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Join me in this episode as I dive into the inspiring journey of Hannah Reese, the visionary founder of Flow Formulas. Discover how Hannah transformed her personal challenges with food allergies into a thriving business that revolutionizes sports nutrition. In this episode, Hannah shares her passion for cycling, the pivotal moments that led to the creation of Flow Formulas, and her commitment to sustainability and inclusivity. Whether you're an endurance athlete or simply curious about innovative entrepreneurship, this episode offers insights and motivation to fuel your own success. Tune in and be inspired by Hannah's story and how Flow Formulas can help you find your energy flow!

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you really implementing AI in your agency the right way? Adding a random tool just to say you “use AI” isn't the game changer many agency owners hope it will be. In fact, chasing shiny AI solutions can waste time, drain resources, and create tools your team never actually uses. Many agency leaders, especially those aiming to build a sellable business, assume any form of AI integration will automatically boost their agency's value. But today's featured guest strongly disagrees. He's seen firsthand how agencies fall into the trap of building solutions first and searching for problems later, a costly mistake that does more harm than good. Instead, he's here to share how to approach AI adoption strategically, in ways that actually stick and drive real results. Ken McLoud is the CEO of Laconic Technologies, a business that aims to help agencies figure out how to make AI actually useful. His specialty is finding high-leverage spots in your agency where AI can unlock growth without bloating your headcount. Ken helps owners avoid wasted tools and instead roll out AI that gives their teams real superpowers. In this episode we'll discuss: How agency owners are forcing AI integration the wrong way. When to use custom code. A case study of real world wins and misses. The future of AI in agencies. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Stop Forcing AI Where It Doesn't Belong Ken specializes in helping agency owners start to think strategically about AI. One of the first things he warns about is the “solution in search of a problem” trap. Too many agency owners decide, “We need to be using AI somewhere,” and then jam it into the wrong part of the business. That usually leads to tools that sound cool but don't move the needle, or worse, meet resistance from the very team that's supposed to use them. Instead, Ken suggests starting with the business itself. Are you demand-constrained (needing more leads) or supply-constrained (too much work, not enough capacity)? His litmus test is simple: if a fairy godmother doubled your clients overnight, would you cheer or panic? That answer tells you where the bottleneck really is, and that's the exact spot where AI should be applied. Case Study: Smarter Finance Insights with AskQuick.ai Ken worked to build AskQuick.ai with Nate Jenson, a fractional CFO who worked with tons of agencies. Nate had deep financial expertise but needed a way to scale his brain. Together, they built AskQuick.ai, a chatbot trained on Nate's own textbook of agency finance. The result was a tool that taps into a client's QuickBooks data to deliver specific insights, like spotting which clients are actually losing money. After a rebrand, he is now marketing the product as a simple, agency-friendly tool rather than a complex back-end. No-Code Tools vs. Custom Code: Where's the Breaking Point? Every agency owner has been tempted by tools like N8N, Zapier, or Make.com. According to Ken, these tools are perfect for simple workflows and stuff you could explain in one or two sentences. These tools are often pitched as something anyone with a computer and no experience ca n use, but once your automation starts piling up with dozens of nodes, things break constantly, and you spend more time fixing than benefiting. That's when it's smarter to build custom code. Ken compares it to driving stick shift: more control, less frustration, and often a way faster solution. AI As a Superpower Not a Replacement For Ken, the real promise of AI isn't replacing people, but rather upgrading them. He calls it “giving your team superpowers.” By offloading the repetitive, low-value work to AI, you free up your people to focus on strategy, creativity, and client impact. Instead of fearing AI, most teams welcome it. Nobody loves repetitive tasks, and when you use AI to clear that away, your staff gets to spend more time on what actually lights them up. Real-World Wins (and Misses) If you're wondering how some agencies are using AI right, Ken has seen quite a few examples. For instance, an Australian medical agency built a custom chatbot trained on years of proprietary medical content. The tool now helps their writers quickly draft accurate, technical marketing content; something that would have taken hours of research before. Huge win. On the other hand, this agency built a classic example of a solution in search of a problem. Basically, the owner wanted an elaborate folder system to organize AI chats. It sounded clever, but the writers never actually needed it. Why? Because new AI queries were faster than digging through folders. A perfect example of chasing a solution before identifying a real problem. The Future of AI in Agencies in Plain English Looking ahead, Ken sees AI becoming a tool to replace code and processes. Many things we used to hardwire with messy “if-this-then-that” logic can now be handled with prompts. That means non-technical agency owners can adjust systems in plain English instead of hiring a developer every time they need a change. These tools can make all the difference for agencies that get hundreds of deals come through every day and need a quick way to sort through the ones that can be most profitable from those that likely won't. In these cases speed is everything and AI can deliver in a way that human response cannot. However, Ken is also clear that not every problem should be handed to AI. High-value, low-risk areas, like grading prospects or filtering opportunities, are perfect testing grounds. Mission-critical, high-risk functions will probably still need human oversight for a while. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Most agencies don't make it 25 years but Bill Swanston's has. From surviving 9/11 to leading a 30-person team through COVID, Bill shares how Bosun (formerly Frederick Swanston) adapted, learned to love KPIs, empowered their team, and even pulled off a successful rebrand. His story proves you can survive the toughest agency seasons and come out stronger—if you track the right numbers, avoid “superclient” risk, and learn to truly let go. What You'll Learn Why resilience (not just growth hacks) is the real agency survival skill How ignoring KPIs almost cost the agency big—and how to avoid that mistake Why letting go of control is the only way to grow past founder-dependence What a rebrand really signals about an agency's maturity and leadership shift The hidden dangers of relying on a “superclient” Key Takeaways Keep overhead light in uncertain times—it gives you room to maneuver when crises hit. Track your KPIs like a client project: salaries as % of AGI, AGI per employee, revenue per client. Don't rely on a single client for survival—client concentration is a silent killer. Empower your team early—you can't scale if you're reviewing every deliverable yourself. Rebrands work when they reflect a cultural shift—not just a new logo. What does it really take to keep an agency alive through market crashes, pandemics, and the endless grind without burning out or losing your edge? Today's featured guest will unpack his journey from starting in a basement with a couple of clients to leading a 30-person team through some of the toughest seasons an agency can face. From navigating financial blind spots to learning how to actually let go and trust his team, and the reason the agency's 25th anniversary actually marked a big shift with a new rebrand. Bill Swanston is the president and founder of Bosun, an Atlanta-based agency that just celebrated its 25th anniversary. Formerly known as Frederick Swanston, the agency has weathered market crashes, client shakeups, and a pandemic while building a powerhouse team with deep creative and digital chops. In this episode, we'll discuss: The challenges that really tested the agency's resilience. How learning to love KPIs saved the business. Why rebrand after 25 years? Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Building Through Adversity and Surviving 9/11 After moving back to Atlanta from New York, Bill was freelancing at BBDO and thinking about switching to smaller agency. As he saw it, it was better to be a big fish in a smaller pond. Unfortunately, his gig at the smaller agency was short lived, since the agency shut down for good. Instead of packing it in, Bill and his partner Scott Frederick grabbed a few clients, set up shop in a basement, and got to work. Built-in revenue gave them a smoother start than most scrappy entrepreneurs, but reality set in quickly. By the early 2000s, they were hit hard by 9/11 and its ripple effect on corporate events. It was a reminder that whether you're at a big holding company or running your own small shop, stability is often an illusion. Surviving those first waves meant keeping overhead light, grinding it out, and learning how to adapt before the word “pivot” became a business cliché. The Challenge that Really Tested the Agency's Resilience Partnerships can make or break an agency and Bill admits the early years with his partner had their rough patches, not as creatives, but as business owners learning how to disagree productively. Over time, their different strengths meshed into what became a powerful leadership duo. But nothing tested the agency quite like COVID. With a staff of 30 suddenly looking to them for answers, the partners had to act fast. They slashed salaries, cut their own pay completely, and relied on federal relief programs like PPP loans to keep the team intact. That lifeline, combined with quick adjustments, got them back on track. As Bill put it, “It was the absolute worst period of time for the agency. But we came out stronger because we had no choice but to figure it out fast.” From Gut Instinct to KPIs That Saved the Business Like a lot of creative-led shops, Bill and his partner weren't exactly obsessed with financial metrics at first. According to Bill, they mostly leaned on QuickBooks, check-writing, and gut instincts. That worked until it didn't. By the time they realized improprieties had slipped under the radar, they knew it was time to upgrade. Today, they track everything from salaries as a percentage of adjusted gross income to AGI per employee to recurring revenue versus project-based work. They also look at revenue per client to ensure there isn't any one account that is overwhelming the team. Like many agencies, they had this happen at one point, with a client that accounted for 50% of their billing. He remembers being scared once this client started to dwindle as a result of the ‘08 crisis, which taught him the danger of relying on superclients that can walk away and take half your revenue with them. Bill stresses that KPIs aren't about being a math whiz, but about having clarity. Knowing your true profitability by client or department means you stop guessing and start making better decisions. “We do it for our clients,” he said, “so we've got to do it for ourselves too.” Nowadays, he works with an external CPA and an internal comptroller who help him keep an eye on the agency's finances. Pro tip: If you're not yet at the point where you can have a CFO but don't know where to start to assess your agency's financials, use askquick.ai. It's a tool developed by Jason and his team that'll help you figure out your most profitable clients, assess your financial red flags, measure your KPIs, and more. Learning to Let Go and Empower the Team For the first decade, Bill and Scott were deep in the weeds, reviewing every creative output, managing every account, carrying the business on their backs. Eventually, the workload became too much and they had to learn how to trust others. Empowering team members to make real decisions wasn't easy. It started organically as new hires took over account management, media, and digital responsibilities. Over time, Bill realized the work improved when people felt ownership and felt empowered to shape the agency. “The ability to let go and trust others is essential to grow your agency,” he says. This trust not only gave the agency room to grow but also gave Bill and Scott the freedom to step back from being prisoners of their own business. Why Would a 25 Year Old Agency Rebrand Now? After two and a half decades as Frederick Swanston, the founders made the bold move to rebrand as Bosun to better reflect what they'd become. The decision was about more than a new logo. According to Bill, keeping their surnames in the brand felt too self-centered and didn't reflect the agency's culture. The rebrand signaled a shift: it's not about Bill or Scott anymore. It's about the team, the clients, and the relationships that actually fuel the work. While rebrands often make clients nervous, Bill said the transition was seamless. In fact, many partners celebrated alongside them, proving that strong relationships matter more than the name on the door. 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.

Fall is here, the days are shorter, and your rides might be winding down - but your fitness doesn't have to! In this episode, I'm talking about why the off-season is the perfect time to start strength training for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists. Here's what you'll learn:✨ Why Fall + Winter are prime time for gym gains✨ The biggest myths about strength training for cyclists (and the truth)✨ Simple ways to start lifting without overwhelm✨ How strength training makes you more durable, powerful, and faster on the bike Think of this as your off-season advantage - a way to turn downtime into your best riding season yet. And if you want the guesswork taken out? My #ShredStrong strength training program starts November 3rd and gives you the exact workouts you need to get stronger without feeling overwhelmed.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you still thinking of AI as just “ChatGPT with a better prompt”? Or maybe you've played around with Zapier automations and thought, yeah, that's good enough. Today's featured guest knows that the agencies pulling ahead right now are building full-on AI agent networks that replace routine tasks, streamline data pipelines, and give their teams superpowers. She's re-engineering her agency around AI and will talk about where she finds top-tier talent and why you don't need to code to lead your agency into the future. Jennifer Bagley is the CEO and founder of CI Web Group, a fully virtual digital marketing agency registered in 22 U.S. states with clients across the United States and Canada. A former corporate operator turned entrepreneur, Jennifer started in real estate and mortgage brokerage before leaning into the marketing work she built to support those businesses. Today she runs a modern, tech-forward agency that's rebuilt its stack around AI, centralized data, and agentic networks, all while carrying the scars and lessons of scaling, pivoting, and re-founding a business from the ground up. In this episode, we'll discuss: Feeling trapped by the business. Hiring, firing, and the people reset AI, reskilling, and the end of “middle” roles What does this talent cost? Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. From Corporate Ladder to Accidental Agency Founder Jennifer came from an operations background, a self-proclaimed black belt in Six Sigma and certified project manager. Having built that corporate background, she had made a promise to herself (“by 30 I'll be an entrepreneur”), and started to build the side hustle that became the main event. She started in real estate and mortgage brokering where she had to learn marketing the hard way; not because she wanted to be a marketer, but because the survival of her businesses depended on it. Initially, Jennifer didn't set out to build a scalable agency; she built a team to support her broker network. When the market collapsed in 2008, the same team that did marketing for agents suddenly had a market outside real estate. That “we'll just help this painter or HVAC company” phase is where the web group was born: small, service-focused, and useful to people in her network. That accidental turn became a business by solving real, pressing problems for paying clients, then leaned into that. Trading Time for Freedom: The Hard Pivot For the first five years, Jennifer describes the business as a “lifestyle” operation, profitable maybe, but trapping her time. She was trading billable hours for income and was reaching her limit when she hired a coach that forced a reckoning: if entrepreneurship isn't buying you time, money, and freedom, what's the point? So she made the brutal choice of cutting consulting contracts and burning the bridge to the “safety” of hourly work, and effectively gave herself a mulligan. This is the classic founder pivot: you have to choose between growth that keeps you doing the work and growth that scales the business without you. Jennifer's reset wasn't pretty, for a while she lost everything and she and her son lived in an office for a while, but it bought her the permission to build something salable, not just sustainable. Agency owners who feel trapped in delivery need to remember that sometimes you have to give up short-term revenue to create long-term value. Feeling Trapped by the Agency and Becoming a CEO Those first five years, Jennifer continued to run a business that started as a supply chain consulting and eventually turned into a sales supply chain consulting. This change meant the business was now a good lead generator for the agency but it also meant Jennifer was essentially selling her image and her time. Until she ran out of time. Once she felt trapped by the business, Jennifer actually hired a business coach that helped her change the model from “selling Jennifer with marketing on the side” to an actual sustainable business. She had to go back to the basics and remember she, like every entrepreneur, started the business with the idea of having more time, money, and freedom. It took losing everything, but Jennifer knew she didn't want a lifestyle business, she wanted a sellable business. The antidote was delegation plus systems. If you want growth and a future exit, you need to own those CEO responsibilities and be comfortable with letting go of the day-to-day. Hiring, Firing, and Resetting the Team Jennifer's talent strategy has evolved with each stage of growth. Her early hires were the classic “friends, family, fools” bootstrap crew; later she invested in developers, content teams, project managers, and over time, more strategic hires like CFOs, chief of staff, BI teams, and AI engineers. Each five-year arc brought a new set of needs and a new level of sophistication in hiring. Now, she divides her time between promoting her agency's work in podcasts and content and thinking of ways to navigate her business in these volatile and exciting times. Her most recent addition to the team was a technology and transformation team that is revisiting all of the agency's processes, investments, and infrastructure. As a result, she has downsized her team from over 300 W2 employees and refocus the team. The takeaway for agency owners: be honest about whether your people are builders or maintainers, and hire accordingly. The workforce you need for growth is not the same as the workforce you need for stable operations. Building AI Agent Networks with Centralized Data Jennifer's agency shifted from WordPress to Webflow and built agentic networks: hundreds of AI agents that crawl competitors, do strategy homework, and automate tasks that humans used to do. More importantly, they rebuilt infrastructure into a hub-and-spoke model with a centralized min.io data layer and ETL pipelines feeding analytics and BI. Two big lessons here. One: invest in your tech stack deliberately so you're not a Frankenstein of five different platforms that don't talk to each other. Two: design your data architecture so your people (and your AI agents) have a single source of truth. That's how you get from fire-fighting in six dashboards to proactive, predictive signals that tell you when a client engagement needs attention. AI, Reskilling, and Shrinking Middle Roles Jennifer draws a hard line: the agency now tends to hire either very seasoned client-facing leaders or AI engineers; the middle is shrinking. With agentic networks giving junior staff “superpowers,” the agency can afford fewer mid-level “lever pullers.” At this level there's no room for slow execution or elementary work. That's a cultural and ethical challenge, both for hiring and for workforce development. For agency owners, this raises practical HR questions: do you reskill your people, or replace them? Jennifer suggests building agent-driven systems that augment humans, and being brutally honest about who can grow into that future. It's also a call to action for how we prepare the next generation: schools won't teach this; companies will need to. Playing with AI Platforms: Why Leaders Need to Just Know Enough to Be Dangerous Jennifer started like a lot of agency owners dipping into AI, playing around on tools like n8n, Make.com, Relevance, and Longchain. Her dev team laughed, calling her an “elementary school kid on a tricycle,” but here's the point: she didn't need to master the tech. She needed to know enough to point her team in the right direction. Instead of obsessing over code, she framed the problem differently: “Here's what I don't want a human doing anymore. Can you make that happen?” That mindset shift is key for agency owners. You don't need to be a full-stack AI engineer to lead an agency into the future; you just need to clearly define outcomes and invest in people who can deliver them. Find Real AI Talent in Unlikely Places This is where most agencies get stuck. You're not going to find your next AI architect on Upwork. Jennifer leaned on her network, starting with her cousin Chris, a hardcore developer who initially thought AI platforms were “rookie business.” Once Chris realized the power of agentic networks to scale his expertise, he became the backbone of CI Web Group's transformation. Now, she hunts talent in unconventional places: hackathons, LinkedIn, and especially YouTube. Forget the flashy “10x growth hack” videos — she looks for nerds with four views, geeking out about orchestrators and ETL pipelines. Those are the builders who care about solving real problems, not just building hype. Her tip: if you find one, reach out immediately. They don't want sales, they just want to build. Designing AI Agents Like an Agency Org Chart Jennifer compares AI agents to a company org chart. You don't hire one person to do everything, that's a recipe for burnout. Same thing with AI. Each agent should tightly focus on a single task, with checks, auditors, and orchestrators overseeing the system. The payoff was massive efficiency gains. Instead of six different platforms that don't talk, her agency built a centralized hub with min.io, ClickHouse, and AI layers on top. That's how you go from patchwork automation to true predictive intelligence. The Real Cost of AI Talent If you're wondering how much this all costs, the answer is… a lot. On the high end, seasoned AI engineers can run you a quarter million in salary. On the low end, Jennifer tests new hires on project-based sprints, maybe $6K for a 10-hour challenge. The point isn't to cut costs; it's to prove quickly who can deliver and who can't. Her recruiting process is brutal but effective: give candidates a project, a tight deadline, and see how they perform. If they stall, they're out. If they screen-share fast and solve problems live, they're in. No fluff, no endless interviews. 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.

In this episode, host Amelia Phillips and global menopause pioneer Dr Louise Newson discuss hormone replacement therapy, and how it can be not only safe but also hugely beneficial to many when prescribed appropriately. Dr Louise shares the many stigmas associated with prescribing hormones, the main symptoms HRT may help with (hint, it's not just hot flushes and night sweats) and some of the reframing she would like to see out there, so that more women are offered such treatment. If you are considering whether HRT might be useful for you, this episode is not to be missed. About the guest: Dr Louise Newson is a practising GP, menopause specialist, and founder of the Newson Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre in the UK. She’s also the creator of the balance app, a one stop spot for all things menopause, author of multiple bestselling books on menopause, and one of the leading voices globally when it comes to empowering women with evidence-based information about perimenopause and menopause. Her mission is simple but powerful: to make sure no woman feels dismissed or left in the dark when it comes to their hormones and their health. About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Louise Newson Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What does it really look like when employees step up to buy the agency they've helped run for years? Today's featured guest will share how she and her partners carried forward the 30-year legacy of an agency founded in the days of print and stamp, a business that has not only survived but thrived through three different ownership handoffs. You'll hear how they transitioned from licking envelopes to leading digital campaigns, navigated buying the business during COVID, and tackled the imposter syndrome that comes with suddenly being “the boss.” If you've ever thought about selling your agency, or buying one, this conversation is packed with lessons on culture, succession, and keeping an agency alive for the long haul. Alyssa Ash is one of the principals and co-owners of AOR, a creative and digital agency focused on branding, marketing, and web, with a strong focus on real estate development, municipalities, and economic development projects. Think housing solutions, community connections, and projects that shape cities—that's their sweet spot. Alyssa and her two business partners are the third generation of owners keeping AOR alive since its founding in 1992. A rare kind of legacy in agency land. In this episode, we'll discuss: How employees can be groomed into ownership. Lessons from buying an agency during COVID. Why imposter syndrome is normal (and even healthy). Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. A Legacy of Print and Culture Back in '92, AOR wasn't cranking out websites or SEO strategies. It was the time of print design, direct mail, licking stamps, and die-cut lounge chair mailers that made people long-time clients. It's not common that an agency that gets acquired lives on like this, but the founders had built something special. Each generation of owners didn't just grow the client list—they protected the culture. When the founders sold 13 years after starting the business, keeping that culture intact was non-negotiable. Fast forward again, and Alyssa's crew inherited not just an agency, but a philosophy: honor the people and the community as much as the work. Transitioning from Employee to Owner Unlike an outside buyer swooping in with an SBA loan, Alyssa and her partners were homegrown leaders. They'd each put in 10–15 years, running departments in strategy, sales, and operations. By the time the second set of owners started floating the idea of selling, the trio was already running day-to-day operations. At first, the conversation was casual, “Would you even want to own the agency someday?”, but over time it got real. The financial side was initially not even part of the conversation, although they did give a reasonable runway of five to ten years for the acquisition to happen. The fact that three of them shared the load made the acquisition possible. While the thought was intimidating at first, the gradual handoff built their confidence. By the time the deal closed, ownership felt less like a leap and more like the next natural step. Navigating an Agency Acquisition During COVID If you've ever thought about buying or selling an agency, you know the financing part can get tricky. For Alyssa and her partners, COVID hit right in the middle of negotiations. On one hand, this made it somehow easier for her and her partners to step even more into their roles as heads of the agency. While the owners stepped back from daily operations, Alyssa and her partners made the transition to their new roles. On the other hand, the pandemic did complicate things as SBA loans looked risky with interest rates climbing. Thankfully, the old owners worked out a five-year owner-financed note instead. That decision didn't just save them financially, it cemented trust. The outgoing owners wanted the next generation to succeed and structured the deal so everyone won. As Alyssa put it, “It didn't feel like a big shift… because we'd already been doing it.” Fighting Imposter Syndrome (and Why That's Healthy) Even with 15 years in the trenches, Alyssa admits stepping into ownership brought its fair share of imposter syndrome. She was still quite young, even though she felt comfortable leading day-to-day operations. This is where the former owner's trust really helped. They put her in a position to succeed and trusted she could make it. Ultimately, every agency owner feels that, no matter the stage of their career they're at when becoming an owner. In fact, it's the ones who don't who usually get tripped up by ego. Preparing the Next Generation So, is Alyssa grooming her team for eventual ownership? Not yet, it's too soon. But she is watching for the traits that made her and her partners natural fits: entrepreneurial thinking, leadership instincts, and a bias for taking responsibility. Her advice to other agency owners thinking about succession: Don't overlook your employees as potential buyers. Give them time and a runway to grow into the role. Protect your culture by keeping it in the hands of people who already live it. 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.

