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What if one bad hire wrecked your agency? What if the red flag you're dismissing tanked your margins? Most agency owners learn these lessons the hard way. But you donât have to.
In this episode, Collin Slattery shares the red flags, hiring mistakes, and leadership shifts that helped him build an agency thatâs not just growingâbut growing sane. Heâs here to share stories that can help you shortcut the pain and build smarter, sooner. From pricing hesitations to over-hiring juniors to waiting too long to fire a bad hire, he brings great insights about what not to doâand what to fix fast. At the end of the day, the goal isnât just growthâitâs sane growth.Collin Slattery is the founder of Taikun Digital, an agency that primarily focuses on the e-commerce space, doing Facebook ads, Google ads, and creative landing pages for clients. Heâll share his scrappy beginnings, the mistakes that cost him (and taught him), and the non-negotiables heâs learned about red flags and respecting your own time as an agency owner. His strategy now is simple: only do the work thatâs uniquely his. Delegate the rest. And when hiring, pay for people who love the stuff you hate.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
How to spot sales-process red flags before they cost you.
Why hiring friends usually failsâand how to do it right if you must.
What to do before a big client leavesâso youâre not scrambling.
The hiring mindset that leads to faster, saner growth.Subscribe
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Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
Starting with $300 and a Canadian PharmacyRight out of high schoolâclass of â07âCollin started making money online during what he calls the "Wild West" days of digital marketing. Think bootleg Canadian pharmacies, early Google Ads, and cracked versions of Adobe software.
One of his first official clients was a skincare brand called Spa Technologies, which he charged $300 a month to handle âall the web stuffââfrom email and SEO to advertising and site updates. He even landed a local government gig in New York early (back when procurement was a little less formal). It wasnât glamorous, but it was enough to plant the seed for what would eventually become his agency.
Eventually, Collin took the boutique route. He leaned into complex client problems and bespoke solutions, found his zone of genius, and grew from there.
Hiring Red Flags During the Sales ProcessOne of the most expensive lessons agency owners learn, and one Collin has relearned, is ignoring red flags during the sales process.
Itâs amazing how anyone can forget to trust their gut when they need the money, but Collin has learned this lesson by now. From clients with unreasonable expectations who ghost meetings to those who show up late or treat your time like itâs optional, he has learned to put a limit. Today, he waits five minutesâmaxâfor a prospect to join a call. If they donât show, heâs out. Because if someone doesnât respect your time on the sales call, theyâre definitely not going to respect your process, boundaries, or team later on.
The biggest red flag for Collin is clients who offload all responsibility. If theyâre promising to be your âbest client everâ or insisting theyâll deliver everything you need âright away,â itâs worth digging deeper. Of course, clients who are too involved can also be a problem. However, the agency canât be more invested than they are in their own success.
To prevent this, establish a pricing structure where at least 50% of the project is paid upfront, with clear dates for the remaining payments.. This can help irresponsible clients get moving on what theyâre supposed to deliver, although Jason shares a story about a client who paid 100% upfront (before kickoff!) but delayed the project by not providing what was promised.
Thatâs why process and payment timelines matter. If you donât control scope and expectations from day one, youâll pay for it in time, profit, and sanity.
When One Bad Hire Derails EverythingCollinâs been on both ends of the hiring spectrumâover-prioritizing skill and under-prioritizing culture fit⊠then swinging the other way and hiring people he liked without checking if they actually had the skills.
Spoiler: Neither approach worked.
On top of that, heâs been guilty of stubbornly keeping people too long, thinking he could âfixâ them. However, heâs now confident that owners can usually know on Day 1 if they made the wrong hire. Week 1 if you're generous. People usually start with their best foot forward, so if thatâs shaky, itâs a red flag.
The real game-changer was learning to trust his gut early and cut things off quicklyâfor everyoneâs sake.
Hiring Friends? Set Very Clear ExpectationsShould you hire friends or family? Most agency owners will say noâand Collin wouldâve agreed⊠until one friend hire actually worked out.
There were many factors that contributed to this, including expectations, where the agency is at, and the personâs character.
The first time he hired his best friend, it was a disaster. The second time, it was a former mentee who had already sold his own agency, knew the ropes, and was a perfect culture fit. They were open, direct, and mutually respectfulâand it worked.
The lesson? If you do go down the friend/family road, set clear expectations, give both parties an exit ramp, and value the friendship above the business if things go sideways.
The Secret to Real Growth: Do Less of What You HateAccording to Collin, delegation and self-awareness are the great drivers of his agencyâs success. He focused on hiring people to do the things he was either bad at or dreaded doingâeven if he was good at them, because chances are someone else loves the stuff you hate doing.
That mindset shift allowed Collin to get laser-focused on what he does bestâsales, marketing, and solving complex âmath problemsâ for e-commerce clients.
Now he wakes up looking forward to work instead of dreading it.
When a Big Client Bails, Your Margins Matter More Than EverRecently, Collinâs agency lost its biggest client temporarily due to the pressures of the new tariffs. Instead of panic, his response was grounded and strategic.
Heâs built his agency to survive losses like this and encourages agency owners to do the same, by thinking about pricing, hiring, and not sabotaging your own sales engine. Thanks to this mindset, the agency had healthy profit margins baked in.
If losing one client sends you into a tailspin, youâre probably not charging enough. You need to build your business in a way that you can survive losses without cutting down. Thatâs not just about pricingâitâs about operating with margin as a mindset.
One of the biggest mistakes agency owners make is hitting pause on sales because things feel good. Collinâs advice is to always be selling. And if capacity is tight, donât pauseâraise your prices.
Pro tip: Implement a sliding scale strategy. Every few clients, bump your pricing and track retention. You might find that youâre working less for more.
Want to Grow Fast? Hire Ahead of the DemandLetâs talk about one of the hardest lessons agency owners learn: hiring too late. Collin admitted he brought on clients he couldnât serve wellâand paid the price in churn and stress.
This year, heâs trying a different strategy by hiring ahead of the demand. And not just anyoneâhire senior people. Yes, itâs a luxury. But itâs also how you buy back your time and protect your client relationships.
Junior hires sound good on paperâcheap, trainable, full of potential. But they require time and energy you may not have. As Collin explains, the real value of a senior hire is autonomy because they can own it from day one.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?
âAt the end of the day, if you donât build margin into your agency, one bad month can wipe you out.âLooking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Is your agency falling behind in the AI revolutionâwhile competitors pull ahead? If youâve handed off AI adaptation to your team and progress still feels sluggish, youâre not alone.
The uncomfortable truth? Delegating AI could be the biggest threat to your agencyâs future.
Todayâs guest, Brandon Na, has seen firsthand how agencies riseâor fallâin the face of disruption. From early SEO days to the AI era, heâs learned what it really takes to lead through change. And it starts with not outsourcing the future.
Many employees feel more fear than excitement about AIâworried it could signal the end of their careers. Instead, agency owners should be very involved in this process and actively try to identify team members who are excited to learn about AI and already experiment with it on their own time. The agencies that will thrive aren't the ones that delegate AI innovation down the chain of command but the ones that build transformation strategies around those natural innovators.
Brandon Na is the founder of Seattle Organic SEO, as well as a venture capital pro and acting CMO. His path into agency life started with a simple desire to never have to do cold sales. So instead, he hacked his way into visibility through SEO. This path took Brandon to South Korea, where he helped scale an education company by 1,400%. He eventually returned to the U.S., launched his agency, and dominated the search rankings in a matter of monthsâall from a handshake mentorship deal with a guy exiting the space.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
How you can avoid losing your way after âmaking itâ.
Will SEO survive AI?
Why you shouldnât delegate AI adoption.
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Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
From Amazon to Agency Life (And What Jeff Bezos Taught Him About Leadership)Brandon started out working at future giants like Amazon and Expedia and couldâve had a very different career had he stayed. Working at tech giants like Amazon and Expedia might sound glamorous todayâbut back then, it wasnât. Low pay, stock options that seemed worthless, and a corporate culture that left him unimpressed taught Brandon an early lesson: big titles donât equal strong leadership.
From his experience with Bezos, he learned that big titles donât always mean big character and that leadershipâtrue leadershipâisn't about prestige, but about clarity, adaptation, and purpose.
Next, Brandon had his first try at entrepreneurship with a real estate practice before he ever touched agency work. Knowing by experience that sales was just not for him, he wondered how to get people to find him, which naturally led him to find SEO.
In the early days of SEO, Brandon decided to master the craft before launching his agency. He took a few years to learn, test his skills, and leverage some contacts before starting his agency.
Why So Many Leaders Lose Their Drive After Hitting Big MilestonesSeeing how big CEOs started and how theyâve evolved, one wonders how they manage to turn it all around. How do they get to a point in their leadership where the stories go from being terrible at managing employees to making history? For Brandon, itâs about never getting too comfortable once they have the money.
These trailblazers who have managed to conquer the world will not just retire and live a quiet life, theyâll just choose other ways to create and make an impact. Many of them eventually move into venture capital or find other passions. Itâs an advisable path for agency owners who end up selling their businesses, because otherwise they can end up losing their sense of purpose.
If youâre chasing the next milestone remember that if you donât define your purpose beyond the hustle, the success will feel hollow.
Growth Comes from Pressure - So Turn It UpAlthough living through the pressure of working in tech during those early years was not easy, Brandon now looks back and can see it with different eyes. As he has learned from his work as CMO: âIf youâre stuck on a problemâmake the problem bigger.â Because being too comfortable, you can lose your edge. It may take time, since with AI, market shifts, and internal team chaos pulling us in every direction, it's easy to lose clarity, but if you focus on finding that problem youâll grow.
It can sound counterintuitive, but in his experience bigger problems force bigger focus, more urgency, and better thinking. Itâs easy to spin your wheels when youâre âfineââbut when the pressureâs real, you find out what youâre made of.
Can SEO Still Win in an AI World?When a friend of Brandon told him he barely used Google anymore, he assumed it was because as a computer engineer, he was just ahead of everyone else in these trends. However, just five weeks later he realized he also was now using AI. After years in SEO, even he finds himself turning to AI tools like ChatGPT instead of even opening Google.
So is Google still relevant, or has AI already taken the crown? The bottom line is the way people find information is changing. And that has massive implications for how your agency helps clients get found.
Whether youâre creating blog content, developing ad strategies, or running full-scale marketing campaignsâAI is in the mix now. Platforms like Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and even custom-trained agents are already out in the wild. And theyâre fast.
Ultimately, the game is changing fast, and agencies that arenât adapting might already be falling behind.
If your agency is still running fully human-powered workflows while other teams are using agents to ideate, write, design, test, and iterate faster than you can blink, youâre already behind.
But donât panic. The solution isn't panicâitâs leadership.
Donât Delegate the FutureâOwn ItOne of the biggest traps agency owners fall into is just telling their team to âFigure out how to use AI,â and walking away. The reality is your team may not be motivated to lean in. Many employees view AI as a threat to their jobânot a tool to make them better.
Instead, try:
Identifying the team members already experimenting with AI tools.
Giving those people the mandate and the resources to go deeper.
Investing in training and testing to see what worksâand what doesnât.
And most importantly, lead the charge yourself.
The agencies that survive the next 3â5 years wonât just be the ones doing better creativeâtheyâll be the ones moving faster, thinking smarter, and leading with tech.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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What if scaling your agency wasnât about adding clientsâbut building a community that fuels growth from within? During Covid lockdowns, todayâs featured guest felt the need to turn his clients into a community, hosting events where they could get to know each other and build relationships. To this day, it remains one of the best changes heâs introduced at his agency.
With a dedicated community, a focused niche, and a cap on the amount of clients the agency takes, he created a sense of exclusivity that turned his agency into a âcategory of oneâ business that continues to thrive. Join us as he unpacks how his agency journey began, how he accidentally ran into his exclusive niche, and the ways he found to turn clients into members.
Oli Luke is the founder of Orange & Gray, a hearing healthcare marketing agency thatâs not just thrivingâitâs become a âcategory of one.â He shares how going ultra-niche, building a true community, and capping client growth actually led to bigger success. His story offers agency owners a powerful blueprint for growth by focusing less on volume and more on depth.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
The power of creating scarcity.
Choosing community over clients.
Why client selection will save you headaches.
Using AI to have a bigger impact with clients.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
Creating Category Leadership with Your AgencyOli started in the marketing world as early as fifteen years old, running a âquestionably illegalâ business that relied on marketing savvy more than morals. That spirit of experimentation, however, continued to evolve into something far more focused and in 2017 he launched a niche agency focused solely on hearing healthcare.
Like many agency owners, Oli knows the pain of being a generalistâserving anyone and everyone just to keep the lights on. But once he committed to a hyper-niche model, everything changed.
