Silvercrest Story: Building a Scalable Backend for a Coaching & Event Business with AI Workflows
- Fabian Schlicht
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 6
How Sofia Kakkava’s Coaching Business Scaled Its Operations with an Automated Onboarding & Backend System
“Before we started, everything was held together by Google Sheets, reminders, and late-night emails.”
That’s how Sofia Kakkava, renowned business coach and event organizer, described the early state of her business backend. She wasn’t exaggerating. Her business had grown rapidly, offering 1:1 mentoring, group coaching programs, online courses, and international retreats. But her internal systems hadn’t kept up.
Sofia, who regularly speaks on stages and travels across countries to host workshops and retreats, needed more than just a team. She needed infrastructure.
“I felt like we were constantly reinventing the wheel. Every new client, every event, every launch created a storm of emails and documents,” Sofia explained.
#1: The Audit
#1: The Audit
Before jumping into automation, we ran a complete process audit of Sofia’s operations, breaking down every touchpoint her clients and team interacted with.
Here’s what we found:
Multiple entry points for new clients (DMs, Calendly, Stripe, WhatsApp, Email)
Manual welcome emails written or copied by team members
Onboarding documents stored in various folders with no naming structure
Payment confirmations handled manually
Retreat and event bookings not synced with CRM or email
No centralized dashboard or visibility for Sofia on where clients were in the onboarding process
Repetitive questions from new clients (“When is the call?” / “Where’s the contract?” / “How do I join the WhatsApp group?”)
In short: fragmented workflows, manual repetition, and zero visibility.
#2: The Vision: Build a Calm, Click-and-Run Client Experience
Instead of patching together one workflow, we designed an AI-powered onboarding & backend system that would:
Automate contract creation, signing, and archiving
Centralize all payments (Stripe/PayPal) and sync confirmation to client CRM records
Generate unique client folders & auto-save onboarding docs and recordings
Trigger welcome emails and WhatsApp messages personalized to the offer purchased
Auto-schedule first calls, sync events to Google Calendar, and notify team members
Provide a dashboard to track all client progress, payments, and pending tasks
Create tailored flows for group programs vs 1:1 mentoring vs event attendees
#3: Implementation: Bringing AI into Sofia’s Operations
We broke the transformation down into 4 connected systems:
1️⃣ Automated Onboarding Sequences
Once a client signed up, the system:
Sent a branded welcome email with call scheduling, event invites, and access instructions
Created a personalized contract (based on offer type), sent via e-signature, and archived on approval
Triggered a Slack/WhatsApp notification for the team
2️⃣ CRM & Document Hub
All client details, payments, call notes, contracts, and recordings were stored in an Airtable/Notion-based backend (no login needed for the client)
Team view filtered by client type, payment status, onboarding status, and notes
3️⃣ Retreat & Event Automation
RSVP flow + custom forms for location preferences, food choices, flight arrival, etc.
Synced into the CRM & Google Calendar with tags for the assistant to manage logistics
Auto-generated WhatsApp group links and reminders
4️⃣ Internal Automation Layer
Weekly summary emails
Task creation and due dates auto-assigned for non-automatable parts (e.g., personalized gift bags for retreats)
“Late payment” follow-up flows triggered without human involvement
#4: Results: From Manual Firefighting to Scalable Infrastructure
Before automation:
Onboarding 1 new client took ~2 hours of manual work
Team members managed everything from email replies to file naming
Clients missed welcome info, confused about steps
Event planning required dozens of back-and-forth messages
After automation:
~75% reduction in manual onboarding tasks
Clients received all materials instantly after signup
CRM showed Sofia every client’s status at a glance
Ari shifted focus from reactive admin work to strategic support
Events were fully organized via pre-built flows
"Everything feels intentional now.” - Sofia Kakkava
#5: More Than a Setup: A Real Partnership
What made the transformation powerful wasn’t just automation — it was the partnership.
We didn’t drop in a workflow and leave. We trained the team on the system. We updated flows post-launch. We adapted the setup to fit the nuances of Sofia’s voice and coaching style.
We gave Finstride a system that scales, a team that executes behind the scenes, and the education to keep evolving. For Eric, it meant reclaiming his time and scaling without overhead.
“They didn’t just build something for us. They thought with us. Every step felt tailored to how we actually work and how we want to grow.”
#6: Key Takeaways
Full automation of contracts, payments, onboarding, event planning, and CRM visibility
Saved 30+ hours/month of manual admin time
Improved client experience with instant access and clear steps
Gave Sofia’s team a live backend system they can rely on and scale with.