Gravel and mountain bike riders - do you ever wonder why your rides may wreck you? This episode is for you. I'm unpacking what happens to your body when you leave smooth roads behind and enter the world of rocks, roots, vibration, and uneven terrain. I dive deep into: Why gravel/singletrack eats up more energy (vibration, rolling resistance, micro-muscle work) What strength & stability you need (core, grip, posture) to ride harder and recover quicker How to adapt your training and recovery so you don't end up beat, broken, or burnt out Nutrition tips to fuel the rough: protein, electrolytes, and enough carbs Gear & technique hacks: tires, posture, line choice, letting the bike do some of the work Studies referenced if you want to nerd-out:• “Effects of vibration on efficiency in off-road cyclists” (PMID 33948546)• “Strength Training Improves Performance and Pedaling Characteristics in Elite Cyclists” (PMID 24862305)• “Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance” (PMID 23914932) If you ride gravel or mountain bike, or you want to get into it without paying the price in soreness and fatigue, then this is the episode to guide your next few weeks of training. Check out these related episodes: 221. How to Develop Durability on the Bike 224. How to Finally Stop Bonking Mid-Ride #ShredStrong: Our Fall/Winter Cycle Starts on Monday, November 3, 2025! #ShredStrong is my signature year-round strength and conditioning training program for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists - you can join any time you want, but we're starting the main Fall/Winter cycle in November! Learn more about the program and sign-up HERE!  Do You Want a Coach to Help Make Training & Nutrition Easier and Simpler for You? Hi, it's me.

In this shorter Mini Motivation episode, host Amelia Phillips and world renown exercise physiologist Dr Stacy Sims dives into targeted nutrition for the holy grail, which is nutrition to lose bodyfat but build muscle strength. So often when people go on a fat loss mission, they can accidentally lose muscle at the same time. It does not have to be this way. They also discuss the confusing topic of whether prolonged overnight fasts are helpful or harmful for women and why. Dr Stacy will be touring Australia with Sarah Grynberg, find out more here: https://fane.com.au/taking-the-stage-dr-stacy-sims-and-sarah-grynberg-announce-new-australian-tour-dates/ Dr Stacy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drstacysims/ Sign up to Dr Stacys Newsletter: https://www.drstacysims.com/generic_optin Dr Stacy's protein coffee recipe: Scroll down. About the guest: Dr Stacy Sims is a world-renowned exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist, and speaker who specialises in female-specific training, performance, and hormonal health (she was recently on the Mel Robbins Podcast). She completed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University, focusing on sex differences in environmental and nutritional physiology. She has over 20 years of experience helping women optimise fitness, recovery, and longevity, and is the author of ROAR and Game Changers, books that empower women to train smarter. Stacy is recognised internationally for translating complex science into practical strategies for women of all ages, She has almost 1 million followers on instagram and a very popular educational newsletter. About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health Dr. Stacy Sims Protein Coffee Recipe Ingredients: 8–10 oz freshly brewed coffee (can be hot or cold; espresso + milk is also popular) 1 scoop (25–30 g) complete protein powder (whey isolate or a well-formulated plant-based blend with all essential amino acids, especially leucine) Optional add-ins for enhanced benefits: 1 tsp MCT oil or grass-fed ghee (brain fuel and satiety) A pinch (¼ tsp) Ceylon cinnamon (blood sugar support) A dash of Himalayan (pink) salt (hydration and adrenal support) Optional: unsweetened almond or oat milk for creaminess For cold or grab-and-go versions: Stir or blend protein powder with cold milk (or plant-based milk), then add a double shot of espresso. Chill overnight for a ready-made drink Method: Brew your coffee. Combine coffee with protein powder (and optional ingredients) in a blender—blending ensures smooth texture and better absorption . Blend until frothy and well-mixed. Enjoy within 30–60 minutes of waking—it aligns with natural cortisol rhythms, helping stabilize energy and support muscle protein synthesis . Why This Recipe Works for Women Sustainable energy + less crash: Combining protein with caffeine helps blunt cortisol spikes and prevents those shaky jittery responses we often get from coffee alone . Muscle preservation + training support: Leucine-rich protein early in the day supports muscle recovery and metabolism—especially important for active women or those navigating hormonal transitions . Hormone-friendly routine: Enjoying protein coffee as soon as you wake sets a physiological tone of “fed and safe,” which can improve energy, reduce cravings, and enhance mood—less fatigue, more focus. CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Dr Stacy Sims Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Most agency owners stumble into their first business almost by accident, learning as they go. But have you ever considered buying your first agency as a way to enter the industry with a head start? The right acquisition can give you an established team eager to keep growing, a base of engaged clients, and strong positioning in the market. Today's featured guest took this path and is now the proud owner of a thriving agency. He always knew he wanted to run his own business, and when it came time to choose an industry, the agency model was the perfect fit for his love of project management and tech. He shares how he chose and purchased his agency, why he was fortunate to instantly click with the previous owner, the kind of deal structure he recommends for these situations, and the lessons he's learned along the way. Zander Barth is the Director of Colophon New Media, a website development and digital marketing agency in Charleston, South Carolina. He isn't your typical agency owner since he didn't start his agency from scratch. Before that, he was managing boiler houses and wastewater plants as a chemical engineer. His path went from factory floors and Tesla consulting gigs to agency owner. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why buy instead of build an agency from scratch? Retaining clients and culture in an ownership transition. Acquisition deal structure: earnouts, financings, and gotchas. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Buy vs Build: Why Acquistion Wins Most agency stories start the same way: someone freelances, gets referrals, and suddenly they're running an agency. Not Zander. Having always wanted to work for himself, he was set on finding a business to acquire after realizing he didn't want to stay in the corporate grind. Instead of an MBA, he gave himself what he calls a “redneck MBA”—a crash course in QuickBooks, masterclasses, and every free course he could get his hands on. His search started broad. He looked at electrical contractors, engineering firms, and everything in between. But when a broker introduced him to Colophon New Media, something clicked. The agency world lined up with his love for project management, customer communication, and tech. He hit it off with the founder, who was ready to retire, and within four months, Zander was under a Letter of Intent (LOI). The Transition: Keeping Clients and Culture Intact One of the biggest risks in buying an agency is losing clients or losing the team. But Zander got lucky. The founder stayed on for six months to ease the transition, the team had incredible tenure (average of 8–10 years), and clients stuck around. Instead of turnover chaos, he stepped into a culture that was already strong. What he focused on was core values. He knew the agency's success was built on the team's shared beliefs and long-term commitment. His goal: protect that culture while adding new faces who align with it. Processes and systems matter, but at the end of the day, it's the people and values that keep clients around. The Deal: No Earnout, Straightforward SBA Financing Zander's purchase deal was simple: 10% equity down 10% seller note 80% SBA loan (7A) No earnout. Was it risky? Maybe. But for him, it worked because he and the seller had great rapport. They respected each other, and shared the goal of keeping clients happy and the agency thriving. However, Zander is very aware of how lucky he was and that is not always the case. So his advice for agency owners is to structure the deal in a way that people are incentivized to help the business grow after they're gone. Pro tip: Before buying, always ask the seller why they're really selling. Burnout, boredom, or just wanting to hit the road in an RV with their spouse - it all matters. If their motivations align with your vision, you've got a shot at a smooth handoff. Surprises, Gotchas, and the Role of Luck in Acquisition Every acquisition has surprises. For Zander, it wasn't massive skeletons in the closet but rather small bits of “tribal knowledge” that came up months later. Old client quirks, history buried deep, the stuff you don't see in due diligence. His mindset was just to roll with it. “I just try to get good at riding the wave,” he said. And he's honest about it: luck played a big role. You can prep all you want, but signing a deal that puts you on the hook for big debt is scary. You've got to trust your gut on the seller and back yourself to figure out the rest. Zander's advice is to make sure you vibe with the seller. As odd as it sounds, there's nothing more important in his experience than feeling he was able to truly understand the seller. He wanted someone who was really proud of their legacy and willing to grow and protect it. How AI is Shaping M&A and Agency Operations Back when he bought the agency, Zander was still not using AI in both due diligence and agency work. Now, however, he's building “co-pilot bots” to analyze data, troubleshoot, and even stress-test M&A opportunities. His advice for other agency owners: if you're not using AI daily, you're leaving efficiency—and insights—on the table. AI won't always 100% right, but it gets you thinking differently. For M&A especially, tools like ChatGPT can surface blind spots you didn't even know existed. 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.

You probably know Justin Danger Nunley from TikTok, where millions of people wait for his signature line: “Listen… did you know?” But behind the viral videos is a story most people have never heard. Justin sat down with me in Nashville not long after retiring from the Air Force, where he served for 20 years. We talked about how the military shaped him, why comedy became his outlet, and how a fun experiment on TikTok exploded into a career that changed his life. He opened up about the grind of building an audience, the setbacks that almost stopped him, and the viral moment that sent his account into the millions. And this conversation was extra special because my daughter Quinn joined in on the action for a bit, which made it that much more fun and real. But it was not just about content. Justin shared stories about his family, the importance of resilience, and the lessons he carried from service to social media. He also spoke honestly about criticism, cancel culture, and the pressure of staying authentic when millions are watching. This conversation had everything. Laughter, vulnerability, and some random facts you will never forget. More than anything, it showed the heart behind the humor. Chapters: 00:03:27 – Cussin' 00:15:16 – Getting Fired is Weird to Justin Nunley 00:32:34 – Do You Want a Zynn, Sage? 00:34:47 – Growing Up 00:45:55 – How Justin Nunley Cracked the Algorithm 00:53:22 – Quinn Joins the Show! 01:10:34 – Justin Nunley's Military Life 01:22:36 – The Struggles of Podcasting 01:28:23 – Dealing With Online Trolls 01:34:24 – Gun Control 02:02:32 – Sage Steele to Host the News? BTS on Patreon: http://bit.ly/4nLmOSk The Sage Steele Show is a weekly podcast hosted by former ESPN anchor Sage Steele. Each week, Sage sits down with entertainers, athletes, business people, and politicians to have deep dive personal one on one discussions that enlighten, entertain, and engage. There's a whole big world out there that's not just sports, and Sage wants to talk about all of it. #sagesteelepodcast #sagesteele #podcast Subscribe to the Channel for more Podcasts like this! Listen to the Show on all Podcast Apps "The Sage Steele Show" https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sage-steele-show/id1737682826 Follow Sage: https://www.sagesteele.com https://x.com/sagesteele https://www.instagram.com/sagesteele https://www.tiktok.com/@officialsagesteele https://rumble.com/c/SageSteeleProductions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this shorter, mini motivation episode, host Amelia Phillips and biochemist Dr Libby Weaver dive into iron and why low iron matters. So many women are walking around with insufficient iron levels and not realising the impact it’s having on their health. Dr Libby has just published a book Fix Iron First, and is the go-to for newer innovative treatments. If you’ve suffered with low iron or high iron, or know someone who has, this ep is for you. About the guest: Dr. Libby Weaver is one of Australasia’s leading nutritional biochemists, a bestselling author of 13 books (including one titled The Invisible Load), an international speaker and founder of Bio Blends – a range of high-quality, food-based nutritional supplements designed to support real results. With a PhD in biochemistry and over 20 years in clinical practice, Dr. Libby is known for helping women understand the link between nutrition, hormones, stress, and emotional wellbeing. Visit Dr Libby's Website https://drlibby.com/ Dr Libbys brand new book Fix Iron First: https://www.booktopia.com.au/fix-iron-first-dr-libby-weaver/book/9781067067601.html Dr Libby's new supplement -Bio Blends Iconic Iron: https://www.bioblends.com/products/iconic-iron Dr Libby's Book, Rushing Women's Syndrome: https://www.booktopia.com.au/rushing-woman-s-syndrome-libby-weaver/book/9781401978150.html Follow Dr Libby on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlibby/ About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Dr Libby Weaver Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is hiring one of the biggest challenges you've faced when it comes to running your agency? How do you sift through hundreds of applications when most don't even read the job description? Today's featured guest opens up about the realities of building a team, the role that gave him his time back, and why finding the right people, not unicorns, but the right fits can make or break an agency's growth. Dan Salganik is the managing partner and CEO of Visual Fizz, a Chicago-based digital full-service marketing agency. He spent years working at agencies of every size and learning of the many flaws in their operations: bloated overhead, work designed more to win awards than to serve clients, and inefficiencies everywhere. Instead of sticking it out, he decided to try something different. With the help of a co-founder he met online, he turned his freelance gig into an actual business. Within nine days of their first conversation, they had their first paying client. Once they were at three clients, they decided it was time to make it official and started Visual Fizz. In this episode, we'll discuss: The digital nomad myth. Hiring as the biggest challenge for agency success. The unicorn problem. Why the big guys should be worried. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Inspired to Create Something Better After Working With The Big Guys Dan's path into agency life started straight out of college, working at agencies as a project manager. He saw how the big guys worked and was frustrated by the waste. Expensive office space downtown, teams focused on portfolio-building instead of client results, and layers of inefficiency that didn't make sense to him. After a layoff, he started contracting and freelancing. After a while, he figured if he was already selling his time, why not build a team and sell more than just his own hours? Partnering with a co-founder who brought SEO and paid search chops, he launched Visual Fizz for just $50 and a “crappy logo.” The Digital Nomad Myth At first, Dan thought the digital nomad lifestyle was going to be the dream. He traveled through Asia, working out of hostels, hopping on 2 a.m. client calls from rooftop hotels, and running projects with a global team scattered across South Africa, Kuwait, and the U.S. It sounded cool on paper—but the reality was brutal. Trying to serve U.S. clients while living 12 hours ahead was a recipe for burnout. As he put it, “If you're traveling to Southeast Asia and trying to hit U.S. hours, you're in for a rude awakening.” Over time, he realized international travel had to shift into more realistic time zones if he wanted to scale the agency. From Scrappy Start to Scaling Smart Visual Fizz didn't take off by accident. From the beginning, Dan and his co-founder knew they wanted more than just a freelancing partnership. She had the technical expertise, he had the business and sales skills, and together they leaned into that divide. Their first clients came on at around $2,500/month retainers, which felt big at the time. But what really set them apart was their willingness to sell the agency model—not just themselves as individual contractors. Dan admits the early days were DIY to the extreme. He designed the first website, created the brand, and hustled every step of the way. But over time, they shifted from being “just two freelancers” into a legit business with structure, processes, and a growing client roster. Why Hiring is Always the Hardest Part Dan didn't hesitate when asked about the hardest part of running an agency: hiring. In a business where you're selling knowledge and time, having the right people is everything. And finding those people can be tough, especially for smaller agencies. Posting a single job ad often results in 700 to 1,500 applications—most of which are noise. Dan prefers entrepreneurial-minded hires over candidates with perfect credentials. He values people who can adapt, who want to learn, and who bring a cultural fit to the table. That's how he's built a team that can handle change in an industry that shifts constantly. Like most founders, Dan has had terrible interview experiences with candidates who applied mindlessly as soon as they saw an opening and didn't bother to read anything about the profile required. People were showing up to interviews while in their card eating, not even knowing the company's name, and clearly not having the skills required. If you've ever found yourself in this position, overwhelmed by resumes and constantly interviewing the wrong people, bury a hidden instruction in your job post, like requiring a candidate to send a video with a specific subject line to a private email. The people who follow directions prove they're serious. The rest self-select out, saving you hours of wasted interviews Tired of the fancy resumes and disastrous interviews, Dan has turned to his contractors. He's hired people who had contracted with the agency for years, which of course had the advantage of already understanding their capabilities and knowing they were up to the task. Furthermore, Dan considers himself to be very fiscally conservative when it comes to hiring, so he prefers working with the person until he feels he can comfortably hire them to be a full time team member. The Hire That Changed Everything For Dan, the biggest game-changer was bringing in a project manager who grew into a project lead. Having someone who could take ownership of processes, build out SOPs, and even tell him to log off at 6 p.m. gave him the space to focus on the bigger picture, strategy, branding, and biz dev. The right project manager isn't just checking boxes. They protect your time. They let you walk into client conversations clear-headed instead of stressed about whether a deliverable is behind. When they can run the team and operations, you can finally do the job of a CEO: winning new business and setting the direction of the agency. Stop Chasing Unicorn Hires What's the next hire on Dan's list? A hybrid between a campaign strategist and a creative marketing manager. Someone who can think strategically, get hands-on with campaigns, and still spot when an SEO report doesn't make sense to a client. Sounds great but also sounds like a unicorn. As most agency owners eventually learn: unicorn hires exist, but you can't build a hiring strategy around finding them. Instead, hire clearly defined roles—project managers who love execution, account managers who thrive on client leadership. When you stumble across someone who can flex across lanes, great. But don't make that the expectation. How to Train Your Team to Sell Naturally Dan's agency doesn't run with a traditional account manager structure. Their PMs double as client leads, which means Dan had to find a way to make sales training part of the culture without turning his team into pushy salespeople. The secret to this training is storytelling. Instead of saying, “Hey, we can upsell you,” his team learns to connect client comments with relevant success stories. If a client mentions running a content audit, a PM can naturally suggest looping in the SEO lead, not because they're chasing revenue but because they know it will help the client. Over time, this approach builds trust and positions the agency as a partner, not just a vendor. Positioning in a Shifting Market Dan has seen client expectations are moving “down a notch” lately. Big brands that once chased Ogilvy or Leo Burnett are now hunting for mid-sized partners. Those mid-sized companies are shifting to smaller shops. And boutique agencies like Visual Fizz are landing $100–500 million clients who want to be a top priority instead of client number 142 on a massive roster. It's the boutique hotel effect. Clients don't always want the 3,000-room resort. Sometimes they want the place where the staff knows their name, treats them like the biggest deal in the building, and still delivers world-class service. For smaller agencies, that's a huge opportunity to win the types of clients that used to feel out of reach. Why Lean Agencies Have the Edge The future isn't kind to bloated agencies. What used to take 100 people a few years ago could now be done with 40—or even 15. Large firms with huge overhead and outdated models will struggle unless they pivot, merge, or find a vertical niche. Meanwhile, smaller and mid-sized agencies that can move fast, price smart, and deliver with a lean team are better positioned than ever. As Dan put it, even Fortune 500 companies are asking, “Why should I pay $50k a month for SEO when I can get the same expertise at $8k?” 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Ever feel like running your agency is just one long grind of “good enough” projects, endless deadlines, and late-night work sessions? Most agency owners start out chasing freedom, only to find themselves trapped by clients, culture challenges, and their own workaholic habits. Today's featured guest is certainly familiar with this cycle, so how was he able to build a business that works for him instead of the other way around? By focusing on clarity, culture, and constant evolution. Dan Fisher is the founder of Bottle Rocket Media, a Chicago-based video production and digital marketing firm. Before running his agency, Dan spent a decade in television, including a long stretch as an editor at The Oprah Winfrey Show. What started as “making a few videos for people” turned into a full-fledged agency after his partner joined. Today, Bottle Rocket Media blends storytelling with digital strategy to help brands communicate with impact. In this episode, we'll discuss: Data meets creativity. The agency he “thought he should build” Culture as a compass. Redefining work and energy. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Leaving TV for Agency Life Dan wasn't setting out to build an agency. He was a New York kid, worked on TV production in LA, and then got tapped on the shoulder for a gig at Oprah. When he landed in Chicago, he figured he'd be there a couple of years. Ten years later, he had a family, a house, and roots that weren't going anywhere. After leaving TV (not a moment too soon, according to him), he just started making videos for people. Then his partner came on board, and suddenly it was more than a side hustle. It was a real business. That's when Dan realized he was no longer just a TV guy—he was running an agency. What TV Taught Him About Storytelling TV wasn't all glitz. Dan loved the storytelling, the cameras, the lights. However, running a daily show can crush even the strongest souls. Deadlines piled on top of deadlines. Three to four episodes a week meant three to four immovable deadlines every week. Still, it gave him his 10,000 hours. He learned how to tell stories fast, direct, edit, and manage creative teams. Most importantly, TV taught Dan the importance of knowing your audience. At Oprah, there was always an “audience of one”—Oprah herself. He'd have the version he wanted to tell, and then the version she'd actually approve. That lesson carried into agency life: storytelling isn't about you, it's about your client. You're not making an indie film; you're telling their story in a way that serves their brand. The Continual Evolvement of Creativity Bottle Rocket Media isn't trying to be Hollywood. They focus on nonfiction storytelling, documentary-style content, education-driven pieces, spokespeople, and commercial spots. What makes their approach stand out is how they marry creative instincts with marketing data. Working in the creative field never ceases to surprise Dan who, even now, expects something to land well with audiences and sees the complete opposite happen. This is why he and his team lean into A/B testing. Sometimes it's the tiniest tweak: a subject line in an email, a color shift in a graphic, or moving the ending to the front of a video. It's a reminder agency owners need: you can be confident in your craft, but the market has the final say. From Filmmaker to CEO When he started, Dan assumed he'd be miserable doing the “operations” side. But mentoring, managing, and building a team turned out to be just as rewarding as calling “action” and “cut.” He's learned the balance between doing and teaching. Having 10,000 hours of experience doesn't mean you always tell the story better than a fresh intern. It means you know how to refine, manipulate, and see perspectives others might miss. At Bottle Rocket Media, they encourage collaboration. Editors critique each other's work. Ideas bounce around. And Dan stays focused on a critical question every creative leader should ask: Am I making it better, or just making it different? From “Good Enough” to Defining Excellence It took Dan years to reach what he calls his maturity, after trying to be “the agency he thought he should be”. Eventually, after banging his head against the wall for a long time, he realized the power of clarity—both personally and professionally. He started the business as a way to make ends meet after leaving TV, but it was time to define his goals with the agency and make it his own. Once he stopped chasing someone else's model and leaned into his own strengths, everything changed. The real turning point wasn't in working harder, but in defining what success actually looked like for him and his team. Culture as a Compass Clarity doesn't just guide you, it's also something you can instill in your team. Once Dan started defining his agency's beliefs, he could attract people who truly fit. To him, if your team is not going in the same direction, then what's the point? But culture hasn't been easy, especially post-pandemic. Bottle Rocket Media runs on a hybrid model: three mandatory in-office days, with Mondays and Fridays remote. For Dan, it was about letting go of his old Gen X “first one in, last one out” mentality and adapting to a younger workforce. The result is a stronger, more unified team—even if they're not physically together every day. Redefining Work and Energy Coming from TV, where it's not rare to work up to 70 hours a week, Dan initially started his agency using the volume model, which is what he knew. Once the business was up and running, his hours were still pretty similar to what he was used in TV. Eventually, however, it got to a point where a trusted employee expressed he was at his breaking point, and Dan knew it was time to dial down. Working beyond a certain limit didn't make him better, it was just making him an ineffective leader. That shift changed how he managed his team, starting by cutting off the bottom 20% and elevating the types of projects they do. This way, with clear goals and clear deadlines, he's building the kind of leadership that creates loyalty and sustainability. Always Be Evolving The agency game changes daily. Right now, AI is shaking up video and digital marketing. What worked yesterday won't always work tomorrow. If you want your agency to survive, curiosity is the ultimate skill. Test, adapt, and don't get too comfortable. That philosophy is why Dan's agency has evolved from purely video into a full digital offering. On the video side, he had to learn how to let go and empower others. On the digital side, he leans entirely on his team's expertise. In both cases, growth depends on staying open to new approaches and trusting the right people to execute them. 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.

