The Digital Agency Show | Helping Agency Owners Transform Their Business Mindset to Increase Prices, Work Less, and Grow Prof

In this final episode of the Digital Agency Show, host Brent Weaver gets interviewed by UGURUS Lead Mentor, Jennifer Buzza. They talk about the shutdown of UGURUS after 12 great years, lessons learned from the business and recording 375+ episodes, and much more. Tune in for this Brent's final thoughts on a great run.

Michael Knorr is the CEO of That! Company, a white-label digital marketing agency that has helped over 700 agencies scale their businesses by providing SEO, PPC, and digital marketing services under their clients' brands. With nearly two decades of experience, Michael has built a business model that allows agency owners to grow without getting bogged down in execution—freeing them up to focus on strategy, client relationships, and revenue growth.

John Horn is the CEO of StubGroup, a digital advertising agency specializing in expert PPC management for businesses of all sizes. Since joining the company as employee number one, John has helped StubGroup grow into a leading boutique agency, managing over 15,000 campaigns and generating more than 3 million leads and $400 million in revenue for clients.

In this episode, Chris dives into the psychology of motivation and how understanding what drives people can transform the way agencies close deals, lead teams, and shape company culture. He explains how the M Code Assessment helps businesses tailor their sales approach to match different motivation types and why traditional hiring practices often overlook high-potential talent.

Rai Cornell is the CEO and strategic marketing consultant at Cornell Content Marketing, where she helps B2B businesses build long-term demand generation strategies. With over 17 years in the industry, Rai has evolved her agency to focus on psychology-driven marketing, helping clients attract emotionally engaged buyers while moving away from short-term, manipulative tactics. Her approach emphasizes building trust, authority, and sustainability through organic marketing strategies.

Fletcher Wimbush is the CEO of Discover.ai, a company dedicated to revolutionizing hiring processes through innovative AI-driven tools and systems. With over a decade of experience in talent acquisition, Fletcher has helped businesses streamline recruitment and build high-performing teams. His Fact-Driven Hiring System ensures leaders make better decisions, reduce turnover, and create long-term success.

Max DesMarais is a digital marketing expert and leader at Vital Design, a full-service digital marketing and design agency. With a team of 100 employees and over 100 active clients, Max specializes in SEO, content strategy, and paid media. Vital Design has grown into a powerhouse agency, catering to industries like higher education, e-commerce, and manufacturing. Max has built his own website to attract 120,000 monthly visitors and helped dozens of clients achieve exceptional ROI from digital marketing efforts.

Courtney Tarrant is the COO and co-owner of The Ad Girls, a boutique Facebook and Instagram advertising agency that has generated over $40 million in revenue for their clients. With a focus on empowering female entrepreneurs, Courtney's messaging-first methodology has helped countless brands create meaningful connections with their audiences while maintaining impressive 35-40% profit margins.

James P. Friel is the CEO of FG Ventures, where he advises and invests in seven-figure businesses to help them scale to eight figures and beyond. A business thought leader and former Global Head of Digital Strategy at HSBC Bank, James has built multiple seven-figure companies and worked with CEOs and executives from Fortune 500 companies to startups, helping them optimize profits and achieve scalable growth.

Marcel Petitpas is the CEO and co-founder of Parakeeto, a company dedicated to helping agencies measure and improve profitability by streamlining operations and reporting systems. Over the years, Marcel has worked with hundreds of agencies worldwide, enabling them to focus on the right metrics to achieve profitability without relying heavily on financial data or accounting professionals. Marcel is also the host of the Agency Profit Podcast and a sought-after speaker in the industry.

Zach Boyette is the founder of Galactic Fed, a growth marketing agency with 120 employees spread across 20 countries. Over the past six years, Zach has scaled Galactic Fed into a global powerhouse, driving hundreds of millions in revenue for clients while embracing a fully remote team structure. Previously, Zach worked at Google, Procter & Gamble, and various startups, gaining a deep understanding of digital marketing. A full-time digital nomad, Zach's approach combines innovative processes, a focus on team culture, and a commitment to operational excellence.

Davey Jones is the CEO of Formalytics, the company behind Bdow (formerly Sumo), a popular lead generation tool that helps businesses grow their email lists through optimized pop-ups and forms. Davey is also the co-founder of Davey & Krista, a branding and website design agency that has helped countless businesses establish impactful brands. With a background in both agency ownership and SaaS, Davey shares his unique insights into building businesses, scaling software, and transitioning from service-based work to product-driven success.

