Everbros: Agency Growth Podcast: Recent Episodes
Everbros: A Podcast on Agency Growth
Jake and Cody talk about the day-to-day of working in and owning a marketing agency: What makes their agency successful, mistakes they've made, and experiences along the way.
This podcast isn't just for agency owners. It's for anyone working in an agency or anyone looking for a peer-to-peer connection on starting their own thing with real advice from real professionals -- not wannabe marketing gurus.
Cold Open (Jake is mentoring high school kids in entrepreneurship)
Skip the Cold Open at 18:43
This week, we tackle a topic we've kind of flipped on... the power of personal branding for agency owners.
Previously we've advocated for “building the agency brand first,” now we share why the game has changed and why your personal brand could be your most valuable asset.
Check out our thoughts on why personal brands drive credibility (even outside entrepreneurship) and lessons learned from real-world examples. Whether you’re just starting out or running a multi-million dollar agency, hopefully, this episode will inspire you to stake your claim online and grow your agency by growing your reputation.
Expect hot takes, practical tips, and the real story behind our shift. Building a personal brand isn’t optional anymore—it’s a must for every agency owner who wants lasting success in today’s market.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (We're Switching to Invoice Billing with Google Ads)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:37
What if you could sip pina coladas on a beach without a multi-million dollar agency? It's possible when you stop chasing the wrong goals. This week, we talk about the difference between setting monetary milestones and building toward lifestyle goals.
We explain why we think true agency success isn't about hitting a revenue number. It's about designing a business that gives you freedom and fulfillment along the way.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We have talked extensively about optimal agency operations on this podcast because it's probably the most important thing in the profitability and scalability of your agency.
Gray Mackenzie has been helping multi-million dollar agencies for the past 13 years find higher profitability in their operational procedures through his company, ZenPilot.
Gray is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to agency operations and Jake has attempted to get him on the podcast for over 2 years after diving into his Agency Journey podcast when we first started this podcast!
ZenPilot:
https://www.zenpilot.com/
Agency Journey Podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4C7UEVPMZZlPzbMlIwmiaA
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Everyone gets swag wrong)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:28
We've been seeing a lot of new "agency owners" the last couple of months and the questions that are being asked are not ones we'd expect to see new business owners ask.
They're ones that are fundamental in understanding how, not just an agency, but literally any business works.
This episode transcends advice for just agency owners and targets anyone looking to start their own business.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Skip the Cold Open at 11:39
Most people will probably say that having fewer clients that pay more is clearly better. For over 6 years. we've thought the opposite. That having more clients is more stable and the loss of those clients impacts the business less.
As we've grown the last (almost) 7 years, we've picked up on a few nuances where... yes, we're right... but to an extent we have to acknowledge that favoring client acquisition over client revenue is only part of the equations.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Jake's been travelling / Jake's internet issues)
Skip the Cold Open at 3:51
Lately Jake has been getting some absolutely whacky sales calls and has had to deal with some... unique sales objections as well as some common red flags.
In this episode, we break down our most common client red flags as well as go into some of the wild sales objections we've been getting lately.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencypodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Follow up on listener problem from Episode #165)
Skip the Cold Open at 6:43
It's been a few years since we've talked about what we'd do differently if we were to start an agency over right now.
However, the landscape has changed more in the last year than it has in the last 5 years. Additionally, we are not the same people we were in 2019.
Over the last 6-7 years, we have learned a lot about ourselves, we've gained confidence, and we see the changes that are happening in the world.
What starting over for us looks like in 2026 looks vastly different than what starting looked like in 2019.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We get tired of hearing about all the awful "setters and closers" out there. But one of our listeners put us up for the challenge of trying to find a legitimate appointment setting agency and grilling them on the podcast.
So we did just that.
We found Steve Fair from Sponge:NB who has been in the industry for over 2 decades. Steve not only explains how to do appointment setting right, but pulls the curtain completely back on the shifty appointment setting gurus and tactics we see all over the place.
JOIN THE FREE DISCORD
https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We've touched on our personal experiences with AI at our agency in this podcast as well as with other guests, but it's been a while since we've had a dedicated episode on the topic.
Emily Thompson from CoSchedule joins us to go over their survey report on The State of AI in Marketing.
We go over the various finding in this report and weigh in on each finding. Things like:
- Whether marketers feel that AI gives them a competitive advantage
- How other marketers are reporting using AI
- How many marketers and agencies are reporting more success and better performance with AI
- How much more marketers and agencies expect to use and invest in AI in 2025 and beyond
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Jake is training for a marathon)
Skip to Cold Open at 11:10
Last week, we went over how we managed client projects and recurring monthly tasks inside of our ClickUp workspace.
This week, we're going over how we use ClickUp internally to manage internal projects, team member time tracking, monitor labor efficiency, and how we manage our own workloads.
We also go over how we use the project management tool to conduct research and development of new services and value adds as well as store notes for internal meetings and future ideas.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Cody is finally done moving)
Skip to Cold Open at 6:20
A popular request of us is to walkthrough our entire ClickUp™ setup and how we use it as a productized service agency.
In this episode, we go through specifically how we use it for client work and how we automate monthly, recurring task generation.
We also go into other features we use such as scheduled emails to clients and general time tracking workflows for client work when it doesn't make sense to track time on individual tasks.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Cody's Breakdancing + ER Visit...)
Skip the Cold Open at 13:10
A listener wrote in to get our advice on what to do regarding a situation he's in with a client. His client isn't understanding the value of what he's offering despite amazing cost per lead results and even the client admitting that the leads are closing at 60%.
To complicate matters, he feels like he can't fire the client because this client's brother is also a client and doesn't want to lose two clients in the process.
The Everbros weigh in and we give our thoughts on exactly what he should do.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Cody's living in a 3rd world country)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:37
After 6 years of the same pricing we had when we started, we raised prices by 30% overnight.
We sent an email to our clients on February 28th telling them the price change was going into effect on April 15th.
In this episode, we break down our complete methodology on what went into the price increase.
- Why 30%
- Why announce it in the spring?
- How many clients did we lose?
- What other things we had to consider
- How we're doing now that the dust has settled
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We sit down with Geenay at Consortium Studio, who recently pivoted from the agency model that takes anything they can get to niching down.
Only her niche is with luxury and premium brands.
We're used to finding Facebook groups with our niche audience or guesting on podcasts in our niche to get in front of our clients.
Geenay doesn't have that luxury... or perhaps she actually does have the luxury? She has to attend fancy parties and member-only clubs to rub shoulders with her target audience.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Ever see those really awesome marketing campaigns that brands do that seem so out of the box and must have taken millions of dollars to pull off or some creative genius?
Those are because of people like Dani Durfesne with The Aux Co.
Dani has a history in film production and pulls off some pretty awesome stuff for brands at pretty low budgets (we're talking only a few thousand dollars). She's the person agencies go to when they get a crazy idea but have no idea how to execute it for their client.
She finds the venues, gets the people, gathers the talent, and organizes the production of that crazy idea.
And she does it all incognito. Clients never know she exists. All of her work is credited to the agency.
We dive into what exactly her business model is, why on earth she doesn't want any credit, and what actually all goes into these productions.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
In Part 2 of talking with Dave from Local Falcon and Epic Web Studios, we dive into the Local Falcon platform itself.
Dave talks about new things coming to the original geogrid tool, such as AI overview and ChatGPT tracking and MCP servers. Additionally, we explain why we think geogrid tools cause more issues with clients than the problems they solve.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencygrowthpodcast
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
The start of our first-ever 2-part episode on the podcast, Local Falcon CEO, David Hunter, was dropping bombs during the discovery call, so we had to tell him we were holding him hostage for 3 hours to record two episodes.
This episode is all about his agency, Epic Web Studios. The agency that eventually brought Local Falcon into the world. The 7-figure agency that no one who uses Local Falcon knew existed and was the whole reason they're using the tool in the first place.
In this episode, Dave talks about how and why he started his agency as well as what his plans are with it.
What's the end game, and how does Local Falcon fit into it?
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Jake has started mobile gaming)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:19
The best agencies out there aren't necessarily the ones producing the best results. They're the ones with the best communication and value for what is being paid for.
On this episode, we navigate how we have failed in the client communication area recently and how we're trying to correct that and provide more communication to our clients without eating into labor hours that are better spent on servicing their actual accounts.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
The United States is often seen as the holy grail of markets for agencies. That's great if you're already located in the US, but what if you're not?
For the last couple of years, agency owners in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa have asked us our advice on how they can get clients in the US, but we've never had a good answer for them. Managing time zones is one thing, but the cultural differences and US stereotypes of foreign work plague agency owners not located in the US.
Faisal and Umair join us on the podcast to talk about how they got started in Pakistan and grew their development agency, Strugbits, to over 150 people by always targeting the US as their primary market.
They go in-depth into how they got started, acquired clients, and earned trust with US partners.
*This episode is sponsored by Wix Studio.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Jake moves to Chicago // Jake played Semi-Pro in Portugal)
Skip the Cold Open at 19:21
Sorry for the long cold open. Cody and I haven't recorded in a while, so we had a lot to catch up on.
As tenacious business and agency owners, we tend to dive deep into business, the agency space, and whatever our agency's niche is. However, we have to be careful not to make our entire personalities our business.
Nobody likes that, and it isn't what we got into the business to be. We got into the business so it could help us do the things we actually wanted to do in life.
The agency should fuel your passions. If your personality becomes your agency, then you are nothing without it.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (How do you jump-start a car?)
Skip the Cold Open at 00:05:44
We've featured a lot of different kinds of agencies on this podcast but have yet to have an agency on the podcast that deals almost exclusively with direct mail or a more traditional form of advertising.
So we called our buddy, Wayne, up at Inside the Box Marketing to talk about how he and his wife built a 7-figure direct mail marketing agency specializing in postcards for local store franchise marketing and restaurants.
Wayne is the man behind the high-gloss pop-out postcards you might get in the mail from major franchises like Applebee's, IHOP, Domino's, Blaze Pizza, and many more.
We sit him down to talk about direct mail and franchises.
Why direct mail? How profitable is it? Why franchises? How do you get into them?
Have questions for Wayne? Find him on LinkedIn or reach out to him at wayne@insidetheboxmarketinginc.com.
You can also visit their local store and franchise marketing website at insidetheboxmarketinginc.com.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/restaurantdirectmailcoach/
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Business Challenges / Jake is Moving to Chicago)
Skip the Cold Open at 11:44
Our podcast isn't the only agency podcast out there. We decided to have a listen to other podcasts similar to ours and give you our take on them. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
We also spend some time reflecting on our own podcast and wonder what would make ours better for agency owners.
Either way, we hope you take something good away from this, and maybe that's finding another agency podcast you vibe with and helps you along your agency journey.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Earlier this year, when we started verifying agencies in r/agency, we created a user flair for agencies that have achieved the 8-figure status. We didn't think anyone in the subreddit would get that flair... That is, until Jordan Brannon from Coalition Technologies reached out.
One look at his P&Ls, and I knew we had to have him on the podcast.
Jordan has gone through just about what every agency owner has gone through... 5 times or more.
He's the extreme example of what agency owners can achieve if they put in the work and weather the storms. If there's a challenge in an agency, Jordan's been through it.
We asked him in detail what different stages of growth for his agency were the most challenging and how he overcame them. If he were to do it all over again, what would he focus on first or do better with?
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
The last few episodes we've talked quite a bit about how as agency owners, we start to lose our subject matter expertise in the thing we built our agency on.
We focus on growing the business and being good business owners rather than being the SEO or paid ads experts in the business. It's a weird feeling when your team starts to know more than you.
Of course, you could always be like Joy Hawkins from Sterling Sky.
For those of you in the SEO space, you probably recognize her name. She's the founder, owner, and local SEO expert at her agency, Sterling Sky and frequently contributes to major SEO pulbications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, and is even frequently featured in Search Engine Roundtable.
We're in awe at how Joy can maintain such an expert-level status on local SEO while maintaining and running her $6m local SEO agency.
How do you maintain expertise while delegating and trusting people to be as good as you? Running the business is a fulltime job let alone being an expert in an area that's changing every day.
Reach out to Joy on LinkedIn or check out her agency Sterling Sky. We also encourage you to check out their SEO digital conferences and webinars at LocalU. We've attended these ourselves and they are absolutely packed with local SEO information.
Also, check out Joy's local SEO subreddit at r/localsearch!
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Borja Cuan from Four15 Digital joins us as we ask him how exactly his agency manages a quarter of a billion dollars in ad spend with only 21 people.
What kind of people do you need on your team to manage that? We envision disaster scenarios where someone on our team ads an extra zero or forgets a decimal in budgets while only spending $1,000 per month in ad spend on a client; imagine that client's actual budget being $500,000 per month and someone forgetting a decimal...
Bo also drops some life advice on what things should actually be stressful and how to handle those, as well as advice for our younger audience trying to seek success as quickly as possible.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Johnathan Gryzbowski from Penji joins us on this week's episode. An episode that was meant to go deep into creating an agency where 100% of the services are whitelabeled through Penji's graphic design capabilities turned into a deep discussion on letting go of the subject matter expertise vine.
We went deep into how to build a great team and how to feel when you're no longer the smartest person in the room... in fact, in most cases, you should probably be the dumbest person in the room at your own company.
Want 15% off Penji? Use promo code AGENCYGROWTHPOD15 at checkout.
Or use this link: https://penji.co/pricing/?affiliate=AGENCYGROWTHPOD15
Want to reach out to Johanathan directly? Hit him up at johnathan@penji.co
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on social:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Skip the Cold Open at 8:00
After three years of talking about the Profit First System, we finally do an episode on just that. And what better way to do this episode than to have the creator of the system, Mike Michalowicz, on the show to answer some of our questions regarding how the system works for agencies.
But more importantly, why the Profit First system is important in already profitable agencies.
Follow Mike on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemichalowicz/
Get the Profit First book:
https://mikemichalowicz.com/profit-first/
Check out Relay Bank for a Profit First-focused bank:
banklikemike.com
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Episode #118's Lindsay Halsey's business partner, Lori Calcott, joins us on this episode to talk about white labeling PPC services for other agencies.
We don't white label for other agencies at Evergrow but we're curious how an agency would consider doing that given that all agencies might sell their services a little different. Additionally, every vertical and industry is different. How does Lori go about creating streamlined processes for PPC accounts across verticals?
Lori also talks more about Pathfinder SEO as a step-by-step guide and training tool on how to conduct monthly SEO services in your agency.
Check out Pathfinder SEO and support the show here:
https://pathfinderseo.com/?ref=mzezy2m
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Charizard-shaped Cheeto Sells for $90k)
Skip the Cold Open at 6:38
What is an AI Agent and the business model surrounding it? We tackle the AI agent topic on this week's episode and why a business model built around the use of an AI agent is fundamentally flawed in the way people are talking about it.
We also cover the hype around AI and how most people aren't using it correctly thinking they have to integrate it into their business or else they'll be left behind.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We sit down with Drew Johnson with Everflow to talk about how agencies can offer affiliate and influencer services to their clients.
