Craig Rodney (Founder at The Agency Coach) helps agencies systemize their processes and scale. He started his first agency way back in 2002, grew the business, went through a merger and in 2013 sold his first business. After 2016, he started coaching other agency owners so they can follow his path.

The first big mistake that Craig had to pinpoint and solve in his agency was the fact that he was the go-to person for all of their clients. Even though this approach got them blue chip clients, he realized the same thing that most agency owners run into - you can’t scale yourself.

Delegation is hard when you’re a small agency owner. Being overly attached to your work and thinking you’re the only person who can deliver real quality normal, but it’s also a one-way ticket to staying in survival mode forever. Craig advises that you get out of survival mode as soon as possible by learning how to hire the right people - ones that allow you to devalue money and increase the value of time.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to properly scale an agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
2:43 How Craig learned how to let go
6:04 You need to be ready to delegate
9:02 Survival mode decisions don’t scale
13:00 Leverage your time correctly
16:49 Mindspace matters most

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/
Connect with Craig - https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrodney/

Frank S. Pierce (3x CMO with enterprise sales expertise in Financial Services, Retail and Tech) joined the show to discuss how agencies can get out of the SMB space and secure upmarket clients.

While Frank started out in Marketing and has held 3 CMO roles, his latest career accolades are mostly in the realm of enterprise sales. As a marketer, he sat in on many client calls - which ultimately helped him understand the market better and got him interested in moving on to sales. Over the years, Frank has noticed that the salespeople who succeed no matter the circumstances are the ones who take their preparation very seriously.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to sell into F500 companies!

HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00 Intro
1:13 Three time CMO journey
2:53 How Frank went into enterprise sales
4:35 Preparation is everything in sales
7:55 How to effectively multithread
10:12 Identifying the right stakeholders
12:31 Be nice to the assistants!
13:49 The Enterprise Sales framework
17:01 Figure out what really matters

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Frank - https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankspierce/

Audra Carpenter (Founder of ATEC Dynamics and zindo+co) is an expert in utilizing AI in marketing. She’s worked with companies across the whole spectrum - from early stage startups all the way to the Fortune 500, providing services such as website building, AI implementation and overall strategy.

When it comes to AI implementation, Audra started with figuring out which parts of her daily workflow could be augmented to either reduce the time spent or automate completely. Now she’s combining multiple tools to create content at scale. What used to take 2 days now takes 10 minutes to draft, but Audra still recommends that you make your own edits and adjust the content so you won’t jeopardize your brand with low quality content.

Tune into the full episode to learn new ways how to use AI in marketing!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
3:01 What’s the state of AI in marketing today?
6:41 The current state of AI in marketing
8:10 Creating AI content at scale
9:36 How to make AI sound on brand
11:49 Audra’s new content creation product
13:06 How the Marketing role is changing
17:41 Don’t get replaced by AI

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Audra - https://www.linkedin.com/in/audracarpenter/

Phil Rivers (Founder of Growthpointe, 2 previous exits) has generated $200+M in email revenue for his eCommerce clients. The King of Klaviyo has acquired 500+ clients during his agency career.

Phil started creating email lists in 2005. After he graduated college, he joined a software company and started a marketing side hustle. At first, he was a generalist doing email marketing, web services and other small tasks. Realising that selling a jack of all trades service isn’t very profitable, he found a comfortable niche in email marketing.

Nowadays Phil is mostly focused on his nearshore business. He noticed that agencies spend way too much time hiring, and over the years Phil got really good at sourcing high quality candidates - so this transition came very naturally.

Tune into the full episode to learn how Phil scaled to 9 figures in client revenue!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
2:01 The journey to $200M+ in Sales
7:51 How Phil built his own revenue engine
11:48 The 9 figure email revenue secret
16:43 The move to nearshore
18:07 How to increase your conversions

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Phil - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thephilrivers/

Jade Caillot (Founder of ELLEVATE) runs a specialized agency in accelerating the growth of women-founded and women-led businesses. As of December 2024, she’s also a Forbes featured Marketing Expert.

