Just wanted to leave a "Thank you"! I am currently setting up Obsidian for my work as a headhunter / recruiter and your videos - especially this one - are really helpful!
Really appreciate you saying that. I try to thread the needle of getting the job done, but not over-engineering the approach with stuff just because I can. I'm a fan of getting it to work as simply as possible and only making it bigger once I run into "I wish it also did this extra thing" a couple times. Keeps me from too much "yak shaving."
I loved the video, my husband and I are starting a business and needed something like this and the best thing it only took me the time as an investment to our company. Thank you!
Great to hear it! One challenge is sharing information & data between accounts, so it might be good to look at my sync video to make sure you're both looking at the same details. Since obsidian runs locally, it's not engineered for teamwork, so hopefully that's not a big snag for you. ::high five:: ruclips.net/video/5685Qa81d2s/видео.html
Hey Jonathan, first of all I wanted to thank you for the great video! While setting up my own CRM I asked myself why you have created different folders for "company" and "clients" when all the information already goes into the folder "deals"? What's your thought behind this? Looking forward to your reply
Because you might want to leverage that information differently. Or you might have another deal but with a different contact. That's why I like keeping the granular details separate. I can take notes about the company from every contact. Should that live in the deal? If so, what do you do when you archive the deal and 8 months later another person at that company wants to book you for something else. You'd have to go rummaging through the trash. OR if you keep company notes in a company folder and contact notes in a contact folder you can interlink all you want while the deals are alive then get archived without interfering with your longer-term information about the people & entities involved. Great question!
I saw your Projects plugin video, so what could be the difference form both approaches? I'm using kanban but didn't try projects. From a sales and account management point of view, how could we use Obsidian to automatically group things in a note, filter and count from different notes or connect (call) other tools such as Salesforce or an Excel Spreadsheet?
Thanks for checking it out! And that's a good question that has a two or three hour answer. X^D The main answer includes three things: 1) There's what Obsidian does. 2) What it could do. 3) What you're trying to get it to do. But, if you're looking to automatically group things together, you're looking for DataView. Try this video: ruclips.net/video/JFUvhtT2Nsc/видео.html
Thanks for posting this. Was looking for simple CRM and love Obsidian. I'll probably build a dedicated CRM with it instead of adding it to my major brain.
I appreciate you leaving that note for me. Yeah, I sometimes build dedicated vaults for one purpose (like a full-on CRM) rather than cluttering up my life vault. But, if you're a one man show & the lines between clients, friends, and life are a little blurry, then it might be worth keeping them together. Either one you pick, I hope it works out for you!
That's beyond the capability of the solution I outlined here, but it IS possible with another couple plug-ins and approaches. I might do another video of the "advanced" version. Would that help?
@@plus1creator based on how helpful this video is, no doubt it would help. The use case is a pending task unscheduled to be drawn from when an opening appears in an otherwise busy day.
Solid request. My thinking is that the vault has been built up over time and I make a whole video about each plug-in as its added so the list in the descriptions would get out of hand. But I understand where you're coming from and will probably include the list going forward.
Maybe? I still use the simple "where is this in my pipeline" kanban plugin solution. I don't have to run reports or synthesize too much data; the joy of being a smaller operation. But, when I'm working with serious sales teams and doing corporate consulting, I wouldn't even touch Obsidian for that dynamic; simply isn't built for that job. Why torture it into a shape it doesn't like? Zoho, as you mentioned elsewhere, is for all the bells and whistles. (Plus, I just hate DataView. I don't think of it as something "I can just whip up real quick" so it's not the tool I reach for 99% of the time)
@@plus1creator We started with Goldmine and daily syncs. Goldmine has "jumped the shark" and left in the dust, so then we moved to MSFT Dynamics, but I wasn't satisfied for the money, so then we moved to Zoho and still there. But, with cloud solutions, you've lost control of your data. I really don't like that because our business is fairly high stakes with big players (think spy intrigue movie genre) and a few bucks in the right place, my competitors can see everything I'm doing. So encrypted on-prem with dynamic sync is very attractive and tho people may laugh using Obsidian for CRM / intel database, it is really flexible. After entering info for just a few emails, I've got an impressive KB and graph diagram already.