âWe help a very specific type of business,â he explained. âThereâs only about 2,000 potential clients in the world for us. So weâre not looking for quantityâweâre looking for quality.â According to Oli, once youâre playing in such a specific arena, youâre playing against maybe three competitors, which helps you become very good at that sweet spot.
By focusing on a tight, underserved market, Oliâs agency was able to create a âcategory of oneâ positioning. It wasnât just another agencyâthey were the agency for hearing healthcare and that kind of positioning is gold.
The Power of Capping Growth and Creating ScarcityHereâs something you donât hear every day: Oli has no plans to scale his agency to the moon. In fact, heâs capping it at 100 clients. âWe donât want more. We want depth of relationship,â he said.
This kind of intentional limitation creates natural scarcity and urgency and real, earned exclusivity. Prospects know thereâs a limit, so they know if they leave coming back will mean paying significantly more.
Itâs a model Seth Godin once praised: deep focus, selective intake, and high trust. Oliâs clients know theyâre one of the few, which raises the bar for everyoneâteam, clients, and prospects.
Community Over Clients: How COVID Changed EverythingOliâs most unexpected moveâand perhaps his most impactfulâcame during COVID when, like many agency owners, he had to rethink everything. Prior to that, he ran a very traditional agency, with one-to-one relationships with clients that mostly didnât know each other. This all changed during COVID, when amid the shutdowns and uncertainty, Oliâs team started hosting weekly âcampfire chatsâ to bring them together. That simple shift sparked a powerful transformation.
âWe almost pivoted from being just a marketing agency and to being a communications company,â he said. By bringing clients together, the bonds formed turned into something more powerful than any campaign.
That organic communityâborn out of crisisâevolved into something deeper. Today, Oliâs agency doesnât just have clients; they have members. And the community has only grown since the days of the campfire chats.
For him, thereâs nothing more powerful than getting people together, especially in this new AI era where human connection will become increasingly rarer and more important.
There are monthly calls, print newsletters, annual events, and even an Austin Powers-themed meetup in London for their U.S. clients.
The community is more than a retention toolâitâs a moat. Members feel like theyâre part of something elite, something valuable. Itâs not just about services; itâs about belonging.
Why Client Selection MattersAs established, if youâre running an agency and not building a community of your clients, youâre missing one of the biggest strategic advantages available today. Yet, it may lead to competition â some of those clients wonât want to be in the same room as their competitor.
Thatâs why your client selection matters. You canât afford to bring in clients who donât align with your values, even when youâre in startup mode and tempted to say yes to everyone.
Learning this will take some time, but itâll always be worth it because, more than just executing for them, youâre making them part of something biggerâgiving them access to relationships, tools, and strategies that help them grow. And that, right there, is what makes the difference.
Finding a Niche... by AccidentLike many agency owners, Oli didnât start with a clear niche. In fact, his entrance into the hearing care industry in the U.S. was totally accidentalâthrough a client speaking engagement in Houston.
Back then, he had a small marketing company in the UK and a client who was doing work as a speaker in the US hearing care industry and invited him to one of his events. There, Oli shared some ideas with the audience. Just tips that seemed obvious to him in the marketing industry but were eye-opening to his listeners in the hearing care industry. He was asked to help some in that audience implement these ideas and, before he knew it, he had found a niche.
When the Market Shifts, Community WinsItâs easy to panic when markets get weird. And letâs face itâweâre in a weird season right now. But the truth is, these âdownâ times are often where the biggest opportunities lie.
Remember 2008? 2000? COVID? Each one of those eras had agency owners panickingâand also created massive opportunities for those willing to adapt. When your competitors pull back, you lean in.
And itâs not just theory. Community-first strategies during downturns can redefine your agency. They create stickiness, loyalty, and value beyond deliverables. People remember who helped them weather the stormâand they stick around.
This is especially true for agencies that have found their ideal niche and have therefore found a way to be of significantly more value than just the doing. These agencies are in a position to lead their clients through these changes and provided much needed leadership.
The AI Evolution: Smaller Teams, Bigger ImpactThereâs a lot of noise about AI replacing agencies. But letâs get real: Agencies arenât going away. Theyâre just changing.
At the end of the day, agencies are the middle man between someone having a problem and arriving at the solution. People will still need help, theyâll just be able to do more with less people. What used to take 100 employees might now take 30âor even 10. The work doesnât vanishâit evolves. It becomes smarter, faster, and more strategic. You still need strategy. You still need people making decisions. But with AI, your execution becomes more powerful.
And your clients know this. Theyâre not oblivious. Bigger brands are already coming to agencies saying, âWe want the same output with fewer peopleâpowered by AI.â If youâre not ready to answer that call, youâll get left behind.
Thatâs why understanding AIâand being able to communicate your expertise in itâis going to be a game-changer.
Supercharged Workflows with AI AgentsOne of the ways agencies should start leveraging AI is by creating their own internal AI agent using ChatGPT. For instance, you can use it to train that agent with:
Case studies
Client challenges
CRM data
Brand voice
Once you do that, share it with your team so they can start using it to write a blog post, a LinkedIn update, or any kind of contentâand it generates something better than most humans would.
This is where the futureâs headed. Not to replace humansâbut to empower your team with incredible leverage. Youâre not building a bot to do your jobâyouâre building a smarter team that gets more done.
One More Tip: Start a PodcastEven with all his experience and success in choosing a niche, creating community, and using AI, Oli maintains that starting a weekly podcast was the best move he ever made for the business. It drove client attraction, retention, education, and brand recognition. And with AI, itâs never been easier to create high-quality content consistently.
If youâre not creating contentâespecially in podcast formâitâs time to rethink your strategy.
Want to Build an Exclusive, Scalable Agency That Clients Line Up For?Our Agency Blueprint helps you identify growth bottlenecks, build community-driven strategies, and position your agency as a category of one.
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Ever dreamed of building a $100 million agency, selling for a massive payday, and seeing your name in headlines? It sounds like the ultimate win. But what happens when that dream starts to crack under pressure?
Iâve live through that and it fell apart fast. Not because we didnât grow but because we skipped the hard stuff. The boring stuff. The stuff that no one talks about when youâre scaling fast.
If youâre an agency owner chasing scale, considering a sale, or wondering if your current path is sustainable, this is the truth bomb you need.
The Highs: Acquisitions, Headlines, and the $100M MarkLetâs start with the dream. A few years ago, I was part of an agency that had a bold plan: acquire successful agencies (each doing $1M+ in EBITDA), pay half in cash and half in equity, and build a powerhouse primed for an epic exit.
And it worked⊠for a while.
10 agencies acquired
Over $100M valuation
$8M+ in EBITDA
But underneath the surface, cracks were forming. The fast growth masked deep structural issues.
The Downfall: Debt, Boardroom Drama & Chasing the Wrong GoalsThe downfall wasnât due to lack of revenue or bad acquisitionsâit was bad decisions behind the scenes. Every new agency came with debt, and as soon as you start taking on debt, you commit to maintain a certain growth level with the banks, a pace that was frankly unsustainable.
To keep the bank away, we needed to keep buying more agencies. However, when board politics stalled future acquisitions, everything ground to a halt.
No growth = default = collapse.
The worst part was that founders who sold for a mix of cash and equity saw their second payday vanish. Why? Because they sold controlâand lost the ability to steer the ship.
What We Got Wrong (So You Donât Have To)Letâs break down the key mistakes most agencies make when chasing fast growthâor a flashy exit:
No Unified Vision: There was no clear post-acquisition mission across agencies. There was only focus on money and fast growth.
No Specialization: Everyone was selling everything to everyoneâno authority, no leverage.
No integration team: Unless you fully integrate agencies across systems they wonât add as much value as you hope. Each agency continued to operate under separate slack channels, tools, separate chaos. They each stayed in their own lane and as a result it all felt like small businesses operating under one logo.
No Standard Offerings: Each agency had its own pricing, tools, and processes.
No Leadership Alignment: Power was handed to the wrong board members who didnât share the vision.
As a result, it was impossible to scale sustainably.
The Right Way to Scale: Build Something You Actually Want to KeepIf youâre feeling stuck in your agencyâjuggling sales, delivery, hiring, and managingâitâs time to stop and recalibrate.
Start with this simple exercise:
Draw a circle around your fist on a piece of paper.
Outside the circle: list everything you hate doing in your agency.
Inside the circle: write what you love doing.
Now start building your team and systems around that, with clarity instead of complexity. Most agencies donât need more people, they need more focus.You need clear goals, accountability, and owning your niche. Remember: generalists survive, specialists scale. The more specific your positioning, the faster youâll grow.
5 Core Takeaways for Smarter Agency GrowthBuild Around Your Zone of Genius
Design your role around what you love. Delegate the rest.Get Focused
More people wonât fix chaos. Clear goals, roles, and offers will.Own Your Niche
Generalists survive. Specialists scale.Productize Your Offer
One clear offer. One repeatable outcome. One path to scale.Donât Chase the ExitâBuild a Business You Donât Want to Escape
Freedom isnât selling. Freedom is clarity, systems, and loving what youâve built.So if you're fantasizing about selling, slow down and ask yourself: Why?
The grass isnât greener on the other sideâitâs greener where you water it.So donât just build to sell. Build to love what youâve built. The right growth, the right systems, and the right people will make your agency unstoppableâand valuable, whether you exit or not.
Want the full playbook?Grab a copy of Accelerating Your Agency and learn the exact framework behind sustainable, scalable, and enjoyable agency growth.
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If youâre the visionary still stuck doing the work, youâre not scalingâyouâre surviving. Joaby Parker knows that loop well. From launching his agency straight out of college to nearly burning out and walking away, his story is a masterclass in doing too much, too long.
In this episode, youâll hear how Joaby broke free from the grind, stopped bottlenecking his team, and built a business that scales without him.He shares his journey from founding his first agency right out of college to walking away and returning to agency life with a new approach and mindset. He reveals what caused his early plateau, why he left to work client-side, and how returning to the agency world taught him how to lead, grow, and eventually let go of the creative and account management roles that were holding him back.
Joaby Parker is the founder and CEO of Cover 3 Growth Partners, a strategy-first agency based in Logan, Utah, focused on food and CPG brands. With a background in creative marketing and brand development, Joabyâs approach combines practical business strategy with creative execution.
He discusses how his passion for marketing and working closely with various agencies inspired him to start his own and reflects on the challenges of the early years, the gradual momentum they built, and how he learned that building a successful agency isnât about doing more. Itâs about doing less of the wrong thingsâand putting the right people, values, and systems in place so you can grow without burning out.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
The turning point that made him leave his first agency and come back stronger.
How his mindset around delegation and trust evolved.
Why being a visionary means youâre probably a bad managerâand thatâs okay.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
Why Joaby Chose the Agency Path: Early Missteps & Major MomentumJoaby had a purposeful entry into the agency space, after developing a passion for marketing working with several agencies on the client side at Health & Fitness. He had the opportunity to work hand in hand with many agencies and knew he would someday want to run one himself. After a few years of learning experience, he and his partner made the jump to start their own agency.
Being quite young, their first few years with the agency were marked by a lack of direction. Their first big turning point came after securing a contact with Chemdry that led to a complete rebrand of this company. Soon after, when HomeDepot acquired the carpet cleaning business, Joaby and his partner had the opportunity to assist in this transition period, helping all Chemdry franchisees take advantage of this new HomeDepot partnership.
This is really when the business took off and Joaby and his partner started to deal with other aspects of scaling.
The Breaking Point That Made Him Go Back to His RootsGrowth flatlined. Burnout crept in. Joabyâs agency hit the ceilingâand he couldnât figure out why. Turns out, it wasnât a marketing problem. It was a management problem.
Initially, Joaby attributed this stagnation to geographyâliving in a small town seemed to be limiting their growth potential, especially during a time when digital outreach was much more challenging than it is today.Around this same time, an existing client presented Joaby with an opportunity to join their internal team. It was a great opportunity and a needed break from the agency life so he accepted, after securing another partner that could take over his contributions at the agency. It felt like going back to basics for him and gave him the time and space to think about what went wrong at that agency.
Looking back, he sees the reason for that first agencyâs plateau was a lack of processes. While referrals from existing clients provided a steady stream of work, they were insufficient for sustained growth, which ultimately led to a plateau in growth. Ultimately, they struggled to find opportunities to get in front of people to do more work.
This scenario is all too familiar for agency owners. They typically reach a breaking point where their small founding teams can no longer handle the client load. The natural response is to hire more staff, which increases revenue but often decreases profit marginsâleaving owners feeling trapped and pressured. The key differentiator between agencies that remain stuck and those that break through to the next level is making the strategic decision to raise prices rather than simply adding more bodies to the team.
You Donât Need to Do It AllâYou Need the Right PeopleLooking back, Joaby now realizes he could have pushed the agency to that next stage of growth, but at the time, the pressure felt overwhelming. He still wasnât good at running an agency, just good at working in one, and although it seemed like the business was evolving, the reality was that Joaby had more costs than ever and was working more hours than he ever had before. At that moment, the opportunity to go back to work on the client side seemed like an escape.
