I Went to HighLevel Live Manila Knowing Almost Nothing. Here Are My Takeaways.

Honestly, I attended HighLevel Live Manila without knowing how HighLevel actually works (what a nice way to start this post 😅). But I knew I’d be learning something from it. And I was right. I learned so many things that I don’t even know what to start doing. Am I gonna do content creation? Affiliate marketing? Leveraging AI? Offering HighLevel as a service? Learn how the platform works? How to automate a business? How to generate leads? The list goes on.

To be fair, I’ve only used HighLevel before to build landing pages. That’s it. I didn’t know how the platform worked. I didn’t even know its full feature set. All I knew was that it’s a CRM. I couldn’t even think why people were calling it an “all-in-one” solution for businesses.

Because of that, I decided to attend a 2-day event about HighLevel, held at the Manila Marriott Hotel. I was hoping to learn something new outside of my usual work and skills. I guess that’s just what we freelancers and service providers do to stay relevant, especially in this AI era.

As someone who’s been building websites for a living for quite some time now, I already had the foundation and proper mindset to help me stay relevant in my field.

What I was really looking for was that new identity I need to start building a new skillset (got that “identity” idea from the book Atomic Habits). And this event gave me that, though it really does take some effort to put into practice.

The Turnout Was Something Else

I couldn’t believe the number of people who attended. Over 2,000 people showed up and the tickets were sold out. I believe a good number of the attendees were business owners, but I know the majority were freelancers and VAs who wanted to learn more and take advantage of the platform.

I’m just glad I decided to show up, because I’m now seriously thinking of learning the platform and using it to help my clients’ businesses.

The Speakers

• Cece Tan – Founder, HL Accelerator
• Billy Gene – Founder & CEO, Billy Gene Is Marketing LLC
• Chris Dillon – Founder & Owner, The Marketing Autopilots
• Declan O’Reilly – Founder, Wizard
• Joanna Sherrow – Founder & CEO, Growth Gap Co.
• Matthew Panganiban – Founder, The Colony
• Michael Reimer – Founder, CRM Pros
• Dr. Priya Jaganathan – Founder, HL Growth Partner
• Rj Villamer – Al Automation Specialist, Tara Al Solutions

What I Learned

Let me break down a few things I took away from the event.

Stronger Mindset From Cece Tan

As a Filipino freelancer who just wants to make a living in the digital world, and has been doing it for quite some time now, I still struggle with self-doubt. This is nothing new. There are times when you get treated differently for being who you are, and that’s why I try to be as professional as possible. I guess I’m just lucky to still have amazing and kind clients. But sometimes you can’t stop thinking, what if the next client is a bit difficult to work with?

The way Cece owned that stage, shared her journey, and opened everyone’s minds to the idea that we’re great enough to compete globally was something else. We all have our own stories and difficulties, but those aren’t enough reasons to stop you from doing what you want and showing what you’re capable of.

The process won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

Pricing Done Right by Dr. Priya Jaganathan

One of the talks that really hit home was Dr. Priya’s session on pricing. Not the technical side of pricing, but the mindset around it. For me, this is a bit connected to the self-doubt issue I mentioned earlier. I always struggle with handling pricing because of where I’m located. I need to be fair though, because the cost of living here in the Philippines can’t really be compared to countries like Australia, the US, or the UK.

But what I did learn is that you can still price correctly by positioning yourself as an authority (which seems a bit hard to achieve if you’re still just starting) or by shifting your operator identity to become the expert in your field. You can achieve that by selling your service as the transformation your client needs.

As freelancers, pricing is always a topic that messes with our heads. So hearing someone talk about it in a practical, grounded way was something I needed.

Leveraging AI and HighLevel by Billy Gene

Billy Gene’s session was probably the one that got the crowd going the most. His talk was all about leveraging AI to handle the lead generation side like appointments, follow-up, and support for your business.

Actually, he did a live demo on stage that proved you can sell pretty much anything if you have the right system and AI tools in place. He also showed how fast you can build with HighLevel’s AI features.

