Most business owners don’t realise their systems are fragile until something breaks. What starts as “just adding another tool” slowly becomes a patchwork tech stack full of workarounds, manual handoffs, and automation risks. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at one client workflow I recently built, why it technically works, and why I still wouldn’t recommend this approach long term.

The Client Workflow We Needed to Build

Step inside my brain on a Thursday afternoon...

Figuring out a Zapier flow that technically shouldn't need to exist.

But it does. Because Kajabi (as much as I used to love it) has some real limitations when you want to build anything beyond a basic purchase and deliver flow.

It’s hands down a great platform for courses, memberships, and coaching... but beyond that, it can get a little clunky.

Especially when offering services that need to be booked in calendars. Or require documents to be submitted via forms. And to be able to track these on a CRM dashboard.

All of which my client needs.

I love this kind of puzzle. Give me a messy tech problem and I am IN my element...

There’s nothing so sweet as coming up with a solution that enables platforms to talk so processes can be automated.

So let me walk you through what I built, and why it might be relevant to you...

Here's the client setup:

• They’re selling a service inside Kajabi.

• After purchase, the client needs to book their session. So we embedded a Calendly link into the Kajabi thank you page... clean experience for the buyer, no extra steps.

Where Kajabi Started Hitting Limitations

So far so good. Although they do need to enter their name & email again.

• Then, for one of the service types we also need them to submit some photos. Kajabi forms don’t allow for doc submissions so we also had to bring Jotform into the mix. For these instances I embedded the Jotform into the Kajabi thank you page, then had a second page with the Calendly embedded and once they submit the Jotform it’s triggered for them to receive that thank you page.

• We also have a welcome email with the form & Calendly link just in case.

• Then... we want to trigger a nurture email sequence for AFTER the session is complete. Not after purchase. After the call.

Here's where we hit more limitations.

• Kajabi's native automation can't trigger an email sequence from an external calendar event.

• Kajabi and Calendly don’t easily integrate like other platforms.

• There's no way to connect "session completed in Calendly" to "send this email flow in Kajabi" without a middleman.

Enter Zapier.

BUT it’s still not so simple. Because we want it to trigger based on the date of the session, not the date of booking.. we need to be able to set up a time delay.

And then.. Zapier can’t just set an action to add a tag to a contact in Kajabi.

It has to be done via a form submission.

The Zapier Workflow I Built

So it looks like...

• Booking submitted in Calendly

• Zap triggers

• Zapier confirms for the action to be delayed until the date of the session

• Zapier finds the contact and submits a form in Kajabi (provided the customer uses the same email for Kajabi purchase & Calendly booking)

• Form ensures tag gets added in Kajabi and customer gets added to the email nurture sequence

• Sequence set to commence 2 days after the session.. provided all those triggers have flowed properly

• On top of that we have another Zap running which is meant to set up a card in Trello to visually keep track of where the client is at in the process flow.

Five tools talking to each other. Through workarounds.

Why Complex Automations Break Under Pressure

The main reason for wanting to build it this way is so that eventually there can be multiple people running these sessions and all being across the worflow.

It works.... for now. I built it and tested it, it all flows and from a customer perspective, they probably won’t even notice there’s that many platforms being used.

But in all honesty, this is bandaids on bandaids to get the job done.

It’s sophisticated and well-engineered. It flows..

But what happens when there’s volume coming through? The moment this starts scaling (more clients, more purchases, more sessions running simultaneously)... every single connection point in that chain becomes a risk.

One zap misfires. One form doesn't submit. One trigger doesn't catch. And suddenly a client falls through the cracks..

Maybe they don’t get their nurture sequence, or dont get moved in the pipeline, and you have no idea until something goes wrong.

Now you're not in your zone of genius delivering incredible work.

You're troubleshooting automations at 9pm. And unsure which platform to even look at because any one of them could be the missing link.

Why I’d Recommend Ivorey Instead

This is exactly why I would now recommend Ivorey from day one.

I have been honest with the client the deeper I’ve gone into the process.

When we started working together, I wasn’t aware of the complexity of what they wanted to build.

Initially we were talking about courses, which obviously Kajabi is great for... plus they were already established there.

I also hadn’t really spent a lot of time in Ivorey when we started so didn’t feel confident recommending it then. But knowing what I know now.. it would be a totally different conversation.

Because in Ivorey, this ENTIRE flow lives in one place.

• The checkout and purchase

• The calendar booking (built-in scheduling)

• The post-session email sequence triggered automatically by workflow

• The CRM pipeline to track where every client is at

No Zapier. No Jotform. No Calendly. No Trello. No five programs playing Chinese whispers and hoping they all heard correctly.

One platform. One place to look when something needs updating. One place to troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

And when volume comes... that’s so much easier to handle.

This is the kind of thing I live for. Not just building the solution to the immediate problem.

But seeing the bigger picture of what the infrastructure could look like, what it should look like, and being honest about the gap between the two.

Why Most Business Owners End Up With Messy Systems

Most business owners don't know what they don't know. They built their stack piece by piece as they needed things, adding tools and new bandaids as problems arose.

And now they've got endless programs, a handful of zaps, and a process that works... until it doesn't.

That's what happens when you grow without a systems strategy.

And I’d rather raise the concerns early on... than let a client be left to deal with a mess down the line.

There’s lessons for me in this too. Better onboarding processes. Better questions about the bigger vision.

But also... I wasn’t hired as a strategist. I was hired to implement so that’s what I’ve been doing... until it became out of integrity to not at least present a better option.

The more I do this... the more I realise this is exactly where one of my specialties is.

To audit systems and make sure you’re not just thinking about where you’re at right now, but also planning for the future growth so you don’t have to transfer platforms 50000 times.

This is what a Systems Diagnostic session with me looks at:

• Where is your tech stack creating unnecessary complexity?

• Where are the manual handoffs that should be automatic?

• Where are the gaps that work fine now but will break under pressure?

• What's creating a clunky experience for your clients

• What's pulling YOU out of your zone of genius every single week?

Hiring someone who has lived and breathed systems for years.

Who hasn’t just built in pretty much all of them, but also been a customer who knows the difference between what it feels like going through a really well thought out experience vs one where you can tell there’s been a lot of bandaids over time..

Means you get to stay in your area of expertise, while I clean up the backend and ensure you and your clients have the best experience (obviously keeping in mind there’s a learning curve with any new platform and it will take time to experience the full benefits of building better systems)

But if you’re focusing on long term vision, isn’t that worth it?!

Because every hour you spend managing fragile tech stacks, chasing zap errors, and manually doing things that should be handled automatically…. that’s an hour you’re not creating, not delivering, not building.

And that has a cost. Every single day. Most businesses don’t fail because their offer is bad. They fail because their backend systems can’t properly support growth.

So if you’re ready to build something to hold your evolution, let’s talk.

You can find out about all my services here.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.