Joaby admits that, for most of his career, he was a bad business manager. If you're reading this as a visionary-minded agency ownerâwhich many areâyou might recognize yourself in his story. Rather than forcing yourself into an ill-fitting management role, the solution is to build a team that amplifies your natural strengths. This means hiring self-managing professionals or dedicated operations managers who can handle the day-to-day business mechanics, freeing you to focus your energy where it creates the most impact.
The common objection to this approach is cost: "I can't afford to hire that level of talent."If this is your case, then the easiest solution will always be to raise your prices. How to justify that raise? Narrow your focus. When you become the go-to expert for a particular niche, you'll discover clients who are willing to pay for your true value rather than treating your services as a commodity.
Stop Running the MouseâStart Leading the TeamThese days, Joabyâs creative involvement is way down from what it used to be. For many years, most of the agencyâs creative work still needed his approval in some way or another.
However, at one point he and his partner realized that, whenever he wasnât stuck doing the creative work the agency grew and once he did go back to it, the agency stagnated. Agency growth is often limited by the founder, not the market, not the clients, and not even the team. When he focused on building and leadingâgrowth resumed. If youâre still running the mouse, reviewing every piece of creative, or handling every big client call, youâre not leadingâyouâre doing. And thatâs the bottleneck. It took Joaby some time to learn this. In fact, other than overseeing creative, he was also main account manager, where he didnât do the best job, since he couldnât fully focus on that area.
In the end, client complaints about lack of focus helped Joaby recognize that it was time to hire account managers and start delegating. Scaling an agency isnât about doing moreâitâs about doing less yourself. By embracing your role as a leader, not a doer, hiring smarter, and building a team around your vision, you create the space for sustainable growth. Whether you're stuck in the grind or unsure how to let go, the answer isn't working harderâit's building better.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Most agency owners screw up their first sales hire. Why? Because they either hire the wrong person, or refuse to let go of control.
Travis Hoechlin used to think building a sales team was a waste of timeâuntil he realized he was the bottleneck. In this episode, youâll hear how he went from solo closer to leading a performance-driven team that fuels his agencyâs growth.
Travis Hoechlin is the CEO of Rize Up Media, a marketing company specializing in law firm services. He shares insights into his journey from working at a large agency to starting his own and discusses the challenges of stepping out of a comfortable position and the motivations that ultimately led him and his business partner to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Travis also shared his experience building a top sales team, his logic behind hiring experienced seller instead of going for junior salespeople he could train, and how he keeps his team motivated and competitive.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
What most owners get wrong when building sales teams.
The hidden cost of overlooking your top performers.
How to hire competitive closers who donât need babysitting.
Incentives that actually work (even with a remote team).
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Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
The True Cost of Overlooking Top PerformersTravis began his career working for one of the largest agencies in the industry. Despite previously owning a mortgage company, he and his current business partner found themselves settling into the comfort of corporate lifeâbig paychecks, steady accolades, and a sense of stability.
But deep down, Travis always knew he wanted to build something of his own again. It wasnât until a disagreement with his former boss that he finally made the leap. Looking back, he wishes heâd made the move sooner. Still, the way it unfolded taught him an important lesson.
As one of the agencyâs top sellers, Travis had earned a spot in their elite Presidentâs Clubâor so he thought. When he was unexpectedly passed over, it became clear that his contributions werenât truly valued. That moment of frustration became the catalyst for change.
Sometimes, it takes a setback to shake us out of complacency. Travisâs story is a powerful reminder: comfort can be deceiving, and top performers often leave not because of the work, but because their impact isnât fully recognized. For agency owners, itâs a call to actionâacknowledge your best people, or risk losing them.
The Journey from Seller to Sales LeaderAs one of the top salespeople at his former agency, Travis was a natural fit to lead sales at his own. But like many high-performing sellers, he was hesitant about building a sales team. Great salespeople donât always make great managersâand Travis wasnât sure he could find others who would match the drive and success he brought to the table.
His competitive nature added another layer of resistance. The idea of hiring someone who might rival his performance didnât sit well with him at first. But over time, realized that no matter how strong he was on his own, two or three skilled salespeople giving their all would far outperform his solo efforts.
That mindset shift changed everything. Once he found the right peopleâsales pros who believed in the agencyâs missionâTravis stepped back. He moved out of the day-to-day sales role, choosing instead to support the team and help them succeed. After all, they had taken a chance on a growing agency, and he felt a responsibility to help them thrive.
Many agency owners struggle with this transition. Itâs hard to let go of what youâre great at. But as Travis discovered, tying your value to a single roleâespecially one you refuse to let goâcan turn you into your agencyâs biggest bottleneck. Growth requires trust, delegation, and a willingness to lead from the side, not just the front.
Strategy for Building a Premium Agency Sales ForceOnce Travis fully committed to building a sales team, he hit the ground runningâbringing on two salespeople to start, then two more just a few months later. Since then, heâs made it a habit to hire two to three new sales reps each year, fueling the agencyâs continued growth.
While many agencies try to save money by hiring junior reps, Travis believes that route often costs more in the long run. He only recruits experienced, high-performing sales talent since inexperienced hires need extensive training, close management, and time to ramp upâresources many growing agencies simply canât afford to spare.
Instead, Travis looks for people who are naturally competitive, hungry to earn, and confident in their ability to close. In his view, a good salesperson can sell anything. If a new hire hasnât sold agency services before, he keeps their focus simple for the first 30 days: just book him meetings. From there, he leads the calls while they shadow, learn, and build the confidence to eventually run the sales process on their own.
Additionally, rather than hiring one rep at a time, he prefers onboarding two or three at once. Sure, not all of them will work outâbut with multiple hires, at least one or two typically stick, and youâre not back at square one. Plus, the healthy competition that comes from a group ramping together drives performance. When top salespeople are surrounded by peers who are also gunning for results, it pushes everyone to level up.
For Travis, building a sales team isnât just about offloading callsâitâs about creating a high-performance culture that multiplies results and drives the agency forward.
Incentives That Actually Build CultureâEven RemotelyTravis understands that great salespeople are driven by more than just commissionâthey thrive on competition, recognition, and rewards. In corporate environments, these high performers are often motivated by bonuses, contests, and incentive tripsâand Travis knew his agency needed to offer the same kind of energy to attract and retain top talent.
Having been the top seller at his previous job, he experienced firsthand how powerful the right incentives can be. So, he implemented a clear and compelling incentive structure for his team: hit an annual sales target of $850,000, and you qualify for an all-expenses-paid trip to a luxury destination, such as their recent five-day retreat at the Four Seasons in Costa Rica.
But it's more than just a rewardâitâs a shared goal that unites the team. With about a third of his salesforce working remotely from across the globe, these trips serve as a rallying point, fostering camaraderie, motivation, and culture.
This blend of healthy competition and team connection is critical in sales. By setting ambitious but achievable goalsâand celebrating those who reach themâTravis has built a culture where individuals are motivated to win, and the entire team moves forward together.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Ever build a business that âlookedâ successfulâbut left you feeling empty? Jeff Hilimire sure did and then he did something about it.
In this episode, we unpack how he turned a successful agency career into a mission-driven movementâbuilding purpose-led businesses, launching a global volunteer initiative, and writing books that challenge how we think about impact.Todayâs featured guest always genuinely enjoyed agency lifeâsomething he quickly realized was the exception, not the norm. That realization led him to a mission: helping others discover greater meaning in their business journey. Whether itâs through his books, his leadership, or his venture that unites developers to build websites for nonprofits in just 24 hours, he is all about turning intention into action.
We have the pleasure of welcoming back Jeff Hilimire, the podcast's very first guest, nearly eleven years ago. He shares what drives him to help business owners build purpose-driven companies, why he started writing books, and how he carved his own path in the publishing world. Youâll also hear about his latest work with Purpose Group, his thoughts on operationalizing purpose, and how to lead with clarity through times of crisis.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Why he made it his mission to help entrepreneurs build purpose-driven businesses.
Using the concept of âDream Smallâ to build a network of volunteers to help non-profits.
How he embedded his books with his unique vision.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
From Joke Websites to Purpose-Driven Business EmpireJeff's journey in the agency world began with simple curiosity in 1996 when, as a college student, he built joke websites with a friend. Eventually, they figured if they made it a business, they could keep doing what they loved, which led to building several sites for free and a humble start with their first paying client, Jeffâs aunt, who paid them $250 to build her businessâ website.
Jeff has done a lot since being on the podcastâs first episode talking about that first agency. Heâs been founding, growing, and selling businesses over the last 25 years. He has also been a board member of several initiatives and written six books just since 2019.
His latest venture is the Purpose Group, where he and his team acquire and reinvigorate small businesses by training more inspired and engaged employees through their Purpose Playbookâą methodology â which is very much linked to the knowledge Jeff has been sharing through his books, teaching entrepreneurs to build purpose-driven businesses, and helping them find that same joy heâs always found in his different businesses.
Start with One: How Dreaming Small Can Change EverythingIn Jeffâs experience, many people never go after their dream projects because it feels too big and daunting to start. Instead, he believes itâs best to start small and give that first step. If your goal is to help people, then help at least one person.
This is the premise behind Jeffâs book Dream Small, which helped him grow his venture 48in48, an initiative born out of the idea of getting his team to help non-profits build websites. It would give them the satisfaction of helping someone while giving two selected non-profits a functional website in 48 hours. The plan gradually grew to include thousands of volunteers who offered time and expertise to help these non-profits for one weekend. Since developing this idea, Jeff has held 35 events with 7,500 volunteers around the world pitching in to help build 1,300 websites for non-profits. And while these numbers are great, he knows that had he started with that in mind, the project wouldâve probably never taken off. People needed to see it was possible at a small scale before committing to do more.
Tired of Boring Business Books? So Was JeffBack when Jeff wrote his first book, he wanted to bridge the gap between traditional business thinking and entrepreneurial mindset. Having repeatedly encountered CMOs who resisted innovation with claims that they "couldn't take that chance," Jeff wanted to share his conviction that business was all about taking risks.
Initially, he intended to deliver a straightforward business manual and approached the writing process as such. However, he has personally never enjoyed those books, which became apparent as he navigated through the content and found that the rigidity of a traditional format stifled his creativity. Hence, he tried a different approach and embraced storytellingâcreating characters and scenarios that embodied the entrepreneurial spirit. This is when Jeff found joy in the writing process and heâs continued developing stories within the same fictional universe.
Furthermore, after facing multiple rejections from traditional publishers, Jeff applied his risk-taking philosophy to launch his own small publishing house. Today, this venture works with approximately 25 authors and actively seeks innovative approaches to business storytelling.
Becoming a Better Leader by Setting a Purpose Beyond ProfitIn his case, Jeff started out as the programmer in his partnership and oversaw that aspect of his agencyâs operations for some time. The moment he hired someone else to help him with that task, he immediately recognized there were much better-qualified developers and that his own time would be better spent growing the agency.
In fact, he believes agency owners who have limited capacities and require help from the start can actually scale faster since they wonât get caught up working in the agency and can focus on growth. When founders recognize their limitations and delegate from the beginning, they avoid becoming trapped in day-to-day operations to focus exclusively on strategic growth opportunities.
Despite this operational insight, Jeff initially lacked a sophisticated vision beyond the vague goal of "eventually selling." It took time and experience for him to develop a more nuanced understanding of valuations and how different exit timings would affect the agency's ultimate value. His strategic thinking evolved only after navigating through multiple mergers and sales.
The most profound transformation in Jeff's approach came years into his business journey when he began thinking about purpose beyond profit. While he had always wanted to create a workplace where people enjoyed their work and developed professionally, he eventually expanded this intuition into a deliberate focus on organizational culture and consciously building values into the business foundation.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Are you doing great work but still feel like your agencyâs stuck in neutral? The truth is, talent alone doesnât scale a business. In this episode our guest, Stephen Woessnerâauthor, agency growth strategist, and founder of Predictive ROIâreveals why most agencies hit a ceiling... and how to break through with a smarter, more strategic approach.
From developing a true methodology to showing up with content that teaches, we dive into whatâs working now (and whatâs not) when it comes to agency growth, client expectations, and scaling with intention. If youâve ever relied a little too heavily on referrals, be unsure of your niche, or found yourself winging it without a real systemâthis one's for you. Tune in to learn how to enhance your agency's approach to attracting clients and scaling your business!
Stephen Woessner is the founder of Predictive ROI, an agency that helps clients build predictable and repeatable ROI so they can focus on doing the work they love alongside clients they choose. With over 30 years of experience, including a six-year stint in academia, Stephen discusses whatâs working right now to get more leads, why getting specific is vital for agencies, and why the journey to scaling your journey requires patience, as well as methodology.
