 Months

Time Savings

Task	Before (hours/week)	After (hours/week)	Saved
Content approvals	30	2.5	27.5
Content scheduling	7.5	2.5	5
Analytics reporting	5.6	0.3	5.3
Client onboarding	1.5	0	1.5
Content reminders	0.5	0	0.5
Total	45.1	5.3	39.8

Percentage automated: 88% of admin work

Business Impact

Metric	Before	After	Change
Clients	15	40	+167%
Monthly revenue	$75K	$200K	+167%
Team size	5	7	+40%
Hours/week per person	55	42	-24%
Profit margin	18%	32%	+14 points
Client churn	20%/year	8%/year	-12 points

ROI calculation:

• Cost of automation tools: $500/month ($6K/year)
• Time saved: 40 hours/week × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours/year
• At $75/hour blended rate: $156,000/year saved
• ROI: 26X

"Automation literally saved our business. We were about to burn out. Now we handle 40 clients and work LESS. It's insane."

The Tools Stack

What Catalyst used:

Category	Tool	Cost/month	Purpose
Project management	Yuktis	$200	Client portals, approvals, project tracking
Social scheduling	Buffer	$100	Post scheduling
Automation	Zapier	$80	Connect tools
CRM	HubSpot	Free	Sales pipeline
Analytics	Native APIs	$0	Pull social metrics
Total		$380

Time to set up: 40 hours over 3 months

Ongoing maintenance: 2 hours/month (checking that automations still work)

The Playbook: What They Automated

Automate these FIRST (highest ROI):

DON'T automate (keep human):

• Client kickoff calls
• Strategic planning
• Creative concepting
• Crisis management
• Relationship building

Common Mistakes They Made

Mistake #1: Trying to automate everything at once "We tried to set up 20 automations in week 1. It broke everything. Start with 3, get them right, then add more."

Mistake #2: Automating bad processes "We automated our messy approval process. It just made the mess faster. Fix the process first, THEN automate."

Mistake #3: Not testing "We deployed an automation that sent emails at 3 AM. Clients were confused. Test everything in sandbox first."

What They Would Do Differently

Ryan's advice:

1. Automate sooner "We waited 2 years. Cost us probably $100K in lost opportunities."

2. Invest in good tools "We tried cheap tools first. They broke. Wasted time. Pay for quality."

3. Document before automating "Write down your process step-by-step. Then you know exactly what to automate."

What's Next

12-month goals:

• Clients: 40 → 60
• Revenue: $200K/month → $300K/month
• Team: 7 → 10
• New automations: AI content generation, video editing

The vision: "We want to be the most efficient agency in our space. 60 clients with a 10-person team. That's our North Star."