IVT Creative case study: how a content creation agency automated their client journey and stopped running through the founder
By Danielle Stephanie · Published · 8 min read
In this guide
- IVT Creative at a glance
- What was holding IVT Creative back?
- What are the six core systems, and which ones did IVT need?
- Why start with an audit before automating anything?
- How did we automate the client journey for each service?
- How did we rebuild ClickUp so the team would actually use it?
- What Slack rules did we put in place?
- Where does IVT keep their client data?
- How did we take pitching off Tara's plate?
- What is in IVT's SOP vault?
- What changed for IVT Creative?
- What did Tara say about the work?
- Which GYOT offer fits if this sounds like your agency?
- Frequently asked questions
- Ready to stop holding every process yourself?
This content creation agency case study covers how Get Your Ops Together (GYOT) mapped and automated the client journey at IVT Creative, the Dallas-Fort Worth content creation agency Tara McKelvey grew out of a virtual assistant (VA) business. Most agency owners we work with are frustrated by the same things: setup work that has to be done by hand for every new client, processes that only exist in Tara's head, and a project management tool nobody trusts. The short answer to what changed is that we audited the business, automated the client journey (every step a client takes with an agency, from first inquiry to the end of the project) for each service, rebuilt ClickUp, set up an Airtable HQ as the one trusted home for client information, and documented everything in an SOP vault, so the team can run the business without Tara holding every process.
IVT Creative at a glance
| Client | IVT Creative / It's Virtually Tara (Tara McKelvey) |
|---|---|
| Agency type | Content creation agency (DFW), grown from a VA business |
| Service lines | Wedding and event content, content creation retainers, VA retainers |
| Scope | Operational audit, 12-month strategy plan, ClickUp and Slack rebuild, and an automated client journey for every service |
| Core tools | HoneyBook, Zapier, ClickUp, Airtable, Google Drive, Flodesk, Slack, Canva, ManyChat |
| Systems built | Lead inquiry, client onboarding, delivery, offboarding, team management, data tracking (all six) |
| GYOT offer it maps to | Ops Concierge (done-for-you system build) |
What was holding IVT Creative back?
Tara's business had grown from VA support into a full agency, with wedding and event content, retainers (clients paying a set monthly fee for ongoing work) and VA clients running at once. The back end, meaning the tools and processes behind client work, hadn't kept up. No service line had a standard client journey, so intake, onboarding (getting a new client started) and offboarding (wrapping up a project properly) were manual and relied on memory.
Every new client needed a Slack channel, ClickUp space, Drive folder and email segment set up by hand, ClickUp was cluttered and barely used, and client records lived in different tools.
What are the six core systems, and which ones did IVT need?
From working with creative agencies, our belief is that almost all agency work falls into one of six areas, so we treat six core systems as the foundation: lead inquiry, client onboarding, delivery, offboarding, team management and data tracking. The first four follow the client journey, and the last two keep the team and decisions running behind the scenes. IVT's work touched all six. The pillar guide on the systems every creative agency needs to scale without burnout explains each one.
Why start with an audit before automating anything?
Automating a messy process just makes the mess happen faster, so the work started with an audit, a structured review of how the business ran day to day. It covered eight areas, from tech stack and communication to team structure, SOPs and data, and Tara got a written report and a video walkthrough.
The audit showed Tara was acting as project manager, client manager and quality reviewer at once. ClickUp mixed CEO, client, marketing and admin work, client requests arrived through Slack with no rule for turning them into tasks, and time tracking was too inconsistent to show capacity, meaning how much work the team can realistically take on. The HoneyBook wedding pipeline was strong, but VA services were manual from inquiry to onboarding.
Alongside the audit, we built a 12-month strategy plan around stability before scale, meaning the business runs smoothly before pushing for more clients, including a weekly CEO Day (one day for running the business instead of client work).
How did we automate the client journey for each service?
We mapped every step of each service before automating anything, so each service line has its own journey on a shared foundation of tools.
What does an automated journey look like for wedding and event content?
Wedding clients book far ahead, so couples can go quiet for months. Every wedding lead is now captured, nurtured, booked, onboarded and offboarded automatically. A pre-wedding nurture sequence keeps couples engaged until the date, a post-wedding sequence collects feedback and testimonials, and an event shot-list template means every shoot is planned the same way.
How did the content retainer and VA retainer journeys work?
Content creation clients got the same hands-off intake and onboarding. VA retainer clients, whose process had been fully manual, got automated intake and onboarding plus a First 30 Days plan that maps each new client's first month.