Stephen also hosts the "Onward Nation" and "Sell with Authority" podcasts and is the bestselling author of five books, including his latest, âSell With Authority".
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Why you should be ridiculously specific.
Developing a true methodology to showcase your process.
How a softer approach can lead to bigger wins.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
The Power of Specificity (and Content That Teaches)Stephen has had a long career in the agency world, starting thirty years ago, before ROI was a thing, and working alongside agencies and consultants â teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve. He worked six-years in academia while also sharing his knowledge in his first books on Viral Social Networking and SEO. The expertise shared in these books got him requests to work as a consultant for different businesses, which led to him starting his own agency in 2009.
At his agency, Stephen commonly works with agencies and consultants that are going about sales and new business development in the least effective, most painful way possible. In fifteen years, heâs seen a lot in the business and now brings his own perspective on whatâs currently working in the agency space.
According to him, success comes from being ridiculously specificâabout who you serve, what you offer, and how you market it. Itâs not about flashy gimmicks or one-size-fits-all strategies. Agencies that clearly communicate their expertise and share their knowledge generously (even for free!) are the ones building long-term trust.
With the many AI tools available for marketers nowadays, there just isnât a valid excuse for not putting your own content out there to attract clients with valuable tips that show your expertise. These should be small, actionable pieces that solve real problems. That kind of generosity leads to high-quality leads who already trust you by the time they reach out.
While the tools might not be polished yet, they show just how easy it is now to create content and show up consistently. The key is that agencies need to be intentional, have a point of view, know their clientsâ real pain points and speak to them clearly.
Raise the Bar or Get Left BehindTodayâs clients are smart. Theyâre looking for specialized, strategic partnersânot generalists who throw spaghetti at the wall. Agencies that develop a true methodology, a real system for delivering results, stand out. Itâs not just about the workâitâs about the process behind it.
Simply put, a solid methodology builds trust. It shows prospects that you know what youâre doing and that youâve done it before. And yes, it's a big part of what makes an agency sellable down the road.
If youâre familiar with games like âAge of Empires,â the process of building your methodology will be a lot like starting scrappy in the stone ageâjust you, maybe a freelancer or two. But as you gather resources (aka leads, a team, and tools) and build systems (onboarding, sales, and delivery processes), you level up. The methodology evolves as you growâand mastering each stage is what gets you to the next one.
The path to growth requires structure, clarity, and an intentional approach. If youâre still winging it with no repeatable system in place it might be time to rethink the game plan.
How a Softer Approach Can Lead to Bigger WinsOther than a methodology, the journey to the top will also require patience. Scaling an agency is rarely instantaneous and each stage of development comes with its own challenges and learning experiences.
Agencies at various levels of growth face unique challenges, and the aspiration to leap from a level two to level thirty-sevenâis just unrealistic. You need to experience the wins and losses that truly gives you the expertise to sustain growth and learn to appreciate that theyâve prepared you for the next challenges and goals.
Jason was actually confronted with this lesson while preparing for his latest event, which although did eventually sell out, but did so much more slowly than he wouldâve liked. In the end, the team made the decision to stop being pushy about promoting the event and instead try to be more inviting.
A pushy attitude will likely be met with resistance. Instead, a gentle nudge or an invitation to explore creates a sense of curiosity and openness. By reframing the conversation from one of pressure to one of invitation, he was able to build trust and rapport. People are more likely to engage when they feel they have the autonomy to make choices without feeling coerced.
This is the same principle that drives successful business generation. Instead of being pushy, make sure youâre sharing case studies, insights, or even hosting webinars that allow prospects to learn and engage with the agency's expertise. Trust that youâre offering great value that resonates with the target audience, encouraging your audience to lean in and explore further, rather than overwhelming them with hard sells.
Creating Content That Draws the Right Clients InSo what is the type of content agencies should be creating to get prospects to lean in? The first thing that may make you feel like youâre screaming into the void is trying to attract just any client who can sign a check.
Successful companies have shown that focusing on a select group of high-performing clients can lead to tremendous success. This does not mean that if you start to work with plumbers youâll have to work with that niche in perpetuity. A niche can also be a specific problem you solve or an area you serve, not just an industry.
When you focus on "right fit" clients, you'll attract people you genuinely enjoy working with who choose to stay with your business long-term. When agency owners narrow their focus, they can tailor their offerings to meet the unique needs of their chosen niche. This not only enhances the quality of service but also simplifies the content creation process. Once the target audience is identified, agencies can generate relevant and engaging content that addresses the specific problems and pain points of their clients.
At this point, you can focus on sharing content that makes a lasting impression. By providing valuable information upfront, youâll no doubt capture the attention of potential clients and build credibility.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Iâve been paying an agency to run our Meta ads and for some time Meta itself has been reaching out to take over the account. Let that sink in. The same platform your agency relies on is actively trying to cut you out of the picture.
The worst part? This is just one example of a much bigger shift. Big tech is building tools that create entire campaignsâcopy, design, video, testingâwithout a human in sight. Your strategist? Replaced. Designer? Replaced. Copywriter? Gone.
I get it. Itâs a hard pill to swallow, but it isnât necessarily the end of agencies. Itâs just the end of the ones that built their model on tasks.
So whatâs the future for agencies?
Agencies Built on Tasks Are Already Obsolete
Letâs get real: if youâre still selling deliverables, your agencyâs already falling behind. What AI canât replicate is leadership. At the end of the day clients want results and direction. Smart agencies are not selling tasks anymore. They're selling thinking.
Hereâs how theyâre staying ahead:
1. Productize the Thinking, Not the TaskMost agencies sell what they do â SEO, ad management â Clients donât care that you ârun Facebook ads.â They want results. Instead of saying âWe run ads for local businesses,â say
âWe help local gyms get 100 leads in 30 days with a proven 3-step system.â
You just went from vendor to strategic partner that sell a system that scales. Productizing your thinking means turning your knowledge into a framework.
When you package your thinking and your strategy as something like âThe 30-Day Lead Domination Systemâ or âThe 5-Step Authority Engineâ your expertise becomes a product. Thatâs what scales.
2. Sell Speed and CertaintySpeed is an agency superpower. Most clients arenât losing to competitorsâtheyâre drowning in indecision. They donât need more optionsâthey need momentum.
So skip the six-week strategy plan. Instead of saying âWeâll optimize your funnel,â offer quick wins:
âWeâll launch your highest-converting offer by Friday.â
Certainty is what closes deals. Clarity is what makes them stick.
3. Own Your NicheGeneric is dead. The riches are still in the niches. Solve a very specific problem for a very specific group of people. The more specific your promise, the more profitable your agency will become.
4. Use AIâBut Donât Compete With ItDonât just talk about AIâimplement it. Show your clients how to use AI to streamline workflows, automate leads, and improve reporting. Become the AI Sherpa, not the tool.
If youâre not guiding your clients through AI, someone else will.
5. Build Client CommunityWant to be irreplaceable? Connect your clients to each other.
Host virtual meetups. Build a mastermind. Facilitate introductions. Create spaces for idea-sharing. AI will never replace real human connectionâand your clients are craving it.
Weâve seen this firsthand with the agency mastermind: community is the real secret weapon.
6. Be the Guide, Not the GunExecution is cheap. Clarity is priceless.
AI will never replace someone who can build leads. Be the one who filters the noise. Be the coach. Once you step into that role, I can promise you your value will skyrocket.
So, Did Zuck Kill the Agency Model? Not Even Close.
He didnât kill itâhe evolved it. The agencies that lead, think, and adapt will be the ones that thrive. Those that keep selling tasks will get replaced.
Agency MastermindStill feel like youâre winging it? You're not alone. Most agency owners hit a plateau because they're stuck in the business, buried in decisions, and disconnected from people who get it. The agencies killing it and scaling faster found out they needed to be in the right room. Go to https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-mastery and get access to a community of agency owners sharing their data, deals, strategies, and mindset shifts.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
AI isnât coming for your agencyâitâs already here. And if you havenât set clear guidelines for how your team (and your clients) engage with it, youâre already behind. In this episode, one agency founder shares how he went from AI skeptic to strategic adopterârewriting his workflows, client communications, and pricing strategy to future-proof his business.
Join us as we explore how to move beyond simply offering AI-enhanced servicesâand start leveraging AI to boost profitability, streamline operations, and establish your agency as a leader in this new era.
Paolo Vidali is the founder of Hidden Gears, an agency specializing in e-commerce and Shopify. With over a decade of experience in design, development, and digital marketing, Paolo shares his journey into agency ownership and discusses the challenges and rewards of building a small, distributed team across the US and Europe, as well as the factors that are informing his evolving policies on AI use.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Why expertise will still set you apart in the era of AI.
How Paolo went from AI skeptic to viewing it as mission-critical.
How you can change your agencyâs game by integrating AI into your operations.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
Making a Low-Risk Jump to EntrepreneurshipPaolo sees his road to owning an agency as accidental, in the sense that it was never the plan to do it full time. Initially working for a digital marketing agency focused on B2B and lead generation, he began freelancing on the side. A couple of years into this, however, he realized the work he was doing on the nights and weekends was scalable and something he could ultimately grow.
Back then, the jump to entrepreneurship seemed like a move he could realistically make without risking much of the low-cost lifestyle he led at the time. If anything went wrong, heâd just go back to working for an agency. He ended up building a successful organization he has intentionally kept small to maintain the close client relationships and team cohesion that have become hallmarks of his business model.
How AI Went from âMaybeâ to Mission-CriticalAfter being in the world of e-commerce for over a decade, Paolo has witnessed firsthand the evolution of digital marketing and the rise of platforms like Shopify. And although he initially didnât believe the AI hype, it soon became apparent that the landscape was shifting dramatically. It was time to establish policies that dictated how staff and contractors would interact with this technology, so the agency would always be involved in how they experimented with it.
The team's approach to AI evolved in two parallel tracks: externally, they carefully calibrated AI integration based on individual client preferences, while internally conducting tests to identify operational efficiencies.
Years later, what Paolo originally envisioned as merely a future service offering has instead become fundamental to the agency's internal operations, with AI tools now dramatically reducing time spent on previously labor-intensive tasks like content creation, customer support, and data analysis.
Why Expertise Will Still Set You Apart & How This Can Affect Your PricingPredictably, one of the concerns around AI as its usage spread was around agencies becoming obsolete. In reality, Paolo can clearly see the difference between his team using AI, with many hours dedicated to understanding the technology and using it effectively, and any random person using the same tools. Now the challenge becomes how much value to place on that knowledge when it comes to their overall prices.
Should they charge based on the time saved through automation, or should they consider the expertise required to generate quality outputs? Much like Paoloâs mother can still out-Google him thanks to her deep understanding of information retrieval as a librarian, professionals in the field now possess the knowledge to input data effectively and assess the quality of the results produced by AI.
This is why agencies should be charging on a value-based model instead of hourly rates. The technology certainly aids in finishing the tasks a lot sooner, but itâs the agencyâs knowledge of the tools that helps complete the task efficiently.
ChatGPT Changed the GameâNow Agencies Have to Raise TheirsPaolo's team is conducting systematic A/B testing to evaluate AI's potential impact on their agency workflows, quantifying time savings and process optimizations to determine where technology genuinely enhances value.
To foster innovation while maintaining control, Paolo encourages staff to explore diverse AI tools during personal time and share promising discoveries, while implementing strict data protection protocols. Client information can only be processed in secure, isolated environments that prevent data from being incorporated into learning models, which led to his specific ban on Deepseek.
AI has already found practical applications throughout the agency. Paolo personally leverages it for copywriting and proposal refinement, appreciating how it enhances professionalism and improves success rates. His team is also using AI for drafting content, something clients are notified about and an area where they are aware the AI results will still need to be fact-checked and revised. In his view, the use of AI has to be justified as being something that adds to the process to save time, cut costs, and improve results, rather than simply being a crutch.
Overall, Paolo does think that the way people now shop for and consider content services and content marketing has forever been changed. Heâs already seen a decline in companiesâ investment in SEO, since clients feel thereâs no need if they can just ask ChatGPT to write that content. Despite this shift, he remains confident that agency expertise produces superior results. The challenge facing agency owners now is strategic adaptationâintegrating AI capabilities while demonstrating their distinctive value in an evolving digital landscape.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Is remote agency life really the dream? While many chase the freedom of working from anywhere, the reality is far more complex. In this episode, Lisa Larson-Kelley shares how she built a high-performing remote teamâwithout sacrificing culture, communication, or control.
Todayâs featured guest decided long ago that she prefers the remote option and shares what really makes remote work actually succeed. For her, it comes down to two crucial elements:
Creating a solid structure for clear communication and aligned goals
Hiring people who thrive in self-led, remote environments
Tune in to hear how she built these systems into her agencyâand how she still prioritizes meaningful, in-person connection to strengthen team culture.