We press Drew on the viability of the influencer channel for small businesses and how agencies can effectively white-label affiliate marketing services through Everflow.
This is a whole new world to us.
Drew is passionate about driving growth for B2B and D2C brands through performance marketing and works hand-in-hand with agencies to help deliver influencer marketing to their clients.
With more than a decade in the industry, Drew unpacks the intricacies and practical considerations of pricing and providing the service as a white-label offering for clients.
Questions for Drew? Reach out to him at drew@everflow.io or connect with him on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewjohnson89/
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Newsletters are hard. Everyone wants to start one or have a way to subscribe to one but you never really know what to put in it or have it get good tracion. Once it does, how do you make it make you money?
We talk about Stacked Marketer quite a bit. It's where we get pretty much all of our marketing information on individual platforms. It's where we get the most condensed version of what the experts put out there in regards to updates for the things we care about in SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and more.
Up until now, we've never really talked about email marketing or growing a newsletter. What better way to talk about it then having the founder and owner of the only marketing newsletter we subscribe to?
Jake reached out to Manu Cinca of Stacked Marketer on X to bring him on the podcast to tell us exactly why he started Stacked and how he grew it to the size he did. But more importantly... how is he monetizing it and how does he get people to care about the content in it?
If you aren't subscribed to Stacked Marketer and you're in the marketing space... what are you doing?
Do it now.
https://ref.stackedmarketer.com/9731be28/E
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Revenue share models never work. At least that's what we always say. Thomas Rudy from DataShopper comes onto the podcast to tell us how he built his 7-figure agency on a revenue share model earning multiple 6-figure annual contracts.
Thomas is the Co-Founder of DataShopper, a data-hygiene software that lets you retarget anonymous website visitors through digital media and even print mail.
This software could be a game-changer for agencies looking to white-label a print media option for clients with digital targeting and precision for in-market customers.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Valentine's Day Stuff)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:49
We dive into the not-so-riveting conversation about what defines an agency. It's not a topic we thought we'd have to cover but it seems like people (including us) are having some confusion over.
Is a videographer an agency? What about a HighLevel sAaSpReNeUr?
Why does any of this matter? Well, because it defines what you do and what your longterm business goals actually are.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (How many bananas is too many?)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:05
The productized service model is popular amongst agencies in the industry now. It used to be the Mad Men-type creative agencies that dominated the land but the productized models have been sweeping the globe.
However, agencies still struggle with productization. They don't admit it, but they do.
Having a package service isn't productization if your SOPs aren't clearly defined and rigid. That also means you need to be able to say no to clients who want to creep out of that scope. That's' the hardest thing for agencies to do.
We've found the hardest thing with productization is balancing hiring team members to do the work outlined in the documentation while building them up to be strategists. After all, is a strategist needed if your service is an assembly line of production?
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Cody is a God at Subway Surfers // r/agency Subreddit news // Google Gemini)
Skip the Cold Open at 21:00
Everyone talks about qualifying prospects for their agency but no one every talks about what qualifiers they're using for themselves.
Our agency has lower-cost services than most agencies yet we still have client qualifiers. Some of these are based on how much revenue prospective clients are earning while others are contingent upon what CMS or tech stack they're using.
Cody also chimes in regarding qualifiers for service upsells. Not every client is a good fit for other services we offer and qualifiers shouldn't just be with clients you take on but with services you offer as well.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Mordy Oberstein from Unify Brand Marketing joins us on the podcast this episode to talk about how most companies fail at marketing their brand and defining their brand identity.
Mordy has been a recognizable face in the SEO industry for nearly a decade as the CMO of Rank Ranger, Head of Communications at SEMrush, and finally the Head of SEO Brand at Wix before starting his own branding agency, Unify.
We ask Mordy to walk us through his history in SEO and why the seemingly sudden pivot to obsessive brand marketing.
Given this unique perspective, we also ask Mordy what small and established agencies can do to find their identity and speak to their target audience while also tracking brand performance metrics.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We open this special, yearly episode with the announcement of Jake and the Agency Growth Podcast's acquisition of the r/agency subreddit. Head over to r/agency and start engaging with the agency community!
This year we spend some time recapping our 2024 year with our agency. We talk about what our goals were and where we actually ended up. Jake also took some time and calculated month-over-month and year-over-year churn and growth rates uncovering some surprising details about when and how our agency grows extremely predictably.
Previous Financial Recap episodes (#34 and #88)
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Jake is an idiot)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:07
Our clients have told us that when agencies say they can help them scale their business to (insert number), that is somewhat of a red flag. It tells the business owner that the agency doesn't really know a lot about business operations and that leads and marketing are only a small portion of being able to grow a business.
Business owners deal with other things that stifle their ability to grow such as operational issues, processes and procedures, hiring and labor restrictions, and a plethora of other things that agencies are not responsible for.
When clients do ask us how much we can help them grow, we have to level their expectations with what a marketing agency is and what a full-on consultant firm is.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Anik Singal was sued by the FTC for $15m all because of four simple words in his call script. We brought Anik on the podcast to talk about compliant marketing and how marketers, agencies, and coaches all over the world are violating FTC rules and are in danger of being sued.
In preparation for this interview, Jake read Anik's book that he co-authored with his partner and compliance lawyer, Greg Christiansen, "Don't Say That!". Jake references parts in the book that blew his mind and has Anik elaborate on them extending those examples to the agency and coaching spaces.
Some of the crazy things we learned:
- You can't use results-based testimonials in marketing without substantiating them.
- Videos with fancy cars and money guns create negative net impressions and can be violating FTC rules.
- If you say something is of a certain value, you have to prove it... with past sales.
We learned a ton more and now are taking a hard second look at our marketing.
Anik Singal is the founder of Lurn, an online education platform. Following the lawsuit and FTC investigation covered in the podcast, he co-created Complily, an AI-powered compliance tool that helps marketers ensure their materials meet FTC standards.
Anik also co-authored the book "Don't Say That!", which serves as a guide for marketers to keep them out of trouble with the FTC regarding rules they probably didn't know existed! His experiences have made him a vocal advocate for compliant marketing practices.
Check out Anik's AI-powered marketing compliance software, Complily:
complily.com
Also, take a look at the resources and book on Anik and Greg's site dontsaythat.com
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We don't use sketchy SEO or cheap lead gen tactics at our agency. Our competitors and peers do these things. However, sooner or later, those tactics are going to stop working, and when they don't, will you be prepared?
Maybe they will end up working forever, but we've been able to communicate our clean SEO and marketing approach to our clients and it turns out, that clients prefer to stay with us even if the results don't come as fast.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Episode Start at 19:04
Cold Open (How Was Christmas? / Weird SEO Agency Guy)
Headlines without Context: 14:23
Be careful about which clients you choose to take on. Some clients are simply distractions from what you set out to build for your own agency. For us, it was an agency in the landscaping and lawn care niche. Any client that doesn't fit that description is a distraction and ultimately pulls us further away from successful scalability.
One client might make you $1,000/mo but may cost you thousands in lost opportunity each month simply by having to continually deviate from your processes that produce results for your other niche clients.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
As data-oriented digital marketers, we often have little to say about brand strategy and graphic design agencies.
That's where Lucy and Imogen from Lumo Design Studio jump in to tell us their story about how they went from freelance graphic designers to a full brand strategy agency busy enough to turn down work.
Lucy and Imogen walk through what it was like when they first started trying to sell postcards and brochures to providing comprehensive branding solutions for large companies.
Neither of them had formal education in the subject and they battled imposter syndrome as they built their, now-successful, branding agency in Australia.
Tune in to this episode to see how they got started and got their first clients, how they became experts in branding with no specialized education in it, how they pivoted to get recurring work from clients, and how they never thought web design and development was going to be a staple to their agency.
LUMO is a brand strategy and design agency started by Lucy and Imogen in Brisbane, Australia. You can connect with Lucy and Imogen via their website or on LinkedIn:
www.lumodesignstudio.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-borrill-a5b21935/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/imogen-borrill/
Sponsors:
Wix Studio is a sponsor of this episode and introduced Lumo Design Studio to the Agency Growth Podcast.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Travelling light as a business owner)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:04)
We answer the difficult question of "how many accounts can one person at your agency actually handle?" Answers are all over the place on the internet. Some people saying as little as 10 while other saying as many as 50 or even 100.
Well, it depends on what that person's role is and how much time they dedicate on that account. Additionally, the time spent on the account isn't an indicator of the quality of work or results -- that's often a factor of the business model.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Ever since we started our agency, we've been focused on generating leads for our clients because, ultimately, that's what they care about.
We've preached this on this podcast as well over and over again.
Today, Jeff Greenfield with Provalytics joins us to tell us that if we want to provide more leads, we should be focusing on mediums that can deliver high numbers of impressions vs clicks.
That's a hot take.
So we dive in to see where Jeff is coming from.
Jeff is an entrepreneur, advisor, and disrupter with three decades of strategy, growth and marketing leadership. Jeff is currently building the next generation of AI-Driven Attribution as the co-founder and CEO of Provalytics which is a 'cookie-less' attribution & measurement solution which enables marketers to prove the impact from upper funnel channels like CTV and grow their budgets.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Skip the Cold Open at 6:50
Headlines with Some Context ("New Ways to Holiday Shop with Google Lense, Maps, and More")
The episode topic officially starts at the 12:53 mark.
We wanted to talk about tech stacks. More importantly, why it's important for you as an agency to have a defined tech stack that you stick to.
We've noticed a lot of agencies deciding to work in a lot of different websites or use tools defined by their clients. This leads to a number of problems with scaling an agency such as inefficiencies, lower margins, broken processes, and non-reproducable results.
Join us as we dive into how we defined our tech stack and things we're looking to change as we continue scaling our agency.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
In this episode, we discuss the main problem with using foreign contractors for lead gen efforts within the United States.
Understanding US geography and local targeting.
States, cities, and even zip codes are simple enough to teach. But we've run into issue with describing how county, neighborhoods, geographic colloquialisms, and "DMA" targeting works with foreign workers.
If you employ foreign workers, share this with them. If you are a foreign worker for an agency, listen to this!
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Sarah Noel Block from Tiny Marketing joins us to give her step-by-step on how she generates qualified leads for her agency.
It's important to remember that we don't do any sort of lead generation for our agency. Everything we get is organic so this is a whole new world for us.
Sarah breaks down her foolproof strategy from generating cold leads and converting them into clients with her 4-step process:
- Passive lead generator (free and downloadable)
- Active lead generator (free and time-sensitive)
- Micro offer ($97 value)
- Gateway offer (Foundational agency offer)
She even gives examples of what these could be for various agencies depending on your niche.
You can find Sarah on LinkedIn or check out her Tiny Marketing Podcast.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
This episode breaks three records!
- The longest one we've had to date.
- Our first consultation episode!
- Our first returning guest!
Cesar joins us on the podcast once again 5 months after his original episode ($25k MRR and I Have No Idea What I'm Doing | #108) seeking direct help from us.
He has a list of issues his agency is dealing with at this size:
- Deliverables are being dropped.
- Quality isn't up to his standards.
- Good employees are too expensive and cheap ones are bad.
- There's too much work to get done.
- There are no processes and he's stuck in the day-to-day.
We sit down with him over the course of 2 days in this (nearly) 3-hour episode to see if we can get to the root of his issues and give him advice on the things we've gone through in the past that he's going through now.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
How much money can you make as an agency owner?
We've been seeing this question pop up a lot and not just online, but in person. It seems that people seem to think that the earning potential is unlimited and thought that may be true, what is mostly disagreed on is the timeframe it takes to earn a lot o money as an agency owner.
There really are two fundamental ways to make a lot of money as an agency owner:
1) Fast and dangerous.
2) Slow and sustainable.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Our Advice to a Redditor // Google Local Service Ads are Changing)
Skip the Cold Open at 16:15
Our agency has been working on two very big things that are fundamentally changing how digital marketing agencies operate. We talked about one of those things in episode 123.
This time, we're tackling server-side tracking -- specifically with Google's "Enhanced Conversions".
The days of accurate paid media reporting are coming to an end with privacy regulations and tech companies blocking the ability to track user actions after engaging with an ad.
This era breathes life into what's known as server-side tracking and attribution. However, no one seems to be talking about it right now.
But we are.
And that's what we're focusing on. We believe server-side tracking is what's going to set the agencies of tomorrow up for success and leave agencies and freelancers behind who are still relying on lead ads, webhooks, and pixels to report conversions to clients.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Since the release of Chat GPT 2 years ago, we have seen a surge in AI-related tools and content.
AI allowed creators to pump out content at 1000x the rate they were and at 1/1000th the cost. The content was good, too. Over time, it became detectable just by reading it.
Jon Gillham from Originiality.ai joins us on this episode to talk about the efficacy of AI content detection, when it's applicable, and why it's an important tool as AI content is continually used to pump out massive amounts of content.
We ask Jon what his thoughts are on false positives his tool and other tools spit out and how that affects real people like journalists. We also discuss if there is an over-reliance on these tools to sus out suspected AI content or if these are simply meant to be tools and not the judge and jury.
Check out Originality.ai or find Jon on LinkedIn at:
linkedin.com/in/jon-gillham-80912a14a/
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
A listener of the podcast has a bone to pick with us (Jake) on our position with High Level.
Josh Kimmes owns a digital marketing agency called Bear North Digital up in Superior, Wisconsin who uses High Level as his agency's primary tech stack.
We grill Josh on his whole agency journey, his business model, and his agency's size. Meanwhile, Josh makes the case for why High Level is the best agency tool on the market.
Find Josh at bearnorthdigital.com or on LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/joshuakimmes/
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (Someone told Cody our podcast was bad... to his face)
Skip the Cold Open at 25:44
It's not looking good for the world's most widely used website builder. WordPress' founder, Matt Mullenweg, attacked WP Engine the other week and WP Engine sent Matt a cease and desist.
If you're not in the website-building community or manage websites, that's okay -- we'll give you the backstory.
Basically the #1 website builder is going after the #1 website host that hosts that website builder and the fallout is nuclear (pun intended).
There are a couple of things we get wrong in this episode -- like Automattic doesn't own the WordPress Foundation (however, Matt does own both).
Jake actually made a pretty detailed YouTube video covering everything. You can find that here:
https://youtu.be/hi7GaDqpFuQ?si=0pxw52X61C-PoVJ-
In this episode, we weigh in on the whole situation giving our thoughts.
Do you share the same thoughts as us? Let us know.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (AMAZON GIFT CARD CHALLENGE TO LISTENERS / Headlines without Context)
Skip the Cold Open at 19:50
We've had to dive down the email rabbit hole. Exploring SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and SMTP solutions.
Why?
Because our job is to deliver leads to our clients. When someone fills out a form on our client's site, in order for us to properly get credit for that lead, the client needs to be alerted immediately.
However, as 2024 comes to a close, the website and digital marketing space has been plagued by email deliverability issues, which include websites sending lead form submissions.