I am already familiar with DB Folder for spreasheets, Kanban for workflows ... I was wondering how to integrate pending tasks in calendar slots for example. Thanks, amazing video. I have read it's a tough project but email client integration would be a blast.
I recently did a video about how deeply ingrained that daily notes are to most of the plugins that we use. In there I show how I keep track of tasks; even when they're associated with deals & business events. That task plugin works when we add a task to the deal note in the kanban view (but I don't think it ties to the kanban-specific date/time element). That's here: ruclips.net/video/sTSgD4784gM/видео.html
Also, with your encrypt and sync, two or more people could share the same "CRM" vault, yes? We were thinking of putting the vault under "git" management and sync'ing and merging using a git server, but with the encrypt and sync, I'm not sure that's necessary. Thoughts (anyone)? edit: We're a Zoho One users, including CRM, which has obvious advantages, but also all our customer data is "out there on the web somewhere" (exposed). :O
Yeah, this really gets complicated quick. It depends on how you're syncing. I believe SyncThing authenticates with a Google account and limits it to 5 devices or something like that. Or with git you can go a completely different route, etc. This is way outside how I use it (remember; does not play well with others), so I'm not as well versed on the collaboration side of Obsidian. I am, however, way more familiar with multi-player on/for Zoho. I do sales training and the team I work with the most is on Zoho, so I can do a whole series on that, too!
For someone with AuDHD (Autism and ADHD) a CRM would be a great thing to keep track of reaching out to friends and family, which is what I plan on using one of these for. A second one would be a job search contact CRM
I have a crucial question about using Obsidian as a CRM, especially regarding the commercial license, which costs $50 per year. Do you have a commercial license? Can I create a CRM with a personal use license?
Good question. I'm not a lawyer, and I've never played one on TV. The way I figure it is I'm not using Obsidian as a service for any clients. I'm using it on my side to organize my to-do's and what I'm working on. Also, I'm not sharing it with anyone else or using it to collaborate or using it to coordinate a team of any sort. So I'm not using it in the traditional "enterprise tool" sense of the word. Does that answer your question?
the less apps the better. and something about obsidian just hits home for me. i think its 20 years of random notes in random folders on random hard drives... I'm hoping obsidian will be the magic bullet long term@@plus1creator
You did a great job creating a model that solopreneurs can use. Salespeople, however, need their CRM to do a lot of math: total sales, probability of sales, sales by product and milestone(stage), forecasting, etc. Salespeople often track hundreds, if not thousands, of companies/people/prospects, with resultant thousands of events to track as interaction histories. That isn't practical in a note-based system where you are doing the linking and moving. Just not a salesperson's tool. Sorry
I appreciate your response. To be clear, I love your channel and the work you do. That comment was in no way meant to denigrate your helpful and insightful video. Many thanks.@@plus1creator
I'm right there with you; there are plenty of things that Obsidian *can* which is wayyyyyy different than "should you use it for this?" So I like playing around without being an Obsidian absolutionist.
Come join my creator community: www.plus1creator.com
Just wanted to leave a "Thank you"! I am currently setting up Obsidian for my work as a headhunter / recruiter and your videos - especially this one - are really helpful!
That makes my whole day; thanks for telling me. What a good place to use this.
This is a great system. It balances the need for simplicity and features. Something a lot of Obsidian creators don't quite nail.
Really appreciate you saying that. I try to thread the needle of getting the job done, but not over-engineering the approach with stuff just because I can. I'm a fan of getting it to work as simply as possible and only making it bigger once I run into "I wish it also did this extra thing" a couple times. Keeps me from too much "yak shaving."
I loved the video, my husband and I are starting a business and needed something like this and the best thing it only took me the time as an investment to our company. Thank you!