Lisa Larson-Kelley is the CEO and founder of Quantious, a marketing enablement agency specializing in B2B tech companies. Her agency has worked with some of the biggest tech companies in the world, starting with Adobe and building relationships that would later take them to work with Google and Meta. Currently, sheâs looking forward to leveraging this experience working with big companies to create lasting relationships with smaller startups and mid-market companies as well.
She talks about the challenges and benefits of running a remote agency, how she finds talent suited for remote work, and how implementing EOS in her agency operations improved her businessâ structure, communications, and employees accountability.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
How EOS gives structure and accountability.
The traits she looks for when hiring remote talent
How she keeps team culture strong with in-person retreats
Why remote work isnât âeasierââbut can be better with the right systems.
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Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
A Pivot Fueled by AdversityLisa began her professional journey as a developer, then transitioned to freelance consulting. Seeing she had a knack for explaining technical processes, she took some writing courses and expanded her abilities into content writing. Lisaâs freelance work soon attracted several major tech companies.
The growing demand for her services prompted her to hire her first intern through Craigslist, initially viewing this expansion as an extension of her freelance business. However, when her husband fell seriously ill, Lisa's need to provide financial stability for her family motivated her to formalize and grow her operation into a proper agency. What had started as individual consulting work had evolved into a full-fledged business born of both opportunity and necessity.
Why Lisaâs Agency Thrives RemotelyâAnd How Yours Can TooSince founding her agency, Lisa has maintained a primarily remote operation. She did try to run the team from an office a little before Covid restrictions came to send everyone home again, but was finding it tedious, with common complaints about peopleâs choice of food or annoying habits. It seemed as though petty distractions disappeared once they returned to remote work.
As the owner of a remote agency, Lisa admits this modality isnât easierâitâs just a different kind of hard. To truly succeed, agency owners who want a remote team must take care to carefully choose people suited for this type of work. Some people really do need the presence of someone keeping them accountable. These people find that on-site work provides them a sense of structure and that the interaction with teammates helps improve their performance.
Lisa looks for workers who are able to self-manage and are results-oriented. Her team always has access to managers through Slack, of course, but they mostly prefer to manage their work and their time to better fit their lifestyles. Remote teams can leverage technology to enhance collaboration and communication, using tools like video conferencing, project management software, and instant messaging platforms allow team members to work together seamlessly, regardless of their geographical location.
Assessing Candidatesâ Adaptability to Remote WorkNot everyone is suited for remote work, so after assessing a candidateâs suitability for the role based on their skills and experience, Lisa also looks to identify whether or not they are suited to work in this modality. If you have struggled finding workers who thrive in a remote setting, try to use assessments and structured interview questions to gauge a candidate's suitability. For instance, asking about their strategies for maintaining accountability can reveal much about their potential success in a remote setting.
Furthermore, candidates who have previously navigated remote roles often have the skills and mindset necessary to thrive in similar environments. This experience can translate into a more seamless integration into a remote team, as these individuals are likely already familiar with the challenges and best practices associated with this working style.
How EOS Can Transform Your Remote Agency OperationsThe Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) has helped many agencies create the sense of structure that some remote teams may be missing. In it, every worker has their goals, so they know what theyâre working towards, as well the agencyâs goals for the quarter, so everyone can grow in the same direction.
It wasnât immediately easy or intuitive for Lisa to implement EOS into her agency processes. She read the book and tried to self-implement it unsuccessfully. It wasnât until she was introduced to an implementer who could help her with the process and keep her accountable that she felt she was on the right path with this system.
With expert guidance, structured meetings became the cornerstone of Lisa's agency operations. These non-negotiable, regularly scheduled sessions ensure team alignment and individual accountability. Using Ninety software, Lisa's team conducts highly organized meetings with clear agendas and built-in timers that keep discussions focused on measurable outcomes and actionable tasks. This systematic approach eliminates wasted time while fostering a culture where team members understand their specific responsibilities.
This framework helps Lisa establish high-level objectives aligned with her agency's vision, then break these down into manageable steps by working backward from desired outcomes. For instance, if an agency aims to achieve $20 million in top-line revenue and $10 million in net profit, how does this cascade down to individual team members? This clear linkage between daily activities and long-term objectives helps create a culture of accountability and proactive engagement.
Structuring Professional Growth in Remote AgenciesPart of the changes introduced with the use of EOS was establishing clear pathways for employee growth, something that employees themselves asked for. While tenure still influences senior positions, the agency's COO developed a three-stage framework that provides visual clarity for professional development.
Seed: Your ground-level tasks for any particular role.
Blossom: Demonstrating confident competence and Independence in that role.
Bloom: Preparing for advancement to the next position.
Interestingly, this framework is not necessarily linear recognizing that personal circumstances may cause employees to move between stages. If an employee shifts from "Blossom" back to "Seed," management initiates supportive conversations to discuss their situation and explore potential paths forward based on the employee's choices.
This is an important initiative that all agency owners hoping to scale their agency should consider as it forces you to think about ways to scale your team and locate the leaders that will help take the pressure off you as you start to delegate responsibility to them. Furthermore, youâll be taking action to help your team take ownership of their roles, thus increasing retention as you motivate individuals who could get frustrated if they donât see growth opportunities.
How In-Person Retreats Build Camaraderie in a Distributed WorkforceRunning a remote agency takes a lot of organization, structure, and also an appreciation for in-person connection. Lisa understands that while tech keeps teams connected, it canât replace the depth of real, in-person connection.. Hence, to encourage team bonding, she organizes a team retreat, that most recently took the team to Puerto Rico, for a few days of team building activities, but mostly to just be together in the same space.
This is a great lesson for agency owners who want to run a remote agency. Building camaraderie through in-person connections will also have practical implications for agency growth. In-person retreats and gatherings can serve as platforms for discussing career aspirations, setting goals, and mapping out pathways for professional growth, as well as fostering stronger relationships, enhanced communication, and a more cohesive work environment.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
What if scaling your agency didnât mean more stress, but less? Discover how Devon Hayes and Amanda Joyce turned partnership into freedomâand how you can, too. If youâre an agency owner ready to stop grinding and start growing, this episode is for you.
These two entrepreneurs joined forces as partners specifically to navigate this growth journey togetherâand witnessed how this strategic decision created the growth, impact, and freedom they had always envisioned. Tune in to discover their realization that scaling represented not an additional burden but rather the crucial shift from merely sustaining their businesses to expanding them intentionally and the ongoing challenges they continue to face as they adapt to this exciting new chapter in their entrepreneurial journey.
Devon Hayes and Amanda Joyce arenât just agency ownersâtheyâre proof that collaboration can unlock freedom. With deep experience in PR, construction, and financial services, they share the lessons they learned the hard wayâso you donât have to.
They are co-founders of Elevation Marketing, a company specializing in the home services niche, including roofing, custom home building, and plumbing. They share their journey of coming together after running their own agencies and what inspired them to start their first businesses.
Additionally, theyâll share what drove them to choosing their current niche and the lessons theyâre still learning about building their client pipeline and going beyond being referral-based.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Joining forces to unlock freedom.
Finding the winning niche.
Why scaling is worth the fear.
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Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
Joining Forces to go From Solo Struggles to Shared SuccessBefore meeting, Devon and Amanda were forging separate paths as agency owners, both yearning for greater freedom and support in their professional lives.
Devon worked some time doing marketing for companies in engineering and construction and moved on to the financial industry thinking the bigger paycheck would be enough to make her happy. However, just nine months later she felt like a prisoner of the corporate world, while her husband â a business owner â enjoy the flexibility to pursue passions like snowboarding. Inspired by his freedom, she leveraged her corporate contacts and industry knowledge to launch her own business, determined to reclaim control of her time.
For her part, Amanda started working for an agency right out of college. Armed with a degree in PR and journalism and zero knowledge about the digital marketing world, she quickly developed expertise and built her own client relationships. As her confidence grew, she realized she didn't want the constraints of office-based work. Since it was the early 2000s, the thought of working remote was unimaginable and something she would have to pursue on her own. Finally, she started her own small niche agency in 2007.
Of course, both women soon discovered that entrepreneurship wasn't the straightforward path to freedom they'd envisioned. Their businesses brought stress, sleepless nights, and the weighty responsibility of delivering results for clients. The service-based nature of their work meant constantly seeking ways to improve outcomes, often making it difficult to maintain focus amid competing priorities.
When Devon and Amanda finally joined forces in 2019, they brought together the valuable lessons each had learned about the industry and business ownershipâcreating a partnership built on shared experience and complementary strengths.
A Collaboration to Unlock Freedom and Have a Higher ImpactEven before joining forces, Devon and Amanda were working together in several projects and found they complemented each other very well. In fact, Amanda felt their projects together were the ones causing her less stress. While working with Devon meant she had someone covering for her while she was on vacation, for instance, the clients from projects she was handling by herself wanted her attention 24/7.
Both women had achieved a level of success that allowed them to pay their bills and maintain a comfortable lifestyle but realized that to truly thrive, they needed to shift their focus from merely sustaining their businesses to scaling them.
More than just a desire for more revenue they understood the benefits that would come from collaboration. Wearing multiple hats and managing every aspect of their businesses was unsustainable. Instead, merging their strengths and resources, would allow them to create a more efficient operation that allowed them to focus on their core competencies.
Furthermore, Amanda liked the idea of having someone to discuss her ideas with, something she missed from her days of corporate work and that can be invaluable for agency owners who constantly feel isolated and burdened by their responsibilities.
The Pivot that Paid Off: Finding Their Winning NicheEven though Devon and Amanda initially targeted the roofing industry, they quickly lost focus and found themselves working with an eclectic mix of clients across dog training, cannabis, IT, and other unrelated sectors. This scattered approach, while diverse, undermined their ability to establish a distinctive brand identity.
Thankfully, they later found their footing through their engagement with the Breakthrough Academy, a contractor coaching group. By connecting with contractors in various trades, including electricians and landscapers, they discovered a niche that aligned with their strengths and expertise. Soon they were delivering exceptional results for clients in plumbing, electrical, and landscaping businesses and â even though they hesitated to make it official â they had a niche.
Furthermore, coming together proved to be the best decision once they realized that the home services market was saturated with subpar providers, and hence scaling their business was also an opportunity to reach a broader audience and amplify their message as credible thought leaders. This mission directly inspired their podcast as a platform to spread their message and positively impact an industry often plagued by questionable practices.
The next challenge they face is expanding beyond referral-based growth to develop a sustainable client acquisition pipeline.
Why Scaling Your Agency Is Worth the FearAlthough Devon and Amanda ultimately decided to scale their business to reach a wider audience, many agency owners initially resist growth, fearing it will only increase their workload and responsibilities.
While expanding and managing a larger team may seem daunting, the ability to focus on the aspects you love while delegating tasks that others could handle more effectively proves tremendously rewarding.
Amanda, for instance, was excited to find people who excelled in areas where she struggled and empowering them to thrive. Once she did, she was able to delegate all the content creation work she had been handling and focus her time on different areas.
This is a step that agency owners will get to enjoy not only when they find the right talent but specifically when they find self-managing professionals who take ownership of their work. Itâs a move that will take you to a remarkable milestone âthe moment when new clients are successfully onboarded without requiring any involvement from the founder.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
How are you adapting to the many changes in the industry and economy? For many agency owners this is a golden era for the business. Of course, not everyone will thriveâsuccess depends largely on your ability to adapt.
In this episode learn how our guest has mastered adaptation through several economic downturns over the years, emerging from each crisis as a more prepared and confident leader. Today, he shares the pivotal moments when his agency could have joined countless others in closing their doors, but instead discovered pathways to emerge stronger than ever.
Tune in to learn how he navigated each crisis, how embracing remote work has enhanced nearly every aspect of his agency's culture and operations, and why he firmly believes that despiteâor perhaps because ofâtoday's challenges, there has never been a better time to be in the agency business.
Dan Kahn is the founder of Kahn Media, an integrated marketing agency specializing in automotive and luxury brands. He shares insights into his journey in the marketing world, starting with public relations and evolving into a diverse agency model.
Dan also looks back at the different ways he handles times of economic downturns in his agency, and how his leadership was shaped by these times of turmoil. Additionally, he introduces his newer venture, TRED, an outdoor recreation-focused agency emphasizing experiential marketing.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
3 ways to weather economic downturns.
Learning to be a better leader for a remote team.
Focus on the media, not the message.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
Sometimes Bigger Clients Doesnât Equate to Big SuccessDan grew up watching his father weather the volatile nature of business ownership and promised himself he'd never subject himself to such instability. However, his passion for automobiles guided him along a path from automotive journalism to PR work, and ultimately to founding his own agency.