We reflect on what kind of agency we set out to be and how our continued pursuit of being that hands-off agency has led us down the path of becoming technical email deliverability experts.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @agencyu
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Cold Open (A listener and guest sent us a gift box -- we taste and rank everything in it)
Skip the Cold Open at 13:08
If you don't have a lawyer and don't know how to write agreements for your agency, perhaps hearing how we write ours will help you craft yours.
Because we need to say it, we're not lawyers. Our agreements are not airtight. But they work for us.
We give practical advice for writing your agreements to make sure clients don't take advantage of you as well as helping you set the right expectations for your clients in your agreements.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We talk to Andrew Jenkins at Catalyst RVA about his home service agency and how he was able to scale to $15k/mo in recurring profit in under a year.
Does Andrew have a secret to his quick success that we don't know? How long can he sustain that? Does he plan to get any bigger... or can he?
Find out more as we sit down and chat with Andrew over the next hour and a half.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
For the first time in over 2 years of doing this podcast, we're covering mental health. Specifically our own experiences with it as agency owners.
We're covering both perspectives of coming into agency ownership with pre-existing mental health issues as well as developed ones from the natural stressors that come with operating an agency and business in general.
We both deal with our own very separate issues. It's not just depression. It's anxiety, imposter syndrome, body dysmorphia, anger, and more.
If you're struggling with something, perhaps hearing our own story and struggles will help in some way.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
Skip the fun stuff and get to the meat of the episode at 21:26
The number one problem agencies seem to struggle with is getting clients. They often blame competition or not having a good enough value prop. But that's rarely actually the case.
Lacking basic business, marketing, and sales fundamentals is what's killing agencies and causing them to spin their wheels.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @theagency_u
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu
Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu
Instagram: @theagencyu
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @agency.u
We're joined by Lindsay Halsey of Pathfinder SEO. Lindsay also owns her own SEO and PPC agency with her partner, Lori Calcott, called Webshine.
Pathfinder SEO is a tool developed by Lindsay and Lori, to not only use in their own agency, but also help other agency owners learn the fundamentals of SEO as well as create standardized SEO processes and procedural SEO documentation.
Get 30% off your first 3 months with code: EVERBROS
pathfinderseo.com
SEO is one of the hardest things to productize, package, and scale as an agency especially if you're not a niche agency.
Lindsay gives us tips on how to package and productize SEO services so you can increase your recurring revenue, close more web design projects, and build long-term relationships with your customers.
You can reach out to Linsday directly at lindsay@pathfinderseo.com and at lindsday@webshine.com.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Tea, Coffee, Reviews, Our YouTube Channel)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:52
Even if you're not an SEO or web design agency, you should know how to audit a website. The website is an asset that affects everything in digital marketing whether you're a social media agency, email marketing agency, or even video and design agency.
If you're a design agency, you may want to consider adding website maintenance and basic SEO service for monthly retainer work.
If you're an SMMA, you might want to make sure websites perform well so your social media ads do as well.
In this episode, we cover everything we look at when auditing websites for prospective clients and how to do that.
Keep in mind, that we are auditing for our specific niche. If you're in other niches such as e-commerce, you might want to consider other things we're not mentioning.
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
Huge shoutout to Wix for sponsoring this episode. Check out Wix Studio, the website platform for agencies, today!
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
YouTube: @everbros
Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (The Everbros YouTube Channel)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:38
Agency software comes in different pricing variations. Picking the right software for your agency shouldn't just be about the features it has, how it's billed should also be a major determining factor in the scalability of that software in your agency as your agency scales.
We break down the different types of pricing models and what software you should go with based on where your agency is in size as well as how your services and products are packaged.
Low flat-fee software subscriptions might sound appealing, but the administrative headache that comes with them might not be worth it in the long run. High flat-fee software might be pretty and buttoned up, but are you throwing money out the window by not using all of the features?
Our recommended agency tools:
everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Reddit: u/JakeHundley
TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Our advice to a developmental agency owner)
Skip the Cold Open at 13:55
In this episode, we dive deep into what our onboarding process looks like for new clients. More specifically, we go over our entire Onboarding document that we make new clients fill out.
It gives us every detail about their business that we need to know in order to effectively execute our services.
That includes their brand messaging, the size of business they are, what their target CPA is, and even accounts we need access to.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Our first agency guru-type episode where we talk about success.
But more importantly... that when it comes down to it, nobody really cares if you don't succeed at something.
The only person you should be doing things for you is you. Sharing your success is great, but don't be scared to do something if you feel like it might not lead to success because at the end of the day... nobody cares.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Fresh off of Jake's appearance on Josh's Web Design Business podcast, Josh makes a special appearance on our podcast diving deep into just how accessible starting a web design agency is.
We never wanted to build websites. It was something we realized we had to do for our clients because, at its core, any campaign is only as successful as the landing page. Josh is different. Josh started out doing what he loved -- designing and building websites.
He went on to write for Elegant Themes (the company responsible for the Divi visual builder in WordPress), scale his web design agency to over the 6-figure mark, sell it, and create courses on how to grow and scale a web design agency.
We wanted to specifically talk to Josh, not just about his career, but how other people who don't know much about web design, can get started and add it as a service to their offering.
If you haven't listened to Josh's podcast, you can check him out here:
https://open.spotify.com/show/54Lw9cfbfIPLQvc7ANmMmL?si=8485028fdfe646ba
You can also find him and his web design courses at joshhall.co.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Wix has never been a platform that agency owners or SEOs recommended. It was the DIY website builder for small businesses.
SEOs brought up glaring issues such as the entire site structure being built with Javascript, the inability to issue 301 redirects, edit robots.txt, and the lack of simple integrations to necessary tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Facebook Pixel.
Since then, Wix has had a bad reputation with agencies. However, it's clear the Wix of today is not the same Wix of 2015.
In this episode, we talk to Kobi Gamliel, the Head of Agency Growth at Wix Studio on why he's confident Wix Studio is going to take over the agency space and become a preferred platform by agencies.
Kobi isn't just all talk. He also founded and owned two digital marketing agencies prior to joining Wix in 2014 which we dive into and learn more granular details about.
Wix Studio is a new platform for Wix built specifically for agencies who manage multiple client sites. For lack of better phrasing, we're quite blown away with the platform's new capabilities and integrations. WordPress should be afraid.
And don't worry, we make sure to press Kobi on the bad SEO claims Wix has gotten in the past and why people are still repeating things initially stated a decade ago before we get into the Wix Studio platform.
Kobi Gamliel is the Head of Agency Growth at Wix Studio. Leveraging almost a decade of experience at Wix, he previously led a product group dedicated to developing innovative marketing technology and services to help Wix SMB users grow their businesses. Before joining Wix, Kobi founded two digital marketing agencies. His extensive experience in digital marketing and agency leadership drives the growth and success of Wix Studio's agency initiatives, enabling the Wix Studio team to achieve impactful marketing and business outcomes.
Reach out to Kobi on LinkedIn or email him directly:
linkedin.com/in/kobigamliel/
kobig@wix.com
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (The new podcast music / Jake and Lauren started a new business)
Skip the Cold Open at 14:58
Increasing regulations and privacy-focused web users are making it harder for agencies to target in-market audiences and track conversions properly.
It's our duty as agencies to do those two things:
1) Target the right audiences
2) Track our success and ROI
The harder it is for us to do that the harder it is for clients to justify paying us.
In this episode, we talk about a number of privacy-related digital marketing topics like:
The death of 3rd party cookies (Facebook & Google tracking pixels) and how conversions need to be tracked now that browser pixels are becoming less effective.
How advertising budgets will shift away from programmatic media to magazines and publications (sources that own first-party data).
And how increasing email privacy and spam policies are requiring agencies and businesses to become more tech-savvy to simply deliver a sent email.
We predict that these changes are going to weed out certain agencies while increasing the barrier to entry for the industry.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (A question for the listeners)
Skip the Cold Open at 16:25
Whether you write content for your clients or you write content for yourself, writing good content for SEO is a must for every agency owner.
And As Google pumps more and more spam updates into their algorithm their answer to everything seems to just be "write good content". But how do you write good content when the purpose is simply to get it to rank?
In this episode, we give you extremely simple tips on how each of us writes content that ranks in Google so that anyone who cares about what they write can get ranked.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, follow us on YouTube, or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Cody eats breakfast-flavored cup noodles)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:39
White labeling can be an easy way to earn revenue for your agency while still trying to carve out your niche. But it can be a slippery slope when you're first starting out.
There's a time and place to consider other agencies as your clients. For us, we don't white label for a few reasons. However, white labeling might be part of your business model and that's fine.
We simply wanted to put this episode out there to string together our thoughts on white-labeling agency services to other agencies.
Do you white label for other agencies?
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
We're joined by Cesar Gil, owner and operator of Symphony Advertising based out of Houston, Texas.
We found Cesar through TikTok where he regularly posts updates of his agency and bares all for his audience. His videos are often spur-of-the-moment monologues on different issues he's dealing with or comments he gets.
Cesar runs a similar agency to ours that's about 2/3 of our size ($25k MRR). There's just one problem... He has no idea what he's doing.
Join us on this episode where we dive into Cesar's operations and numbers and uncover why he's been so successful with things we all struggle with like client acquisition, managing projects, keeping clients happy, and producing great results.
Find Cesar on TikTok @cesargil
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Cody went to Scotland for a Taylor Swift concert)
Skip the Cold Open at 12:40
Our podcast is largely about practical advice we give to other agency owners as we grow ours -- however, we thought it would be a good idea to air out all of the problems our agency is currently facing.
Every business faces new challenges as they grow. Problems don't go away, they just change.
In this episode, we talk about the challenges we're facing today. Let us know if you can relate to any of them.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Cody and Jake talk office chairs and Chat GPT)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:57
It's been a year since we've talked about AI and its potential effect on agencies. Now that we have had some time, it's time to talk about what is actually being impacted.
When we first thought about this, we figured the biggest impact would actually come from agencies using AI. However, we've noticed something a bit different... Vendors and media platforms like Google and Facebook using more and more AI and getting... interesting results.
Check out how we've noticed AI affecting agencies in the last year in this latest episode today.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
We're excited to bring AJ Doppke from Marketing Qubed onto the podcast to talk about his main acquisition method for new clients -- cold calling.
AJ is a long-time listener to the podcast and owns an agency similar in size to our own. We grill him on his agency size, niche, and services, but especially his cold-calling strategy.
What is it that AJ is doing differently that gets him 1 appointment out of every 8 calls to a decision-maker and a 50% close rate once he presents his solution?
Learn more from him over the next hour and a half on what most cold-callers are doing wrong to not land appointments.
Find AJ on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/aj-doppke.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (The agency space is getting dumber)
Skip the Cold Open at 15:30
Most new agency owners can agree on one thing and it's that picking your niche is more difficult than it sounds. The majority of agency owners will pick niches they heard were good based on videos they've watched or what peers have said. Other agency owners will pick multiple niches to see which ones take off first.
If you cast a wider net, won't you catch more fish?
Not necessarily.
We talk about the differences between just focusing on one niche vs spreading yourself over multiple and why focusing on one might actually yield more results and sales.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Physical therapist that helps gamers)
Skip the Cold Open at 4:58
Staying productive is hard when there is so much to do and you can start to get analysis paralysis by looking at your daily checklist of items. It's even worse when you leave your full-time job and you no longer have someone like a boss ensuring you come to work early enough and stay focused.
We go through a few things we do to keep us focused and productive while working on our agency. That includes things like eating right, minimizing instead of maximizing, the 2nd morning, and working out.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Non-compete agreements are now illegal)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:15
We keep seeing things online about how your leads should only be costing you $2-$5 on Facebook or that a cost per lead of $80 is bad. But neither of those is necessarily true.
We have clients at Evergrow that are willing to pay $200/lead. If we tried to get them the cheapest leads all the time, then we would likely be delivering poor leads.
Jake breaks down his formula for helping clients understand how much they should be willing to pay per lead generated from ad campaigns using their own numbers. This is a formula that will help you and your client set expectations around what is and isn't realistic.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Cody got a check from a class action lawsuit / Jake's old job is hiring)
Skip the Cold Open at 12:39
Jake has seen a lot of new agency owners get hung up on what their offer should be to prospective clients. People aren't sure what their guarantee should be or what sets them apart from the numerous other agencies out there.
However, we have a belief that your "offer" doesn't need to be an offer to your prospective client. It can be as simple as being good at your service or being niche-specific.
In this episode, we dive into what it means to actually have an offer that sells your agency without you having to give anything away for free or deliver guarantees.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
We hit our biggest milestone in this podcast since we started... 100 episodes!
Throughout the last 2 years, we've been asked numerous times why we're even doing this. What's the point? We aren't monetizing it with ads or even have anything to sell our listeners.
We don't even bring on guests who have things to sell our audience.
This episode answers that.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Jake gets involved with Agency TikTok / People on Reddit Suck)
Skip the Cold Open at 18:00
We talk cash flow and how our agency maintains a healthy flow of liquidity and a stockpile of cash in the bank that would make Ron Swanson blush.
There are a few things we do to ensure that we are a cash-positive business and that there is enough money in the business to keep things alive for 6 months with everyone having jobs even if we were to lose all of our clients tomorrow.
This becomes more and more important as the United States heads into an economic downturn ahead of the election.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (Do you use the tongs at gas stations?)
Skip the Cold Open at 6:30
This is an episode regarding a question we get asked frequently. What does our onboarding process look like when we onboard a new client?
We take you through the process of the initial sales call all the way to the live website. Both from our perspectives as well as each team member's perspective who handles a portion of that onboarding.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
- TikTok: @jakehundley
Cold Open (We Have a Bone to Pick with Stacked Marketer)
Skip the Cold Open at 14:38
Evergrow Marketing's structure and goals are based on a business plan put together by Cody. But what is a business plan? What makes one good?
We hear about business plans all the time but never really see them or see what's inside of them. In this episode, we talk about how we wrote our business plan, what's in it, and what business plans are even for.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Nickelodeon & Shohei Ohtani interpreter)
Skip the Cold Open at 13:55
All of the gurus tell you how important it is to have multiple streams of income. But what they don't tell you is that advice is not for you. It's not for people who haven't made their money yet.
You need to focus on your one, primary income stream before you even consider a second income stream. It's better to build one house with bricks than to build multiple stick houses.
We talk about when you should start considering another stream of income and what we're doing at Evergrow to not only increase the streams of revenue within our business but considering the tangential businesses and services we can operate that are complimentary to Evergrow.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cody and Jake were asked, "At which point should you take a salary at your agency?" which brings up a good point... when should you?
The answer to this question has a lot of variables, especially if you're dealing with multiple owners of that agency.
How much recurring profit is coming into the agency? Are you using the Profit First system? How are you forecasting?
Although a salary leads to increased stability in your personal life, it often leads to inflexibility and instability in the business during the early stages.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Cody is jealous of Jake's electric razor)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:40
On this episode, we talk about common mistakes agency owners make when they choose to flex but can't back it up.