Aurelio Volle is the CEO and founder of WP Umbrella, an all-in-one solution for managing multiple WordPress websites. Since launching the company just two and a half years ago, Aurelio has scaled WP Umbrella into a tool that serves over 3,000 web agencies worldwide, helping them streamline productivity and improve client communication. Prior to founding WP Umbrella, Aurelio worked with the European Union and holds a law degree. His unique journey into the WordPress ecosystem reflects his passion for building tools that remove pain points for users and empower agencies.

Pia Silva is the founder of No BS Agency Mastery, a program that teaches 1-2 person branding agencies how to scale to $30k months without needing employees. She's a TEDx speaker, host of the No BS Agency Podcast, and author of Badass Your Brand. Pia also runs her agency intensives, where she helps clients complete branding projects in just two days, focusing on delivering high value while keeping her schedule streamlined. Pia's approach enables small agencies to increase profitability, simplify processes, and create the freedom to enjoy their lives.

Tim is the Managing Director of Pronto Marketing, a website development and marketing agency that helps small businesses build, support and promote their WordPress websites. In his 14 years at Pronto, Tim has grown from an entry level position to executive leadership and now oversees all 90 plus team members spread across Southeast Asia and Central and South America. The front lines of customer service to high level strategy meetings, Tim has experienced all aspects of what it takes to run a successful agency.

Wences Garcia is the founder and CEO of MarketGoo, a company known for its white label SEO products aimed at web hosting providers. Recently, they launched Domain Intelligence, a solution that uses deep data insights to add value for their customers. Wences has been in the hosting and domain industry his entire career, and MarketGoo has been around for 12 years, working with 30 global partners, serving 300,000 end users, and offering solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Chris Martinez is the CEO and founder of Bloom Partners, a company that helps agencies scale by combining proven management consulting expertise with cutting-edge technology. Chris has grown his own company from zero to millions in revenue and has been recognized with a Stevie Award for Minority-Owned Business of the Year and a Silver Medal for Most Innovative Company under 100 employees.

Luke Maltby, founder of CoLab, has over 20 years of experience in design, marketing, and web development. From freelancing to running a successful remote agency, Luke has worked with brands like Estrella, Avon, Mini, and Volkswagen while helping other agencies expand their service offerings. His agency focuses on delivering flexible solutions and balancing professional success with personal priorities.

Jackie Bebenroth, a seasoned branding expert with over 20 years in the industry, has guided more than 80 brands, helping leaders uncover and evolve their true purpose. She uses smart branding decisions to require a clear objective perspective untethered from limiting emotions and perceptions. That's why she's developed a set of ‘Poductive Distancing' techniques that are designed to help leaders gain reliable insights and grow into the future with unwavering clarity and confidence.

Michael Delon serves business experts and thought leaders to help them create a book without writing a word. As a bestselling author and America's foremost authority on credibility marketing, he teaches business owners how to establish and market their credibility to gain more clients. Through his company, Paperback Expert, he helps clients become bestselling authors and set up profitable podcasts, using credibility marketing strategies to drive referrals and grow their revenue.

Asa Goldstein has spent a decade in the agency space as a brand strategist and creative director, facilitating teamwork through both client workshops and managing his own remote team. In his spare time, he's developed a love for D&D—Dungeons & Dragons. It was only a matter of time before his worlds collided, revealing the opportunity to leverage his popular hobby to achieve real business results by turning everyday teams into fearless, adventuring parties. Now, harnessing his team-building wisdom, agency-specific insights, and a dash of friendly charisma, Asa is helping other agency leaders find the magic in the remote transition.

Bet Hannon is the CEO of Accessicart, an agency dedicated to helping e-commerce and high-traffic websites ensure they are accessible to users with disabilities and meet compliance with standards like the ADA and the European Accessibility Act. Accessicart specializes in testing, consulting, and reporting alongside existing website teams to level up skills and educate regarding compliance.

Manish Dudharejia is the wizard behind E2M. With over 15 years of experience in the digital agency space, he has worked closely with experts in technology, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing. E2M helps digital agencies solve bandwidth problems through strategic white-label services. Ronak Patel built the web agency JD Softtech in both Boston and Ahmedabad, India, and realized he wanted to help other agencies grow. He assembled a team of highly qualified website developers and designers and launched UnlimitedWP, a white-label WordPress partner for growing agencies, which has now been acquired by E2M.