Adam: You may have heard me talking here a couple of weeks ago about the Quarrelmen Beatles miniseries I'm doing. It's my birthday so I'm birthing it everywhere you get your podcasts plus I'm putting the first episode here too to tempt you into subscribing. You're not gonna be able to resist after hearing this episode that we did at none other than Abbey Road Studios when my band Stones n Roses was on tour there back in 2021. I told the other We Will Rank You hosts I'd have all the Beatles albums ranked within a year. Four years later, I've only recorded about half of them but here they come!  You're not going to see any more episodes here until the one where all four OG hosts ranked- Well I'm not telling you which one. You'll have to wait and see and if you want to hear Jim and I rank an album in Liverpool, you'll just have to figure out how to spell Quarrelmen and go subscribe, won't you? WON'T you? We're on Facebook, Instagram and Threads too so do the thing. Breaking up the band to start a solo career? Nah but, for now, here's the Fab Four…. THE QUARRELMEN PODCAST #1Please Please Me ranked at Abbey RoadWhat's your most loved and least favorite song on the first Beatles album?! One, two, three, FAH! The Quarrelmen Beatles podcast miniseries kicks off with England's own Richard Merrett (Airhead/the Wilsons) and his young sons Frank and George Merrett ranking Please Please Me in the most famous studio in the world.  Recorded back in 2021 at the end of the last Stones n' Roses UK tour, the California band recorded a version of "Revolution 9" with 1960s microphones used by "the boys" and Beatles Anthology, Rock Band and Love engineer Chris Bolster with Joe Wyatt (now Giles Martin's assistant). After a quick photoshoot of the band walking across THE street, singer Adam Gimbel welcomed the Merretts into the cozy Gatehouse studio to record the very first episode of the Quarrelmen. He had no idea it would be four busy, crazy years before the world would hear it. The kids are now senior citizens. The results are, quite simply, the most endearing Beatles podcast episode ever immortalized at Abbey Road....or anywhere else. Decades of fandom and childlike wonder collide with memories and a ranking of least and most favorites on the 1963 classic debut. Listen at QuarrelmenPod.com, Apple, Spotify and...a place.Follow us and weigh in with your favorites on Facebook, Instagram & Threads @quarrelmenpod.SPOILERS/FILE UNDER:Abbey Road, Airhead, Arthur Alexander, Anna (Go to Him), Ask Me Why, Baby It's You, Burt Bacharach, the Beatles, Chris Bolster, Boys, Cavern Club, Chains, coffee, the Cookies, debut, Do You Want to Know a Secret, EMI, England, Adam Gimbel, harmonica, George Harrison, I Saw Her Standing There, Isley Brothers, Carol King, John Lennon, Liverpool, London, Love Me Do, George Martin, Paul McCartney, Frank Merrett, George Merrett, Richard Merrett, Misery, Nirvana, Roy Orbison, piano, Please Please Me, Pretty Green, P.S. I Love You, Revolution 9, Ride, sha la la la la, The Shirelles, Ringo Starr, Stones n Roses, A Taste of Honey, There's a Place, Twist and Shout, Andy White, the Wilsons, Joe Wyatt, zoos, 1963.US: http://www.QuarrelmenPod.comhttp://www.WeWillRankYouPod.com wewillrankyoupod@gmail.comNEW! Host tips: Venmo @wewillrankyoupodhttp://www.facebook.com/QuarrelmenPodhttp://www.instagram.com/QuarrelmenPodhttps://www.threads.net/@QuarrelmenPodhttp://www.StonesnRoses.comhttp://www.AbbeyRoad.com

Host Amelia Phillips is joined by hormone specialist Dr Carrie Jones to unpack the most effective, science-backed ways to manage perimenopause symptoms if you are not on HRT. Whilst HRT is the gold standard treatment, for those that are not able to, or not ready, they unpack the many other ways to manage common symptoms, especially in early-stage peri. From headaches to night sweats, hot flushes and mood swings to brain fog and sleep struggles, you’ll discover practical tools that actually work, plus how to know when it might be time to consider HRT down the track. If you're starting to notice peri symptoms, this episode is for you. About the guest: Dr Carrie Jones, affectionately known as the ‘Queen of Hormones,’ is a Naturopathic Physician, educator, and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner with more than 20 years of clinical experience. She’s the former Medical Director of the DUTCH Test, hosts her own podcast, Hello Hormones, and has built an audience of over 200k on Instagram by breaking down complex hormone science into simple, actionable advice. Follow Dr Carrie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.carriejones/ Listen to Dr Carries Podcast Hello Hormones: https://open.spotify.com/show/0QMOu9ma6Xljf5omizAhNz?si=4b7ad8b12ca4449e About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Dr Carrie Jones Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you wondering how AI will really change the way agencies work? Will it replace your team, or make them better than ever? Artificial intelligence continues to be at the forefront of most tech conversations, and that's exactly why agency owners can't afford to ignore it. Today's guest believes the real future of AI in agencies isn't about replacement—it's about augmentation. Humans bring the high-leverage ideas, AI scales the execution, and the magic happens in the collaboration between the two. That's why he challenges his team to master a skill first—understanding every step—before delegating pieces of it to AI. By doing so, they not only achieve stronger results but also gain the ability to explain, teach, and refine the process. For agencies, this thoughtful integration turns AI from a threat into a powerful accelerator. Josh Payne is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Coframe, which helps businesses continuously optimize their digital experiences. Before that, he co-founded Autograph, scaling it to unicorn status within just over a year, and previously sold his first company, AccessBell, to India's Tata Group. A Stanford AI researcher and occasional lecturer, Josh has blended tech, entrepreneurship, and big-name partnerships into a career full of lessons that agency owners can apply to their own journey. In this episode, we'll discuss: The power of just asking. Should we be worried about AI? Why the human element still wins. When AI shows empathy. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Building Big, Fast (and What Comes After) Josh's first exit was AccessBell, acquired by Tatai Group. Then came Autograph, the NFT platform co-founded with connections in the entertainment industry that quickly attracted celebrities and athletes like Tom Brady. The company went unicorn in about a year, proof that timing, partnerships, and execution can fuel explosive growth. But Josh is quick to admit that pace sets a dangerous bar. When he launched Coframe, progress felt slower. The natural question arises: why am I not going as fast as I did last time? For any agency owner who's had one “big win,” the fear of never matching that level again is real. For Josh, it comes down to stop chasing vanity metrics and focusing on the real value you're creating. The long burn, when tied to a larger vision, often builds a stronger foundation. The Power of Just Asking One of the best stories from Josh's Autograph journey was how Tom Brady got involved. It was a simple conversation, made possible because a co-founder's family knew Brady. They took a shot, asked for a call, and suddenly, an NFL legend wasn't just an investor—he was a co-founder. They were, of course, very lucky, but the lesson for Josh was that you'll never land your dream client (or partner) if you don't step up to bat. Too many agencies convince themselves certain clients are “out of reach,” when in reality, decision-makers are more approachable than you think. Even the busiest people have time for the right conversation if you show up as a person, not a pitch machine. Separating Yourself from Your Business Identity With all these exits, Josh is still struggling with the identity crisis that comes with selling or stepping away from a company. Like Jason back when he sold his agency, Josh felt like he'd sold his soul and is still wrestling with how to separate being a tech founder from just being Josh. Your business is not your identity, as performance coach Todd Herman (the guy behind Kobe Bryant's “Black Mamba” alter ego) helped Jason understand. You're not an “agency owner” by identity. You're a creator, innovator, and strategist. Those traits travel with you into whatever you do next. Lose the label, keep the essence. Fighting the Metrics Spiral Every agency owner knows the feeling: dashboards screaming that you're 30% down from last month, the creeping panic that you're “slipping.” Josh admits he's guilty of chasing these vanity metrics too, and it's exhausting. The problem is that short-term sprints cloud the long-term vision. But focusing only on the long-term isn't right either. You can't sit back dreaming and stop executing. Josh calls it a balance game. Some days require in-the-weeds execution. Other days call for pulling up to 30,000 feet and resetting the vision. And finding ways to get into that higher-level thinking state is crucial. Finding Flow and Big Picture Clarity One of Josh's surprising hacks for perspective is the float tank, a sensory deprivation chamber where you float weightless in silence. He describes it as being suspended between sleep and wakefulness, giving him the clarity to see the forest instead of the trees. For him, a float every couple of months resets his ability to think deeply. This lucid dreaming state allows him to consciously control his thought process, which is hard to do on a day-to-day basis. There are different ways to achieve this “flow state” like flying planes or running, where focus on the task at hand frees the brain to process ideas in the background. The lesson for agency owners is that you need intentional “out of the weeds” time. Whether it's floating, running, or flying, find your version of the float tank. Should We Be Worried About AI? Where is AI really going, and should agencies be worried? Josh approaches the subject with cautious optimism. He admits there are possible negative outcomes—whole essays have been written about the risks—but he believes society still has control of its destiny. Governance, adaptation, and human ingenuity will help us navigate the “intelligence explosion” ahead. For agency owners, that perspective matters. The fear-driven narrative (“AI will replace us all”) misses the more useful question: how do we adapt to stay ahead? Josh's view is that AI will become a force multiplier, but only for those who deeply understand their craft first. At Coframe, he leads his team with the mantra: “first we are artisans, then we are automators.” Josh encourages his team to master processes as humans before trying to automate them. An artisan, he says, is someone who not only performs a task with taste and skill but can also teach it to an apprentice. If you can teach it, you can usually train AI to do it too. This is a powerful framework for agencies. Too many people treat AI as a magic shortcut, asking it to “do the thing” without knowing what “the thing” really requires. But if you've built the human expertise first, AI becomes like a hyper-capable apprentice, great at code generation, design variations, or crunching vast amounts of data, but still lacking the higher-level strategy and creative ideation that only humans can bring. Why the Human Element Still Wins Lots of people are already trying to launch “AI-only agencies.” This is a mistake. Clients don't just want data or deliverables; they want connection, guidance, and trust. Even as AI accelerates execution, the human side, like the ability to understand a client, guide their decisions, and translate insights into strategy, remains irreplaceable. This is especially true when clients don't know what to ask. Tools may say, “Ask me anything,” but most business owners don't even know where to start. That's where the agency earns its keep: by framing the right questions and then leveraging AI to deliver smarter, faster answers. AI Limitations on Emotion and Empathy Empathy remains the most valuable and, so far, irreplaceable element that AI cannot afford clients, and where human intervention continues to be necessary. However, as these models get more and more aligned, clients are starting to see cases where the AI is able to show empathy for your situation. For instance, Jason recently tested AI with his own medical challenges. After foot surgery complications, he uploaded photos of his wound to an AI tool and was surprised at how sympathetic the responses felt. It wasn't just giving data—it was offering encouragement, warnings, and even emergency advice when he tested it with old images. Josh had his own example: experimenting with fasting while using AI to predict weight loss. The model gave estimates but also warned him about the risks and refused to encourage unsafe behavior. Modern models are being trained not just for accuracy but to reflect human values, to ensure they're aligned with human interests. Balancing AI Alignment With Performance This fine-tuning process with newer AI models makes them more positive and empathetic. But there's a trade-off: aligned models can lose some raw performance on benchmarks. For agencies, this means two things: AI tools will continue evolving in personality and usefulness. The best results will still come from humans who know how to wield them—pairing empathy, strategy, and creativity with AI's speed and scale. 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.  

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you stuck acting like an order taker instead of leading your clients with strategy? If you want to grow an agency that survives the competition, you need to do more than deliver pretty websites or manage ad budgets. You need to lead with strategy, prove it with data, and guide your clients through the journey—not the other way around. Too many agencies are still making decisions based on “gut feelings” instead of data, which is why today's featured guest is tackling exactly that problem—making it easier for everyone in a company to use data daily, so decisions are grounded in reality, not instinct. Pete Caputa is the CEO of Databox, a business intelligence platform built for small to mid-market companies that makes data adoption simple across teams. Before that, Pete spent nine years at HubSpot, where he famously launched and scaled the agency partner program—now responsible for billions in revenue. But Pete's journey didn't start in SaaS boardrooms. He began as an engineer, dabbled in early 2000s web apps after learning to code, and struggled through the grind of bootstrapping. his own ventures. A key pivot came when he connected with sales coach Rick Rober, who helped him sharpen his sales chops. That path eventually led him to HubSpot as the fourth sales rep and later, the architect behind the company's groundbreaking agency channel. In this episode, we'll discuss: Creating the HubSpot Agency Partner Program. Why agencies need to lead with strategy. AI as the new strategic edge. Selling strategy as a service. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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 Birth of the HubSpot Agency Partner Program Early HubSpot sales conversations looked familiar to many agency owners: lots of free education, lots of excitement… and lots of ghosting. Agencies wanted to roll HubSpot out to their clients, but deals rarely closed. Pete recognized the deeper problem —agencies were stuck in project-based work and living on the cash flow rollercoaster. So he set out to teach agencies to package ongoing retainers instead of chasing one-off projects. That simple but powerful shift unlocked stability and scale. Agencies suddenly had recurring revenue, longer-term client relationships, and the ability to deliver compounding value. HubSpot, of course, became the backbone of that service delivery. What started as a scrappy idea became a multi-billion-dollar channel—and one of the most successful agency programs in SaaS history. Leaving HubSpot As HubSpot scaled, so did its internal politics. Pete found himself in the middle of a growing conflict between the direct sales team and the partner channel. Instead of collaborating, the two operated like competing businesses, often clashing at the deal level. Pete saw a solution, but realized implementing it would be painful in company scaling that fast. He eventually stepped away, even though he was responsible for nearly 40% of HubSpot's revenue at the time. “It got harder to get things done,” he admitted—proof that what works in a startup culture doesn't always survive as companies mature. The Evolving Challenges for Agencies Back in the early 2000s, agencies had to convince clients digital marketing was worth investing in. SEO, social, and funnels were foreign concepts for most businesses. Agencies had to sell belief before they could sell retainers. Today, the problem isn't buy-in—it's competition. Businesses now see digital as essential, but agencies are often commoditized into executing tactics. Instead of being trusted advisors, many find themselves replaceable—either by freelancers, in-house hires, or other agencies that “do the same thing cheaper.” The risk is clear: if you're not leading clients strategically, you're just a vendor waiting to be swapped out. Agencies Need to Lead With Strategy Most agencies claim to do strategy, but really, they only use it to justify selling a tactic. Redesigning a website? They'll run some quick competitor research. Launching content marketing? They'll whip up a persona doc. But that's not strategy—it's sales collateral. Pete is now working on a framework he calls Predictable Scale. It starts with true strategy: competitive research, customer research, defining vision and mission, and setting clear objectives. Only then do tactics come into play. Most agencies don't put these together in the right sequence and, as a result, get pushed in to executing tactics. For agencies, this is the key to breaking out of the execution box and earning a permanent seat at the table. AI as the New Strategic Edge These days, agencies can leverage AI to accelerate strategy and client service. It can be as simple as using AI to run a SWOT analysis, refine your brand voice, mission and vision, and then taking all the data and use it to create a custom GPT you can run to generate client-facing plans. One mastermind member, Chris Dwyer, took this to the extreme by building a board of AI advisors (finance, marketing, sales, and acquisitions) and saw incredible growth as a result. Pete's team has also dabbled in this use of AI and created a custom GPT called Pete GPT. They feed in customer interviews, surveys, and Pete's own writing so the tool can generate content in his voice. Beyond content, AI is speeding up product feedback loops. By connecting call transcripts, chat logs, and support tickets, his product team can instantly spot customer needs and prioritize features—a process that used to take weeks of interviews. Pete also has an AI agent that handles about 50% of his agency's conversations with prospects and clients, with a customer satisfaction score of 70% so far. For agencies, the message is clear: if you're not already embedding AI into your workflows, you're falling behind. Onboarding and Client Retention Still Matter Most Not everything should be automated, however, especially when it comes to onboarding. Onboarding can make or break a client relationship in the first 60 days. Too many agencies rely entirely on Zoom and automation, missing the opportunity to build true connection. “No one meets with clients in person anymore,” he said, and it's costing them. Some of the most successful agencies in Jason's mastermind make it a priority to visit new clients in person during the first quarter. That small gesture builds trust, creates deeper bonds, and makes it much harder for clients to churn later. With competition as fierce as it is, going the extra mile in onboarding may be the simplest competitive advantage agencies can claim. Selling Strategy as a Service Pete wrapped up the conversation by introducing Databox's new program for agencies: business intelligence as a service. Until now, most agencies used Databox to report on campaign performance. But Pete sees a bigger opportunity—helping agencies package BI consulting as a strategic service. Instead of being the vendor that just improves ad ROAS or runs SEO reports, agencies can step up as partners who improve an entire company's performance. That means quarterly reviews looking not just at marketing metrics, but at sales, ops, finance, and customer success data too. For agencies tired of being “order takers,” this is the chance to finally sell strategy over tactics—and get paid for it. 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.