It's incredibly easy for us to tell who is and isn't a legitimate agency owner by only having a short conversation. Furthermore, it's easy for your prospective clients to tell if you're not being truthful.
Be honest about who you are, how big you are, and how many clients you have. This has actually gotten us more sales than pretending to be bigger than we are.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Jake's cigars and Cody solved the Google Ads suspension issue)
Skip the Cold Open at 13:20
We often get requests to handle SEO and PPC services for other freelancers and agency owners and we've always had a firm stance against it for a few reasons.
In this episode, we explain why we don't white label and why white labeling your services could be a trap that works against your business.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Cody has to do Jake's job and hates it)
Skip the Cold Open at 3:25
We tend to get a lot of comments on the way we price our services and how we handle billing. Those questions might include things like why do we charge credit card processing fees to our clients? Why do we put our payment information in the ad account? Why do we bill forward vs execute the work and then bill back?
We thought it'd be a good idea to answer all of these questions in one episode.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
We received an inquiry from a listener asking about how he could deal with contractors who weren't completing basic tasks such as time tracking.
We decided to make this episode completely on how we handle not only underperforming contractors but employees as well. Ultimately, it starts at the hiring process and we get into why and how we pick our team but we also give really useful tips on how to manage team members when they aren't performing well or doing basic tasks or repeatedly missing something.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (The Russell Brunson thing... again)
Skip the Cold Open at 5:00
Google is picking a fight with us and suspending ad accounts over their own platform errors.
Having your ad accounts get denied, disapproved, or suspended is every agency's worst nightmare and it's happening to us right now.
In this episode, we go over what's going on with Google Ads and how we're fighting back. We also stress the importance of not having all of your eggs in one basket. Thankfully doing so has kept us safe from the issue we're dealing with Google on for the most part.
in the middle of the episode, Cody talks about the article that he wrote on his website regarding this whole situation in order to get Google's attention. You can read that here:
"Google Suspended Our Google Ads Accounts Over Their Mistake"
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Russell Brunson Punches a Kid?)
Skip the Cold Open at 11:06
A lot of agencies out there seem to still be charging things in a manner that isn't really conducive to a scalable model. Ultimately, what it comes down to is that the agency's owner is still stuck in a freelancer mindset.
In this episode, we really dive into what it takes to get out of the freelancer mindset and start charging prices and packaging your services correctly so you're not putting too much work into the services you're selling based on what you're selling them for.
We also make sure to cover how freelancers can start charging prices accordingly to set themselves up for correct and fair agency prices, even as a solo operator.
If you're charging $20/hr then just get a job. If you're charging $2,000/hr... who do you think you are?
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold open (Jake takes a deep dive into agency Reddit and it sucks)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:20
Last year, we recorded from our hotel in Colombia and recapped our finances from 2022 and how much we grew.
This year, we're doing the same thing and recapping 2023. We had some explosive growth and also faced some challenges along the way that caused us to not grow as much as we wanted to.
We also cover things we spent more on and things we spent less on.
If there's anything we've learned about owning a digital agency, it's that your online security is #1. After facing a Facebook hack with the hacker spending $30,000 on our ads account in a matter of 2 days, we've partnered up with Aura to monitor our online presence and secure our accounts.
Secure yourself and your agency while supporting the podcast by running a scan of your personal information for free when you sign up for a free 14-day trial at aura.com/everbros.
You can also get up to 50% off security and monitoring plans with the same link after your trial expires!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Jake has a question for the audience)
We keep seeing gurus make the money part of owning an agency really simplified. How money is spent and finances are handled in an agency at $10k/mo and at $100k/mo look very different but no one talks about it.
Cody and Jake do a deep dive in how money looks at different levels of the business.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Jake and Lauren sneak onto First Class train in Japan)
*Skip the Cold Open at 13:18*
There seems to be some confusion around the practical application of having a CRM in an agency. Jake aims to clear that up in this episode.
Aside from the typical derailments, Jake talks about:
- What a CRM technically is (you're probably already using one and don't even know it)
- Why you should be using a free CRM at first
- How Jake uses it on a daily basis
- How it helps Jake close more sales
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Jake and Cody talk about their Hubspot automation)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:08
There are many different lead generation agency models out there. On one hand, an agency can only be responsible for delivering leads. Another lead gen agency may also follow up with those leads for the client to make sure they close.
We address why we don't like lead gen models in which it's the agency's responsibility to follow up with the leads.
We also explain common objections to the idea of only supplying the leads and leaving the follow-ups and closing to the client such as:
- Knowing the close rate of the platforms you're driving leads on.
- Knowing your client's average close rates.
- Setting the right expectations
Jake also explains that if you follow up and close leads for your client, you're taking a foot out of the marketing agency space and putting another in the "consulting and sales" space.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
- Reddit: u/JakeHundley
Cold Open (Cody's had his credit card hacked twice in two months)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:00
Jake and Cody answer the questions:
- What is networking?
- Who do you network with?
- Why should you network?
For starters, it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to grow your business or get better at growing your business? Because they're two different things.
If you're trying to grow your business, Jake has tips and explains why you shouldn't care about networking with other agency owners. Instead, you should be networking with other professionals inside your niche that aren't agency owners.
If you're trying to get better at growing your business, Cody talks tips and who to network with on the operations side... that is... other agency and business owners. But the challenge is knowing which agency owners to network with -- it's usually not the ones you meet online.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Ahrefs has been in the SEO community chatter quite a bit since the pricing model change so we thought it'd be good to bring Tim Soulo himself on the podcast to talk a little bit about the reasoning behind that.
But we wanted to get more value out of the episode than that.
In this episode, Tim gives us some useful keyword research tips both using paid tools as well as free tools and sheds some light on the accuracy... or lack thereof... when it comes to the metrics that SEO tools spit out including how inaccurate Google's owned tools' metrics such as Search Console and Keyword Planner.
Tim uncovers how Ahrefs does keyword research for their own blog using "Business Potential" keywords and the downside of using Google's free keyword tools.
Additionally, if you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you know that Cody and Jake have been pretty anti-paid tools when it comes to SEO and SEO research. In this episode, hear Tim counter Cody and Jake's argument on the idea that paid tools aren't necessary for new agency owners.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
You can find Tim Soulo and Ahrefs at these profiles / locations:
- Twitter/X: @timsoulo
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/
- YouTube: @AhrefsCom
- Website: www.timsoulo.com/
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Jake's optimal morning)
Skip the Cold Open at 3:06
We hear a lot of people quitting their day jobs in order to start an agency in which they have no experience -- only "knowledge" they've gained from online resources.
To be frank, this is a dumb idea.
We have grown our agency to near the half-million dollar mark while Jake still has a full-time day job. Doing this has allowed safe and steady growth while keeping full-time benefits and the same standard of living.
So where do we find time to run a successful agency while also dedicating 40 hours per week somewhere else?
Well, we tell you how we did it and continue to do it in this episode.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Lissette is gone and we're sad)
Skip the Cold Open at 5:30
We keep seeing agency owners emphasize the importance of documenting processes in order to scale, but there are a few problems with this. Most people:
- Don't know how to document their processes
- Don't know where to put their documentation
- Don't know what to do with it once it's documented
- Don't treat it like a living, breathing document
- Don't even know what their processes are
In this episode, we go over what "documenting your processes" means, how we do it, what we do with it, what you should and shouldn't document, and where we organize it.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Cody is back from surgery)
Skip the Cold Open at 4:26
Jake is seeing way too many people looking for "appointment setters" and "high ticket closers" for agencies and SMMAs in Facebook groups.
Building an agency off of this model will ultimately kill your agency.
This also brings up an interesting point -- if you own a social media marketing agency... how good are your social media marketing services if you can't even get clients using the services you provide?
Instead of complaining about the above, we talk about what you should be doing to get your clients and where to get them without appointment setters and high ticket closers.
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Jake has to do dad stuff)
Skip the Cold Open at 2:45
Cody and Jake often find listeners and other agency owners stuck. Whether they're stuck at only a few clients or struggling to move past $20k/mo, a few things keep popping up over and over again with these agencies who struggle to scale passed their current status.
With these 6 things, nothing should be able to stop you from scaling your agency:
- You’re trying to scale too fast
- You lack a foundation
- Your processes aren't outlined or documented
- You don't know your internal labor rate
- You don't plan ahead
- Your product sucks
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Nobody with a beard is happy -- Cody has a beard)
Skip the Cold Open at 6:30
If you run ads for your clients, you've likely run into a few issues...
- The budgeted amount wasn't spent
- Too much was spent
- The account spends inconsistently and you have to spend too much time managing the spend
- You're getting too many accounts and it's hard to keep up
We discuss the 5 ways we manage client ad spend and budgets for platforms like Facebook and Google.
We answer questions like:
- Whose card should be on file?
- If you plan to spend $500 in a month, how do you track and pace that to make sure you spend that?
- When do you need to pay attention to spend?
- What are ways you can prevent "doomsday scenarios" in which too much is spent?
We break out how we manage client ad spend for over 50 accounts with 5 key points:
- Know who's legally responsible for overspend
- Use a daily budget tracker
- Beginning and end of month require more time for monthly accounts
- Use automated rules
- Longterm honesty is better than short-term profits
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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Cold Open (Cody wears random shirts he finds / Having a tough week at Evergrow)
Skip the Cold Open at 6:41
We had a listener of ours ask what our opinion was on HighLevel (GHL) as he was hearing a lot of agency owners promoting it and it seemed to have a lot of features he could sell.
I had a pretty honest conversation with him about why we don't use GHL and reasons why he should or should not use it.
If you build your agency in someone else's playground, you don't have a good agency.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
**Cold Open (Cody brings up NVIDIA article / When is chasing money no longer worth it?)
Skip to Cold Open at 8:07
We're joined by David Tobin of TobinLeff M&A Advisors to discuss what agencies need to consider when thinking about selling their business.
Jake mentions how he sees a lot of small agency owners (freelancers) looking to sell their "agency" in groups. We ask David very pointed questions on whether it's even feasible to sell an agency that only consists of one person and a client list as well as what things businesses look for when acquiring an agency.
Some questions David answers are:
- How can you tell how much an agency is worth?
- What kind of multiples can agencies sell for?
- What can agencies do now to sell for more?
- Why do people buy agencies and who is buying?
- What are things you need to know about your agency before you sell it?
- What questions are buyers asking?
- What's a realistic revenue number an agency should be at before selling?
TobinLeff M&A Advisors is a team of advisors that helps business owners plan and facilitate exiting their business or acquiring other businesses through mergers and acquisitions. They'll not only facilitate the transition but also advise on your business now for a future acquisition or merger.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
You can find more about TobinLeff at tobinleff.com or reach out to David Tobin on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/david-tobin-120658184/
Other Resources:
- NVIDIA article Cody referenced in the Cold Open
- TobinLeff: 10 Questions Buyers Will Ask When You Sell a Business
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Jake and Cody talk about rebranding the podcast)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:11
A listener of the podcast submitted really great questions and we wanted to take the time to respond to all of them on the show. This is part 2 from episode 74 where we answer questions 7-10.
There were 10 questions, we answered the last 4 in this episode:
- Why did you decide on digital marketing?
- What did you wish you could have done sooner to make you more successful today?
- How do you avoid burnout?
- How long does it take to make a good salary?
- What's a salary I can expect in the first year?
- What have you gained from being your own boss?
This episode is sponsored by Aura -- Your personal security is your agency's security. Sign up for a free trial and run a scan on your email and personal information to see if it has been picked up in a data breach at aura.com/everbros.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Jake delivers a keynote at a lawn care business conference)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:42
A listener of the podcast submitted really great questions and we wanted to take the time to respond to all of them on the show.
There were 10 questions, but we were only able to get to 6 of them on this episode:
- How did you learn more about building websites and utilizing SEO? What would you focus on learning first?
- Should I build my business first or learn marketing first?
- What do you do about health insurance? Is it expensive to provide it to employees?
- Can you tell me more about the importance of choosing a niche and why did you pick your niche?
- What limitations would Evergrow face if Jake didn't have Cody and vice-versa?
- What are some unexpected tasks you had to do whether you liked them or not?
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
**Cold Open (Handkerchiefs / The Everbros Lost Episodes / Vulgarity)
Skip the Cold Open at 17:27
We see a lot of rookie mistakes new agency owners are making that's causing them to not get any sales or make it passed the $10k/mo mark.
At its core, it comes down to commitment to your expertise and your niche.
In this episode, we don't just tell you what we think the mistakes are, we also talk about things you can do to prevent these from affecting you and your agency.
The 7 mistakes are:
- Having no skills
- Outsourcing
- Not being an expert
- Not doing research
- Niche hopping
- Start-up costs
- No clear goal
Other mistakes we mention in this episode are:
- Not subscribing to Stacked Marketer
- https://www.stackedmarketer.com/friend-recommended/?rh_ref=9731be28
- Not leaving us a review or a rating on Spotify or Apple
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
This note is for Matt Diggity. I mentioned you in the podcast and made a bet you'd get a Google Alert on your own name. Your part is at 54:30
Cold Open (Do you take non-professional email addresses seriously?)
Skip the Cold Open at 06:13
This week's episode comes to us a week after Jake talked about getting his Facebook account hacked and the implications that the hack had on the entire agency and our clients.
During the period of this hack, Jake decided to partner with Aura. After getting his Facebook account back and getting the agency back up and running on the Facebook side of things, we thought it would be good to make agency owners aware of how easily usernames, passwords, and personal information get out there and how common hacks and data leaks are.
What better way to do that than to bring Aura's SVP of Growth to talk about online security and what agency owners can do to prevent hacks and data leaks that compromise their operations?
Jason Fragoso is the SVP of Growth at Aura, a rapidly growing AI-powered digital security company focused on keeping individuals and families safe online.
To connect with Jason, check out his LinkedIn page at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfragoso/
Jake and Cody encourage you to sign up to Aura for a free 14-day trial* (aura.com/everbros) to see what and how much information of yours has been leaked and which of your usernames, emails, and passwords are compromised.
You can head over to aura.com/everbros* to support the podcast and get your free trial.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
*Everbros is a partner of Aura. Support the podcast by using the Everbros Aura link to get your free 14-day trial and data breach scan at aura.com/everbros.
Cold Open (Cody is sick... again / GoDaddy's Weird Marketing Strategy
Skip the Cold Open at 11:10
This is a topic we've been holding off on talking about until the dust settled -- but in July, Jake's Facebook account was hacked. It doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize that Jake's personal account is connected to all of our clients' ad accounts...
Jake details what happened, what he had to do to get it back, and how he had to deal with the fallout with this basically crippling the agency's Facebook operations.
Jake also talks about signing up with Aura to protect his digital identity and information moving forward and how the Everbros have now partnered with Aura.
After this hack, Jake and Cody encourage you to sign up to Aura for a free 14-day trial (aura.com/everbros) to see what and how much information of yours has been leaked and which of your usernames, emails, and passwords are compromised.