Hence, his entrepreneurial journey began with a strong foundation in the automotive industry, where he built a solid reputation working with notable clients like Lotus and Maserati, and handling high-profile events such as the SEMA automotive trade show. However, his ability to adapt was truly put to the test during the pandemic.
When the world came to a standstill in 2020, many businesses found themselves grappling with significant revenue declines and uncertainty about the future and his agency was no exception. Dan found that while most of his corporate clients were pulling back, smaller clients like Lotus were easier to innovate with and willing to test new approaches.
This is how he came up with the idea of handling car delivery services directly to journalists. With automotive press fleets locked down and journalists confined to their homes, Dan and his team were gaining lots of attention with this stunt, to the point that they achieved greater media exposure than larger competitors like Porsche.
3 Ways to Face Times of Economic Crisis 1. Grow stronger as a leaderAccording to Dan, he was a different type of leader back when he faced his first economic downturn in 2013 and, as a result, defaulted to putting everything on his shoulders. Having experienced consistent 50% growth for several years, he felt the agency was doing well enough and he could lay back on doing new business development.
Unfortunately, this decision coincided with some critical financial decisions. They had relocate to a more expensive town while taking on higher office rent and lost two big clients in one week.
His world came crushing down, he burned through his savings, and it took a lot to get through that situation. With no delegation strategy in place, Dan shouldered the entire burden of recovery himself. His dreams of reducing his workload vanished as he struggled to lead the team through this crisis. While the agency eventually recovered and emerged stronger than before, the experience took a toll on his health.
2. Innovate and pivot quicklyWhen the global shutdown of 2020 threatened Dan's agency with another economic disasterâparticularly since events accounted for 30% of their revenue were canceled in rapid succession, Dan found himself in a better position to face the situation this time.
He had a good leadership team, excellent client relationships and the agency was overall better prepared to figure out how to stay afloat during lockdowns.
Rather than shouldering the burden individually, Dan and his leadership team collaborated closely with clients to develop innovative alternatives and pivoted quickly to create virtual experiences that maintained audience engagement despite physical restrictions.
3. Execute the highest levels of serviceFinally, the agencyâs latest critical moment happened last year, during economic shifts that hit many industries. Clients were pulling back on expenses as Dan had just launched a second agency, which requires a huge amount of capital. In part, it was the result of normal economic cycles during an election year but Dan admits it was also the result of poor planning on his part.
After spending much of 2023 investing the first agencyâs profits into the launch of the second agency, it hit him in December that clientsâ annual contract renewals werenât going as smoothly as heâd hope. He started to see just how bad Q1 of 2024 could be if he didnât course correct.
Once again, he relied on his team, who were tasked with continuing to execute at the highest level while he focused on business development. He also started focusing more on growing existing clients, after years with a laser focus on new business development, and invested some of his own savings into pulling the agency back up.
Dan was also honest about the agencyâs situation with some key clients, who agreed to pay the year in full with a discount. Finally he put a heavy focus on delivering the best customer experience â aiming to become undeniable â following the teachings of Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara. The team all read the book and were instructed to apply those principles with each client.
The result? Q1 was still a mess but things turned up by Q2 and by the end of the year they had record revenue and profits.
Choosing Results Over ProximityLike many agencies, Danâs business runs most operations on remote, with only five to six team members coming into the office on a regular basis and some coming in once or twice a week. Although this shift does make it harder to get everyone on the same page and focused on the same target â and it does make training harder â, Dan admits itâs better in almost every other aspect.
Most critically, the remote structure grants access to an elite talent poolâa priority Dan values far above physical proximity. Whether team members work part-time from Alaska or elsewhere, his focus is on results rather than location.
With a leadership philosophy that has changed from micromanaging to inspiring, he understands you need to trust your team to work remote. This comes after a lot of personal development work as he learned to listen more effectively and improve as a leader by taking guidance from his own team. This then led to identifying some necessary changes in the agencyâs culture, including replacing senior staff members who lacked leadership qualities. Now, instead of managing his team and overworking himself, he takes the time to enjoy his life.
Finally, coaching and therapy have also help Dan open his eyes to the importance of diverse personality types within a leadership team. While he used to expect his team to tackle any situation exactly as he would, he now appreciates that this kind of mindset can lead to chaos in the team. Instead, varied perspectives in decision-making processes can lead to much better results.
Why this is a Great Time to be an Agency OwnerWith traditional media on its deathbed, Dan believes this is actually the golden age for agency business, positioning communication professionals at the forefront of media evolution. He sees this as the optimal moment to launch podcasts and establish dominance in emerging media channels.
Not everyone will adapt to these changes, and some agencies are struggling because of this. However, if you can adapt and make the best of this unbelievable moment in time with innovations like AI and much more freedom to be creative and innovative, you stand poised to thrive.
Furthermore, nowadays people are much more willing to work with smaller agencies, relieving agency owners from the expectations of having a huge team or a fancy office. Instead, you get to focus on the ideas and building the best team possible with people from all over the world, which makes it a great time to be in this business.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Do you feel stuck in your agency journey? Are you trying to figure out the next step to grow? Donât know what you donât know but you DO know something is holding you back? These can be hard questions to figure out when you feel you have little to no support to help you identify areas of improvement and make necessary changes. This featured guest felt her agency was doing well with their defined niche, and capabilities. However, something was missing â as an owner, she felt isolated. This all changed when she joined an agency owner community where she could openly share her doubts and struggles while receiving actionable feedback and support.
This pivotal decision transformed not only how she operated her business but also accelerated her personal development as a leader. Discover her experience building a business, the defining moment when she first identified as a true entrepreneur, and the two critical pivots that marked significant milestones in her agency's growth trajectory.
Jennifer McPherson is the owner of Chickenango Marketing Solutions, a specialized marketing agency focusing on public involvement and marketing for engineering, construction, oil and gas utility clients. She shares her journey from spending 27 years in marketing roles within engineering firms to launching her own agency seven years ago.
She discusses the motivation behind her transition and the challenges of building a business from the ground up. Jennifer reflects on the moment she realized her agency had truly become a real business and why the mastermind community has meant so much in the growth and self-improvement sheâs experienced in recent years.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Community as the solution to agency owner isolation.
Stop relying on project-based work.
Finding fulfillment in the agency journey.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
The Leap from Corporate Marketing to Agency FounderJennifer spent most of her career working on marketing roles within engineering firms, taking the step to venture on her own just seven years ago. Feeling a need for a change in direction, she set out to create an agency that would focus more on the engineering, construction, and oil & gas niche.
Building her business, Jennifer quickly discovered that agency ownership extended far beyond simply practicing her marketing expertise independently. It demanded she master numerous aspects of running a company and navigate countless unexpected challenges. Despite these hurdles, she didn't fully perceive her venture as a legitimate business until she began hiring employees. Suddenly, her agency was no longer just a personal side hustle but an enterprise supporting other people's livelihoods, adding a profound layer of responsibility to her role as founder.
2 Pivots That Changed the Agencyâs Growth TrajectoryIn the years following her agency's launch, Jennifer achieved notable success and growth. Despite her professional achievement, she felt increasingly isolated in her role as an agency owner. Without connections to peers facing similar challenges, she lacked a support network of individuals who truly understood her unique experiences. Looking back, two important shifts got her out of that place:
Community. Discovering Agency Mastery was a complete game changer for Jennifer. (This isnât just a shameless plug â but if not us, then find your people!) In addition to being the support she needed, this agency owner community also completely changed the way she ran her agency. With the mastermindâs support, she went from figuring things out on her own to hiring a Chief Operating Officer, implementing efficient systems, and shifting her focus from being an operator to a true leader. The community also helped Jennifer get over the need to compare her success to others. The inherently competitive nature of the agency world often fosters unhealthy comparisons based on incomplete information about others' successes. Through her mastermind involvement, Jennifer gained insight into fellow owners' challenges, recognizing most face similar obstacles. Sheâs also learned that community, a laser focus, and the right systems are the only things that will help you get by during rough patches.
Predictable Cash Flow. Another pivotal moment was restructuring her business model to reduce dependency on project-based work. Her agency's focus on public involvement had previously meant operating on a project-by-project basis, a very difficult model to sustain since youâre always choosing a next project and not building recurring revenue. With this pivot, her agency can now focus more on growth and building a pipeline to secure recurring revenue. This way, she is finally stepping out of being in the business to working on the business and focusing on its future. She is able to see that the future of her agency is beyond just her involvement.
Finding Fulfillment in the Agency JourneyEntrepreneurs often become fixated on end goalsâwhether itâs selling a business, achieving financial independence, or reaching a certain level of market dominance. However, to make your business journey a truly fulfilling one, youâll need to do more.
The journey of entrepreneurship is not just about hard work and determination. Luck and having the right team and community all play a role in what you enjoy doing and what you come to know as your agencyâs success. Many agency owners may feel frustrated by the daily grind and dream of selling their agency to feel free, but come to miss team work and sense of accomplishment after selling. Recognizing that the journey involves both struggle and triumph allows entrepreneurs to appreciate their efforts and find value in the process.
In her experience, Jennifer loves the relationship building and connections as much as she loves winning. This is why she has come to define success as a journey is rich with learning opportunities, personal growth, and meaningful connections that contribute to a fulfilling entrepreneurial life.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Have you ever turned to freelancers to grow your agencyâs capabilities? What about using fractional support once you realized you couldnât do everything as the founder and face of the agency? What if the key to sustainable growth isnât building a massive in-house team, but leveraging the right fractional support at the right time?
Todayâs guests are two agency owners who turned a modest freelance setup into a thriving multimillion-dollar businessâlargely through referrals and the strength of their personal networks. They share how a flexible team of contractors became their secret weapon, offering the agility to scale without the overhead of a traditional agency structure. Tune in to learn how former competitors found a way to build a successful collaboration and why fractional support was a big part of their operation from the start.
Sydney Mulligan and Lauren Aquilino are the co-founders of Emmie Collective, a for-hire network of elite independent & freelance marketing, sales, and revops consultants with big tech energy. They share their journey of entrepreneurship, reflect on their backgrounds as former competitors in the marketing industry, and the bond that brought them together.
Sydney also recounts her experience of being laid off while on maternity leave, which sparked the idea for Emmie Collective while Lauren discusses her transition from freelancing to building a business as demand for her services grew.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Why the fractional model was the best option for bootstrapping an agency.
When should the agency owners stop being the face of the agency?
External funding vs. control in agency growth.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
When Competitors Become Co-FoundersBefore forming their partnership, Sydney and Lauren worked at competing agencies while also participating in Marketo's customer champion program. Their paths diverged when both eventually left their respective agenciesâLauren to pursue freelance work, initially planning for just 10 hours weekly during summer to rest after quitting her job. However, her freelance business quickly expanded beyond expectations, growing to 20 hours weekly and requiring additional contractor support.
Meanwhile, Sydney had taken an in-house position but faced an unexpected setback when she was laid off during her maternity leave. As she navigated the job interview process, she began conversations with Lauren, who was contemplating transforming her freelance operation into a formal business. Lauren recognized Sydney as a valuable potential partnerâin fact, the only person she would consider building a business with.
After discussing their business vision, they decided it was time to meet face-to-face. Their first in-person meeting in Florida became what they jokingly refer to as their "speed dating" session. During this three-day encounter, they exchanged ideas and developed business plans while Sydney cared for her six-week-old baby. The meeting proved decisiveâby the time they both landed back home, they had confirmed their mutual desire to build an agency together.
Why the Fractional Model Is Best for Bootstraping an AgencyTheir participation in the customer champion program helped Sydney and Lauren establish strong reputations within a specialized niche market. With this foundation, they were able to launch their agency business with a strong base of referral clients.
One unexpected advantage they discovered was the relative ease of attracting consultants eager to work with their new agency. Anticipating potential staffing challenges typical for startups, they had proactively designed their business model around freelancers and contractors. This strategy allowed them to sidestep the common industry pressure of requiring employees to meet specific billable hour quotas. Instead, freelancers had the flexibility to determine their own workload and schedules.
To this day they continue to work with consultants, firmly believing that fractional support provides clients with optimal access to senior specialized expertise. By leveraging fractional experts, their agency effectively addresses specific client challenges, enhances operational efficiency, and frees internal resources to focus on strategic growth initiatives.
When Should the Founders Stop Being the Face of the Agency? Balancing Growth and Client RelationshipsSydney and Lauren's agency growth eventually confronted them with the challenge of hitting the limit on what they could do by themselves. With the agency growing, more and more clients and consultants coming in, and traveling for events, it just got to be too much.
Sydney recalls a particularly stressful period when she felt overwhelmed, unable to keep track of their growing client base and the myriad responsibilities that came with it. They recognized they could no longer manage everything alone. When an agency owner clings to control it causes issues with bottlenecking, even become an operational issue and their agencyâs biggest profit leak.
