Free guides. The tools I've picked. The writing.
Everything below is what I use with paying clients — shared so you can run a version of it on your own.
Run a version of the engagement on yourself.
Six duplicable Notion templates lifted straight from paid engagements — the diagnostic, the discovery guide, the onboarding plan, the pipeline review, the prompt library, the transition checklist. Same frameworks, same depth. The root-cause work is what you pay me for.
The tools I use.
Honest list — only what's in my own workflow, no Top-50 marketing slop. Some links are affiliate; flagged where they are. Tools without affiliate are linked direct.
Prospecting & data
Where every Sprint starts. Build the named-account list before sending a single email.
Apollo
Lead enrichment, contact data, and lightweight sequencing.
My take: Where I build the named-account lists for every Sprint. The data hit rate is solid on mid-market B2B in Europe + US; weaker in SEA.
Clay
Sales automation with built-in data enrichment from 50+ sources.
My take: Overkill for solo operators, perfect when you're scaling a team. I use it for enrichment workflows that would take hours manually.
Outbound infrastructure
The pipes. Boring, but every cold email cycle dies here if it isn't set up right.
Booking & async
Replace meetings with async wherever possible. The ones that survive are the ones that matter.
Cal.com
Open-source booking link. Drop-in Calendly replacement.
My take: Calendly without the price gouging. Routing rules, team scheduling, and the booking flow respects the prospect's time.
Loom
Async video. Replace half your meetings with a 3-min recording.
My take: Every Sprint kickoff readout I do in Loom — clients re-watch, share internally, refer back to it 3 months later. Beats a synchronous Zoom for one-way explanations.
Delivery & ops
The client workspace and the operating rhythm — Notion is the source of truth, the rest supports it.
Notion
Client workspace, deliverables, and internal CRM-lite.
My take: Every client gets a shared Notion page as the single source of truth for the engagement. Audits, sprints, decisions, weekly updates — all linked, all reviewable.
Linear
Project management for engineering, but great for sales sprints.
My take: When the Sprint has more than 10 moving pieces (e.g., a partner channel build), Linear's project view beats Notion's database for keeping track of status and blockers.
Tally
Beautiful forms. Notion-native, free tier is generous.
My take: Replaces Typeform at a tenth of the price. I use it for discovery intake forms, partner sign-ups, post-engagement NPS.
Disclosure: links marked “affiliate” pay a small commission if you sign up — at no cost to you. Doesn't change what I recommend.
More on building real sales engines.
Frameworks, mistakes, and patterns from the trenches.