You can head over to aura.com/everbros to support the podcast and get your free trial.
Podcast reference:
**Jake talks about reaching out to Hacked to help recover his Facebook account. That link is hacked.com. This podcast is not sponsored by Hacked.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Cool things about Colombia from Colombians)
Skip the Cold Open at 10:03
On this episode, we're joined by Carolina Rincon and Isabel Gaviria from OnTop's legal team to discuss how agencies can hire and pay foreign and overseas contractors the right way from a centralized portal.
We've talked about OnTop multiple times throughout the podcast so we thought we would bring them on.
Many of our listeners rely on contracts to invoice them or pay them through payment processors like PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle -- but not every contract receives payment the same way, and with those apps, you don't have much security or control over when and how contractors receive their money.
With OnTop (which we've used since March of 2022), you can manage contractor contracts and payment processing all from a centralized dashboard for a fee that's not any higher than the standard, local payroll tax.
Additionally, contractors can choose to be paid in either their country's currency or your country's currency, which is a huge benefit for overseas contractors looking to be paid in USD.
If you're looking at hiring contractors and want to do it the right way, reach out to Ontop at getontop.com.
OnTop even provided our listeners this free eBook that covers the legal essentials for effectively working with contractors
We're curious... how are you paying contractors? Head over to our website and post in the comments of this episode how you typically pay contractors.
If you're listening on Spotify, you can do it right in the app.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Cody asks Jake what his take is on wash rags...)
Skip the Cold Open at 7:48
Jake was asked by a listener what goals we aim to achieve in our agency on a recurring basis.
Frankly, there aren't a lot of goals we have. The more goals you have as a small agency the more analysis paralysis you experience and it keeps your eyes off of the true intentions of growing your agency.
Cody also gives his take on goals in general and how he hates them. He also hates camping -- did you know that?
Tell us what goals you have in your agency by heading over to our website and commenting on this episode.
If you're listening on Spotify, you can do it right in the app.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (Homeownership is turning Jake into an old man. Jake also talks about his vole problem)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:00
On this episode, Jake and Cody talk about the fallacy of the phrase "work on your business rather than in it". Too many people take this too literally and too soon.
In order to work on your business, you have to work in it and you have to do it for a while. If you try to jump the gun and work on your business before doing the important work from working in it, you will operate a very short-lived business model.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and gives us the motivation to keep producing this free content!
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
- Twitter/X: @HundleyJake
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/
- Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1
- Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (TikTok releases search ads / Subscribe to Stacked Marketer)
Skip the Cold Open at 11:13
Cody and Jake talk about how adding more services to your offering won't necessarily get you more clients or help you grow.
What you should do instead is figure out what you're actually selling. You're not selling SEO and Google Ads, you're selling leads. You're not selling organic social media posting, you're selling branding.
Attempting to sell a service you're not an expert in is a slippery slope in the legitimacy and perception of your agency to your clients.
As mentioned in the cold open, if you're not subscribed to Stacked Marketer, are you even a marketer?
And as always, if you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and gives us the motivation to keep producing this free content!
Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website or connect with Jake on socials:
Twitter/X: @HundleyJake LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jake-hundley/ Facebook: facebook.com/jake.hundley.1 Instagram: instagram.com/jakehundley/
Cold Open (We discuss the worst things we've ever bought online)
Skip the Cold Open at 8:54
If you're looking for advice on scaling an ecommerce marketing agency, this episode is for you.
Cody and Jake are pretty notorious for not speaking well of the ecommerce niche. Not because ecommerce is bad to get into but because ecommerce companies that have a high enough budget to pay agencies and remain profitable are few and far between.
In this episode, we're joined by Mike Begg from AMZ Advisers, a 7-figure ecommerce marketing and consulting agency.
Mike tells the Everbros how he scaled his agency, how he started, who he works with now, and how his services and pricing model work.
We grill him more on his agency and his advice for other aspiring 7-figure ecommerce agency owners like:
- What is the ideal client when you're first starting out?
- Why doesn't he like working with founder-led organizations?
- What's his pricing model and what some other pricing models are?
- How he tracks ROI for his clients
- And much more
Mike also talks about working in Mexico and doing business there -- even so far as to starting a company helping brands get into Mexico's ecommerce industry with GoAvance.
Have more questions for Mike that we didn't ask him in this episode? You can find him on all of his personal socials below:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m1ke_begg/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbegg/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mike_begg
Be sure to check out his business socials as well!
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/amzadvisers
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amzadvisers/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10895001
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/amzadvisers
Cold Open (Cody gets detained at customs)
Skip the Cold Open at 14:00
In this episode, Jake talks about his personal journey over the last 3.5 years going from a negative income making $42,500/year at an inside sales position at the beginning of 2020 to making $200k/year by 2023.
Something that was not mentioned in this episode is that Jake had a negative income at $42,500, meaning more money was coming out for bills than was coming in from his day job. Additionally, Jake didn't graduate college, which made him hard to employ for a position that yielded a higher wage.
This isn't a step-by-step guide or a how-to episode. We wanted to talk about this to show you what it looks like to not only make money by turning a side gig into a full agency but also growing your personal career life with a day job at the same time.
Getting to the $200,000 mark obviously didn't happen overnight, but there were significant changes each year that added to the bottom line both on the Evergrow side and the career side.
- 2019: Jake closes out the year at $42,500
- 2020: Jake and Cody make money and Jake closes out the year at $80k
- 2021: Jake and Cody have an explosive year and Jake takes a new day job, closing out the year at $125k
- 2022-2023: Evergrow continues to grow pushing Jake to the $200k mark
Cody asks the real questions about the problems Jake faced making $42.5k vs the problems he faces now and how things have changed as well as what things Jake still worries about.
If you have any questions about Jake's journey or want to reach out to us, head over to our website at everbrospodcast.com.
Also, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple! It really helps us get found and gives us the motivation to keep coming up with things to talk about and provide free content!
Cold Open (Jake asks what our biggest prediction flops were)
Skip the Cold Open at 4:16
Chris M. Walker, owner of Legiit and Superstar SEO joins us on this week's episode to talk about why it's important for you to know how to execute the service you're delivering and not simply hire a contractor to do it for you -- at least no without being somewhat of an expert yourself.
We talk about how it isn't only unethical but it also isn't scaleable.
We also cover:
- How Chris got started with his SEO career and started Superstar SEO
- How and why Chris started Legiit
- How an Alex Becker course was actually a catalyst for Legiit
- How Chris used cold email to get clients when he first started
- How freelancers can use Legiit to get clients
- And much more
Legiit.com is a platform where freelancers, agencies, and course creators can list their services where people are looking for those services. Unlike Upwork or Fiverr, buyers find you on Legiit, not the other way around.
Superstar SEO is Chris' agency he started before creating Legiit where they offer SEO training, consulting, and managed SEO services -- all conveniently productized on legiit.com.
You can find Chris on various social media platforms as well as his sites linked above:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/superstarseo/
Twitter: twitter.com/cmwalker
Facebook: facebook.com/cmwlegiit/
If you like this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and gives us the motivation to keep producing this free content!
If you have any questions or just want to reach out to us directly, you can at everbrospodcast.com -- you can even comment on specific episodes there!
On this special episode, Cody, Jenny, Jake, & Lauren all meet up in Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan for an in-person podcast episode!
In this episode, we talk about all things relationships when it comes to owning an agency.
Lauren gives her take on what it was like to date Jake while he already owned an agency. and Jenny tells us about the feelings she had when Cody decided to partner up with Jake.
We also dive into the positives and negatives being an entrepreneur and agency owner can have on our relationships and how we've worked through some of those things and where compromises had to be made.
Deciding to be an agency owner and entrepreneur isn't just a personal struggle, it also affects our loved ones around us.
If you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple -- it really helps us get found and gives us more motivation to produce this free content!
On this special guest episode, we invite Alec Smith on the podcast; a former coworker and friend of ours at the agency we all worked at together in Iowa.
Alec brings a unique perspective to the show as he, like us, left the agency employment life and started his own freelance / agency.
However, after a while, even while proving to be successful on his own, he decided to give his clients a 30-day notice and work for another agency that wanted to bring him on as a full-time employee.
Alec explains his decision and why the business side of things no longer interested him, yet was able to find an agency to work for that gave him the autonomy, higher earning potential, and flexibility he was looking for when starting his own agency.
Alec also explains how he got into digital marketing, specifically PPC marketing almost by accident and his journey to where he is today.
Have any questions for Alec or want to reach out to us? Head over to everbrospodcast.com and let us know!
As always, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple. It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content!
Cold Open (Airport and flying tips and business travel)
Skip the Cold Open at 9:43
We've wanted to talk about the books we'd recommend to other agency owners for a while now so we decided to put together a pretty comprehensive list of those.
Jake went deep. Cody provided his top 3-4 books.
Here's a link to each book and article we recommended:
Jake's Recommendations to the Listener
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
- The ONE Thing (Gary Keller & Jay Papasan)
- Start with Why (Simon Sinek)
- Profit First (Mike Michalowicz)
- Rework (Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson)
- The Art of War (Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary)
- The Prince (Niccoló Machiavelli)
- Crush It! / Crushing It! (Gary Vaynerchuck)
- The Boron Letters (Gary C. Halbert & Bond Halbert)
- Little Red Book of Selling (Jeffrey Gitomer)
- The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins)
- The E-Myth Landscape Contractor (Michael E. Gerber & Anthony C. Bass)
- This book is specific to the landscaping niche, but there may be one specific to your niche. If nothing else, check out the general E-Myth book.
- On Writing Well (William Zinsser)***
- Recommended by both of us.
Books Cody Recommended to Jake but Jake Still Hasn't Read Yet
- My Life in Advertising / Scientific Advertising (Claude C. Hopkins)
- The Master-Key to Riches (Napoleon Hill)
Cody's Recommendations to the Listener
- On Writing Well (William Zinsser)***
- Recommended by both of us.
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert B. Cialdini, PH.D.)
- Breakthrough Advertising (Eugene Schwartz)
- This is an expensive book.
- Advice is Futile (Edith Zimmerman)
- This isn't a book. It's an article Cody said we'd put in the show notes when he mentioned it in the episode.
Honorable Mentions
- Never Split the Difference (Chris Voss)
- This wasn't mentioned in the episode but Cody has brought this up to Jake on numerous occasions regarding negotiating with clients and vendors -- written by an actual FBI hostage negotiator.
- Stacked Marketer (Newsletter)
- We've mentioned this before but if you want to stay up to date on all things digital marketing, this is the #1 newsletter we both recommend. We unsubscribed to all other marketing newsletters and only subscribe to this one.
Do you have any book recommendations for us? Tell us at everbrospodcast.com!
Cold Open (How many alarms do each of us set to wake up?)
Skip the Cold Open at 4:14
On this episode, Jake and Cody are joined by Toggl Marketing Director, Ilia Markov, discussing the importance of tracking time in your agency for reasons beyond simply billing.
We've talked about tracking time for various reasons in episode 4 (How to Price Your Agency Services) but most importantly in episode 19 (Understanding Your Internal Labor Rate Calculation is More Important Than Making Money) -- however, in this episode, we dive deep into the not only why time tracking for multiple reasons is important in agencies, but also which tools you can use.
Ilia, Jake, and Cody discuss why time tracking is important for agencies as well as key features of various time tracking apps including Toggl.
Toward the end of the episode, you'll learn:
- How Toggl is much more than a time-tracking app
- How time reporting is just as important as time tracking
- How Toggl Track integrates with other project management tools like ClickUp
- Toggl's own project management tool, Toggl Plan
- New Toggl features such as Toggl Hire
Additionally, for the next 3 months after this episode's air date, Ilia has been gracious enough to give all Everbros Podcast listeners 20% off on annual plans for new members by using code "EVERBROS"!**
Head over to toggl.com to learn more about their products!
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or any other episode, it would greatly help us get the word out there by leaving us a review on Apple or a rating on Spotify.
**The Everbros Agency Growth Podcast does not receive any compensation for referrals to Toggl. This is strictly an offer Ilia wanted to offer to our listeners.
Cold Open (Cody exclaims his love for konbini's and how often he eats at them)
Skip the Cold Open at 3:45
We've noticed a lot of newer marketing agency owners out there understand the importance of niching down but it looks like they have trouble grasping the concept of doubling down and becoming an expert in that niche.
You can't simply "niche hop" every month or so; you need to stick to it and become an expert in that niche -- that's how business owners will trust you and how you'll establish credibility.
But what does it mean to be an expert in your niche and how do you go about doing it? How do you become an expert and how do you portray that to your target audience?
In this episode, Jake lays out exactly what he did and what he still does to establish himself and Evergrow as the industry experts in lawn and landscaping.
As always, if you liked this episode or any other one, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple.
If you have anything you want to reach out to us about or comment on this episode, head over to our website at everbrospodcast.com!
Cold Open (Making some changes to the podcast - including shorter Cold Opens)
Skip the Cold Open at 3:58
Whether you're first starting out or you've been in the agency game for a while, eventually you'll want to explore adding new services to your business. In this episode, we talk about how we navigate adding new services to offer to clients without having them crash and burn.
When you offer a new service that you don't have a lot of experience in, you run the risk of rocky setups and underwhelming performances which can leave a bad taste in your clients' mouths.
Jake also talks about the importance of learning the craft before you start charing people for it.
The TL;DR on the episode is:
- Find a service that your clients want and could be mutually profitable
- Offer that service for a discounted rate to test it out
- Manage client expectations
- If success is found, ramp up the pricing
- Create a system around that service
If you liked this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple -- it helps us get found and encourages us to keep producing this content.
Also, feel free to reach out to us on our website (everbrospodcast.com). You can send us a general inquiry or comment on this specific episode and get a direct response from both of us!
Cold Open (Cody eats a banana)
**Skip the Cold Open at 1:45)
A lot of people getting into the agency space are realizing that we're in a time of pretty heavy market saturation, so we wanted to address it and what our feelings are on it.
For starters, we don't really believe in paying too much attention to market saturation when dealing with a recurring good/service. It isn't difficult to stand out and separate yourself from the competition.
In this episode, we cover three main topics about market saturation:
- Market saturation can mean that it's a healthy industry to be in -- many people are finding success in it and you can too
- Separate yourself by focusing on a niche within a niche
- Simply being better than your competition may be all you need to separate yourself
- People who are just jumping in and doing it without thinking too much about market saturation are ahead of you
What's your take on market saturation?
If you liked this episode or any other episode, it'd mean the world to us if you could leave us a rating or review along with a few words about how this podcast has helped you in any capacity.
Feel free to reach out to us at everbrospodcast.com
Cold Open (Bananas aren't that great for you... but also the optimal banana is around 30% brown)
Skip the Cold Open at 8:11
We've been seeing a lot of businesses, not just agency owners, turning to paid ads in order to acquire clients in the early stages of their business. Although it can be a fast way to acquire clients, most businesses in the early stages don't have the courage or foresight to limit the number of clients they accept.
In Cody's words, they pour gasoline on a business that's already on fire.