Here’s the thing though, AI doesn’t just help you improve your own operations. As a service provider, you can also help your clients implement these AI systems and tie them to actual business results. That’s a whole service on its own.

For me, Conversation AI is always interesting because I already use AI in my workflow as a web developer, but not on the business side. Seeing how it connects with a platform like HighLevel for automation opened up a lot of ideas.

Come to think of it, one of my clients actually introduced me to one of his courses about marketing a while back. He told me that when it comes to marketing, Billy Gene is the go-to guy. So when I saw him as one of the speakers, that was another reason why I decided to attend.

Got a Chance to Talk to One of the Speakers

One of the highlights for me was getting a chance to talk to Matthew Panganiban. His session was about making the transition from freelancer to agency owner, which is something I think about a lot.

As much as I want to start growing my freelance business and eventually start an agency, there are a lot of factors to consider. Budget is one of them. Building a team means hiring people, and good freelancers aren’t cheap, nor should they be. And yes, I’m not quite there yet.

But what he shared on stage really resonated with me. How he started from scratch, struggled to find clients, and with the right tools, system, and mindset, was able to start his own AI agency, leverage HighLevel, and create an ROI-driven offer out of it as a service.

You know what’s funny and amazing at the same time? He made it sound like it’s easy. But you also know and understand the struggles he went through to get there.

HighLevel Is More Than a CRM

This was probably the biggest shift in my understanding. Before the event, I saw HighLevel as just another CRM. Now I get why people call it an all-in-one platform. If you check all the features on their website, including the upcoming ones, it feels like I’ve been living in the stone age.

Think about how many separate tools most businesses use: one for CRM, a funnel builder, a calendar tool, a website builder (I’ve tried this), and something for automation. HighLevel puts all of that under one roof. That’s what “all-in-one” actually means.

The amount of features you get with HighLevel if you want an all-in-one solution for your business is wild. It has these automation categories: “Capture“, “Nurture“, “Close“, “Evangelize“, and “Reactivate“. So every part of the journey from getting that precious lead to keeping them as a loyal customer, the platform can help you with that.

Also, you can build a SaaS on top of it. That changes the game for freelancers and agencies who want recurring revenue, because you’re not just offering a service anymore, you’re offering a product.

The New Upcoming Features

Please bear with me on this one. I wasn’t able to capture or record everything, so I’m relying on my memory and my gallery. Here are a few that stood out:

• Project Management so you can track tasks and client work without needing a separate tool. This one caught my attention because I’m currently using Basecamp to manage my projects, so knowing that HighLevel will have this built in is interesting.
• Ecommerce so businesses can sell products directly through the platform. The speaker (Chase Buckner) actually shared that they used this feature to sell the event swags on the day itself.
• Events like webinars and live workshops with built-in registration.
• AI Workflow improvements to make automations even smarter.

They Also Mentioned Something About WordPress

They announced a new upcoming feature to help build sites using their AI Site Builder. Though I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure how well it will work just yet. I’ve tried AI tools to prototype a WordPress site before, and in some cases it still has room for improvement in my opinion.

I still have a few questions though. What are the limitations? Will the site generation create a hard-coded site, or will the AI integrate with popular page builders? These questions matter because most of our clients want complete control of their site after the handoff.

Also, separate from the announcement, I learned that you can actually host WordPress sites in HighLevel as well. They have their own web hosting. This was good to know because one of my current clients wants to integrate HighLevel into their business, so the timing of this event couldn’t have been better.

For someone like me who builds WordPress sites, knowing that HighLevel has hosting means I can offer a more complete package to clients who want everything under one roof.

Some Moments from the Event

Final Thoughts

Going into this event, I didn’t have high expectations because I barely knew the platform. Coming out of it, I have a much clearer picture of where HighLevel fits. Not just for my clients, but for my own business too.

I’ve still got a lot to figure out with the platform, but at least now I know what I’m working with. And honestly, I’m glad I went. It’s not every day you walk into an event knowing almost nothing and leave with a list of things you actually want to try.