Skip Wilson began his career as a copywriter at 16 and has since become a pioneer in digital media. From shaping CNN's special projects to leading iHeartMedia's digital expansion, Skip has spent decades driving innovation in advertising. He is the founder of Draft Media Partners, where he champions innovation in advertising technology. His work has earned him accolades such as Most Intuitive Software Developer and Best Marketing Software Developer. Skip also hosts The Advertising Podcast, empowering marketers across the globe.

Tom is a no-nonsense, straight-talking veteran of the sales and marketing industry with 30 years of experience. He's the author of The Invisible Sale and is known for his love of stiff drinks, good debates, and his dedication to helping agencies grow strategically by turning conversations into customers.

Richard Jaggs is the founder and managing director of Resolution Design, a creative marketing agency based in the southwest of England. Established in 2007, Resolution Design has grown to specialize in helping small and medium-sized businesses transform their marketing efforts. Richard is also the founder of subzapp, a web-based product designed to help agencies manage and scale client subscriptions.

Andy Crestodina is the Co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, an award-winning digital agency based in Chicago. With 24 years of experience, Andy has guided over 1,000 businesses. He's authored "Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing" and has written hundreds of articles on content strategy, SEO, GA for AI, and visitor psychology.

Juliana Marulanda has 19 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses. She has served over 700 digital agencies with her business, ScaleTime, helping them create scalable systems. She has been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur. She helps up-level businesses into lean, mean, profitable machines. On average, her team creates ways to free up at least 30 hours per week for her clients so they can successfully run their businesses without the founders.

Zaid Ammari is a leading expert on data-driven digital marketing focusing on analytics and actionable insights from data. He is the founder of PPC Masterminds and helps businesses build and run profitable data-driven digital campaigns.

Jon MacDonald is the founder of The Good, a digital experience optimization firm that has achieved results for some of the largest online brands including Adobe, Nike, Xerox, The Economist, and much more. He's the author of three books on digital journey optimization and a frequent keynote speaker. He has been invited to share his expertise on important stages like Google, and Autodesk. He knows how to get website visitors to take action.

Cameron Herold is the mastermind behind the exponential growth of hundreds of companies. He has been an entrepreneur since his teens, with 14 employees by the time he was 21. By age 35, he had helped build two $100M+ businesses. By 42, he had grown 1-800-GOT-JUNK from $2 million to $106 million in just six years. He has authored four acclaimed books and is a renowned speaker.

Rand is the co-founder and CEO of the audience research software startup Spark Toro, He has dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his writing, videos, speaking, and his book Lost and Founder.

She is the co-founder of Workday Ninja, an operations and growth strategy expert specializing in AI and automation to enhance client efficiency. Her entrepreneurial success includes scaling her first business, a hybrid agency and software company, to eight figures and successfully selling it in 2018. She has been featured in Entrepreneur, HuffPost, and South by Southwest. As a three-time published author, she now advises agencies on optimizing operations through project management tools like Asana, ClickUp, and Monday, and on automating workflows.

For the past two decades, she has been helping people see the future. She's an expert on digital transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work. She is the author of six books, including The New York Times best seller, opened leadership and co-author of the critically acclaimed book, groundswell her latest book is The Best Seller the disruption mindset. She is the founder and senior fellow at altimeter, a disruptive analyst firm acquired in 2015, by profit, she has been named one of most creative people in business by Fast Company, and she's a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Tim Butler is a seasoned marketing professional with more than two decades of experience in sales, marketing, and consulting. He is the founder and CEO of Innovation Visual, a well-regarded marketing consultancy that has assisted clients across various sectors including manufacturing, technology, healthcare, consumer products, finance, and professional services since its inception in 2014. He has earned recognition from Google, which placed Innovation Visual among the top 30 digital agencies.

Christina Lenkowski is a forward-thinking podcast publicist and educator for entrepreneurs, speakers and authors looking to expand their credibility and go from “best-kept secret” to “go-to expert” in their industries through being a guest on other people's podcasts. In 2019, after 13 years working in the PR realm, Christina discovered what being a guest on podcasts did for her online-based business. Since then she's dedicated her work to helping other business owners, particularly women, see the same kind of results.

Jonathan Hinshaw is an integral part of the UGURUS business. He's mentored over 500 members, he owned a 7-figure agency called EBWAY, he's produced courses with us, and has also had a very successful sales career outside the agency space, selling over $750 million in products in the car and motorsports space. We're now happy to have him as part of the UGURUS team!