We see it in our clients who pause marketing services because they can't handle the leads we're delivering and we see it in new agency owners trying to get their first clients but don't even know what their onboarding process actually looks like.
Congrats, you paid money to watch your business burn and stand in the middle of it.
In this episode, we give some practical advice when it comes to deciding to run paid ads as well as what some "budget neutral" alternatives are to acquiring clients for no cost as well as at a rate in which you can handle.
As always, if you liked this episode or any other episode, leave us a rating or review or head over to our website to comment on the individual episode. Cody and I will likely even respond to you!
Cold Open (How much would you buy an agency for that did $10k MRR?)
Skip the Cold Open at 12:04
We asked the community what they wanted to hear more about and client retention was the top subject. We've covered it a couple of times on this podcast, specifically in episodes 005, 008, and 020, but we've noticed a few things that we didn't cover in those episodes that we see people lacking in the agency community.
In this episode, we wanted to focus on 4 key things to make sure you're doing in order to maximize client retention:
- Make sure you're working with the right clients (pre-qualify) - people may want to work with you... but do you want to work with them?
- Offer a successful service (You can't sell something vague and you have to have a process for whatever you sell)
- Set clear expectations and deliver on them
- Accept that on an infinite timeline, all of your clients will leave you
Though these topics may seem obvious, we jump into specific examples that go further into detail on what we mean about each of these.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or have any feedback, leave us a rating on Spotify, a review on Apple, or a comment on our website at everbrospodcast.com!
Cold Open (We're getting negative reviews and we're sad)
*Skip the Cold Open at 7:38*
Something we've seen new digital marketers struggle with is whether they should create an agency or focus their services around their personal brand and we wanted to talk about the pros and cons of each.
Depending on your timeline, expertise, and goals, one or the other may be best for you. Maybe you want to do both, that's okay too.
But some things to consider when it comes to each are:
- If you're not truly an expert, an agency may be best for you. In other words, if you're not capable of delivering the results without contractors or media buyers, then stick with an agency model.
- If you are an expert and don't want to deal with managing a team, expectations, or deadlines, a personal brand may be the best course.
- If you want a decent amount of money faster vs a larger amount of money over time, a personal brand may be better.
When Jake started Evergrow, he actively avoided creating a personal brand at first because he wanted to have the ability to sell the company in the future. You can't do that in a personal brand -- you have to work until you can't.
Let us know in the comments of this episode on our website which method you think is better.
As always, if you liked this episode or any other episode, drop by Apple or the Spotify mobile app and leave us a review!
Cold Open (Pre-podcast technical difficulties / Cody talks about how his stay in Japan is going)
Skip the Cold Open at 18:17
In this special episode, we wanted to make sure that we didn't let a full year of creating, editing, and publishing this podcast go unnoticed. Although we do this for fun, a lot goes into making it, especially when there is no current monetary gain for us.
Jake describes this episode as a "throwaway" early in the episode as we mainly recap the last 365 days and how much has changed. However, there are a few golden nuggets uncovered throughout the way such as:
- A lot can happen in one year... Like seriously. A lot. Don't get discouraged.
- Your successes in year 1 are huge! But compared to year 5, they may seem like nothing. And your year 5 successes will seem like nothing in year 10.
We also talk about how much the podcast has grown since May of 2022, what trajectory we are on for our agency, Evergrow, and accomplishments and updates in our personal lives.
Thank you all so much for following us on our journey and stopping in to say hi on the website from time to time!
Cold Open (We discuss what we think about getting manicures as men)Skip the Cold Open at 9:40
Our 52nd episode! That means we've been publishing a new episode every, single Friday for a full year! Thank you for continuing to listen and support our podcast!
In this episode, we cover a brief topic that Jake saw while scrolling through Facebook. Someone had brought up that they think the marketing industry should be regulated to prevent people entering it who do not know what they're doing and potentially damage business reputations, website rankings, or mismanaging their money regarding paid ads.
Jake asks Cody what he thinks about regulating the marketing industry similar to how the hair or accounting industries are regulated with government-issued licenses and certifications.
Let us know what you think in the comments on this episode on our website at evergrowmarketing.com
If you liked this episode or any other episode, leave us a review on your preferred podcast listening platform! It helps us get discovered and motivates us to keep doing this!
Note: Starting at 41:15, there is some distorted audio for a few minutes. This podcast was recorded in person and Cody's mic sucks. This does pass and return to normal.Cold Open (Cody gives Jake a familiar mug for his birthday / Jake talks about the Iowa license plate scandal / Buzzfeed News closes down)Skip the Cold Open at 12:00AI isn't a new topic but it's time we talk about it and how it will affect the agency space. Some agency owners think it will cause agencies to close down or make it difficult to find new clients while others see opportunity in it with scalability and executing jobs they can't perform themselves without the need for hiring.In this episode, we talk about how our agency uses AI as well as what agency business models will be negatively affected and if you fall into that category.If you liked this episode or any other episode, leave us a review on your favorite streaming platform! Also, feel free to comment on any particular episode or reach out to us at everbrospodcast.com!
Lately, within the last year, there has been a surge of new, self-proclaimed "agency" or "SMMA" owners. You might even be one of them -- but with that surge of new, ambitious agency owners comes a surge of other people capitalizing on it and taking money from naive people looking to finally make something of themselves.
These people are the Mastermind, YouTube, and Facebook gurus. 99.99999% of them never actually had a successful agency that did over $10k in MRR but they've found it lucrative to pretend they did and charge people hundreds and thousands to be part of their cult.
They're selling shovels during a gold rush -- yet they have no idea where to dig but pretend they do.
In this episode, Cody and Jake talk about why Masterminds are generally a waste of money and the information you learn from there, you can learn for free on YouTube, in your community, or even directly from this podcast.
Cody even likens Mastermind groups to paying for business friends, which is sad.
After listening to this episode, do you disagree with us? We'd love to hear what your thoughts on Mastermind groups are whether you've never been a part of one or you've been a part of one for a long time. Head over to everbrospodcast(.com) and tell us what you think!
Cold Open (What's the maximum number of days you can eat leftover pizza?)
*Skip the Cold Open at 5:45*
Lately, we've been getting a lot of requests from listeners and people in groups asking if there is an opportunity to work for us for free so they can gain experience. Although the idea of free labor sounds appealing, it really isn't from our perspective, and in this episode, we'll tell you why.
When you hire someone, whether it's a paid position or an unpaid internship, you have to dedicate resources to get that person trained and up to speed. When someone wants to work for free to gain experience, it means they're not going to stick around for the long haul. Who would? They're not getting paid.
We take time to invest in our team. We do it because our team makes us stronger and better forever. When you hire someone, you can expect it to take a year before you get real value out of that team member -- how long does someone really expect to work for free?
If you liked this episode or any other episode -- head over to your podcast platform of choice and leave us a review! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this content.
As always, you can reach out to us on our website at everbrospodcast(.com).
1 in 5 businesses fails within the first 5 years. We think that number is much higher in the digital agency space. We're rounding off our 4th year with Evergrow and seeing continual 100% year-over-year growth with no business debt.
But when we look around, we see new (and even older) agencies doing really dumb things that are killing their businesses.
The gurus out there will tell you that you can hire an appointment setter and closer on a strict commission basis and even do the same for the marketing execution by outsourcing it to the Philippines. Although, yes, you can do this -- it's a surefire way to kill your business within that first 5 years.
If your entire sales process is outsourced, you have no brand identity.
If your entire marketing execution is outsourced, you have no quality control and no value prop.
You'll get away with a few bucks in the first year. A respectable wage as a solo operator, but eventually, the business will die -- and sooner than you think.
If you liked this podcast, leave us a review on your favorite platform. It helps us get found and keeps us motivated to keep producing quality, free content.
As always, you can head over to our website at everbrospodcast(.com) (I'm leaving the link out to see if this episode gets discovered more by doing so -- sorry, it's the SEO in me).
We're joined by Kevin Miller from the Marketing Agency Owners group on Facebook to talk about something we don't do ourselves to acquire clients -- cold messaging and outreach.
Kevin owns All Approach and regularly gives tips as well as coaches agency owners on how to book appointments and acquire clients using LinkedIn messaging.
As you know, we (Jake and Cody) don't do any outreach. All of the clients we receive are inbound and since we sell SEO and PPC services, we have a belief in drinking our own Kool-Aid to acquire clients. However, as we established in episode 40, some niches may not be as easy to acquire clients through inbound methods.
We talk with Kevin to understand:
- Which niches LinkedIn outreach may be best suited for
- How to approach new prospects
- Tips and tricks to get prospects to respond to your messages
- How you can establish credibility when you don't have any
If you liked this episode or any other Everbros episode, leave our podcast a review! It helps us get discovered and gives us motivation to continue providing all of this free information!
You can also reach out to us on our website at everbrospodcast.com and even comment on specific episodes.
As mentioned at the end of the episode, you can find Kevin at allapproach.com or join the free Facebook group.
In episode 004 of the podcast, we talked about how to price your agency services. However, the episode was geared more toward pricing once your agency is more established. It covered understanding your labor hour allocation and market rates.
When you're just starting out, you won't know this information. Additionally, you likely don't have much, if any, experience or case studies to show to prospective clients meaning they're going to have to take a chance on you.
With that in mind, you cannot charge what an established rate would be. You may have to discount or give your services away for free.
In this episode, we go over just how much you might consider discounting your services, the constraints and expectations you set with your clients regarding those rates as well as what can happen if you charge too much right away.
Are you just getting started and have questions about how much you should charge for your services in order to secure your first few clients? Reach out to us at everbrospodcast.com
The main reason why Jake believes so many new agency owners and people who sell SMMA courses gravitate to social media is that you don't have to really learn how to track anything. All of the important tracking features are built into the Facebook interface. All you have to do is copy and paste a pixel into a landing page and boom, you're done.
It's why there don't seem to be as many Google Ads or SEO experts out there as there used to be. People who teach themselves Google Ads fail to teach themselves the tracking and analytics portion of it that will track more than just phone calls from call extensions.
In this episode, we talk about how understanding the key components of tracking digital marketing efforts will set you lightyears apart from other agencies out there.
We talk about how and what we track for all of our clients regardless of the medium we're promoting on using Google Tag Manager with Google Analytics and how we track phone calls, emails, and form fills without having to pay for any call tracking software.
Furthermore, if you can't track all of the conversion actions on your client's site, your ads can't optimize to deliver to people likely to complete that conversion action. This is why it's so critical to make sure you understand tracking and analytics setup.
Want to learn Google Tag Manager and Analytics setup? Here are a couple of free trainings from Google on each of them:
- Google Tag Manager Fundamentals
- Google Analytics 4 Google Training
Have a question about tracking and analytics or just want to reach out to Jake and Cody? Head over to everbrospodcast.com
In this week's episode, we go over arguably the single most important thing that separates our agency from the rest of the agencies out there.
Tracking.
The number one thing clients hire you for is results. If you can't provide results, they'll fire you. So it's your job to make sure the results you're providing are trackable. As much as we like to think, things like clicks, traffic, impressions, and rank are not results business owners care about.
They typically care about leads and sales. But it's important to make sure you find common ground with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you want to deliver and the KPIs your client sees as valuable.
If there is a mismatch, either you need to adjust your value proposition or the client may not be a good fit for you.
The first step in tracking your KPIs is figuring out what KPIs you should be tracking.
Also in this episode:
- Jake talks about a guy who tried to call him out for being a "fake guru"
- Jake and Cody debate buying used houseware
If you liked this episode or any other, leave us a review on Apple or a rating on the Spotify app. It keeps us motivated to keep producing great content for free.
Want to reach out to us or have a question? Head over to everbrospodcast.com
Are you a serial planner or do you take action for the sake of taking action?
In this episode, we share differing beliefs on whether you should take time and plan out the right moves for your agency or just get started and figure it out.
There are pros and cons to each method.
Taking Time to Plan
Pro: The actions you take will be meaningful and although will have slower short-term returns, the long-term results can be exponential.
Con: Analysis paralysis is a real thing and taking too much time to plan can cause you to never take action -- making you your own worst enemy.
Just Taking Action
Pro: You don't let analysis paralysis stop you from taking action toward your goals and you're already further ahead than the people who are planning everything.
Con: It's easy to take the wrong steps without planning. The wrong steps can stifle your long-term growth.
We differ slightly on each of these but ultimately, there is some middle ground. Jake provides his insight on why he plans everything out before starting. Cody talks about why it's better to just take action.
Either way, Jake takes time to plan things out and executes quickly while Cody just takes action but is a perfectionist in the execution -- ultimately causing both of us to reach our goal around the same time.
Useful links:
At the end of this episode, Jake talks about a Marketing Agency Owners group on Facebook where a lot of the topics for the episodes come from. You can find that group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/maopublic
At the beginning of this episode, Cody and Jake talk about the best marketing newsletter to subscribe to and even cover a topic that was discussed in it. Here is a link to subscribe to it: https://www.stackedmarketer.com/friend-recommended/?utm_source=sparkloop&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sm_daily&rh_ref=9731be28
If you have any questions or want to get in touch with the Everbros, reach out to us on our website at everbrospodcast.com!
We sit down with Schieler Mew of Service Lifter and owner / admin of the Google SEO Mastermind group on Facebook (120k members) and dive deep into his business model where his average ticket is only a little more than $600 per client per month, yet he's hitting the $2.1m mark.
We've seen it over and over again in SEO and agency groups that you need to charge thousands of dollars per month in order to hit not only the 6-figure, $10k/mo mark, but the 7-figure mark.
Although Schieler focuses on the carpet cleaning niche while we focus on the landscaping niche, our business models are nearly identical in both pricing and deliverables.
We talk about things like:
- How it's better to have 100 $500 clients vs 10 $5,000 clients
- Appropriately pricing your services
- Scaling with smaller clients
- How Service Lifter acquired clients vs how Evergrow acquired clients
- How ridiculous the marketing agency industry is
- And much more.
Check out Schieler's company at servicelifter.com and if you're in the SEO space, check out the Google SEO Mastermind group!
As always, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review on Apple podcasts or a rating on the Spotify app!
We've been seeing a lot of people in Facebook groups talking about how they're building funds by white labeling their services for other agencies or getting involved with setting and closing to "get money to start their agency".
But that begs the question, "how much money do you need to start an agency?"
If you're familiar with our earlier episodes, you know about how much you need -- but in this episode, we go into other objections we've been seeing like "I don't have time to start an agency on the side, I need to quit my job and I have to have money for that."
Additionally, we spend a good amount of time talking about how the idea of passive income is mostly bulls**t and expose some telltale signs of fake online gurus, specifically in the crypto and real estate spaces.
Want to reach out to us or engage with other listeners and us in the comments of this episode? Head over to everbrospodcast.com.
Liked this episode or any other episode? Leave us a review on Apple or give us a rating on Spotify!
We stress the importance of niching down when it comes to creating your own marketing or consulting agency, especially in such a crowded industry, but we've never gone into how to pick your niche.