Great to hear it! One challenge is sharing information & data between accounts, so it might be good to look at my sync video to make sure you're both looking at the same details. Since obsidian runs locally, it's not engineered for teamwork, so hopefully that's not a big snag for you. ::high five:: ruclips.net/video/5685Qa81d2s/видео.html
Hey Jonathan, first of all I wanted to thank you for the great video! While setting up my own CRM I asked myself why you have created different folders for "company" and "clients" when all the information already goes into the folder "deals"? What's your thought behind this? Looking forward to your reply
Because you might want to leverage that information differently. Or you might have another deal but with a different contact. That's why I like keeping the granular details separate. I can take notes about the company from every contact. Should that live in the deal? If so, what do you do when you archive the deal and 8 months later another person at that company wants to book you for something else. You'd have to go rummaging through the trash. OR if you keep company notes in a company folder and contact notes in a contact folder you can interlink all you want while the deals are alive then get archived without interfering with your longer-term information about the people & entities involved.
Great question!
I saw your Projects plugin video, so what could be the difference form both approaches? I'm using kanban but didn't try projects.
From a sales and account management point of view, how could we use Obsidian to automatically group things in a note, filter and count from different notes or connect (call) other tools such as Salesforce or an Excel Spreadsheet?
Thanks for checking it out! And that's a good question that has a two or three hour answer. X^D The main answer includes three things: 1) There's what Obsidian does. 2) What it could do. 3) What you're trying to get it to do.
But, if you're looking to automatically group things together, you're looking for DataView. Try this video: ruclips.net/video/JFUvhtT2Nsc/видео.html
@@plus1creator thanks, I'll try it!
Thanks for posting this. Was looking for simple CRM and love Obsidian. I'll probably build a dedicated CRM with it instead of adding it to my major brain.
I appreciate you leaving that note for me. Yeah, I sometimes build dedicated vaults for one purpose (like a full-on CRM) rather than cluttering up my life vault. But, if you're a one man show & the lines between clients, friends, and life are a little blurry, then it might be worth keeping them together. Either one you pick, I hope it works out for you!
Helpful video. Thank you. How would you show todos that don’t have a date, perhaps ranked by a priority and type?
That's beyond the capability of the solution I outlined here, but it IS possible with another couple plug-ins and approaches. I might do another video of the "advanced" version. Would that help?
And counter-point, "to-dos" without a date are wishes in my book. Ha! If it's important, put it on the calendar.
@@plus1creator based on how helpful this video is, no doubt it would help. The use case is a pending task unscheduled to be drawn from when an opening appears in an otherwise busy day.
Thank you, this is an excellent video: concise and informative for a new Obsidian user like me.
Hi Andy; thanks for the note. It means the world to know you're finding it useful.
Could you please list community plug-ins used in this type of video?
Solid request. My thinking is that the vault has been built up over time and I make a whole video about each plug-in as its added so the list in the descriptions would get out of hand. But I understand where you're coming from and will probably include the list going forward.
That was awesome.
Thanks Luke!
If you were to do this again, would you make some of the template fields properties so you can run some lists and tables using DataView?
Maybe? I still use the simple "where is this in my pipeline" kanban plugin solution. I don't have to run reports or synthesize too much data; the joy of being a smaller operation. But, when I'm working with serious sales teams and doing corporate consulting, I wouldn't even touch Obsidian for that dynamic; simply isn't built for that job. Why torture it into a shape it doesn't like? Zoho, as you mentioned elsewhere, is for all the bells and whistles. (Plus, I just hate DataView. I don't think of it as something "I can just whip up real quick" so it's not the tool I reach for 99% of the time)
@@plus1creator We started with Goldmine and daily syncs. Goldmine has "jumped the shark" and left in the dust, so then we moved to MSFT Dynamics, but I wasn't satisfied for the money, so then we moved to Zoho and still there. But, with cloud solutions, you've lost control of your data. I really don't like that because our business is fairly high stakes with big players (think spy intrigue movie genre) and a few bucks in the right place, my competitors can see everything I'm doing. So encrypted on-prem with dynamic sync is very attractive and tho people may laugh using Obsidian for CRM / intel database, it is really flexible. After entering info for just a few emails, I've got an impressive KB and graph diagram already.