In this Ask Me Anything Episode, host Amelia Phillips answers listener questions, along with giving an update on her book project, her new program, and her favourite time of the year - a temporal landmark. Deta Odedra: I’ve heard you talk about strength benchmarks for health and longevity, can you give me a couple? Anonymous: What’s the first step to take if I feel completely stuck with my health? Lauren Mac Rae: What daily habits have made the biggest difference in your health? About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Which growth drivers are fueling your agency right now? For today's featured guest, the answer is clear: thought leadership. It's the single biggest driver consistently bringing his agency the best opportunities. While it can be difficult to separate genuine impact from vanity metrics, the deliberate effort to position both himself and his agency as industry experts has proven invaluable for growth. But building that kind of authority doesn't happen by accident. It requires intentional work—stepping onto stages at conferences, showing up in interviews and podcasts, and, just as importantly, encouraging your team to create and share content of their own. In this conversation, he breaks down the strategies that help expand thought leadership beyond the founder, and why agency leaders must remember: expertise is a long game, one that compounds over time to deliver lasting results. Chris Long is the VP of Marketing at Go Fish Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, paid media, and content marketing. Over the past 3–4 years, Chris has been leading the charge on marketing and sales for the agency, driving new business growth and experimenting with different channels to see what really works. Spoiler alert: it's not just ads or conferences—it's something much bigger. In this episode, we'll discuss: Thought leadership as your agency's best growth lever. Scaling thought leadership beyond the founder. Building the right systems to encourage your team to create content. Why Content ROI takes patience. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. The Growth Lever Most Agencies Ignore: Thought Leadership Recently, Chris has taken an experimental approach to his agency's growth, testing growth drivers like Google ads, LinkedIn ads, and conferences, and found that thought leadership consistently stood as the biggest growth drivers; one that couldn't be replicated. Forget chasing the latest ad hack or praying your next conference booth delivers ROI—what's consistently driven their biggest, best deals has been showing up as experts in their space. However, thought leadership is hard to measure. It often looks like vanity metrics—views, impressions, shares. But when you zoom out, it's the stuff that actually moves the needle. The more the agency doubled down on creating content, sharing insights, and putting their expertise out there, the more deals they closed. Not just more deals but better ones, with stronger close rates. If you're still waiting for the perfect ad funnel to save your pipeline, you might be missing the obvious. Start building your authority in public. Share your wins. Share what you know. Because thought leadership compounds, and that trust is what gets prospects off the fence. Why Expertise is the Foundation You can't fake thought leadership. It all starts with real expertise. In Chris' words, “the reason someone's going to choose an agency, especially as you start to sell larger deals, is they have to be convinced you're an expert in something.” That doesn't mean you need to be the everything agency. In fact, the opposite. It could be as narrow as being “the best B2B or SaaS web dev shop.” The point is: prospects need to believe you've mastered your corner of the world. That foundation comes from who you hire, the culture you build, and how you innovate—whether that's through proprietary tools, processes, or just being damn good at your craft. In the case of Go Fish, that expertise showed up in real wins (like when their founders innovated on Geico's site and saw traffic spike 2,000%). Those moments of innovation fueled content, which positioned the agency as leaders. And that cycle of expertise, innovation, and thought leadership became a growth engine. Scaling Thought Leadership Beyond the Founder In the early days, thought leadership was usually founder-driven. You're the face, the credibility, the spark. But as Chris points out, that won't scale. At a certain point, you need the team creating and sharing insights too. For them, that meant encouraging everyone to post, write case studies, and share wins. Sometimes it was as simple as, “Hey, we crushed conversions on this client's landing page—let's write about it.” By empowering their team, they kept thought leadership flowing, even as the founders had less time for it. Thought leadership can't be a one-man show forever. As an agency grows, the founders have less time to spend on the day-to-day operations. If you want authority to scale with your agency, bake it into your culture. Train your team to see insights worth sharing. Make content creation part of the job, not an afterthought. The Biggest Mistake: Not Sharing at All So what do most agencies get wrong? They don't share anything. Too many people assume, “Everything valuable has already been said.” Or they think their insights aren't groundbreaking enough. But as Chris points out, “What's obvious to you isn't obvious to everyone else.” That's why simpley sharing SEO best practices on LinkedIn got him traction. What he thought was “table stakes” turned out to be news to his audience. And the more he shared, the more inbound leads followed. If you're holding back because you don't think your perspective matters, think again. Your experience has value—even if it feels basic to you. Building Systems for Thought Leadership If you want your team to start sharing their knowledge, you have to get intentional. At Go Fish, they didn't just hope employees would write content—they built systems: Every new hire had to write two blog posts a year. They tracked contributions in their project management system. They created two career tracks: one managerial, one based on thought leadership as an individual contributor. That last part is huge. By tying thought leadership part of promotions and career growth, they gave employees a real incentive to contribute. Chris himself went from manager (which he admits wasn't his strong suit) to a senior role via the thought leadership track. The lesson here is that if you want consistent content, make it part of how you hire, measure, and promote. Don't just “encourage” thought leadership—bake it into the agency's DNA. The Evolution of Content: From Blogs to Video Back in the early 2010s, blogs were king. One of Go Fish's founders wrote a massive guide on reputation management on the Moz blog that spun up an entire new agency vertical. That was the play then. Today, however, the game has shifted. According to Chris, video on LinkedIn and Twitter is where the biggest impact happens now. Video humanizes your agency. It takes the mystery away for prospects who are wondering: “Who would I be working with? Are they innovative? Do I trust them?” Webinars have also proven effective—letting people go deeper on topics, showcase expertise, and generate leads from long-form content. But the principle stays the same: meet people where they are, with content that builds authority. The Patience Tax: Why Content ROI Takes Years With content creation, you can't expect results in six months. Here's the brutal truth: content is a long game. To do content you can't think even on seeing results in six months. It may take years. Chris has gotten clients that thought about him when they needed an agency because they saw him speak at a conference two years prior. ROI doesn't always show up on a quarterly P&L—it compounds over years. The same goes for video content. Rarely does someone listen to one episode and instantly buy. Instead, they binge for months or years before making a move. That's why consistency matters more than intensity. As Chris said: “I post every day, whether I feel inspired or not. It's about the habit.” If you're evaluating content success after three or six months, you're cutting yourself off too early. Play the two-year game. The deals waiting for you are bigger than the “quick wins” most agencies chase. Consistency compounds. Virality is a bonus, not the goal. Strong Opinions and Deep Dives Win Attention So what type of content catches people's attention? On social media, where everyone seems to be shouting the same advice over and over, you can't be afraid to stand out. Take a stance. Neutral content gets ignored. As Chris points out: “Strong takes do well because people either comment to agree or argue. Either way, the algorithm loves it.” Go deep. Technical, niche content might feel too in-the-weeds, but it builds trust. Posts dissecting patents, experiments, or tools often outperform fluff. You may not think that really long niche content could do well, but people will absolutely watch a three-hour tutorial that proves a creator's expertise—and will come out trusting them more. This is the heart of thought leadership: demonstrating expertise in public. Clients don't want generalists. They want to see you know your stuff, inside and 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you an agency owner chasing the $1 million mark, believing that milestone will finally transform your business? Today's featured guest once felt the same way—until he got there and discovered it was all a myth. Hitting seven figures looked like success on paper, but behind the scenes he was burning himself out just to keep things afloat. In this episode, he reveals the processes that helped him escape no man's land, the critical lessons he learned about hiring, and the one thing he would do differently if he had the chance to start over. Justin Rashidi is the CEO and co-founder of SeedX, where he leads data-driven marketing strategy and operations. Justin never planned to start an agency, but what started as a tutoring gig in New York soon turned into a full-blown business. After getting past some common agency growth hurdles, he'll share what he's learned on overcoming no man's land, hiring, why he thinks like a SaaS founder when it comes to running his agency, and more. In this episode, we'll discuss: Don't fall for the million-dollar myth. Why growing fast was a problem and how he would change it. Hiring? Don't go for the entrepreneur type. Getting beyond ‘no man's land'. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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 “The Side Thing” Has the Potential to Become a Growing Business Justin grew up in a family where being a doctor, lawyer, or engineer was the gold standard. Entrepreneurship wasn't even on his radar. After moving to New York and starting a tutoring company, he realized business was way more fun than he expected. That small company eventually led him into freelancing—websites, marketing, whatever clients needed. The real turning point came when he and his now-wife recognized that the “side thing” they kept ignoring was actually worth building. Instead of just coasting from project to project, they doubled down and started turning Seedex into a functional, growing organization. The Million-Dollar Myth Hitting the million-dollar mark sounds like the dream milestone for agency owners. Justin admits he thought so too… until he actually got there three years into the business. In reality, it was one of the hardest stages of growth. At that point, your agency looks successful on paper, but reality tells a different story. You don't have the capital to hire senior talent. Your team is probably junior and undertrained. Processes are shaky. And you—the founder—are working yourself into the ground to hold it all together. Justin remembers that stage as “a form of hell” that helped him understand why many owners try to sell at one million. He was gaining weight, losing weekends, and burning out fast. Scaling too quickly without solid processes or proper capital can trap you in a worse spot than before. Grow Slower, Build Stronger Looking back, Justin sees one of the biggest problems for his agency was how fast they grew. If he could change anything, he would've slowed down growth. That doesn't sound sexy, but it's real. At the moment, it felt exciting to see his business grow so much. What he didn't know, however, was that scaling without processes or capital is like building a skyscraper on quicksand—it looks impressive until it collapses. He recommends two key moves for agency owners chasing growth: Build strong processes first. Make sure you can consistently deliver client success before you pile on more clients. Secure working capital. Don't wait until you're desperate for cash to get financing. Get a line of credit while things look good—because once you actually need it, banks disappear. This is one of those lessons that sounds boring… until you've lived through the chaos yourself. Thinking About Hiring Entrepreneurs? Justin Says “Just Don't” Another one of Justin's biggest realizations after hitting $1 million was that he had pushed the agency as far as his own hustle could take it. Suddenly, growth wasn't about what he could do—it was about what his team could do. As he put it, “I got myself here, now I have to get the rest of the team here too.” That's when he realized growth isn't about finding the right “how,” it's about finding the right who. That focus on hiring also came with hard lessons, Justin learned what makes an employee succeed or fail within an agency. He also learned the hard way: never hire entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs leave within 6–12 months to chase their own ventures. Instead, hire people who want to grow inside your company, who hold themselves to high standards, and who take ownership of improving processes. Once you have those people, agency life gets a whole lot easier. You're no longer solving every problem yourself—you've got a team that can think, adapt, and solve without you micromanaging. Beyond “No Man's Land” Every agency owner eventually hits that “no man's land” stage—the space between $1M and true scale—where everything feels hard. For Justin, it didn't end with some big breakthrough moment. It faded slowly over time. Piece by piece, things got easier: better operations, employees leveling up, hiring stronger talent, having more capital, and—maybe most importantly—understanding how a business actually functions. That compounding effect created stability. And while he wouldn't call it easy, he admits the business is way more enjoyable today than it was a few years ago. Numbers Don't Lie Which KPIs you pay attention to may differ depending on your particular market. When it comes to running SeedX today, Justin thinks like a SaaS founder and focuses a lot on contract retention and contract expansion. He wants zero churn and contracts that expand over time. That's how you build a healthy, stable agency without constantly chasing short-term clients. On top of that, he keeps a close eye on profit margins - aiming for 20% and runs monthly reviews with a tight bookkeeping process. For some, the more their agency grows the harder it is to maintain margins. In Justin's case, as his business has grown, their margins have expanded. Why? Because they got better at scoping projects and started moving upmarket to clients who pay properly for expertise. The agency world is full of bad scoping, undercharging, and scope creep. Justin's team now tracks time, analyzes leakage, and runs post-project reviews to tighten estimates. Raising Prices and Playing to Win One of the most powerful lessons Justin learned once he started tracking these KPIs was the danger of undercharging. Once he was running profitably, he realized he should be charging some clients more, and at this point he was confident enough to go back to clients and renegotiate that rate. In the early days, fear drove pricing. He didn't think clients would pay more. Now he sees it differently. If a prospect won't pay what it's worth, let them go. The client that undercut you will eventually realize they made a mistake—and when they come back into the market, they'll be ready to pay at the right price. “It's like a magic $30K shows up,” he says. Since you're running operations correctly and the time is already committed, that revenue drops straight to the bottom line. That's the power of pricing confidence. So stop racing to the bottom. Raise your rates, deliver great work, and let the unprofitable clients filter themselves 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.

Women are not small men, according to Dr Stacy Sims. So if you're wanting to get the most out of your exercise sessions, you need to 'train like a girl'. Dr Stacy gives us the ultimate workout if you have 4x1hr sessions available to exercise. She and host Amelia Phillips go through the most important exercises for longevity, bone health, fat loss and muscle preservation. If you're looking to be inspired to level up your training, understand the science whilst learning some practical tips, then this episode is for you. Dr Stacy will be touring Australia with Sarah Grynberg, find out more here: https://fane.com.au/taking-the-stage-dr-stacy-sims-and-sarah-grynberg-announce-new-australian-tour-dates/ Dr Stacy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drstacysims/ Sign up to Dr Stacys Newsletter: https://www.drstacysims.com/generic_optin About the guest: Dr Stacy Sims is a world-renowned exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist, and speaker who specialises in female-specific training, performance, and hormonal health (she was recently on the Mel Robbins Podcast). She completed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University, focusing on sex differences in environmental and nutritional physiology. She has over 20 years of experience helping women optimise fitness, recovery, and longevity, and is the author of ROAR and Game Changers, books that empower women to train smarter. Stacy is recognised internationally for translating complex science into practical strategies for women of all ages, She has almost 1 million followers on instagram and a very popular educational newsletter. About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Dr Stacy Sims Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is your agency's strategy diversified enough to withstand sudden algorithm changes? Today's featured guest—an SEO veteran—learned this the hard way. While he focused on client work, his own website grew outdated. Then one Google update hit and overnight his agency lost 80% of its organic traffic, its main source of leads. The agency eventually recovered, but not without leaving him with a powerful lesson: always invest in the three pillars of growth. In this episode, he shares his chaotic first encounter with SEO, the biggest lessons from a long career in the industry, and the “superpower” that helps him better understand and adapt to algorithm shifts. Chris Raulf is the founder of Boulder SEO Marketing and Chris Raulf SEO & AI Consulting. With decades of experience in SEO, dating back to before Google was even called Google, Chris specializes in hyper-focused SEO and content marketing strategies. He's worked with clients from local startups to major national brands, helping them dominate organic search. Fun fact: Chris is dyslexic and considers it his SEO superpower. In this episode, we'll discuss: The big mistake that led him to a career in SEO. The day 80% of his organic traffic disappeared. Why he now invests in the three pillars of growth. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. From Big Mistake to a Full-Blown Career in SEO Chris has been in the SEO game since before most of us knew it was a thing. Back in 1995, while working in Switzerland for an American company, he watched the birth of the search engine era. The US branch of the company created something called a “website” and hardcoded German text as images on it. His first “SEO problem” was figuring out how search engines could read that German text. That curiosity grew into a passion, and eventually a full-blown career. Fast forward to today, Boulder SEO Marketing is a hyper-focused SEO agency specializing in content strategies that win. But even with all that experience, Chris learned the hard way that no one is safe from the wrath of a Google core update. The Day Organic Traffic Disappeared In 2021, business was booming. Leads were rolling in purely from organic search. Then, overnight, a Google core algorithm update wiped out about 80% of their organic traffic. Why did this happen? Outdated content. Their own site had gone stale while they focused on client work. For an agency that relied almost entirely on inbound search leads, it was like someone padlocked the front door. Chris could have panicked, but after the initial shock, he collected himself and treated this crisis as an opportunity. He gave himself one weekend to create a comeback plan. The result was a proprietary approach he calls Micro SEO Strategies—laser-targeted content plays designed to quickly recover rankings and leads. Two Pages That Saved the Agency Chris rebuilt their inbound engine with just two key pieces of content: A location page targeting “Denver SEO” that shot straight to #1 in local search and started generating leads almost immediately. An SEO packages guide that became a go-to national resource for that search term, pulling in high-quality leads from across the U.S. Within 3–4 weeks, the phones were ringing again. Inbound was back. And Chris walked away with a hard-earned reminder—never let your own marketing go stale. Don't Put All Your Eggs in Google's Basket If you're getting all your leads from one channel, you're on borrowed land. Whether it's Google, Facebook, or any single source, an algorithm tweak or platform change can crush your lead flow overnight. Jason's advice on this is to build three pillars: Inbound (like SEO and content) Outbound (targeted outreach and prospecting) Strategic partnerships (referrals, collabs, and networks) That way, if one pillar crumbles, your agency can survive. Turning Dyslexia into a Superpower Like anyone who's struggled with dyslexia (like Jason, for instance) Chris had a hard time in school. Nowadays, however, he no longer sees it as a weakness and instead credits it with his ability to “feel” the algorithm and see patterns others might miss. It's helped him build a thriving agency, one that makes most of its money from content. Both agreed, what once felt like a setback in school became an entrepreneurial advantage later in 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.

Life doesn't always follow your training plan, and that's okay. In this episode, I'll teach you how to pivot your strength and cycling workouts when work, family, or stress throw curveballs. You'll learn my “3 R Framework” (Reduce, Replace, Reschedule) so you can stay consistent, avoid burnout, and actually build resilience as a busy professional who loves to ride. We'll cover: Why adaptable training beats rigid plans for long-term success How to pivot when you're short on time, energy, or equipment The mindset shift that separates thriving athletes from frustrated ones Actionable steps to create your own adaptable training toolkit Whether you're balancing a demanding career or just navigating life's chaos, this episode will help you train smarter, stay consistent, and feel empowered.

In this shorter Mini Motivation episode, host Amelia Phillips and Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari discuss Omega-3s, their benefits, how to test and track, whether supplementing works and top tips for supplementing, based on the DO HEALTH Trial. To listen to the full episode on the stunning results of the DO HEALTH Trial listen to their previous episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oBEKhGC6tkarx7mF9NlLK?si=4f8228bf1f514862 When supplementing, Amelia recommends the following dose: Omega-3 (1g per day= 330mg EPA + 660mg DHA) taken with food. Vitamin D (2000IU per day, ideal to test your levels first), taken with food ideally in the first half of the day. Liposomal spray (under tongue) ideal for better absorption Consider Omega index test (goal is an Omega Index of 8-12%) If you would like brand suggestions please email or DM Amelia. About the guest: Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari is an expert in aging medicine and aging research from the University of Basel Switzerland. She did her training in Switzerland and the US at Harvard Medical School. She is serving as a board member of the Clinical Consortium on Healthy Aging of the World Health Organisation and coordinates the “Global Consortium in Health Span Extension”. She is also the principal investigator of the DO-HEALTH trial. About Prof. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari: https://do-health.eu/user/heike/ DO HEALTH Trial: https://do-health.eu/ VITAL Study: https://www.vitalstudy.org/ About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Would you ever run two agencies at once? What if splitting your brand was the smartest way to protect and grow both? Today's featured guest spotted a booming opportunity in a regulated market—but knew that advertising those services alongside his work for conservative and tech clients could hurt his existing agency. His solution? Launch a separate brand. The move paid off as the regulated market surged during the pandemic. He shares what it's like to manage rapid growth, why he built a true people-first culture from day one, and how he stays optimistic even when agency life gets messy. Greg Peters is the founder of 4B Marketing and Hybrid Marketing in Denver, Colorado. 4B focuses on tech, energy, and government sectors, while Hybrid serves regulated markets—most notably the cannabis industry. A former tech sales pro turned serial entrepreneur, Greg's journey into agency ownership may have been accidental, but what's not accidental is how quickly he scaled. They hit $1M in revenue in their second year — and his people-first philosophy became the secret weapon behind his rapid growth. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why he chose to run two agencies. Growing to $1 million in just two years. Growing during the pandemic thanks to a controversial niche. Staying positive when agency life gets messy. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Running Two Agencies for Two Very Different Worlds Greg didn't set out to run two agencies. The split happened because of the cannabis side of the business. 4B's conservative government and tech clients wouldn't exactly appreciate a cannabis case study on the homepage. So Hybrid was born to serve the regulated, fast-growing cannabis market without spooking the more traditional side. This approach also positioned both agencies to thrive in their respective niches without brand confusion. For agency owners wondering when is it time to create new brands, separate brands aren't always about chasing new markets—they can be about protecting existing ones. If your positioning or client mix creates brand tension, a spin-off can give you room to grow in both spaces. From Accidental Agency Owner to $1M in Two Years Greg's path was a mix of corporate burnout and entrepreneurial curiosity. After years in tech sales and a detour into solar energy, he realized the big-company grind wasn't for him. So he launched a go-to-market consultancy for telecom.. Once creative work started flowing in—and his team started growing—he embraced the agency model. The real jump happened when he let go. In year two, Greg went from $600K to $1M by putting the right people in the right seats and empowering them to run their own “business units” within the agency. This is a shift most agency owners agree is vital to see true growth. However, it's usually uncomfortable and it takes time to make the decision to go all in. Greg made the leap quickly inspired by Richard Branson's philosophy in The Virgin Way. Years before starting the agency and as he read the book, he had already decided his mantra as a business owner should be putting people first and thus the people will put the client first. The result was a faster scale without burning out. The Pandemic Pivot: Cannabis Keeps Growing While many agencies hit pause in 2020, Greg's cannabis clients went into overdrive. With consumers stuck at home (and shopping local), demand spiked. That meant more competition, and suddenly the different cannabis providers needed more marketing to stand out. Hybrid Marketing doubled down on local search, “near me” campaigns, and brand differentiation—keeping clients top-of-mind while the industry boomed. For agency owners, this is a masterclass in following the growth. Greg didn't predict cannabis would save the year, but he positioned his agency to move quickly when the opportunity showed up. Sometimes the best growth strategy is staying close to your clients' markets and being ready to ride the wave. When the Org Chart Backfires Not every growth move is a win. One of Greg's biggest lessons came from rolling out an org chart he thought would streamline things—only to find it created confusion for clients and tension among the team. It was a gut punch, but also a turning point. He learned to check himself and remember this is only his first agency and there's still much to learn. Luckily, he was quick to strip out the toxicity created by that moment because culture eats strategy for breakfast. The goal isn't just to have a structure, it's to have one that actually works for your team and your clients. Staying Positive When Agency Life Gets Messy Greg has always naturally found himself on the more optimistic side of life. But his optimism isn't naive—it's built on grit, a strong support system, and relentless curiosity. From his wife's early encouragement (“It'll be okay,” even when the bank account said otherwise) to his own belief in learning every day, Greg credits mindset as much as skill for his success. For Greg, your network truly is your net worth and the more you can talk to people with the aim of creating a positive impact—whether that is on the financial business or helping somebody find a job or connecting them to a resource that'll help them—you put a lot of good stuff out into the universe without expectation, you'll get it back. Finally, curiosity is the most valuable trait an agency owner can have. Read widely, talk to people in and outside your industry, and always be asking, “What if?” It's that curiosity that fuels innovation, keeps you ahead of trends, and helps you navigate the inevitable ups and downs. 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.

In this shorter, Mini Motivation episode, host Amelia Philips and high performance executive coach Craig Harper discuss the art of aging well and how to stay energised, curious and engaged through our decades. Amelia makes a starling discover about Craig, and Craig's secret to a happy life is quite surprising (hint - its NOT exercise!). About the Guest Craig Harper is a high performance executive coach, motivational speaker, author, exercise scientist, and host of The You Project a podcast with almost 2000 episodes. Craig is also just about to submit his PhD in neuropsychology, all about self awareness. Craigs website: https://craigharper.net/ Craig's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiganthonyharper/ Craigs podcast - The You Project: https://open.spotify.com/show/1w9yRenAl1YvQExAtzSiGm?si=b1e4bf25139b4989 About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Craig Harper Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lauren Parker is a fourth generation female breadwinner descended from male charlatans, and thus has grown up to become a very educated liar. She is a writer, zine maker, poet, and visual artist. Her work focuses on the intersection of class, queerness, and the occult.She's the author of the poetry collection We Are Now the Thing in the Woods (Bottlecap Press, 2023), Dark Way Down (Animal Heart Press, 2025), and Spells for Success (Simon Element, 2025). She has a newsletter, Do You Want to Do Some Witchcraft?https://laureneparker.com/https://buttondown.com/laureneparkerhttps://www.instagram.com/fuckyeahlaurenparker/https://www.tiktok.com/@fuckyeahlaurenparker

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What happens when the agency you've built is just… stuck? Or when you hit a revenue ceiling, lose a major client, and start wondering if you've been playing the wrong game entirely? Those moments either break you or become the pivot points that redefine everything. In this episode, you'll hear from an agency owner who's lived through the grind growing his agency from scratch, riding out recessions, choosing a niche that would help him get out of “no man's land”. He'll discuss the strategic bet that broke through plateaus, why he still refuses to hire a COO, and the million-dollar risk that could have sunk him but ended up being a worthwhile bet on his vision. Alex Membrillo is the founder and CEO of Cardinal Digital Marketing, a 100-person specialist agency in healthcare performance marketing. Based in Atlanta, Alex launched Cardinal 16 years ago fresh out of college driven by equal parts ambition and desperation. Over the years, he's navigated economic downturns, client churn, plateaus, and tough hiring markets, ultimately transforming it from a generalist digital shop into a niche powerhouse serving multi-site medical and dental groups nationwide. In this episode, we'll discuss: Riding out recessions. Breaking plateaus and choosing a niche. Why he still prefers not hiring a COO. Alex's million-dollar bet on himself. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Starting from Scratch (and a Hospital Room) Alex didn't start Cardinal with a polished business plan or a stack of VC cash — he started it the day after his first child was born. After watching his dad's business nearly collapse thanks to a terrible SEO agency, Alex vowed to do better. With a fraternity brother on board and the confidence of having built a website once at sixteen, they left the hospital, started cold-calling local businesses, and selling websites. That first chapter didn't exactly go as planned. The websites flopped, but an SEO win for a kayak tour company gave them the confidence (and proof) they needed to double down on search. From there, they expanded into paid ads and built a reputation on a simple promise: If we suck, we'll give you your money back. In the wild west of 2009 SEO, when big agencies were scrambling to go “digital” overnight, this direct, performance-focused approach gave them an edge. Riding Out Recessions & Staying Hands-On Recessions shaped Alex's early leadership style. In 2009, big agencies were struggling, but lean, hungry digital-first shops could move faster and win clients. That meant Alex was doing it all—account managing 20 clients, selling new business, running QuickBooks, and hiring unpaid interns just to keep things moving. In those early days, generalists are gold. If you're too small for deep specialization, having people who can juggle SEO, PPC, and client management was critical. Even now, with a bigger team, Alex stays close to clients—spending hours each week on calls. To him, the job never ends, and the size of the clients is the only thing that's changed thus far. Hence, staying in the work keeps his perspective sharp. Breaking Plateaus by Choosing a Niche By 2016, Cardinal had hit a wall at around $3.5M in revenue. At that stage, he realized what he had wasn't really a business. You're just a very good operator that probably has one or two big clients. The problem is that if those clients leave, as it happened to him when he was around $4 million, then you're down to zero again. They'd grown by targeting four sectors—higher ed, home services, healthcare, and legal—which did help propel the agency. However, growth stalled again at $7–8M. Then COVID hit, and Alex decided to stop playing the “variety” game. Inspired by Jim Collins' Hedgehog Concept, he asked: What can we be the best in the world at? What drives our economic engine? What do we actually love doing? The answer was healthcare. They rebranded, rewrote their site, published thought leadership, and even released a book to claim their spot in the niche. They didn't fire old clients—they just stopped marketing to non-healthcare prospects and let those accounts naturally roll off. Alex does wish he would've also kept a bit of focus on higher ed, another sector where the agency really shined. Nonetheless, the bet paid off: a laser focus on healthcare has helped them grow faster, build deeper expertise, and win larger multi-site provider clients. Why Alex Still Doesn't Have a COO Alex firmly believes you can grow out of most problems, so every time he felt the agency was stuck, he went right back to improving their marketing, getting bigger clients, and hiring talented people. It's a simple formula that has kept working for him throughout the years. However, here's where he breaks from conventional wisdom: even at 100+ employees, Cardinal has no head of operations or finance. Everyone, including him, is billable. “I've made the mistake 83 times of listening to experts who say ‘Go hire a COO,'” Alex says. In his view, it's just not worth it at that point in your growth. “Do as much as you can as the owner. Have all departments report to you. You don't need middle management pushing paper. You need smart, talented people actually doing the work.” That lean structure only works if you market hard and keep new business flowing. It gives you the freedom to walk away from bad-fit clients and double down on growth opportunities. AI as Your Board of Advisors Agency owners like Alex, who see no need to hire a COO or CMO while they can still manage things themselves, can now turn to AI as a resourceful solution, treating it like an in-house advisory board. Like fellow agency owner Chris Dreyer—who built custom GPTs for CFO and COO roles and used AI to better understand the business acquisition process—Alex is now considering feeding his P&L and monthly reports into AI to spot trends, explain fluctuations, and even validate assumptions. The takeaway: you don't need expensive consultants or bloated leadership teams to get strategic insight. With the right prompts, you can cut through the noise and focus on execution, the part AI can't do for you (yet). The Million-Dollar Bet on Himself One of Alex's biggest turning points came when he bought out his co-founder. His partner had lost interest in client work, and Alex saw no way forward without full control. After a year of negotiation, he signed a deal that left him $1M in debt. For three years, he funneled $35,000 a month from profits to pay it off, losing sleep and enduring massive stress. In hindsight, it was worth it, but it took “probably 30 years off my life,” Alex says. Still, it was a defining moment—proving to himself he was willing to bet big on his own vision. Thought Leadership as a Growth Engine Cardinal's healthcare niche dominance didn't just happen—it was engineered. Alex leveraged thought leadership to own the space. From content and events to industry-specific messaging, they positioned themselves as the go-to choice for multi-site healthcare providers. He's quick to point out this approach has pros and cons, but if you want his playbook, he's happy to share it—just reach out on LinkedIn. 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.