Across all three service lines, offboarding is automated: the team is notified, assets are handed off, and a testimonial is requested every time. Approval checkpoints mean nothing reaches a client without Tara's sign-off, so the system does the legwork and Tara keeps control.
How do you connect HoneyBook, Zapier and ClickUp so one booking sets everything up?
HoneyBook (where clients book and pay), Zapier (the tool that passes information between apps), ClickUp, Google Drive, Flodesk (email marketing) and Slack are connected into one flow. One booking now creates the client's Slack channel, ClickUp workspace, Drive folder and email segment automatically. To build this yourself, read what a client onboarding system actually includes and how to build an offboarding process that gets referrals.
How did we rebuild ClickUp so the team would actually use it?
Automations need an organized place to send work, so ClickUp, the project management tool holding the team's tasks, was rebuilt alongside them. ClickUp groups work into Spaces, the top-level sections of a workspace. IVT now has eight, including Wedding & Event Content, Marketing, Operations, Team, Knowledge Base and Archive, and old lists were archived so no history was lost. Tara got a simplified CEO Space with "Tara's Desk," a personal view of Tara's own work, and a weekly CEO Day Checklist.
Saved list templates mean any new client is set up in minutes and run the same way. Statuses, the labels that show a task's stage, run from Not Started to Done, with a Stuck status for anything blocked. Dashboards show workload, deadlines, blockers and client health, and a branded ClickUp client portal lets clients review and approve work.
What Slack rules did we put in place?
The team has purpose-built channels, such as #operations, #va-retainer-clients and #event-content-creation, and the rules are documented as an SOP: work conversations go in the right channel, direct messages are only for personal or confidential matters, client threads start with "Client: [Name] - [Topic]", and the team replies within two to four hours during work hours.
Where does IVT keep their client data?
IVT uses both tools with clear jobs. ClickUp runs the work, and Airtable, a spreadsheet-style database, holds the long-term record. We built a relational client database (one where linked records connect to each other) covering clients, services, contacts, logins, assets and history, with an Airtable HQ on top tracking leads and payments. HoneyBook payments flow into Airtable automatically. Read where your agency data should be tracked (and where it shouldn't).
How did we take pitching off Tara's plate?
Pitching to podcasts and summits had been manual, so we built a Canva pitch deck in IVT's colors and two Airtable pitch trackers with intake forms. Auto-pitch automations send a standard pitch when a form is submitted, while high-priority opportunities are flagged to Tara for a personal touch.
What is in IVT's SOP vault?
An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a written step-by-step guide for doing a recurring task the same way every time. IVT's SOP vault covers admin processes and every client workflow, from payment tracking and failed-payment recovery to onboarding and offboarding for each service, and every SOP follows one template covering purpose, trigger, owner, steps, quality checks and last reviewed date. If you're documenting your own processes, the free Content and Video Agency SOP Starter Kit in our Template Shop includes policies, an SOP template, an industry SOP vault and an AI SOP builder.
What changed for IVT Creative?
We don't publish numbers a client hasn't shared, so here is how IVT runs now. Every service line has a documented client journey from inquiry through offboarding, and one booking sets up the client across Slack, ClickUp, Google Drive and Flodesk, so admin per booking drops to almost nothing. The team sees the whole portfolio in ClickUp dashboards instead of asking Tara. For more examples, browse our client stories.
What did Tara say about the work?
"I honestly am in awe of your brain but also how kind you have been with this transition. I seriously appreciate everything you have done for me and IVT and I will tell literally anyone who needs to know about you and your team how amazing you are!"
Tara McKelvey, founder of IVT Creative
Which GYOT offer fits if this sounds like your agency?
If you're not sure where to start, take the free Baggage Check, a self-assessment that shows where your agency still depends on you and what to hand off first.
IVT's build maps most closely to Ops Concierge, our done-for-you system build around how your agency already works. If your biggest gap is lead inquiry, the High Season Challenge is a five-day challenge where you build an automated lead inquiry system. For an operations partner embedded month to month, look at the Residents' Lounge. RESORT Mode is our group program for creatives who want to scale to $30k+ months without the burnout. You get all the systems your agency needs, grow as a founder, and get real-time coaching as you scale.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to stop holding every process yourself?
Take the free Baggage Check to see what to hand off first. If you want your client journey mapped and built for you, look at Ops Concierge or book a consultation.
