How this Event Planner Fixed her HoneyBook in 2 Hours and Booked out 2026 [Case Study]

Client & Business: Nicole Mower, who owns and operates an event and venue-management company in Coastal Maine.

Service Provided: HoneyBook Intensive (a two hour done-with-you session where Karly Whitaker, a HoneyBook Pro, screenshares and tackles whatever’s stopping your CRM from running efficiently.

Date of Service: October 2025

THE CHALLENGE: Nicole was still using HoneyBook’s old automations and not utilizing the tools to their full capabilities.

Nicole Mower’s been running her business since 2012 and has been an OG HoneyBook user since 2013. 

Having stuck with the CRM since its inception, she’s seen it grow and change over the years. But that growth also meant that her own usage of the HoneyBook CRM needed to be kept up with, especially after the introduction of HoneyBook 2.0.

“HoneyBook kept releasing new updates, which were amazing. But since I’m now so established in my business, I didn’t have the time to be watching YouTube videos and looking at their emails. So, I was falling behind.”

At the same time, she didn’t need a whole new HoneyBook setup. She already had everything in place but needed to adapt to the new updates the platform had released. 

“I needed somebody to listen to me, hear about how I structure my business, and then give me recommendations and tools on how to make it work best for me.”

THE TURNING POINT: Her sales were being affected. She was behind on following up with leads. 

Nicole was managing just fine until things started to lag, and her CRM was backlogged with close to 200 tasks. So much so that she began dreading opening HoneyBook:

“So, I stopped using it very well and dealt with those problems for years.”

It wasn’t Nicole’s first search for a professional. In fact, while she’d set it up just fine on her own, she’d been struggling with it for a while. And so, she’d hired a Pro a few years prior.

“She was fantastic, but it wasn’t a good fit. I think she was so knowledgeable and threw so much at me (that) it wasn’t entirely personalized, so it just didn’t work out.”

So she put off hiring again until she really needed to. When it was finally time to pull the plug, though, she was looking for someone different.

Nicole was looking for a HoneyBook Pro who would help her implement the stuff she didn’t have time to do and customize it to her needs, versus seeing the million different ways her CRM could be improved. 

Inquiring with me felt easy before step one even began.

“I think I inquired with two other Pros, but Karly’s response was efficient, quick, and exactly what I needed. That’s why I ended up hiring her and working with her.”

Projects like this are exactly why I have a discovery call with any client I’m working with for the first time. I’m not going to shoe-horn you into something you don’t need. 

Since Nicole had already gotten her setup done, with email templates and automations in place, she just needed to make sure her CRM kept up with where her business (and HoneyBook) had grown to. 

Which made the Intensive the perfect fit.

“I’d already had my HoneyBook done. I had all my emails and templates. I had this specific problem about setting up the new automations HoneyBook had come out with, and so we had a focus area for those two hours.”

Nicole still wanted complete autonomy over HoneyBook and not have to rely on hiring someone else for another fix. Watching and seeing a Pro at work fixing up her account would also help her learn how to make do with the new adjustments. 

THE PROCESS: “I didn’t feel overwhelmed during the Intensive. Karly communicates very well, allowing for questions.”

The Intensive is pretty straightforward. Two hours of me doing my thing, sharing my screen, while working on your account and to-do list of tasks super fast — tasks that would take the average user weeks to complete. 

We can tackle broken automations, a disorganized pipeline, or messy Smart Files, whatever’s slowing you down or making your system harder to use. This is your chance to hand it over to an expert and finally have your HoneyBook running efficiently.

Here’s how the process worked for Nicole:

ONBOARDING FORM.

Since we’ve got two hours’ worth of tasks to do, Nicole filled out her onboarding form with the tasks she wished to tackle — so that I can review it before our call and structure the plan of action in order of what she wanted completed. 

2-HOUR RECORDED CALL WHERE I IMPLEMENT CHANGES ON THE SPOT.

This is where I share my screen and walk you through the updates as I make the changes. There are two reasons I do this:

1. To make sure you understand exactly what’s going to be different for the next time you go inside your HoneyBook.
2. So you’re able to ask questions and make adjustments by yourself, even after the session

I totally get how overwhelming it can feel to make changes to your HoneyBook CRM. Especially because it’s a system you’re going to have to want to use. That’s why communication is such an important part of the process. 

“It was an exciting process. Karly also speaks very clearly and communicates well. She allows for questions, and when she was explaining something, I could hop in and be like, ‘Wait, can I actually clarify this? That was very helpful instead of just moving on to the next thing.” 