You've seen HRV pop up on your stats screen. Now, meet your new secret weapon. In this episode, I break down what Heart Rate Variability (HRV) really means, why it's the ultimate gauge of balance between “fight or flight” and “Netflix & chill,” and how it matters for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists. Learn how HRV trends can reveal overtraining, readiness, or even illness. Hear about a real mountain biking study where HRV stayed low after a 3-day race. Understand the link between HRV and aerobic fitness gains. Discover simple, accessible strategies to boost HRV, such as breath work, bedtime routines, recovery rest days, and smart training tweaks. Use HRV not as a judgment, but as a powerful tool to optimize performance. Research links used for this episode: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36593493/ https://magazinebike.com/2025/05/06/heart-rate-variability-training-hrv/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7636 Check out these related episodes: 221. How to Develop Durability on the Bike 213. Fueling More Miles: Nutrition Tips for Cyclists in Season 170. 7 Things to do to Reduce Soreness from Biking + Strength Training #ShredStrong: Our Next Cycle Starts on Monday, September 1, 2025! #ShredStrong is my signature year-round strength and conditioning training program for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists, but you can join any time you want! Learn more about the program and sign-up HERE!  Do You Want a Coach to Help Make Training & Nutrition Easier and Simpler for You? Hi, it's me.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you growing your agency with the goal of selling it one day? More importantly, are you taking the right steps now to ensure it's actually worth what you think it is? Today's featured guest has built and sold multiple agencies over the years, gaining hard-earned insights into the process. He shares what you need to know to prepare your agency for sale, the potential pitfalls and opportunities with non-competes and earnouts, and whether hiring a broker is really worth it. If selling your agency is on your horizon, or even just a long-term possibility, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you maximize your valuation and avoid costly mistakes. Sean Hakes has been building and selling digital marketing agencies since the early 2000's back when ‘SEO' wasn't a household term and websites were still coded in tables.. He's grown agencies from small side hustles into multi-million-dollar operations, navigated multiple acquisitions, and learned the hard way how to structure a deal and when to walk away. In this episode, we'll discuss: Getting savvier for his second agency sale. Not taking the highest bid, but picking the right buyer. Getting back to the game after a restrictive non-compete. Buying back his old agency. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. How a Major Mistake Started His Agency Journey Most agency owners start by accident, but in Sean's case, he accidentally broke a website. While working for another company, he took down their site and had to learn HTML on the fly to fix it. That crash course turned into a curiosity for web design, which turned into a small SEO and design shop in Denver around 2001–2002, back when keyword stuffing and white text on a white background actually worked. Sean's first agency wasn't huge—three or four people, a few hundred grand in revenue—but their search visibility was strong. That alone was enough to attract an out-of-state buyer. The deal wasn't life-changing money, and looking back he thinks (since he didn't know anything about valuations) that he probably gave it away, but it was enough to get Sean hooked on the idea of building, growing, and eventually selling agencies. The “Do It Better” Second Act After dabbling in landscaping, trucking, and even diamond brokering businesses following the sale of his first agency, Sean realized marketing was still his zone of genius. This time, he teamed up with a sales-savvy partner. Sean handled operations; his partner brought in a big book of business. That agency scaled to about $3 million in revenue before they decided to sell—but not before learning a hard truth about valuations: top-line revenue doesn't mean much without profit. When they first went to a broker, they were shocked to get a $100k valuation. Why so low? No recurring contracts, thin margins, and too much discretionary spending. So they spent the next year tightening up—signing contracts, cutting waste, and boosting profit. It's a lesson many agency owners dreaming of selling at some point have to learn. You may think that making millions in topline revenue means your business is worth a lot, and then you learn there are many factors that determine that price, and profit is a pretty big one in the agency space. Understanding Deal Structures (and Picking the Right Buyer) The second sale was a much more strategic process. Sean and his partner used a broker, entertained multiple offers, and discovered there are a million ways to structure a deal. The one they chose was about half cash up front, with the rest split between owner financing and an earnout. Here's the kicker: they didn't take the highest bid. Instead, they picked a private equity group that specialized in their industry and cared about their team and clients. They passed on flashier offers, like one from a New York club owner, because they valued long-term success over a quick payday. They also learned brokers are very expensive. In fact, if he could do it all over again with the knowledge he has now, Sean wouldn't use a broker. Playing the Earnout Game (and Winning It) Earnouts can be a trap, designed to look great on paper but structured so you'll never hit the target. Sean and his partner weren't having it. They stayed on the sales team, volunteered their time, and treated the earnout like a commission plan they could win. The trick for them was conservative projections. Instead of promising buyers a wild 50–100% growth rate (and setting themselves up to miss), they targeted a steady 10% growth. This set the earnout bar at a realistic level—and they smashed it. They even negotiated out their broker's cut of the earnout once they knew they'd hit it, keeping 100% of the upside. From Restrictive Non-Competes to Freedom Deals Sean's second agency sale came with a brutal seven-year non-compete—likely unenforceable, but restrictive enough to stress him out. Five years in, low on reserves, he approached the buyer with a proposal: let him start another company without poaching their clients. Instead of a fight, they offered to partner with him, gave their blessing, and even returned his old domains. That experience stood in stark contrast to another sale where the non-compete was simply, “Stay out of our 30-mile radius.” Takeaway: Non-compete terms can vary wildly. Negotiate them up front, and remember that relationships matter long after the ink is dry. The Cashless Merger That Led to a Full Cash Exit In 2011, Sean started another agency, Altitude. Five years later, he merged it with another company in a cashless deal to boost revenue and valuation. Within a year, an unexpected buyer came along with a full-multiple, all-cash offer—and only wanted one person to stay on. Sean took the deal, pocketed the money, and moved to the beach in South Carolina to run a fishing charter. “The old saying about boats, being happiest when buying and selling them, is true,” he laughs—but the experience checked a personal dream off his list. Buying Back His Old Agency In a very full-circle moment, the company that had bought Sean's agency in an earlier deal came back to him in trouble. Mismanagement, bad outsourcing, and unhappy clients had turned it into a sinking ship. Sean and his new partner jumped on the opportunity, bought it back for a fraction of what they'd sold it for, rehired many of the original team, and turned it around within months. Sometimes the best acquisition target is one you already know inside and out—especially if you can buy it back at a discount and restore its former glory. Sean's Advice to Agency Owners Thinking About a Sale Don't take the first “decent” offer. The buyer pool is bigger than you think—negotiate. Be strategic with brokers. Great ones exist, but remember that they get paid if you sell, so their advice may be biased. Control your earnout terms. Conservative projections give you room to exceed expectations and actually cash in. Relationships last longer than deals. Today's buyer could be tomorrow's partner — or seller. 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.

Do you ever go through periods of feeling overwhelmed? Host Amelia Phillips and biochemist Dr Libby Weaver discuss how midlife for mums can feel like you are holding up the sky. In this raw and honest episode they discuss some breakthrough reframes (three in particular) that help you manage stress effectively. They discuss the biochemistry involved, how our thoughts really do dictate our biochemistry, and Dr Libby and Amelia open up about their own struggles with stress. About the guest: Dr. Libby Weaver is one of Australasia’s leading nutritional biochemists, a bestselling author of 13 books (including one titled The Invisible Load), an international speaker and founder of Bio Blends – a range of high-quality, food-based nutritional supplements designed to support real results. With a PhD in biochemistry and over 20 years in clinical practice, Dr. Libby is known for helping women understand the link between nutrition, hormones, stress, and emotional wellbeing. Visit Dr Libby's Website https://drlibby.com/ Dr Libbys brand new book Fix Iron First: https://www.booktopia.com.au/fix-iron-first-dr-libby-weaver/book/9781067067601.html Dr Libby's new supplement -Bio Blends Iconic Iron: https://www.bioblends.com/products/iconic-iron Dr Libby's Book, Rushing Women's Syndrome: https://www.booktopia.com.au/rushing-woman-s-syndrome-libby-weaver/book/9781401978150.html Follow Dr Libby on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlibby/ About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Dr Libby Weaver Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What happens when you stop chasing $30K projects and start solving real problems for smaller clients in a way that actually works? Today's featured guest had been building $32,000 websites for mid-market companies. On paper, it looked like success. But in reality, he felt stuck—unfulfilled and back in a corporate-style grind that didn't align with the kind of work or life he truly wanted. When he took a step back, he realized something important: the clients he really wanted to serve were already reaching out. These were smaller, $300K businesses with many of the same challenges agencies see across the board—but without the bloated complexity. So he made a bold pivot. He simplified his offer, created a productized service, and returned to his roots—helping people in a way that felt meaningful, scalable, and sustainable. The result? Less stress, more impact, and a business model built around freedom, not friction. Nate Freedman is the founder of TechPro Marketing and creator of MSP Sites, a productized service built specifically for Managed IT Service Providers. After years of working in high-ticket agency engagements, Nate made a bold pivot—focusing on volume, automation, and scalable coaching for small IT firms. That shift helped him grow from a $20K/month agency to a $2.5M+ business serving over 100 clients with a tight, dialed-in model. We'll explore his early missteps, the aha moment that changed everything, and the system he built to serve a niche audience at scale—without losing his soul. In this episode, we'll discuss: Pivoting to MPSs as the perfect fit. Creating a low-ticket offer. Productizing with a purpose. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Impostor Syndrome and the Accidental CEO Nate's background wasn't in marketing strategy or enterprise consulting. He was a self-taught internet nerd who cut his teeth writing affiliate articles and selling photo recovery software online. He studied accounting, not realizing when he picked that career that being an online marketer was an option. Right out of college, his first job was at an accounting firm, an experience he promptly hated. He felt exposed and like a fish out of water. This is a feeling he recognized years later when, the more his agency took on large, complex clients like Salesforce, the more he felt like a fraud. He was working with large corporations and felt like an impostor. It just wasn't the right fit for him. “I was putting on a kind of a facade. Like, I was pretending to be someone I wasn't… and it just wasn't me.” That realization drove Nate back to his roots: helping people who reminded him of himself. From Big Clients to Bigger Misalignment Nate didn't start small. Like many digital agency owners, his early focus was on winning big projects—$10K, $20K, even $32K website and marketing packages. And sure, those checks looked great at first… until a very good client sent him the dreaded email: “Nate, when are we going to generate leads from this?” That one question—posed by a well-meaning client already $32K in—flipped the switch. Nate realized that delivering work isn't the same as delivering results. The more he moved upmarket, the more he felt like he was back in the corporate world he hated. High-maintenance clients. Long sales cycles. No real alignment. He wasn't building relationships. He was building a façade. Finding His People: MSPs as the Perfect Fit Nate's breakthrough came when he niched down into the MSP (Managed Service Provider) space. These were former tech guys turned business owners—scrappy, smart, and stuck in the same ways agency owners often are. They didn't need $30K marketing retainers. They needed help generating leads, converting visitors, and staying in business. Nate made a gutsy move. He ditched his high-ticket proposals and started sending BombBomb videos to leads who had previously ghosted him: “You turned down my $20,352 proposal. Here's my new one: $2,000 a month, and I'll help you generate leads. I don't even know exactly what I'll do yet. I just want to help you grow.” That transparency worked. Five early adopters signed on, and Nate never looked back. Scaling a Low-Ticket, High-Impact Model What started as a simplified offer became a flywheel. Over seven years, Nate scaled his agency to over 100 monthly clients, all paying around $4,200/month. But growth at that level brings churn. With just 3% monthly churn, he'd have to invest more on sales and onboarding and close three new clients a month just to break even. However, focusing on growing this way meant turning away 75% of leads who were not at least $1 million in revenue that could afford the expense. And most of the businesses reaching out to his agency were at 200K-300K. Nate felt he could service those clients without a big investment in human resources. This sparked the next evolution: MSP Sites. The new offer targeted those MSPs doing $200K–$300K/year. These folks couldn't pay $4K/month… but they desperately needed help. So Nate reverse-engineered a low-cost, high-value offer that started at $200/month and eventually grew to include: Custom-designed websites Human chat agents CRM and booking automations On-demand courses and live office hours Weekly coaching and a client-only community He went from being “just another agency” to becoming an all-in-one marketing partner for small MSPs—at a price they could actually say “hell yes” to. Productizing with Purpose: Lessons from the Pivot This shift to a productized offer came with unexpected lessons, as Nate was confronted with a question from his past work making $32K websites or a $200 website: “Where are the leads?” He realized that whether he was going after the high end or low end of the market, he still had to provide an end result for clients. Low ticket doesn't mean low impact. He has to answer that question while still providing an affordable service, so he started layering in automation, coaching, and a structured experience This slightly raised the price to $300/month, but clients not felt like they were part of a premium program. Nate wanted to help clients not just have a website, but also generate leads, drive traffic, and close the deal. By adding live calls, email support, and a live event, Nate turned MSP Sites into more than a tool—it became a tribe. Once the service was upgraded and clients could get their website set up even faster, the problem was that now they all looked the same. Nate knew his clients deserved better, so he removed the one-click deploy and now ensures each website is custom-designed to look amazing. Of course, this also led to a rise of the set up fee, but clients were more than happy to pay for a better design. Finally, on-demand courses and live office hours were the finishing touch for his new offer and he was finally helping clients much more and building the business he really enjoys. Market Share > Margins (When You're Playing the Long Game) At some point, most agency owners fantasize about selling. Nate's no different—but he's thinking a few moves ahead. Instead of relying on private equity, his bet is on strategic acquisition by a larger company in his own niche. “The best multiple I'm going to get is from someone who wants more market share.” That's why he's focused on volume at the low end. Every small client is a slice of market share. And if you can build community, coaching, and brand loyalty into your offer, you're not just a service provider—you're infrastructure. The Next Frontier: Launching a Mastermind With 300+ paying clients, Nate's building something many agency owners should be thinking about but don't: a mastermind for your niche. Why? Because clients already trust you. They're already getting value. And when you get them in a room together—virtually or physically—magic happens. Better yet, Nate doesn't need to be the guru. The best masterminds don't revolve around one person—they're facilitated, not taught. When the room is full of practitioners, the value is in the conversations. Do Right By People (and You'll Win) Scaling isn't just about tech, pricing models, or marketing hacks. It's about people. Nate credits a huge part of his growth to partnering with E2M Solutions, which removed the HR complexity of managing a dev team in-house. More importantly, it aligned with his core value: “Do right by people. If you do that, no one's going to say anything bad about you. Even when you make mistakes.” It's simple, but in a crowded industry full of overpromising and under-delivering, that integrity stands out—and scales. 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.

Durability isn't just about going the distance - it's about how well you hold up during it. In this episode of Making Shift Happen, I share how cyclists (whether you're a mountain biker, gravel grinder, or roadie) can build true, long-lasting durability, both mentally and physically. You'll learn how strength training, proper fueling, sleep, and even mindset work together to keep you riding stronger, longer, and with less risk of burnout or injury. We cover: What durability really means (and why it matters) How to use strength training to improve fatigue resistance Mental strategies to push through tough moments Nutrition and sleep tips to support long-term gains Why consistency trumps hero workouts every time

