We were lucky to catch up with Martine Cousineau Pouliot recently and have shared our conversation below.

Martine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

In our industry, it’s common for system specialist to simply take a client’s existing process, plug it directly into the CRM, and call it a day. But that approach literally makes me want to bang my head against the wall!

What sets me apart is my absolute focus on the client experience strategy. I don’t just implement your processes — I refine them.

When you work with me, we dive deep into analyzing what’s working in your current client experience, where the bottlenecks are happening, and how we can streamline everything to create a luxury experience that converts clients on repeat.

First impressions matter, and in the online world, that starts the moment a potential client lands on your inquiry form. I make sure we cover every single touchpoint — from that very first interaction all the way through project completion and beyond.

I’m able to hear the high-level details of what you want your client experience to be and map out every step required to make it happen. This isn’t just about getting you set up with automation (though that’s absolutely part of it) — it’s about creating a strategic client journey that nurtures your leads, builds meaningful relationships with your clients, and positions you as the professional, high-end service provider you are.

The difference is in the details. Every client communication is carefully crafted to be clear, personalized, and on-brand. Every automation is strategically timed. Every touchpoint is designed to enhance the relationship, not just move the project along.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hey there! I’m Martine, a mom of three, travel enthusiast, enneagram 3, and the founder of Streamlined by Martine. I’ve been a Dubsado Certified Specialist for the past 4 years, helping creative business owners streamline and automate their business processes.

My journey to this business wasn’t exactly a straight line. I have a marketing degree and spent several years in the finance industry – first as an equipment finance account manager, then as a headhunter, and later as a business strategy consultant. It was during that consulting job that I first experienced the nightmare of working around the clock just to keep up with emails, follow-ups, and payment tracking.

The real turning point came during my second maternity leave. With a little one at home full-time, I could only work during nap times, so I absolutely had to find ways to be more efficient. When one of my clients asked me to research the best CRM for their business, I discovered Dubsado and was instantly drawn to how it could automate repetitive admin tasks while creating beautiful branded forms.

After implementing it in my own consulting business and for a couple of clients, I was totally hooked. I never imagined I’d pivot my entire business to focus on Dubsado implementation, but after seeing how dramatically it transformed not just businesses but lives, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

What I do now is help designers, copywriters, photographers, and other creative service providers automate their backend systems so they can spend less time tied to their laptops and more time doing what they love. I’ve helped over 90 business owners set up their Dubsado systems, saving them over $10,000 each in reclaimed time and efficiency.

What sets me apart is my strategic approach to client experience. I don’t just implement software – I map out every step of your client journey to create processes that feel seamless and luxurious to your clients while working efficiently behind the scenes.

My business tagline sums it up perfectly: “Implementing a CRM is not just about saving time—it’s about creating the life you always dreamed of when you started your business.”

Sometimes when I’m hanging by the pool watching my kids do cannonballs into the deep end after school, I literally stop and think: THIS is what I was after all those years ago. Getting to be present at home, having chill work days doing something I love, and creating that family-work balance I always dreamed of – plus those laptop-free vacations 2-3 times a year.

That’s exactly what I’m dedicated to helping other business owners achieve. Not just adding automation to your creative business, but creating a strategic client experience that nurtures your leads and converts clients on repeat so your business (and life) can look dramatically different a lot sooner than you think.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started my business 4 years ago with 2 toddlers and a newborn at home. At that time, I was doing Dubsado setup on a 4-6 week turnaround structure. This meant I had multiple projects running simultaneously, with multiple deadlines and meetings. It was absolutely overwhelming for a mom of 3 to manage both family and business at the same time.

I loved what I was doing, but those long projects literally made me want to bang my head against the wall—they just didn’t work for me or my family.
So I hired a coach, and we sat down to map out a better model for my business that would provide the schedule flexibility I needed while still delivering exceptional results for my clients. That’s when the VIP Week and VIP Day structures were born.

It was a huge pivot in the industry at the time because no one was doing it. No one thought it was possible to set up Dubsado in just one week or just a day. But that’s what worked for me.

I discovered I was soooo much more efficient with my time when focusing on just one project rather than wasting hours each day jumping between multiple client setups. This pivot gave me more time with my kids, made booking time off and vacations simple, and it actually provided my clients with a quicker turnaround with even better quality service because I’m fully dedicated to them during that week or day.

Sometimes the best business pivots come from necessity—and this one transformed both my business model and my quality of life!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has absolutely been providing a remarkable client experience. A lot of my clients are referrals from past clients who share my work on their social media, talk about me to colleagues, and recommend my services to others in their network.

I’ve found that the service we provide as business owners goes far beyond the actual deliverable—it’s the entire experience that is important. That’s exactly what I set my clients up for with their Dubsado systems, and what I practice in my own business.

While I do maintain a consistent presence online—posting 2-3 times a week on Instagram, doing stories daily, and publishing weekly blog posts—a significant portion of people discover me through word of mouth.

This reinforces what I always tell my clients: when you create a streamlined, professional experience that makes clients feel valued and impressed at every touchpoint, they become your best marketing asset. They’ll literally rave about you to anyone who will listen!

That’s why I’m so passionate about helping creative business owners automate their backend processes—not just to save them time, but to help them create client experiences that turn into referrals and repeat business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://streamlinedbymartine.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/streamlinedbymartine/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martine-cousineau-pouliot-51083642/