CLEANING UP THE TASK LIST THAT HAD BEEN PLAGUING NICOLE FOR YEARS.

I walked her through HoneyBook’s new Automations 2.0 system and rebuilt her workflows from the ground up.

By the end of the call, Nicole had:

• A fully automated lead follow-up system
• Fixed up her automations, which weren’t archiving properly.
• Clean, current tasks (no more hundreds of overdue items)
• Confidence in how to manage her pipeline going forward.

THE BEST PART? SHE HAD TIME LEFT OVER.

I meant it when I said I was fast, that I could tackle a lot more than you think in two hours. Because we had some time left over, I checked off a bit more than Nicole expected from her task list.

“I probably got a little bit more out of it than I expected. I was thinking we were going to just problem-solve the automations and my overdue tasks. But we had a little extra time, so we were able to tweak and talk about a few other things, too.”

5 DAYS OF EMAIL SUPPORT.

With a bit of “homework” I assign you at the end of our session (also delivered via email), so you can get even more done with my support, this period of time will help you get acclimated to the new changes to your account.

Nicole was already excited about going back into HoneyBook after the call.

“I was a little worried that doing the two-hour session was going to feel overwhelming, exhausting, and be a lot of information. But it wasn’t. It was exciting and fun, and I was looking forward to implementing the homework that she had me do.”

THE RESULTS: Three months after the Intensive, Nicole’s running a whole different business that’s nearly fully booked for the rest of 2026.

HoneyBook is no longer overwhelming for Nicole.

Before opening HoneyBook, it felt like walking into a messy room you didn’t want to clean.

Now? 

“Every day when I open my HoneyBook up, I’m actually excited to get into it now, which is the way you should feel. It’s a much more positive experience.”

ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH HER INQUIRIES.

With her mountainous list of overdue tasks all cleaned up, Nicole had the bandwidth (and honestly, space) to actually keep up, follow up, and close her lead pipeline.

“It’s much simpler for me to follow up with all of my inquiries, which is huge. It’s what keeps me in business. It’s way less overwhelming, and my tasks are current now.”

With what we fixed up in the Intensive, Nicole can now see exactly who needs to be followed up with, who’s a qualified lead, and who she should prioritize — without wasting time on leads that aren’t a good fit.

“It’s easier to follow up with qualified leads. I’m not wasting my time with leads that might not be a good fit. So, I can sort through quickly who is a good fit.”

AUTOMATED FOLLOW-UPS THAT ACTUALLY WORK

Before working with me in the HoneyBook Intensive, Nicole was manually following up with every single lead.

HoneyBook would remind her to follow up. She’d have to go into her email template, customize it, and send it manually. It was easy, but time-consuming, especially when she wanted to use that time elsewhere.

“Now it’s literally automatically doing it for me. So the clients are getting a better experience, and I’m able to use that time on the clients that I have booked — and use that time more wisely.”

EQUIPPED TO HANDLE HER BIGGEST SEASON OF INQUIRIES 

The HoneyBook Intensive happened in October. By the time we talked to Nicole in January, she had this to say,

“We’re almost fully booked for 2026 now, which is incredible. (My HoneyBook’s) way more efficient and easier to understand.”

That’s the power of a CRM that actually works for you instead of against you. The biggest reason Nicole chose to do the Intensive in October was because based on previous years, she knew she was entering the biggest season of inquiries in November and December. 

Which meant she wanted to make sure her HoneyBook CRM was equipped to handle her lead pipeline.

Nicole’s already planning to come back in for her HoneyBook Intensive 1-2 times a quarter.

As Nicole’s business continues to grow and her client experience needs updating, she plans to work with me at least 1-2 times a quarter. Which makes the Intensive perfect for her plans.

“I definitely plan on actually working with her again because there are still things on the backend that I need to clean up.”

And if she could go back to the version of herself from a year ago who was struggling with follow-ups and drowning in overdue tasks?

“Book it last year.”

For a busy business owner like Nicole, who runs an event management company, the right follow-ups can make or break sales.

This case study was built on a conversation with this specific client, going through our work together. Anything in quotes is a word-for-word statement said by the client on a recorded call or in feedback.

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Drowning in overdue tasks, manually following up with leads, or dreading opening your HoneyBook every morning?

In just two hours, we can do all the stuff you’ve been putting off for months, if not years.

Set up your automations 2.0 so your follow-ups happen automatically, clean up your pipeline and get rid of those hundreds of overdue tasks, and customize your HoneyBook to actually work for your business (not the other way around). 

So that you finally have a clean, efficient system that makes you excited to open HoneyBook again — done with a HoneyBook Pro so you can start using it the second our call ends.