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you stuck chasing new clients while ignoring the goldmine in your past customer list? Does your agency feast on projects but starve for predictable revenue? Today's featured guest knows what it's like to hit a growth ceiling and being tired of the one-and-done client hamster wheel. He shares how he pivoted his agency after becoming a HubSpot partner, why he turned to project-based work after customer habits changed following the pandemic, and how he got out of the dreaded “no man's land”. Eric Baum is the CEO and founder of Bluleadz, a HubSpot Onboarding and Implementation Agency dedicated to transforming the way companies market, sell, and service their customers through the power of the HubSpot platform. He'll discuss his cash flow challenges, pricing mistakes that almost tanked the business, and how EOS helped him escape “no man's land.” If you're stuck in the fulfillment hamster wheel or scaling past $5M feels like pushing a boulder uphill... listen up. In this episode, we'll discuss: Reinventing his agency as a HubSpot partner. The real scaling struggle: cash flow. Why project-based doesn't mean profitless. Strategic partnerships are the future. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Accidental Founder, Intentional CEO Back in the Yellow Pages era, Eric was running two service-based franchises and needed a better way to market them. He brought marketing in-house for PPC, SEO, web dev, and that hire didn't just turn things around. It turned into a new business. Fast-forward a few months, and other franchise owners across the country started asking for help. Eric spun that in-house team into an agency, and had 50 clients out of the gate. As many owners before have admitted to, Eric started out charging way too low—$250 to $500/month. “I don't know how I didn't go broke right out of the gate,” he laughs. And if you've ever undercharged in the early days, you'll feel that one deep in your soul. Reinventing the Agency (and Himself) Around HubSpot The turning point came when Eric discovered HubSpot and pivoted Bluleadz to become a certified partner. That's when the “real” agency began, as he started to study the industry and figure out what he had to do to be profitable, take care of his team, and do it without necessarily doing all the sales work all the time. From there, Eric leaned into strategy, profitability, and systems. He stopped trying to be the everything guy and started building an agency that didn't need him in the trenches every day. Fifteen years later, his agency isn't just thriving. It's structured, profitable, and on track to hit 8 figures. Life in “No Man's Land” – The $1M to $5M Plateau After fifteen years in the industry and getting closer to the eight-figure mark, one of the things that most surprised Eric was getting stuck in the ugly middle: the zone between $1M and $5M where a lot of agency dreams go to die. Many call it “no man's land,” and if you've been there, you know the pain. “It was up, down, up, down,” he says. “I'd grow, then lose key employees. Revenue would spike, then tank. I kept asking, ‘What am I doing wrong?'” The answer: a lack of structure. So about nine years ago, Eric implemented EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). That gave his agency the foundation it needed—vision, accountability, and a cadence to scale. It didn't fix everything overnight, but it got the business out of reaction mode and into growth mode. The Real Scaling Struggle: Cash Flow Even with all that success, Eric's biggest constraint today isn't clients or talent. It's cash. In the agency world, sometimes you can grow so fast that you can actually outpace your ability to fund it. As Eric explains, “Receivables stack up. You can't hire, build, or invest without the cash reserves in place to hit the down terms.” For instance, just this year his agency was down 20% compared to last year because of all the uncertainty for businesses. Sound familiar? So far, Eric's solution has been airtight payment terms. They moved away from waiting on client deliverables and toward milestone-based billing. They typically charge: 50% upfront 25% after month one 25% at month two or fixed date Not based on deliverables. Based on time. Why? Because waiting on clients kills momentum (and your margin). “We used to wait months to get that final 50%. Now we're often 100% paid before a project is even done.” Moral of the story? Set clear terms and stop letting clients hold your agency hostage. Project-Based Doesn't Mean Profitless If You Structure It Right Five years ago, 85% of Bluleadz's revenue came from retainers. Then COVID hit. Buying behavior shifted fast. Clients wanted results without long-term commitments. So Eric pivoted hard into project work—today, 80–85% of their revenue comes from one-off HubSpot onboarding and implementation projects. That means 50–75 new customers per month, each on 30 to 90-day timelines. The lesson: project-based doesn't have to mean chaos - if you systemize delivery and payment. However, Eric does admit he and his team had been failing to recapture clients for a second or third project. “We were just focused on getting new clients through the door.” Instead of nurturing clients post-delivery, they handed off the project and moved on. Meanwhile, past clients drifted—only to come back a year or two later in total chaos saying, “We lost our HubSpot guy. Can you help?” The opportunity cost was massive. They are currently working on recapturing these relationships. By reselling past clients, his agency could double or triple revenue in a year. The Triple-Team Model: Sales, CSM, Implementation In their efforts to start creating more lifetime value for customers, Eric's agency introduced Customer Success Managers (CSMs)—not just to check in, but to hunt for value. CSMs dig into each client's needs post-project, surface upsell or cross-sell opportunities, and feed them back to the sales team. Now they're farming the base, increasing LTV, and stacking wins without chasing cold leads. This third new role adds a new layer to his team's structure, which he now breaks down as: Salespeople close net-new deals and join key milestone calls.           Implementation Specialists own delivery and are the client's main point of contact. CSMs sit above delivery, watching for success gaps, retention issues, and upsell opportunities. “Salespeople are hunters, not farmers. Trying to make them farm didn't work. So we changed the model.” This layered structure gives clients clarity, keeps teams focused, and ensures no growth opportunity slips through the cracks. Strategic Partnerships Are the Future Another key reason Bluleadz is scaling so quickly is partnerships. They're one of HubSpot's top onboarding partners, and at one point this partnership drove most of his agency's net new leads. More recently, however, as they start to expand their efforts to engage past clients, only 40% of their leads come from HubSpot, while 30% comes from existing customers, and another 30% from their inbound marketing efforts, other strategic partners, and referrals. This makes for a more balanced pipeline: “Inbound, outbound, and strategic partnerships”. Those are the three pillars in the Playbook. You've got ‘em dialed in. As for Eric, he's all in on strategic partnerships, which he considers to be the way of the future. The One Thing Eric Would Do Differently If he could go back and give his younger self advice on agency ownership, Eric would say “Let go faster.” He held on too long to sales, finance, client services… all of it. And every time he finally let go, the agency grew again. Today, Eric has zero departmental responsibilities. His job is vision, strategy, and leadership—and it's paying off. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you a CEO still caught in the weeds of day-to-day operations? If so, you're not building a truly scalable business. Today's episode is here to help you shift that mindset. Our featured guest is a CEO who has grown his agency by focusing on smart leadership—prioritizing culture, developing strong management structures, and intentionally making himself less essential to every meeting. Like many agency owners, he once believed he had to outwork everyone to prove his worth. But over time, he discovered that the agency performs better when he leads with vision instead of constant presence and that CEOs don't need to be grinding to be effective. In this conversation, he shares how he came to that realization, what it's meant for his agency's growth and client success, how he built a trusted A-team, and more. Kevin Miller is the co-founder and CEO of Gr0, a performance marketing agency that's exploded from startup to 200+ clients and over 80 full-time staff in just five years. Before launching GR0 in 2020, Kevin cut his teeth at Google, served as Director of Growth at OpenDoor, and was inspired to jump into the agency world by a friend who built and sold one of the first Facebook-focused DTC agencies. His background in SEO and paid media, combined with experience at both bootstrapped and venture-backed companies, gives him a rare, well-rounded perspective. Today his mission is clear: build a high-performance team that wins together. In this episode, we'll discuss: Two levers to driving growth. Why CEOs are more effective when they're not grinding. Understanding that delegation is not optional. Client acquisition that doesn't feel like sales. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Getting to See the Possibilities of the Agency Space Watching a friend grow and sell a Facebook-focused DTC agency helped Kevin clearly see the differences between growing a bootstrap business versus a venture-capital backed business. His friend ended up selling the business for over $100 million, which Kevin hadn't think it was possible to do in the agency space. It was an inspiring moment that led to the realization that he too could build and scale his own business, which he chose to do in the SEO niche. From Zero to 200 Clients: The Growth Playbook With just half a decade in the agency business, Kevin can see most people just can't handle it. “Every day is a different game of guacamole with all sorts of people problems.” After all, in this business our product so the best way to guarantee you're creating a safe environment where people want to stay is to over index on culture. This is how a young agency can go from scrappy startup to 8-figure beast in half a decade. It's all about building a culture that attracts and retains A-players. If your account manager leaves, that client feels like they have to start over. It can be the worst experience for a client and the best way to avoid is to create an environment where everyone feels like part of a team. Kevin runs GR0 like an NBA franchise where everyone's expected to perform at a high level, without being a burnout factory. He's also very strict about behavior. No matter how talented you are, you can never be rude to a client or other employees. It's a team-first culture with high accountability and even higher standards that has grown fast by keeping people, delivering great work, and staying crazy responsive. Two big levers driving their growth: Kevin attributes his agency's success with client to two main elements: Rapid response times: Emails, texts, Slack messages… they don't sit idle. Obsession with client results: Deliver, retain, and let referrals do the work. Additionally, he knows it's not all about attracting new business. Churn is a killer. Retention isn't sexy, but it's the secret to compounding revenue. Inside the Org Chart: A 5-Level Machine In terms of the deals the agency is closing with clients, Kevin is a big believer that there's little room to do great work on a monthly basis, which is why he prefers offering six-month contracts that will later get renewed for another six months. He's also put a lot of thought into the agency's organizational structure, which he breaks down into five levels: Executive Team VPs Associate VPs / Directors (each running a service line) Campaign Managers Contractors & Specialists As to him, his role as CEO is divided into three categories: Coach – Recruiting and leveling up 10x talent across the top team. Closer – Still active in sales, he sets expectations and closes high-value clients. Visionary – Driving innovation like launching new services (radio is next!) and adopting tools like ChatGPT for smarter, faster workflows. You'll Be Needed Less & Less as a CEO – and That's Okay Being a CEO won't necessarily come naturally to everyone, which is why Kevin has a coach that has taught him how to conduct himself and cast the vision for the agency. He's also embraced the fact that putting together a capable team will mean getting told they don't need you to pitch in on every meeting. “If someone doesn't need me in a meeting, I'm relieved. It means we've built something scalable.” A true leader should be helpful and keep the company moving forward, which is why Kevin sees his role more as someone who works for everyone at the company, as opposed to the old model where bosses were tyrants that barked orders all day. It's not easy to lead 200+ employees, and leaders nowadays recognize that the way to do so is not just having a very strong team but also being able to keep them by building a great culture. From Hustle Mentality to Smart Leadership Kevin and Jason both admit they had to unlearn the “first one in, last one out” badge of honor. Many leaders tend to think they have to outwork everyone. Kevin admits he still wrestles with showing up early to prove value—even though the company runs better when he focuses on vision, not presence. The truth is agency CEOs don't need to be grinding to be effective. They need to be accessible, and they need to build teams that run without them. “If I'm on a mountain or a golf course, and I get a call, I'll answer. But if the team doesn't need me? Even better,” Jason shares. This shift, from being the engine to being the guide rail, is one most agency owners struggle with. But letting go (and training others to step up) is the only way you get out of the weeds. Delegation Isn't Optional—It's Leadership 101 Early on, Kevin believed only he could do the work “right.” But that mindset capped his growth—and created unnecessary pressure. Effective delegation and believing in your team is what makes a great CEO. As he says now, “you have to pass the ball and trust they'll show up.” If you're asking, “How should we do this?” you're already in the weeds. The better question is, “Who on my team should own this?” If you need ideas, start with Jason's 1 3 1 method to train team decision-making is a killer takeaway: 1: What's the problem? 3: What are three ways to solve it? 1: What do you recommend? It's a simple leadership tool that trains independence—so you're not the bottleneck every time something needs approval. You Can't Build Big if You Can't Let Go If you want to make sure you have people on your team who'll step up after applying the 1 3 1 method, hire people who can manage themselves. Kevin and Jason both agree they're not built to manage micro-tasks—or people who need micromanaging. “If I'm going to manage someone, I'll expect them to do it like me, at my pace, with my level of commitment. And that's not fair,” Kevin admits. As owners, your growth is capped by how much you think you have to do. Build a team of leaders—not followers. Give direction, not checklists. And accept that mistakes are part of the process. In the mastermind, Jason and the members celebrate even the failures—because sharing missteps keeps others from repeating them. That's how real learning happens. Client Acquisition That Doesn't Feel Like Sales Now let's talk lead gen. How did Kevin's agency bring in over 200 clients? It wasn't ads. It wasn't cold emails. It was strategic referrals—and they engineered that pipeline from the ground up. In Kevin's view, cold acquisition just doesn't work well with the amount of competition in his space. Instead, he built a network of warm referrals of ~25 trusted partners. Each partner gets 10% of the monthly revenue from any referred client. But more importantly, they only recruit partners who already know Kevin and trust his team to deliver. “I'm not reaching out cold saying ‘hey, I'll pay you 10%.' I'm building real relationships with people who already trust me.” This warm referral engine is the opposite of passive referrals. It's intentional, proactive, and mutually beneficial. It scales because Kevin didn't wait—he built the network years before launching GR0. Most of the time referrals aren't scalable. However, when you do it this way—proactively recruiting the right partners—it becomes a one-to-many strategy. This is a model more agency owners should be thinking about. It's lower friction, higher trust, and most importantly: it cuts through the noise in a saturated market. Pricing, Positioning, and Playing the Long Game One thing Kevin admits he should be raising prices more often. GR0 started with $3,000/month clients and now charges $8K–$10K for the same package. But that evolution took five years. Still, their market positioning is clear: “We're expensive but fair. Not overpriced, not low-budget. Right in the sweet spot.” This ties back to the trust built with clients and referral partners alike. If the value is real and the results are consistent, the relationships last. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Agency owners often stay stuck in delivery because they fear stepping back will tank what's working. Brent Weaver shares how he transitioned from being the “product” to leading a 300-person agency without burning it all down—and why you need to step up if you want to scale. What You'll Learn Why staying “in delivery” caps your growth How to stop being the product and build leaders around you How to set a real “North Star” so your team stops bugging you Why you need to know your numbers and stop blaming seasonality The mindset shift from VFR (gut decisions) to IFR (data-driven scale) Key Takeaways Your agency won't scale if you're stuck in delivery. You must step back and coach leaders if you want freedom and growth. Clarity kills chaos. Set a clear vision so your team can act without needing you in every decision. Use the 1-3-1 method (1 problem, 3 options, 1 recommendation) to build leaders and stop being the fixer. Know your numbers. Seasonality is often a scapegoat for pipeline problems you can fix. Every change costs churn. If your change won't grow you by at least 20%, it's not worth the churn. Stop flying VFR. Use data to run your agency if you want to scale without chaos. Are you still viewed as a ‘product' of your agency? Maybe you've considered stepping back from the day-to-day but are terrified you'll break what's working. Our featured guest is the newly appointed CEO of E2M Solutions and he shares what it's been like going from being the main “product” at an agency he built and grew, to stepping in to run a 300-person white-label agency. From losing the fear of breaking what already worked to accepting it's better if he's usually not in client call, he explains how he's grown comfortable in his new role: coaching the core leadership team, amplifying culture, and making sure hundreds of projects and thousands of tasks get executed well. Brent's journey is packed with lessons on what real leadership looks like when you're ready to grow. Brent Weaver is the CEO of E2M Solutions, a 300-person white-label agency helping digital agencies scale through web, digital marketing, and AI services. Before E2M, Brent founded and grew UGURUS, supporting agencies to niche, price, and position better. Now, instead of talking about scaling, he's deep in the trenches doing it. In this episode, we'll discuss: Stop being the product and build leaders around you How to set a real “North Star” so your team stops bugging you Why you need to know your numbers and stop blaming seasonality  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio From “Gainfully Unemployed” to Leading 300 People A few months before stepping in at E2M, Brent was living the dream: building a halfpipe in his barn and enjoying long walks on his property. Then, he jumped back in, this time not to build a new business, but to lead a 300-person agency that already had a killer product, a strong culture, and a commitment to service. Brent's move is the dream scenario for many agency owners who've spent years in the grind. He joined a team that's already winning and is in the process of figuring out how to take it to the next level without screwing it up. However, running an operation that serves hundreds of clients and handles hundreds of projects every month, the stakes are bigger, the team is bigger, and the impact is bigger. It's a different kind of pressure. When You're No Longer “The Product” If you're running a 5–20 person agency, you might feel like stepping up to a 300-person team would just mean 300 people interrupting you all day with Slack pings. But Brent that's not how it works at that level. If you want to scale, you have to stop being the product. At UGURUS, Brent was often the one jumping on client calls to “fix it.” At E2M, he's focused on coaching the core leadership team, amplifying culture, and making sure hundreds of projects and thousands of tasks get executed well without him being the bottleneck. As he explains, even though he loves speaking to clients, there probably shouldn't be a situation where he HAS to jump on a call with them. Brent believes agency owners should begin stepping back from daily agency operations once the team team grows to around 20 people. At this point, you should start to think about your business's leadership structure, management structure, and spend more time thinking about the “middle” of the business vs. just the vision. Take note: If you're stuck in delivery and putting out fires, your agency won't scale. Vision: Your Agency's North Star If you've heard agency owners talk about the business “North Star,” you know how critical it is to set a clear vision your team can rally around. Your vision doesn't need to be some sappy paragraph you read before standups. It needs to be clear enough that everyone on your team can make decisions aligned with where you're going without bugging you every five minutes. At E2M, Brent and his team know exactly where they're headed over the next three to five years—and every decision flows from that. This is true freedom to Brent. His vision of freedom is not one where he has lots of time off, but rather one where he can do his job as CEO without being micromanaged and can choose his path towards the agreed strategic objectives. If you want to stop being the product at your agency and you still don't have this clarity, your team will constantly come to you, expecting you to make every call. If you want to get out of that cycle, set your North Star. Then, overcommunicate it. The 1-3-1 Method to Building Leaders If you're still solving every problem in your agency, try the 1-3-1 method Jason used: What's the 1 problem you're facing? What are 3 options you've considered? What's the 1 you recommend? Teach your team to think critically and solve their own problems, and you'll stop being the default fixer. This is how you build leaders inside your agency instead of becoming the only adult in an adult daycare. Don't Let “Do No Harm” Paralyze You For Brent, being a good leader means getting down to why things are working or not working at the agency, with the same level of detail whether things are working or not. As a leader, if you don't have a firm grip on the business and why it's going up, down, or staying the same, you can't get a clear idea of how to improve the company or not damage what's working. New CEO's often come in with the idea of “doing no harm” by changing things too much as they start. Think about it like this: Any meaningful change will cause about 20% churn. If the upside of your change isn't at least 20% growth, it's not worth it. Don't be afraid of making changes. Just remember that if you decide to change the pricing, pivot your offer, or build a new division, it better be worth the churn it will inevitably create. This mindset frees you to take the swings that actually move your agency forward. The Seasonality Cop-Out If you truly have a firm grip on the business, you'll also avoid the seasonality cop-out.. “Summer's slow.” “Everyone's on vacation.” “Budget freezes in Q4.” We've all heard it, but as Brent learned at Digital Ocean (where you either knew your numbers or got roasted), seasonality isn't causality. If you see lead flow drop in the summer, don't blame the weather. Look deeper: Are you running events that drive leads earlier in the year but have no Q3 pipeline activity? Do your ad campaigns pause when the kids get out of school? You don't fix “seasonality” with wishful thinking. You fix it by identifying the root cause, putting numbers to the impact, and designing campaigns or partnerships to fill the gap. If you want next June to be different, start planning now. Clarity over confusion wins every time. Flying VFR vs. IFR: How Agency Owners Get Stuck With both the interviewer and interviewee being licensed pilots, we of course got this banger analogy when talking about decision-making for agency owners: Visual Flight Rules (VFR): You fly by looking out the window, adjusting based on what you see. Instrument Flight Rules (IFR): You fly by instruments, allowing you to go further, faster, and more safely. Most agencies operate under VFR, making gut decisions with limited data. This approach works when you're small, but to scale, you need to fly IFR, building a data system that tells you what's working, what's not, and what needs fixing. At E2M, Brent is shifting the company to operate on data, allowing them to scale smarter and make big moves (like building out their AI and Go High Level divisions) with confidence. 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.

Have you ever felt stuck? It’s this feeling that you’re not happy with where you’re at, be it in health, career, relationships or thought patterns. Host Amelia Phillips and high performance coach Craig Harper discuss why we get stuck, the impact on unlocking our potential and top strategies to get unstuck. If you have some stubborn habits and behaviours that are not serving you then this episode is for you. About the guest: Craig Harper is a high performance executive coach, motivational speaker, author, exercise scientist, and host of The You Project a podcast with almost 2000 episodes. Craig is also just about to submit his PhD in neuropsychology, all about self awareness. Craigs website: https://craigharper.net/ Craig's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiganthonyharper/ Craigs podcast - The You Project: https://open.spotify.com/show/1w9yRenAl1YvQExAtzSiGm?si=b1e4bf25139b4989 About the host: Amelia Phillips is an exercise scientist, nutritionist, and published researcher (BSc, MNut) with a career spanning 26 years in health. She is the co-founder of Vitality360, a functional health platform that helps people gain deep insights into their health and make targeted changes for lasting vitality.A respected media presenter, Amelia has been featured on Channel 9’s hit show Do You Want to Live Forever? and is dedicated to helping people build a life of energy, connection, and purpose at any age or stage of life.Instagram: @_amelia_phillipsHave a question? Email: ap@ameliaphillips.com.auFind out more at: www.ameliaphillips.com.auDiscover Vitality360: https://v360.health CREDITSHost: Amelia Phillips Guest: Craig Harper Audio Producer: Darren RothMusic: Matt Nicholich Production Partner: Nova Entertainment Pty Ltd Healthy Her acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 3, 2025When Jesus Asks, ‘Do You Want to Go Away As Well?John 6:60-71Matthew Pinckney preaching, Click here to listen

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training With clients increasingly expecting their agencies to leverage AI, are you waiting for client direction, or leading the way on how to use it? Today's featured guest has a unique vantage point on this shift. He runs a platform that connects clients with credible agencies while helping agencies showcase their expertise, giving him a front-row seat to what clients truly want and what agencies fear about AI. With hundreds of thousands of agencies on his platform, he's seen firsthand that the agencies standing out are the ones leading the AI conversation, not waiting for permission to start it. He'll share why educating your clients on the possibilities of AI is now a competitive advantage and how his company's new verification layer aims to bring trust and clarity to an increasingly crowded agency marketplace. Tim Condon is the Chief Revenue Officer at Clutch, the largest B2B service provider marketplace online, boasting over 300,000 agencies. Tim helps agencies showcase services, collect reviews, and attract qualified buyers. With a front-row seat to the challenges and wins of agencies across industries, Tim sees exactly how the best adapt—and how others risk falling behind. Tim has been on the show before with advice on how agency owners can separate from the pack and position their agencies for success. In this episode, we'll discuss: Is AI coming for your agency? Document your AI processes before it gets expensive. How you should be starting the AI conversation. The power of documented proof. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Is AI Coming for Your Agency? It Depends The elephant in every agency Slack channel: Will AI replace us? Tim sees a spectrum. Some agencies think they're immune (“We only serve local dentists, so we're safe.”), while others are already using AI to transform delivery, productizing what used to be manual labor into scalable SaaS products for other agencies. Most agencies are stuck in the middle - unsure where to begin and afraid to fall behind. Basically, if your clients are tech-savvy DIYers, yes, you're at risk. But 99% of clients aren't like that. They want the results AI brings, but they don't want to build or manage it themselves. Hence, those who adopt AI to streamline delivery and elevate their positioning—not those who ignore it or just dabble, will win. AI Isn't a Threat. It's Your Edge AI is already making agencies faster, leaner, and more profitable if they leverage it correctly: Custom GPTs for marketing, sales training, and operations Automated research and lead qualification Speeding up delivery while maintaining quality Tim shared an example of a San Francisco agency using LLMs to automate internal processes. It wasn't complicated: structured folders, an AI model to search and output organized results. Simple, but powerful. If your agency isn't at least experimenting with AI to remove repetitive manual work, you're falling behind—not because AI will replace you, but because other agencies will outpace you by using AI to do what you do, faster and cheaper. Document Your AI Processes Now (Before It Gets Expensive) AI pricing today is like Uber in the early days: cheap to get you hooked, but it won't last. AI's current affordability is saving agencies the equivalent of multiple salaries annually. Eventually, these tools will increase in price to reflect their true value. What can you do about this? Jason recommends documenting your workflows and data used to train custom GPTs or AI agents now. If pricing spikes or a model goes down, you can pivot to another provider without losing your institutional knowledge. Why Agencies Must Shift from Order-Takers to Advisors Most agencies fail not because they lack skills, but because they act like order-takers. As a clients, it's frustrating for Jason when agencies ask, “What do you want us to do?” instead of showing him what's possible. Remember that as agencies, your purpose is to solve problems for your clients. Clients (dentists, local businesses, even large brands) don't know what's possible with AI. They think it's just a fancy chatbot. If you step up to educate and advise clients on what's possible with AI, you become indispensable. Look to build systems that: Research prospects automatically before calls Automate competitor and market analysis Help clients leverage AI in their workflows Agencies that step into this advisor role, showing clients what's possible and taking accountability for delivering results, become irreplaceable. You're not just executing tasks; you're creating outcomes they can't create alone, and that's where real value lies. Don't Be Another “Nomad Agency.” Be the Real Deal Too many people who failed at running agencies pivot into teaching how to run an agency while living the “digital nomad” lifestyle, without having actually built sustainable businesses. This creates noise and mistrust in the marketplace, making it harder for real agencies to stand out. Most of the time, agency owners are accidental entrepreneurs—people who mastered a skill and were asked to help, not those who started for the lifestyle. If you're listening to this, you're likely the latter. To stand out, you need to showcase not just what you can do but what you've actually done. Your wins, client results, and case studies speak louder than lifestyle photos on Instagram. The Power of Specific, Documented Proof If you want to stand out from the fly-by-night agencies, talk specifics. Others mostly speak in generalities. Instead, credible agencies share specifics. If you can clearly articulate, “Here's the exact problem we solved for a client just like you,” then you instantly separate yourself from the pack. Tools like Clutch help because they use AI to pull themes from your reviews to match buyer intent, but your agency still needs to collect, showcase, and share detailed case studies and client stories. Documentation matters. If you're working with SMBs or mid-market clients, they want to see clear, verified results before investing. When you can present proof, it's hard for low-quality competitors to compete, no matter how flashy their pitch decks look. Start gathering your “receipts” now to future-proof your positioning. Verification Adds Trust in a Crowded Marketplace Tim's company Clutch now offers Clutch Verified as an additional trust layer. They don't just take your word for it; they check your business registration, credit history, and operating longevity to separate real agencies from “gaming-the-system” players. It's a powerful way to signal to potential clients, “We're credible, stable, and vetted.” For clients, it's a good indicator of who you'll be working with and for agencies it becomes a sales asset. When potential clients research you on Clutch, verified agencies are prioritized, giving you an edge over competitors. It's a practical, low-cost step to build trust and signal legitimacy, especially if you're competing for premium clients. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training RJ Huebert went from corporate comfort to agency chaos—and nearly lost himself in the process. In this episode, he shares what it really takes to balance speed-to-lead sales with sanity, and how he's redesigning his agency life for more freedom, better clients, and real personal wellbeing. Guest Overview RJ Huebert is the founder of HBT Digital, a Pittsburgh-based lead gen agency helping clients capture high-quality leads through digital ads that convert. Former corporate marketer turned agency founder, RJ knows both sides of the game—and why it's harder than it looks. What You'll Learn Why corporate escapees struggle more than expected in agency life The underrated power of speed in lead gen (and what most teams screw up) How to nurture not-yet-ready leads without annoying them What happens when your business always comes before your health and family How RJ is reclaiming time and rebuilding systems Key Takeaways Speed wins deals: If your sales team isn't responding within minutes, you're losing leads. Nurture with value: Use short, high-impact videos instead of stale PDFs. Even Meta is doing email wrong: Don't copy the big guys—build trust instead. Agency life means 20 clients, not one boss: And that requires stronger boundaries. Health > Hustle: RJ's learning that health, family, and freedom must come first. The solution? Systems: You can't scale or shut your brain off without them. Are you working harder than ever, but still can't turn your brain off—even on weekends? Today's featured guest is one of the many agency owners who has found it hard to find the right balance to take care of himself as well as the business. Like many agency owners, he made the leap from building someone else's business to finally building his own. But trading a cozy corporate job for the chaos of running an agency with dozens of clients wasn't as easy as it looked. He shares the real challenges of sales, why speed is still the secret to winning leads, and how he's figuring out how to convert prospects who aren't quite ready to buy. Most importantly, he opens up about the ongoing struggle to find the right balance between health, family, and keeping the agency growing. RJ Huebert is the founder of HBT Digital, a Pittsburgh-based lead generation agency helping clients pull in quality leads using online ads that actually convert. After 11 years of climbing the corporate marketing ladder, RJ got tired of building someone else's dream and decided to bet on himself—and it's paying off. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why he stopped building someone else's dream. How speed wins in lead generation. Always be first to respond. Ways to nurture leads that are not ready to buy. Why boundaries and self care are more important now than ever. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Building Someone Else's Empire? Here's the Wake-Up Call Like many agency owners before starting their own business, RJ was the corporate marketing guy building someone else's business, getting them rich, while rising through the ranks and learning how to actually drive results with digital marketing. Also like many others, he hit a moment of questioning whether it was worth it after eleven years. Sound familiar? That's when he decided it was time to test if people would actually pay him for these skills. He got some clients on the side, launched a 5K race company, and eventually opened his own digital marketing agency, proving that you can take your skills and build your own agency if you're willing to start. The Attribution Struggle He Faced as an Agency Client From his experience hiring agencies on the corporate side, one of the biggest frustrations RJ encountered was the attribution nightmare. It wasn't always easy to see where the lead came from and where they were at in the pipeline. This was some ten years ago, so every agency was siloed: SEO, PPC, outdoor, TV—and each claimed leads but no one could prove it. And even today, with GA4, HighLevel, UTMs, and tag managers, the truth is: “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.” We're bombarded with data, but turning it into actionable insight is another story. RJ prefers to establish a baseline, track what matters, and avoid drowning in vanity metrics - like open rates—that don't impact the client's bottom line. Why Speed to Lead Still Wins Both RJ and Jason agree that speed to lead wins deals. If you're not calling leads while they're still on your website you are likely losing opportunities. Just like you probably click on the first result in a Google search, whoever calls back first is going to win. If your sales team is still waiting hours (or days) to follow up, you're leaving money on the table. Rethinking Nurture Sequences Without Being “That Guy” Even if you're not converting them right away, how are you nurturing those leads in a way that doesn't feel like overkill? First of all, replace boring white papers with short, actionable videos that deliver instant value. For example, Jason's Budget Buster video helps prospects get budgets 99% of the time, creating immediate ROI and building trust. Follow that with another bite-sized value piece a few days later. Once leads warm up, move them to your newsletter list. Have some lead magnets ready, like useful videos you can send each week to warm up that client. After that, you can move that client from the “warm-up” list to a newsletter list, so you can send them valuable content on a daily basis. Sending daily value-packed emails to engaged subscribers actually increased their domain authority and engagement. It's about quality frequency, not spam. Think about what you'd want to receive yourself, not just what you want to send. The Meta & Google Frustration We're All Tired Of Not even Meta is getting emails right, as they send multiple emails a day that don't really add much value for clients. On top of that, their reps hardly ever provide the right solutions and are mainly focused on “spend more” strategies. It's a universal frustration for agency owners, who see Meta is calling clients directly trying to cut their agency out. It's one more reason why agencies need to protect their positioning, control client conversations, and not let the platforms dictate strategy. From One Client to Twenty: The Real Agency Rollercoaster What's the hardest shift going from corporate to owning your agency? For RJ, it was going from one clear client you're focusing on at one moment to having even 20 clients, plus “trying to get clients to pay you, to keep paying you, while finding new ones, and keeping them happy.” Running an agency turned out to be way harder than he expected. Corporate can be robotic and boring, but on the bright side, you have one client: your boss. Lose that, and you're done. In the agency world, a client can fire you, but you've got 5, 10, or 20 others paying the bills. The flip side? You're always on. Even when you're “off,” your mind is stuck on proposals, scope creep, and that client's weird Slack message at 10 pm. That's one of the biggest challenges for RJ at the moment. Setting Your Priorities Straight with The Right Systems When it comes to taking care of yourself, your priorities should always be: Health, Family, Agency—In That Order. However, too often agency owners get their priorities backwards. You have a zillion things you can and should be doing and choosing the priority is the challenge. That balancing act gets easier once you build the right leadership team and put systems in place that pull you out of the weeds. But agency owners often struggle to shut their brains off, leading to constant stress, scattered priorities, and burnout cycles that can wreck family time, health, and even your love for the business. If you're stuck in the chaos, it's time to step back and prioritize what actually moves the needle in your agency. 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.