Granted, niching down isn't for everyone -- but if it is for you, then you'll want to hear what we have to say regarding picking your niche.
Too often we see people default to the same few niches (real-estate, roofing, dentists/medical, other agencies), but you need to be more creative than that. There are also other factors you should consider when picking your niche that you might not be thinking of:
- Are you familiar with the niche? If not, you have a lot of learning to do.
- Does the niche have a high market cap in your area? If there isn't a lot of money in the niche, you can spend years working only to cap out in a small market (small gym owners)
- Do forums and publications exist for business owners exist in this niche? If not, you'll have to figure out how you're going to get in front of these people.
- What does the competition look like? This is my least favorite thing to look at but if you see a lot of competition, then it could be too saturated, especially based on the market cap. If you don't see any competition it good either be really good or really bad. It's really bad if there is no competition for a reason (as in no money in that niche).
- What is the best way to promote to business owners in the niche and does it match your skillset?
- Do you even like the niche? If you don't inherently like the niche, you won't like your life after you pursue it. Creating a successful agency takes time and hard work. You're not going to flip it in a year -- your niche will become your career for the next 5-10 years or more.
It's also important to remember to not spend too much time overthinking. You can do multiple niches at once and figure out what you like along the way, but some preliminary research will go a long way.
Here's some homework for you:
- Find 5 niches you're interested in.
- Find online forums or groups for business owners in this niche.
- Find magazines/publications specifically for business owners in this niche.
- List strengths and weaknesses for working with these niches (Example: high average profit for businesses and high market cap versus no online forums or publications for business owners in the niche)
- List barriers of entry for business owners in these niches
Once you do this, you'll help narrow down which niche(s) you should start with.
This episode was packed with a ton of information and I'm sure there are pieces we left out. If you have a question, head over to everbrospodcast.com and comment on the episode or fill out the form on the contact page and we'll be sure to answer your question both in writing and on the podcast!
If you liked this episode or any other episode, head over to Apple and leave us a review (or whichever platform you prefer to leave us a review for)!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everbros-a-podcast-on-agency-growth/id1627933805
A few episodes back we dropped episode 35 on how to get published in a niche magazine -- the problem with that is figuring out what to write for that magazine that resonates with that audience.
This is something everyone who produces content asks themselves.
"Should I publish this content on my own site or should I give it to a publication?"
The default answer is to usually give the least impactful or the lowest quality content to the magazine as all you're looking to do is get the branding and the link that comes with it. However, oftentimes, this is the opposite of what you should.
For starters, ALL of your content should be high quality. Second, this was the #1 way we got most of our leads back when we first started.
When you don't have a large audience coming on to your site, you can leverage the audience of a publisher and get your great content in front of that audience.
In this episode, we dive into how we determine what piece of content goes on our site and what should be pitched to a publisher. Sometimes, we write the piece first and then decide after it's written.
It's all about what it's about and who the audience is better suited for:
- Someone on our site looking for this information
- Or someone not looking for the information but should be aware of it
If you liked this episode... or any other episode, leave us a review on Apple or Spotify -- it helps us get found and encourages us to keep doing this.
Have a question or comments about the episode? Head over to everbrospodcast.com and leave a comment on the episode or reach out to us!
We read a listener's question regarding how they can turn their graphic design skills into a service where they can work for themselves rather than someone else.
In the past, we've mentioned how it's really hard to turn graphic design services into something that people want to buy every month multiple times. In other words, it's a service you have to keep selling over and over again which makes it really hard to scale and requires you to constantly be looking for new opportunities.
The question comes from someone who doesn't want to do that but still wants to utilize their passion and experience in graphic design.
Join us in this episode where we give our individual inputs on how we would use this skill as a productized service for an agency or freelance concept that keeps clients paying every month. Not only that, but a service that clients find value in and you don't have to keep selling your value to existing clients.
HINT: Don't think about how you can provide graphic design services to clients... think about how you can use graphic design in the services you provide.
If you liked this episode, leave us a review on Apple or Spotify and tell us what you like about this episode or the podcast in general. We love to hear your feedback!
Have another skill you want our input on how to turn into a productized service? Head over to everbrospodcast.com/contact-us/ and let us know!
This week, Jake and Cody talk about the different digital agency roles at an agency and how each of them can break off into their own freelancing gig.
Not all roles are created equally. Some can transition smoothly into freelance work like SEO, PPC, and Social Media Management. But what about other roles like graphic design, content writing, or account management? How can these roles at existing agencies break off and start their own thing?
Jake discusses his role as an account manager and what he had to do to form Evergrow Marketing. Together, we discuss the upsides and downsides to working in these different roles as an agency as well as the struggles you might encounter with each skill set when attempting to freelance your skills.
This episode is ultimately a precursor to the one that will follow, where we receive a listener's question on how to take his graphic design skills and his current role and turn it into a productized service that clients will want to pay for every month on retainer.
As always, if you enjoyed this episode or any others, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. It helps us get found and moves our podcast up in the search algorithm.
Do you have a particular skill set and aren't sure how to productize it? Reach out to us at everbrospodcast.com
There is clearly a different mindset between successful and unsuccessful agency owners. The main difference is you don't typically hear a lot coming from successful owners. The unsuccessful ones tend to share "Mindset" status updates and project to the world everything they're doing in what seems like a call for attention.
If this is you, that's okay. Jake was like this when he first started his agency journey. It wasn't until the cruel world of owning your own marketing agency beat him into submission.
Today, Jake and Cody are here to suggest who you should be surrounding yourself with when pursuing growth for your own agency as well as who you should probably consider cutting out of your life (or at least your immediate circle).
Also, it's worth mentioning, that you should make sure that you're not the toxic one before assuming other people are toxic for your growth. We've found that most people who subscribe to the "if they're not with me, they're against me" mindset are the most toxic and unsuccessful bunch of people.
Got a question or input on the episode? Reach out to us at our contact page:
https://everbrospodcast.com/contact-us/
If you enjoy The Everbros podcast, leave us a review on your preferred podcast platform!
We've said it before, but getting published in magazines and other industry publications has been one of the biggest game changers for our agency in terms of leads we've received, sales we've closed, and authority we've built. It's been the single most important thing that has set our brand apart from other agencies in the space.
It's a topic we've considered doing for a while. Getting articles published in niche magazines and publications is one of Jake's unique talents. Whether it's an SEO publication, a lawn and landscape magazine for Evergrow, or even a restaurant industry magazine for a specific client, finding the right people to send the pitch to and crafting the right message comes naturally to him.
In this episode, Jake recaps the difference between guest posting and contributing to an actual publication while breaking down his exact steps for reaching the right person at a publication and getting them to publish your article.
The shortlist of the steps covered here are:
- Figure out which publications you want to be in
- Pitch easier publications first and build a reputation
- Search for a contribution page
- Research their guidelines
- Find the editing team and their contacts
- Reach out to the right editor
- Pitch (or supply) the article
- Leave out the sales and promotional content
- Give exclusivity
- Follow up, follow up, follow up
Want a list of publications Jake has been featured in? Check out his author page.
Have a specific question about today's topic? Maybe you need some advice on how to get into a certain publication. Send an email to us on our contact page by filling out the form.
For all news marketing and SEO, check out Jake and Cody's favorite email newsletter
Reporting to you from Cartagena, Colombia!
In this episode, we host our first-ever recording in person while on our trip to Colombia! With that in mind, we did want to let you know the audio quality isn't great. However, there is a wealth of knowledge and insight into exactly how big or small we are and how we're able to accomplish the things we do at our size.
We'll go over exactly what our 2022 revenue and profit numbers were as well as our growth rate year-over-year. If you're good at math, you can figure out what we did in 2021 as well.
This episode isn't to brag about how much money we made -- it's to be transparent with our listeners in showing that we're not as big as you might think yet are able to still live comfortably, have a healthy amount of money in the bank, take above average US salaries, and still have the business pay for not only us but our fiancées trip to Colombia for 7 days.
So if you're just starting your journey or have even been at it for a little bit, just know that the above is a lot more attainable and practical than you might realize.
Have a question or just want to reach out? Hit us up at everbrospodcast.com/contact-us
Want to know how we stay up to date on the latest marketing trends and topics? Check out the newsletter we read every morning:
https://www.stackedmarketer.com/friend-recommended/?utm_source=sparkloop&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sm_daily&rh_ref=9731be28
Productizing and packaging services isn't a business model for everyone. For us, it is. It's been very fruitful and scalable and clients seem to love it. But just because you package a service together doesn't mean it will sell or even be successful.
We found a few of our productized services failing to meet expectations or just outright sucking. We've since learned from those mistakes and even refuse to offer requested services until we've thoroughly tested them and are able to put them into a scalable, packaged service.
The trick is finding a service offering that is not only appealing, but scalable, profitable, and consistently delivers objective value in terms of your clients' target KPIs.
Here is the link to the marketing newsletter we both recommend: https://cm.wtaff.co/t/j-l-zkyijul-iuuhgdutl-jy/
In our... somewhat Christmas episode, we got in the spirit of giving in which this week we give you some of the biggest game changes for our agencies that really impacted our growth, the value we offer to our clients, and our overall well-being.
If you want to get to the meat of the episode, skip to 8:30.
There are countless things we've implemented in our agency that have helped us grow, but in this episode, we talk about 8 things that changed the game for us.
Those things include:
- Partnering
- Getting featured in industry publications
- Getting on industry podcasts
- Leaving the day job
- Being strict about who we partner with
- Templating websites
- Hiring the right people (and positions)
- Documenting processes
Everyone always says how important it is for you to document your processes, but rarely do they talk about how they do it or what the most efficient way to do it is.
In this episode, we talk about how we found massive growth and process improvement after our processes were not only documented but defined as well as how we went about doing it in a way that really didn't take too much time from us.
Learn more about our rules of documentation that all of our employees must follow whenever they document a process as well as an extremely quick way to have an employee document a process they've never done before.
This is a question we struggled with for the first couple of years of our business. Initially, we thought we wanted our first hire to be someone that would be good at performing the services we weren't adept at ourselves. We figured this would help grow the business as we could sell those services and then offload the work to them.
However, we soon realized that the best thing to do would be to hire someone that gave us our time back. But we f***ed that up too.
In this episode, we reflect on who the right person to hire is for your very first employee (or maybe your first contractor or outsourced work).
Picking the first role you fill is the most important thing you can do while growing your business to the point where you can exit the day-to-day and work on the business rather than in the business.
You either started or are starting your agency as a subject matter expert, that is, you are a self-proclaimed expert in whatever thing you're selling. But over time, the harsh reality is that as you grow, you will start to lose your subject matter expertise.
As you document your processes and hire new people to replace the in-field work you're doing, you start to focus on things that aren't so fun about running a business like:
- Operations
- HR
- Research and Development (R&D)
- Managing people
- etc
The thing you were the expert in is being passed on to people who work for you who are now doing that thing every day -- and you're not.
If you want to grow outside of the day-to-day work, you have to come to terms with the idea that you will at some point no longer be the expert in the field, but rather, an expert at growing an agency.
Unless of course... the thing you sell is your actual hobby.
In this episode, we discuss the main problem with most digital marketers and agency owners -- which is they don't really seem to want to learn anything new and they're stuck in their ways.
This leads to antiquated practices still being utilized and a lack of testing things to see if they actually work.
Most digital marketers in the industry read a case study performed by someone else and accept it as fact not taking into account the credibility of that case study, the sample size, the date it was performed, or even the industry it related to.
Overall, Jake thinks most digital marketers are lazy. A true digital marketer takes everything they see and hear with a grain of salt. The typical digital marketer butts heads with peers -- they speak as if they know everything, but they need to listen as if they know nothing.
We got a little off track right away in this episode and it turned into an episode of its own.
Everyone has the same amount of time in a day yet some people always seem to get more work done than us. How do they do it?
We talk about the sacrifices we've made in our daily lives to be able to focus on getting work done and scaling the agency. Jake set the Xbox controller down and Cody doesn't own a TV. Sometimes these are the choices we make in order to make ourselves focus on work... sometimes work is so important and plentiful that we don't even realize we've put our hobbies down.
Either way, at some point, we have to figure out what is truly most important to us because we aren't getting more time in our days.
In this episode, Jake points out some fallacies when it comes to agency owners trying to find work and where they try to find it.
There's a common belief that agency owners should be everywhere at all times (Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc) in order to get in front of your potential clients, but that just isn't true. It's honestly a waste of your time.
When you're first starting out, you might have nothing better to do than to post to every social platform out there and that's okay -- but at some point, you'll see which platforms are most ideal to find work and when you do, you need to double down on that platform.
Different agency models in different industries favor different platforms. It's important for you to find out where your top platform is and we talk about how we found ours.
Jake talks about which platforms worked best for Evergrow to acquire its first clients and Cody brings up freelance websites like Fiverr and UpWork.
Cody hates Thanksgiving, and it's only a week away. So I thought it'd be funny if we did a Thanksgiving episode just to annoy him.
First, I get that Thanksgiving episodes are boring; That's why we decided to make an appropriately themed episode that actually provides value rather than get all sappy about what we're thankful for.
The things we're thankful for range from having a partner to take the burden off of your shoulders to having sought out and found a mentor that you can go to with questions regarding your business or industry.
If you liked this episode, please let us know at jake@evergrowmarketing.com. If you didn't, then still let us know.
DISCLAIMER: #1: If you don't want to hear about Jake's engagement story then skip to the 9:45 mark to get to the meat of the content (you're welcome)!
DISCLAIMER #2: Cody is recovering from the flu and Jake is running on 2hrs and 47 minutes of sleep after getting back from Mexico. Both of us sound like we're going to die in this episode.
Today we talk about burnout and how it's inevitable for anyone who wants anything bad enough.
Google defines burnout as:“...a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." However, we both disagree with this definition for different reasons.
Burnout comes in many forms and oftentimes isn't something that's always in your control. This means, you either have to be the luckiest person alive to avoid it, or you really don't care that much about what you're doing.
Ever noticed how all of the gurus, competitors, or your peers only seem to brag about their revenue numbers? Does it have you feeling like you're not as successful or that you should be doing more?
You might want to pay closer attention to what they're saying -- you might end up feeling better about yourself.
Revenue is one of those numbers that are easy to inflate. If someone spends $1m in ads and makes $10k back, their revenue is $1.01m. That seems like a lot of money until you realize the owner of that company only took home $10k... and that's assuming there were no other expenses. On top of that, they incurred a huge liability! $1m in ad spend!
In this episode, we discuss how the only thing you should be concerned about at the end of the day is how profitable your company is. Revenue means nothing if it's not generating a healthy profit margin. Profit margins are what keep businesses around for the long haul.
Smart people don't buy businesses that have high revenue numbers, they buy businesses that are profitable.
If you're an agency or consultant and don't in inventory or ad spend as much, your profitability comes from your labor hours. Pay attention to how much revenue you're bringing in divided by how many labor hours you're attributing. You may not be as profitable as you think.