For Sydney and Lauren, was time for a change and the first crucial step was hiring a fractional account manager to ensure there was someone else keeping track of every client. This not only alleviated some of the burdens on Sydney but also allowed them to focus on strategic growth rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day operations.
Itâs not an easy shift to make, and quite tricky for Sydney and Lauren, who built the agency on the back of their own networks and therefore are still the face of it. They continue to wrestle with how much to pull back, risking that clients feel they no longer interact with them.
For those facing similar challenges, it's worth noting that even prominent agency leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk maintain their status as organizational figureheads while having minimal involvement in daily operations. This successful transition typically requires thoroughly training team members in core agency values to ensure consistent decision-making and actively promoting team capabilities to clientsâemphasizing that a dedicated team provides superior service compared to founder-only support.
External Funding vs. Control in Agency GrowthAfter bootstrapping their business, Sydney and Lauren now face the question of whether or not to take on funding to continue to scale. While they recognize the potential advantages that investment capital could bringâaccelerated expansion and resources for recruiting top talentâthey also remain cautious about the significant tradeoffs involved.
Most of all, they worry about the fundamental shift from being independent business owners to essentially working for investors since "once you start raising money, you'll always be raising money"âwith a continuous cycle of accountability to external stakeholders.
For the time being, they continue to prioritize maintaining complete control over their growth trajectory, preferring the stability and autonomy of their current approach even if it means potentially slower expansion.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Do you have a sales system in place for showcasing your agencies services at a low-cost price point that creates an easy âyesâ for your prospects? Many agencies are giving away insights in order to land big projects. However, a well-crafted foot-in-the-door offer helps you close clients faster by giving them a taste of what itâs like to work with your agency, but also allows you to qualify whether a prospect is the right fit for your agency and team.
Todayâs featured guest shares how productizing his offer helped streamline his sales process and communicate a clear value proposition. Furthermore, after building his strategic foot-in-the-door offer, heâs been testing different pricing models to make it an easy âyesâ for prospects while still attracting high-quality clients.
Discover practical insights on scaling your agency, improving your sales strategy, and boosting conversion rates with intentional, value-driven offers.
Spencer Powell is the founder of Builder Funnel, a digital marketing agency with roots in direct mail. He shares his journey transforming his family's direct mail business into a digital marketing powerhouse, discusses strategies for converting clients faster and easier, and talks about his recent experience building a foot in the door offer, which he is currently in the process of adapting and testing.
Spencer has been on the show before talking about the game-changing move to get paid for strategy instead of giving away ideas and research for free.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
How a productized offer can revolutionize conversions.
Building a successful foot-in-the-door offer.
How could rethinking the entry-level pricing benefit sales?
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
Three Generations of Marketing Evolution and AdaptabilitySpencer's marketing roots run deep as part of a family legacy. His grandfather established a direct mail company that his father later acquired in the 1990s. Demonstrating entrepreneurial spirit early on, Spencer launched his own social media business as a side hustle immediately after college.
The family business reached a turning point when Spencer's father attended an industry event where he heard direct mail was becoming obsolete. Recognizing the need to evolve, he invited Spencer to help transition the agency into the digital era. Together, they developed the agencyâs brand, realizing that having a niche would be an important to create a competitive advantage. This new direction proved so promising that they eventually sold off the direct mail division to concentrate fully on growing their digital brand. As the final step in this transformation, Spencer ultimately purchased his father's ownership stake and continued driving the business forward.
How a Productized Offer Revolutionized Conversion RatesLike many agency owners, Spencer allowed himself to be in the sales seat for far too long, with an offer that included building custom proposals for all incoming prospects â a time-consuming process with unpredictable returns.
The first step out of this was productizing his offer, which led to the creation of the "Remodeler Marketing Blueprint," a fixed-fee service providing clients with comprehensive one-year marketing strategies. This productized approach served dual purposes: it systematized the sales process while establishing a clear value proposition. Clients were offered to either implement the strategies independently using provided resources or hire the agency for full execution.
By doing so, his agency not only streamlined their sales process but also established a clear value proposition and the agency's conversion rates soared from 15% to 70%. Despite this success, a one-year marketing plan was still a huge undertaking and there was opportunity to develop an even more accessible entry-level offering that could serve as a true foot-in-the-door product.
3-Step Agency Sales System to Build a Foot-In-The-DoorPer Jasonâs suggestion, Spencer and his team borrowed the structure to build a foot in the door strategy and set up a discovery call â ranging from 15-30 minutes â which they use to assess if the prospect is a good fit, in the right industry, and are asking for services that the agency offers.
If this discovery call is a success, the team will move on to selling a marketing framework call, a $497 call where they do an exhaustive run through of their website, look into their SEO and ads, and walk them through their Attract, Convert, and Measure framework. At the end of the call, the client will either take what theyâve learned and implement it themselves, move on to the next step of working with his agency, or ask for their money back.
The framework was a success, with 35.5% of those who participated in the framework call converted into clients last year. Jason emphasized that the initial discovery call should evaluate whether prospects would be good long-term agency partners rather than just qualifying them for the framework call. Following this advice, Spencer encourages his sales team to book as many calls as possible, to get the practice they need to start discerning which prospects would actually move ahead to work with the agency and which never intended to get beyond that call.
Implementing these steps was a real game changer for Spencer, who can now continually tweak, update, and improve it by recording the sales calls and review them with the team to highlight successes and room for improvement.
All in all, the structure of an offering ladder will make it easier for the prospect, the sales team, and overall for the agency to offer value and better qualify clients.
Rethinking Entry-Level PricingNow, Spencer is in the process of reviewing his agencyâs foot-in-the-door pricing, by lowering it from the current $497 to around $197. Why charge less? Spencer finds that prospects often need to consult with higher-ups before committing to the current Price, which either slows down the process or could be the end of that interaction. However, these sorts of instances could indicate theyâre not speaking with a decision-maker, which agencies ideally should be when it comes to selling a foot in the door.
For now, early results indicated a promising trend, with a notable increase in the number of scheduled calls and successful conversions. On one hand, this is a positive development, but it could also mean that the lower price point is also attracting prospects who are not the agencyâs ideal client.
The team is exploring different ways to frame this pricing adjustment, such as positioning it as a limited-time offer or explaining that while the agency barely breaks even at this price point, it serves to identify genuinely interested prospects. They're also careful to clarify that this special rate doesn't reflect their standard hourly billing, which is substantially higher.
Itâs something that Spencer will continue to evaluate with his team. If the lower price helps them acquire more clients monthly, it may prove beneficial in the short term and something they can revise in a couple of months looking, for instance, at client retention and how those relationships ultimately played out.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
How often and effectively do you communicate with clients? What strategies are you implementing to build trust and develop lasting relationships to retain good clients? We all have blind spots in business, and today's featured guest identified one of the most significant ones for business owners is client communication and how messages succeed or fail to get through effectively.
Heâll share his journey of starting a business with the mission of helping business owners identify and repair communication gaps with clients to forge stronger relationships and discuss how he found his niche. He'll also address common communication blind spots that undermine client relationships and emphasize why agency owners must remember that this is fundamentally a relationship businessâone where building connections should precede any sales pitch. Join us for insights into marketing, communication, and the importance of addressing blind spots in both business and life.
Tim Riddle is the founder of Discover Blind Spots, a marketing agency that specializes in helping financial advisors uncover and address these blind spots in their marketing and messaging. He shares his journey into the marketing agency world, the origin of his agencyâs unique name, and how his exploration of blind spots in life led him to identify communication as a critical area where businesses often struggle.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Choosing a niche in solving their common blind spots.
2 key elements of client communication.
Letting clients have the spotlight to build trust.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesE2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.
Choosing a Niche and Solving their Common Blind SpotTim's agency name, Discover Blind Spots, originated from a book he had written years before contemplating entrepreneurship. In "Blind Spots: What You Don't See Can Hurt You," he explored various cognitive and perceptual gaps people commonly experience. During his research, he found one theme kept coming up: communication failures.
With entrepreneurial insight, Tim recognized this widespread communication gap as a potential business opportunity. He launched his venture with an ambitious vision of transforming business owners' careers through improved communication. Despite starting with no clients and no immediate prospects, he couldnât let go of the idea without at least trying.
Initially, he started by offering his services for free asking only for positive reviews, aiming to build credibility and visibility. However, the true turning point came unexpectedly during a conversation with a friend who was a financial advisor.
During their conversation, Tim inquired about his friend's client relationship management approach and got the typical answer of meeting with them for lunch every once in a while. When Tim learned his friend had approximately 300 clients but had only arranged a handful of lunches that year, he saw an opportunity to fill that communicational gap and offered a tailored solution that included creating content, both video and written that would reflect the advisor's voice and perspective, to authentically communicate and engage with his clients.
It was a risk to pivot his focus towards financial advisors, a sector he had not originally planned to target, but it was this very risk that led to the establishment of a successful niche for his agency.
Transitioning to Premium Pricing Based on ValueWhile that was his first introduction to what would become his niche going forward, it did not immediately translate into paid work. The relationship with this financial advisor served as a crucial stepping stone rather than a direct revenue source. That milestone came later, as Timâs friend introduced him and recommended him to more potential clients and his opportunities in the sector grew.
Once he saw the opportunity to monetize his services, Tim started by charging a modest $500 per project, a common approach among agency owners. Finally, once he landed his first big client, he was asked to come up with a monthly fee and upgraded to charging $5,000 per month. It was a shift to a value-based pricing model most agency owners take too long to adopt and a starting point to truly start scaling the agency.
2 Key Elements of Top-Notch Client CommunicationWe've all experienced customer service that starts strong during the sales process but deteriorates once the purchase is complete. Poor follow-up communication leaves clients with unanswered questions about their purchase, casting a negative shadow over the entire experience.
Responsiveness: Tim believes silence is the enemy in client relationships. He says there's never a good reason to allow communication gaps that make clients question the relationship. Likewise, he warns against applying a transactional mindset to a relationship-driven business. This only serves to frustrate clients and lead to missed opportunities. Being responsive doesn't mean having immediate answers or dropping everything to find them. Often, a simple acknowledgment that you don't have the information yet but are working to get it promptly can significantly reassure clients.
Adaptability: Another key aspect of Tim's approach is identifying each client's preferred communication channel early in the relationship. People have different preferencesâsome avoid phone calls and find emails to be less intrusive while others prefer them as a quicker way to solve an issue. By adapting to the client's preferred mode of communication, agencies can save considerable time and stress.
Interestingly, if you're attentive, clients often reveal their communication preferences through their behavior without you having to ask directly. For instance, if a client rarely responds to emails but answers calls promptly, they likely prefer handling matters quickly by phone. Taking the extra effort to communicate in a style that resonates with each client leads to faster resolutions and more productive partnerships.
Allowing Clients to Have the Spotlight Leads to Trust & Effective CommunicationTim's efforts to adapt to clients have extended beyond just communication channels to improve the overall client experience, particularly during initial meetings. Traditionally, he would schedule two-hour sessions packed with questions, aiming to leave with a comprehensive 90-day action plan.
More recently, however, he began to start the meeting by asking the client âtell me a little about yourselfâ. This can lead to a 5-minute summary or a 30-minute account of their businessâ history but Tim finds letting the client feel heard helps out them at ease and leads to smoother more amicable meetings.
As an expert, you might quickly identify solutions to a client's problems within minutes of meeting them. However, rushing to provide answers won't help establish the trust necessary for a successful partnership. Building that sense of safety requires patienceâsitting back and truly listening as clients share what they believe is essential information. This approach enables them to feel confident that you have a complete understanding of their situation before developing an action plan.
People have a fundamental desire to be understood. By creating space for clients to share their stories and experiences, businesses can cultivate meaningful trust and rapport that serve as the bedrock for successful long-term relationships.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
What truly makes clients choose one agency over another? What are the essential qualities that elevate an agency from service provider to trusted partner? Today's featured guest brings a rare 360-degree perspective to these crucial questions.
As a fractional CMO with extensive experience on both sides of the relationship, our guest provides unique insights into the dynamics of successful agency-client partnerships. Tune in for actionable insights that will help agencies strengthen their client relationships, refine their service approach, and position themselves as indispensable strategic partners.
Alex Hultgren is a seasoned fractional CMO with extensive experience in both client and agency roles. He shares his journey through the marketing landscape, from starting at Ford Motor Company and leading marketing efforts at Polaris to transitioning to agency life at Hayworth and later starting his own business. Alex discusses the expectations that brands have when working with agencies, what he used to look for in an ideal agency partner, and the reason he kept his business boutique and has chose to work with contractors.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Learning to forge deep agency partnerships in corporate marketing.
Elements of effective agency relationships.
Why he chose to prioritize autonomy over growth.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio and discover how Wix Studio can transform your workflow, boost profits, and strengthen client relationships.