Embrace the Power of Rest and Breathe In a world that glorifies hustle, the concept of rest often feels foreign. Rest isn't a luxury; it's a necessity for both your mental and physical health. You need to rest and breathe. Embracing rest and breath can transform your daily life, enabling you to lead and parent with vitality rather than burnout. Understanding Effective Rest When we refer to rest, it's not about idleness; it's about rejuvenation. It's crucial to reject the misconception that rest equates to laziness. Proper rest involves creating space for simplicity, silence, and sacred rhythms. This approach enables your mind and body to renew, allowing you to approach life with clarity and purpose. Regulated nervous systems and renewed minds are integral to genuine rest. These elements counteract society's push to overachieve, leading to unhealthy stress levels. To avoid unhealthy stress levels and potential future health complications, it is essential to rest and breathe. The Vital Role of Breath Breathwork serves as a powerful tool for regulating your nervous system. Proper diaphragmatic breathing helps ensure that your physiology functions optimally, promoting peace and reducing anxiety. Many people unknowingly breathe incorrectly, using shallow breaths that keep the body in a stressed state. Engage in breathwork by practicing slow, intentional breaths. These conscious breathing exercises can bring immediate calm and enhance mindful living. Incorporate Rest Daily Rest can be integrated into your life without sacrificing productivity. Consider setting aside five minutes each day for silence and solitude. During this time, focus on your breathing. Let go of societal expectations, tune into the present moment, and experience the tranquility of God's presence. Simplicity and moderation are key. Allow yourself permission to reduce clutter in both your schedule and mind. This intentional practice of slowing down fosters a refreshing sense of peace and presence. Read the full shownotes and access all links.    Download the free eBook: A Guide to Alleviate Anxiety by Developing Healthy Habits for a Healthy Mind   Website for Julie Roebken Additional Resources for A Healthy Lifestyle Regulate Your Nervous System - Bonus Episode. Do You Want the Easy Way to Get Healthy? Adopt God's Prescription. - Episode 386 with Chelsea Blackbird.  

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training A surprise $10K tax bill nearly knocked Pete Kleinjan off course—but he learned that trusting experts, keeping perspective, and staying outcome-focused is what turns agency chaos into long-term growth. If you're facing curveballs, this episode is your mindset reset. What You'll Learn Why SEO isn't what you sell, it's what it gets your clients. The tax mistake that cost $10K (and what Pete did right). How to lead through chaos with perspective, not panic. Why timeless principles beat trendy tactics every time. How realness (not AI avatars) builds lasting trust. Key Takeaways Clients buy outcomes, not SEO jargon: Sell the lakehouse dream, not the traffic report. Tax mistakes can kill momentum. Hire experts early: A $10K bill could've derailed everything, but Pete owned it and leveled up his support team. Stay resilient when the storm hits: Business will test you. What keeps you going is clarity, not hustle. Tools change, principles don't: Focus on client results, clear communication, and solving problems—not shiny new platforms. Authenticity wins: Forget perfect video. Scrappy, honest content builds trust that converts. Sell what they need, not what you want to deliver: Pete got a client for life by solving a $0 “do not index” issue. That's value. What's the most unexpected challenge you've faced as an agency owner? How did you handle it when things went sideways? Agency life is full of curveballs, and the only way to keep your business alive is by maintaining perspective and resilience when the unexpected hits. Today's featured guest once thought he would lose all the progress he'd made with his agency when the state hit him with a surprise $10K sales tax bill he didn't even know existed. But now, he looks back and laughs, recognizing that getting through it came down to trusting the right professionals and staying the course. He firmly believes that keeping your business afloat for the long haul means remembering why clients hire you in the first place — and that focusing on the outcomes that matter is what builds trust and closes deals. Pete Kleinjan is the founder and owner of Tiger29, an SEO agency that helps local small businesses achieve their sales goals. His agency isn't a sprawling team of 50; it's a small, sharp crew focused on what small business clients actually care about: more phone calls, more leads, more sales. In this episode, we'll discuss: The real reason clients want SEO. A lesson on team + preparedness. Perspective & resilience when things go sideways.  Why you should focus on what won't change. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. The Real Reason Clients Want SEO (And Why We Overcomplicate It) Pete's first job right out of college was doing credit card collection. It was awful but it trained him in being on the phone multiple hours a day having difficult conversations, which led to his next job selling wheelchair-accessible vans. As a salesperson, he quickly realized the key to more sales wasn't grinding harder—it was getting more qualified leads. After he communicated his drive to help bring in more leads, the company's developer threw him a Wikipedia link to SEO, and Pete dove in, learned FTP, and started tweaking pages himself. That hands-on hunger turned into a full-fledged agency by 2009. It's a story he still tells prospects because he knows clients don't want SEO; they want what SEO brings. They want sales, the Cadillac, the lakehouse dream—not rankings or traffic screenshots, and leading with that terminology could just push them away. Pete urges agency owners to remember this because it speaks to what small business owners care about: “How do I get more of the customers I want?” When you lead with jargon, you lose your prospect. Lead with the transformation. The Unexpected $10K Sales Tax Bill (And a Lesson on Team + Preparedness) A couple of years into his agency, Pete received a letter from the state labeled “sales tax review” (not audit, but let's be real—it was an audit). Turns out, in South Dakota, consulting services are taxable, and the state decided local SEO link-building and citation placement fell under “taxable consulting.” This little “surprise” ended with Pete writing a $10,000 check to the state. For a moment, Pete considered fighting it and asked his attorney brother for advice. However, his brother put it in perspective for him: pay the $10K or pay a lawyer to sue and likely have the state fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. It wasn't fun, but it was the best decision for his peace of mind. For him, the big takeaway was: Hire a good bookkeeper and CPA who know your local tax nuances. You don't want to be the expert in tax law, just like your clients shouldn't have to be experts in SEO. Pete chose not to pass that bill back to his clients because it was his mistake, and it would be unfair. But it also taught him to be proactive in areas outside his zone of genius by building a team of experts who handle the boring (but crucial) details. Perspective and Resilience When Things Go Sideways Pete's tax story caused sleepless nights at the time, but looking back, he laughs about it. Because here's the hard truth about agency ownership: Money challenges, curveballs, and “surprise” bills are going to happen. Your ability to weather these storms without spiraling is what separates owners who build sustainable agencies from those who burn out. When you've been in the game long enough, you realize it's never all rainbows, and there's always something around the corner that could trip you up. But when you remember why you're in business—to build a life you love, not just a bigger agency—it becomes easier to shake off setbacks and focus on what matters: your health, your team, your freedom, and your ability to keep moving forward. Focus on What Won't Change In a recent interview, Jeff Bezos was asked about how he thought things would change in five years. His answer was that instead of obsessing over what will change, he prefers focusing on what won't change. No matter what, clients will always want results. They'll always want things on time. They'll always want problems solved by real humans who care. Whether you're using AI, TikTok or any other platform, those core truths will remain. We can often get distracted by tools and trends (AI, new social platforms, “the next algorithm hack”). But the tools in your box will change; your job—to deliver transformation to clients—will not. Build your business around timeless principles like clear communication, trust, and delivering results, and you'll outlast any trend. AI, Avatars, and Authenticity With the coming wave of AI avatars, deepfakes, and synthetic influencers, how should agency owners use these tools while maintaining authenticity? Yes, you could deploy an AI influencer for your agency, especially if you're camera-shy. But as Pete shared, their social media commandment #1 is “it has to be real.” Their scrappy videos may not be as polished as some big agencies, but they convert because they're authentic, quirky, and genuinely helpful. In a future where clients may question if what they see online is real, your authenticity will become your moat. Using AI should amplify your agency's personality, not replace it, so let your realness be your competitive advantage. Selling What Clients Need, Not What You Want to Sell A small business owner struggling for two years with a site that wouldn't show up on Google. Why? A simple “do not index” box was checked in WordPress. Everyone else was trying to pitch her a free “strategy call” (AKA sales call), but Pete charged for an SEO Power Hour, solved her problem immediately, and won her trust. The takeaway for Pete was that it's good he didn't default to “selling a new website” when a client came for SEO. Don't push a service because it's your highest margin offer. Sell what they actually need. When you do, you become their trusted advisor, not another expense they're trying to cut. 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.

Many cyclists obsess over VO₂max, but what if that number isn't telling the full story? In this episode, I break down what VO₂max actually measures, its limits as a performance predictor, and which metrics (like FTP, lactate threshold, and durability) can matter more for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists. You'll learn how to structure your training to improve what really counts, and why strength training should absolutely be part of your routine. Whether you're an intermediate rider or an experienced racer, this episode will help you train smarter, not just harder. ✅ What You'll Learn: What VO₂max really is (and what it isn't) Why lactate threshold and FTP are better performance predictors The science behind durability and how to train it How strength training improves cycling economy and fatigue resistance