Corey Quinn is the former CMO of Scorpion and now a dedicated agency coach. Corey specializes in guiding agency founders to scale with vertical market specialization. At Scorpion, he played a pivotal role in growing the agency's revenue 8x in 5 years to a remarkable $150M. Corey is also the author of Anyone, Not Everyone, a comprehensive guide for agency founders looking to move beyond founder-led sales.

David Rodnitzky is the founder of Agentic Shift, a consulting firm that helps marketing agency founders through the mergers and acquisitions process. Prior to Agentic Shift, David founded 3Q Digital. He grew 3Q from one person in a coffee shop to more than 325 people in 11 offices, managing more than $2 billion of online media spend.

Nate Freedman is the CEO of Tech Pro Marketing, a leading marketing agency in the IT services space. He is also the co-founder of Creative IT Agency, the ONLY IT support and cybersecurity company specifically dedicated to helping digital agencies with their IT problems. He is also a UGURUS mentor and longtime member.

Hans Skillrud is the co-founder and VP of Termageddon, an auto-updating website policies solution created for agency owners and their clients. Termageddon has generated over 50,000 website policies for its customers, and their agency partner program has helped agencies around the world make more than $1,000,000 in combined annual recurring.

David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written five books, including his latest book titled, The Business of Expertise. Baker has advised over 900 firms, was the keynote speaker at conferences in 30 countries, and his work has been discussed in dozens of international publications. The New York Times referred to him as the “expert's expert”. He is also the co-host of the 2Bobs podcast.

Marama owns Oracle Tree, a digital agency in Australia. She has decades of business experience and has spent extensive time mentoring, including for UGURUS. Her recent best-selling book, Fixing Frankenstein, is available now. In this episode, we discuss how she's built a successful agency that fits HER lifestyle.

Aaron Wrixon has been shaping words into strategic narratives since the late 90s—and has been paid for writing well over 8 million words. That's the equivalent of more than 13 copies of War and Peace. He runs WRIXON, a copy, content, and digital marketing agency that has helped agencies and their clients grow in more than 120 industries throughout the English-speaking world. He's also written multiple best-selling books, including co-authoring Get Rich in the Deep End with Brent.

Dan Russell is the founder of Hama, a social network for the personal growth community. As the leader and gatekeeper of Hama, Dan helps organize experiences and content that help community members move forward in their personal growth journeys.

Melanie Spring is a Fairy Guidemother and leader of The Brilliant Rebellion. She works with humans who know they were made for more by giving them the tools to find the answers they already have and guiding them to live their best lives through their careers and businesses.

Natasha Golinsky is a custom web design and development agency owner with 20+ years of experience as an entrepreneur. Natasha is also a “Women of Influence Canada” 2-time nominee and mom of 3 who loves salsa dancing.

Reed Switzer is an entrepreneur and rising product leader in the financial technology space. He left the Wharton School of Business to build Hopscotch, a B2B payments platform focused on helping small businesses succeed. Prior to Hopscotch, Reed served as Director of Operations at a music streaming startup led by the former CFO of Combs Enterprises. This role helped hone his marketing, product, and operational skills; it also added to his firsthand experience managing vendor relationships and helped him to see critical gaps in the B2B payments market.

Manish Dudharejia is the wizard of E2M. He has over 15 years of experience in the Digital Agency space, working closely with lots of different people associated with technology, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing. E2M helps Digital agencies solve bandwidth problems with their strategic white-label services. They have a team of over 180+ vetted experts in WordPress, Shopify, SEO, Copywriting, and more. E2M is currently helping over 150 agencies across the US and other parts of the world to grow and scale their agency business with peace of mind.

Gavin McHale — Gavin's a success coach at the Early To Rise team. As a former hockey player, he followed all the rules. When he started personal training, he had big aspirations, just like his hockey career. As he tried to build his business, he realized that he was the one holding himself back from success. Through mindset work, Gavin was able to build a more sustainable and higher-paying business and start to see that success come to fruition.

Craig Ballantyne is the author of The Perfect Day Formula and The Perfect Week Formula, and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., GQ (with a story), Men's Health, and others. He started as a personal trainer and has evolved into a wildly successful entrepreneur across a myriad of industries. He's helping people with discipline and productivity, mindset, and many other things.