Forging Deep Agency Partnerships in Corporate MarketingAlexâs professional trajectory spanned both corporate and agency environments before culminating in entrepreneurship. He started his career working at Ford Motor Company, as part of their marketing leadership program for fourteen years, and then running marketing for Victory Motorcycle as part of Polaris. He then went on to work on the agency side as one of the three leads of Walmartâs media accounts at Hayworth. In 2021 he decided to take all that experience to build his own business.
During his time at Ford, Alex only ever worked with one agency team, the team at JTW. Although large corporations normally have many agencies working at different projects at a time, Ford preferred to maintain an exclusive agency partnership and, even when digital marketing started to be an important part of their strategy, they only used other agencies as contractors for limited periods.
On one hand, this meant there werenât many options if he didnât like the work, other than asking them to go back to the drawing board. On the other hand, it also meant they formed a deeply integrated partnership, as they were more of an extension of his team than merely external service providers.
By contrast, at Polaris he had a fraction of the budget but found himself coordinating multiple specialized agencies handling different aspects of the business, which proved to be considerable demanding. However, in both cases he always saw agencies as partners and part of his team.
The Foundation of Effective Agency PartnershipsIn choosing agencies, one of the major problems Alex encountered was agencies that promised they could deliver on something when they clearly couldnât. For him, it came down to
Could they be trusted to do the work?
Did they know what they were doing?
Most clients are looking for agencies that can alleviate their burdens by providing solutions without requiring micromanagement. Hence, an ideal agency partner should be able to take a problem, devise a solution, and communicate progress effectively.
However, trust is not enough when communication is lacking and one of the major hurdles Alex faced working on the client side was getting enough clarity from the company on what they wanted from the agency. To bridge this gap, agencies must take the initiative to foster open lines of communication. This includes asking the right questions to extract meaningful feedback from clients and internal stakeholders.
Finally, Alex also believes an agency should be able to take calculated risks because innovative ideas can sometimes face resistance from traditional corporate structures. The ability to push through skepticism and advocate for creative solutions is a testament to the trust that exists within a strong agency-client relationship. To address this client skepticism about design or content choices, Alex suggests AB testing the material and see how customers behave. This approach shifts the conversation from subjective preferences to measurable customer behaviorâthe ultimate metric for evaluating marketing effectiveness.
Prioritizing Autonomy Over GrowthEven after successfully scaling his agency, Alex made a deliberate choice to maintain a lean operation, preferring to collaborate with contractors rather than building a traditional team structure. To him, the more traditional style seemed like an option that would take away the flexibility and freedom he hoped to obtain by building his business. Right now, he has the ultimate authority regarding what work and clients he takes on, and itâs not something he would give up.
While operating as a small agency might seem limiting, Alex is part of a group that provides him with extensive capabilities without sacrificing independence. This federationâcalled the Chameleon Collective, is comprised of 40-50 fractional executives (CMOs, CROs, and CTOs) alongside approximately ninety specialized marketing experts and enables a modular approach to team building.
This model also addresses a problem that plagues big organizations: meeting waste. From his time working at Ford Alex remembers the frustration of back-to-back meetings that yield little value. He sees a need to reevaluate the purpose of meetings, advocating for a shift away from status updates that could be conveyed via email to more focused discussions aimed at problem-solving, as well as scheduling 15-minute meetings instead of defaulting to longer time blocks and empowering team members to opt out of meetings that do not pertain to their roles.
Ultimately, Alex has prioritized an agency model that prioritizes effectiveness, strategic alignment, and adaptabilityâvalues that directly contrast with the rigid structures he experienced in his corporate career.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Are you still relying on basic ChatGPT prompts while your competitors create intelligent systems that work for them around the clock? The gap between basic AI users and strategic implementers is widening rapidlyâand it could determine which agencies thrive in the coming years.
Today's featured guest leads the pack for this AI revolution. Through systematic implementation of advanced automation solutions, she drove an impressive 20% productivity increase across her agency's operations. By strategically integrating AI technologies throughout their processes, she's transformed her agency's capabilities and efficiency. Additionally, sheâs now also helping businesses achieve these same results. Join us as we explore the exciting opportunities AI presents for businesses today and learn about her most successful tool: AI agents.
We welcome back Khushbu Doshi, COO of E2M Solutions, a white label agency partner where she focuses on driving more business and creating a world-class experience for their agency community to help them grow and reach their goals.
With over eight years of experience and having worked with more than 500 agencies, Khushbu dives into her recent journey exploring AI, including a significant productivity boost of 20% through automation. She also talks about AI agents, explaining how they differ from simply using tools like ChatGPT, and highlights their potential to streamline processes and enhance efficiency for agencies.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
Why agents are the next step in AI usage in agencies.
AI-powered onboarding.
Ideas to expand AI application.
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
The Next Evolution of AI for Agencies: From Prompt Engineering to AI AgentsMost people think of AI innovation as learning to use ChatGPT and asking the right questions to get the most effective answers. While prompt engineering certainly has value, it represents only the beginning of AI's potential for agency operations. The next evolutionâAI agentsâoffers significantly more sophisticated capabilities that can transform agency workflows.
Agents are a more specialized application of artificial intelligence designed to perform specific tasks based on user-defined parameters. How is this relevant for agencies? Unlike general-purpose AI tools, which provide responses based on a broad range of inputs, AI agents can be customized to understand and execute particular functions. They can be trained to understand particular clients, recall campaign histories, apply agency-specific methodologies, and operate within defined strategic frameworks.
This means that agency teams now have the ability to develop custom AI agents trained to operate according to specific requirements. The resulting tool works much better compared to just a conversation with ChatGPT.
AI-Powered Employee OnboardingFor agency owners interested in exploring AI agents, the process is remarkably accessible. Starting on the ChatGPT platform, users can simply select "create," name their agent, and begin training it with relevant information like branding guidelines, past success stories, and common client challenges.
In her case, Khushbu also uses AI agents for onboarding new new team members dreading the prospect of reading through extensive standard operating procedure (SOP) documents. However, itâs still a vital part of their training, so Khushbu thought of updating the process and making it more dynamic by training an agent to be an SOP expert. She fed it all the SOPs and instructed it to answer only the questions asked to it without searching the internet. This way, the SOPs are the agentâs knowledge base, never defaulting to the web for answers.
After implementing this system, Khushbu conducted a comparative test by providing new team members with both traditional SOP documentation and access to the AI agent.
The new team members were fascinated by the idea of not having to go to a supervisor with their questions and maybe feeling inadequate. Instead, they can ask as many questions as they like without feeling judged. This efficiency not only saves time but also allows team members to focus on more strategic tasks rather than getting bogged down in repetitive information retrieval.
Expanding AI Agent Applications in Agency Operations Quality Assurance AutomationAI agents also excel in quality testing and following precise procedures consistently. You can program an agent to follow detailed checklists, ensuring that all necessary steps in a process are completed efficiently, thereby saving time and resources while maintaining high standards.
Khushbu suggests implementing a fallback strategy for comprehensive quality assessment. When an agent encounters limitations in its testing capability, it should clearly document:
Which items it successfully evaluated
Which items it couldn't assess
Specific reasons for any testing limitations
This strategy delivers substantial efficiency gains even when complete automation isn't possible. If the agent can only check 300 out of a list of 500 points, it has still reduced the amount of work for the assigned employee to do by 200 points.
Creating an AI Agency Within Your AgencyFurthermore, you can program agents to work a specific role within your team and have several agents to communicate with each other. In this sense, you can build an AI social media team, with a CMO, strategist, tester, etc, and automate 90% of the marketing process.
With AI agents generating ideas, testing concepts, producing initial drafts, and evaluating performance metrics, the human team can then focus on selecting optimal approaches, refining creative elements, and adding the distinctive perspective that differentiates the agency's work.
Competitive Intelligence AutomationFinally, itâs also a great way to automate the research needed in your particular industry. If you want to know what your competitors are up to, just program an agent to do that research for you and present a summary of the campaigns theyâre running and youâll be saving a lot of time.
A Wake-Up Call for AI-Reluctant AgenciesRight now it seems every day there are new ways to integrate AI into your agency services and it can be as exciting as it can be overwhelming. Just remember that this technology has the potential to make your life easier in many ways, and thatâs how it should be used.
As organizations explore the potential of AI tools, try to remain open-minded and proactive in seeking out innovative solutions. Khushbu encourages listeners to look beyond the mainstream offerings and discover the myriad of tools that can enhance their operations. By doing so, they can position themselves at the forefront of technological advancements and operational efficiency.
Refusing to use AI nowadays would be like refusing to use the internet back in the late 90s. The technology is already here so thereâs no going back; Itâs only a matter of whether or not youâre willing to adapt and not be left behind.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training
Is SEO still a viable service offering? If youâre an SEO agency, are you at risk for extinction? With AI taking over many industries at the moment, itâs no wonder people are asking if itâs rise means the death of SEO. Todayâs featured guest is an SEO expert that found her path into the industry after discovering her passion for tech. She discusses how AI is reshaping the SEO industry â not eliminating it, but transforming its execution and potential. The fundamental principles that have always driven search engine optimization continue to matter, though their implementation evolves alongside technological advancement. Tune in to gain insights into how forward-thinking businesses are adapting their SEO strategies to thrive in this new environment, and gain practical insights for navigating this shifting digital terrain.
Lindsay Halsey is the owner of Pathfinder SEO an agency that helps clients grow their recurring revenue by getting the system, tools, and training to add SEO services to their agency. She reflects on the early days of SEO, reminisces about outdated practices, and talks about why the rise of artificial intelligence and âalternative search enginesâ does not mean you should stop investing in SEO.
In this episode, weâll discuss:
3 core principles of SEO that havenât changed.
Did AI kill SEO?
SubscribeApple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Sponsors and ResourcesWix: Todayâs episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Wix Studio, the all-in-one platform designed to help agencies scale without the headaches. With intuitive tools, robust native business solutions, and low maintenance, Wix Studio lets your team focus on what matters mostâdelivering exceptional value to your clients. Ready to take your agency to the next level? Visit wix.com/studio an
Turning a Love of Digital Technology into an SEO AgencyIn the early days of SEO, when tactics like hiding keywords in same-colored backgrounds were still common practice, Lindsay was finding her footing in a vastly different field working as a ski patroller and mountain guide.
Her dramatic career shift came through a HTML and CSS course at her local community college that developed a consuming passion for technology. As she devoted increasingly more time to computer work, her hobby naturally transitioned into a professional opportunity, leading to her first position as an SEO account manager at a local agency.
After gaining valuable experience during her two-year tenure at the agency, Lindsay took the entrepreneurial leap. Partnering with a colleague and securing their first client, she launched her own business. In retrospect, she knows their initial pricing structure was too conservativeâoffering SEO and Google Ads services for merely $500. Despite this undervaluation, sheâs proud of having prioritized recurring revenue from the start, a lesson she took from her years at the previous agency. Unlike project-based work, which often creates financial unpredictability, a subscription model provides the stable financial foundation necessary for strategic planning and sustainable growth.
Within the first year of launching their agency, they managed to generate enough recurring revenue to pay themselves salaries that surpassed what they earned in their previous jobs, which was an important victory that helped cement their belief in the business.
3 Core Principles of SEO in 2025:The principles of SEO have undergone significant transformations over the 15 years that Lindsay has been in the space. At its core, however, the values that guide the industry remain and now Google has gotten better as measuring and rewarding them:
User experience. You need to have a well-built and secure website that is easy to use and has good design.
Genuine experience and expertise. No more getting away with lame content that just repeats keywords.
External validation. There have to be external signals that validate a brand's expertise. This includes back links from reputable websites, positive Google reviews, and the establishment of authority figures within the organization.
Did AI Kill SEO?The conversation around Search Engine Optimization often oscillates between optimism and skepticism. Lately, it has focused on AI and why its rise means that SEO is dead. Indeed, the rise of AI has also meant a rise of âalternative search enginesâ. Basically, this means that people are starting to move to ask ChatGPT questions they would have previously asked the Google search engine.
The answers provided by AI are rapidly improving, and users will see both advantages and disadvantages in queries answered by AI and answered by Google.
For her part, Lindsay has been seeing this fear surge every couple of years in the industry and isnât worried about the inevitable questions of âshould I invest in SEO? Will it even be around?â Her answer continues to be a resounding YES. There might be some changes and some trends, but thereâs still value of ranking in Google and so it will continue to be a part of a businessâs long-term strategy.
Of course, as owner of an SEO agency, Lindsay continues to monitor this rise of alternative search engines and assess where they fall into the industry. It could very well be that theyâll be part of the strategy moving forward. For now, her agency continues to help clients navigate that transition by creating content that helps them rank in all searches.
Ultimately, SEO is adapting to new technologies and user behaviors, and by understanding and leveraging user behavior, businesses can enhance their SEO efforts, leading to greater visibility and success in the digital marketplace.
Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.
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