If you like tangents, you'll love this episode!
If you don't... well... at least it's a shorter episode...
We figure we'd hop on the topical train and today's topic is Halloween!
In this episode, we'll share a few of our spooky agency stories. No ghosts or ghouls -- just genuinely scary moments for us while working in an agency setting whether that's at our agency or the ones we used to work at.
These stories include:
- Arriving to work to learn that all of the founders are quitting
- Sending a mailer to print with a client's competitor's phone number on it
- Being called into an executive's office after telling an account manager to shut up during a business meeting
- Being called into an executive's office after presenting in front of the entire company drunk...
- A story you've probably heard of online that was a client of ours!
- When the agency's biggest client left and people were literally crying
- That time we were served settlement papers
Do you have an agency horror story? Tell us about them! Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com
We discuss how much they actually work as agency owners -- but more importantly, is the work-life balance worth it versus striving to make a 6+ figure income at a 9-5 working 60+ hours per week?
When you start your own business, you're going to need to put more time and effort into it than a standard full-time job. However, it is yours and it has more potential. You get to decide when you work, for how long you work, and in what direction the business is headed.
Ultimately, you don't have to work long-hour days, you also don't have to make a lot of money.
If you want to start a business because of the monetary possibilities, you first need to think about what kind of commitment you're making and assess whether or not it's worth it.
I would argue you can make 6-figures in a 9-5 faster than you can starting your own business if you don't have any successful, entrepreneurial experience and even without a degree.
You might think saying "yes" to more jobs and custom client requests may grow your business, but in reality, it can set you up for failure.
One of the hardest things to do is to say "no" to a prospective client who is willing to give you their money for an ask or service that you either don't provide or haven't fleshed out yet.
Jake and Cody go through a few examples of how saying "no" is a much better solution than taking on a task you're either not prepared for or don't have the resources to execute effectively.
The easiest way to know if you should say "no" is if saying it pushes your business in the direction you want to take it. If saying "yes" to something moves your business in a direction that is counter to what your goals are, then you should have said "no".
Have any questions or feedback? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com
The whole point most of us even started our agencies was to make money; so how can anything be more important than that?
Money doesn't mean anything if it isn't associated with the labor that's put into it. If you made $50,000 in one year, that doesn't seem like a lot -- that seems like a normal full-time salary. However, most people equate that to 40 labor hours per week.
$50,000 starts to look a lot different when you say you worked 80 hours that week to earn it. On the other hand, it looks like the opposite when you say you only worked 10 hours in a week to earn that same $50,000.
That $50,000 is worth a lot more in the 2nd scenario than it is in the first.
That's the whole principle of this episode. Labor Inventory.
If your business is making $100,000 per year but you're clocking in 6,000 labor hours between you and your partner, you two have a better shot at making more money working full-time at McDonald's.
In this episode, we go over:
- A healthy labor rate (including what we are doing)
- How we assess labor hours given a service for a client
- How we allocate available employee labor hours versus leaving space for internal labor hours (60% client, 40% internal)
Knowing our labor rates and available labor inventory lets us know:
- When we're stretching our employees thin
- When we need to hire
- How much we can pay our employees or how high we can give raises
- how valuable and how profitable our company is
Whether or not you should have a business partner seems to be a hot topic lately both in our industry and in the industry we serve. It seems like the vote is heavily weighted towards not having a business partner.
Obviously, we don't necessarily agree with that sentiment. We do, however, think there are situations where you probably should partner with someone -- and that includes:
- Friends
- Family
- People with the same skills as you
- People who don't have a good work ethic
The last one is a given, but people typically miss out on the second to last. If you partner with someone who has the same skillset as you, you're not really adding value. You're just adding someone who can do the work you're already doing.
Cody handles all of the internal and operational things (invoicing, processes, training, workflows, etc). Jake handles, sales, marketing, client communication, big picture, etc). Both skill sets are completely different and require different mentalities. Both of which complement each other.
That's just one reason our partnership works great.
It's worth it to mention that Cody and I weren't friends before we started this business. We were work acquaintances from a few years back. It was through business that we found friendship. Not the other way around; and that's important.
We have a bit more fun during this episode and occasionally go down rabbit holes of rants regarding how there can be a misconception about how easy and laid-back remote work is.
Working remotely for yourself and with your team has its perks but it also has its drawbacks as well. On one hand, you can celebrate things like being able to work wherever you want and sometimes (whenever you want). On the other hand, it's difficult to delineate what is and isn't work if you don't have a physical place you do it at. Additionally, you and your team have to be disciplined. It's easy to get distracted when no one is watching over your shoulder and you intentionally put yourself in distracting situations.
In this episode, Cody goes deeper into how people you hire may like the idea of working remotely, but once they realize what it entails, they'll find out it's not for them and leave.
He also rants about how the term "cultural fit" seems to just be an unintentional war on blue-collar jobs and discusses how awkward the first time answering a business phone call for him was.
A recession is the hot topic today as we head into the end of Q3 looking at two consecutively "down" quarters. When recessions hit, people and businesses get tighter with their money and non-essential services are cut. As a marketing agency, we're often seen as a "non-essential" service (which is odd to us), but as much as we don't want it to be, it's the truth.
However, not all businesses and industries are affected by recessions -- some even boom. Both the industry we market for and our business saw huge growth spurts during COVID. Although not a recession, we still saw the same money tightening and job displacement you typically see in one.
Having said that, we felt like this was an important topic to cover for new and experienced agency owners who are wondering what a recession is going to mean for their business.
In this episode, we dive into:
- The pros and cons of a recession (yes, there are pros for some people and businesses)
- What industries are and aren't affected
-
How you can recession-proof your agency such as:
-
Creating low-cost services to draw-in revenue from scrappier clients
- Creating and defining services that are needed (administrative) rather than sought after (ROI-focused)
- Picking a recession-proof agency
- Segmenting & protecting your money
- Continuing to stay lean, not because you're in a recession, but because it's just smart in general
Any questions or comments on the episode? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com
You're going to face competition no matter the niche or the industry you're in. It's inevitable. But competition isn't something you should be afraid of for a few reasons:
- There are plenty of fish out there
- Competition can be friendly and even rewarding
- People don't like your competition
- People have also never heard of your competition (no matter how big they seem to be)
What Cody and Jake have found is that they really just simply don't believe in competition. Worrying about "competitors" only raises your anxiety and causes you to copy them. You'll never be better than them if you just copy them.
Also, Cody gives tips on wrist exercises and used to drive a crappy Buick named Linda.
There's a belief out there that in order to be successful in your entrepreneurial endeavors, you have to quit your full-time job and dedicate your life to your business. This just isn't true.
Often times people equate the first level of success in an entrepreneur's lifecycle to when the income from the side hustle replaces the income of their day job. Although that is a great milestone, it isn't what defines your first level of entrepreneurial success.
With the right systems and processes in place, your side hustle can equal the income from your day job without you having to leave your day job and have it only increase from there while putting in only a fraction of the time. All the benefits of scaling your own thing with the security and stability of a full-time job.
This is especially helpful and more appealing to those of us who have families to take care of. Sometimes leaps are stupid. Sometimes they're lucky. But in our opinion, leaps are rarely smart -- it just pays to have luck on your side if you do need to make a leap rather than a calculated step.
Every new agency owner we run into likes to show off their fancy, expensive software whether it's a reporting tool, CRM, or bid manager. It seems like everyone thinks the next piece of software they buy is going to push their agency to the next level when in reality, it's most likely going to keep you from going to that next level.
We grew our agency to the efficient machine it is without using one paid SEO or ads tool and as of the recording and posting of this episode, we still don't.
If you're considering purchasing new software, ask yourself if it's something you really need. Is your business struggling because you don't have something like it? Or is it struggling for another reason?
We dive into the tools we used when we first started, the ones agencies we used to work at used and how wasteful they were, as well as some of the software and tools we use now in our agency.
Thinking about purchasing a software subscription? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing to see if there is a free or better alternative first.
The #1 problem with the marketing and consulting industry is fake gurus and "Master Classes". Nearly all of the people who host these or have some kind of agency blueprint course are fake and can't actually perform the marketing they're preaching for clients -- so they turn to teach you instead. For the most part, this is an episode where we take a dump on people who sell agency and marketing courses for over $500 and call a few of them out by name.
It's worth it to note, Jake has actually taken one of these courses (and regrets it) while Cody has never. We don't only speak from an outsider's perspective looking in but also from firsthand experience.
If you don't like what we have to say in this episode... you're probably not going to like owning a business. Real success takes real work and there are no shortcuts and that's what people are trying to get with these online Master Classes and blueprints.
Got beef with what we're saying? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
If you chase relationships in your agency or consultancy, the money will follow. But if you chase money first, you risk destroying current and future relationships which becomes self-defeating in the pursuit of money.
We give specific examples of when we cared more about preserving a relationship than adding a new client or taking a business' money that has had positive effects on our business. That includes nurturing and maintaining relationships over money in the following areas:
- Clients
- Prospects
- Industry Partners
- Employees
- Business Partners
- Vendors & Publications
Disclaimer
As we become more comfortable with our podcast layout, we make more jokes. Some jokes may be offensive to some, but we do want to iterate that these are simply jokes (specifically regarding the joke around 34m 30s mark).
When you first start out, you'll likely try to acquire and maintain as many clients as possible regardless of how demanding or awful they are. We uncover what it's really like when you sacrifice more money for clients that are out of scope, not a good fit, and are downright rude as well as how to tell when you should consider letting a client go or not take that client on in the first place.
Taking on clients that could mean trouble in the future can cost your business money, valuable employees, and other clients. When you have demanding clients, they suck your time away from other clients and other aspects of your business start hurting.
Know the signs of when a client may not be a good fit early on and learn how and when to say no to an existing client.
Have a specific client issue and need some advice? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
As you start and grow your agency, you'll deal with client criticism. You can either let it annoy you or let it make you better. Criticism can be rooted in miscommunication, poor delivery, or even your client simply having a bad day.
We've dealt with our fair share of client criticism in the past and felt like it would be good for us to share how we deal with different types of criticism as well as how to spot the difference.
All of the criticism we've received for our agency services have made us better. It's caused us to:
- Redefined our services
- Set better expectations with the client
- Provide simple value that wasn't there before
Are you dealing with criticism or an upset client and aren't sure how to navigate it? Reach out to Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com
Your services oftentimes include values that aren't measurable. Reporting, assurance, maintenance, etc. But sometimes clients don't understand that. If they're equating the price they're paying to only one aspect of the services you're offering, you can have an issue on your hands with your client's happiness.
In this episode, we'll go over a few ways we got our clients to understand the value they got by using our agency's services in more than just our marketing efforts. It can start with simply setting the right expectations and end with communicating your values in a way that they understand.
This is one of the key things you can focus on when figuring out how to reduce client churn and keep people and businesses as clients longer.
Clearly stating and communicating your value can also prevent your competitors from swooping in and stealing your existing clients.
Closing sales for a new coach or agency owner is hard, especially if you don't quite have a solid portfolio or a few references you can send prospects to.
Every agency owner has to deal with this when they start their business. We were able to overcome that hurdle and now sales and closing clients come naturally to us.
When we first started, we had to overcome a lot of objections -- now, it's easy... we just don't. But we had to build our portfolio in creative ways in order to get to that point.
We'll go over a few tricks with tips we used when we first booked appointments and sales calls in our first year of business that got us the sale, including things like:
- Doing initial work cheaper or for free to build your portfolio
- Building consultative relationships that turn into paying customers
- Offering value that no one else with other clients can
- And more
Struggling with landing your first sales and need some advice? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
One of the hardest things to do while starting your agency is finding your first client. As one of our most requested topics to shed light on, Cody and Jake expose how they acquired their first clients without cold-emailing, cold calling, or running any ads.
We'll talk about where we went to find clients along with the best and worst places to try to acquire new customers.
We also go into some of our own internal rules for gaining new clients and becoming your niche's go-to for marketing or coaching information as the trusted source.
In this episode on growing your agency, learn about how we acquired new clients from the following free sources and the dos and don'ts of prospect engagement:
- Facebook and social media groups
- Online forums
- Writing for industry publications
- Being interviewed on industry podcasts
- Working on your own SEO
- Practicing what you preach
- BEING PATIENT
Is there anything Cody and Jake didn't talk about that you wanted to hear? Email Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
Sometimes the services you offer are enough to acquire clients but are often times not enough to retain clients, especially if the results you produce aren't immediate. Adding value to your services or working with you in general during your partnership with your client can be enough to keep them with you while your services work to produce results over time. We'll talk about a few of the things that we added to our productized services that added value to our clients without:
Costing us additional dollars Requiring more labor Requiring much effort
Wondering what you can offer as a value sell for your services? Email jake@evergrowmarketing.com and see if we can help point you in the right direction.
Figuring out how to price the services for your marketing agency or consultancy can be tricky to do, especially when first starting out. Most people tend to undersell themselves when first starting out due to a lack of confidence in their own sales pitch and their product.
We talk about how we:
- Priced our services in the beginning when we didn't have any clients
- Realized we were undercharging
- Raised our prices
- Continue to monitor whether we're charging too much or not enough
If you listened to the episode and had a question about something we didn't cover, send an email to jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
Jake and Cody analyze the types of marketing or consulting services that not only work but are profitable. You want to offer high-value services that drive actual results with your clients. Clients aren't stupid; they'll eat you alive if what you offer doesn't drive results. You also don't need to offer everything and the kitchen sink.
Focus on what works, even if it's just one service; your clients will see you as the specialist in that particular field. Cody and Jake only focused on SEO and Google Ads and that alone got their business to over 50 clients on retainer in just over 2 years. Listen to what they have to say on whittling down your services to the few (or one) that drive great results!
There is a multitude of things to consider when starting your agency; one of those things is whether you should focus on a niche or stay broad. Additionally, what niche should you focus on?
We tackle the common questions, "should I focus on a niche?" and "what niche should I specialize in?". There is no right answer, but we have some food for thought when considering both of these questions.
On one hand, niching down makes you more appealing to a subset of businesses and can increase your close rates and client retention. You can become the go-to agency for that niche, however, it can limit your potential for business growth in other sectors.
On the other hand, going too broad increases competition and you're not as much of an authoritative source for a particular industry. You may see lower close rates and client retention.
Take a listen and tell us what you think. Got a message or have a question? Send an email to Jake at jake@evergrowmarketing.com.
Jake and Cody tackle everything you need to start your own marketing, consulting, or coaching agency. We're giving you a complete list of everything you should be thinking about and considering when starting your agency from having an actual plan to invoicing software and obtaining your LLC.
What Jake & Cody say you need and how to get it:
- Computer
- Invoicing Software
- Website (domain, host, CMS)
- LLC and / or DBA
- A Jake or a Cody
One thing we forgot to add to the list was making sure to get your own business bank account separate from your personal one. Keep your money separate! Google the best banks for small businesses in your area and see what you find. You usually don't need an LLC or anything, just some sort of proof you operate as a business under a DBA (website, social media, etc).