I am already familiar with DB Folder for spreasheets, Kanban for workflows ... I was wondering how to integrate pending tasks in calendar slots for example. Thanks, amazing video.
I have read it's a tough project but email client integration would be a blast.
I recently did a video about how deeply ingrained that daily notes are to most of the plugins that we use. In there I show how I keep track of tasks; even when they're associated with deals & business events. That task plugin works when we add a task to the deal note in the kanban view (but I don't think it ties to the kanban-specific date/time element). That's here: ruclips.net/video/sTSgD4784gM/видео.html
Also, with your encrypt and sync, two or more people could share the same "CRM" vault, yes? We were thinking of putting the vault under "git" management and sync'ing and merging using a git server, but with the encrypt and sync, I'm not sure that's necessary. Thoughts (anyone)? edit: We're a Zoho One users, including CRM, which has obvious advantages, but also all our customer data is "out there on the web somewhere" (exposed). :O
Yeah, this really gets complicated quick. It depends on how you're syncing. I believe SyncThing authenticates with a Google account and limits it to 5 devices or something like that. Or with git you can go a completely different route, etc. This is way outside how I use it (remember; does not play well with others), so I'm not as well versed on the collaboration side of Obsidian. I am, however, way more familiar with multi-player on/for Zoho. I do sales training and the team I work with the most is on Zoho, so I can do a whole series on that, too!
For someone with AuDHD (Autism and ADHD) a CRM would be a great thing to keep track of reaching out to friends and family, which is what I plan on using one of these for. A second one would be a job search contact CRM
Great idea!
Will you be giving this a shot? I'd like to hear how it fits for you.
What tool did you use to screenrecord yourself?
I use Descript to screen record, edit all my videos, make transcripts, and a lot more. www.descript.com/?lmref=50y2Ew
I have a crucial question about using Obsidian as a CRM, especially regarding the commercial license, which costs $50 per year.
Do you have a commercial license? Can I create a CRM with a personal use license?
Good question. I'm not a lawyer, and I've never played one on TV. The way I figure it is I'm not using Obsidian as a service for any clients. I'm using it on my side to organize my to-do's and what I'm working on. Also, I'm not sharing it with anyone else or using it to collaborate or using it to coordinate a team of any sort. So I'm not using it in the traditional "enterprise tool" sense of the word. Does that answer your question?
Really helpful workflow. I'm glad I can keep my CRM in obsidian. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful. Cool when you can keep it all in one place, right?
the less apps the better. and something about obsidian just hits home for me. i think its 20 years of random notes in random folders on random hard drives... I'm hoping obsidian will be the magic bullet long term@@plus1creator
That's what it did for me. Bye Google Keep, random .txt files, etc
McLovin? Is that you?
Could be
You did a great job creating a model that solopreneurs can use. Salespeople, however, need their CRM to do a lot of math: total sales, probability of sales, sales by product and milestone(stage), forecasting, etc. Salespeople often track hundreds, if not thousands, of companies/people/prospects, with resultant thousands of events to track as interaction histories. That isn't practical in a note-based system where you are doing the linking and moving. Just not a salesperson's tool. Sorry
I appreciate you taking the time to leave such thorough feedback. I agree; it's woefully underpowered for a high-volume dynamic.
I appreciate your response. To be clear, I love your channel and the work you do. That comment was in no way meant to denigrate your helpful and insightful video. Many thanks.@@plus1creator
I'm right there with you; there are plenty of things that Obsidian *can* which is wayyyyyy different than "should you use it for this?" So I like playing around without being an Obsidian absolutionist.