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Running an agency can feel like chaos on repeat—clients, team stress, and no clear direction. You're not alone. Today's featured guest has built and sold a $3M+ agency, kept employee turnover under 5%, and is now launching a focused, values-driven agency built to thrive in today's market. He shares some hard-won lessons on building a culture your team will never want to leave, attracting clients who respect your expertise, and creating the clarity and focus you need to scale without burning out. If you're an agency owner who's tired of the chaos and wants a clearer, saner path forward, this conversation will give you a roadmap worth following. Colin Hetherington is the founder of the newly minted Common Good in Dublin, but he's no rookie. Before that, he co-founded Zoo Digital, growing it past $3M a year before it was acquired, and even earlier, he pitched and built agency.com's Dublin presence when Ireland barely had broadband. After building and scaling agency.com Ireland, Colin and two colleagues grabbed coffee after a client meeting and decided, “There's a better way to do this.” It wasn't a grand plan with a 50-slide deck. It was a hunch—and a leap of faith. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why he believes in taking the leap before you're ready. Build systems or burn out. How to keep turnover at less than 5%. Why focus is the ultimate power move. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Look for the Venn Diagram Sweet Spot Colin's first experience in digital marketing came when he worked for an agency in San Francisco back in 1999. At iTraffic, subsequently taken over by Agency.com, he learned about what was called at the time ‘internet advertising', and five years later he pitched the idea of setting up Agency.com in Dublin.  Their developing edge was putting strategy, creative, and technology under one roof at a time when agencies treated digital as an afterthought. That unique combination allowed them to win big clients like the National Lottery and the Irish Tourism Board with a tiny seven-person team. In just two years, they went from zero to driving 12% of the group's revenue and Colin and his partners felt ready to grow their own business. Hitting Their Stride with Innovation Zoo launched in 2008, right before the Great Recession and right as businesses started pulling back and budgets evaporated. However, they were able to adapt by winning some solid clients and partnering quietly behind the scenes with agencies that couldn't handle digital in-house. They found scrappy ways to deliver big ideas on smaller budgets, often using student illustrators or leaner production. By 2015, they'd grown the team to fourteen people and were hitting their stride with their original formula of combining strategy, creative, and technology under one roof that led them to work with big names like Redbull. After bringing innovation to countless brand events, Colin's agency started focusing on UX and got an important partnership with one of the largest banks in Ireland. While not every flashy innovation won new business immediately, it got them on pitch lists and made their team proud. Hiring Before You're Ready Colin's hiring strategy has always been taking leaps of faith. Instead of hiring one by one, they'd hire in threes or fours—betting on themselves to fill the pipeline. This was even back when they couldn't forecast beyond five months. For Colin, there was no use in debating and agonizing over these leaps for weeks when the team was already stretched for 1–2 months straight. Playing too small can be riskier than making bold, smart bets and, as they learned over time, taking those leaps of faith paid off every time. Every time they made that leap, the new team members were busy almost immediately. Build Systems or Burn Out On the other hand, Colin was not as quick to scale processes as they grew the team, which resulted in many projects being delayed and clients rightly unhappy about the situation. At one point, Colin was heading to a client meeting with that sick-to-your-stomach feeling that they were about to get fired for missing deadlines. They didn't get fired, but the client laid it out: “We love you, but can you ever deliver on time?” That wake-up call pushed Colin to bring in operations help, implement systems, and build scalable processes so they could grow without chaos. This next step also required them to admit they just weren't great project managers and needed outside help to build the foundations to grow the business. Culture Is What You Live, Not What You Write Colin managed to keep his agency's employee turnover at less than 5% by putting a heavy focus on culture while he was at Zoo. It's easy to slap a “values” page on your agency's website. He understood that reducing churn meant reducing time spent on getting people up to speed, for instance, but he also understood that culture isn't what you write down—it's what you live. For Colin, it all came down to leadership and how the leadership team delivers culture. For starters, they treated people like adults, trusting their team to own their work without micromanagement, and recognizing that work is just one part of life. When hard times hit, like during COVID, Colin and his partners were transparent. They had to temporarily reduce salaries but promised to pay it back when the storm cleared—and they did. That act of integrity built trust in a way no ping-pong table or Slack emoji ever could. Your Values Attract the Right Clients (and Repel the Wrong Ones) If you've ever worked with a nightmare client—the kind who demands everything yesterday, disrespects your team, and thinks paying your invoice is a license to treat you like dirt—yyou know the toll it takes on your team and energy. On this, Jason and Colin agree: it's better to walk away. Colin has learned that sharing the unspoken values you hold as a team don't just keep your culture healthy; they also shape the clients you attract. The best, longest-lasting client relationships he had were with organizations that shared similar values around respect, partnership, and clear communication. As to the nightmare clients? Those relationships were doomed from day one because the values were out of sync. Focus Is the Ultimate Power Move After selling Zoo, Colin is launching his new agency, Common Good, with one big lesson in mind: Focus beats everything. Instead of being a generalist, Colin is zeroing in on serving state and civil service organizations in Ireland. He believes these organizations are doing important work that deserves to be communicated well—and that clear positioning will set them apart in a market where every agency says the same thing about their “process, portfolio, and people.” What's more, Colin isn't trying to build another 60-person agency. He's embracing the shift in the market toward lean, senior teams that can deliver high-quality work without unnecessary bloat. If you're still in the grind of your first agency, it's normal not to have perfect clarity yet. You have to try things, learn what drains your energy, and double down on what gives you energy. The sooner you build reflection time into your schedule, the sooner you'll find your agency's true direction. It may be hard to take the time to really think about these things. The day-to-day of running an agency can drown you in Slack messages, client calls, and fires to put out. But stepping back—even for a few hours each week—to reflect on where you're going and why can be the difference between a business that drifts and one that thrives. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Buying another agency sounds like a shortcut to scale — but if you skip the wrong step or miss the wrong promise, you might inherit more problems than profit. But how do you actually approach due diligence to ensure a seamless, profitable acquisition? Today's featured guest learned these lessons the hard way. What started as a promising deal quickly revealed cracks, forcing him and his partner to navigate unexpected challenges to pull the agency through. In the process, he discovered the key questions you must ask before buying another agency and the hidden details that can make or break your investment. If you're an agency owner thinking about using acquisitions as a growth strategy, today's conversation will equip you with real-world insights to avoid costly mistakes and set your agency up for a smoother, successful expansion. Matt Marchetta is an agency owner with two decades of experience who recounts his journey in the industry, from starting his first web design business in high school to pivoting into e-commerce and ultimately becoming a digital nomad. He teamed up with a partner to acquire Growth Labs, a lead generation shop focused on outbound. He goes over some of the challenges and crucial lessons learned during the acquisition process, particularly concerning due diligence, unforeseen client guarantees, and the original owner's significant personal brand influence on the agency's client base. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why buy another agency in the first place? Due diligence traps that cost real money. The ROI guarantee that almost blew up the deal. 4 questions you must ask before your next acquisition Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. From Solo Hustle to Ecom Growth Machine Matt started his agency journey as a kid who just wanted to work for himself and quickly learned the hard way—like many do—that running a business isn't just about being good at the work, it's about learning the business of business. It's a time he remembers fondly as a great foundation for his business education. He pivoted early from generalist design and dev work into e-commerce, riding that wave as it grew. Over time, he layered in Facebook ads, video production, and photography to support product marketing for his clients. And while many were stuck in offices, Matt was ahead of the curve, running remote from day one, carving out a lifestyle business that let him travel, stay flexible, and keep agency life fun. In fact, he never thought seriously about the possibility of selling his agency, since it's something he really enjoys doing and didn't think he'd ever get an offer that would compare to what he thinks it's worth. Why Buy an Agency? So why would a guy who loves the freedom of his own agency buy another one? Simple: leverage and evolution. Matt and his current business partner decided it was time to level up their respective agencies. They were both tired of being generalists and saw an opportunity to specialize, automate, and potentially transition out of day-to-day client grind by acquiring a business with the right foundation. They didn't go hunting for a big fish they couldn't afford. Instead, they targeted a sub-seven-figure agency they could buy at a fair multiple, with the goal of systemizing and growing it. Enter Growth Labs, an outbound lead gen agency specializing in cold email marketing. What They Looked For Before the Purchase Matt and his partner moved fast but smart: Profit and Loss: They dug into five years of P&Ls, noticing the typical COVID spike, post-spike drop, and finally profitability as the owner prepared to sell. Adbacks Reality Check: The books had plenty of “personal expenses” that, once removed, showed a clearer, stronger profit picture. Pipeline and Clients: They signed an NDA to peek at client lists, learning that the agency's lead gen often came from the owner's personal brand and reputation—great for credibility, but also something they'd need to replace with systems. Recurring vs. One-Off: They checked churn, recurring revenue, and how the business handled its leads and delivery so they wouldn't be buying a leaky bucket. Fast Close, Strategic Future In true operator fashion, Matt and his partner put in an offer quickly (about three weeks after initial discussions) and agreed on a 1.3x EBITDA multiple. They wanted the former owner to stick around for a transition period, ensuring continuity while they layered in their own systems and strategic direction. Everything looked clean. The seller had a strong personal brand. The books checked out (after adbacks). The plan was clear: earnout over three years, phased transition, and keep the seller involved for 12 months to ensure smooth client handoff and he agreed to do it. Then the cracks appeared. The ROI Guarantee Bomb While poking around Slack before the official handover, Matt found discussions about an ROI guarantee with a disgruntled client. The seller brushed it off as a “Horoszi-level mistake from years back.” No big deal, right? Wrong. Turns out, most new client contracts still included these ROI guarantees—often unwritten, often unenforceable, and often unrealistic. Combine that with underperforming cold email campaigns, and you have a recipe for churn, complaints, and a legal minefield. What was supposed to be a 2-month campaign turned into 12-month obligations with clients expecting a magical ROI that the agency couldn't verify, let alone control. 4 Lessons Matt Learned (So You Don't Have to) In hindsight, Matt admits they moved too fast. A few weeks wasn't enough because due diligence should take longer than you think. His advice for agency owners is not to feel pressured—take the time to ask uncomfortable questions and look for patterns and keep these 4 aspects in mind: Don't just check contracts. Check promises. Matt discovered clients were sticking around for the wrong reasons—and the wrong terms—due to handshake promises that should've been flagged during due diligence. Thoroughly analyze client data and churn patterns. Analyze the available metrics to determine whether or not clients are actually reaching goals. In his case, Matt found that using AI would've helped him uncover that consistent MRR masked a perfect churn pattern: lose three clients, gain three clients, every month. AI could've shown these patterns in minutes. Expect that when the seller leaves, 80-90% of their lead gen leaves with them. If the agency's pipeline depends on the owner's personal brand, you need a plan to replace that before you wire funds. Dig deeper into why the seller is selling—and why they started. Was the agency a real business solving a real need, or just a personal brand ATM for the founder? That origin story tells you how the business was run and what baggage you're buying. The Silver Lining Was it all doom and gloom? Nope. Matt discovered that despite the outdated “spray and pray” cold email approach, the agency's foundations were solid: a capable team, strong email infrastructure, and processes that could be upgraded with AI personalization and scalable systems. Instead of throwing in the towel, Matt is now rebuilding Growth Labs into a smarter, tech-enabled lead-gen agency aligned with the future, not the past. And despite the headaches, Matt and his business partner are still hungry for more acquisitions, now with clear systems and smarter questions in hand. They're even considering rolling up a group of specialist agencies as their next move. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training We've been talking about AI on this podcast for years — not just as the next shiny tool, but as the biggest shift agencies will face this decade. Yet most agencies still haven't done more than dabble. Meanwhile, their competitors (or even their clients) are using AI to move faster, make sharper decisions, and drive results that leave everyone else scrambling to catch up. If you're still on the sidelines, you're already behind. Today's guest is clear about the game-changing role of AI in the agency world. He argues it's not just about making your shop more efficient — it's about driving better client results, delivering faster, deeper insights, and adding to your bottom line. Agencies that fail to embrace AI risk being outpaced by clients who bring it in-house or by competitors already using it to gain an edge. To stay competitive, you have to take a forward-thinking approach that uses AI to scale operations, increase client value, and keep your best people. Phil Parrish is the co-founder & President of PrograMetrix, a boutique programmatic advertising agency that also crushes it in paid search and paid social. Celebrating their 10-year anniversary this past April, Phil's team has stayed nimble, focused, and mighty — helping clients dominate their digital paid media while driving real, measurable results. He'll discuss his vision on AI, how he's using it as a multiplier, and why that are not already adapting their processes to include this technology, will be exposed. In this episode, we'll discuss: Navigating pipeline churn anxiety. Delivering quick wins with AI. Why agencies that don't adapt will get exposed. Focus on the wins, not just the tasks. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. Betting on Yourself (And Getting Clients to Bet on You Too) Phil didn't stumble into agency ownership by accident, but he didn't overcomplicate it either. He built strong client relationships over the years, recognized the moment when he thought, “I can do what this company does — why not do it for myself?” and took the leap. With clients ready to follow, he launched PrograMetrix and started generating revenue quickly, sidestepping much of the risk that keeps many would-be agency owners stuck. The takeaway? If you've built trust and consistently delivered, clients will follow when you launch your own shop. Relationships and results are your best startup capital. Navigating Uncertainty Without Panic Every agency owner hits moments of chaos—those “Are we going under?” nightmares that keep you up at 3 AM. So far, Phil's journey hasn't quite hit the “we can't make payroll” panic, but pipeline uncertainty and client churn anxiety were very real, especially during COVID-19. Ironically, the pandemic ended up being a huge growth driver. As trade shows and in-person events vanished, clients who were spending six figures on live events had to redeploy budgets digitally. PrograMetrix was perfectly positioned to catch that wave. “You've got to have a good business plan, offer strategic value, make smart bets, and stay laser-focused when your back's against the wall.” It's a solid reminder: when chaos hits, the cream rises. The agencies that pivot fast come out stronger.   AI: Beyond Social Posts and Rocket Emojis Let's get real: most agencies are looking at AI like it's a shortcut to crank out social posts and blog content (and yes, that's part of it). But Phil's approach is a level above—he's integrating AI deeply into PrograMetrix's operations to enhance speed, insights, and performance, not just save a few hours per week. In his view, agencies that have depended on time as their inventory and work on the basis that the more time they can utilize the more revenue they can drive will struggle unless they modernize operations using AI. For its part, Phil's agency is building a proprietary product using a licensed data warehouse, pulling data from all their platforms (The Trade Desk, Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.), and using AI to run advanced queries and develop unique optimization techniques. The end goal would be to deliver faster, clearer, and more impactful insights that clients can't get by simply logging into their ad accounts. The bottom line: If your agency isn't embedding AI into how you operate and deliver, not just as a tool to “save time,” clients will either bring it in-house or go with an agency that does. The market is moving, and speed and value are non-negotiables if you want to win and retain serious clients. Delivering Quick Wins and Story-Driven Insights Mid-market and enterprise clients dropping six to seven figures on ad spend need to feel your authority and your velocity from day one. They need to breathe easier knowing your agency has it handled, and they need to see progress fast, or they'll be out. Using AI, Phil's agency uncovers insights like: Path to conversion (impressions and touchpoints before a sale) Channel impact across the funnel Audience segment insights Messaging that drives real ROI They're not just sending reports but turning complex data into actionable stories for their clients. If you're still measuring your agency's success by how much time you can bill rather than how much impact you can deliver, it's time to rethink your model before your clients rethink you. Why Agencies That Don't Adapt Will Get Exposed Look, AI isn't going to wipe out agencies. But it will wipe out agencies that are stuck operating like it's 2015, coasting on outdated processes, and sending the same recycled reports clients can pull themselves. AI is like the giant scoreboard in baseball, showing every advanced stat in real-time. Agencies that are half-assing delivery can't hide anymore. If you're running bad ads, AI will show your client you suck, and you'll get fired. (Like the agency I just fired.) AI won't kill the agency model, but it will expose agencies not using best-of-breed tools to deliver value faster. AI as a Multiplier, Not a Threat — and Saves Him $200K Phil is using AI as a force multiplier to: Deliver faster, clearer insights for clients Optimize campaigns for even a 2-3% lift that compounds over time And they're doing this without having to invest in new talent at the rate they otherwise would have. As Phil says, “if we can skip hiring one or two traders, that's a $200K swing to the bottom line.” And it's not because he doesn't value his team—he's investing in making his team better. AI helps smart people do better work, get better results, and actually enjoy their jobs. Clients see more value, your agency scales efficiently, and your team sticks around longer, reducing churn and recruitment costs. It's About Buying Wins, Not Just Doing Tasks If you've seen Moneyball, know Billy Beane reinvented baseball by focusing on “getting on base,” not vanity stats. Agencies should think the same way: What are your “get on base” moves that drive client results? Are you outcome-driven and problem-solving, or are you a task rabbit waiting to be replaced by AI? When clients have big challenges, do they come to you first, or are you stuck doing low-value production work? If it's the latter, it's a sign to reposition your agency now. If you don't, you're writing your own exit letter from the industry. Make AI Use Mandatory, Not Optional As an agency leader, it's time to go all-in on integrating AI across all SOPs, not just as an add-on for the leadership team. Why? Because this tech: Makes employees more valuable in the marketplace Makes them happier by removing annoying, low-leverage tasks Keeps your team aligned with your agency's growth goals Before they started using AI prompts to understand how to optimize a campaign or improve performance, their campaign managers were conducting huge Excel exports. Now they can focus on strategy. If you're the only one using AI in your agency, you're toast. You need to lead, train, and require your team to use these tools to become outcome-focused problem solvers rather than task executors. Stop Being Fearful. Start Doing If you're feeling fear around AI, that's normal. But you'll stay scared if you don't start using it. Phil's team didn't wait for a perfect moment; they're actively building, testing, and refining AI use across their delivery and ops. The agencies that will win over the next 3-5 years aren't the ones worrying about AI—they're the ones using it to solve bigger problems faster for their clients. 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.

What if strength training could actually make you a better—and more durable—mountain biker? In this episode, I chat with Jessie Duppler, a physical therapist and fellow rider from Chain Reaction Physical Therapy in Prescott, AZ. We talk about how strength training improves performance on the bike, how to make it work even if you hate the gym, and what to prioritize if you're short on time. Whether you're chasing podiums or just want to ride pain-free longer, this one's for you. To learn more about Jessie or to follow her, check out these links here: Website: https://www.chainreactionpt.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chainreactionpt YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chainreactionPT To learn more about strength training, check out these episodes: 197. The Surprising Side Effect of Strength Training 191. How to Create a Strength Workout 170. 7 Things to do to Reduce Soreness from Biking + Strength Training #ShredStrong Starts a New Cycle Every Month - Our Next Cycle Starts on Monday, July 7, 2025! #ShredStrong is my signature year-round strength and conditioning training program for mountain bikers and gravel cyclists, but you can join any time you want! Every week, it includes: 3 strength workouts (1 is optional), including some cardio finishers for some fun! A bike intervals session + advice on what other rides or cardio sessions to fit in. A comprehensive mobility plan to help you relax and stabilize your biking muscles. You get personalized coaching feedback and guidance from me on your exercises that you record and send me via video - it's like having a personal trainer in your pocket so you can feel confident in your movement! Every 3 months, you also get a new yoga flow from our in-house yogi, the MTB Yogi! A community video chat where we meet every 4-6 weeks to go over nutrition, training, and other tips that help you in your fitness and wellness journey. All of this is only $49 a month! Or, pay $39 a month if you pay for six months in-full (totaling $234). You can join us every month - each cycle starts around the beginning of every month, depending on the cycle! Learn more of the details of the program and sign-up HERE!  You can also join my email list here to get the latest news on future cycles of the program that start every month (I only email an average of 1-2 times a month and will never spam you). Do You Want a Coach to Help Make Training or Nutrition Easier and Simpler for You? Hi, it's me.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is churn currently a problem with your agency clients? Are you aware of the reasons they decide to leave? It may be time to think hard about your onboarding process, client communication, and generally the ways you're ensuring client satisfaction. The difference often comes down to positioning: are you operating as a trusted advisor or simply completing tasks? Today's special guest knows that agencies that prioritize client satisfaction, embrace accountability, and focus on becoming trusted advisors rather than mere task completers are the ones that create truly loyal clients. As our Agency Scale Specialist, Darby Copenhaver, has closely observed the growth trajectories of numerous mastermind members and constantly communicates with them in their journeys. In this conversation, he and Jason get into the importance of strong communication and transparent onboarding processes to combat buyer's remorse and build trust. They also address the strategic use of AI to enhance efficiency and results, stressing that while AI can automate tasks, human connection and understanding clients' evolving needs remain paramount for long-term partnerships. In this episode, we'll discuss: How to prevent your clients' buyer's remorse. Your onboarding might be the problem. Stop ignoring current clients. Your secret retention weapon: ongoing discovery. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Why Your Clients Might Not Love You (Even if You're Getting Results) Ever feel like you're crushing it for clients, but then they ghost you or churn unexpectedly? There are several reasons why this could be happening and ways to stop it before it kills your momentum. Here's the truth: buyers remorse sets in immediately after a client signs. It's your job to kill that remorse with rock-solid communication and a frictionless onboarding experience. Most agencies think they're good communicators because they answer emails. But clients want more than tasks checked off. They want to feel seen, understood, and confident they made the right decision. If you're not proactively communicating wins (and misses), or if you let your PMs control the narrative without your oversight, you're setting yourself up for churn, no matter how “good” your delivery is. Your Onboarding Might Be Pushing Clients Away As Jason knows from recent experiences as a client, most agencies' onboarding is just an exhausting homework dump on clients who already told you their goals in the sales calls you recorded. Why are you making them repeat themselves, fill out giant forms, or wait for your scattered follow-ups? Your clients didn't hire you to do more work. They hired you to get results while saving them time. Break your onboarding into clear, easy phases, Reset expectations, Use the data you already have (like call transcripts and AI sorting) to fill in the blanks yourself. If you set clear timelines, communication rhythms, and how success will be measured in that first meeting, you'll position yourself as a trusted advisor, not another vendor barking for “assets” they've already shared. This is what makes clients relieved to work with you instead of stressed. Communication: Simple, But Rarely Done Right It's so important for any business to show that you're trustworthy, and you'll show that by doing what you say you'll do, when you say you'll do it. Too many agencies fail to communicate delays, let tasks slip, and think a monthly dashboard is enough. It's not. Dashboards alone mean nothing to most clients. Some need a quick Loom, some need Slack check-ins, others need a simple “Here's what we did, what's next, and why it matters.” Customizing your communication style shows your clients you're paying attention to them, not just copy-pasting your agency SOPs onto their business. This is how you become a trusted advisor, the person they call with challenges (not just tasks). That's how you become irreplaceable. So, which measures are you implementing at your agency to ensure - not just assume - that you know your clients are happy, not only with the results presented but also the overall experience? Want Clients to Stick Around? Be Human When was the last time you called a client you didn't personally sell or deliver on, just to check in and say, “Hey, I'm the CEO, here's my number if you need anything”? Most agencies never do this, but it's one of the simplest ways to build relationships that survive budget cuts and economic slowdowns. If clients only see you as a transaction, you're the first thing to get cut. If they see you as a partner, they'll fight to keep you. Want to take it further? Fly out and have dinner with your top clients once a year. Exchange stories, show them you care, and watch how your retention and upsells climb. Stop Leaving Money on the Table by Ignoring Current Clients Agencies love to yell, “We need more leads!” But often, your easiest growth is sitting right in front of you. If your clients trust you, they'll come to you with new problems—many of which you can solve or connect them with someone who can. This positions you as a problem solver, not an order taker. Instances like this are a great opportunity to be strategic, guide them, and reinforce how much you value the relationship. Results are awesome, but that value is what will take from being transactional to being a value relationship they'll fight to keep in times of economic uncertainty. Why Ongoing Discovery Is Your Secret Retention Weapon If you're selling to clients you can't grow with, you're setting yourself up for frustration. Too many agencies say “yes” to clients who aren't ready, don't want help, or can't commit to scaling. It's like hiring a personal trainer while refusing to stop eating cake every night. They might pay you, but they won't get results—and they'll blame you when they don't. And what about after you've found the right clients? Darby believes too many agencies forget that discovery isn't just for the sales process. Every client interaction should be a sort of ongoing discovery. Agencies that retain and grow accounts are constantly in ongoing discovery mode. As you bring success to clients their needs will evolve, their businesses shift, and what worked four months ago might be irrelevant today. If you're not in tune with those shifts, your agency becomes stale, and you'll get replaced. A challenge for agency owners: How are you staying aware of what's changing in your clients' businesses? Are you proactively checking in, asking about priorities, and aligning your services to what's happening right now? Or are you stuck on autopilot, delivering what they hired you for while missing what they actually need today? Stay curious, stay in discovery, and you'll stay essential. Communication Clarity: 411 vs. 911 To prevent the typical disconnect when clients are unsure of who to reach out to and for what, Darby and Jason recommend this simple but powerful tactic brought by Agency Mastery member, Travis. He tells clients exactly who to reach out to for “411” (info & updates) vs. “911” (emergencies). This eliminates confusion, speeds up communication, and prevents small issues from turning into big frustrations. And when you mess up—and you will—own it fast. Clients don't want spin or silence. They want the truth — fast. One agency Jason used messed up an ad so badly it was embarrassing, and instead of calling to own it, they hid behind Slack messages. Don't be that agency. Mistakes happen. What matters is how quickly and humanly you fix them. Be Human. Clients Crave It. At the heart of retention and growth is human connection. If your agency relationships feel like sterile transactions, you're replaceable. Clients want to feel seen and understood. If everything you share sounds like sugarcoated wins while their results lag, they'll start doubting you. Long-term, high-value clients come from humanizing your interactions—having real conversations, admitting mistakes, sharing wins, and being upfront about challenges. Clients don't want perfect robots; they want partners they trust. Don't Fear AI - Use It to Win Do clients want their agencies to use AI? Overwhelmingly, yes. They just don't what you to use it just to write articles and create crappy images, brands want their agencies using AI to get better results. According to a survey conducted by Audience Audit, 77% of brands are more likely to hire an agency seen as an AI expert, yet only 32% think their current agency is. This is a massive opportunity. But here's the key: don't use AI as a crutch to replace human strategy. Use it to collect, analyze, and interpret data faster so you can bring clients valuable insights and make micro-adjustments that drive real results. Clients want done-for-you solutions that leverage AI under the hood while preserving a human relationship on the front end. Just remember that clients don't care about your systems, your dashboards, or your internal processes if they don't lead to results. They want outcomes with as little friction as possible. AI can help you cut busywork, speed up insights, and refine strategy—but it's your human understanding and relationship that keeps clients paying, referring, and expanding their contracts. 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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Do you invest in training high-potential employees to grow into leadership roles—or do you prefer to hire seasoned pros from the start? There's no one-size-fits-all approach to building a great team, but today's featured guest has a clear philosophy: when it comes to agency growth, he prefers to develop A-players from within. For him, building the bench is just as important as building the business. Hamlet Azarian is the founder and CEO of Azarian Growth Agency, an agency that works with mid-market venture-backed startups helping them build their go-to-market strategies. He discusses his agency's "build them up" strategy, focusing on continual learning and curiosity through an academy, webinars, and internships, rather than solely hiring seasoned professionals. He'll address the common agency challenge of talent retention, noting that positive experiences can still lead to future referrals and positive word-of-mouth, even if employees eventually move on. It's an interesting episode where we dive into the importance of human capital and fostering a supportive, value-driven environment for agency success. In this episode, we'll discuss: Growing talent from scratch. Promote those who are ready to shine. The secret to employee retention.  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M 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. From Go-to Fixer to Full Agency Before he was running his own growth agency, Hamlet was the go-to fixer for venture-backed startups in the trenches of pre-product chaos. VCs brought him in as a high-paid consultant to help fragile startups figure out product validation and go-to-market traction — a risky sandbox where there's barely a product and hardly any money. As the companies he touched turned into multi-million-dollar powerhouses, word got around, more VCs lined up, and the Azarian Growth Agency was born. So as he recalls, it wasn't exactly an accidental start, but considering he was helping startups that could barely write a check, he could not see it turning into a full agency in the beginning. A Culture of Relentless Learning One thing Hamlet doesn't compromise on is curiosity. If you run an agency, you know yesterday's marketing tactic is today's LinkedIn meme. So instead of hiring only ‘seasoned experts,' He invests in creating lifelong learners. How? He built Azarian Growth Academy, which trains up-and-coming marketers on the exact growth strategies his agency deploys for high-stakes startups. Add to that a monthly Growth Lab webinar, Udemy courses (4,000+ students and counting), and a robust internship pipeline — and you get a team that knows not just what to do, but why it works. Education is really central for Hamlet so his people don't just follow checklists — they evolve with the market because they understand the principles behind the tactics. Growing Talent from Scratch (and Letting Them Fly) Does it work? Hamlet shares a story that answers that better than any hiring manifesto. One intern joined as a college senior, left, and rejoined when Hamlet officially hung out his agency shingle. When he saw her application, Hamlet immediately hired her, as she knew her aptitude, passion, and even her weaknesses. Within 6 months, she was running paid ads. By year one, she was pitching clients solo. By year two, she was leading teams and today she's a senior department head. The lesson here is drive and curiosity should be backed with training, opportunity, and real trust. The payoff is massive loyalty and in-house expertise that's molded to your agency's playbook — not someone else's. Promotion by Performance, Not the Calendar Forget annual reviews and rigid promotion ladders. Hamlet's approach is simple: Learn fast, deliver results, get rewarded. To him, some people shine faster than others and, as the agency owners, you don't to limit that potential. Of course, you want to prepare them for the new role, so he tests emerging talent on internal agency projects before putting them on client accounts. If they mess up, the agency learns — not the client's bank account. It's a safe sandbox for risk-taking and skill-building, with performance as the only true gatekeeper to moving up. Flexibility: The Secret Sauce to Keeping Good People How can you keep that talent from jumping ship the second they hit senior level? You don't always. And Hamlet says that's perfectly fine. Even with AI evolving daily, Hamlet's clear that an agency's real moat is people — smart, motivated, curious people who feel trusted and supported to do their best work. Tools change. Channels come and go. But the humans who run them? That's your agency's real asset. In his view, the agency's success is predicated on the owner's ability to bring in talented people on to the team and provide a great environment that encourages them to stay. And the definition of “great” in this case may vary from individual to individual, but Hamlet finds that more than  perks or a foosball table or free LaCroix, it's about freedom. People need room to live their lives — whether that's hopping on a plane to Italy with the kids, or working flexible hours so family time doesn't clash with client deadlines. When people feel understood and trusted, they stay longer. And if they do leave? They become allies, not competitors. Many send referrals back. Some boomerang and return. And nearly all say, “That's where I learned how to do great work.” That reputation becomes your best recruiting tool — a self-feeding loop of great people wanting in. Experience vs. Fresh Eyes: A Never-Ending Balancing Act There's a million ways to grow an agency and there are no easy answers when it comes to hiring. Even if you hire the “experienced pro,” they can become rigid and slow to adapt — a death knell for early-stage growth marketing where experimentation rules. Hamlet's advice is don't bet the farm on resumes alone. Bet on mindset. Surround yourself with good people who share the same values. Look for curiosity, a love of learning, and the ability to fail, recover, and share lessons. Skills can be taught. Hunger can't. Define what you believe. Hire for it relentlessly. Train for skill, reward growth, and build an environment people don't want to leave — and if they do, they still sing your praises. 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.