In simpler terms - they take businesses that aren’t sure how to scale to their goals and make their dreams a reality. They focus on helping companies make a difference in their market, build an engaged audience and get an ROI that accelerates quickly. They start off with auditing the leader as a person, and then move to the executive team. This helps ELLEVATE build a strategy that is bespoke, authentic and 100% aligned with the goals of their client.

Jade’s approach to running an agency that offers bespoke services is to always start off with the important details. Do they have the time, money and dedication to do this? From there, they move on to research, strategy and building out operations.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to operate a bespoke marketing agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
3:05 Jade’s Marketing background
5:25 The ELLEVATE way of running an agency
6:34 The current service offer

9:53 How to offer fully custom services
13:21 The balance between working in vs on your agency
18:34 Relatable messaging sells

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Jade - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-caillot/

Brian Ahmadi (CEO of Maximum Profits Agency) started his agency journey after many years in the US Navy. He helped his first batch of clients - bars - manage their social media accounts for $500/month and free drinks for his crew. They quickly spread through word of mouth and started getting clients left and right. Deployments halted their progress for a year, but once they resumed, they got a house together and success followed.

At Maximum Profits Agency, every team member is cross-functional. Brian believes in a structure where every employee is equipped with the skillset to fill any role. He also advises employees to choose their own preferred field and become masters at that individual craft while asking other team members for support in case they have specific skill gaps.

Tune into the episode to learn how US Navy Veterans run their agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00 Intro
3:04 From US Navy to running an agency
6:03 The value of in-person sales
9:04 Turning employees into founders
11:21 Focusing on everyone's strengths
16:22 Find people that you can trust
20:01 Just get to work!

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Brian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-a-6a6393b7/

Jonathan Cogan (Founder of Sephrina Strategy) is an agency leader, marketing strategist, brand consultant, coach, teacher and facilitator with a 20-year track record helping to launch and grow businesses, brands and campaigns in Canada, the U.S. and globally.

Jon is a big proponent of effectiveness leading to efficiency. Big networks and corporations love to make efficiency their North Star, but in doing so they strip their people of the ability to do truly exceptional work - the type that doesn’t fit into a fully pre-planned, timegated schedule. And the best part is, the work that gets done when you prioritize effectiveness ends up being more efficient, as it doesn’t require as many re-do’s and revisions.

The Effective Agency Playbook starts with understanding exactly what you’re trying to achieve and for who. Then you need to find your focus on how you’re going to execute. The way to make it work is by honing in on every single step in the process and having clear definitions and outlines. And it should not feel overly complex or confusing.

Tune into the episode to learn how to build a more effective agency!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
4:12 Your agency needs to be special
6:06 Effectiveness leads to efficiency
8:51 Effectiveness is all about the people
10:53 The fundamentals never change
12:36 The value of outside perspectives
14:04 Everyone is in strategy
15:44 The Effective Agency Playbook

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Connect with Jonathan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-e-cogan/

Marcel Petitpas (Co-Founder and CEO of Parakeeto), has helped 100+ agencies measure & improve their profitability through consulting and technology. Some of their clients have been able to decrease their overtime AND grow 90%+ YOY. He also hosts The Agency Profit Podcast - the only podcast that tackles the topic of agency profitability.

Agencies often have a hard time managing their cash. Between ever-decreasing margins due to oversaturation, clients expecting additional free deliverables and employee productivity not always matching the job description, owners struggle when trying to figure out a way to exit survival mode. Marcel points to clean, comprehensive data being step 1 of figuring out your true financial situation. Over the years he’s seen a lot of agencies fail even though they’ve really tried to improve their current state - and the number 1 issue has always been bad data.

Parakeeto built two different products that failed before adding a professional services wing and really exploding. A lot of what makes great SaaS tools - proper implementation, continuous feedback-driven roadmaps and a true focus on outcomes - is easier to build through a service.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to increase your agency's profit!

HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
3:11 Marcel’s entrepreneurial journey
5:21 What does Parakeeto do?
7:15 Building a product for yourself
9:12 2 Failed SaaS products and the problem with data
13:41 Embrace professional services to grow your SaaS
17:40 How to 5x your agencies profitability
22:32 Grow your business by borrowing an audience

Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/
Connect with Marcel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelpetitpas/